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REVIEW: Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes

Jayne — Fri, 31 Jul 2026 12:00:17 +0000

A heartfelt debut about the unlikely relationship between a young woman who’s lost her husband and a major league pitcher who’s lost his game.

In a sleepy seaside town in Maine, recently widowed Eveleth “Evvie” Drake rarely leaves her large, painfully empty house nearly a year after her husband’s death in a car crash. Everyone in town, even her best friend, Andy, thinks grief keeps her locked inside, and Evvie doesn’t correct them.

Meanwhile, in New York City, Dean Tenney, former Major League pitcher and Andy’s childhood best friend, is wrestling with what miserable athletes living out their worst nightmares call the “yips”: he can’t throw straight anymore, and, even worse, he can’t figure out why. As the media storm heats up, an invitation from Andy to stay in Maine seems like the perfect chance to hit the reset button on Dean’s future.

When he moves into an apartment at the back of Evvie’s house, the two make a deal: Dean won’t ask about Evvie’s late husband, and Evvie won’t ask about Dean’s baseball career. Rules, though, have a funny way of being broken—and what starts as an unexpected friendship soon turns into something more. To move forward, Evvie and Dean will have to reckon with their pasts—the friendships they’ve damaged, the secrets they’ve kept—but in life, as in baseball, there’s always a chance—up until the last out.

CW/TW – past gaslighting and emotional abuse

Dear Ms. Homes,

Last year I fell in love with “Back After This”. I like “Evvie Drake” but maybe not quite as much. But major props that Evvie (pronounced as if it rhymes with “Chevy”) isn’t just another earlier version of Cecily from that book.

Evvie feels as if she’s living a lie. On the day she was finally in the process of leaving her husband, she gets a phone call that frees her. But now their small Maine hometown thinks she’s a grieving widow. She’s not but she hasn’t gotten up the nerve to tell anyone. Her best friend Andy (and no, they feel nothing for each other except deep friendship) knows Evvie needs some extra income to pay her bills and introduces her to his friend, a former pro baseball pitcher whose career has ended and who is looking for a place to be out of the spotlight. Evvie and Dean both have a lot of work to do on themselves by the end of the book.

I’d never heard of the term that Dean uses to describe his issues, the yips, but suddenly getting that must be horrible for a pro athlete used to having his body do whatever he wants it to. Evvie seemed to have the perfect marriage but hid from everyone the fact that Tim yelled, denigrated and gaslite her emotionally. Little by little she was shrinking into nothing but finally worked up the guts to suddenly go. But she hasn’t worked up the nerve to tell even her best friend, her father, or anyone else the hell she was living in.

As we discover, Evvie is a “fixer” who wants to solve everyone else’s problems so when she digs into what is bedeviling Dean, she starts pushing him about what he’s done to solve the problem. Well, Dean has done everything and more, as he tells Evvie and his buddy Andy. Nothing has worked and he’s come to terms with it. But he really hasn’t.

So here are two people with their own personal bugbears. They might have promised each other that Evvie’s marriage and Dean’s baseball career wouldn’t be mentioned between them but we all know what’s coming. Frankly Dean comes off better here and for a while, I was more than a bit annoyed with Evvie about circling around Dean trying to get him to try one more thing or believing that she’s some kind of talismen who will cure him. Glass houses, Evvie.

Along the way, they drift into friendship followed by a physical relationship that feels comfortable to them both. However, there’s an end date (sorta) which gets advanced by an argument due to Evvie having hid what she was doing when Tim died and her continued efforts to “fix” Dean. Evvie has to hit emotional rock bottom before finally beginning the examination of her choices and past that she needs to come to terms with.

Dean thought he had accepted his future without playing baseball but maybe he hasn’t. He’s also still got to realize that some of the things that he thinks happened one way, actually might be different. And in the case of his decision to come back home to NYC, this affects Evvie, too. These two truly needed the months-long chance to get themselves in order before trying to deepen their friendship to something more. This is something I really appreciated that the book addressed.

Evvie and Dean are flawed in believable ways and I feel actually needed their … not third act breakup so much as the time and distance required to work on themselves before being ready for a future. Not only did I enjoy them together but all of the other friendships and romances in the book are realistic. Evvie’s relationship with her dad as well as Dean’s with his parents get shout-outs, too. B+

~Jayne

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REVIEW: The Laudanum Ladies’ Society by Elisabeth J Hobbes

Jayne — Thu, 30 Jul 2026 12:00:49 +0000

In a London that insists women remain quiet, dutiful, and dull, two unlikely conspirators discover a secret that awakens everything society tells them to suppress…

Jenny Rosewood – single, clever and nearly thirty, heaven forbid – has long disguised herself as a man to attend nighttime lectures and chase knowledge forbidden to her. But when an accidental alteration of her uncle’s sleeping draught unleashes a dizzying rush of freedom, Jenny sees an opportunity.

Together with Gwen Walters, a pharmacist’s wife hidden in her husband’s shadow, they form a covert sisterhood where London’s ladies gather to indulge in their secret tincture under the guise of afternoon tea.

Soon, society’s most proper ladies are sipping their way toward inspiration, rebellion and risk.

Because once women taste freedom, no amount of decorum can force it back in the bottle.

CW/TW – drug use, sex trafficking, prostitution, domestic violence, misogyny

Dear Ms. Hobbes,

When I read the blurb I had thought this would mainly be a more light hearted examination of Victorian women standing up for themselves and claiming their due. The actual situations that our FMCs are up against are far darker. See my CWs above. Since I quickly waved my preconceptions away, it didn’t take long to realize that the dark issues are very period centered and make a lot of sense for that time frame.

There are many misogynistic and women’s rights issues that the book delves into. Wives were still subject to their husbands and fists could and were used to enforce this, women were discouraged or prevented from handling their own money, being openly queer wasn’t a good idea.

Most all of the men in the book, major or minor, are shits. There’s just one goodun and he takes a while to appear on page. Most of the women are different in social standing. Some are working class, one is upper working class, one is bourgeoisie, and one is an Hon. At first there is friction, envy, and misunderstandings between and among them. A few remain at odds for the entirety of the story while several others develop admiration and a degree of friendship for each other.

Based on enjoying your past books, I dove into requesting this one. Somehow, despite the title, the impact of the fact that what Jenny and Gwen are doing – mixing and distributing a substance that has highly addictive properties – took a while to hit my discomfort meter. After I started to squirm about it, I stopped and muttered to myself about this and how uncomfortable it was making me. Thankfully the book brings this upfront and center. Continuing on, the plot’s condemnation of this only increased.

Gwen and Jenny have to face what they’ve got themselves into. They both have valid reasons to want to make money and at first had no idea beyond selling the product by the dose to willing women to induce those women to have slight and momentary euphoria. Then the chance to drastically increase sales is dangled before them and they’re headed down the path to hell which is paved with good intentions.

So how could our characters initially be so blasé about handing out a tincture made from opium and cocaine? Remember the time period. This is the late Victorian era when these ingredients were easily available and commonly used not only in quack, snake-oil nostrums but also in pharmacy made medicines. Many people were unaware of the danger of addiction they were putting themselves in by consuming them. However it is something much darker which finally smacks Jenny and Gwen in the face with the facts.

Brava that they both stop and examine what they wanted and what they’ve become a part of, however unknowingly. They don’t like what they see and take action not only to end what they’re a part of but to make changes in their lives. The book ends with the women facing new paths in life but without wrapping everything neatly in a bow. I like the places they’ve reached and the possibilities for the future. B

~Jayne

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REVIEW: Miss Gentle and the Case of the Very Flat Monk by Travis Baldree

Jayne — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 12:00:17 +0000

A peculiar detective takes on a monastic murder mystery in a darkly funny fantasy short story by the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Legends & Lattes series.

Nobody really liked Brother Gorm, but his untimely and abrupt descent from the abbey’s bell tower has the Order of Venerous the Petulant on edge. Desperate to settle the case before the bishop returns, the abbot enlists the highly unorthodox investigator Miss Gentle. As she clanks through the abbey in a full suit of armor, the cantankerous detective has no problem asking awkward questions—but will she get any answers?

Clank. Clink. Clunk.

Dear Mr. Baldree,

Bravo. Well done. I didn’t care that I figured out who the murderer was before poor Abbot Listrum finally learns the truth behind why the unloved Brother Gorm became the face-flat and dead Brother Gorm after yelling “You bastard!” during the plunge.

There were no eyes visible through the slit in the frogged helm. Only darkness. Still, Listrum felt himself being flayed by her gaze. Apparently, she deemed her withering regard answer enough to his clearly foolish question. He felt properly guilty, as though she were his own grandmother and he’d been caught thieving.

Miss Gentle is a one of a kind mystery solver with her own peculiar way of figuring things out. But Radish was correct in telling Abbot Listrum that she was going to solve it. After the whole worry about his monks lying to him and the threat of the grim Bishop appearing with penitence in mind for the Brothers, the Abbot can be excused for fretting.

Abbot Listrum didn’t like being near the body. Apart from the reminder of the abbey’s mounting list of sins, the state of it was also oozier than he liked, given the nature of Gorm’s sudden end.
Miss Gentle showed no such reservation and stomped over to it in an echoing series of clanks.
“Dropped a long way, did he?” she observed, leaning over the corpse with a tortured groan of metal. “Front’s all flat, isn’t it?”

The journey to the end was delightful and the reasoning behind Miss Gentle’s payment makes absolute sense – grim as what she demands is. I will definitely read this one again. A

~Jayne

Over his shoulder, he said to the abbot, “I told you she was a miracle worker.”

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REVIEW: Wild Goose Chase by Sarah Adler

Jayne — Tue, 28 Jul 2026 12:00:35 +0000

An antique dealer and his inconvenient(ly irresistible) new colleague must contend with an illicit stuffed goose and their sizzling attraction, from USA Today bestselling author Sarah Adler.

Antique store owner Callahan Leitner has an illegal taxidermy goose in his living room.

Why? It’s…complicated.

But it may end his career unless he finds a legitimate way to dispose of the bird ASAP. Except, there’s an unexpected wrench in his plans—the frustrating, effervescent Annie O’Neill.

Annie is happy to fill in for her uncle at his antique store; it’s the perfect opportunity to gain more experience before opening a shop of her own, plus she’ll finally meet his handsome young business partner. Unfortunately, Cal is nothing like the charming man she expected. She’s tempted to take his apparent dislike personally, until she stumbles upon the source of his moodiness: the contraband waterfowl hidden upstairs.

When the goose goes missing, both of their professional reputations are on the line. As Cal and Annie attempt to track down the bird before it can be traced back to the store, their tentative alliance turns into something much deeper. Will the hunt for their felonious fowl lead to true love, or end in ruin?

Author’s Note – This book is a romantic comedy with a happily-ever-after ending and lots of fun along the way, but it does center around a taxidermy bird and includes discussions of the historical scientific practice of specimen collection (i.e., killing living creatures to either study or display them for research / educational purposes), as well as a main character who is grieving the death of a mentor / father figure (in the past, off-page). If these are potentially sensitive topics for you, please read with care.

“Your options seem to be to cover it back up with the ugly quilt and pretend it doesn’t exist, thereby leaving it as a problem for your next of kin, chuck it in the Inner Harbor and hope it sinks, or find out definitively where and when Goose Willis here is from . . .” I trail off as Nicole stands with arms crossed, giving me a death stare. “What? Do you prefer Liam Geeson? Tom Honks?”

Dear Ms. Adler,

I adored “Mrs. Nash’s Ashes” but sadly didn’t care for “Happy Medium” as much. I’m happy to say that “Wild Goose Chase” is a winner for me.

Despite the immediate impulse to throw up my shield, to protect myself from judgment and say something else that will make him warm to me, I instead cling to the hours and hours of therapy and self-reflection that got me this far. Being too me is kind of the whole point of everything I’ve been working toward. If he thinks I’m a nut, well, that’s better than having to pretend I’m not for the next four weeks.

A Baltimore antiques dealer and a temporary female work associate chase after a stuffed goose and its provenance while falling in love. Mixed in are short chapters about a female ornithologist circa 1908 which I just accepted until everything finally began to make sense.

I admit that I could be handling things better. For one, I should have been kinder to her from the beginning. But frankly, I was flustered. Am flustered, still. She overwhelms me in a way I usually feel only in the presence of something like a scenic view or an authentic Hepplewhite chair in mint condition.

I kind of had an idea about how strictly anything to do with migratory birds is now treated in the US but wow, I had no idea how much trouble someone could get into in handling or dealing with them. The answer is – a lot of trouble. This also could be described as a shit ton of trouble or enough trouble to wreck an antiques career. So it’s understandable that Cal can’t believe that “sure I’ll help you with that” along with “and I’ll take the evidence off your hands while I do this” comes out of his mouth when his long time former girlfriend (who is now happily married to someone else) calls him about a stuffed goose that she finds in the attic of her inherited house.

And cold? Sure, I guess sometimes I come across that way, especially with Annie. I would argue, though, that there’s a difference between being cold and being intensely awkward. And I’m quite solidly in the second category, thank you very much. Especially when not sleeping well and faced with the first person I’ve been genuinely attracted to in recent memory.

Soon Cal and his partner’s niece – who, to Cal’s horror “upscales” antiques – are trying to manage the normal business of the Baltimore antiques shop while also going on a literal wild goose chase across the city. It’s amazing how that goose gets around. Annie sees what she does as giving an antique with a rough past a new beginning, a fresh start. Cal, who has studied and got a master’s degree, has been trained to return a piece as closely to its past as possible. In a way, these are their viewpoints on relationships.

Consider it a present,” she says. “So, tell me. What’s with Behonkcé here, Cal?”
My heart thuds against my rib cage and I can’t tell if it’s from fear or the intense desire that stupid pun managed to infuse into my system. It feels as if I’m being seen by someone for the first time in ages, for better or for worse.

Annie has a past, one that she owns, in which she dated older men because men her age thought she was “too much.” She felt acceptance with them, even if she hid her real self and contorted herself to be the perfect trophy girlfriend. Cal dated one woman, with whom he shares most of his romance “firsts,” for fifteen years and thought this would be his forever before Nicole (aka the goose owner) ended things to find true love. Cal still isn’t truly over … not so much Nicole as much as his longing for the known, the tried and true.

His hold on my ankle loosens and his fingertips follow the curve of my calf up to the back of my knee, which has never been a particularly erogenous spot before but has suddenly decided it might be up for it after all. “American made, I believe. Definitely last century.”
I nudge his shoulder in faux outrage and he grins.

Annie has dreams and plans to open her own shop, which is partly why she agreed to step into her Uncle’s shoes and help out the Baltimore shop to get experience. Cal is still sort of stuck in a life rut in which he perfectly adequately goes through the motions but really isn’t going anywhere. Until the goose shows up in his and then their lives. A little blackmail later and Cal is letting Annie make some (change backable) changes in the store. And as they work together, they talk about their pasts and their problems.

“Or,” she counters, “you could start dating.”
“No, we could not.”
“Why? Don’t you like him?”
“I do. But I don’t live here, Bridge, remember? When I go back to Jersey . . .”
“Right. It’s not like technology and transportation exist to facilitate long-distance relationships.”
“I’m not ready!” I say, a bit too forcefully. “I’m just . . . I’m not ready. I still have a lot of work to do on myself.”
“You are indeed a piece of work,” Bridget says.
I roll my eyes. “Not what I said.”
Her voice goes softer. “I know putting yourself out there without any pretense isn’t easy for you. But like you said, you’ve been that person with Cal this whole time and he seems to be into that.” My sister cuts the sweetness of her words with a mumbled, “For some strange reason.”

These are two nice but flawed characters. Both are hesitant about any long term relationship for different reasons. Annie is still working on herself as a person who is worthy of being accepted as herself rather than what a man wants her to be. Cal did try dating after Nicole broke up with him and it was a spectacular failure. His apologies to his date – who also works at his favorite coffee place and marks his cups with “McFuckface” – haven’t gone well.

Cal stills me with a hand on my arm. “What? Are you serious?”
“The sooner we’re done with this weird little late-night photoshoot, the sooner we’ll get the contact info for Roland’s cousin. Get stripping, Callahan.” I make quick work of the buttons on my blouse and let the sheer sleeves rest on my arms as I reach back to unhook my bra.

Their chemistry is explosive, the sex is fabulous, their banter is delightful but hooray that Annie realizes and acts on the knowledge that she, at least, isn’t ready for Forever with anyone. When she calls things off, brokenhearted Cal also sees the truth that he still needs to examine his life and try dating more to be sure that the side-table he thinks is perfect for that space in his heart is, actually, the best one. Cal and Annie think in terms of antiques and knickknacks. The third, or is it fourth, act breakup is due to things already laid out in the groundwork of their pasts.

“I’m not sure what the et ceteras represent, but let me get this straight. You’re saying I should have sex with you so it’s easier for me to have sex with someone who isn’t you in the future?”
“Precisely. I think it’ll help you move on. Get you back in the game.”

There have been plenty of books where I’ve thought the romance is too fast and others where I thought things dragged out too much. Here, the “five months later” (think of hearing that in a faux Frenchman’s voice) is just right. Dreams are attained, lives are examined, and a goose is returned to where it should have been and a groundbreaking female scientist’s legacy is returned to prominence. And yay for showing the wonderful relationship that Cal had with his mentor Graham. That was lovely. When Cal and Annie face each other again, they’re ready. It’s the right time for both and I’m tickled pink with their earned HEA. I also want to see the Gloria Swanson rat and/or the Marilyn Monroe squirrel. A-

~Jayne

Because something I’ve only recently realized is that sex for me has always been primarily about my partner’s pleasure. My own has simply been contributory to theirs. From the very first time I slept with someone, I was so focused on being his perfect girl that there was never room for being anything else. Then here comes Callahan Leitner, emphasizing that this is something we’re doing together. A meeting of equals, in service of both ourselves and each other.

Okay, I’m going to stop quoting.

I get it now, finally. What Nicole meant when she said she wanted to find someone with whom she had “a spark,” and why she agreed to marriage so quickly once she’d met Isaiah. I mean, I understood before too, but in a more abstract way that still allowed for some secret skepticism that what Nicole said was missing between us was there, even if it had faded over time. But after having sex with Annie, I truly get it. There’s no doubt left in me that something was missing from mine and Nicole’s relationship, because it’s abundantly clear now that it was that—the magic Annie and I shared last night and then early again this morning when we woke up and reached for each other like it was the most natural thing in the world. It isn’t just a physical need, but an emotional one too …

No, wait. One more.

But then . . . then you came along, Annie, and you just . . . completely fucked up my shit, didn’t you?”
I can’t help but chuckle at the bewildered expression on his face.
“To be clear, I mean that in the very best way possible,” he adds.
“I figured.”

I really mean it now. This is the last one.

“And that my heart isn’t an eighteenth-century settee or a Memphis Milano teapot. It’s more like a dingy old painted window screen, its value in its endless potential for rebirth into whatever it’s meant to be next. Which is Annie’s. My heart is meant to be Annie’s.”
There’s a moment of silence before Harold says, “I mean, I was just going to tell you you’re being a real dumbass and to cut it out. But all that sounds about right too.”

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REVIEW: Snake Men by Zach St. George

Jayne — Mon, 27 Jul 2026 12:00:41 +0000

A wry and thought-provoking tale about the defiant, eccentric figures obsessed with Australia’s deadliest reptiles.

Raymond Hoser is known as the “Snakeman,” a moniker that he has zealously defended. As a day job, Hoser runs a Melbourne business that offers services such as snake removal and snake shows. But by the 2010s, he became famous around the world for an entirely different activity: naming thousands of new species, including more snakes than any other scientist. To some, Hoser’s accomplishments were a scientific triumph. But others have accused Hoser of what they call “taxonomic vandalism,” the results of which, they argue, could alter the very course of life on Earth.

Snake Men recounts this outrageous story, tracing the surprising intersection between taxonomists, the scientists who have for centuries worked to understand the order of life, and Raymond Hoser and other snake men. The chaotic results hint at the rebellious impulse that lies coiled somewhere deep inside us all.

Review

I had the (incorrect) impression that the book would mainly focus on Raymond Hoser, a current day snake man in Australia. Yes, I should have read the blurb more closely. And then there is the title with “men” instead of “man.” But the opening bit during which author St. Gregory meets Hoser who is cleaning snake shit from a carrier tub with one hand while loosely holding two venomous snakes with the other sets the (overall) humorous tone.

Intense chapters about nomenclature and taxonomy followed as well as details on historical Australian snake handlers (male and female) who usually touted their “works for all kinds” herbal snake bite cures. I’ll be honest and admit though these are well researched, both could have been edited down quite a bit. After a while, even a list of admittedly hilarious taxonomic names given to animals (Reissa roni, Riga toni, Pieza Pi.) gets tiresome and who knew – or needed to know – all the many people who ended up dying because their snake oil cure didn’t do the trick.

More taxonomic in-fighting is covered with the upshot being that without a name, species are at risk of not being protected by law and might go extinct. Yes, it is a problem. However I’m still waiting to get back to Raymond Hoser which takes a while. Hoser is, to put it mildly, a “colorful” character. I’m not sure I’d want to ride in a car driven by him either. He is passionate about what he does but tends to annoy others in science by not staying within the lines and at times resorting to lawsuits. I thought a scientific book only 270 some pages long wouldn’t head too far into the weeds but 12 pages of just species named by Hoser proved me wrong. This book is well written and researched but it does deep dives down rabbit holes and is only for readers intensely interested in the subject. B for the well done stuff and C for overall maintaining my interest.

~Jayne

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REVIEW: The Heroic Misadventures of Maci and Roland by M. L. Florez

Jayne — Fri, 24 Jul 2026 12:00:46 +0000

Maci is an odd little goth girl living in the quaint town of Whimsyville, where every building is pastel-colored and every person is overly cheerful. Her best friend is Roland, an oversized, grumpy dog who loves nothing more than good food and sleeping.

After a few failed attempts to adopt the sunny disposition of those around her and fit in, Maci finds herself at the town’s square where the event of the year is announced: Hero of Whimsyville. A brilliant idea pops into her mind that she believes is the key to being finally accepted. What if Roland joins the contest and wins?

What follows is an adventure—and a bit of fun misadventure—that will bring Maci so much more than what she initially hoped.

Dear Ms. Florez,

This sounded like a cute book with some depth to it. Maci likes to wear black, listen to melancholy music, and plant black tulips. She feels she just doesn’t fit into charming Whimseyville. But Maci’s got game and she decides to try. Her initial efforts don’t work out so well but then she hears about an annual contest the town has. Maci is sure that not she but her Komondor dog Roland can win and be named the Hero of Whimseyville. Maybe that will get Maci a human friend to go along with Roland.

Maci tries not once, not twice but three times. She’s willing to keep going and I have to admire that. The biggest challenge though is the Hero contest and to win, or rather for Roland to win, they’re going to have to work together. Never mind that Roland actually appears to understand what Maci’s telling him, such as to go after the purple balloons, reading about the two of them working together and having fun was sweet.

Of course along the way, Maci begins to see her town in a new light (though how could she have been raised there and not know the story behind the town’s Hero contest and its cheerfulness?). There are people who might become friends and the steps that Maci’s already taken in getting out there and taking part, give her the courage to do more and try more. I think it’s a lovely message for kids who feel they don’t fit in. There are many ways to find your people, you just need to believe in yourself and keep looking. B

~Jayne

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Review: Loyalty and Scandal by Raquel Arbeteta

Sirius — Thu, 23 Jul 2026 12:00:00 +0000

Two enemies.
One inevitable arrangement.

London, 1845. After being caught up in a scandal from her past, Lady Alisa Chadburn vowed never to trust men again—especially one who represents everything she despises about them: Lord Ezra MacLeod.

However, young Heather MacLeod isn’t to blame for having a scoundrel for a brother, and she clearly needs Alisa’s help to avoid making the same mistakes.

Ezra has no intention of changing his comfortable way of life one bit. The arrival of his shy, inexperienced younger sister in London is merely a distraction—nothing more. She won’t be any trouble because he has no plans to stifle her the way their family did up north. Heather needs room to spread her wings and stumble, no matter what a certain uptight aristocrat might think.

A new social season begins in the capital, and all the ingredients for a fresh scandal are in place. All it takes is two enemies, a misunderstanding… and the dark night of a ball.

“Years ago, she had vowed never to trust men, and if she were to make an updated list of the worst ones, Ezra MacLeod would undoubtedly top it.”

I GOT THE BOOK ON KU.

Please also note that the book is self published and translated from Spanish. I only saw that it was translated using Kindle translate, Amazon AI powered translation service. To be honest, AI powered translation would have turned me away from reading the book had I seen it prior to finishing the story, but I did not, I only noticed it after I was done.

Dear Raquel Arbeteta,

A Russian speaking book blogger reviewed a different book of yours and even though I am not a huge reader of m/f Victorian romances (not because I do not enjoy the time period, but for many other reasons), I was intrigued and excited to read a romance in this time period which was written by a writer whose first language was not English. I am trying to say that I was very eager to discover something new in this subgenre.

Alas. I am not exaggerating, when I say that this book did not feel new to me at all and again let me stress it is not as if I have read tons of Victorian romances.

First and foremost, there are quotes from Emma and Devil in Winter in the beginning of the story. I found that to be quite appropriate. I thought that the group of friends that wants to find husbands while all being some sort of outcasts in society reminded me of the Wallflowers series by Lisa Kleypas right away.

This is Alisa’s book and one of her friends Hope is already married here, so I am suspecting her book was already done, but all other books by this author that I saw on Amazon are in Spanish only, so I cannot confirm or deny. The third friend Evelyn is couple of years younger and still single.

Alisa was compromised in the eyes of the society when she was seventeen. I am not going to tell you how severely she was compromised because her story, her character growth very much hinges on that. I mean you can guess that she met a man, luckily the destruction of her reputation did not go that far so she could not return to society at all. She comes back in two or three years and participates in seasons. When the story begins she is 25 or 26, I believe. She still wants to get married and to have a home but she is not holding her hopes up.

Ezra is a Viscount and he has a lot of trauma in his past, as we learn, and Alisa does not like him, or she thinks she does not like him and besides the fact that she knows he had a lot of affairs, I have no idea why Alisa does not like him. I guess after her painful thing that happened to her she dislikes anyone who has affairs?

Alisa is portrayed as a very feminist woman, no she does not say the word feminist but she talks about women having the same opportunities as men a lot, which is good for her, but this was one of the things that jerked me out of the time the book was supposedly written in. Her reactions in some ways felt way ahead of her time, let us put it this way.

I felt for Alisa, but I also wanted to smack her on the head more than once, because honestly Ezra did not read to me as a bad person at all. He had issues, yes and because of his trauma he drank too much at times (by the way, if anyone is struggling with alcohol, make a deal with your partner to allow them to be with you if you do not drink – what?).

I like the chemistry between them quite a lot, that is the only reason the book gets a C, because “been there, read that many times before” was my main reaction as I was reading.

Oh, I do not know if this was just a clever joke, or the book originally was a Bridgerton fanfiction, but Lady Whistledown is mentioned as one of the society columnists. Make what you wish out of it.

Grade: C

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REVIEW: Words On Candy Hearts by Augusta Reilly

Jayne — Wed, 22 Jul 2026 12:00:45 +0000

“There are two kinds of men,” Mom said. “Rich bastards and poor bastards. Neither will give a crap about your brains or personality, so go for the one with the money.”

Beautiful PhD student Clara Zapata has never subscribed to the theory that the only thing men care about is looks, but after getting dumped by her fiancé for gaining weight, she’s starting to think her gold-digging mother is on to something. If men are going to treat her like a trophy, why shouldn’t she treat them like a credit card?

“There are two kinds of women,” Dad said. “Pretty bitches and ugly bitches. They’ll both be more interested in the divorce settlement than the marriage, so go for the hottie.”

All heir-in-waiting Ian Dunning has ever wanted was the love of a good woman. But after being seduced and abandoned by yet another gold digger, he’s beginning to lose hope of ever finding real love. If all women will ever want him for is his money, why shouldn’t he just chase after the ones with the biggest boobs and the fewest brain cells?

What happens when this cynical son of a billionaire gets stuck on a disastrous road trip with the jaded daughter of a gold digger? Will Ian and Clara follow in their parents’ footsteps, or will they find true love?

CW – Ian’s dad is a misogynistic asshole, Clara’s mother is a high price sex provider – by choice. Neither of them have high opinions of the opposite sex. Some language here can be … earthy.

“Loves fades, and sex gets old,” Mom said as she took a sip of her gin and bitters. “But money lasts forever.”
You’ve only just met my mom, yet you already understand why every story I tell about my childhood begins with the words I swear to God I’m not making this up.

Dear Ms. Reilly,

Last year I fell in love with “The Phallus in Nature” and vowed to myself that it would not be the last book of yours I read. Took me a while to make good on that but let me say I had almost as much fun with “Words on Candy Hearts.” I miss Jeff, though.

… you need to find a viable secondary source of income. Your worthless failure of an ex-fiancé certainly wasn’t it.”
I wasn’t sure which was more offensive, my mother referring to Tyler as a “worthless failure” or to the holy institute of marriage as “a viable secondary source of income.”
“I loved Tyler for Tyler,” I said. “I didn’t care about his money.”
“How could you?” Mom said. “There wasn’t any money to care about.”

Clara and Ian ought never to have met each other. And for the longest time, they both fervently wish they hadn’t. Both are in NYC to meet their only surviving parent and, as a way to get her daughter over a broken heart, Clara’s mother has dressed her up in skin tight clothes and fishnet stockings because Clara needs to get laid. What Clara gets is drunk enough to mistake Ian’s car for hers where she passes out for the night. A fuming Ian sits the night out in the passenger seat then snarls a bit to get Clara out and finally resorts to paying her to leave. Fate has other plans for them and soon they’re off on a road trip to CT, then back to NYC, as they realize that Fate is a fickle bitch with a wicked sense of humor. Can they find their way past their differences?

“Yes, it’s true that in chronological time, Ian and I have only known each other for ten hours. But in terms of what we’ve been through together, we’ve been married for about thirty years. So actually, what you just saw was way overdue.”

The plot depends on some things that I just mentally hand waved away such as Ian leaving his car unlocked in NYC and no one stealing it. It’s a used Toyota but still … Both Clara and Ian come from dysfunctional homes. Ian’s father is a self made billionaire with a low opinion of women. Clara’s mother is still stunning at age 49 but she’s learned through bad experiences that it’s better to have rich men for clients than to have to marry the jerks and pretend to love them to eventually get alimony. Their viewpoints have colored the life opinions of their children.

We spent the next ten minutes driving in silence. By this point, we’d given each other a mutual ass massage, made boob-to-arm contact, and been co-conspirators in an erection. And yet, surprisingly, there was no awkwardness between us.

But wait, there are other organic things baked into the plot to account for both Clara and Ian not trusting the other sex. Then organic things happen as the story progresses which would allow for their opinions of each other to sink lower. Road travel through NYC traffic doesn’t help either. That hours long journey to Connecticut and back does allow for them to talk a little – though on the way there Clara angrily ordered Ian to shut up which he did until he needed to give her street directions to his house but he asked for permission to speak before he did.

“Don’t you ever worry?” I said.
“About what?”
“Your heath? Your safety?”
“Not really,” she said. “I take all the necessary precautions, and I always use plenty of hand sanitizer when I’m performing fieldwork.”
Performing fieldwork. Interesting euphemism. “But is that really enough?” I said. “I mean, with all the germs and diseases out there?”

Once they’re speaking again though, they do talk and get to know each other. One of the other “things to accept” is that this romance blossoms over the course of 24 hours. They discover that they’re being more honest with each other than they’ve been with almost anyone else. The conversation they had about why Clara chose her career path had me laughing out loud several times. I’d quote the whole thing but some sections just have to be experienced to fully appreciate them.

“Come on, Clara—Ms. Zapata—Dr. Zapata?”
“That’s ‘Bunny Lovemuffin’ to you!”

Still I have to warn readers that there are some misunderstandings in the book beyond just what Clara does for a living. Ian has been stalked for his inheritance enough that he’s leery of telling anyone who doesn’t know (Clara) who he really is. Meanwhile Clara’s been taught by her mother that men only want the prettiest woman and once a woman loses her looks, she’ll be tossed aside. They both have past experiences of their own to back these feelings up. Yet when these things are confessed, the confessee shows the confessor a possible different side to look at.

For a split second, I thought she was just kissing my ass, trying to stroke my ego with false flattery the way most people do when they meet me. But then I remembered that she had no idea who I was. Which meant she had just given me a genuine compliment. The “good guy” who was “fun to talk to” and “kind of growing” on her wasn’t the son and only heir of billionaire Daniel Dunning. It was me. Myself.

This is one thing I really enjoyed about the story. The talking and the opportunity for Ian and Clara to think about stuff they’ve believed for years and view these in a different light. However, back to a few real issues. The way they’ve been brought up and interacted with their parents and experienced dating and love themselves plays into the stereotypes the other has. Their relationship roadblocks aren’t overblown third act breakups but things that are organic to them.

“And you said that you think women can be gold diggers, right?”
“I didn’t mean all women. I just meant that there are women out there who only go after men for their money.”
“And what if you put the shoe on the other foot? Do you think there are men out there who only go after women for their looks?”
Thanks to Dad, it was the easiest question I’d been asked in ten years. “Yes,” I said. “No question.”

I was pulling for these two to reach a middle ground of understanding. For them to listen to what the other person had been through and seen. To see through that person’s eyes. Things were looking good, then there’d be something that organically came up. But that was dealt with … until another thing (again organically) appeared. But with the page count dwindling I began gnawing on a fingernail and muttering under my breath, this is going to work out, right? Right??

If all this was part of her giant plan to seduce me, her seduction skills sucked ass.
And yet here I was, unmistakably smitten. And about two heartbeats away from killing us both in a distracted driving incident.

Yeah, this HEA was down to the wire. And yet, the Final Understanding scene was lovely as well as proving to Ian that he does need hearing aids. What the mothers said, though, is the key – “In that case, I think you should be honest with him.” and “You are worth loving.” B+

~Jayne

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REVIEW: Deadly Does It (A Mason & Mann Mystery Book 2) by Abbi Waxman

Jayne — Tue, 21 Jul 2026 12:00:12 +0000

When Natasha Mason’s AA sponsor is in deadly danger, she turns to the cranky yet brilliant Julia Mann for help, in this exciting new mystery novel from the USA Today bestselling author of One Death at a Time.

Mason, a Gen Z adrenaline junkie, and Mann, an ex-con, ex-actress, and lawyer turned sleuth, have already solved one murder together. United by their commitment to sarcasm and general disappointment with the human race, they now face a second crime that’s way too close to home. Alexa Rousso keeps having accidents, and no one but her thinks it’s a coincidence. Could her checkered past be coming back to get her? Mason and Mann’s investigation takes them to the Bay Area, to the Central Coast, and – of course – to the hippest spots in Los Angeles. Will the Berkeley boho vibe convert Mann from vintage couture? Will the wine snobs of Ojai drive Mason to drink (or to vinicide, which isn’t even a thing)? More importantly, will they solve the mystery before the murderer’s sights settle on the detectives themselves, or will this new challenge also be their last?

CW/TR – Many characters are addicts, mostly alcoholics though past drug use is mentioned.

Dear Ms. Waxman,

It’s round two for Julia Mann and Natasha Mason – who usually just goes by Mason. Both are recovering alcoholics who met (in book one) when Julia was accused of (another) murder and Mason, along with Julia’s other “crew” helped finger the real killer. Now Mason’s sobriety sponsor is getting threatening notes along with events that she coordinates being sabotaged. It’s time for Julia and Co to try and figure out what’s going on and who’s behind it.

I heartily approve of Alcoholics Anonymous and the efforts of addicted people to quit whatever is driving them to ruin their lives. I have relatives I only wish had managed to throw off their addictions. However, the first 100-ish pages of this book could be described as “let’s reintroduce the huge cast of characters from book one” as well as a Wiki for AA. When something finally happened to remind me of the person being threatened – you know, the reason for the case – I had almost forgotten what’s being investigated.

Mason and Julia usually manage to get along. Sorta. But they can both be abrasive at times. Yeah for others (and each to the other) yanking a knot or two into them where needed. There is a character who loves to do deep dives into trivia and then expound at length on what he has read. I agree with Julia in saying, “Enough, Will.”

Once the investigation truly begins, it turns into (probably) what real life investigations are really like. Digging for facts, doing interviews with people about events long ago, and trying to piece things together. At times, not exactly thrilling. Mason is pondering becoming a licensed PI and works with one who is dating Julia’s friend and cook. I liked how this makes Mason really think about what she wants to do with her life. Mason and her sister have been at odds for most of their lives but a family health emergency also gets them to examine established “family roles” in new ways.

There is a lot about AA in the book. Little AA PSAs are liberally dotted throughout the story. After finishing it, I will freely admit that the past addictions of several characters do play a role in the plot. I kind of sort of figured out whodunnit but, being fair, there were some things that I didn’t get. I could have done without the villain expositions though. Still, would I read another book with Mason figuring out her life and Julia and Mason seeing to justice? Sure, I certainly would. B-

~Jayne

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REVIEW: Book Club Boyfriend by Jenny Holiday

Kaetrin — Mon, 20 Jul 2026 12:00:53 +0000

Dear Jenny Holiday,

Readers first met reclusive and grumpy Minnesotan author Jack Branksome in last year’s Into the Woods which I didn’t review but which I loved. He had been having writer’s block and was struggling to begin his second novel after the massive and overwhelming success of his debut. Jack is a bit of a misanthrope and prefers people in small doses but he did form a friendship with Teddy Knight, the hero of Into the Woods.

Most of Book Club Boyfriend picks up shortly after Jack returns from the camp but he’s still blocked and unable to write anything much. But first, a prologue.

After the release of his debut novel, his editor and publisher were super excited about the book being chosen for “Books with Blair”, (think Reese Witherspoon’s book club or Oprah’s book club) – basically and endorsement (and license to print money) from actor-turned-producer Blair Kellermoon. (In looks at least, Blair was a lot like Reese Witherspoon actually.) There was even talk that Blair may want the movie rights. Jack said no. Scandal ensues.

In the time since the “Zoom of Doom” Blair has had big changes in her life. Now divorced and an empty nester with both children in college interstate, Blair is learning to live on her own. Blair has had periods of anxiety in her life, where she experiences what she thinks of as “the cyclone” and which the reader recognises are panic attacks. But this time, things seem harder and she’s become a virtual hermit. She’s struggling to do much more than go to her production office and she’s cut herself off from friends. She’s also started checking whether the gate is locked too many times and has something of an obsession with washing the dishes, by hand, by herself, immediately after dinner.

Jack is somewhat prone to saying things which make him sound like a jerk. That’s because sometimes he really is a bit of a jerk. Jack’s dad is a famous reclusive author, also of literary fiction, and Jack has spent his life trying to get his dad’s approval. Jack’s dad thinks TV is for small-minded people. He thinks movies are basically the same. So things come out of Jack’s mouth which are things his dad would say or think and not necessarily what Jack would think if he gave himself some time and space to actually. you know, think. Anyway, Jack says something about Blair in an interview with The New Yorker which makes him seem like a snob and when it’s pointed out to him (because it has to be pointed out to him – Jack is very clueless about this stuff a lot of the time but he does get better at it as the book goes on), he’s bothered that he’s once again made Blair look bad. So, because he has writer’s block and procrastinating is a thing and because he doesn’t actually want to be a jerk, he texts Blair (her number still being in his phone) and apologises. Blair, who has not yet seen The New Yorker, is, to say the least, surprised to hear from Jack. Naturally she asks him why he’s apologising.

Jack: I made an observation that sounded reasonable when it came out of my mouth but when committed to paper and stripped of context sounded less than ideal.

From there, Jack and Blair become unlikely texting buddies. They have lengthy conversations by text. There’s something about confiding vulnerability to a virtual stranger. He confides in her about his writer’s block. She discusses her passion project, a YA retelling of The Great Gatsby called Green Light and how it’s going nowhere and various other things. Eventually, Blair suggests Jack come to LA to write his book. He can stay in her pool house. They won’t have to see each other really but she will know there is someone around and that is a step up from the isolation she’s experiencing. He can write his book in a new environment which might shake things up a bit and get him “out of his own head” and out of his writing funk.

Jack has an innate (see previous about his dad) mistrust of everything LA but he agrees to go because why not give it a try? Nothing else is really working. He has a deadline which has already been moved. He can’t bear the thought of not meeting it. His dad is already judging him, if Jack misses the March date it will only be worse.

Against his will, he smiled. He liked Tiffany. She was different from his idea of LA people. She was smart as they came, and she said what she meant.

Of course, Blair was different from his idea of LA people, too, so a logical person might conclude that his mental image of LA people needed some adjustment.

Of course, Jack and Blair end up together. It’s a romance; that’s what we’re all here for. But the way of it is not what I was expecting or what I’ve read before from this author. It sounds a bit obvious but it struck me that these two needed things to be a certain way for it to work out between them. And the book gives them the time and space they need. It allows them to be who they are and to find a way to be together that works for them even though it may not work for others. (It is absolutely a romance with a very satisfying HFN ending, if not quite a HEA – I’m entirely confident they were on their way to a HEA though.)

Both Jack and Blair have issues to work through. A lot of that working through is done off page but it is shown as work, without a magic fix. Both protagonists are a work in progress even at the end (aren’t we all?). Because of what these characters need, the book is somewhat episodic with longish periods of time apart as each works on what they need to work on. Fortunately the page time apart is short. I no longer have patience for books where the love interests spend months or more apart and I have to suffer through the separation too (I’m looking at you Rosemary Rogers).

Jack has a dry humour and a clever mind. He’s very insightful when he pays attention. He pays attention to Blair.

Blair, for her part, shows Jack that TV is not in fact for the small-minded and with her, he begins to open up. As he does, he sees his relationship with his parents and also a childhood friend in a new light. He appreciates what he did not previously and understands that his dad is not a good person. Trying to live up to Art Branksome’s expectations is a thankless and impossible task.

He was pretty sure he was starting to panic. Jack didn’t really do panic. Not that he never worried, but full-out panic wasn’t in his repertoire. Still, he knew the words and phrases associated with panic. Shakiness, shortness of breath, clammy skin. Those words and phrases were happening to him now.

I could have done with a little more at the end to give me just a glimpse of what their HEA might look like – I expect it would be untypical but nonetheless real – the book finished somewhat abruptly.

Book Club Boyfriend had all the banter and humour I expect from Jenny Holiday. Combined with characters I cared about, liked and, occasionally wanted to flick with a fork, the story kept me engrossed and entertained.

He pulled her closer and bent over and whispered in her ear, “We are going to do a lot of things that would horrify Mrs. Billings.”

(If you want to know who Mrs Billings is, you’ll have to read the book.)

Grade: B+

Regards,
Kaetrin

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