Books Etc.

Books Etc. is now on Substack

2024-06-28T21:27:00.000-04:00

For years (and years...), I've wanted to change up the blog and I've made the decision to finally move Books Etc. over to Substack.

You'll still find book reviews in my casual (and hopefully entertaining and informational) style, just on a different site. Bonus: you can subscribe (I'm not charging for subscriptions) and you'll get an email directly to your inbox whenever there's a new post. Don't want to subscribe? You can still find all the posts if you head to the direct link.

Check it out and subscribe here: booksetcetera.substack.com

See you soon!

Review: The Secret History of Audrey James

2024-06-04T07:32:00.000-04:00

I, like most people, fell immediately in love with Heather Marshall’s debut novel Looking for Jane when I read it back in 2022. It was intriguing and well-written and I loved that it featured a piece of Canadian history. I was also so surprised it was a debut because it was just so damn good. Obviously, I was looking forward to her sophomore novel. The time has come and The Secret History of Audrey James is now out in the world and it will be a huge hit with historical fiction fans. I absolutely adored it.

Here’s the book’s description:

Sometimes the best place to hide is the last place anyone would look.
Northern England, 2010
After a tragic accident upends her life, Kate Mercer leaves London to work at an old guest house near the Scottish border, where she hopes to find a fresh start and heal from her loss. When she arrives, she begins to unravel the truth about her past, but discovers the mysterious elderly proprietor is harbouring her own secrets…
Berlin, 1938
Audrey James is weeks away from graduating from a prestigious music school in Berlin, where she’s been living with her best friend, Ilse Kaplan. As she prepares to finish her piano studies, Audrey dreads the thought of returning to her father in England and leaving Ilse behind. Families like the Kaplans are being targeted as war in Europe threatens.
When Ilse’s parents and brother suddenly disappear, two high-ranking Nazi party members confiscate the Kaplans’ upscale home, believing it to be empty. In a desperate attempt to keep Ilse safe, Audrey becomes housekeeper for the officers while Ilse is forced into hiding in the attic—a prisoner in her own home. Tensions rise in the house and the chance of survival diminishes by the day. When a shocking turn of events pushes Audrey to become embroiled in cell of the anti-Hitler movement - clusters of resisters working to bring down the Nazis from within Germany itself - Audrey must decide what matters most: saving herself, protecting her friend, or sacrificing everything for the greater good.
Inspired by true stories of courageous women and the German resistance during WWII, this is a captivating novel about the unbreakable bonds of friendship, the sacrifices we make for those we love, and the healing that comes from human connection.

I know what you might be thinking. Another WWII novel? Told from dual timeline/perspectives? Does the world need yet another one of those? Perhaps I’m blinded by how much I loved Marshall’s debut but I definitely think we needed another one of those. (And I say this having recently DNF-ed a historical fiction by another author I loved that just wasn’t telling me anything new. So, yes, I can be objective.) A WWII historical novel has to prove it’s going to give me a new perspective on a time period that’s been written about time and time again. And I immediately got the sense that Marshall’s would be different as soon as I started it.

It helped immensely that Audrey and Kate both were intriguing characters. They both seemed like women I would like (how I wished I could have sat with them to watch Bake Off) and there were depths to them both that kept me curious about their pasts. And their pasts weren’t easy and they both made some decisions they probably would have liked to take back. And they both helped each other, too, which I liked. Kate allowed Audrey to finally tell her whole story and Audrey convinced Kate that hanging onto some of the feelings Kate had been keeping buried weren’t helping her and she needed to properly grieve and move on.

I also really liked that Audrey got the chance to tell Kate her story. Too often the “present” day character has to make guesses or rely on historical documents to figure out what happened during the war. But in this book, Audrey told the story herself and we, the reader, got to hear about it alongside Kate. It was surprisingly refreshing.

I mentioned that Audrey and Kate’s pasts weren’t easy. It was, as you’d imagine, especially hard to read some of Audrey’s memories from her time before and during the war. As I was reading about what was happening to the Kaplans and families like theirs, it hit me that Marshall was timing the start of the novel with Kristallnacht, which took place in November 1938. It was heartbreaking.

I loved The Secret History of Audrey James. Heather Marshall has firmly placed herself on my “favourite authors” list and I couldn’t be happier about it. She writes amazing historical fiction with immense talent and a feminist lens. I love that she looks back at history, asks, “But what were the women doing?” and then proceeds to tell us their stories. Historical fiction readers must pick up Marshall’s latest novel. I think you’ll love it.

*An ARC of this novel was provided by the publisher, Simon & Schuster Canada, in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Review: The Love Code

2024-05-30T07:38:00.000-04:00

I love a good, lighthearted romance and that’s what I expected with Susannah Nix’s The Love Code. It’s pretty much what I got but I still found myself wanting more from the story.

Here’s the book’s description:

Opposites attract in this STEM romantic comedy when a super intelligent geek girl meets a bad boy billionaire.
The last thing Melody expects when she accepts a dream job offer is to run into her college one-night stand again. Not only does the hunky blast from her past work at the same aerospace company in LA where she's just started in the IT department, he's the CEO's son.
Jeremy's got a girlfriend and a reputation as a bad boy, so Melody resolves to keep her distance and focus on building a new life for herself in Los Angeles. But despite her good intentions, she can't seem to stay away from the heavenly-smelling paragon of hotness.
As the two begin to forge an unlikely friendship, Melody's attraction to Jeremy grows deeper than she's ready to admit. Can the woman who always plays it safe take a risk on the man who's all wrong for her in all the right ways?

This is the second novel I’ve read this year that had been republished/repackaged several years after it had originally been written. I knew going in that The Love Code had previously been published but I was still surprised that there were no updates made to the content since it had first come out in 2017. You may think that wasn’t that long ago but, trust me, seven years in contemporary fiction is a lifetime. There were references that kept pulling me out of the story and I didn’t love some of the comments Melody’s mom made (from a place of love and Melody tried to explain they were offensive but…). Melody would not have used “online dating” and even a slightly out of touch mom would know that apps are the way dating has gone. I had totally forgotten Emma Watson had had a pixie cut until Melody referenced it as the reason she had cut her hair. And any time TV shows are mentioned? I find it immediately dates a story. I just really wish the publisher had made some edits to update the story for 2024.

I can understand why the series is being republished though. STEM romances are still having a moment and I think that’s important. It’s not a field women typically work in so it’s nice to see it in the genre that is predominately read by women. That, yes, you too can work in a STEM role. Representation matters.

It’s important to know going in that Melody is fresh out of college which makes this novel a New Adult story (my personal rule for NA is the characters must in in/just graduated from college/university or be of that age, 19-24 or so). I’m usually pretty open to NA books but Melody seemed so…unprepared for her first Big Girl job. She kept talking about how she grew up being poor but then goes out and leases a brand new car? And frets about being responsible with her money but completely furnishes her new apartment immediately instead of adding piece by piece? It was just so contradictory that I couldn’t get my head around it.

As for the romance? I adored how Melody and Jake met. Slightly unrealistic, perhaps, but not unreasonably so. But Jake was an idiot. I did not think he proved himself to be a reliable partner and whether that’s his fault or the fault of the writer and Melody? I’m not sure. I think he could have had the chance to change and explain himself but Nix didn’t really give him that space. So, to me, he was a spoiled rich boy who charmed everyone and always landed on his feet. That didn’t really make for a great romance for me.

All in all, The Love Code was a miss for me. I’m still interested in reading more from Susannah Nix but I don’t think I’ll be checking out the rest of this series. I’ll stick to some of her newer stuff.

*A copy of this novel was provided by the Canadian distributor, PGC Books, in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Review: Tomorrow is for the Brave

2024-05-28T07:33:00.001-04:00

It’s been awhile since I’ve devoured a book in one sitting but the long weekend was too good an opportunity to pass up and I just could not put down Tomorrow is for the Brave! I’ve read a number of Kelly Bowen’s novels and this one definitely gripped me the most!

Here’s the book’s description:

1939, France: Lavish parties, fast cars, and a closet full of the latest fashion—to the average eye, socialite Violet St. Croix seemingly has it all. But what she truly wants is a life full of meaning and purpose. So when France falls to Germany, Violet defies her parents’ wishes and joins the war effort. With her impeccable skill for driving under pressure, she is soon sent to North Africa to shepherd French Foreign Legion officers carrying valuable intelligence through dangerous territory.
But as the Allies encounter one mishap after another, Violet becomes convinced there is a spy in their ranks. And when her commanding officer is murdered, Violet realizes she might be the only one who can uncover the traitor and save the lives of countless soldiers on the front lines. Convincing others to believe her is difficult enough. Finding someone she can trust just might be impossible.

This is a historical fiction novel for those who like a lot of action along with their history (Kate Quinn fans, I’m looking at you). Violet’s work is dangerous - and that’s before she finds out there’s a spy in their midst. Between the battles and the traitor storyline, it’s no wonder I was flipping pages quickly to find out what on earth was going to happen!

The spy part of the story probably could have been a little bit stronger. I could see that Bowen was trying to toss in some red herrings and even I wasn’t sure who the spy was. I did have it narrowed down to two people quite early on and some of the hints Bowen was giving seemed a little heavy handed. But I think that’s just me (someone who enjoys a good mystery as much as a historical novel) being very particular and perhaps a tad nitpicky. It didn’t take away my enjoyment of the story.

The author’s note in this novel was just as robust as I hoped it would be. Bowen explains which timelines she adjusted slightly and gave a lot of insight into her inspiration. I absolutely must find out more about Susan Travers, the real life woman who inspired Violet’s role in the war.

Given all the WWII novels I read (and there have been A LOT of them), I always appreciate when an author gives a new perspective on the battles. In Bowen’s case, she focused on what was happening in Africa during the war. I didn’t know much beyond the fact that fighting took place in North Africa so was interested to have a different look at WWII. I also appreciated that there was a focus on the French Foreign Legion, something else I wasn’t very familiar with. I’ll have to do some more research!

Violet was, to start, a tad…I’m going to say insufferable but that’s not quite the word I’m looking for here. She was just so sheltered - not that I blame her for her lack of worldliness. She wasn’t seen as a daughter - or even her own person - in her family. She was a pawn, a thing, to her father who only took interest in her to make sure she wouldn’t embarrass the family name and would someday marry someone suitable - of his choosing - who would make the family "stronger". Her thoughts and feelings did not matter at all. Which, naturally, made my blood boil. It can be so hard to read stories like this from a modern, feminist perspective and not feel enraged. I just had to hope that Violet would come to her senses and realize that she could absolutely survive on her own and live her own life.

Tomorrow is for the Brave was an entertaining and gripping historical fiction novel that I could not put down. Kelly Bowen is very talented and I think every historical fiction fan should make sure to pick up a copy of her latest book.

*An egalley of this novel was provided by the publisher, Forever, via NetGalley in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Review: The Roommate Risk

2024-05-23T07:41:00.000-04:00

I’m so glad I found Talia Hibbert’s Brown Sisters books way back in 2019. The series was an absolute delight and I’ve since purchased a couple more of her books. So, when I had the chance to review the audiobook of The Roommate Risk, I took it!

Here’s the book’s description:

Jasmine Allen believes in bad luck, great wine, and the seductive power of a stiletto heel. What she doesn’t believe in is love. Her life is perfect without all that romance rubbish—until a plumbing disaster screws everything up and leaves Jas homeless. Luckily, she has someone to turn to: her best friend Rahul.
For seven years, Rahul Khan has followed three simple rules.
Don’t touch Jasmine if you can help it.
Don’t look at her arse in that skirt.
And don’t ever—ever—tell her you love her.
He should’ve added another rule: Do not, under any circumstances, let Jas move into your house.
Now Rahul is living with the friend he can’t have, and it’s decimating his control. He knows their shared dinners aren’t dates, their late-night kisses are a mistake, and the tenderness in Jasmine’s gaze is only temporary. One wrong word could send his skittish best friend running.
So why is he tempted to risk it all?

The audiobook was narrated by Rooke Kingston and Keval Shah. I do love when a romance with dual perspectives is a dual narration. It adds so much more to the story. That said…I think both Kingston (who narrated Jasmine) and Shah (who narrated Rahul) are talented. I just don’t know if I enjoyed listening to them tell me this story. One of the issues I had - and a really, really hard one to get over - was that Jasmine was 28 but Kingston sounded so much older. Is it a weird thing to fixate on? I’m honestly not sure. But I do know it didn’t help me really get into the story.

While I didn’t love the narration, I did really like the actual story. I liked Jasmine and Rahul and their relationship. The book was mostly told from the present day but there were flashbacks to important moments during their friendship. I really liked that Hibbert did this because it allowed the reader to really get to know the couple and how their relationship started and changed over the years.

Hibbert mentions in the author’s note that this is the angstiest novel she’s written. That she tried to pull back on it but the story just wasn’t having it. And honestly? The angst is a huge part of what makes it so great. Jasmine so clearly has issues to work through but Hibbert portrayed her in such a way that the reader knows that, eventually, she’s going to figure her shit out. And she’s doing it for herself, not for a man. Even if (not) being with Rahul is the catalyst. Rahul isn’t perfect either but he has less obvious work to be done. He has some honest conversations with those he needed to but…I think there’s more he needs to do, to heal himself, to become healthier, that wasn’t really addressed as much as the efforts Jasmine was putting in.

This book was exceptionally steamy. *fans self* It’s NSFW and make sure your headphones stay paired otherwise you might be in for some awkward moments! For the most part, I felt the sex scenes made sense in the book - they weren’t overly gratuitous. That kind of changed near the end of the novel but I think that’s because I was over the narration and ready for the official HEA.

The Roommate Risk wasn’t the winner I was hoping it would be but I’m still glad I read it. Talia Hibbert is always going to be an author I search out because she’s so talented. Her books are steamy, funny, and full of heart and characters you don’t often get to see in romance novels. All things that I think are really important in my romance reads!

*An ALC was provided by the publisher, Dreamscape Audio, via NetGalley, in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Review: Love, Lies, and Cherry Pie

2024-05-21T07:34:00.001-04:00

It is a truth universally acknowledged that I will enjoy a book *that* much more when there’s a nod to Jane Austen (it’s also a truth that I will absolutely always overuse that opening). I hadn’t realized there was a hint of Pride and Prejudice in Jackie Lau’s latest novel before I started it but, not surprisingly, I was totally into it. Love, Lies, and Cherry Pie is by no means a P&P adaptation but it does take some of the best parts of Austen’s most well-known novel and uses them to make a modern rom com that was an absolute joy to read.

Here’s the book’s description:
Mark Chan this. Mark Chan that.

Writer and barista Emily Hung is tired of hearing about the great Mark Chan, the son of her parents’ friends. You’d think he single-handedly stopped climate change and ended child poverty from the way her mother raves about him. But in reality, he’s just a boring, sweater-vest-wearing engineer, and when they’re forced together at Emily’s sister’s wedding, it’s obvious he thinks he’s too good for her.
But now that Emily is her family’s last single daughter, her mother is fixated on getting her married and she has her sights on Mark. There’s only one solution, clearly : convince Mark to be in a fake relationship with her long enough to put an end to her mom’s meddling. He reluctantly agrees.
Unfortunately, lying isn’t enough. Family friends keep popping up at their supposed dates—including a bubble tea shop and cake-decorating class—so they’ll have to spend more time together to make their relationship look real. With each fake date, though, Emily realizes that Mark’s not quite what she assumed and maybe that argyle sweater isn’t so ugly after all…

You may not have read Pride and Prejudice but I think there’s a better chance you’ve probably watched Bridget Jones’ Diary (bonus points if you’ve read both novels and watched the movies). Bridget is also a nod to P&P and is one of the most fun adaptations of Austen’s work. Lau’s felt like that too - right down to the main male character being named Mark and having a penchant for sweaters - and it was much fun.

Like Elizabeth and Darcy, Emily and Mark got off on the wrong foot. Way wrong. Luckily, they eventually realized how boneheaded they had been (Emily especially) and actually communicated with each other. About fake dating and lying to their families, but communicating nonetheless! It was really enjoyable to watch them put their guards down and start to become friends - and something more.

I always, always struggle when a main character’s family and/or friends tries to force them into being in a relationship. That there’s no way they could be happy without someone special in their life. I can handle some of it because the family really does mean well and it really is coming from a place of love. But when the family refuses to take no for an answer? And won’t listen to the main character, who they claim to love so much that they want them to be happy? That’s when I get frustrated. And I know it wouldn’t be a romance book without conflict and a couple getting together but…it can be really hard for me to read a MC being ignored by those who claim to love them that they’re forced to lie or do other ridiculous things just to please their family. As an aside to the whole family thing - I did NOT buy the excuse for Emily’s eldest sister’s behaviour. I was so irritated at her and the reasoning behind it was not good enough and there were no consequences for how she was behaving towards Emily.

The first third or so of the novel was told from Emily’s perspective but then it starts to switch back and forth between Mark and Emily. I do like when romances have dual perspectives but it had been solely Emily’s POV for so long that it was kind of jarring to finally get Mark’s thoughts - as appreciated as they were to get a better sense of him and how he was feeling about the whole fake dating thing.

I really liked that Emily was an author and Lau showcased how tough it can be to become (and stay) published. It shouldn’t be a surprise that I liked the bookish element of this novel but I find that Lau was a lot more honest and realistic than other rom com authors are when their main characters are writers. As much as I hated that Emily had to keep justifying her job and how she spends her time to her friends and family, it seemed more honest that way. But the way Mark was so supportive of her writing and was protective of her time? Swoon.

Oh, and bonus! The novel is set in Toronto. Three cheers for romances taking place in Canada!

Love, Lies, and Cherry Pie was so much fun to read. I was entertained by Jackie Lau’s novel from start to finish. I wouldn’t call this a super memorable novel or the best rom com I’ve ever read but it was fun and I enjoyed it - and that’s all that matters when it comes to reading!

*An egalley of this novel was provided by the publisher, Simon & Schuster, via Edelweiss in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Review: Every Time We Say Goodbye

2024-05-16T07:43:00.000-04:00

I’ve been reading Natalie Jenner’s work since her debut novel, The Jane Austen Society, was released in 2020. She writes really thoughtful and quite interesting historical fiction stories with characters who feel so familiar even though they lived so long ago. Every Time We Say Goodbye is her latest and readers will recognize some of the characters in this tale and will feel as though it’s like revisiting an old friend.

Here’s the book’s description:

In 1955, Vivien Lowry is facing the greatest challenge of her life. Her latest play, the only female-authored play on the London stage that season, has opened in the West End to rapturous applause from the audience. The reviewers, however, are not as impressed as the playgoers and their savage notices not only shut down the play but ruin Lowry's last chance for a dramatic career. With her future in London not looking bright, at the suggestion of her friend, Peggy Guggenheim, Vivien takes a job in as a script doctor on a major film shooting in Rome’s Cinecitta Studios. There she finds a vibrant movie making scene filled with rising stars, acclaimed directors, and famous actors in a country that is torn between its past and its potentially bright future, between the liberation of the post-war cinema and the restrictions of the Catholic Church that permeates the very soul of Italy.
As Vivien tries to forge a new future for herself, she also must face the long-buried truth of the recent World War and the mystery of what really happened to her deceased fiancé. Every Time We Say Goodbye is a brilliant exploration of trauma and tragedy, hope and renewal, filled with dazzling characters both real and imaginary, from the incomparable author who charmed the world with her novels The Jane Austen Society and Bloomsbury Girls.

There was something niggling at me while reading this one, making me wonder why I wasn’t loving it as I expected to. As talented as I think Jenner is, I didn’t feel like she quite brought all the stories together in a cohesive way. There was a lot going on - in two timelines - with a lot of characters. Probably too many characters. I appreciated that Jenner wanted to include some of the real folks who would have been in Italy at that time (Sophia Loren and Ava Gardner to name two), but I felt they didn’t really add anything to the story. Another blogger put it well when we were talking about why this one didn’t hit as we expected. We both love Natasha Lester’s novels and she is a master at sharing information about a specific topic (usually fashion in Lester’s case and the film industry in Jenner’s) and weaving a historical story around it. The weave in Jenner’s story was loose and I think that’s why we were struggling a bit.

All that said, I didn’t find this to be a bad book. I was still interested in the story and wanted to find out how it all ended. I was invested in Vivien’s life and wondered how the tale of la scolaretta would unfold. How did a young, female resistance fighter tie into Vivien’s story? (You’ll have to read it to find out, obviously!)

I remember learning about the Hollywood blacklist and the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) way back in university. It’s a fascinating and heartbreaking part of history. So many folks in the film industry were pressured to give up information on their colleagues during the witch hunts simply because Hollywood was trying to prove they were patriotic and not supporting communism. Jenner’s novel didn’t feature the hearings or what was happening in Hollywood. Instead, it showcased how many American filmmakers fled to Europe (the reverse of what happened during the war) to avoid persecution. I don’t think I’ve come across many novels that feature this so heavily and I’d be interested in reading more fiction stories about it.

Even with the inclusion of the WWII storyline, Jenner’s novel is a quieter historical fiction tale. She’s explored topics and a point in time that some may not have read about (I certainly haven’t seen it often in novels) and gives us a glimpse of what life could have been like in 1950s Rome. The war is behind them, but the effects of it were still being felt strongly and on an almost daily basis. It’s not going to be for everyone but if you’re genuinely interested in history and getting a feel of what the time period could have been like? Jenner’s novels are for you.

Every Time We Say Goodbye by Natalie Jenner wasn’t a winner for me but I’m still glad I read it. I enjoyed getting a glimpse into the film industry of 1950s Rome and revisiting characters I had met in her previous novels.

*An egalley of this novel was provided by the publisher, St. Martin's Press, via NetGalley in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Review: Lighting Strikes the Silence

2024-05-14T07:37:00.001-04:00

Gather around, my friends. It's the time of year when I write, in length, about how amazing the Lane Winslow mystery series is. Iona Whishaw has created a heroine and a series I absolutely cannot get enough of. Lightning Strikes the Silence is the latest installment (the eleventh!) and it was everything I needed it to be!

Here’s the book’s description:

A warm June afternoon in King’s Cove is interrupted by an explosion. Following the sound, Lane goes to investigate. Up a steep path she discovers a secluded cabin and, hiding nearby, a young Japanese girl injured and mute, but very much alive.
At the Nelson Police Station, Inspector Darling and Sergeant Ames, following up on a report of a nighttime heist at the local jeweller’s, discover the jeweller himself dead in his office, apparently bludgeoned, and a live wire hanging off the back of the building.
As Lane attempts to speed the search for the girl’s family with her own lines of inquiry, Darling and his team dig deeper into a local connection between the jeweller and a fellow businessman that leads across the pond to Cornwall and north to a mining interest on the McKenzie River.
Offices are being ransacked and someone is following Lane. Through the alleyways of Nelson onto the country roads and woods trails of King’s Cove, the latest Winslow mystery is a study in bygone promises and lingering prejudice.

I love Whishaw’s novels for a number of reasons so I’ll go through them all and how I felt about them while reading this latest book. The first is the mystery element. I’m almost always surprised with how things turn out but not in a jaw-dropping, I-never-saw-this-coming kind of way. Part of the surprise, for me, could be because there are usually two cases happening simultaneously, sometimes connected, sometimes not. There’s always something Lane finds herself caught up in (much to Darling’s dismay!) as well as a case the police in Nelson are working on solving. I find the two mysteries allow me to just go along for the ride, trusting that all will be revealed at the right moment. In this book, I had a feeling I knew who the murderer was a little earlier than usual but the reasoning and how it all unfolded was still enough of a surprise to satisfy me.

Speaking of the mystery, I was lucky enough to see Whishaw at an event the week before publication day. She was interesting, delightful, and so much fun. I’m really glad I made the trek to the event! Given the multiple mysteries in her books, I was surprised to learn that Whishaw is an absolute pantser. She doesn’t plot out her stories and sometimes doesn’t even know who the murderer may be. She also said (and I love this) that when a dead body comes along as she’s writing, she has a personal rule that the body must stay and she just has to figure out what to do about it. Fascinating!

I also adore the historical aspect of these novels. I’m always learning a little nugget (or two…or three…) when I read Whishaw’s books, which I love. Recorded Canadian history may be a little more recent than history from other countries, but it is vast and so much is unknown or not talked about nearly enough. In this novel, Whishaw shines a light on the expulsion and internment of Japanese folks during World War II. This was yet another moment in history when white settlers thought they knew best and banished a group from a particular area. And for those who say that at least Canada wasn’t as bad as the US? Not in this case. It took far longer for Japanese individuals to be allowed to move back to the coastal areas of British Columbia than it did their counterparts in the United States. It took until 1949 until those of Japanese descent (even those born in Canada) were allowed to move freely throughout the country.

Finally, I love the characters Whishaw has created. Lane is based on her mother (she said during the event that people always ask why she “had” to make Lane so beautiful. She says it’s because Lane is based on her mom and her mom was beautiful, therefore Lane must be beautiful, too!) but even with Whishaw’s mom as the inspiration, Lane is very much her own woman and I love her so very much. There are many, many characters in King’s Cove (based on the real town of Queen’s Bay, as I learned) and Nelson but every single one of them has a purpose and a history. The novels just wouldn’t be the same without the extremely strong cast of secondary characters. I particularly liked getting to see another side of one King’s Cove character in this story!

Lighting Strikes the Silence was an absolute joy to read. Iona Whishaw has written another winner in her Lane Winslow mystery series and I cannot wait for everyone to read it. And if you haven’t started the series yet, well, what are you waiting for? Get reading!

*An egalley was provided by the publisher, Touchwood Editions, in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Review: Disturbing the Dead

2024-05-07T07:13:00.000-04:00

Presenting: the book that caused a major reading slump! I loved every second I spent reading Disturbing the Dead by Kelley Armstrong and had no idea what to do with myself when it was over. It’s the third book in her Rip Through Time series and it’s by far my favourite - they just keep getting stronger!

Here’s the book’s description:

Victorian Scotland is becoming less strange to modern-day homicide detective Mallory Atkinson. Though inhabiting someone else’s body will always be unsettling, even if her employers know that she’s not actually housemaid Catriona Mitchell, ever since the night both of them were attacked in the same dark alley 150 years apart. Mallory likes her job as assistant to undertaker/medical examiner Dr. Duncan Gray, and is developing true friends―and feelings―in this century.
So, understanding the Victorian fascination with death, Mallory isn't that surprised when she and her friends are invited to a mummy unwrapping at the home of Sir Alastair Christie. When their host is missing when it comes time to unwrap the mummy, Gray and Mallory are asked to step in. And upon closer inspection, it’s not a mummy they’ve unwrapped, but a much more modern body.

A friend mentioned that she got a little bit bored with the mystery and I can kind of see what she means. While I was invested in finding out what happened to the “modern” mummy, the other bits of the story were slightly more compelling. I wasn’t bored by it though and enjoyed the other characters I got to “meet” while Mallory and Gray tried to help solve the murder (except for, you know, the murderer - not a fan of them!).

I very much enjoyed getting back to Victorian Scotland, especially since I was just in Edinburgh (again) over Christmas. I found myself constantly Googling areas and checking my photos to see if we had ended up in some of the same places Mallory had been describing. The city, even now, is full of history that is almost impossible to fathom, especially for a tourist who’s only there for a week or so. (As busy as it was over Christmas, something I wasn’t quite expecting for some reason, it was still a remarkable place to spend the holidays.)

At the risk of being too spoilery, we get a bit more information about the time travel aspect of the story in this book. Which is kind of why the mystery took a bit of a backseat. I think my jaw was hanging open for a good portion of the story because I really wasn’t sure how it was all going to turn out!

This series may frustrate history buffs but for those of us who enjoy history but don’t actually study the Victorian era? Oh, it’s perfect. I love the time period, the location, the characters, the time travel, and the mysteries. It’s everything I love wrapped up in one hell of a compelling series. One that I really hope continues!

Historical fiction and mystery lovers will thoroughly enjoy Kelley Armstrong’s latest book, Disturbing the Dead. The Rip Through Time series is incredibly entertaining and is well worth a read. (Even if it did give me a huge book hangover!)

*An egalley of this novel was provided by the publisher, Minotaur/St. Martin’s Press, via NetGalley in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Review: The Lost Lover

2024-05-02T07:33:00.000-04:00

The Lost Lover is the third in a four book historical fiction series by Karen Swan that gets the reader ever closer to solving a mystery that’s been teased and alluded to over three books. In this book, we get to hear Flora’s side of the story and it went in a direction I wasn’t expecting, which helped me keep turning the pages to see how much was going to be revealed.

Here’s the book’s description:

Young Flora MacQueen has always dreamed of more than a hard life on the small Scottish island of St Kilda. And when she catches the eye of visiting adventurer and wealthy businessman James Callaghan her future seems brighter.
Only, as the islanders prepare to leave their homes for the final time, Flora finds her dreams shattered. With her beauty her only currency she must step forward in ways that would have been unthinkable back home in order to support her family. Soon Flora is the toast of glamorous Paris. Fame and fortune are hers for the taking but she knows only too well by now that rich men make empty promises.
But then a secret comes to light that will change everything . . .

I think if you haven’t read The Last Summer or The Stolen Hours, the first two books in the Wild Isles series, don’t read The Lost Lover. You’ll be, well, lost! And you really won’t understand why you’re reading about certain things and what kind of importance they have. I think that’s kind of why I didn’t find this one to be as strong as the others. I don’t know if it was my mood or the book itself, but it really just felt like a placeholder until we get the fourth book, FINALLY start moving forward in time again, and find out what, exactly, happened on that island.

This book tells Flora’s story as the residents of St. Kilda spend their last winter on the island before being evacuated to the Scottish mainland (can you call another island “mainland”?Main island? Big island?). The story starts back at the beginning where we meet all three young women and then follows them as important (in the plot sense) characters visit (and leave) the island. The thing is, the reader has already experienced some of the major plot points in Effie’s story (book one) and then in Mhairi’s story (book two). By this point, I felt kind of over it and wanted new information. Which I didn’t really get until the very last page of the book (there was another bit of news part way through but it didn’t surprise me nearly as much as the reveal at the end).

I found that Flora’s story really emphasized how difficult it would have been for the St. Kilda residents to be plucked off their island and set down in a large town (or even a city) full of sights, sounds, smells, and tastes that they’d never, ever experienced before. And were definitely not prepared for. The islanders didn’t even use money on St. Kilda - how were they to navigate paying for anything? Or even knowing what they needed to pay for? I feel like some of the folks would have been able to gain understanding of their new world at a more leisurely pace (though it would have felt breakneck to them) but Flora was thrust into a completely different world, one the average person would have struggled with. She had no idea what was being asked of her and it infuriated me that those she met didn’t try to explain it. It wasn’t that they were trying to take advantage of her naivete. It was more, they knew she didn’t know any better and just…didn’t care to help her learn. Sure, she learned how to be presented like a shiny object, how to look beautiful, and how to perform. But social skills? Those she was severely lacking in the world she now found herself in. All I could do was hope that things would work out for her.

Reviewing a book in a series is always tricky but this one feels harder, somehow. If I say too much, the first two books may get spoiled. Too little and it’s just a bunch of words on a screen that aren’t really saying much of anything. I’m glad I got to read Flora’s side of the story in The Lost Lover but I found myself wishing we could just get to book four in Karen Swan’s Wild Isles series sooner rather than later. I’m still very much looking forward to that last book and am so impatient because I must find out what happened on that island!

*A copy of this novel was provided by the Canadian distributor, Publishers Group Canada, in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Review: Truly, Madly, Deeply

2024-04-30T07:26:00.000-04:00

I think Truly, Madly, Deeply is my favourite Alexandria Bellefleur book to date. I said what I said! I’ve been reading her books since she published Written in the Stars in 2020 and her latest is the fifth I’ve read. It was just…everything I needed. Swoony, emotional, steamy (my lord, was it every steamy). Just wonderful.

Here’s the book’s description:

As a bestselling romance novelist, everyone thinks Truly Livingston is an expert on happily-ever-afters. She’s even signed on to record a podcast sharing relationship advice. Little do they know she feels like an imposter—her parents just announced they’re separating, she caught her fiancé cheating, and her entire view on love has been shaken to the core. Truly hopes the podcast will distract her... until she meets her cohost.
Her first impression of Colin McCory is...hot. But then he opens his extremely kissable mouth. Colin’s view on love just pisses Truly off, even if he does have an annoyingly attractive face. Bickering with a cynical divorce lawyer is the last thing she needs—so she walks out, with no plans to return.
A few days later, Truly is surprised when Colin tracks her down, asking for a fresh start. Truly can’t deny the little thrill she gets from Colin begging, so she reluctantly agrees. As they go from enemies to friends to something else entirely, Truly discovers they have more in common than she ever imagined, including their shared queerness. He’s a genuinely good guy—charming, sweet, and equally as unlucky in love as herself—and there’s something about Colin that drives Truly a little wild. When their attraction reaches a fever pitch, Truly is happy for the first time in years. Yet she can’t help but wonder... is Colin truly, madly, deeply in love with her? Or is it all too good to be true?

I don’t love the enemies-to-lovers trope. Too often I find that the characters clearly hate each other or the “hate” is something stupid or non-existent. And some might find this amusing when they know I love Pride and Prejudice, possibly the first ever enemies-to-lovers romance novel. But what I like about P&P is that Elizabeth and Darcy get off on the wrong foot but they are, after a time, willing to concede that they were too proud and prejudiced and finally see the other as a romantic prospect. I found the same happened in this book. Truly and Colin didn’t really hate each other (even though she tells her mom she absolutely does). They just get off on the wrong foot and then needle each other at subsequent meetings. But they can tell there’s something there and after *gasp* communicating with each other, they realize assumptions were made and maybe, just maybe, they might be good together.

Some of Truly’s behaviour was a little juvenile and hard to get past but that’s getting a little nitpicky. I wish she hadn’t pulled a Parent Trap on her parents (it’s their relationship and has nothing to do with her and I felt she was too smart to not understand that). And I hated her ex and that she thought it was OK to be with just a trash human. If there were no conflict, there would be no story, I get that, but I don’t know if she really would have been ready to move on to an emotionally healthy relationship when she had just been in a toxic one.

I don’t often declare book boyfriends in part because 1. I read a ton of romance novels and 2. I’m just not often drawn that much to the love interests in the way other readers are. But Colin? Yeah, that man is my new book boyfriend. He was smart, sweet, caring, and funny, among other attributes. He also really, truly cared about Truly. And I know that all other romances have characters who care about each other, that’s kind of the whole point, but Bellefleur took it to another level and it was extremely attractive.

Speaking of romance…I mentioned this book was steamy. Folks, this is so beyond NSFW that it can’t even see work in the rearview mirror. And I mean that in the best possible way. The sex scenes weren’t overly numerous nor were they gratuitous. They were well placed and made a whole lot of sense from a plot perspective. They were very well done and very hot.

There’s also an excellent scene when Truly and Colin are discussing sexual identities that reminded me a lot of the Schitt’s Creek scene when David says he likes the wine but not the label. Like Bellefleur herself, both Truly and Colin are bi which I think is a pretty important thing to state when the book and their relationship is straight presenting. Bi erasure is real and we don’t need that in the world or our romance novels.

Truly, Madly, Deeply was just the romance novel I needed. I love all Alexandria Bellefleur’s books but this one may be my new favourite. It has heart and heat and characters you can’t help but fall in love with. You're going to want to read it!

*An egalley of this novel was provided by the publisher, Avon, via Edelweiss in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Review: Earls Trip

2024-04-17T07:44:00.001-04:00

Jenny Holiday has written sweet romances and spicy romances and those books are always very enjoyable. So, I was intrigued when I heard she was writing a historical romance. And, friends, she can write the hell out of a historical romance, too! Earls Trip was too much fun and I enjoyed it so much. It’s out next week, April 23, so get those library holds and preorders in!

Here’s the book’s description:

Even an earl needs his ride-or-dies, and Archibald Fielding-Burton, the Earl of Harcourt, counts himself lucky to have two. Archie (the jock), Simon (the nerd), and Effie (the goth) have been BFFs since their school days, and their annual trip holds a sacred spot in their calendars. This year, Archie is especially eager to get away—until an urgent letter arrives from an old family friend, begging him to help prevent a ruinous scandal. Archie’s childhood pal Olive Morgan must be rescued from an ill-fated elopement—and her sister Clementine must be rescued from rescuing Olive. Suddenly the trip has become earls-plus-girls.
This . . . complicates matters. The fully grown Clementine, while as frank and refreshing as Archie remembers, is also different to the wild, windswept girl he knew. This Clem is complex and surprising—and adamantly opposed to marriage. Which, for reasons Archie dare not examine too closely, he finds increasingly vexing.
Then Clem makes him an indecent and quite delightful proposal, asking him to show her the pleasures of the marriage bed before she settles into spinsterhood. And what kind of gentleman would he be to refuse a lady?

I recognize that many books, TV shows, movies, etc are being created because of the “Bridgerton Effect” - that they (the powers that be who decide what to publish or create for screen) recognize there’s an appetite for stories that are as fun, frothy, and historical (ish) as the Bridgerton TV show. Earls Trip had a similar vibe as Bridgerton which I was totally into. Holiday paid attention to the historical elements she needed to but she wasn’t so strict about language or social norms. I find that authors sometimes force the language so much that it sounds…ridiculous. Holiday didn’t do that, thankfully!

I’m excited that this appears to be a series because I’m really looking forward to hanging out with all of these characters again. Holiday created a group of earls (well, two earls and a viscount) who were so delightful. I loved the ladies but the guys were the stars. Their friendship would be refreshing in a contemporary romance so to have it be the focus of a historical romance was a delight. They weren’t shy about their friendship and feelings for each other. Archie maybe mentioned that it wasn’t normal for them to be expressing those feelings a bit too often but it was nice to see how much they cared for each other, their found family. And they willingly embraced the ladies and brought them into the fold, too. Love!

Even though the main purpose of this novel was to be a fun romance, Holiday wove some more serious issues into the story as well. Some had to do with society of the time, such as how Clem (and all other women) were basically just things to be owned and ordered about by men, whether that was their father or their husband (because of course their life goal had to be marriage and marriage to a man - there was no other option). Others issues were more general and something contemporary readers can understand, such as Archie’s mother’s dementia. I felt everything was handled well and respectfully and added to the overall story in a really great way.

Earls Trip was such a fun read and I’m already missing the characters I met in Jenny Holiday’s latest novel. I can’t wait for the next book in the series and I think romance readers everywhere will also thoroughly enjoy this book!

*An egalley of this book was provided by the publisher, Kensington Books, via NetGalley in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Review: Here We Go Again

2024-04-10T07:45:00.000-04:00

I didn’t think I’d get into a “rom com about death” but there was something about Alison Cochrun’s latest romance, Here We Go Again, that kept me intrigued. The emotional component of this one was off the charts but knowing I’d get a Happily Ever After at the end helped balance the negative feelings that came up while reading.

Here’s the book’s description:

A long time ago, Logan Maletis and Rosemary Hale used to be friends. They spent their childhood summers running through the woods, rebelling against their conservative small town, and dreaming of escaping. But then an incident the summer before high school turned them into bitter rivals. After graduation, they went ten years without speaking.
Now in their thirties, Logan and Rosemary find they aren’t quite living the lives of adventure they imagined for themselves. Still in their small town and working as teachers at their alma mater, they’re both stuck in old patterns. Uptight Rosemary chooses security and stability over all else, working constantly, and her most stable relationship is with her label maker. Chaotic and impulsive Logan has a long list of misguided ex-lovers and an apathetic shrug she uses to protect herself from anything real. And as hard as they try to avoid each other—and their complicated past—they keep crashing into each other. Including with their cars.
But when their beloved former English teacher and lifelong mentor tells them he has only a few months to live, they’re forced together once and for all to fulfill his last a cross-country road trip. Stuffed into the gayest van west of the Mississippi, the three embark on a life-changing summer trip—from Washington state to the Grand Canyon, from the Gulf Coast to coastal Maine—that will chart a new future and perhaps lead them back to one another.

I absolutely loved The Charm Offensive when I read it back in 2021 (review here). I somehow missed Kiss Her Once for Me but thought I’d give Cochrun’s latest book a try when I was gifted an egalley. The Charm Offensive still wins but Here We Go Again was still a good read.

I do have to say…it was a little tricky to really root for Logan and Rosemary. I’ve stopped reading romances before when the main love interests drive me bonkers. Why bother reading about a couple getting together for a HEA when I don’t care for either of their personalities? I, like many people, also struggle with miscommunication in romances (setting aside the fact that none of us are great communicators in real life). While this book doesn’t exactly have miscommunication in the traditional sense, I could tell right away that things would have been a LOT different for the two women if they had just been honest with each other, either when they were teens (which is a stretch, I know) or when Rosemary moved back to town a few years prior to the start of the novel. They both made huge assumptions of the other - not unlike Pride and Prejudice - and it grated at me ever so slightly. I got over it enough to keep reading the book, though, and I really think it had to do with the way Cochrun writes and the story she was telling.

While, at first, Logan and Rosemary didn’t make much sense, what did make sense was how much they cared about Joe, their former English teacher. The way Cochrun wrote the relationship between Joe and each of the women was…oh my word. I felt like I was grieving right alongside them. She wrote it so well and I could feel every moment of pain - and joy - that they were experiencing along their road trip.

Here We Go Again is a sapphic road trip rom com about death that will, not surprisingly, have you feeling all the feels. Alison Cochrun is a talented writer and I look forward to reading her next book - and going back into her backlist to catch up!

Content warnings: parental abandonment (before start of novel but addressed on the page), death, grief, cancer, hospice care, hospitals, reference to alcoholism

*An egalley was provided by the publisher, Simon & Schuster, via Edelweiss in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Review: Death on the Lusitania

2024-04-04T07:37:00.001-04:00

For all the historical fiction I read, I didn’t know much about the RMS Lusitania. I vaguely recalled something from history class telling me it sank but that was about it - I didn’t know when, how, or why. Enter Death on the Lusitania by R.L. Graham, a husband and wife author team. (Sadly, Marilyn Livingstone was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and passed away while the book was being written.) This novel is the first in a historical mystery series and I was interested because the authors were born in Canada, I didn’t know much about the ship, I like historical mysteries, and, well, that cover! Isn’t it stunning? The story held between the gorgeous covers kept me interested and I really wasn’t sure whodunit until all was revealed!

Here’s the book’s description:

Welcome on board the Lusitania’s final voyage . . .
New York, 1915. RMS Lusitania, one of the world’s most luxurious trans-Atlantic liners, departs for Liverpool and war-torn Europe. Among those on board is Patrick Gallagher, a civil servant in Her Majesty’s government tasked with discreetly escorting a British diplomat back to England in relation to charges of suspected treason.
When a fellow passenger, Jimmy Dowrich, is found shot to death in his cabin, the captain asks Gallagher to investigate. Knowing something of the man’s past, Gallagher realizes that the problem will not be simple; and also, the body was discovered in a locked cabin with the key inside and no gun to be found.
Gallagher believes that one of his fellow passengers is a deadly killer. But many of those on board are harbouring secrets of their own, and his questioning reveals that several had a motive for ending Dowrich’s life. He fears that the killer could strike again to protect their true reasons for being on board and all the while, the ship sails on towards Europe, where deadly submarines patrol the war zone . . .

I liked that Graham chose to have a countdown to the sinking of the ship at the start of each chapter. A bit morbid, yes, but it amped up the tension that was already present in the novel in a really good way. You know the ship is doomed but, oh by the way, people are being murdered on board, too! As if the guests didn’t have enough to worry about, sailing into a warzone and all. That part did make me think about what I would have done in the guests’ position. Would I have still chosen to sail, knowing there was a very real chance a U-boat would torpedo the ship?

Since I didn’t remember much about the Lusitania other than it had sank at some point in history, I definitely didn’t know that there was a second explosion after the torpedo hit the ship and the reason for that second explosion has never been determined, at least not definitively. She was carrying ammunition, though she was not armed, so it’s possible that some of her cargo was the cause of the second explosion. Graham took that possibility and wondered, “what if this happened?” And this became Death on the Lusitania. They were clear from the outset that they were reimagining history, to an extent, and I appreciated both the note and their creativity.

The historical aspect may have charmed me ever so slightly more than the mystery in this novel, but that’s not to say I was unimpressed with the case. This is the set up to the start of a series starring Patrick Gallagher, who is, ostensibly, a civil servant for His Majesty’s government (something I realized while writing this review - the book's description says “Her” Majesty but there was a King on the throne in 1915, George V - grandson of Queen Victoria and grandfather of Queen Elizabeth II). With the Captain (the only real character in the book) slightly occupied with getting his ship through the war zone in one piece, he tasks Gallagher with figuring out who decided Dowrich wouldn’t live to see the ship’s destination. While I questioned some of Gallagher’s methods (sometimes it seemed like he was giving away too much, like, “Was it so-and-so who told you such-and-such?” and the suspect says, “Why, yes!” but…was it or did they just grab hold of a piece of information that’ll help them?), I still couldn’t put together who the murderer was. Part of me wonders if I couldn’t figure it out because it just wasn’t well done and was far too confusing. But I’m choosing to give Graham the benefit of the doubt since everything else was so well written.

Death on the Lusitania was a really solid start to a new historical mystery series. I don’t know if R.L. Graham will continue with the series now but I do hope to see another Patrick Gallagher mystery in the future.

*A copy of this novel was provided by the Canadian distributor, PGC Books, in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Review: How to End a Love Story

2024-04-02T07:26:00.000-04:00

Oh my word, friends. I may have found your next favourite romance. I was so incredibly invested in How to End a Love Story by Yulin Kuang. I couldn’t stop thinking about this debut romance when I wasn’t reading it. It is so angsty and so real with a Happily Ever After that had a lot of roadblocks in its way. It was emotional and wonderful.

Here’s the book’s description:

Helen Zhang hasn’t seen Grant Shepard once in the thirteen years since the tragic accident that bound their lives together forever.
Now a bestselling author, Helen pours everything into her career. She’s even scored a coveted spot in the writers’ room of the TV adaptation of her popular young adult novels, and if she can hide her imposter syndrome and overcome her writer’s block, surely the rest of her life will fall into place too. LA is the fresh start she needs. After all, no one knows her there. Except…
Grant has done everything in his power to move on from the past, including building a life across the country. And while the panic attacks have never quite gone away, he’s well liked around town as a screenwriter. He knows he shouldn’t have taken the job on Helen’s show, but it will open doors to developing his own projects that he just can’t pass up.
Grant’s exactly as Helen remembers him—charming, funny, popular, and lovable in ways that she’s never been. And Helen’s exactly as Grant remembers too—brilliant, beautiful, closed off. But working together is messy, and electrifying, and Helen’s parents, who have never forgiven Grant, have no idea he’s in the picture at all.
When secrets come to light, they must reckon with the fact that theirs was never meant to be any kind of love story. And yet… the key to making peace with their past—and themselves—might just lie in holding on to each other in the present.

You should want to read this book just based on the description (and the fact that I’m telling you you should, ha!), but if you want some more encouragement: Kuang is the screenwriter who is bringing Emily Henry’s novels from page to screen. You like Henry’s books, right? Throw in some more emotional angst, and you get Kuang’s novel. You’re in for a treat. (And I’m also even more excited for Henry's novels' adaptations now!)

Knowing that Kuang is a screenwriter made the story feel even more real, given the plot revolved around Grant and Helen adapting Helen’s novel for TV. Funnily enough, though, I couldn’t picture this book as a movie or TV show. You know how sometimes you can clearly see how a book would translate to screen? I didn’t get that with this one. It’s perfect as a book. And I really liked the little peek into the world of screenwriting. It was fairly in depth without being overwhelming or boring.

Helen and Grant’s background is…a lot. It wasn’t insurmountable but a lot of therapy was going to need to be involved, which Kuang made sure to talk about in a positive light. Both of them had been going to therapy but clearly still needed some more help to get past the traumatic experience that tied them together so many years before. I don’t know what I would have done in their position but, let me tell you, I was feeling all the things while reading as they figured it out. Holy emotional. In the best way! Well, terribly difficult and awful emotions but done well in the book. Just…have tissues next to you and be kind to yourself when you read this one. (I’ll put the content warnings I personally noticed down at the bottom of this review.)

I felt the characters of Helen and Grant were well-developed and I was fully invested in their lives. I needed them to work out their issues so they could be together but I didn’t know how they’d get there. Thanks to Kuang’s writing, I felt like I had a front row seat to their relationship but also to their careers. Figuring out their professional lives was more important to them, Helen especially, than whatever romantic feelings were being stirred up. It was the kind of balance I crave in romances and was so glad Kuang hit the right notes.

I absolutely loved How to End a Love Story by Yulin Kuang. This debut novel had me feeling all the feelings in the best way. I cannot wait to see what else Kuang writes.

Content warnings: grief, suicide, panic attacks, death of a family member, car accident

*An egalley was provided by the Canadian publisher, HarperCollins Canada, via NetGalley in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Review: Women of Good Fortune

2024-03-26T07:37:00.000-04:00

I love a good heist story and I also loved Crazy Rich Asians so when I heard about Sophie Wan’s debut novel, Women of Good Fortune, I was immediately intrigued. A bride and her friends come up with a plan to steal all of the red envelopes of cash from what promises to be THE wedding of the season? I was in! The novel was so much fun to read and had more depth than I was expecting. It’s definitely one to check out!

Here’s the book’s description:

Lulu has always been taught that money is the ticket to a good life. So, when Shanghai’s most eligible bachelor surprises her with a proposal, the only acceptable answer is yes, even if the voice inside her head is saying no. His family’s fortune would solve all her parents’ financial woes, but Lulu isn’t in love or ready for marriage.
The only people she can confide in are her two best friends: career-minded Rina, who is tired of being passed over for promotion as her biological clock ticks away; and Jane, a sharp-tongued, luxury-chasing housewife desperate to divorce her husband and trade up. Each of them desires something different: freedom, time, beauty. None of them can get it without money.
Lulu’s wedding is their golden opportunity. The social event of the season, it means more than enough cash gifts to transform the women’s lives. To steal the money on the big day, all they’ll need is a trustworthy crew and a brilliant plan. But as the plot grows increasingly complicated and relationships are caught in the cross fire, the women are forced to face that having it all might come at a steep price…

The story is told over the year or so leading up to Lulu and Harv’s wedding and each chapter counts down so you know just how long the women have to plan their heist. The chapters also alternate so the reader has the chance to get to know each woman - Lulu, Jane, and Rina. I liked the format but didn’t love it because, though I felt it allowed the reader to understand the women a little better, I don’t know if we ever got the most fulsome picture of each character. But I did think the tension increased with the countdown, especially when the reader realizes there’s not much time left and it doesn’t seem like things are going to work out.

As is often the case in a multi-narrated novel, I felt myself drawn to one character more than the others. In this instance, it was Rina. Lulu felt too two-dimensional (which is kind of a point of the story, which is all I’ll say about that) and Jane was…well, I’m not sure. She was hyper-focused on wanting to change her face with plastic surgery but wasn’t realizing that she had a lot of mental work to do. Work that may actually allow her to avoid going under the knife. I’m not judging her - we can never know someone’s true feelings, not even a fictional someone - but I think I got too fixated on the fact that she needed help before she’d be truly happy. I think Rina was just a little bit more formed and that was part of why I looked forward to her chapters more than the other two.

I’m sure I’ve said before that I sometimes struggle with the family dynamics in stories, particularly when the characters are from a culture different than my own. I respect that all cultures are different and truly enjoy reading about all kinds of families. I can never know - and don’t expect to know - what it’s like to live in China and have elders that deserve a different kind of respect and care than I’m used to (being a White woman living in Canada). I always chafe at the idea that someone (especially women) have to follow certain rules and obey others instead of having the life they actually want. Marriage and children aren’t for everyone and I can’t help but feel pushing a woman towards those things is an extremely outdated way of looking at the world. I try hard to let go of my particular viewpoint when I read these books but sometimes it’s hard, as it was with this novel when I was so frustrated with how Lulu was being treated in the months leading up to the wedding.

I did not have high hopes for the heist, I gotta be honest. The women were doing a lot of planning, I’ll give them that, but the reason for stealing the money felt so personal that I worried their feelings would get in the way of a successful mission. I found myself flipping through the last few chapters faster than the others because I was on the edge of my seat wondering if they’d be able to pull it off.

Women of Good Fortune was a really great read. There were some parts that could have used more work but overall I felt Sophie Wan’s debut offering was a solid one that I think a lot of people will enjoy. I can’t wait to see what she writes next!

*An egalley of this novel was provided by HTP Books via NetGalley in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Review: Lady Charlotte Always Gets Her Man

2024-03-21T07:33:00.000-04:00

I’m not sure which book started the historical rom com mystery craze but I’ve been having a lot of fun trying different books and authors that fit into this genre mishmash. Lady Charlotte Always Gets Her Man is the latest I’ve tried but Violet Marsh’s offering didn’t thrill me as I would have liked.

Here’s the book’s description:

Lady Charlotte Lovett should have never run away upon discovering her betrothal. But when one has been promised to a man who, rumor has it, killed his previous two wives, one does what one must. The only thing that can get her out of this engagement is proving that Viscount Hawley is as sinister as she thinks he is. And the person who would know best is his very own brother.
In many ways, Dr. Matthew Talbot is the exact opposite of his sibling—scholarly, shy, and shunned by society. But like his brother, he has secrets, and he doesn’t need Charlotte exposing them in her quest to take down the viscount. It only seems prudent to help her while keeping her from poking her nose in all the wrong places. But as they put their hearts at risk to grow closer to each other, they are also getting closer to a dangerous confrontation with Hawley.

One of the main issues I had with this book was Charlotte herself. She annoyed me. She may have thought she was learning the ways of the world but I felt the same as her cousins, Sophie and Hannah, and needed a lot of convincing before I could start to believe that she wasn’t just rebelling on a whim. Too often she came across as a poor little rich girl and that really grated on me. I could see she was a good person and had a less than ideal life but, at the end of the day, I didn’t really see her understanding how much her privilege afforded her. Plus, she kept putting herself in danger because she refused to hear that she didn't know how to live in the real world.

Hawley posed a very real threat - knowing but being unable to prove that he had two previous wives murdered is a terrifying prospect - but he came across as a cartoon villain. I could not take him seriously which was a problem since he was a serious problem to be dealt with.

There was some mystery and intrigue surrounding Matthew’s past that was hinted at (far too) often before it was finally revealed. By the time I learned the truth, though, I had stopped caring.

Lady Charlotte Always Gets Her Man may thrill others but Violet Marsh’s novel didn’t do much for me. It seems like there’s going to be another book in the series, with the way it ended, but I’m not sure yet if I’ll pick it up or not.

*An egalley of this novel was provided by the publisher, Forever, via NetGalley in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Review: This Could Be Us

2024-03-19T07:26:00.001-04:00

Kennedy Ryan’s been on my radar for awhile but, like many authors, it’s taken some time to finally read her books. So many books, so little time, am I right? When Before I Let Go, the first in Ryan’s Skyland series, came out in 2022, I told myself I’d read it. Fast forward to the month before This Could Be Us is released and I finally got around to diving into Yasmen’s story. I loved it. I immediately picked up Soledad’s book - and I loved it too.

Here’s the book’s description:

Soledad Barnes has her life all planned out. Because, of course, she does. She plans everything. She designs everything. She fixes everything. She’s a domestic goddess who's never met a party she couldn't host or a charge she couldn't lead. The one with all the answers and the perfect vinaigrette for that summer salad. But none of her varied talents can save her when catastrophe strikes, and the life she built with the man who was supposed to be her forever, goes poof in a cloud of betrayal and disillusion.
But there is no time to pout or sulk, or even grieve the life she lost. She's too busy keeping a roof over her daughters' heads and food on the table. And in the process of saving them all, Soledad rediscovers herself. From the ashes of a life burned to the ground, something bold and new can rise.
But then an unlikely man enters the picture—the forbidden one, the one she shouldn't want but can't seem to resist. She's lost it all before and refuses to repeat her mistakes. Can she trust him? Can she trust herself?
After all she's lost . . .and found . . .can she be brave enough to make room for what could be?

I’m running a romance book club at the library I work at right now so I’m finding myself thinking about romances, why we love them, and what makes them romances vs any other kind of story, a whole lot more than I have before. After reading the first two Skyland books, I wondered, are these romance novels? There’s a Happily Ever After/For Now, absolutely, but that HEA doesn’t seem to be the main purpose of the story. Unless you’re thinking about the HEA the main characters have with themselves. I love the love stories in these books, but I was really there for the women and their process of learning to love themselves more than I was for them loving the men in their lives. Does it matter if I think it’s a romance or not? No. But we all know marketing matters and I’m always curious about how books are marketed.

I, like seemingly everyone in Soledad’s life, did not like her husband. But even I wouldn’t have guessed what went down. It was WILD and I could have felt like I was watching a movie (complete with a giant bowl of popcorn as I watched the chaos) but for the fact that I cared about Soledad and her girls so damn much. I hated what was happening to them which is partly due to the characters Ryan created and how she wrote them. (And partly because I'm not a monster and only monsters wouldn't feel moved by the situation they're in.)

I do, however, have some questions about some of Soledad’s choices but given I’m 1. Not a mother and 2. Haven’t been in her situation, I’m not here to judge. But I’m bringing it up because these thoughts pulled me out of the story Ryan created when I shouldn’t have been. I’ll continue being vague about what actually happened, but you can know that Soledad is left without (much) money so she has to try to land on her feet during a shitstorm while also earning money to look after her three daughters. While I can understand that she wanted to keep their lives as consistent as possible, I couldn’t understand why that meant she had to continue living in the same, giant, expensive house or pay for expensive gymnastic lessons and so on. Sorry, kids, sometimes life sucks and you don’t get to do all the things you used to. I just kept thinking that it would have been so much more financially responsible to sell the house instead of spending a ton of money on it when she was in such a precarious position.

I love the feeling of community I got with the first two Skyland books. I loved being a part of that group of friends and family. I enjoyed spending time with them and wanted only the best for every single person I met while reading (apart from Soledad’s no-good husband and his racist mother). That love I have makes it even harder that now I have to wait for Hendrix’s book after bingeing the first two!

This Could Be Us was a fantastic read and I loved being part of the world Kennedy Ryan has created with her Skyland series. You’ll have all the feelings while reading this one so keep the wine, and maybe the box of tissues, at hand while you read. I think you’re going to love it too!

*An egalley of this novel was provided by the Canadian distributor, HBG Canada, via NetGalley in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Review: The Cat Who Caught a Killer

2024-03-14T08:30:00.001-04:00

Being a mystery fan, and one who enjoys some that are on the cozier side, how could I not be intrigued by a book that features a former cop and a TALKING CAT!? I heard about the Conrad the Cat Detective series when book two was released last year and since I was interested, PGC Books sent me the first book, The Cat Who Caught a Killer, to check out. L.T. Shearer’s first offering in the series should have been a winner but there was a lot that just didn’t land well enough to make me love it.

Here’s the book’s description:

Meet Conrad the cat. You’ve never met a detective like him before.
Neither has Lulu Lewis when he walks into her life one summer’s day. Mourning the recent death of her husband, the former police detective had expected a gentle retirement, quietly enjoying life on her new canal boat, The Lark, and visiting her mother-in-law Emily in a nearby care home.
But when Emily dies suddenly in suspicious circumstances, Lulu senses foul play and resolves to find out what really happened. And a remarkable cat named Conrad will be with her every step of the way...

The writing in this book…well, it left a lot to be desired. I found it to be repetitive in a lot of places. There were words that were overused but also plot points. We learned about a lot of things that are toxic to cats. We were also told about people’s auras (something cats can see, apparently) all…the…time. And if I had to hear Lulu’s former colleague complain about how he couldn’t say things like he used to be able to (you know, in the “good old days”) and that the force thought he was a “dinosaur”, I was going to throw the book out the window. Poor, middle-aged white man, thinking the world is out to get him these days. Oh and we can’t forget that Lulu has a lot of money and doesn’t have any financial worries.

I don’t always mind when I can figure out where the mystery is going but I saw the end of this one coming from a mile away. And it (the mystery, not me figuring it out) made me so mad. I wasn’t particularly enamoured with Lulu but I didn’t dislike her and I hated that she was dealing with such terrible circumstances and news. I wasn’t satisfied at the end when everything was revealed because I hated the pain that was caused and I wasn’t surprised.

I don’t know if it’s because the audiobook narrator didn’t sound old enough but I was constantly forgetting that Lulu was probably in her late fifties, early sixties. Or maybe older. I’m really not sure. Should that have mattered? Nope, not at all. I didn’t mind that she was an older main character. I minded that it didn’t really seem like she was older.

The other thing that really shouldn’t matter but does - there is zero information on L.T. Shearer so it’s clearly a pseudonym. Which is fine. But the little biography that is available is extremely careful about avoiding all gendered language. And not in the way that we should all be careful by not assuming gender or using harmful language. It makes me wonder if it’s a male author which would kind of make sense based on Lulu’s colleague’s attitude and how Lulu didn’t really seem like a fully formed character.

So, no, The Cat Who Caught a Killer was not a winner for me. I kept listening to the book in part because the narrator, Imogen Church, was delightful. There was just enough of a hook in L.T. Shearer’s novel to keep me reading it but I don’t feel the urge to pick up the next book in the series. Not even a talking cat will entice me!

*A copy of this novel was provided by the Canadian distributors, PGC Books, in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Review: A Love Song for Ricki Wilde

2024-03-11T07:25:00.000-04:00

You know those books that you desperately want to finish because you want to know how it all wraps up but you also want the story to last forever because you know you’re not going to be ready to say goodbye? A Love Song for Ricki Wilde was one of those books for me. I absolutely adored Tia Williams’ latest novel and am so, so, so very glad I had the opportunity to read it.

Here’s the book’s description:

Leap years are a strange, enchanted time. And for some, even a single February can be life-changing.
Ricki Wilde has many talents, but being a Wilde isn’t one of them. As the impulsive, artistic daughter of a powerful Atlanta dynasty, she’s the opposite of her famous socialite sisters. Where they’re long-stemmed roses, she’s a dandelion: an adorable bloom that’s actually a weed, born to float wherever the wind blows. In her bones, Ricki knows that somewhere, a different, more exciting life awaits her.
When regal nonagenarian, Ms. Della, invites her to rent the bottom floor of her Harlem brownstone, Ricki jumps at the chance for a fresh beginning. She leaves behind her family, wealth, and chaotic romantic decisions to realize her dream of opening a flower shop. And just beneath the surface of her new neighborhood, the music, stories and dazzling drama of the Harlem Renaissance still simmers.
One evening in February as the heady, curiously off-season scent of night-blooming jasmine fills the air, Ricki encounters a handsome, deeply mysterious stranger who knocks her world off balance in the most unexpected way.
Set against the backdrop of modern Harlem and Renaissance glamour, A Love Song for Ricki Wilde is a swoon-worthy love story of two passionate artists drawn to the magic, romance, and opportunity of New York, and whose lives are uniquely and irreversibly linked.

I loved Ricki. I desperately wanted to be her friend. And visit her flower shop, Wilde Things, because it sounded like an amazing place to hang out in. I was sad that Ricki’s family couldn’t see how great she was but so happy that she created her own family with Ms. Della and Tuesday. I’m a big fan of the found family storyline. And Ms. Della! Oh, how I loved her too.

I’ve only been to New York City once and it was a very quick trip for a book conference/expo/event thingy so I didn’t have a whole lot of time to explore. I definitely didn’t get to Harlem. So, I loved being able to walk the streets with Ricki and learn about her new neighbourhood right alongside her. I especially loved that she was learning the history of the area and was able to find a really amazing way to feature the history and her flowers at the same time. Brilliant.

Speaking of the history, it was fun to see Harlem during its heyday in Breeze’s sections early on in the book. It sounded like an absolutely wild time to be alive. I’m going to have to seek out some historical fiction about the Harlem Renaissance now!

I don’t want to get too into it because it’s all part of the magic of this novel but there’s a hint of magic realism in this story. If you’re not able to set aside your realistic notions and open your mind, this may not be the book for you. But if you’re intrigued by a little mystery and Leap Year magic? Oh, you’re going to want to pick this one up. I wasn’t sure how Williams was going to bring everything together and I was surprised and delighted with how she did.

And the romance? Holy smokes, it was electric. Ricki and Ezra were magical together. (Yes, this review was brought to you by the word "magic.") It was a wee bit intense but that worked for a couple of reasons. First, they’re intense people who feel things deeply. Second, they’re soulmates and it can be a heady thing when you first meet your soulmate. Third, well, I can’t tell you that without giving things away. There was a slow burn that absolutely exploded when they finally gave into the attraction they were feeling for each other. I didn’t even notice the slowness because there was so much build up in the rest of the story that was well done and very necessary.

A Love Song for Ricki Wilde was an amazing novel and I loved the time I spent reading Tia Williams’ latest offering. It’s an enchanting romance, in all senses of the word, with Leap Year magic, fantastic writing, and strong characters all wrapped up in a love story. Check it out!

*A print copy of this novel was provided by the Canadian distributor, HBG Canada, in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Review: Kilt Trip

2024-03-07T07:40:00.001-05:00

Ah, Scotland. As I write this, Google Photos are reminding me that I was in Scotland for the first time four years ago. And I’m also still working through posting some recent trip photos from my trip to England and Scotland in December. So, while I always love reading books set in Scotland, it was an especially lovely (and wanderlust inducing) time to read Alexandra Kiley’s debut novel Kilt Trip. I had really been looking forward to this book and it ended up being a nice romance to get lost in while wishing I was exploring Scotland in person again instead of through the pages of a book.

Here’s the book’s description:

Ready or Scot...
Globetrotter Addie Macrae always follows her wanderlust. As a travel consultant, she jet sets around the world—anywhere but Scotland. But when she’s sent on assignment to help a struggling family-run tour company in the Highlands—and save her own job—Addie packs away her emotional baggage and turns on the professional charm.
Rugged as the land he loves, Logan Sutherland’s greatest joy is sharing the beauty of Scotland’s hidden gems…even if it means a wee bit of red ink on the company’s bottom line. The last thing Logan wants is some American “expert” pushing tourist traps and perpetuating myths about the Loch Ness Monster—especially when Addie never leaves her desk to experience the country for herself.
As they wage an office war, Logan discovers Addie’s secret connection to Scotland: a handful of faded Polaroids of her late mother. Hoping for a truce, he creates a private tour to the places in the pictures to help Addie find closure and appreciate the enchantment in less-traveled destinations, never expecting the off-limits attraction sparking between them. But Addie’s contract is almost up, and magic won’t pay the bills. They can’t afford distractions, but how can Addie do her job if she hasn’t explored all Scotland—and Logan—have to offer?

OK, so, while this book was a lovely little romance, I was let down by it. Was it because my expectations were so freaking high? Perhaps. But it started off with tropes that I do not like at all and it was really hard to bring me back from that. I don’t love enemies to lovers and I don’t love when a character waltzes into another’s world and assumes they know best (it’s why some Hallmark movies are so terrible to me). I actually stopped reading a book before the holidays because it started a lot like this one but I persevered with Kiley's because 1. The book was set in Scotland and 2. A trusted friend told me it got better. It wasn’t as “better” as I wanted but I managed and was treated to a perfectly respectable romance but one that won’t stick with me.

I don’t want to focus on the negatives but I do want to illustrate what didn’t work for me at the start of this book. It just seems fair to explore it so you can decide if it’s something that will also be a problem for you or is something that you don’t mind at all. That’s the beauty of books - some people love them, some people don’t. I want you to make your own call here! So, first of all, Addie is late to joining a tour at the start of the story. Which, you know, happens. Part of why she was late though was because the airline lost her suitcase. The woman works for a travel consultancy agency and travels All. The. Time. There is no way she would have checked a suitcase! Anyway. Because she was late, she can’t find the start of the tour so she’s mentally docking points. First of all, if she was on time she’d have seen the group of folks waiting for the tour. Second of all, I’ve been to the exact spot she is supposed to be and I don’t think it's all that difficult to find. Then I realize the tour is literally just bringing people up Calton Hill and learning a little bit about it from a guide. A guide who runs tours that are supposed to be exploring “hidden gems” of Edinburgh. Calton Hill is not hidden. It’s very visible (and, fun fact, was created by the ash of the volcano that Edinburgh Castle now sits on) and has a number of monuments you can see from all over the city. And then when Addie finally meets the staff of the company she’s there to makeover, she assumes she knows best and everything they have to say is stupid and won’t make them any money. I would have LOVED to find a tour company like Logan’s who actually did find some of the hidden gems when I was in Edinburgh because I know there are tons of things to see that are off the beaten path (which I also explored and loved).

And speaking of her work. I have no idea what Addie was actually supposed to be doing. Making the tour company better and more profitable, sure. But if the client (Logan and his family) are set on something, shouldn’t she try to see if it can work instead of dismissing it immediately? Her boss was even worse. I used to work for a PR agency and we’d provide our expertise and opinions but, in the end, what the client wanted, the client got. The woman’s never been to Edinburgh and she thinks she’s an expert? It was just really hard for me to get over how frustrated that made me. Logan was just as bad, though, and wouldn’t listen to anything Addie had to say and was acting like a sulky teenage boy. So many people want a balance of big attractions and little known spots and he didn’t seem to grasp that.

The book looks like it should be a rom com, given the bright, happy, illustrated cover. It’s definitely firmly in the romance category, though there are a few humorous moments that are wacky as you’d expect from a rom com. The issues Addie had to work through (grief over the death of her mother and traveling to Scotland without her, and so on), made the story much heavier than you would expect. It’s not a bad thing, just a case of, don’t judge the romance by the cover.

The thing that saved this book for me was the setting. Surprise, surprise! I loved being able to “visit” places I had just been (Edinburgh and Stirling Castles and Edinburgh itself) while traveling to other spots in Scotland that I wasn’t able to visit. The atmosphere was wonderful and it’s a great armchair travel book if you’re feeling the wanderlust. Just know you’re going to want to book a trip to Scotland immediately if it’s anywhere on your travel bucket list!

While Kilt Trip wasn’t a winner for me, that’s not to say you won’t enjoy Alexandra Kiley’s debut novel. It was a fine romance with an amazing setting that I think other romance readers would enjoy.

*An egalley was provided by the publisher, HTP Books, via NetGalley in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Review: Bury the Lead

2024-03-05T07:27:00.000-05:00

I’ve been on a real mystery kick the last few years so was thrilled when two Canadian authors I love teamed up to write Bury the Lead, the start of a mystery series that features a small-town journalist. This novel, written by Kate Hilton and Elizabeth Renzetti, was one of my most anticipated of the year and I’m so thrilled to say it absolutely lived up to my expectations.

Here’s the book’s description:

A big-city journalist joins the staff of a small-town paper in cottage country and finds a community full of secrets … and murder. Cat Conway has recently returned to Port Ellis to work as a reporter at the Quill & Packet . She’s fled the tattered remains of her high-profile career and bad divorce for the holiday town of her childhood, famous for its butter tarts, theatre, and a century-old feud. One of Cat’s first assignments is to interview legendary actor Eliot Fraser, the lead in the theatre’s season opener of Inherit the Wind. When Eliot ends up dead onstage on opening night, the curtain rises on the sleepy town’s secrets. The suspects include the actor whose career Eliot ruined, the ex-wife he betrayed, the women he abused, and even the baker he wronged. With the attention of the world on Port Ellis, this story could be Cat’s chance to restore her reputation. But the police think she’s a suspect, and the murderer wants to kill the story―and her too. Can Cat solve the mystery before she loses her job or becomes the next victim of a killer with a theatrical bent for vengeance?

I did not see the end of this mystery coming at all! Hilton and Renzetti left cookie crumbs which I, personally, only realized were there after the story was tied up. Which I loved! There are times when I’m thrilled to have figured out whodunit and there are times I’m thrilled to be completely in the dark and have the author(s) deliver the resolution in a tidy little package. I probably would have been happy with either in this case, honestly, because I loved the book and the writing so much, but I did like that it wasn’t easy to spot who the murderer was. I had fun tracking down the clues for the story with Cat and really enjoyed the resolution (as much as one can enjoy reading about murder and finding out someone in town is guilty of killing someone else…).

I’m not always a fan of the amateur sleuth so I wondered how I would feel about Cat, who is not a law professional, working to solve a mystery. Turns out, it was perfection. She didn’t get in the way of the investigation the cops were running. She just stayed in her own lane and chipped away at the many layers covering up the story she wanted to expose. It was well-balanced, not something every mystery writer can do, so I applaud Hilton and Renzetti for giving me a non-police officer mystery protagonist I can root for!

Which brings me to the journalism side of things. I adored it. I admit that might be because I’m a tad biased as my partner is a journalist. It was a weird thing to read about now, I will admit, because there were massive layoffs at the paper he worked for and it’s a strange and kind of scary time for community news. I don’t think people realize how much we need those journalists and newspapers and they just keep disappearing. That terrifying and sad feeling aside, the authors nailed what it’s like to work in news, especially in a small town. Which didn’t surprise me at all as Renzetti is a former (fantastic) journalist herself who still provides pieces to news outlets today. There was one line where Cat’s talking about waiting for the police press conference regarding the murder and she says it will be held sometime “between now and the end of time” and, oof, isn’t that the truth! But even though the journalist angle had a special place in my heart, I think it’s a fresh take on the mystery genre with the bonus of showcasing how community journalism works. Take notes, friends, and pay attention to what’s happening to the news outlets in your area.

I loved that this story also had some commentary on the world today. Eliot was an absolute garbage human being (not that he deserved to die) and his past (and present) brought up the #MeToo movement and how women have been treated for decades. The reason Cat got fired from her TV job is infuriating (and I definitely guessed it before it was revealed which is a bit sad as I hate that female reporters are still being targeted by idiot males). And having multiple generations commenting on what was happening in town (and had happened in the past) was genius. Things aren’t as black and white as we’d like but it should still be easy to determine what is good and bad behaviour.

Finally, I loved the small town setting. I’ve said it before but it bears repeating here: I’m a small town girl and I really love when stories are set outside cities and I love it even more when the author(s) really “get” what it’s like to live in a small town. I figure Port Ellis is supposed to be somewhere in Muskoka and I grew up just south of the traditional Muskoka area but still in an area where cottagers flocked to in the summer. And reading this book felt right and made me miss summers at my grandparents’ house on the shores of Georgian Bay.

Bury the Lead was an amazing novel and it’s definitely in the running to be a favourite read of 2024. Kate Hilton and Elizabeth Renzetti have written a thoroughly enjoyable murder mystery with a heroine who is as intriguing as she is intelligent and I cannot wait to read more in the Quill & Packet series. If you’re a mystery fan, you absolutely must pick up this novel.

*An egalley of this novel was provided by the publisher, House of Anansi, via NetGalley in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Review: How to Eat to Change How You Drink

2024-02-29T07:44:00.000-05:00

I can’t be the only person in their mid-late thirties whose body all of a sudden decided to not function the way it’s supposed to. For me, my digestive system seems to be having a few issues and I started to wonder (after many medical appointments and consultations with actual trained folks, not Dr. Google) if alcohol was sometimes a culprit. So, when I saw Brooke Scheller’s book How to Eat to Change How You Drink: Heal Your Gut, Mend Your Mind, and Improve Nutrition to Change Your Relationship with Alcohol was available to review, I thought, hm let’s give this a try.

Here’s the book’s description:

Let nutrition guide you to sobriety (or to just drinking a little less) with this guide and meal plan to reduce alcohol cravings and repair your health through food.
Trapped in alcohol's addictive grip, Dr. Brooke Scheller wanted a way out. For her, total sobriety was the answer to her problem, which she achieved by applying her skills as a doctor of nutrition, pairing her knowledge of nutrition with other integrative therapies to eliminate alcohol for good. Seeing the success in herself, she shifted her practice to help inspire others to explore a lifestyle with little to no alcohol.
How to Eat to Change How You Drink is a revolutionary guide to leverage food and nutrition to reduce or eliminate alcohol consumption, develop mindfulness, and promote a healthier relationship with alcohol. Working through the book, readers will identify their drinking archetype and then learn the types of nutritional changes they can make to reduce alcohol cravings alongside behavior modification; they'll learn how alcohol affects their nutritional status and can contribute to health symptoms ranging from fatigue, to hormonal imbalances, digestive irregularities, weight gain, thyroid disorders, autoimmune diseases and more; and they'll restore their nutritional status and repair key body systems after moderate to heavy alcohol consumption.
This book will change the way we think about and address alcohol intake in our society-- through the lens of nutrition.

I requested this book right before leaving for an almost 3 week vacation and it was waiting for me when I got home. I say this because I may not have looked quite as closely at the book’s details or Scheller’s background as I may normally have done. And I say that because I wasn’t expecting the book to come from a place of sobriety more than dietary. I didn’t really want/need to be reading about the addictive qualities of alcohol nor did I need to find out what kind of drinker I am. I know that, duh, that’s all part of how alcohol affects your body but the tone of the book definitely came across as, “this is why you should become sober” not so much “this is why cutting back can be beneficial to all of us.” Is that fair of me? To be frustrated that true sobriety was a larger focus than I wanted? I recognize that no, it may not be fair.

I’ve been reading a few books on digestive health lately and some are far more accessible than others. Scheller’s fell somewhere in the middle. That said, I still didn’t quite get anything useful out of the gut health section. Again, this could very much be a personal thing. I’ve been trying for months to figure out my issues and I was really hoping for a nugget of information that could help and I just didn’t get one.

The book’s divided into four parts to help break down this somewhat unwieldy topic and make it understandable for us laypeople. Part 1 talked about relationships with alcohol, leaning (in my opinion) too heavily on Scheller’s personal history. Part 2 focused on a “functional approach to sobriety” and discussed how alcohol can affect different parts of the body, like the gut and brain. Learning how to eat to change drinking habits was the focus of Part 3 and Part 4 gave the reader some recipes to try to support an “alcohol reduction plan”.

I think Brooke Scheller’s book, How to Eat to Change How You Drink, would be a good one to pick up if you’re committed to completely cutting out alcohol and living a sober life or if you’re sober-curious and don’t have any other medical issues to worry about. It was an interesting enough read for me, confirming what I knew about some of the sneaky downsides of alcohol, but it wasn’t as applicable to my life as I would have liked.

*A copy of this book was provided by the publisher, Grand Central Publishing, in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Review: How You Get the Girl

2024-02-22T07:38:00.001-05:00

I absolutely adored Anita Kelly’s novel Love & Other Disasters when I read it last year. Since I was a little late to the game, I didn’t realize there was a second book in the series (Something Wild & Wonderful) but I did sit up and take notice when I heard about How You Get the Girl, which was published on February 13. A romance? In the world of basketball? And a f/f romance, no less? Yes, please! I. Loved. It. Seriously. This book shot immediately to the top of the list for 2024 reads!

Here’s the book’s description:

When smart-mouthed Vanessa Lerner joins the high school basketball team Julie Parker coaches, Julie’s ready for the challenge. What she’s not ready for is Vanessa’s new foster parent, Elle Cochrane—former University of Tennessee basketball star. While star-struck at first, soon Julie persuades Elle to step into the unfilled position of assistant coach for the year.
Even though Elle has stayed out of the basketball world since an injury ended her short-lived WNBA career, the gig might be a way to become closer to Vanessa—and to spend more time with Julie, who makes Elle laugh. As the coaches grow closer, Elle has a hard time understanding how Julie is single. When Julie reveals her lifelong insecurity about dating and how she wishes it was more like sports—being able to practice first—it sparks an intriguing idea. While Elle still doubts her abilities as a basketball coach, helping Julie figure out dating is definitely something she can do. But as the basketball season progresses, and lines grow increasingly blurred, Julie and Elle must decide to join the game—or retreat to the sidelines.

Basketball romances are major catnip stories for me. I played when I was in high school but wasn’t good enough (or dedicated enough) to move any higher so I stuck to playing intramural ball when I was at university. One thing I loved about this story from the basketball perspective, other than the major nostalgia factor, was the absence of male posturing BS since there were no males playing the game. Everyone hitting the court was female or non-binary. It was refreshing and kind of helped…hm…reposition?...some of my thoughts. My experience playing ball in high school was much different than the players currently on Julie’s team. I was a straight, white girl playing basketball in a small town in the early 2000s and it was assumed that everyone else I played with was also straight and a girl (also white…we were not a racially diverse town). If anyone felt like maybe a label other than “straight” or even “female” applied to them? They definitely weren’t saying anything. And so I wonder about those players - not necessarily the ones I played with but just players everywhere - who feel like they have to conform to the patriarchal world of sports.

In addition to talking about (sometimes explicitly, sometimes not) how to be female or non-binary in the world of sports, this novel also tackles some mental health topics. Elle’s torn ACL wasn’t the only reason she left the WNBA when she did - her mental health was just as damaged as her physical health. She’d worked hard to manage it and struggled mightily when her “management” failed and she found herself in a depressive episode (it’s not super dark or graphic but please be kind to yourself if you also have depression and are reading this book). I liked how Kelly had Julie approach this. She didn’t have a magical answer and couldn’t “fix” Elle, and Elle also couldn’t figure out how to let Julie in. In short, they both had shit to figure out and it was refreshing as hell. Who knows how best to be with a new partner in the best of circumstances let alone when you’re navigating a depressive episode? It felt realistic and I was here for it.

In the Reader’s Guide, Kelly talks about Happily Ever Afters (HEA) vs Happily For Now (HFN). I consider true romances to have a HEA (I even called my romance book club at work “Happily Ever After”) but HFNs totally fit the bill too. I think we focus on the forever aspect of “after” because we want to be optimistic and believe that the couple we’ve spent a few hundred pages with will have a wonderful life, even when we know that life isn’t easy for anyone. But that doesn’t mean that HFNs should be frowned upon. It’s simply more realistic to expect the couple to have to do more work to establish their relationship since they just got together (and may have even had that dreaded third act breakup!). But, for some reason, probably because we’re dumb humans, we want that fairy tale ending. I liked that Kelly made me think more about HEA vs HFN, even as someone who’s always been OK with a Happily For Now.

I freaking loved Julie and Elle. Loved. Them. I mean, come on. Julie had had a massive crush on Elle since she was 14 (and Elle 18, if my math/memory is correct) and now she had a shot at DATING her? Gah. I’m swooning. I was into the entire relationship. The tension as they flirted, and then fake/practice dated, and then for-real dated. So damn good. I loved everything about the whole thing. LOVED.

How You Get the Girl was an absolute delight and I loved every second I spent reading Anita Kelly’s latest novel. Whether you’re here for the basketball or the romance (or both), you’ll love it too.

*An egalley was provided via NetGalley by Forever and a print copy was provided by HBG Canada, both in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Review: The Boy Who Cried Bear

2024-02-20T07:34:00.001-05:00

I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned it lately, but I sure am glad I came across Kelley Armstrong’s Rockton series and I’m doubly glad she’s kept the characters around for Haven’s Rock, a spin-off series that’s not really a spin-off just kinda a continuation of a series but with a different location. Or something. However you want to look at it, I was thrilled to have the chance to hang out with Casey and Dalton in The Boy Who Cried Bear, the second book in Armstrong’s Haven’s Rock series.

Here’s the book’s description:

Haven’s Rock is a well-hidden town surrounded by forest. And it’s supposed to be, being that it’s a refuge for those who need to disappear. Detective Casey Duncan and her husband, Sheriff Eric Dalton already feel at home in their new town, which reminds them of where they first met in Rockton. And while they know how to navigate the woods and its various dangers, other residents don’t. Which is why people aren't allowed to wander off alone.
When Max, the town’s youngest resident—taught to track animals by Eric—fears a bear is stalking a hiking party, alarms are raised. Even stranger, the ten-year-old swears the bear had human eyes. Casey and Eric know the dangers a bear can present, so they’re taking it seriously. But odd occurrences are happening all around them, and when a dead body turns up, they’re not sure what they’re up against.

Since this is only the second book in the Haven’s Rock series, there’s still a lot to learn about the new hidden town. Casey and Dalton are figuring out how to run the town, who on their staff they can trust implicitly, and, you know, why dead bodies keep turning up. I can’t imagine what it would be like to be in charge of protecting folks who have escaped really crappy circumstances, only to have some people disappear and others wind up dead. Turns out living in the middle of nowhere doesn’t mean you’re safe from murder. Who knew?!

The book’s description is vague about the mystery in this one so I won't go into any specific details either. I want you to be as surprised as I was with the twists and turns. I will say that I’m really curious to see what book three will bring (even though I literally just finished book two before I started writing this…the dangers of anticipated books, eh? That you’re so excited about them and then rush through reading it because you just can’t help yourself and now you have to wait for the next one) because, well, there’s a bit of a cliffhanger at the end. Or…maybe not “cliffhanger” but…the bow isn’t as neat as you might want from a mystery. As a mystery reader, I’m a little annoyed but as a reader of this particular series? I totally get it. And I trust that Armstrong has a plan and all will, eventually, be revealed. (But seriously…why do we love book series so much? I think we’re all masochists.)

I love the characters in this series so much. There are a lot of them but they really do all have a purpose. It’s like Haven’s Rock itself. You wouldn’t be there - and definitely wouldn’t be staff - if you didn’t have a particular reason for being there. I loved being able to get more of a glimpse into Casey and Dalton’s married life (they have such a great, and unique, partnership) and see how some of the other former Rockton residents were faring. I will say there’s a side, more personal, storyline, in this one that is one I personally dislike but it’s very much a Me Thing, as much as I wish it hadn’t been brought into the series.

There are a number of times biases, especially around race, come up in this particular story. Armstrong is White (or at least very much White presenting) but Casey is Asian Canadian (I think Chinese but admit I cannot recall exactly) and there are a few other characters who are not White. In this story, Anders and Yolanda talk about being one of the only Black people in their towns. And another resident spews some ridiculous (and harmful) BS right to Casey’s face about “you people” being smart. Ugh, just reading it makes me rage because I know there are real people out there making those same assumptions based solely on racial stereotypes.

I really enjoyed The Boy Who Cried Bear and am so glad I saved it for a long weekend “treat” for myself. Kelley Armstrong has created a great series that’s so enjoyable (if you could call a series that features murders etc. “enjoyable”...) and I already cannot wait for the third installment.

*An egalley of this novel was provided by the publisher, Minotaur, via NetGalley in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*