To Love Jason Thorn by Ella Maise

 

To Love Jason Thorn by Ella Maise
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

**Borrowed through Kindle Unlimited**

Synopsis (written by me): When Olive was a child, her brother made friends with Jason, a new kid in the neighborhood. From the first time she saw him, her young heart was smitten. Unknowingly he broke her heart and Olive did her best to get over him. Fast-forward to both of them in their 20s, with Olive a recent college graduate who just wrote a book and Jason the star who is set to start in the movie adaptation of said book. Considering that Olive never really did get over Jason, this has the makings of an awkward situation.

I picked up this book after watching a glowing video review by Izzy (Happy for Now on YouTube). Normally, I avoid the "sibling's best friend" trope but I do enjoy celebrity romances and authors as heroines. I was hoping my likes would balance out my dislike, and for the most part, they did.

My biggest gripe about this book was that all the secondary characters were either bland or unlikable to me. This disappointed me because I enjoy stories where the main characters have their loyal tribe or found family that they banter with. Even the heroine's best friend Lucy annoyed me, which is unfortunate because she is at the center of the second book so I guess I won't be reading it. I could tell that the author wanted Lucy to come across as exuberant, goofy, and fun, but she just rubbed me the wrong way with her constant invasive questions.

I kept reading because I really enjoyed the relationship between the hero and heroine. A character who has been pining for someone since childhood usually turns me off, but it was well handled in this book. Watching the hero slowly come to the realization that he loved the heroine was satisfying, and I would recommend this book for that if nothing else.

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Nicole by Sarah Monzon (Sewing in SoCal #3)

Nicole by Sarah Monzon
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Received digital ARC from Netgalley

Publication date: 07 Jan 2021

Book 3 in the Sewing in SoCal series

Genre: Contemporary Christian romance

Synopsis (my own): Nicole is a plus-size single mom who is also an ultra-serious, save-the-planet, vegan do-gooder. Her circle of friends keeps trying to get her to date, and she attracts the attention of fun-loving Drew, who is the best friend of her friend's fiance. Of course, sparks fly 😊.

I started my Netgalley account ages ago, back when I still read a lot of inspirational romance. My tastes have changed since then, but whenever I revisit Netgalley I find that inspirationals are still the easiest ARCs to get. So that is how I ended up reading another one. Anyway . . .

On an objective level, this is a well-written book. I didn't run into any of the problems that I find with indie books, such as misspellings and grammatical errors. The pacing was nice and the characters were fleshed out well enough for the word count. The steam level matches what you would expect from a contemporary Christian romance: the hero and heroine didn't act like they weren't physically attracted to each other, but they didn't go any further than kissing. I would have no problem handing this to any of my aunties, my daughters, or my Christian friends.

My personal enjoyment is another matter. I found the heroine Nicole to be self-righteous and abrasive. There is more than one person in my life who has the "save the planet" mindset, but they are not in my face with it. After being confronted with Nicole's attitude right off the bat, every other political issue (and there were a few) introduced in the book got my back up a little, even if I agreed with the stance. It almost felt like the author included issues just to say that she was aware of what is going on in the world because they didn't move the story along. The one thing the book didn't get too preachy with, strangely enough, was the subject of Christianity. There were a few Bible verses but no "come to Jesus" moment like I've seen in most of the inspirational romances I've read in the past.

This is the third book in a series but it is meant to be a standalone. However, if you are anything like me, reading this out of order will bother you like an itch in an awkward spot. I can always tell that I have jumped into the middle of a series even if the author does her best to make each book stand on its own. In this case, I had the niggling feeling that I should know all the side characters and their personalities because they were in other books. This installment might be more enjoyable if readers hold off on picking it up after reading the first two.

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Someone by Kendra Danielle

Someone : A Novella by Kendra Danielle
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Read 01 Jun 2020

Synopsis (from Goodreads): When retired NFL star Colton Rivers takes over his father’s business and becomes the CEO of Rivers Digital Solutions, he quickly develops the hots for Whitney Jones, the company’s most valued application developer. After learning of her resignation, Colton uses the company’s Dating App to woo her back into his arms. Their time together reopens a past that explains why she hates his guts.

**I read this book with my Kindle Unlimited subscription**

I enjoyed this story a lot more than I expected to. Normally, I shy away from romances where the characters knew each other in high school or college and get back together years later because they usually smack of small-town memories. I think this one was saved by the fact that it is set in NYC so the characters aren't visiting all their old haunts and such.  

The author did a great job of not overloading her limited word count with sex scenes. I have to say that the sex that IS in the story is SPICY! Readers might want to keep a glass of iced tea handy :-). The couple is interracial, but thankfully the author shied away from describing their contrasting skin colors in an almost fetish-like manner that some authors do. I'm looking forward to reading more of Kendra Danielle's work.

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Roomies by Christina Lauren

Roomies by Christina Lauren
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Expected publication date: 05 Dec 2017

**Received free ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**

Christina Lauren (actually the writing duo of Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings) keeps popping up in BookTube videos and other sites where I get book recommendations, especially with the title Beautiful Bastard. Being the contrarian that I am, I usually put off reading the very authors that are suggested to me. So you know that me requesting a Christina Lauren book from NetGalley was an accident. Anyway ...

Roomies by Christina Lauren is a modern marriage of convenience romance with something of a women's fiction element. Our heroine Holland has a crush on our hero Calvin, a street musician who doesn't know she is alive. She is so impressed with his guitar playing that she gets him an audition with her uncle, who happens to be a successful music director on Broadway. Calvin is perfect for an opening in the uncle's latest show but there is a hitch -- Calvin is in the country illegally. So of course, Holland asks Calvin to marry her and the adventure begins.

I thoroughly enjoyed the romance. A marriage of convenience is one of my favorite romance storylines but it is difficult to pull off in a contemporary story. Many times the reason why a couple has to get married feels contrived, but the reason Holland and Calvin got married felt believable. I am also a sucker for an Irish accent, and Lauren did a great job of helping me hear Calvin's Irish accent in my head without making it a caricature. The passage of time was handled well; there were plenty of scenes of Holland and Calvin getting to know each other in different ways so that when they fell in love it was believable. I liked the banter between the hero and heroine and how the attraction between them felt strong without being too angsty.

Outside of the romance, Holland was grappling with trying to figure out her worth, why her life seemed to stall after college graduation, and whether she was holding on to things that were no longer helping her. This was the part that felt like women's fiction to me, in a good way. It made the book a little more well-rounded and not just about the relationship.

AUNTIE TEST: I would say this book was hotter than warm but not scalding. The book is written in the first person, so there is a lot of descriptions of Holland lusting after Calvin's body but the language used isn't as graphic as it could have been, even in the open-door sex scenes. I'd say you could hand this to your maiden aunt and pretend that you forgot the sex was in there; it's mild enough that she probably won't call you on it :-).



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Love Hacked by Penny Reid

Love Hacked by Penny Reid
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Summary, from Goodreads:

Sandra has difficulty removing her psychotherapist hat. Of her last 30 dates, 29 have ended the same way: the man sobbing uncontrollably. After one such disaster, Sandra--near desperation and maybe a little tipsy--gives in to a seemingly harmless encounter with her hot waiter, Alex. Argumentative, secretive, and hostile Alex may be the opposite of everything Sandra knows is right for her. But now, the girl who has spent all her life helping others change for the better must find a way to cope with falling for someone who refuses to change at all.

I don't know why I don't hear romance fans singing Penny Reid's praises more loudly. When it comes to contemporary romance, she is my favorite author and Love Hacked was difficult to put down. It has the perfect balance of light and dark elements; Reid knows how to give me a tortured hero without making me feel melancholy at the end of the book. This story of a psychiatrist and the one broken man in her life who doesn't want to be fixed is funny and fast-moving.

I've commented in previous reviews that the books have very little yarn in them for a series called Knitting in the City. Love Hacked is the first book I've read that lives up to the series name. As usual, Reid managed to get the balance just right. She featured enough yarn talk to appeal to the knitters without making it feel unnatural. I appreciated the amount of time she gave us with the knitting group. In a couple of the books, the knitting group felt shoehorned in, but in this book, the group felt more like a part of Sandra's weekly routine.

As for my "auntie test": this book, as with all the other books in the series, should be reserved for your more liberal auntie, the one who lives to say shocking things at the Thanksgiving dinner table. There isn't an abundance of truly coarse language (no F-words that I can recall), but the sex talk is as plentiful as I have come to expect in any contemporary romance novel published after 2010.

This is the first series I've read where I feel the books are truly standalone. You can feel free to dip into the series at any point and see how you feel about it. I recommend Love Hacked as a great example of Reid's writing style.

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Stuck with You by Anna Premoli

Stuck with You: A fun, feisty romance by Anna Premoli
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Expected publication date: 01 Nov 2017

**Received a free copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.**

Stuck with You is a story about two students in Milan, Lavinia and Sebastiano, who are required to work together on a project in their last year of university. Neither one wants to do the project, but it will give Lavinia some much needed extra credit -- if only she can get Sebastiano, with his superior attitude and rigid schedule, to cooperate.

There is a certain awkward charm in this book. From what I've read, Anna Premoli has several popular Italian-language novels. I don't know if she enlisted the help of a translator for the book (I didn't see any reference to one), but I'm willing to bet that she wrote it in English herself. There is a stiltedness to the writing that makes it clear that English is not Premoli's first language. She mixed British and American slang with what sounded like Italian slang translated into English. There was also word usage that didn't seem to fit at all. For instance:

"No, but it's your fault that you insist on not pushing the beds closer together. If we accosted them, we would have a bit more space."

The word "accosted" does have an ancient definition of "side by side" but most English speakers wouldn't use it this way. Once I started reading this book with the same mindset I use to watch Korean dramas (with all their delightful foreignness), I started to enjoy the book more. Even using my Kdrama lens didn't make the sex scenes easy to read, though.

Even with the stiltedness, there was some charm to this book. My interest in the situation itself kept me turning the pages, despite the awkwardness in the writing. Some of the banter between Lavinia and Sebastiano was cute, and I kept rooting for Lavinia to break through his defenses.

This can be an enjoyable romance, as long as the reader remembers that it is not written in the average American or British style. That can be refreshing sometimes, can't it?

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Under Her Skin by Adriana Anders

Under Her Skin by Adriana Anders
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I read for stress relief and escapism, so it makes sense that I avoid something as dark as Under Her Skin. The whole "tortured souls" trope is popular among many fans of contemporary romance, but I've avoided it until now because it sounded depressing to me. It is a testament to Adriana Anders' writing that I was able to appreciate the hero and heroine's experience of pleasure with each other without feeling overwhelmed by the darkness of the subject matter.

Under Her Skin is the first book in the Blank Canvas series, but it is a standalone. Without giving too much away, Uma is on the run from a hideous situation when she meets Ivan. He can sense that Uma has gone through something bad and all he wants to do is protect her. Well, that's not ALL he wants. This is a contemporary romance, after all.

Anders does a good job of revealing the background of each character bit by bit without making me want to scream, "Get to the point!" Uma's attraction to Ivan despite her background felt realistic and not at all "insta-love". I was not tempted to skim any of the sex scenes; again, a testament to Anders' skill. When the bad situation comes back to haunt Uma, the resolution didn't feel contrived.

This book wouldn't pass my "auntie test" unless your auntie is a big fan of the TV show Criminal Minds. Other than that, this was a good book that kept me tapping my Kindle (I rarely turn pages these days) until the end.

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Beauty and the Mustache by Penny Reid

Beauty and the Mustache by Penny Reid
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book does double-duty as book #4 of the Knitting in the City series and as the lead-in to Reid's Winston Brother's series. It is the story of the Winston boys' only sister Ashley returning home after being gone for nearly a decade. She has to deal with a family tragedy, get reacquainted with her brothers, and sort out her immediate attraction to Drew, the stranger who became a trusted family friend in her absence.

I started and finished this book in one day because there were several aspects of it that kept pushing me to turn the page. Despite the serious subject matter, Reid managed to include lighter moments that kept the overall tone of the book from becoming maudlin. The intelligent conversations between Ashley and Drew made me want to read Nietzsche and e. e. cummings for myself. The scenes with Ashley's knitting group were fun and reminded me to seek out other books in the Knitting in the City series, especially Alex and Sandra's story. Reid's descriptions of the TN mountains were vivid enough to make me recall my few visits to the mountains here in NC.

I read the first book of the Winston Brothers series and the first two books of the Knitting in the City series about eight months ago. I really enjoy Penny Reid's writing and regret waiting so long to read more of her work, especially from these two series. I will be rectifying that shortly!

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Sexsomnia: Sleepless in Manhattan by Anya Omah

My rating: 2 out of 5 stars
Genre: Romance
Format: Free digital ARC from NetGalley
Publication date: May 2017
Heat level: Hot

Sexsomnia: Sleepless in Manhattan by Anya Omah is a contemporary romance novel that, from what I understand, fits squarely in the "billionaire alpha" subgenre. The alpha in question is Jayden King, a man who made his money as an owner of hotels and nightclubs. His status and his good looks have made him a desirable bachelor, and he has taken advantage of that fact so often that now he is bored with women and partying. He has turned the full force of his attention to expanding his business and he needs a good personal assistant to handle the many details. One applicant, Abigail Davis, seems perfect -- except they get off on the wrong foot with each other when they first meet. She tells him in no uncertain terms what he can do with his job, but instead of getting angry, Jayden becomes intrigued by Abigail and the chase is on.

Faithful readers of this blog know that I do something of an "auntie test" with the titles I review: can you hand this book to your aunt/grandma/neighbor lady without blushing? I would say, dear reader, that this book is best saved for the girlfriends you share champagne brunch with. The F-word and other sexual terms that some might find crude are used with abandon and the sex scenes (of which there are several) are definitely not behind closed doors.

My biggest issue with this book is that I didn't like Jayden, our hero. I've heard discussions among romance readers where they talk about alpha heroes who are "broken" and their brokenness makes them misbehave, but since I read mostly Christian historical romances I've never run into that archetype. Jayden was a jerk who acted like Abigail was a toy to be owned and that he didn't want anyone else to play with. Right up until the end I want him to suffer just a bit more for his bad behavior.

I had difficulty thinking of this as a romance, even though that is how it is categorized on Goodreads, NetGalley, and Amazon. Jayden and Abigail never really got to know each other. He decided after one meeting that he needed to own her. To her credit, Abigail showed more restraint, but there still weren't any scenes of them getting acquainted or even having a dinner that didn't end up with them tearing their clothes off before they even took a bite of food. They shared some secrets with each other towards the end but it didn't feel like enough to me.

One positive element was Abigail's strength. The story is told in alternating first-person perspective, and in Abigail's chapters we get to hear her inner fears but then she gives herself a pep talk and presents a strong front. Early on in the book, she calls Jayden out for flirting with her during a job interview:

"You know what, Mr. King? I actually do have a request. Stop flirting with me. I thought you were here to convince me to take the job, not to get me to go out with you. Anyway, you've got the wrong girl for this macho-man shtick of yours."

Throughout the book, there are instances where she stands firm when I expect her to give in to Jayden's power trip. There are also scenes where she shows that she genuinely is a smart woman who is good at her job. Wanting to know what Abigail would do and say next is what kept me reading.

I also felt that the author treated the sleep disorder and the therapy sessions with respect. With a disorder that centers around sex, it could have been easy to exploit it for kinky purposes. Instead, it is discussed seriously and represented as a hardship for the sufferer.

I gave Sexsomnia: Sleepless in Manhattan two stars on Goodreads and three stars, which represent "it's OK" on each service. The novel was well written and I don't feel like I wasted my time reading it, but I would say that it is geared more towards those who want to get their rocks off than someone looking for a romantic tale.

There is no affiliate link in this post, but you can find the book on Amazon and even read it free if you have Kindle Unlimited.

The Cherry Cola Book Club by Ashton Lee

My rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Genre: General fiction, possibly women's fiction
Format: Digital audio book checked out from my local library via Overdrive
Read by: Marguerite Gavin
Publication date: April 2013
Heat level: none

Disclaimer: There is an affiliate link for Book Depository at the bottom of this review. If you click through and buy this book or any other book, it would help me out financially. Thanks!

Isn't the cover of this book lovely? I must admit that I added the book to my library wish list based on the title and the cover alone. Anyway . . .

The Cherry Cola Book Club by Ashton Lee is the story of a failing library in Cherico, MS. The head librarian is Maura Beth Mayhew. She got the job right after receiving her library science degree and she is determined to make a go of it, despite the City Council's desire to shut the library down and redirect its pitiful budget towards building an industrial park. In an effort to remind the residents of the library's benefits, Maura Beth starts the Cherry Cola Book Club. Will the book club help Maura Beth save the library and her job?

Although the term "cozy" in the book world usually refers to a type of mystery novel, I think it fits this book well. Nothing violent or too shocking happens to anyone and the only sexual content is so far behind closed doors that you could hand this book to your grandmother without blushing. Because of this, some readers may find the story too slow. It took a while to get to the first book club meeting and the author did bang the drum a bit too much about the benefits of the public library. Perhaps there is someone out there who needs to be reminded of the library's importance to the community, but as a reader who gets at least 95% of her reading material from the local library, I felt like Lee's efforts were lost on me.

Perhaps my sexism or limited education is showing, but I was surprised to find that the author, Ashton Lee, is male. I'm not accustomed to reading this style of fiction written by men. This is an accessible comfort-food sort of book. I would call it women's fiction, but it isn't that highbrow or literary and I'm not sure that Maura Beth, our heroine, goes through that much emotional growth. I would be more likely to recommend to a female friend than a male friend, though, and that is the target for women's fiction.

The very traits that may turn some readers away from this book may attract other readers. I didn't realize until I was halfway through the novel that this is the first book in an ongoing series. For that reason, I can excuse all the character bonding that didn't seem to go anywhere; it was all part of getting the reader to care about the characters so they will want to pick up the next book. I did enjoy reading about small-town life and characters of all different ages. Also, the scenes describing the book club meeting towards the end of the novel moved me enough to add another star to my rating of the book.

Since I did experience this in audio form, I would like to add a word about the narrator, Marguerite Gavin. It is difficult for me to listen to actors doing southern accents because a lot of times there are exaggerated. However, Gavin did a very good job with both the male and female characters. She has recorded over 400 books across a variety of genres, so chances are if you listen to audio books you may have already heard her.

I would say that The Cherry Cola Book Club feels like the first episode of a family TV show of yore. There is a little excitement -- not enough to shock you, but just enough to make you want to pick up the next episode (book) and find out how Maura Beth and her friends are getting on.


The Cherry Cola Book Club on Overdrive
The Cherry Cola Book Club on Book Depository

Trade Me by Courtney Milan

My rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Genre: Contemporary romance, new adult
Part of a series?: Book 1 of Cyclone series
Format: E-book borrowed from local library
Publication date: Jan 2015
Heat level: Warm

Disclaimer: There is an affiliate link at the end of this post. If you click through and buy something, it will help me add a few coins to my grocery money. Thanks!

I recently made a somewhat spontaneous decision to devote the rest of 2017 to reading more of the well-known romance authors whose books I keep hearing mentioned by other bloggers and podcasters. Courtney Milan is definitely on that list. It is a bit strange that I didn't start with one of her historicals since that is my comfort zone. I read mostly Christian historicals, though, and I haven't been able to reconcile the presence of sex scenes in a historical setting. Anyway . . .

Trade Me is the first book in Courtney Milan's Cyclone series. Tina Chen and Blake Reynolds are college classmates who come from totally different backgrounds that still influence their life choices. Tina's family can barely make rent from month to month, while Blake spends the equivalent of Tina's yearly tuition without batting an eye. When they get into a heated debate in class about what it means to be poor, Tina tells him that he couldn't last a month living in her circumstances. Little did she know that he would seriously want to make that trade. Exchanging houses, incomes, and jobs puts them in closer contact than Tina expected and she is not sure she can handle the feelings that surface.

The one word that keeps popping up when I think about this book is "angst". I don't read a lot of contemporary or new adult romance so I don't know if that is a common element of these subgenres. The amount of time I spent in Tina and Blake's minds almost made me feel like I was reading literary fiction, which is something I avoid. Blake was constantly thinking about the particular problems inherent in what looks like an otherwise charmed life, while Tina kept reminding herself of the reasons why she can't let herself be attracted to Blake and why she didn't have time for love. Luckily, the novel had some positive elements to balance out all the agonizing.

One of the positive elements was the dialogue. The banter between Tina and Blake was fun to read, especially during the few times that Tina allowed herself to let loose and enjoy Blake's company. The way Tina consistently held her own against the brashness of Blake's father also made for some enjoyable passages. 

From what little I know of the tech industry, Milan's portrayal of Cyclone Technology (the company that Blake's father founded) felt accurate. On the flip side, the description of how Tina's family had to make choices between paying one thing or another because they didn't have enough money to pay everything definitely rang true. Errors seem to stand out more to me in a book that is set in a time period I actually lived through, but there weren't any obvious ones in this book.

I was a little disappointed that there wasn't more of the actual trade in the book. One of my favorite tropes is the "fish out of water" scenario. There weren't enough scenes of what it was like for Tina to live in the lap of luxury or how Blake dealt with being broke. The trade was really used as a vehicle for Tina and Blake to spend more time together. That isn't necessarily bad, but I just wish there were more awkward mishaps resulting from living someone else's life.

I rated this book Warm as far as heat level because there wasn't much sexual content; this book was heavy on the longing and light on the action. However, there was enough cursing to give me pause if I were thinking of handing this book to some of my more conservative friends. At least three of George Carlin's seven dirty words are used in this book, a couple of them repeatedly. They weren't jarring to me, but I know that some readers don't even want the occasional "damn" in their books.

Overall, I think this book gave me a good sampling of Milan's writing. I'm not sure if I will read the next book in the series, but I am eager to check out one of her historicals. I don't know why I waited so long to check out her work.


Trade Me on Overdrive
Trade Me on Book Depository
Trade Me on Amazon

Unplugged (A Portrait of a Rock Star) by J. P. Grider

My rating: 1 out of 5 stars
Genre: Contemporary romance
Format: Free e-book obtained from Amazon (no longer available as an e-book)
Heat level: Warm -- sex scenes are not overly explicit but parts are mentioned

Disclaimer: There are affiliate links in this post. If you click through and buy something, I will get a few coins to support my caffeine habit. Thanks!

The cover for this e-book looks like a blurred photo of Keith Urban. Maybe I watch too many country music videos. Anyway . . .

Unplugged (A Portrait of a Rock Star) by J. P Grider brings readers the story of Tagg Holland, a 90s-era rock star who went into hiding after the death of his wife and sank into a depression. In an effort to give him something to focus on other than his grief, Tagg's mother hires a personal trainer named Mara to get him in shape for a possible reunion tour with his band. Tagg falls for the trainer, but is he stable enough for a relationship?

One review on Goodreads described the writing as "clunky" and I couldn't have said it better. The book was written in the first person from Tagg's perspective. The flowery phrases describing Tagg's mental state sounded awkward coming from his own mouth. This was one of Grider's first novels, and she seemed to be striving to create something that was different than the average romance by using vocabulary that I would normally run across in literary fiction, such as "insentient", but then made poor word choices like using "sorted" instead of "sordid". There is no rule saying that romance can't be literary, but this book doesn't live up to that goal.

This book confused me with its direction in other ways, as well. Since it is labeled as the story of a rock star I expected debauchery, but about 70% of the book read like a sweet and secular romance, meaning no religious content but also no sex and the occasional curse word. Then the author threw in both sex AND Catholicism, and I was baffled. I'm not so innocent as to believe that people who believe in God don't have premarital sex in real life, but in most of my romance reading, sex and church are in different books.

There are certain elements one expects when reading a romance that follows the "celebrity meets girl-next-door" trope, but I have never read a book where they were as predictable as they were here. All the aspects of the stereotypical rock star lifestyle were included but it was like someone was checking them off a list. Drinking? Check. Paparazzi catching photo at the wrong time? Check. Intrusive fans? Check. The hero and heroine's eventual coupling had all the sexiness of a task being checked off the list, as well.

The predictability would have been tolerable if the hero and the heroine weren't so one-dimensional. Tagg was a sloppy mess and Mara was endlessly forgiving, no matter what. The attempts at lighthearted banter fell flat. The frequent descriptions of Mara as tiny and wide-eyed started to sound creepy toward the end, especially since they were in Tagg's voice. However, the worst thing was that I couldn't shake the conviction that Tagg and Mara were together for the wrong reasons. With most romances, after I turn the last page I imagine that the couple had a calm and happy life. With Tagg and Mara, I could only picture the problems that cropped up in their future.

I must mention that there is a note on Goodreads mentioned that this book had a third edition released from a different publisher in 2015 with a major update and complete re-edit. Supposedly people who had the original Kindle edition were to be pushed an update. Well, I've had this book in my Kindle app since 2012 and I have no memory of receiving an update. Furthermore, the book is no longer available in e-book format, and I don't want to pay $10 for the paperback version just to satisfy my curiosity. If any of you have purchased this book since 2015 and read it, I would be curious to know your opinion of it.

Unplugged on Book Depository

Unplugged on Amazon

The Second Chance Tea Shop by Fay Keenan

My rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Genre: Women's fiction, contemporary romance
Format: Free ARC obtained through NetGalley (no compensation for review)
Sweet or hot?: Medium; a few sex scenes, a few curse words

Disclaimer: There are affiliate links in this post. If you click through and make a purchase, I will get a few coins and my coffee budget will thank you. However, if you are skint and have to borrow the book from your library, I understand.

The Second Chance Tea Shop by Fay Keenan chronicles the courtship of Anna Hemingway and Matthew Carter. Anna is a widow with a three-year-old daughter who has returned to her hometown to run the local tea shop and finally get out from under the oppressive grief of losing her husband two years prior. Matthew is the managing director of the local cider farm, and he has a few issues of his own. The book follows them during a year of activities in their village of Little Somerby.

My first thought after finishing this book is that title is slightly misleading. The tea shop of the title does not play as big a role in the story as I expected. With books like The Friday Night Knitting Club and The Shop on Blossom Street, a lot of the action is in the shop or concerns various patrons of the shop. In this book, the shop really is just a place where the heroine works. The regulars are mentioned but they aren't fleshed out in a way that would make the book feel like it had an ensemble cast.There are a few times where Keenan seems to remember the title and makes a reference to the shop being Anna's saving grace, but I didn't get the feeling that it was central to the plot.

Other than that, there was plenty to like about this book. Keenan paints a picture of the village and the various events that makes you want to tarry a while. She gives readers a portrayal of Anna's grieving process that felt realistic without bringing the tone of the book down too much. The kids in the book add to the story without being annoying. Although there is a bit of drama in the second half of the book, it isn't of the nail-biting sort.

The only aspect that could stop you from recommending this book to your maiden auntie is the sex scenes. There isn't exactly the explicit detailing of Card A going into Slot B, but the scenes don't fade to black, either; the lights are on the whole time. It's nowhere near 50 Shades of Grey, but it is surprising considering the tone of the majority of the book.

I received this as an ARC from NetGalley where the publication date is listed as 01 Apr 2017. However, it seems that the book was actually released on 10 Mar 2017. So if you would like to escape into a bit of light romance while the kids are driving you crazy over spring break, give this a try.

The Second Chance Tea Shop at Amazon (affiliate link)
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Bring on the Blessings by Beverly Jenkins

My rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Genre: Women's fiction
Format: Kindle e-book
Sweet or hot?: Sweet; there are references to sex but no explicit scenes and a few four-letter words

Disclaimer: There are affiliate links in this post. If you click through and make a purchase, I will get a few coins and my coffee budget will thank you. However, if you are skint and have to borrow the book from your library, I understand.

Beverly Jenkins is an author whose name is bandied about a lot on blogs and podcasts that focus on romance novels. In fact, if those were your only sources of information, you may come to believe that Jenkins is the only black romance author in America. She is certainly the first one mentioned whenever someone asks for romances written by people of color. Because I tend to be a contrary soul, I have resisted picking up any of her books partly for that reason. However, in an effort to break out of my rut and read more black authors, I picked up one of her books. Leave it to me to pick one of the few books in her catalog that isn't a romance! Anyway . . .

Bring on the Blessings starts off with the story of how Bernadine Brown became a multimillionaire and decided to put her money to good use. In her case, that turned out to be buying a town that was deeply in debt. Since it was one of the original townships set up by freed slaves after the Civil War, many people are interested in keeping it alive and preserving its history. Add in a few foster kids and some townspeople who aren't happy about the town's new owner, and you have the setup for this novel.

I would say that this book would be filed under "women's fiction" rather than romance. It endeavors to be the story of the redemption of a town and as such follows an ensemble cast rather than focusing on one hero and heroine. There are slight romantic elements but they aren't the main focus of the book. The majority of the characters, including the romantic couples, are over 30 which makes a refreshing change from the 18-year-old virgins in most of the historical romances I read. Yes, I said "couples" because there are two couples making eyes at each other. One doesn't end up together (yet) and the conflict keeping the other couple apart is solved with one quick conversation. There is a nod to a third possible couple that may get together in a future book.

This is the first book of six, and it feels like it. I didn't get hooked by the story until about 50% of the way into it because the first half involved fleshing out the details already disclosed in the summary. This isn't necessarily a bad thing when all six books have already been published and I can get the next one at the click of a button on my library's website. I would have been more disappointed if I was reading this back in 2009 when it was published and had to wait another year for the next book.

I get the feeling from this first entry in the Blessings series that these will be what I call gentle books. Nothing momentous happens; any conflicts are resolved quickly. Some people may call that dull or unrealistic, but I think there is a readership for books where a white knight (who happens to be a black woman for a change -- huzzah!) sweeps in with a seemingly bottomless purse and a magic contact list to solve all the problems. The key to making this kind of story enjoyable is to create characters that a reader wants to spend time with, and I think Jenkins has done just that. I'll definitely be reading the next book.

Bring on the Blessings at Overdrive
Bring on the Blessings at Book Depository
Bring on the Blessings at Amazon

Farewell, Dorothy Parker by Ellen Meister

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Genre: Women's fiction, fantasy
Format: mp3 audiobook downloaded from public library
Sweet or hot?: Medium; no graphic sex scenes but the F-bomb is dropped several times

Disclaimer: There are affiliate links in this post. If you click through and make a purchase, I will get a few coins and my coffee budget will thank you. However, if you are skint and have to borrow the book from your library, I understand.

This is one of those books that I'm never sure how to classify. It is closer to women's fiction than chick lit or romance. There is a ghost but I wouldn't call it fantasy and it is definitely not horror. There are serious themes but it is too light to be magical realism, which is more literary. I guess I'll just call it "fiction" and move on . . .

Farewell, Dorothy Parker by Ellen Meister is the story of  Violet Epps, a movie critic who writes biting reviews for a prominent weekly entertainment magazine but is timid in her real life. At the start of the story, Violet has several tough issues to face but crippling social anxiety is keeping her from handling them well. She schedules lunch at the Algonquin Hotel, frequent dining spot of Dorothy Parker and the Vicious Circle, to calm herself and gather strength to do what needs to be done. Little did she know that the spirit of Dorothy Parker herself would hitch a ride in her handbag.

I experienced this story on audio and I can't imagine doing it any other way. While Angela Brazil is not one of my favorite narrators, I adored her Dorothy Parker voice. It made me picture bobbed hair, cocktail glasses, and 1930s movies. I don't think I could conjure that voice in my head if I was reading it on the page.

Technically this isn't a novel about time travel because Dorothy Parker is a ghost, but it still hit those beats for me. The conversations between Violet and Dorothy Parker, where they were making comparisons between the culture of the past and the present day, were some of the best in the book. Meister says in the author's note at the end that she is a longtime fan of Dorothy Parker, and it shows in the writing. Meister also did a good job conveying the importance of the events in Violet's life that turned her into a meek, unassuming adult. We as readers do spend a good bit of time in Violet's head revisiting some events but it never feels like a rehash because Meister shows us something new each time we go back.

I'd say that this is a good book for anyone who wants to take a break from all the "murder with a side of pie" mystery novels that seem to be marketed to women my age. Romance is not a focus of the story so you can hand this book to your Aunt Pearl without worrying about sex scenes, but you may want to warn her that the F-word comes up once or twice.

Farewell, Dorothy Parker at Overdrive
Farewell, Dorothy Parker at Amazon
Farewell, Dorothy Parker at Book Depository

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion; Dan O'Grady, narrator
My rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Part of a series?: Yes, Book #1 of the Don Tillman series
Genre: Contemporary romance
Format read: Audiobook from the library
Sweet or hot?: Medium; the possibility of sex is mentioned but nothing explicit

Disclosure: “Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission.”

This book is a romance written by a man and told from the hero's point of view. Spending time inside a man's brain was a refreshing change. I mean, I've enjoyed books written by women from the hero's perspective, but sometimes it feels like wish fulfillment -- this is what women hope men are thinking, so they write it that way. Anyway . . .

The Rosie Project is the first-person narrative of Don Tillman, a brilliant genetics professor who decides it is about time to find himself a wife. He recognizes that he is socially awkward and inept at conventional dating, so he designs a 16-page questionnaire to help him find the perfect partner. Early on in the process, Don meets Rosie Jarman, a woman who has all the traits he was trying to filter out with the questionnaire: smoking, drinking, chronic tardiness, etc. Yet he breaks several of his rules to help her with a project because he is inexplicably drawn to her. What results is an unlikely relationship.

At first, I didn't know if I was going to stick with this novel. It took the length of the first chapter for me to become accustomed to Don's analytical thought process. I've read books and watched TV shows with female characters who have similar characteristics but not to such an extent. Once the story advanced to scenes where Don spends time with people who understand him, I became more engaged. 

One thing I am attracted to is a "fish out of water" story, and you could look at this story that way. Don has rigid schedules that make him feel safe but spending time with Rosie causes him to readjust his time tables repeatedly. He goes to places he's been before but sees them differently because Rosie pushes him to try new approaches. I enjoyed seeing Don incorporate the new information without totally losing himself. There were also some funny bits where the reader understands a situation that Don has gotten himself into while he is still methodically analyzing it.

Dan O'Grady, the narrator, did a respectable job; doing women's voices doesn't seem to be his strong suit, but I adjusted to that quickly. I'm still not sure if this is the ideal book to listen to on audio, though. While I have plenty of experience listening to audiobooks, I had trouble in several places distinguishing between Don's inner thoughts and what he spoke aloud. If I continue to the next book, I would most likely read it rather than listen to it so I could have the benefit of quotation marks.

As I mentioned above, there is a second book but this first book does not end in a cliffhanger. Moving on to The Rosie Effect will give you more time with these characters, but The Rosie Project is a complete book in itself. It was enjoyable and definitely a palate cleanser if, like me, you read the same type of romances over and over. Give yourself a break and give this a try.

The Rosie Project at Overdrive
The Rosie Project at Amazon
The Rosie Project at Book Depository