Mark Chan this. Mark Chan that.

Writer and barista Emily Hung is tired of hearing about the great Mark Chan, the son of her parents’ friends. You’d think he single-handedly stopped climate change and ended child poverty from the way her mother raves about him. But in reality, he’s just a boring, sweater-vest-wearing engineer, and when they’re forced together at Emily’s sister’s wedding, it’s obvious he thinks he’s too good for her.

But now that Emily is her family’s last single daughter, her mother is fixated on getting her married and she has her sights on Mark. There’s only one solution, clearly: convince Mark to be in a fake relationship with her long enough to put an end to her mom’s meddling. He reluctantly agrees.

Unfortunately, lying isn’t enough. Family friends keep popping up at their supposed dates—including a bubble tea shop and cake-decorating class—so they’ll have to spend more time together to make their relationship look real. With each fake date, though, Emily realizes that Mark’s not quite what she assumed and maybe that argyle sweater isn’t so ugly after all…

Dear Ms. Lau, 

Despite the fact that generally I’m not a fake-dating fan, I loved this book. I think this is a standalone novel but honestly I enjoyed it so much that I was a little sad that the sisters of the MCs are already married. Ms. Margaret Muffins, who often looks unimpressed with the world, is an unexpected treat and I adore that the hero talks to her as I do to my cats. Yes, they understand me, why do you ask? The heroine’s horror at the realization that she might actually be “getting old” (per her niece), was amusing to me as I look (way) back on the age Emily is now.  

Emily Hung’s last single sister is married and even Emily’s five year old niece (and I adored Scarlett and her sister Khloe) is questioning why Emily is single and tells her that she’s old. But all of that is in a loving five year old way. As Emily sees her mother bee-lining towards her, she knows that something is up. Mark Chan isn’t exactly thrilled with the forced meeting at this wedding but Mrs.Hung convinces him that Emily wants to see him again. Well, that isn’t true but Emily’s out-of-the-blue suggestion to fake-date takes him by surprise until he decides, why not. Can they keep it up long enough to get Emily’s mom off her back while also convincing half of Toronto that it’s a real relationship? And what will happen once all the secrets start coming out?

The book brings to life the story of immigrant’s hopes and expectations for their Canadian children, how those children feel about what their parents want, lots of family drama and dynamics, some scrumptious sounding restaurants, good friendships, the outrageous prices for Toronto real estate, living your own life and dreams, and a cat. Even though Emily (and to a degree her sisters) moan about their feeling at being pushed to choose a prestigious career, it is obvious across the whole of the book that their parents love them and just want the best for them. Emily often thinks about how much her parents gave up in order to immigrate to Canada with hopes for their future children. There is a truly lovely revelation at the end that is both heartwarming as well as bittersweet when Emily learns something her mother has never told her. 

Emily is a hard worker who has dared to leave a career that her degree in mathematics got her in order to do what she loves – writing. She’s got one book published but as she (eventually) explains to Mark, the fucked up publishing world gives no guarantees of future success based on past performances. Emily is that increasing rara avis – the midlist author – and she’s worried that after she’s finished this three book contract, she won’t ever get another. I liked seeing so much of her writing job as well as the fact that in order to afford half of a two bedroom Toronto apartment, she has to do two other part time jobs. Roommate Paige is delightful as well and the two definitely have each other’s backs. 

Ashley frowns. “So what happened?”
“The kiss … we were sitting on a bench, and then I saw my auntie.”
“Oh my God,” Paige says, “Your auntie saw you tonguing your fake boyfriend?”  
“We were not tonguing.” I paused. “Okay, maybe there was a little tongue.”

Mark initially didn’t make a good impression on Emily but after they open up and discuss the wedding, Emily realizes why he was texting so much and what his facial expression meant when she mentioned her roommate. Emily, to her credit, immediately apologizes for her misunderstandings. I had thought that the book would be totally shown from Emily’s first person POV so the switch up at halftime to both character’s POV was a nice surprise. As Mark says, he wishes he could know what Emily is thinking because he’s thinking he likes her. A lot. 

Mark: Margaret will stay home. She doesn’t like car rides. I’ll ask my neighbor to check on her once a day.
Me: You’re on a first name basis with your cat now?
Mark: No, she calls me Mr. Chan, alas.

Their romance slowly plays out as things become clear to both of them and the shift from fake dates, to real fake dates (it makes sense in the book) to real dates feels real. I never felt that things were moving either too quickly or too slowly and totally believed in their changed feelings. I felt that Mark was a bit more thoughtful at times than Emily who let herself get overwhelmed by the whole fake-dating circus but her final act confession of her true feelings was heartfelt. Maybe with the two of them together, Ms. Margaret Muffins’s social media presence will increase to what she deserves. B+         

~Jayne

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He’s the bad boy she needs to help her lay down the law…

Assistant District Attorney Georgia Star is on the ballot in Last Stand, Texas to finally take the top job—but popularity has never been this overachiever’s forte. When her big-city outsider opponent begins wooing her constituents with lies, Georgia knows she has to stop playing nice. She turns to the infamous Cy Powell for advice, but his provocative solution might be worse than a defeat.

Cyrus “Cy” Powell is a property mogul, rancher, and entrepreneur—and a scion of Last Stand’s most notorious criminal family. Despite his legit success he’s never outrun his last name, so when Georgia asks for his help, Cy decides a fake relationship is the perfect pretext to infiltrate her world.

Dating Cy will connect Georgia with her voter base, and squiring Georgia through her influential social circles will polish Cy’s reputation and facilitate his latest business deal. Their chemistry is undeniable, but as the election looms, they’ll need to decide if their fake alliance is real and where their loyalties lie.

Dear Ms. Crowley,

Tropes, tropes, get yer tropes here! Small town, friends to lovers, bad boy, across the tracks, fake relationship, (a slight touch of) enemies to lovers, Jewish women in Texas. Wait, what was that last one? It’s the second in The Stars of Texas series about four sisters who are slowly getting back in touch with family and falling for friends in Last Stand, Texas where 150 years ago their Jewish Austrian great … Grandfather put down roots and established himself in a new land.

Georgia Star the ADA in this district is doing what she’s done since getting a job in her hometown – seeking justice rather than trying to be popular. She knows she’s made a few enemies along the way but she’s tried to do her best for everyone she’s seen in court. But now a Hot Shot from out of town has arrived to campaign for the position of District Attorney which Georgia knows is just for show until he can move on to bigger and better political things.

Cy Powell is a certified bad boy from a bad family. The local cops even called the Powell homestead “DFW” (after the largest airport in Texas) since so many of his relatives are frequent flyers through the justice system. Cy uses his reputation for his own purposes but it’s also one he’s been trying to outgrow since he can’t seem to outrun it.

Cy’s (legit) business partner suggests that Cy needs to put in some face time with major bigwigs for the land deals that they’re trying to swing. Looking for someone to give him credibility, Cy devises a plan. If Georgia will be his fake girlfriend, he’ll help her campaign among the outcasts, bikers, rednecks, and other working class rural people of the area whom Hot Shot has spurned. Can Georgia and Cy keep it private and professional until after the election?

The deal that Georgia and Cy have worked out makes a bit more sense to me than other fake dating scenarios. Georgia is really, really bad at campaigning for the position of DA. Cy is really good at hiding his pain and anger at how and what the town thinks of him. She provides the credibility that helps him with the fancy stuff he needs in order to get on the inside of property development deals and he delivers the votes of the barflies and Hermanos Guapos motorcycle gang for her election. To her credit, Georgia does think about this a bit but then decides that telling one little white lie to save her hometown from the city slicker with fancy boots who thinks he can just swoop in for a few years and pander to a few interests then exit to bigger things is something she can do.

For all that they appear as opposites, Cy and Georgia are actually very similar inside. Both feel responsible for family members. Georgia for her three younger sisters and Cy for his younger, feckless, brother. Both also feel like outsiders. Cy because of his ramshackle family and upbringing that caused him to build walls around the trust that he gives to no-one and avoid the pain that giving love would bring. Loyalty is a currency that Cy trades in. And Georgia for her religion and her single-dad father who couldn’t take her to school things which isolated her from peers while she was growing up. Georgia had thought that antisemitism was a thing of the past and not something to affect her in this day and age. To discover how it had shaped her mother’s life is a shock.

Georgia was parentalized at age seven when her mother died. She champions the underdogs and works for real justice for the three counties for which she works. Which might actually work against her in the election as twisted by her opponent. Cy dispenses much needed advice about money and navigating government paperwork to those who have no one else to turn to. They both help their community.

Georgia and her sisters are digging deeper into and having to mentally deal with the antisemitism that separated their mother from her family when mom married their dad and converted. This began in book one, played a minor role here – except for when Georgia out and out calls out a relative for not keeping up with Caroline Star after the family cut Caroline off for marrying a Jewish man. Cy is worrying about his younger brother who might be mixed up in something that threatens the local community.

I liked the way that their similarities bring them together over dealing with the threat to the community. Then I like how this turns into a realistic third act breakup that temporarily pushes them apart. They act in ways that are authentic to how their characters have been built on page. Bonus points that after the initial dust settles, they think about what’s happened, what they want, and, after not storming off nor vowing that they’re done with the other, they offer apologies as they work things out. And though I can take or leave epilogues, this is a nice one. I’m looking forward to the next book in the series. B+

~Jayne

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Dear Emily Henry,

After reading and loving your books for a number of years now, I’ve come to have high expectations. I’ve yet to be disappointed.

There must be a signal released in my brain when I recognise your words; something in me just relaxes and prepares to be all-in on the story. I guess all my favourite authors have it – that thing where recognition occurs from that first page. It’s comforting and exciting all at once.

Funny Story is about Daphne Vincent, a children’s librarian who moved to Waning Bay on Lake Michigan with her fiance, Peter. Daphne has always wanted to belong somewhere and to someone. She is very close with her mother, but after her dad left when she was little, they moved around a lot and Daphne learned not to make friends because they wouldn’t be staying long enough for her to keep them. Her dad has been unreliable all her life and many of her childhood memories around him involve her waiting for him to arrive and fairly often him not turning up at all. She wants roots and friends and family beyond her mother and thinks she has it in Peter. She’s made an incredible effort to be accepted by his friends and family.

But then, following his bachelor party, Peter announces that he’s actually in love with his best friend, Petra, and Daphne is left very much alone.

I’d thought we were building something permanent together. Now I realize I’d just been slotting myself into his life, leaving me without my own.

Petra had been living with her boyfriend, Miles Nowak. When Petra moves in with Peter, Daphne needs a place to live. Miles, in turn, could use help with the rent. Plus, he’s a nice guy. So Daphne moves into the second bedroom in Miles’s apartment.  Daphne is hurt and reeling and counting down the days until she can leave Waning Bay and go somewhere else, to start again. Miles is not any happier and they bond over their shared heartbreak.

Very shortly after they are dumped, Daphne and Miles are shocked to receive wedding invitations in the mail for Peter and Petra. After the initial pain of it wears of, Daphne allows some anger in. And, when Peter is being condescending in a phone conversation, she blurts out that she and Miles are dating.

“I didn’t need a plus-one. He got his own invitation.”

The weighty silence tells me Peter is doing invisible calculus now. Only he’s got the brain for it. “You can’t mean . . .” His voice slides past disbelief straight into incredulity. “You’re with Miles?”

No, no, no, the voice in my head screams.

“Yep!” my mouth chirps.

I am instantly back to silent Munch-screaming out the window.

The next silence extends too long. I’m incapable of breaking it, because the only thing I can think to say is, I don’t know why I said that—it’s an outright lie, but I also cannot. Cannot tell him that.

Miles is pretty easygoing and is prepared to go along with the fake relationship. He’s also come to value Daphne as a friend and when he finds out she’s planning to leave town at the end of the summer, he embarks upon a plan to show her the real Waning Bay and the surrounds and convince her to stay. Most Sundays they play tourist and Daphne learns more about the town than she ever did while with Peter. She realises that Peter had never made an effort to help Daphne belong or be welcome.

“Daphne,” he tuts. “Daphne, Daphne, Daphne.”

“Let me guess: I’m a clueless fool,” I say.

He starts the car. “No, just a sweet, naive, beautiful little innocent, raised in captivity by a man who loves wheatgrass.”

As Daphne and Miles spend more time together, a simmering attraction develops and grows, bursting out of them from time to time before they try and put the genie back in the bottle rather than risk their friendship and their copacetic living arrangement. But it just won’t go away.

The thing, it would seem, Miles has been hiding all along is that he’s diabolically handsome, with angular cheekbones and a jaw that sort of looks like it might cut your fingertips if you were to run a hand over it. Or your tongue. You know, whatever.

Miles is nice. He’s popular with locals and strangers alike. He’s able to strike up a conversation easily and is genuinely interested in what people say to him. He’s easygoing and laid back – basically the opposite of Peter. (He also has a quirky but endearing love of sad love songs.)

Daphne has a deep sense of not being good enough, not being worth staying for, not being anyone’s first choice (apart from her mother). She wonders what is wrong with her that people leave.

Miles has his own baggage. Raised in an extremely toxic household, he feels great responsibility for his (13 years’ younger) sister, Julia. He feels like he didn’t do enough and let her down. He feels like he always lets people down when it counts.

To him, he’s the brother who ran away. To her, he’s the one who stays, even when he shouldn’t.

He tries hard to live in the moment and not to foster too much expectation from others. At least, that’s what he says. It’s clear enough that that the connections he’s made in Waning Bay don’t share that view at all. Yes, he’s often late because he gets caught up in conversations and because he’s very good at being in the moment but people want him around – he’s kind, generous, funny and personable. Because of that genuine interest, he knows everyone in town.

Miles’s philosophy can be summed up in this passage:

“Things go smoother if you don’t let people get a rise out of you,” he says. “If you give them control over how you feel, they’ll always use it.”

“Finally, I see your cynical side,” I say.

He smiles, but his jaw is tight, and it doesn’t reach his eyes. “It’s not cynical. If you don’t give other people responsibility for your feelings, you can have a decent relationship with most of them.”

Honestly, it’s not far off from thoughts I’ve had. Only for me, it’s never been about controlling the feelings themselves. I wouldn’t know where to begin with that. It’s more, controlling the expectations you have for certain people.

If a person lets you down, it’s time to reconsider what you’re asking of them.

Whereas Daphne’s is very different.

You can’t force a person to show up, but you can learn a lesson when they don’t.

Trust people’s actions, not their words.

Don’t love anyone who isn’t ready to love you back.

Let go of the people who don’t hold on to you.

Don’t wait on anyone who’s in no rush to get to you.

Beyond the relationship between Miles and Daphne though, Funny Story, charts Daphne coming into her own, learning more about herself, putting herself out there and finding her own sense of belonging rather than looking for it from others. She makes a good friend at work, Ashleigh, and their growing bond is also great to witness. I liked Ashleigh very much – as well as the other library staff and other locals we meet along the way.

I also liked that Daphne learns she isn’t perfect and that, ultimately, it’s okay – people make mistakes and hurt others, even she does. She has to grapple with not just being the one being left waiting, but being a person who has let others down. It’s a thing she’s never realised before – mostly it’s never come up (my impression was this was largely because she lived her life in such rigid compartments before the Peter/Petra catastrophe – which turned out to be the best thing for her). But things get a little messy and Daphne realises that not everything needs to be coloured inside the lines. She also realises she’s worth loving, worth staying for and worth investing in – by others and by herself.

I liked very much that Miles got support he didn’t even know he needed from Daphne and was able to see himself through her eyes and realise that he’s worthy too.

Funny Story is told entirely from Daphne’s point of view which makes sense given the eventual conflict between she and Miles. You set up very well the reasons for each character to act as they do. I did think that Miles’s initial explanation as contrasted with the more complete version was a little bait-and-switchy. It made the ending more satisfying but it felt to me a bit like the conflict was a tad manufactured. That’s really my only criticism of the book – otherwise, I pretty much loved it from start to finish. And, I want to reiterate, the HEA was extremely satisfying.

Grade: A-

Regards,
Kaetrin

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“When the time comes for you to retire, Hugo, if you want a quiet life, don’t settle down in the country. Bury yourself in London or any really large city, and you can live like a hermit, but avoid the outskirts of a village. I am dazed by the ceaseless whirl of activities in which almost everyone in and round Ravenskirk is involved.”

Sara Monteith makes an ideal correspondent for Hugo Jamieson, brother of her lost love Ivo, killed in the war before they could marry. Her neighbours in the lovely Border village of Ravenskirk don’t know that Sara has moved here because it’s where Ivo and Hugo grew up, but they welcome her warmly. Soon, she’s drawn into the active village social scene of tea parties, gardening, carol-singing, and Coronation festivities, dodging the judgments of stern Miss Bonaly, defending her helper Madge Marchbanks, an unwed mother, befriending kind, practical Elizabeth Drysdale and charming Mrs. Currie and her daughter Sylvia (the latter first met halfway through Sara’s drawing room window), and having an embarrassing first encounter with rugged Major Whitburn. Add in her nephew Arthur, neglected by an indifferent father, Arthur’s dog Pam, and even Hugo himself returning unexpectedly from overseas, and Sara’s life is a ‘ceaseless whirl’ indeed!

Review

Furrowed Middlebrow comes through again. Molly Clavering was born in Scotland around the turn of the twentieth century and eventually became a neighbor of DE Stevenson. If the rest of Clavering’s books are like this one, I think I can safely say that if you like Stevenson, you will like Clavering.

The blurb can’t be improved upon. “Dear Hugo” is an epistolary novel in which Sara relates to her should-have-been brother-in-law Hugo everything that goes on in this small Border village. I was never sure of the source of Sara’s money but it has allowed her to purchase a small cottage and to enthusiastically whack away in the garden behind it as well as roam the hills around her. However once her neighbors get their (mostly very nice) hands on her, she is whisked away to various village committees and groups. As she tells Hugo, a small village is more full of things to do than any large city.

Sara enjoys where she is both in place and time. She did choose the village as her lost fiance Ivo and Hugo had grown up here and it’s obvious that she’s seeking some kind of peace. Yet Sara doesn’t mope, cries her tears in private, and seeks to be an open hearted neighbor. As it’s the early 1950s, the older villagers still tend to think in ways that are even then passing out of style.

The lovely Mrs. Keith who lives in the stately Ladymount still has two live-in servants who are fiercely loyal and protective of her. Sara soon gains a local who comes in “to do” for her three times a week. Madge Marchmont had met with a man during the war and is now a single mother (of wee Helen) living with her aunt who sought the position for Madge. The occupants of the cottage near Sara are mysteriously absent and then mysterious after they’re there. A charming family lives close by with a mother who cheerfully manages her brood while dragging Sara into village life.

Then there’s the Major (Sara just knew that the man had some title other than Mr.) Sara met in less than ideal circumstances and his single sister who is both witty and biting. Sara quickly learns to beware of Miss Bonaly who pries information out of people like MI6 and who is less welcome in most houses she just “happens to be passing by” when she arrives on her gossip gathering mission. Then there is Atty, a (IIRC) thirteen year old second cousin who is landed on Sara when his remarried father and new wife head off to Washington, DC. Atty, as Sara soon learns, is a dear boy with a bottomless stomach.

Sara’s rambling letters detail everything for Hugo and for readers. All the village secrets and goings on plus lots of descriptions of the scenery that is obviously so beloved to both Clavering and Stevenson. It’s a nice, easy going novel which really is women’s fiction as it tends to focus on the female characters and how the men relate to them. I wasn’t sure just how it would end but I’m both slightly surprised yet also very satisfied. I’ll leave readers to discover for themselves how things turn out. B+

~Jayne

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Dear Tessa Bailey,

I have been so looking forward to this book! When I heard from trusted romance friends that Fangirl Down rivaled It Happened One Summer – my favourite of your books up to then – my excitement only mounted. I’m here to say Fangirl Down lived up to its promise. It was funny, sexy (very) and pretty much hit every one of my good book buttons.

Wells Whittaker is a pro golfer who’s been in a slump for the past two years. He came onto the scene five years ago and won a couple of majors but more recently he’s often missed the cut and his behaviour – tolerated when he was winning – became much more criticised. As it is, he’s barely allowed to be on the tour due to his antics on the course.

Josephine Doyle is his number one fan. She’s followed his career from the beginning. No fair weather fan, Josephine is here to stay.

Josephine knows golf; her family runs a pro shop, The Golden Tee, in Palm Beach and she’s certified to give lessons. While it wasn’t ever specified I got the impression that if she had wanted to, Josephine could have headed to LPGA herself. Her parents have now retired and she runs the pro shop herself.

When Wells is in Florida for a tournament, she’s at the course, cheering him on the whole time. Josephine’s fandom isn’t about a celebrity crush. Sure, Wells is good-looking, but she likes his game, his skill and she has witnessed kindnesses from him which indicated to her he was a golfer worth following.

Wells has had only limited interaction with Josephine over the years but he’s certainly aware of who she is. She’s shouted encouragement and banter at him from behind the rope, she holds up her sign “Wells’s Belle” and wears his merch. Wells is very down on himself and his career. He knows he’s tanking and there’s no saving him. The only thing that makes him want to try is his number one fan. He wishes she’d stop and then he could crawl off to wherever failed golfers go to die.

As the book begins, Josephine has won a competition to have lunch with Wells and for him to give her a putting lesson. She doesn’t really need the lesson of course but she’s very excited to spend some 1:1 time with her idol. However, after another bad round, Wells just wants to throw in the towel (yes I know I’m mixing my sports metaphors). So he tells her there won’t be a lunch or putting lesson. He says she should stop admiring him, he’s not worth her time or effort, then tears up her “Wells’s Belle” sign (because she’s still not giving up on him!) and leaves the tour. Still, something about Josephine gets to Wells and he can’t stop thinking about her. He hated the look in her eye when she finally gave up and left.

There’s a hurricane in Florida which does a lot of damage to the pro shop and Josephine’s already precarious financial position falls into the ditch. She’d let her flood insurance lapse in order to pay the rent on the shop. She’d foregone her health insurance for the same reason – and, as a Type 1 diabetic, healthcare is not really optional. Now with the shop and the stock in it ruined she’s lost as to how she will go on. Worse, her parents do not know about her financial issues and she’s just not sure how she will tell them their legacy is gone. One thing about Josephine is that she doesn’t want people hovering over her, especially re her diabetes. She understands people caring but she’s an adult and can take care of herself. (Even with her financial situation, she has been managing her diabetes.)

Wells, drowning his sorrows repeatedly and getting into bar brawls to let off steam, hears about the hurricane.

God, he needed a drink. Badly.

But he couldn’t seem to make the move to the kitchen to get a fresh bottle of scotch. Everything Nate had said was true—he had behaved like a relentless prick his entire career. Trash-talked the other pros instead of making friends. Been indifferent toward the fans. Either outright ignored the press or gave them answers they couldn’t air on television.

More than anything, he wanted to give the world his middle finger and go back to bed. No one expected anything from him. He had no family to let down. No real friends to piss off. No mentor to disappoint.

But as loudly as oblivion called to him, the crystal-clear memory of her sang louder.

God, it was annoying.

“We’re getting lunch, Josephine,” Wells shouted on the way to the shower. “Dammit, we’re getting lunch.”

When Wells turns up at the Golden Tee on a pretext, he realises quickly that Josephine needs a lot more than lunch.

The knowledge that this person was so much more than his most loyal fan came crashing down on Wells’s head like a ton of bricks. Josephine had problems to contend with. Serious ones. Her family’s shop was underwater and she had to worry about blood sugar going up and down. And he’d ripped her fucking sign in half? What kind of a monster am I?

Wells promptly offers to give Josephine the money she needs (he has plenty of it, after all) but of course she refuses. Her pride is pricked and she lets him have it.

“Are we really pointing out each other’s flaws, because I don’t think you have that kind of time on your hands.”

“I have nothing but time on my hands.”

“Fine! Then your backswing is timid.”

“My—” His neck locked up like a prison cell. “What did you say?”

“I said . . .” … “You used to swing like you had nothing to lose. It was glorious to watch. Now, you handle the driver like you’re worried the ball might yell at you for hitting it too hard.” She stabbed him in the chest with her index finger. “You swing like you’re scared.”

That’s truly when Wells realises Josephine has chops and from there he comes up with an idea.

“If I can get back on the tour, if they’ll allow me back on, why don’t you put your money where your mouth is and caddie for me? Since you know so goddamn much.”

Caddies make a percentage of whatever the golfer wins. If Wells can get back in the money, Josephine can get what she needs with no damage to her pride. And suddenly he wants to try. For her. I’ve tagged this book “morality chain lite”. I think it fits. Whilst Wells does learn to love the game again and do for himself rather than only ever relying on Josephine to be his moral compass, it takes most of the book for him to get there. But – for Josephine he will stop throwing golf clubs. He will make nice (ish) with reporters. He will behave himself. for her. She needs him and he’s not going to let her down.

Wells has a history of being abandoned by those he loves. First his parents when he was a child and then his mentor, after his game slumped. He expects to be left and, as Josephine points out to him, he tends to torpedo things himself before they can go bad and hurt him. At least that way he’s influencing what’s happening; it’s not just being done to him. He’ll do the leaving before something or someone leaves him. But Josephine promises not to give up on him as long as he doesn’t give up on himself and from there, well, the only way is up.

Almost from that first interaction, Wells has a bone-deep unshakeable protective streak when it comes to Josephine. He’d carry her around in his pocket and keep her safe always if he could. It’s ridiculously charming. Sometimes amusingly obnoxious. But, and this is important, while he feels all those feelings, he also knows that it’s important to Josephine to stand on her own two feet and to be respected for being the competent woman she is. Wells does not want her to be sad or scared or unhappy in any way and so he is determined to give her whatever she needs however he can. I 100% did not hate it.

“Thank you, Wells. Really.”

Ask me to walk on broken glass next. Watch me not even hesitate. 

It’s really all throughout the book. If this kind of devotion doesn’t work for a reader, Fangirl Down will be a fail but it super works for me and I lapped it up with a spoon.

“Wells.” She tried to slow him down, but her heels only skidded in the grass. “Golfers don’t bring their caddies to the media tent.”

“This one does.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know, Josephine,” Wells fired back over his shoulder. “I just . . . have this pretty intense need to make sure everyone knows you’re very fucking important. Okay? Could you kindly just go along with it?”

I enjoyed Wells and Josephine’s growing professional and personal relationship. I loved how Josephine’s fandom wasn’t just because Wells has the best butt in golf (though he does). Wells appreciates (and so did I) that the chemistry between them is a thing born of their personal relationship and their interactions once the caddie/pro partnership starts. Josephine is attracted to Wells the man, not Wells the celebrity.

I laughed at quite a bit of Wells’s befuddlement about Josephine. She blows him away in all senses of the phrase.

Can’t I just miss the taste of my boyfriend’s cock? she’d purred, kissing his crown.

And his brain went offline after that.

He’d literally passed out from the sucker punch of relief she’d given him. And when he’d woken up, she was back at it. Moaning as she sucked him.

No clothes this time. Not a single stitch.

Now he was supposed to make small talk. Chew things and operate utensils.

How.

and

He had no idea what he’d done to deserve the Cadillac of sexual favors, but he wanted to be a better person now. Volunteer more. Build orphanages with his bare hands. Save the bees. All of it.

I loved the way Wells respected Josephine’s dreams and desires, even at his own expense. I loved how Wells understood that Josephine was his equal partner and wasn’t shy about letting others know it.

The sex was scorching, the banter top notch. There was so much for me to love in Fangirl Down. It truly is your best book since It Happened One Summer (another cracker) and possibly, it’s even better.

Grade: A

Regards,
Kaetrin

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Hairstylist Jess Greene has spent the last decade raising her younger half-sister, Tegan—and keeping a shocking secret. Ever since their reckless mother ran off with a boyfriend she’d known only a few months, Jess has been aware that he’s the same accomplished con man who was the subject of a wildly popular podcast, The Last Con of Lynton Baltimore.

Now thirty-one, Jess didn’t bargain on Tegan eventually piecing together the connection for herself. But Tegan plans to do exactly what Jess has always feared—leave their safe, stable home to search for their mother—and she’ll be accompanied by the prying podcast host and her watchful, handsome producer, Adam Hawkins. Unwilling to let the sister she’s spent so much of her life protecting go it alone, Jess reluctantly joins them.

Together, the four make their way across the country, unraveling the mystery of where the couple disappeared to and why. But soon Jess is discovering other things too. Like a renewed sense of vulnerability and curiosity, and a willingness to expand beyond the walls she’s so carefully built. And in Adam, she finds an unexpected connection she didn’t even know was missing, if only she can let go and let him in . . .

Content Note: mention of a past death by suicide, mental illness

Dear Kate Clayborn,

Anyone who has ever read one of your books knows your writing is beautiful. It is also unique. Your writing voice is one I can pick out in a crowd, a combination of gorgeous turns of phrase and  thoughtful motifs and word pictures. The Other Side of Disappearing is no different.

On it’s face, the “disappearing” in the title refers to Jess’s mother and her boyfriend, con man Lynton Baltimore. But there are layers of disappearing and disappeared in the book and by the end, the title has new significance. When Tegan was left in her care, Jess disappeared. She was focused solely on looking after Tegan and protecting her privacy. She has no social media, few friends and keeps everyone at a distance. This, to a certain extent, includes Tegan herself, particularly given the things she she has not shared about their mother. Jess’s is the biggest but there are other “disappearances” and reappearances, things and people being seen and unseen in the story, some small and subtle, some more obvious. These are all woven wonderfully together in a beautiful tapestry.

Adam is struck down by almost instant love when he first meets Jess. He immediately wants to protect her and make sure she is not taken advantage of by his boss, Salem Durant (the host of the first big podcast, The Last Con of Lynton Baltimore). Salem had been due to meet Lynton in person for the last episode of the iconic podcast, ten years before. But he didn’t show. (Instead he was busy running off with Jess and Tegan’s mother.) Some say Baltimore’s last con was to Salem herself. It still stings and she wants the follow up. There’s something there about relevance and reclaiming glory too as well as other things which are revealed later in the story.

Adam wants this story too. His best friend, Copeland “Cope” Frederick, a famous NFL player, died by suicide following a mental health crisis. Adam longs to tell Cope’s story in a podcast of his own but he is new to journalism and needs to earn his stripes before he can get the chance. Nonetheless, Adam finds himself immediately torn between his own goals and his desire to protect Jess. Jess may have disappeared but Adam sees her, immediately and clearly and he never loses sight of her. Not once.

Jess decides to go with Salem, Adam and Tegan on the search for the missing couple but does not intend to talk or share her story with the podcast. She is the epitome of reluctant to be involved. When Salem offers Adam the chance at his podcast if he gets Jess to talk on the record I thought I knew where the story was going. But you are too clever and, no. There were a number of times where the book could have gone a certain way but Adam and Jess are better than that and what separates them near the end is far more complicated. It all comes down to who sees you, how you see yourself.

Another recurring motif in the book is this:

“A shell souvenir,” she says quietly.

 

“What?”

 

She shrugs. “I don’t know. It’s like—collecting a bunch of little shells from the beach. Individually, they’re nice, sure. But if you want to remember your trip, you do something with them, the way these shops do. Put them in a jar, or glue them to a frame. Coat them in something that’s probably toxic and make a keychain. Stock them on your shelves for selling. A souvenir.”

which occurs when the team are in Florida during their search. There are a number of callbacks to this word picture as the story progresses and each one builds until in the end, it is its very own shell souvenir.

Jess is by no means immune to Adam’s charms. He is handsome and big and tall, protective, kind, open and vulnerable.

I push myself more upright so I can see him better. He’s wearing athletic shorts and a soaked-through T-shirt. He’s sweating. Breathing harder than normal. His hair is damp and sticking up in all directions, windblown. He’s the in-real-life version of every movie star who does some cheesy magazine cover story about how they bulked up to play a superhero, except in real life, it’s not cheesy at all.

 

This is terrible news.

To get involved with Adam threatens her privacy, her lack of visual substance, her framework. But he is a very hard man to resist. He doesn’t push. He’s just there, being kind and constant and caring and how can you fight that?

Adam tries to keep things professional. He doesn’t want to be any kind of burden to Jess who clearly has a lot on her plate but she’s just so darn wonderful it’s a hopeless case.

I turn to look at her. She pulled her hair up a couple of hours ago, high on the top of her head in a haphazard bun, and the fact is, I’ve avoided most eye contact since. Her neck is long and smooth and she has two slim, gold hoops in the cartilage of her right ear. I thought seeing her legs was bad, but this?

This is brutal.

In some ways, the result of the search is a little bit of a McGuffin – The Other Side of Disappearing is a romance, not a mystery – though the mystery is solved at the end. At least one of the revelations felt a little underdeveloped or perhaps just a bit out of place/unnecessary. I did love the way Jess and Tegan’s relationship grew and changed over the course of the book, from the initial fracturing to something better and far stronger by the end. I enjoyed Adam’s family and his steadfastness – though I was perhaps 5% confused by his obsession with his best friend. Perhaps I needed just a tiny bit more for me to truly understand their bond.

I loved Jess and Adam’s connections and contrasts. Adam is the one who reveals things. He sees Jess. He finds the lead which started the podcast search in the first place. He revealed hypocrisy within the NFL community about his friend Cope when Cope first died and has plans to reveal more. Jess is the one who has people disappearing on her and who has disappeared. But then Adam sees her and everything changes. It’s beautiful.

I am a shell collector. I’m trying so hard to coat all these precious, fragile facts about Adam in something hard and firm and inflexible.

I’m trying to make a souvenir.

Grade: A-

Regards,
Kaetrin

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Beloved writer Sean Dietrich—also known as Sean of the South—will warm your heart with this rich and nostalgic tale of a small-town sheriff, a mysterious little girl, and a good-hearted community pulling together to help her.

Folks in Moab live for ice cream socials, baseball, and the local paper’s weekly gossip column. Sheriff Winston Browne has watched over Moab with a generous eye for a decade, and by now he’s used to handling the daily dramas that keep life interesting for Moab’s quirky residents.

But just after Winston receives some terrible, life-altering news, a seemingly mute runaway with no clear origin arrives in Moab. The residents do what they believe is right and take her in—until two suspicious strangers arrive and begin looking for her. Suddenly Winston has a child in desperate need of protection—as well as a secret of his own to keep.

With the help of Moab’s goodhearted townsfolk, the humble and well-meaning Winston Browne still has some heroic things to do. He finds romance, family, and love in unexpected places. He stumbles upon adventure, searches his soul, and grapples with the past. In doing so, he just might discover what a life well-lived truly looks like.

Sometimes ordinary people do the most extraordinary things of all.

CW/TW – (not a spoiler) The main character has malignant cancer. A drowned corpse is described. 

Dear Mr. Dietrich, 

Well, two for two. I’m a latecomer to your books but I am a convert to their goodness. Unlike Nub Taylor in “Kinfolk,” Sheriff Winston Browne is a good man. A very good man. And unlike many good men, he actually gets the appreciation he deserves from many, if not most, of the people who love and admire him. Few can say that. 

To local residents it was covered dish socials, municipal meetings, and a bunch of people minding your business. To Eleanor Hughes, it was a river town full of millworkers, drunks, old biddies, Sunday school students whose sole purpose in life was to make her life miserable, and women who got old many years before they became elderly.

The book is set, deeply set, in the 1950s of a small town in the Florida panhandle. It’s a nice town, with mostly nice people making their homes and their lives there. At least I don’t recall meeting up with any bad ‘uns from Moab. As the story opens, Winston and two of his friends are working on a baseball field. They’d all played when younger but now age is catching up to them. For Winston, the cancer he probably owes to smoking his way across Europe in the Infantry during WWII is making its presence known, too. This is something that Winston has decided to keep to himself. I can understand that as he is in his early fifties and is the type of man who just shoulders on and doesn’t complain.

Winston was still thinking about the peculiar look on Eleanor’s face when he spun her. A look that was worth its weight in hot chicken casserole. A little bit of surprise. A little bit of caution. A little bit of unexpected excitement making an appearance. In other words, youth. It was the feeling of youth. Winston had almost forgotten what that felt like.

Eleanor Hughes is also a lifelong Methodist like Winston, and it is during the wedding of her niece (Eleanor did all the flowers for it) while she sits beside her lifelong swain who never set a date with her, that she realizes she’s had enough of waiting for him. She settled into being an old woman way before her time and she’s through. Dumbfounded Jimmy has no idea what he’s done – or not done per Eleanor. 

Eleanor caught a glimpse of herself in the dining room mirror. She was shocked at how dowdy she looked. Never before had she realized what an old woman she was. She touched her hair. Jimmy had aged her. He’d given her an excuse to stay frozen in 1902 like Ma Kettle. No more. Eleanor Hughes was finished looking like a dishwashing, pea-shelling old biddy.

When she finished draping the dough over each tin, she trimmed the excess with scissors, then gathered the remnants into a ball, flattened it with a rolling pin, and gave the lump a stern warning not to mess with her. Then she went to town on it, laughing like a villain in an old movie.

                
         
Young Jessie is amazed at the new world around her but not so amazed that she won’t lick the three snots in the car along with her as Sister Johanna drives them south and away from the cult in which Jessie has lived all her life. The Brethren don’t like uppityness, sin, or going against church leaders but it only slowly dawns on Jessie that she’s running for her life. 

Buz Guilford and his friend PJ are searching for his granddad, the town drunk. Buzz both loves and hates his granddad who drinks up every penny he can find, beg, or steal. The old man also siphons gas to sell and has taught Buz the skills although Buz and his mother, a survivor of polio, prefer to work – his mother doing double shifts at the mill and Buzz dropping out of school to take on supporting them all. 

He fell facedown on his bed and cried into his mattress. Because Buz did not want to be the man of the house. He wanted to be fourteen. He wanted to be normal.

And then there are three (frankly they sound crazy) religious fanatics who are searching for young Jessie and another whom they are determined will not escape the due justice for their sins. Oh, and Moabites are true Brooklyn Dodgers fans (yes, way down in Florida) faithfully following the 1955 season.

As with “Kinfolk” this book took me back a bit. Not all the way back to 1955 mind you but to a small town in which my mother grew up and which I visited each summer to see my grandparents. Life was slower and centered around farming and the Methodist Church (though the Baptists and Presbyterians were also there). The local newspaper didn’t go quite as much into the details of everyone’s lives as the Social Graces column does here but yes, everyone knew everyone and what they were up to. I could easily picture this town with its local merchants, people who were (as was Eleanor) fourth generation Moabites, one main business street, and making due with only one police squad car. 

But it’s the people I fell in love with. They are human. They are flawed. They are hard working (even the old men who sit all day in the mercantile) and just a little bit jealous of Pensacola with its two movie theaters and Chinese restaurant. Children play outside and the sidewalks are neatly rolled up at dusk. When Jessie arrives, hunted and looking to keep running, Eleanor, Jimmy (who forgives Jessie for beaning him with a can of carrots), Winston, and Buz step up. 

Jessie had almost forgotten about vices. In her time in Moab she had grown to love vices like jawbreakers, wax soda bottles filled with what tasted like cough syrup, sourballs so incredibly sour your face would actually be sucked right into your mouth, and of course Mary Janes. She had also grown to love television, colorful clothes, world geography, long division, comic books, music, and the Brooklyn Dodgers. Hallowed be their names.

The everyday events here including the morning scrabble games and the Halloween trick-or-treating are a delight. Watching Winston take over a preacher-less funeral and do right by the grieving is just what this man does. He helps maintain Buzz’s pride, sets him straight, and makes sure his mama isn’t embarrassed. He also teaches Buz to dance so he can make a stab at doing more than mooning over Becky at the social.  
  

Winston ignored this remark. “Give the boy a chance. I’m asking you as a friend. I wanna do right by him. He needs something permanent. When I’m gone, the new sheriff won’t owe Buz anything.”
The words lodged in Jimmy’s ears and stayed there for a few seconds. Jimmy looked back at the boy, who was leaning on the counter like a telephone pole with legs. “Dadgum you, Winston Browne.”

The various threads of the plot are carefully gathered together in a way that shows how neatly they’d been spun out over the course of the book. If the final chapters are a bit drawn out, they also serve to show how beloved Sheriff Browne is and give Eleanor an opportunity to hand out some sage wisdom. The ending, yeah it made me cry and it hurt but I knew it was coming and I wouldn’t have missed the ride. B+ 

~Jayne

“What can we do, Win?” said Eleanor.         
         Winston’s eyes immediately pinkened. His voice broke, and it stabbed Eleanor’s heart. Jimmy bit his lip and closed his eyes.
         Tommy turned his back to the group.  
         “Nothing,” Winston said. “Just don’t forget me when I’m gone.”

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When the war is lost, what else is worth winning?

Lt. Francis Ransome is newly promoted and completely miserable. After a year and a half of fighting in Russia’s revolutionary fallout, his regiment is retreating across the bitter Siberian wilderness, the war lost. Home has never been so close and yet so far, and any breath could be their last. When they stumble upon the remains of a Czech evacuation, they offer what help they can, but out here, it’s every man for himself.

Francis is instantly drawn to Sasha Jandácek, a handsome but withdrawn young soldier. The attraction is mutual—and enthralling—but it could spell the end for them both. Despite their best efforts, hesitance grows into friendship, and friendship blossoms into something else. Together, they struggle to conceal both feelings and fear in a world that won’t accept either.

As war stalks their footsteps and relentless winter gnaws on their morale, the journey home becomes a fight for survival. Francis and Sasha face the threat of discovery, death, and one burning question: even if they make it home, what future can they possibly have together?

Review:

Dear Ravella Ives,

This was a surprise recommendation by Amazon and it was a very good one. It is a historical with strong romantic elements rather than a full blown romance and it is a pretty well researched historical. Please heed the warning though, it is taking place during the Civil War in Russia, at the time when troops from many countries were trying to exit it or more specifically to run away from it. It is a painful read, a realistic one as well as far as I am aware and horrors of war were shown as part of the story, not to dial up the angst of the story to eleven.

The story shows the soldiers who are trying to leave the hell of revolutionary Russia and all they had to endure on the way out. Does the war show the worst or the best in people living through it? I always thought that the war can show both and it really depends on the people, so we see people doing things to survive, but also something like bringing an almost dead soldier to die in a relative comfort and safety (relative is the key word here) just because they could not bear the thought of him dying alone for example.

And there is that building romance between Sasha and Francis. It would have been so easy for me to roll my eyes if the author overdid romance in the midst of war, not because people cannot have romance and love in the middle of war, but because war comes first, before anything else. Somehow though I thought author managed very well to mix the romantic storyline in between everything that was happening and did not overdone it at all.

I was so rooting for Sasha and Francis to make it against all odds after the war with all their traumas and I was grateful for the ending we got.

I have to say that I cannot judge whether the English in the story sounded exactly how people spoke in 1919-1920s, however I can definitely say that it did not sound quite modern to me and I do hope that it fit the time well.

A-

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A huge-hearted, redemptive coming-of-old-age tale, a love story, and an ode to good food

Nothing could be more out of character, but after fifty-nine years of marriage, as her husband Bernard’s health declines, and her friends’ lives become focused on their grandchildren—which Jenny never had—Jenny decides she wants a little something for herself. So she secretly applies to be a contestant on the prime-time TV show Britain Bakes.

Whisked into an unfamiliar world of cameras and timed challenges, Jenny delights in a new-found independence. But that independence, and the stress of the competition, starts to unearth memories buried decades ago. Chocolate teacakes remind her of a furtive errand involving a wedding ring; sugared doughnuts call up a stranger’s kind act; a simple cottage loaf brings back the moment her life changed forever.

With her baking star rising, Jenny struggles to keep a lid on that first secret—a long-concealed deceit that threatens to shatter the very foundations of her marriage. It’s the only time in six decades that she’s kept something from Bernard. By putting herself in the limelight, has Jenny created a recipe for disaster?

Dear Ms. Ford, 

When I watch the GBBO, I have found myself pulling for the older contestants. They often do the “classics,” talk about how they started baking them with their nans, and generally are a joy to watch. I guess that’s me getting closer to their ages than to the younger people. So of course when I saw this book, I knew I wanted to read it. Let me say, reading about all the bakes made me ravenous and any weight I gain I will blame on Mrs. Quinn’s sweets!

So much of what Jenny Quinn says are things I’ve heard GBBO contestants saying. I never thought I would be accepted. I never thought I’d do well. I’ve gained self confidence and now I won’t hold myself back anymore. Jenny Quinn is from a generation that aspired to be secretaries (she and a mate were taking courses) much like (I think) a Mary Burchell heroine. That, for Reasons, didn’t happen for her and she’s spent the past almost 60 years being a housewife. Jenny has loved her husband Bernard (a Prince Among Men), loved baking, and loved being Aunty Jenny. But she’s seventy seven now and something makes her think “now or never” as she prints off the application for Britain Bakes. Scared to jinx it, she tells no one.

There are bobbles and near misses with people finding out but after a fraught afternoon in London with three of her bakes (one of which a delightful young man helps her to salvage), she hears back and learns she’s beaten the odds over twelve thousand other applicants. Bernard is a bit stunned that she didn’t tell him but is quickly behind her 100%. But there’s one other secret, a much longer one, that Jenny has kept from Bernard. 

As I read the story, I muttered under my breath, please don’t turn treacly. There were moments when things could have gone cloying and sentimental but, yay, didn’t. That isn’t to say that things aren’t heartfelt and emotional but it’s British emotional and older generation emotional. Things are contained rather than shouted out loud but the feels are there. 

The scenes from the show were a variation on GBBO but not exactly. I liked that realistically not everything went perfectly for Jenny. Part of the reason she made it onto the show was her ability to think on her feet and improvise which I think all the contestants who make it far can do. Her relationship with Azeez is lovely and the way her family cheers her on and supports her is fantastic.  

I guessed what Jenny’s long held secret would be but my speculation on why she and Bernard never had children had a soggy bottom. Her reasoning does make sense – for her – but poor Bernard. I agree with Jenny when the realization hits her of what her decisions cost him. What Jenny endured (Ray was a rat fink) was delicately described but no less agonizing due to the attitudes of the times. When the truth comes out, as readers know it will, Bernard comes up trumps in my opinion even if I thought he ought to take a little bit more time over his reaction. But then he and Jenny have had an amazing marriage for almost 60 years and Bernard displays 1 Corinthians 13. 

Overall, in the book things tended to go better than I would expect so maybe it lacks a little depth. Yes there are some stumbles and missteps along with a bit of emotional pain but the story is well described as heartfelt, uplifting, and charming. Jenny and Bernard are a wonderful couple though yes, I wish Jenny hadn’t kept her secrets from the man who loves her so deeply. I would like to apply to be in the Bernard Quinn Fan Club. Booyah that your cat approves of the book. This is another book that I devoured (pun intended) and enjoyed very much. B+

~Jayne    

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Welcome to the thrilling and unnervingly prescient world of the slow horses. This team of MI5 agents is united by one common bond: They’ve screwed up royally and will do anything to redeem themselves.

This special tenth-anniversary deluxe edition of a modern classic includes a foreword by the author, discussion questions for book clubs, and an exclusive short story featuring the slow horses.

London, England: Slough House is where washed-up MI5 spies go to while away what’s left of their failed careers. The “slow horses,” as they’re called, have all disgraced themselves in some way to get relegated there. Maybe they botched an Op so badly they can’t be trusted anymore. Maybe they got in the way of an ambitious colleague and had the rug yanked out from under them. Maybe they just got too dependent on the bottle—not unusual in this line of work. One thing they have in common, though, is they want to be back in the action. And most of them would do anything to get there?even if it means having to collaborate with one another.

When a young man is abducted and his kidnappers threaten to broadcast his beheading live on the Internet, the slow horses see an opportunity to redeem themselves. But is the victim really who he appears to be?

POSSIBLE SPOILERS IN THE REVIEW

Review:

Dear Mick Herron,

I have had your book on my kindle for a few years (three or four years to be precise). I tried it once or twice, but it just felt slow and more importantly not that easy to read, I felt like I was drowning within the book if that makes sense. Recently I encountered the book in Russian translation in the library and decided to try again.

I am happy to report that I at least finished the book and overall quite liked it. I understand that these series are well known and quite popular and that there is a TV show going on which I have not watched.

I came to this also without reading the reviews at all, but the blurb was clear enough that spies will be the central characters in the story and specifically spies who supposedly did something wrong at one time of their careers, or not even wrong, but something that MI5 did not care for even if this was something that MI5 ordered them to do in the first place. Bottom line – off to the dog house you go, and hopefully you will resign within the next few years, since no serious and/ or exciting assignments will ever be given to you. Of course best laid out plans often do not work out as planned.

Even in translation the first I would say third of this book felt really slow to me. I understood why of course – the author was introducing the characters, just setting up the whole story, describing the place they work in now, etc and more importantly those are people who supposed to use their brains a lot, right? So less running and fighting made perfect sense, although I have to say, I think the author managed to insert some faster bits and pieces in the narrative and it worked well for me, too.

As I said eventually all of these disgraced former spies (no, not former, most of them are still very good) end up participating in an important attempt of trying to save a young man from having his head cut off.

In the meantime we get to observe (and sometimes be very annoyed) at the games the chiefs of the spy agencies play and of course involve their people in playing those games and I have to say this, of course I can imagine that what they do in real life is probably much much worse, ends justify the means and all that, but the stunt that had been played which ended up being connected to our victim made absolutely zero sense to me. I am trying not to spoiler much here, but as much as I get annoyed when innocent people are being stepped upon for the “higher purpose”, as I said I would understand if the result made some sort of sense. I was staring at the page and basically screaming – that’s it? That’s what you did it for and he almost got killed and got saved through no fault of yours? Why was it worth it?

Overall however, I ended up really liking most of the characters from the Slough House and wanted to see them doing more interesting things and already bought book 2.

Grade: B+

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When Anna Mowbray receives a curt message from one of her estranged daughters that her ex-husband–a silent and surly Yorkshire farmer –is dying, she realizes it’s time to return home. Twelve years ago when her daughters were mostly grown, Anna walked away from Embthwaite Farm with no plan except to preserve her sanity and to find a ray of light to cling to.

But going home is harder than even Anna imagines. Her daughters are miles away from forgiveness and rebuff her every overture of help and communication, and her ex, who knows why she left, doesn’t even want to speak to her. But Anna’s determined to face her demons, make amends, and reconnect with her family.

What she doesn’t expect is kindness from her neighbors and understanding and warmth from the handsome widower James Adams, as well as his warm and welcoming daughter Jane. As Anna grieves her old life and tries to come to terms with the mistakes and hurts from the past, can she create a future where there’s room for a family around her… and the possibility of love?

CW/TW – discussion of mental health crises (including postnatal depression) and treatments, death of a character from cancer, discussion of adultery

Dear Ms. Hewitt, 

My goodness. There’s much more drama to be dished out at Embthwaite Farm with the Mowbray Sisters. Taciturn father Peter is closer to death from a brain tumor, sisters Rachel and Harriet are dealing with the pain of their mother’s return – the mother who walked out on the family thirteen years ago, Anna herself is trying to reconnect with her daughters and might have a new relationship on the horizon, and a change to Peter’s will could upend everything. 

Let’s just dive right in. Straight off the bat I admire that everyone was allowed moments of being totally pissed off. There are situations in the book which can be viewed like a funhouse mirror with people seeing different realities based on where they’re standing and what they are/were going through at the time. Mistakes were made. Mistakes are corrected but everyone needs to be allowed “moments of grace” to explain their side. Even if the people hurt by past actions are still hurt and mad. 

Up until now, it’s just been sisters Rachel and Harriet (books 1 and 2) who described the pain and fallout from when their mother abruptly left the family. Rachel was in uni while younger sister Harriet (who had been her mother’s favorite) felt lost and devastated. Their father had clearly – and painfully – favored Rachel which damaged Harriet’s coping mechanisms. Their books allowed readers to see their viewpoints. But what caused Anna to bolt?

When word reaches her about Peter’s disease and prognosis, Anna returns to try and rebuild the relationships that she severed. Yes, she had her reasons which are slowly explained. I appreciate, as I said, that the sisters now understand but are still dealing with over a decade of hurt. Had they instantly brushed that away, I would have cried foul. Anna is also finally coming to terms with her relationship with her ex-husband who both loved and negligently (but deliberately) hurt her for years. Yeah, Peter does not come off in a good light in regards to how he treated anyone. He might have been a good Yorkshire farmer but he was a crap husband and father. There, I said it. If this was a reddit thread, I’d say “YTA.” 

After it’s discussed, I can understand why Anna behaved as she did. This ties into some of the CWs above. She left because of the astounding hurt she felt for almost twenty years, the fact that her fairytale dreams of “Heathcliff” were just that, and because her own health was at risk. One character whispers to Anna that it’s amazing she didn’t leave before she did. I totally agree. Yet, Anna’s reasons for hanging on as long as she did are valid as well and are baked into her character’s backstory. The new relationship she tentatively begins is lovely but also not perfect. Yay for that. I saw a few things coming with it which I’m guessing will play out in book four. 

Ah yes, book four. Peter’s will is a bombshell. I knew there would be a fourth book but as this one progressed I wondered, who was going to be the main character. Let me just say I can’t wait for this story. There looks like there will be drama leaping off of ledges all over the place. I want this book now. And also to know where Fred’s going to live – with Rachel and Ben? I’m looking forward to the final installment of As the Yorkshire Farm Turns. B+ 

~Jayne     

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A thrilling race across the multiverse to save the infinite Earths – and the love of your life – from total destruction for fans of The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, The Time Traveler’s Wife and Everything, Everywhere, All at Once.

Film-maker Hayes Figueiredo is struggling to finish the documentary of his heart when handsome physicist Yusuf Hassan shows up, claiming Hayes is the key to understanding the Envisioner – a mysterious device that can predict the future.

Hayes is taken to a top-secret research facility where he discovers his alternate self from an alternate universe created the Envisioner and sent it to his reality. Hayes studies footage of the other him, he discovers a self he doesn’t recognize, angry and obsessive, and footage of Yusuf… as his husband.

As Hayes finds himself falling for Yusuf, he studies the parallel universe and imagines the perfect life they will live together. But their lives are inextricably linked to the other reality, and when that couple’s story ends in tragedy Hayes realises he must do anything he can to save Yusuf’s life. Because there are infinite realities, but only one Yusuf.

With the fate of countless realities and his heart in his hands, Hayes leads Yusuf on the run, tumbling through a kaleidoscope of universes trying to save it all. But even escaping into infinity, Hayes is running out of space – soon he will have to decide how much he’s willing to pay to save the love of his life.

Review:

Dear Nathan Tavares,

Your book was recommended to me by DA Commenter SusanD when I complained about having trouble finding SFF books with gay romance being an integral part of another storyline. Of course I bought it right after I read the blurb. In some ways your book was a perfect fit for me, it is exactly what I want to read in the book that features romance. The setting was well drawn, the characters had depth and the underlying adventure was very enjoyable.

The book has a lot of social commentary in it as well, some of it I agreed with, some I empathically disagreed with but still that was something I was quite worried that we may end up with. However, I very much appreciated how well all of it was incorporated in the setting.

I have to say though that I also found the structure of the book to be a bit … chaotic I guess. I understood that it was chaotic by design. I think partially because the book chapters meant to invoke the feeling that not only Hayes is filming his movie, but also that the story itself can be seen as a movie and I got a little dizzy sometimes trying to figure out what was real and what was his imagination playing tricks on him. Also, during a major part of the story our main characters jump to different universes trying to run away from the people who were trying to catch them. No, no, I am not going to tell you whom they are trying to outrun, but I think this also played into the chaos I felt at times while reading.  And I think also the fact that throughout the book Hayes himself is trying to figure out how different universes work.

I was really curious to see how the actual romance would develop during all the action and excitement that was going on and I was very pleased with that as well, all despite the short time Hayes and Yusuf had to start falling in love, but probably because they spent a lot of time in different universes somehow it felt as if they spent more time together. And I loved Yusuf so much I just had to say that.

Lastly, since it is hinted in the blurb but not described in detail, I am just going to briefly mention that.  The moral dilemma of one life v many lives is featured quite prominently in the story and let us just say that I found at least part of the resolution quite surprising.

Grade: B+

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A young couple find themselves haunted by a string of gruesome murders committed along an old deserted road in this terrifying new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Cold Cases.

July 1995. April and Eddie have taken a wrong turn. They’re looking for the small resort town where they plan to spend their honeymoon. When they spot what appears to a lone hitchhiker along the deserted road, they stop to help. But not long after the hitchiker gets into their car, they see the blood seeping from her jacket and a truck barreling down Atticus Line after them.

When the hitchhiker dies at the local hospital, April and Eddie find themselves in the crosshairs of the Coldlake Falls police. Unexplained murders have been happening along Atticus Line for years and the cops finally have two witnesses who easily become their only suspects. As April and Eddie start to dig into the history of the town and that horrible stretch of road to clear their names, they soon learn that there is something supernatural at work, something that could not only tear the town and its dark secrets apart, but take April and Eddie down with it all.

CW/TW – mention of past domestic abuse, mention of past racism, mention of past mental health issues

Dear Ms. St. James,

Whoa and damn. What a wild ride this book is. I zipped through the first half in a few hours (note to self, do not read a murder/thriller before going to bed). Then I tore through the rest the next day. After finishing it, I realize I can’t really say much about it without risking spoilers galore. My advice to readers is not to peek at the end. Don’t ruin it for yourself. Just stick with the blurb.

The unsolved murders outside this small, rural Michigan town are riddles wrapped in enigmas. Is it a serial killer doing these? Over the course of nineteen years? Or is this town just cursed with a series of killers stalking lone people? Or is there something else going on?

Of course I played detective with the clues that are known and discovered along the way. I turned them and flipped them and tried to come up with a solution that made them all fit together. Nope, didn’t happen until nearly the end when the pieces fell into place and All Is Revealed. This happens in a way that hooked me and swept me along. I think by now that most readers familiar with your books will know to expect a few types of things and that it probably won’t be pretty along the way.

Stories don’t always end the way they’re supposed to. They don’t always end well.

Eddie and April Carter both have some issues in their pasts to go along with their quick marriage after only a short time knowing each other. Eddie has post Iraq PTSD while April’s backstory is amazingly convoluted. Late in the story April muses that “I saw someone who was so different from me, yet whose darkness mirrored my own.” And somehow they fit together, know each other, are ready and willing to take on each other’s demons. What I really like about these two is that they are working class, living in a cheap apartment, headed for a low rent honeymoon when “life” sweeps them into this free-for-all and they want to stay and investigate. At first it’s to get them out from under police suspicion but then it’s a quest that they just won’t give up on solving. For all their faults, Eddie and April are decent people.

There are some other fantastic characters here. The Snell sisters are pieces of work. As one person says, they should be in the FBI because we want them working for us and not against us. Rose is another wonderful though crotchety older woman. She’s been given a hard road to travel, fills her house with kitsch, holds an unshakable grudge against the town police (for Reasons) but deep (really deep) inside she’s also a person you want on your side. Brava for what they all do at the end.

The police? Oh, dear. Just about every bad thing that can be said about police could be said about these police. But one of them does see Eddie’s truth and, backhandedly, gives him sage advice. One is a bastard but also determined to get to the bottom of these killings. The way he rounds things off is maybe – no, totally – unbelievable but this does answer some questions that would have been left flapping around in my brain so, there is that.

When I saw that this book was coming out, I immediately asked for it after only a cursory look at the blurb. I didn’t even go back and refresh my memory before starting to read it. Some authors I will just trust to give me a wonderful story and that has happened again with this one. It’s dark and twisted. Secrets are unearthed and loyalties are tested. The answers, when they’re finally discovered, are things that most people would probably never admit to believing. April does one really stupid thing but then, it gives us answers. There are a few other things done that are brushed away with “Why did this person do that? We don’t know.” but overall this is one hell of a good read. B+

~Jayne

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My Fair Lady meets the classic teen film She’s All That in this charming and swoony new rom-com from Brian D. Kennedy, author of A Little Bit Country. Perfect for fans of What If It’s Us and She Gets the Girl.

Wade Westmore is used to being in the spotlight. So when he’s passed over for the lead in the spring musical, it comes as a major blow—especially when the role goes to his ex-boyfriend, Reese, who dumped him for being too self-involved.

Shy sophomore Elijah Brady is used to being overlooked. Forget not knowing his name—most of his classmates don’t even know he exists. So when he joins the stage crew for the musical, he seems destined to blend into the scenery.

When the two have a disastrous backstage run-in, Elijah proposes an arrangement that could solve both boys’ problems: If Wade teaches Elijah how to be popular, Wade can prove that he cares about more than just himself. Seeing a chance to win Reese back, Wade dives headfirst into helping Elijah become the new and improved “Brady.”

Soon their plan puts Brady center stage—and he’s a surprising smash hit. So why is Wade suddenly less worried about winning over his ex and more worried about losing Elijah?

Review:

Dear Brian D. Kennedy,

I enjoyed your first book so much that I decided to take a reviewing copy of this one and overall I am very happy that I did.  If the background of the first book was country music, this story is about high school kids who love theater. As the blurb says, Wade loves theater and Elijah joins the stage crew for the musical that was being rehearsed in his school to get more confidence and possibly make some new friends. I am not sure whether this is going to be a big spoiler, or not, since the blurb does not state the name of the musical, however it is a big part of the set up so I feel like I have to share it.

The musical they are going to do is “My fair lady” and at the same time Wade and Elijah are playing out to the readers their own spin on that story.  Elijah feels that he does not have it in him to be cool, to have confidence and he is asking an outgoing and popular Wade to “transform” him, to make him more worthy of people paying attention to him.

I thought this was done well.  I liked that the homage that both boys are paying to the storyline of “My fair lady’ was playing out at the same time as kids were rehearsing an actual musical. I liked that it was not a play by play repeat of the story and both Wade and Elijah were learning their own lessons as they were getting to know each other. It was not done too in your face if that makes sense. I love theater (as a consumer of the art mind you, I have never acted even as a hobby), love love love it and I was grateful to the author for a chance to look behind the scenes at what actors do, even if those actors were high school kids.

Wade and several of his friends want to pursue theater as a profession, they were trying to get into colleges with strong theater programs, I loved how much passion they seemed to have, but man I wish them luck, living in New York and knowing just how very many actors never make it to the stage, despite trying really, really hard.

I really liked Wade, flaws and all, and I had to roll my eyes at characters (and Wade himself doing it often enough) describing him as self centered and conceited.  Um, yes he had those flaws – sometimes they served him well sometimes not so much, but he is a teenager and some of these kids showed selfishness and conceit too. And they are teenagers! They should be allowed too in my opinion :). What I am trying to say is that while none of these kids were perfect, had plenty of life lessons to learn, etc, I felt like I was supposed to think that Wade was the worst in that department and had to change more and I just did not agree.

Of course I liked Elijah too, who had to understand that while it is cool to learn how to get more confidence and change something in himself if one wants to, it is okay to just be himself too.  I thought Wade and Elijah had nice sweet chemistry, but Elijah just felt so young to me, which is no kidding, he is sixteen. It was wonderful to observe how he was getting an experience of falling in love for the first time in his life.

I just had tons of trouble believing that this would be his forever relationship and that is totally okay, he is sixteen, Wade is eighteen, they have their whole life in front of them.  I just want to caution you against buying this book if you want Romance with the capital R.

Grade : B+

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When Anne Elliott broke up with Ben Wentworth, it seemed like the right thing to do . . . but now, eight years later, she’s not so sure.

In her scenic hometown of Niagara-on-the-Lake, Anne is comfortable focusing on her successful career: filling her late mother’s shoes as town councilor and executive director of her theater company. She certainly keeps busy as the all-around wrangler of eccentric locals, self-centered family members, elaborate festivals, and the occasional attacking goose. But the more she tries to convince herself that her life is fine as is, the more it all feels like a show—and not nearly as good as the ones put on by her theater company. She’s the always responsible Anne, always taken for granted and cleaning up after other people, and the memories of happier times with Ben Wentworth still haunt her.

So when the nearby Kellynch Winery is bought by Ben’s aunt and uncle, Anne’s world is set ablaze as her old flame crashes back into her life—and it’s clear he hasn’t forgiven her for breaking his heart. A joint project between the winery and Anne’s theater forces both Ben and Anne to confront their complicated history, and as they spend more time together, Anne can’t help but wonder if there might be hope for their future after all.

Dear Ms. Edwards, 

Confession time. I hadn’t really looked at reading this book until the publicist contacted me about it. After reading the blurb – specifically that it “is full of witty banter, romantic angst, and compelling characters as it captures the heart of the classic,”  I decided to take a chance – as sometimes Jane Austen retellings work and sometimes they don’t. I’m happy to say that this definitely worked for me.

So here in Niagara-on-the-Lake Anne Elliott is the director of the local theater company and a town councillor. When her mother was diagnosed with cancer years ago, Anne took on the roles and responsibilities Mrs. Elliot had carried. For the most part, Anne is happy and fulfilled. She’s got the education, experience, and social skills to carry things off but unexpectedly meeting the (beloved) aunt and uncle of the man she broke up with eight years ago is a shock. When the marketing person in the theater comes to Anne with a proposal, one that she’s already been in contact with the Fairchilds about, Anne realizes that she’ll have to stop ducking said aunt and uncle. When they tell her that their (beloved) nephew Ben Wentworth, now part owner of his own investment company, will be handling most of the negotiations for a piece of their winery (which was once the Elliott family home), Anne realizes she’s about to see the man whose heart she broke. Time has changed her a bit but what about Ben?

I want to live in Niagara-on-the-Lake. The town is charming in the best way. It’s managed to maintain its small town feel and quaintness partly due to the (sometimes bickering) town council; the meeting Anne runs is hilarious.

Anne is competent, well liked, but kind of stuck in a rut. She loves the jobs she has but is frustrated with her self absorbed father and older sister. Those two are supposed to be annoying and are written perfectly so. 

Ben Wentworth has made something of himself. Eight years ago, he was the type to drop everything and be spontaneous. This partly scared Anne who is the (mental) list making type. Now Ben has finished his degrees, worked in banking and started his own venture capital business which, as he explains it to someone else, is for people willing to take a risk vs those going for a sure thing. Overhearing this startles and stabs Anne in the heart a little as she wonders if it’s meant as a dig. When they meet again, he’s cool but professional. He also begins to pursue a young actress whose opinion of her Anne overhears. It’s the crap end of a crap day and against the advice of her good friend (the delightful) Vidya, Anne indulges in a breakup haircut (from a boss stylist) and an updated fashion look. 

Keeping developers from building monstrosities in the name of (their) profit is part of what Anne does and I’m not surprised at how this used to incorporate a character from the original book. The young actress and her attempts to playfully catch Ben updates the Louisa character. 

I like that most but not all of the original “Persuasion” characters are here though some have larger or smaller roles. Anne’s got a backbone and competence and is a very modern woman yet has still allowed herself to be tied down and burdened with seeing to her vain and selfish relatives, and however much she loves it, the whims and demands of the theater and town council. Anne is the problem solver and everyone takes advantage. Ben’s true feelings for Anne after all these years are, of course, mostly hidden. Brava that Anne understands and accepts that Ben is going to be at least a little pissed at her. There are glimpses that allow Anne to daydream that maybe he has forgiven her but their misunderstandings and the little snags that just keep them from clearing things up are handled well.   

There is one great scene that does double duty. Everything that can go wrong for Anne does and guess who is there to see it? But it also serves to explain the breakup in a way he never understood before and it hits harder than any lame “We don’t think he’s good enough for you.” 

But this experience also jump-started Anne’s decision to kick over the traces of family responsibility and lay down some of the burdens she had taken from her mother.     

Anne’s friend Vidya provides an awesome breakup playlist plus helps show Anne that she’s been so wrapped up in doing everything that her mother did that she doesn’t immediately recognize someone who just wants to be a friend. Anne’s so used to people needing and taking from her that having someone offer something without strings startles her. She also has great advice for Anne (“You accept that you can’t fix this with your impeccable management skills, you accept that it’s broken, you eat your weight in ice cream . . .”) after a shitty day. The Fairchilds are lovely people with reasons for why they want to become so involved in their new town and with the theater project. They also care deeply for Ben, seem to like Anne, and surprise her at the end with how they’re keeping tabs on the relationship.             

Picking out the equivalents of the original characters or scenes is part of the fun of reading a reimagination of a classic and I think they’re all done well here. When we meet up with them, Anne and Ben have had eight years to mature, eight years to regret what they lost, and eight years to become the people they are now. Would they have made it then? Maybe. Will they make it now? I’m thoroughly convinced. And which adaptation of “Persuasion” is the best? I have to vote for the 1995 movie. B+

~Jayne

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Note: Charlotte Stein have followed each other and have been friendly online for many years. This review is my unvarnished opinion regardless.

Content notes: parental abuse, childhood poverty, and alcoholism, fatphobia

Dear Charlotte Stein,

I admit I had some hesitation about reading When Grumpy Met Sunshine. Generally, I’m less excited to read about characters inspired by either real life people (this is harder for me) or fictional characters. I tend to find it difficult to separate the “original” (person or character) from the book version and can find myself importing a whole pile of things which don’t belong into the story. Alfie Harding is inspired by Roy Kent from Ted Lasso. Now, I love Roy Kent, (how could I not?) but I wasn’t sure how I felt about reading about a someone very like Roy Kent who was not Roy Kent. The thing is, while I totally heard Roy Kent’s voice in my head every time Alfie spoke, he wasn’t Roy Kent. Alfie Harding was the inspiration but that’s as far as it went. Which, I admit, was a relief. Unlike other books where I found the story being intruded upon by the original person, here, Alfie very quickly became someone totally new to me. Yay. Which is all to say I’m very glad I read it because I really would have been missing out.

Mabel Willicker is a would-be novelist and ghostwriter. She’s been put forward to ghostwrite the memoir of Alfie Harding, former football (that is, soccer for those outside the UK) star. Alfie is notoriously grumpy, hot-tempered, uptight and difficult. He’s gone through 17 prior suggestions already. Mabel doesn’t really hold out a lot of hope she will be lucky number 18.

One of his teammates was asked to use three words to describe him, and all three had been annoying.

Mabel is, of course, the “sunshine” of the title. Only, her bright and bubbly personality is most often a front so that people can’t see she is easily hurt and vulnerable. For some reason though, when she first meets Alfie, she doesn’t let him get away with his bad behaviour and puts a stop to the meeting promptly, telling herself she’s just dodged a bullet rather than missed out on a job which guaranteed her income.

The whole thing would have been a disaster.

A mess of a million scary arguments.

Him, coming up with increasingly horrible insults.

Her, eventually tossing him into the nearest wood chipper.

And she just didn’t have easy access to machinery like that.

Only, it turns out that Alfie does want Mabel to ghostwrite his memoir for reasons that are unclear until the very end of the book. From there, Mabel is in a kind of wonderland (of the Alice and the white rabbit variety), never really trusting her own eyes or ears, barely able to believe she’s becoming friends with Alfie, let alone anything else. 

More as a kind of preemptive armor than intention, Mabel starts as she means to go on and shows a fairly unfiltered version of herself to Alfie. Alfie does not wish to reveal too much in his memoir; it is Mabel’s job to extract all the things he doesn’t want to talk about from him and put it on paper and, to try and convince him to allow it to be printed. (Mabel would never put something in the book Alfie did not agree to.) She has some rather provoking methods.

He shook his head and blew out a breath. “You’re sadistic, you are. Like a really evil Mary Poppins.”

Mabel’s role is a secret, so when the media notice Alfie is spending time with Mabel, they need to come up with an excuse for it. Mabel is a fat woman and the internet has a lot of feelings about that as well (it has to be said that there is a vocal contingent of supporters, not just trolls). Alfie finds himself …enthusiastically defending Mabel to members of the paparazzi and next thing you know they’re fake dating.

Mabel is already having all kinds of feelings for Alfie – not just pants feelings either – but she knows better than to believe someone like him could really want to be with someone like her. He usually dates supermodels. The very idea of Alfie falling in love with Mabel for real is such a non-starter for Mabel that she misses every sign that’s right before her eyes. 

Of course, fake dating means spending additional time together in the public eye. Alfie has a bit of a reputation for kissing his girlfriends on doorsteps so, for the media to believe their really dating…  Mabel is beside herself.

And as she did she felt him lean down, and kiss her fucking neck.

Just straight up kissed her neck, like that was a normal thing people did all the time as they were trying to get indoors. Instead of something she was pretty sure she’d never even seen happen to Julia Roberts in eighty movies about people being really horny for Julia Roberts.

The story is told completely from Mabel’s POV so we don’t know what’s going on in Alfie’s head until right near the end. Mabel’s belief that Alfie could not possibly love her could have been annoying I suppose. It was, essentially, what was keeping them apart. But I understood it. Alfie Harding is a superstar. He’s rich, famous and yes, he usually does date supermodels. Mabel is a normal person who does not move in Alfie’s usual circles. Her whole life she’s been told, by various men, that she’s not good enough and not deserving of their attention. As a result, she’s built up a thick armor. It’s really no wonder that Mabel tries to protect herself or that she takes a lot of convincing that Alfie does in fact love her to the moon and back.

I laughed out loud so many times as I read. Actual guffawing and snorting occurred. Mabel and Alfie have such a delightful dynamic. Both of them are head over heels for the other but neither can or will believe it is possible for the other to feel the same so they are constantly at cross purposes and constantly trying not to let the other know what’s really happening*. (*it turns out that Alfie is much worse at this than Mabel is, to be fair.) The say preposterous things to each other – Mabel in attempts at misdirection and Alfie because he’s baffled and trying desperately to keep up.

“Holy crapola did you actually just say that?”

“No. I never. You’ve fallen asleep and me saying that is just a horrible nightmare. In a second I’m going to wake you up by telling you something completely normal, like you looked like a soft rabbit.”

“But that isn’t completely normal either, Alfie.”

“I know,” he groaned. “I heard myself saying it and my brain just started yelling.”

“Well, it obviously needs to get faster. So it grabs you before you do it.”

“And what are the chances of that? You’ve seen how I am. Stuck in the past, slower than an old man sucking a toffee. It’s a fucking miracle I can even keep up with you at all, conversation-wise. Never mind saying things that make sense.”

It’s not all laughs. Over the course of the book, Mabel finds she recognises in Alfie things that resonate with her own experience. She finds out who the real man is and he’s not very much like the public persona at all. There’s a reason he’s so angry all the time. And, he’s never angry with her. (Occasionally frustrated and yes, grumpy, but not angry.) Alfie is much more than a “football guy” in the public eye who gets in trouble a lot. There’s far more to him than that and Mabel, for her part, appreciates what it means that she gets to know the real him.

I highlighted so much of the text as I read. I enjoyed the turns of phrase and the banter and the baffling, charming absurdity of their courtship. I liked both Mabel and Alfie very much. I would like to be Mabel’s friend. Possibly Alfie’s too but he’s not big on friends so maybe not.

Even though I understood Mabel’s fear and belief, I did wish she had been a little braver near the end. I did wish that they didn’t have to spend so much time apart (in terms of temporal-time if not page-time). (I was reading an ARC which was clearly not the final version so I’m not exactly sure if the time frame I read is what’s in the published book. Still, I can only review the book I actually read.) Perhaps it is a sign of the book’s success with me that I reacted so strongly to things going pear-shaped. As it was though I experienced quite the disappointment.

Of course, this is a romance novel and things turn out right in the end. Just… did it have to take them so long? They were miserable for too much time!!

While my overwhelming memory of the story is laughing at how great they were together, there was no lack of the more earthy kind of chemistry either. Mabel is delighted to find that the tell-all stories from former girlfriends are all completely true: it’s huge and yes, he can go all night.

But, what sticks in my mind the most is how charmed I was and how much I laughed.

“Well, at least tell me why you did it.”

“As if I have the first fucking clue. Mabel, I don’t know why I do anything. A fact that you well know after the meeting debacle. And the phone call debacle. And the restaurant debacle. And the Starbucks debacle.”

She rolled her eyes. “I get it. You have a lot of debacles.”

“Yet you’re surprised this happened.”

Grade: A-

Regards,
Kaetrin

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Rule number 1 for the team owner’s daughter? Don’t date the players.

Especially not hotheaded tight ends with tattoos and impulse control problems.

That’s why Dominic Walker is completely off my radar. Sort of.

Babysitting the team troublemaker when he’s forced to volunteer for the foundation where I work means I can’t exactly avoid him.

I wish I had though. Because once I get to know Dominic, it’s almost impossible to ignore the feelings he brings out in me.

Pretty soon, I’m breaking all my rules. I just have to hope he doesn’t break my heart in the process.

CW – The sister of the hero died young from cancer

Dear Ms. Sorensen,

It’s thanks to Rose and DiscoDollyDeb (#shoutout) that I decided to read one of your Washington Wolves books. After checking out blurbs, I picked the first book in the Next Gen trio despite the fact that I’m not usually a grumpy/sunshine trope woman. Having finished it, I can say I’m hooked on this series and have already gotten my hands on the next book.

Dominic Walker’s whole personality can be summed up as “Grumpy Bad Boy.” He’s had a chip on his shoulder for much of his life for a number of reasons. He was not given a college scholarship nor was he drafted into the NFL. No, Walker has had to work hard and earn his way onto teams and into starting positions. Coming from a team whose coach did not practice good management techniques and whose style brought out the worst in Dominic, Walker knows he’s got to earn the respect of his new team. His first day … does not go well. But bless him, he does have a good reason. Thankfully the owner of the team doesn’t bust his nuts. Instead Allie turns Dominic over to her daughter (well, really step-daughter but the love between them is of a mother and daughter).

Faith has grown up around the Washington Wolves. Her dad was their starting quarterback and her (step) mom owns the team. Faith is stepping into her new role running the family charitable foundation which raises money to give younger kids a chance and the building blocks of experience to help keep them in school and is not going to back down in the face of this growling man who obviously has no respect for someone he sees as a 1%er who was given this job by her rich parents. Faith is going to set him straight about this attitude and his misconceptions of her. Having him wash dogs alongside other top athletes shows her a man who can, wow, actually smile. But it’s the second time they’re together at a local sports center for underprivileged young and middle school children that Faith gets a true look at Dominic who works well with children including a girl who has a killer throwing arm.

This is when the gimme that each book gets comes into play. Faith and Dominic have had an online friend with whom they’ve texted for years. They go by (obvious to everyone) fake names and hooked up over a donation “NicktheBrickLayer” made to the Seattle Zoo in memory of his younger sister, Ivy. “TurboGirl” and “Nick” have been there for each other but never reached out to set up any meeting IRL. Something that happens at the sports center tips Dominic off and after confirming his suspicions, he decides not to spill the beans to Faith but see if he can win her respect as himself. Yeah, it’s silly but he has his understandable reasons. Will his decision come back to bite him in the ass? Of course.

I like the way that Dominic and Faith are built as characters. Dominic is the product of having to fight to prove his worth as a player and also a man who loved and lost his sister to a shitty disease. That loss is something that has settled into his family in various toxic ways and hasn’t helped Dominic’s anger management issues as he tries to block things to keep them from hurting him. He’s grumpy for good reasons though his mom showed him how to fold a fitted sheet so he wouldn’t “end up as one of those asshole husbands who thinks his wife is gonna do that stuff for him.” But as he interacts with his new team, some things start to become clear to him and, again bless him, Dominic thinks about these and then begins to work on them. He also begins to fall hard for Faith.

I caught the edge of a smile on her pretty face.

Again, the sight of that smile did insane things to me. It was the kind of rush I only usually got playing football. Making a great catch. Scoring a touchdown. And now, I could add “making Faith Pierson smile” to the list.

Her face scrunched up in an adorable grimace, and holy fuck, I was thinking words like “adorable grimace.”

How quickly the tides had turned.

Faith has had much handed to her on a silver platter though she did lose her mother when she was a young child. Faith and her younger (half) sister Lydia are aware of their privilege and have been raised by their parents to give back. Faith is now thriving and gaining confidence in her management role (and has some creative swearing because she’s around young and impressionable children) but she’s also hands-on and loves to interact with people. She’s literally wearing a yellow t-shirt when she meets her grump but that is also who she is – Little Miss Sunshine.

Younger sister Lydia takes a hand in getting her beloved sister on a date with the first man who has interested Faith since an asshat broke her heart. Lydia could teach a masterclass in male manipulation. But it’s Faith’s roommate who picks Faith’s outfit and Tori is devious and merciless. Dominic might be a tough, tattooed bad boy but Faith’s got the secret weapon. Faith has “The Cardigan.”

Tori laughed. Then she held up a finger and started rooting around in the bag of goodies she’d brought with her. When she straightened, she held out a small black ball of material that had me raising my eyebrows.

“This is the key,” she said, with a serious voice and serious eyes.

I pointed at the wad in her hands. “That right there?”

“Yes.” As she extended it toward me, she took a deep, dramatic breath. “You must wield it carefully.”

She set her hands on my shoulders. “May it treat you well tonight, my child.”

Not that Dominic isn’t packing some heat of his own.

This man would cause every overprotective dad in America to lock their doors and double-check the windows in their daughter’s rooms because he looked like sex. He looked like something sinful and decadent.

The romance is quick and both fall hard. Ah, but remember that secret lurking. I knew it was coming out of the woodwork but wow, color me surprised at how things unfolded and then (yowza) how Faith handled things from there. I was expecting one thing but got something totally different and (Dayumn) adult and grown up instead. Shit, this is how people ought to react and what they should tell people who have hurt them. The people in her life might be hoping for a romantic gesture to bring them back together but I was impressed by how the situation was worked out.

Okay so there were a few things that bugged me. Faith tucking or having her hair tucked behind her ear could turn into a drinking game. Despite everyone being in the same city, Dominic’s parents are rarely seen. I initially wasn’t thrilled about the Thing that actually brought Faith and Dominic back together though yes by then they were ready. But I see how this Thing is going to play into setting up the next book so I will grudgingly accept it. Dominic’s decision about how to honor this sister? That’s boss. Oh and readers who don’t know/like NFL football need not worry. There isn’t actually that much of the game in the book as it’s more about the people. B+

~Jayne

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*NOW A NETFLIX SERIES*

Dive into the first book of this frightfully fun series and join the ghost-hunting gang as they defend our world from the most fearsome phantoms!

A sinister Problem has occurred in London: all nature of ghosts, haunts, spirits, and specters are appearing throughout the city, and they aren’t exactly friendly. Only young people have the psychic abilities required to see and eradicate these supernatural foes. Many different Psychic Detection Agencies have cropped up to handle the dangerous work, and they are in fierce competition for business.

In The Screaming Staircase, the plucky and talented Lucy Carlyle teams up with Anthony Lockwood, the charismatic leader of Lockwood & Co, a small agency that runs independent of any adult supervision. After an assignment leads to both a grisly discovery and a disastrous end, Lucy, Anthony, and their sarcastic colleague, George, are forced to take part in the perilous investigation of Combe Carey Hall, one of the most haunted houses in England. Will Lockwood & Co. survive the Hall’s legendary Screaming Staircase and Red Room to see another day?

Readers who enjoyed the action, suspense, and humor in Jonathan Stroud’s internationally best-selling Bartimaeus books will be delighted to find the same ingredients, combined with deliciously creepy scares, in his thrilling and chilling Lockwood & Co. series.

Please note that this is a review of book one and book two in the series

Review:

Dear Jonathan Stroud,

I have noticed that the show based on these books appeared on Netflix, however I did not watch it. Then I heard a book blogger mentioning the series very favorably and I decided to give it a try. I believe Janine reviewed the Bartimaeus trilogy here at DA a while ago. (I found the review of the first book of that trilogy in 2013, but did not search any further).

The blurb is excellent and gives you a good set up.  Only kids and teenagers (presumably their talents start to fade around nineteen or twenty based on at least one character we are meeting in the first book, but I am not hundred percent sure) have an ability to fight ghosts and other evil spirits which appear in England after dark and cause all kinds of problems.  Kids may start their training and sometimes even their work when they are as little as eight years of age. Once again this is my observation based on things mentioned in the first book, there was no definite rule mentioned at least in the first two books which I have read so far.

Now let’s back track a little bit. The reading age of these books is stated as ages 8-12, however in all honesty I could not put these stories down being an adult several decades older than the target audience.  I thought the author wrote these with such a skilled touch. The dark atmosphere of the “after dark” London full of ghosts and other evilness that may attack you, the constant danger to the kids that fight them, a lot of really great action. I really liked all that. I have to specify that ghosts are not necessarily evil per se, but very often because of the unfinished business they have, our heroes still have to put them away.

I think what I liked the best is that the author does not downplay the dangers our characters face, even writing for a younger audience. Kids with psychic abilities do die in the books and even though so far we saw very episodic characters die, I am not at all sure that the main trio will make it out alive at the end of the book five.  I both appreciate it and dread it, so if anyone who read the books can spoiler me (just tell me that you know the ending and I can email you, or do the spoiler tags which I forgot how to do :)) as to their fates, it will be much appreciated. I don’t want to read book five and be very annoyed.

Lucy narrates this book and the next one. I suspect she will narrate the rest of them too, but I do not know that. I loved her voice.  I at first thought that she sounded older than her age, but then I decided that she sounded like someone who had to take a very dangerous job at the very young age.

The first book gives us the backstory of how she came to work for Lockwood and couple of cases they did together.  I am glad that the author clearly knows what he wants to do with the story and things they have done in the first book, the characters that appear clearly appear there for a reason and I suspect will have a role to play in the later books.

I think the second book has one big case and the events taking place here would have even bigger repercussions in the next book.  The action was almost non stop and if there was a criticism I wanted to offer, it would probably be wanting more breathing room.  I loved the chemistry our trio has with each other, so I certainly would have wanted them to have more interactions when things are quieter, at least temporarily. To be fair, the author does offer some of those. I guess for the target audience more action is better than less action .

I also have to note that normally ghosts, corpses and evil spirits are very much not my kind of thing, but I really loved the main characters and the writing, so no matter how dark and grim the books can get (and yes, I got scared a few times, but I have a very low barrier for being scared, so that means nothing), I loved it and looking forward to their further adventures – if they won’t die that is.

One more thing, reading as an adult, it is often hard to convince me that kids have to do dangerous stuff without adult supervision in kids adventure books.  However, of course kids like books where kids, not adults do dangerous stuff and I thought that the author’s explanation here was as good as it gets. I mean, adults really cannot help here,  because they just do not see or hear the ghosts anymore as they get older.

Grade: B+. (for both books)

The Screaming Staircase buy links

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The Whispering Skull buy links

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The Germans pause their bombing raids on London but life on the homefront is certainly far from ordinary. The Seamstress on Cider Lane is a lighthearted and hopeful romance, perfect for fans of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and The Last Bookshop in London.

Gifted seamstress Nora Archer opens a sewing shop just as clothing becomes rationed and scarce in Britain. London’s fashionable elites soon discover her remarkable talent for giving garments new life and her skills are soon in high demand.

Having lost his flat during the Blitz, Jack Parker is relieved to finally locate a new home. He finds himself living under the same roof as Nora, the spirited and enchanting woman he thought he’d lost, as well as Nora’s protective aunt.

Despite her aunt’s warnings, Nora can’t help falling for Jack. However, the sweet and bookish teacher is from a different world and Nora doesn’t know if she fits in or if Jack might be too good to be true. She can’t deny the intense attraction between herself and Jack—and neither of them wants to.

When a struggling friend’s desperate plea for help lures Nora into the dodgy clothing black market, she risks not only her business and reputation but also her blossoming relationship with Jack.

Will Jack and Nora’s wartime romance survive when Nora’s secrets are revealed?

Dear Ms. Hamilton, 

Well this makes two good books in a row. Nora made such a good impression on me in the first book, The Hobby Shop on Barnaby Street that I had my fingers crossed when I started her story. There’s some angst, a lot of happiness, a beagle puppy, and a bit of delicious comeuppance for more than a few people but trust me, they had it coming. 

Nora Archer has always wanted her own design shop but without the start-up money and with retail space being in short supply in blitzed London, she’s put that dream off. But when the place where she works is bombed and her aunt offers a loan, “Archer Fashion and Tailoring” is born. Teacher Jack Parker has wondered why the lovely young woman he met and danced one evening with never responded to his letters. When he moves to a new attic flat closer to the school where the war department decided he would be better utilized instead of being shot at by the Jerries, imagine his surprise and delight when he realizes Nora lives there, too. Their feelings immediately begin to spark but there’s more than just Nora’s aunt’s proprieties standing in the way of their HEA.    

So once again we’re in wartime London. Nora’s new store is going to have to deal with the newly started clothing rationing and coupons – imagine! says one customer, starting it so quickly with so little lead time – so she will mainly be repairing, repurposing, and mending for her customers. When a childhood friend arrives and Nora sees how bleak Irene is looking, she offers her friend some mending to do to help the woman make ends meet. A few days later Irene arrives with a proposition that I was astounded to see as part of the story but given the circumstances, it makes perfect sense even if Nora maybe shouldn’t have taken Irene up on it. 

Jack’s heart has always been in research (17th and 18th century) but after he tried to sign up for the war effort, it was decided that London’s children needed a teacher more than the Army needed another warm body to be shot at. Jack admits he isn’t the best at the job but he does know how to handle the thing that one snotty brat brings into class. Jack does like Marvin though and once he sees who Marvin’s cousin is, he likes things a lot more. 

One thing I really like about this series is how things that would usually become Big Ticking Bomb Misunderstandings that I would normally wait to see explode are dealt with fairly quickly. Nora and Jack are getting along well but Nora had one posh prat treat her badly so when she discovers who Jack’s family is and how much money they have, she is concerned. Then along comes Mr. Weasel to a party but lo and behold it doesn’t become a future issue. Rather Jack sees that the creep has upset Nora who Tells Jack All after which Jack offers to take revenge on him for her. Bravo Jack and yay that these people talk to each other.

But even if they talk, that doesn’t mean that things are immediately perfect. Nora admits that she trusts Jack – well, after a time or two when his family keep pushing a young deb at him – but realizes that she’s still a bit fragile and needs time to quell her insecurities  which is totally understandable. Jack has family troubles in that he’s a step-son of his wealthy step-father and he knows that his younger brother is the Golden Child. Even after all these years – and Jack is treated well by the family – he knows he’s second best. When Some Things Happen – both to Nora and in Jack’s family – they have to deal with the potential fallout. I was delighted that Jack takes an internal stand for what he really wants out of life.    

After the way the War Issue was resolved in book one, I admit to being surprised that this time it is different. The full weight of it will be brought to bear and Nora faces real and lasting consequences. Jack might be forced to act one way but Nora’s Aunt’s reaction startled me as did her quick turnabout. That didn’t seem like the character I’d watched take Nora’s side all along. The way that Jack learns what Nora risked and whom she covered for and then ensures that those people make amends is satisfying. 

I’m now looking forward to book three and the set up promises to be sweet payback based on how a character acts in this book. I would love to see a follow up Next Gen book with Marvin and Ginger the Beagle in it. Please? A-

~Jayne   

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