Tag Archives: romance

Oct13

Review: Three Holidays and a Wedding by Uzma Jalaluddin and Marissa Stapley

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I bought this book back in July when the bookstore had a Christmas in July sale. I finally had a chance to read it and absolutely loved it.

The two main characters are Anna and Maryam. Anna was raised in a Christian household but had a Jewish stepmother. Maryam is a Muslim whose family comes from India.

Both live in Denver. Anna works for a magazine and has a boyfriend she’s been seeing for only about six months. He thinks she’s perfect, but she worries that he doesn’t know the real her.

Maryam is a pharmacist and works with her family in their drugstore. She’s always been the dutiful daughter. Her sister is a doctor with Doctors Without Borders. Maryam spends a lot of her time being the person who arranges things for her family and making sure all things run smoothly. She’s also been roped into planning her sister’s wedding during Ramadan.

Anna finds herself on a separate plane when she is to fly to Toronto to meet her boyfriend’s family for the first time for Christmas. She has to catch a later flight than him due to work commitments.

Maryam’s family ends up on the same flight as Anna. They find themselves as seat mates and when the plane hits turbulence, they each share secrets with each other.

The problem is Maryam shares her lifelong crush on a family friend, Saif. Who just happens to be seated behind them and hears the whole thing.

The plane is forced to make an emergency landing at a small airport as the snowstorm that had started at take-off has worsened. By the time their plane would arrive at Toronto, it would be impossible to land there.

They find themselves in a small town called Snowfalls.

Maryam’s sister is miserable and making everyone around her the same as she’s concerned about her wedding. Maryam has that worry as well as finding food for her family to break their Ramadan fast. She’s also concerned that her crush is staying at the same inn and is making no secret of overhearing the conversation with Anna.

Anna, on the other hand, has a boyfriend who is completely enraged that she was on a flight that was delayed. He’s making demands that she make arrangements to get to Toronto any way she can. She stops at a bar she finds open and makes the acquaintance of a man named Josh. He’s nice enough to help her find the inn where he’s staying and Maryam’s family as well.

Over the next few days, Anna makes friends with Maryam’s family as well as Josh and both women become involved with each other as well as the small town that is welcoming to all. Maryam spends time with her crush although she tries to push him away. Maryam’s sister remained self-centered and miserable for most of the book, blaming the family fixer, Maryam, for everything from the snowstorm socking them in to the fact she had to cancel the venues for her celebrations.

This book was charming and inclusive.  All three holidays were celebrated and this reader learned a bit more about Ramadan than she knew. It was interesting to learn those traditions as well as the various celebrations surrounding an Indian marriage.

The two main character women grew in themselves and faced their own faults and shared friendship and guidance with each other. One particular character this reader like a lot was the grandfather of Maryam. He was wise and warm to everyone.

The book celebrated Ramadan, Chanukah, and Christmas in a lovely way, along with the normal romantic tropes. The authors did a beautiful job merging the cultures and celebrations of the seasons of each of the holidays as well as showing growth for the two main characters. I recommend this one as a lively holiday story that could be a Hallmark movie.

BLURB:

Three times the holiday magic. Three times the chaos.

As strangers and seatmates Maryam Aziz and Anna Gibson fly to Toronto over the holidays—Maryam to her sister’s impromptu wedding, and Anna to meet her boyfriend’s wealthy family for the first time—neither expect that severe turbulence will scare them into confessing their deepest hopes and fears to one another. At least they’ll never see each other again. And the love of Maryam’s life, Saif, wasn’t sitting two rows behind them hearing it all. Oops.
An emergency landing finds Anna, Saif, Maryam, and her sister’s entire bridal party snowbound at the quirky Snow Falls Inn in a picture-perfect town, where fate has Anna’s actor-crush filming a holiday romance. As Maryam finds the courage to open her heart to Saif, and Anna feels the magic of being snowbound with an unexpected new love—both women soon realize there’s no place they’d rather be for the holidays.

Aug12

The Plot Twist by Eleanor Goymer, a Review

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Allie is a romance writer with writer’s block and a book due imminently.

Martin is a famous writer of murder mysteries who hasn’t had a new book out in so many years that he calls himself a former writer.

They share a publishing house and meet in an alley at the publisher’s summer party where both are avoiding certain people at the party. Also on that alley is an attractive young man who Allie had a conversation earlier when he was passing out hors d’oeuvres.

Both Allie and Martin are in a bind. They’re required to honor their contracts or return their advances. Allie still has hers but she doesn’t want to part with it. Martin has loaned his to his daughter and he’s positive she’s spent it all. And his wife has no idea.

Each of the writers are called in to the office of the publisher to see the new guy running the place. The man with no soul. After their meetings, separately, they both head to the cafe across the street to lick their wounds. Recognizing each other from that alley encounter, they sit together to commiserate.

The conversation turns to Allie’s boyfriend who broke up with her the night of the summer party. She’s not upset as they’d drifted apart, but she did fantasize about him being the victim of a serial killer. Martin talks about needing advice from a romance writer on how to reignite the passion in his marriage.

Martin tells her she should write a murder mystery with her idea about the serial killer, but her contract is for a romance, so she tells him he can have her plot if he helps her with her writer’s block by sharing the story of how he and his wife met as well as the romantic gestures he creates in his quest to win back his wife.

The story jumps off from there with many situations that cause the reader to cheer for both of the writers as well as laugh at some of the situations Allie finds herself in.

Allie is an absolutely charming character who steps into interesting scenarios as she flirts with and sort of dates the handsome man who was also in the alley that night. She also continues to try to work through her writer’s block and finds herself telling many fibs to her editor in the process.

Martin’s journey feels a little easier but he’s not the main protagonist so that was fine with this reader.  He’s a likable character as well. There is a twist in the tale that leads to more angst for Allie.

This was a fun book and a pretty quick read. It was left in my little free library on a Friday and I finished it that weekend. I’m not one to read a lot of romance as there are certain aspects of some of them I don’t enjoy, but this was witty, charming, and somewhat unique. I recommend it.

BLURB:

This love story is a work in progress…

When romcom author Allie Edwards crosses paths with bestselling crime novelist – aka publishing dinosaur – Martin Clark at a party, they discover they both have crippling writer’s block, overdue manuscripts and precisely zero words to show to their respective editors.

With deadlines looming, Allie and Martin decide to switch plots and tell each other’s stories. In the writing process, Allie not only gains a father-figure in Martin, but also meets gorgeous events caterer Will, the answer to the leading man-shaped hole in her life and her lack of spicy material.

Caught between love and her career, what could possibly go wrong?

Jul2

The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon

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I picked this book up way back in December because I was intrigued by the premise, but I kept passing it up to read other things. When I finally picked it up a couple of weeks ago to dive into it, I was surprised to find that I had actually read another book by the same author that I had enjoyed immensely. The other one was called Code Name: Helene and was also fiction based on a true person (and I thought I had a review of it and can’t find it, but I put the blurb at the end here as I highly recommend it too.

This book, The Frozen River, was based on Martha Ballard, a midwife in the time of the American Revolution and the years following it. Ms. Lawhon came upon her story and the actual lady’s diaries were woven into the premise of the story. Entries were used in each of the chapters which I found to be engrossing. The story is set in 1789.

Ms. Lawton has a gift for beautiful prose. Her work sings. She just makes the characters come alive.

Our heroine midwife has a great marriage and a number of children. She has also experienced the loss of children herself which makes her a compassionate midwife to the women of the community she serves.

The book starts with the discovery of a dead man frozen in the river. The man had previously been accused of rape and was found with bruises on him and marks on his neck. There had also been an altercation between him and others at a dance the evening he died.

Martha Ballard thinks the man was murdered. The new local doctor, who hates the heroine as he thinks she perceives herself as his equal, disagrees with her and says it was an accident. The body is placed in a barn as it is too cold to bury him while the ground is frozen.

There is no shortage of suspects who didn’t like the dead man. The book has our heroine trying to not only solve this mystery, but to try to get justice for the woman who was raped and who is now carrying the child of her rapist.

The story is fraught with tension as well as woven with many passages showing the love and strength of this woman with her family as well as the ladies she helps to bring life into the world.

As in Code Name: Helene, I found myself liking this character very much and rooting for her all the way.

Lots of intrigue both in the story of the rape and murder, but also in the flashbacks to the past of the main character.

Grab a copy of this one if you like family-oriented stories with a dash of mystery and solving crimes. This one is intricate and compelling with a strong heroine who is ready to stand up for women in an age where few did.

BLURB:

Maine, 1789: As a midwife in the town of Hallowell, Martha Ballard knows how to keep a secret. Her neighbors respect her not only for her medical expertise and calm under pressure, but for her discretion in a community governed by rigid Puritan values. So when a man is found under the ice in the Kennebec river, Martha is the first person called to examine the body.

The dead man is Joshua Burgess, recently accused, along with the town judge, Joseph North, of raping the preacher’s wife, Rebecca Foster. The case is set to go to trial in the coming months and Hallowell is churning with rumors. Martha, having tended to Rebecca’s wounds in the aftermath, is both a witness and a confidant of Rebecca’s, and while she feels certain she knows the truth of the night of the assault, she suspects there is more to the murder than meets the eye.

For years, Martha has recounted her every day in a leather-bound journal: deaths and births, the weather, town events, her patients and their treatments. As whispers and prejudices threaten to overflow into something bloodier, and North becomes more desperate to clear his name, Martha’s diary becomes the center of a mystery that risks tearing both her family and her town apart.

In The Frozen River, Ariel Lawhon brings to life a brave and compassionate unsung heroine of early American history, who refused to accept anything less than justice on behalf of women no one else would protect.

BLURB for Code Name: Helene

BASED ON THE THRILLING REAL-LIFE STORY OF SOCIALITE SPY NANCY WAKE, comes the newest feat of historical fiction from the New York Times bestselling author of I Was Anastasia, featuring the astonishing woman who killed a Nazi with her bare hands and went on to become one of the most decorated women in WWII.

Told in interweaving timelines organized around the four code names Nancy used during the war, Code Name Hélène is a spellbinding and moving story of enduring love, remarkable sacrifice and unfaltering resolve that chronicles the true exploits of a woman who deserves to be a household name.
It is 1936 and Nancy Wake is an intrepid Australian expat living in Paris who has bluffed her way into a reporting job for Hearst newspaper when she meets the wealthy French industrialist Henri Fiocca. No sooner does Henri sweep Nancy off her feet and convince her to become Mrs. Fiocca than the Germans invade France and she takes yet another name: a code name.
As LUCIENNE CARLIER Nancy smuggles people and documents across the border. Her success and her remarkable ability to evade capture earns her the nickname THE WHITE MOUSE from the Gestapo. With a five-million-franc bounty on her head, Nancy is forced to escape France and leave Henri behind. When she enters training with the Special Operations Executives in Britain, her new comrades are instructed to call her HÉLÈNE. And finally, with mission in hand, Nancy is airdropped back into France as the deadly MADAM ANDRÉE, where she claims her place as one of the most powerful leaders in the French Resistance, armed with a ferocious wit, her signature red lipstick, and the ability to summon weapons straight from the Allied Forces.
But no one can protect Nancy if the enemy finds out these four women are one and the same, and the closer to liberation France gets, the more exposed she–and the people she loves–become.

Mar25

The Banker’s Wife by Cristina Alger

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I have a Little Free Library at my office and sometimes books are left there by others that intrigue me. This was one of those. I pulled it out to read it before putting it back to let someone else enjoy it.

The book has two protagonists who we follow through most of the story. Annabel, the banker’s wife of the title, who lives in Geneva, Switzerland and Marina, a journalist, who lives in New York City.

Before moving to Geneva two years prior, Annabel was an artist and gallery owner. Her husband worked as a lawyer but was offered a job working for a private bank, with a large salary bump, in Switzerland. They chose to move there for two years to earn enough money to buy a house near the sea back home in the United States. Annabel was lonely and isolated in Geneva as her husband worked many hours. She isn’t happy with their life there.

Marina was engaged to a man whose father was preparing to announce his candidacy for president. She worked as a journalist for a fluff publication, but wanted to be a hard hitting reporter. She planned to stop working as soon as she married in order to be a supportive wife to a CEO since her husband to be would be taking over the family business from his father.

Both protagonists’ lives changed during the course of the story. Annabel’s when her husband’s plane went down in the Alps. Marina’s when her mentor was murdered.

The parallel story lines run through the book with each woman’s life escalating into danger and each woman under pressure. Both not knowing exactly who to trust and who to be wary of. The story is fast paced and edge of the seat in many of the chapters.

I enjoyed the book and pretty much read it all in one afternoon. I hadn’t read this author before and I’m sure I’ll be seeking out other of her books. If you like suspense and fast-moving drama, this one is for you.

Mar3

Husbands and Lovers by Beatriz Williams- Review

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I first became aware of Beatriz Williams when I read a book she wrote with Lauren Willig and Karen White. Since Lauren Willig has been a must-buy author for me since The Pink Carnation, I learned to love Beatriz and Karen as well once I was exposed to the other two ladies and their work.

When I saw this book offered on NetGalley, I decided I needed to check it out. Thank you to them and Random House Ballentine Books for the chance to read this and leave a review.

This is a great story set mostly on an island full of fancy houses and rich folks. There’s a dual timeline with a heroine from the past and one from the present.  The modern day heroine is a single mother whose son eats a mushroom on a dare and becomes dependent on dialysis to continue to live due to kidney damage.

The heroine of the past is a Hungarian lady who lived a brutal life during WWII and ended up as a translator for an older British man who she married. They move to Egypt during the Suez Canal crisis in the 1950s. The marriage isn’t a happy one, but she is content to stay in it as she went through a lot in her past, some of it horrific.

The dual timeline continues through most of the book and both stories were intriguing. Both heroines are likable and worth cheering on.

The modern day heroine was invited by a school mate to be the nanny one summer for his step siblings. His father hired her and she spent the summer taking care of the children and falling in love. The classmate became a rock star who is now engaged to be married. The heroine and he haven’t seen each other in many years.

Both stories were highly engrossing and enjoyable. I don’t want to say more in order to avoid spoilers. But I will say this one should definitely be read and savored. For the love stories as well as the mysteries and the Egyptian history of the Suez Canal crisis. There is a lot to love about this book.

A very enjoyable read.

Jan29

Reasonable Adults by Robin Lefler- Review

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I received a copy of the book from Kensington Publishing in exchange for a fair review. It’s a contemporary romance. Or more accurately, it’s a rom-com. And it definitely deliveries on the comedy part as well as the romance. It’s one of the type of the genre I like. I’m not a huge fan of romances that have manufactured conflict and this book definitely has some great conflicts between not only the heroine and hero but also with a number of other characters in the story. It made for a rich tale with a lot of drama as well as a lot of fun.

The heroine, Kate, has a pet dog, named Eric of all things, who adds to the scenes he’s in and is a great character himself. He also helps to move the story along.

Kate, a marketing manager, has her life turned upside down when she catches her fiancé in his office in a compromising position. This situation finds her deciding to get drunk to drown her sorrows. While in that state, she posts some damning things on line about her fiancé. Plot twist: His law firm just happens to be one of the largest clients of her employer.

After losing her job, she takes another at an isolated, off the grid resort. A place that’s deep in the woods and is in desperate need of renovations. Never mind it’s soon going to be the off season and her task is to attract more business as occupancy of the resort drops dramatically in the winter months.

An almost impossible task, an office that’s woefully inadequate, and a cabin that’s hard to heat add to Kate’s woes and problems. While most of the other employees are friendly and approachable, there are a few who aren’t.

The stage is set for a lot of drama as well as humor.

The author is very witty and the dialogue —both the heroine’s internal thoughts and the interactions between her and the other characters—are well done and keep the story moving at a nice clip.

I enjoyed this fun read and hope for more from this writer as this was her debut. The underlying message of belief in self and redemption from mistakes made is served up in fine fashion.

BLURB:

The morning after a humiliating post-breakup social media post (#sponsoredbywine), Kate Rigsby learns she’s lost her marketing job along with her almost-fiancé. Worse, she realizes how little she truly cared about either. Craving a reset, Kate flees the big-city life she spent many years building—and almost as many doubting—to take a temporary gig at Treetops, a swanky, off-the-grid creative retreat in Muskoka, complete with meditation circles, deluxe spa, and artisanal cocktails. At least, that’s what the brochure promises . . .

The reality is a struggling resort that’s stuck in the 1990s, fax machine included. Kate’s office is a bunker, her boss is a nightmare, and at night she shares a freezing hut with her seventy-pound Goldendoodle. Then there’s the sexy, off-limits coworker whose easy smile and lumberjack forearms are distracting Kate from the already near-impossible task of making this snowbound oasis profitable.

On the upside, the surroundings are breathtaking. The Treetops crew is quirky and (mostly) kind. And somehow, Kate’s starting to feel new enthusiasm for her career—and her life. In fact, she’s daring to challenge herself in ways she never dreamed of before.

With wit and heart, Reasonable Adults explores the crossroads we all face—and how a detour born of disaster can take us just where we need to go.

Dec29

First Date Prophecy- By Kate and Danny Tamberelli- A Review

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What a fun book this was. I read it on a car trip back in September and kept thinking I’d already reviewed it when I realized the other day that I hadn’t posted the review. I did receive this book from Kensington Publishing in exchange for an unbiased review. I thoroughly enjoyed it as a light read that made a long car ride very enjoyable. 

When your first date with someone ends in a prophecy about you as well as the death of an old lady, you wonder what else might go wrong in the potential relationship. No matter how interesting the date was, is there an inherent risk in trying to go out again with this person?

This book was written by a husband and wife team. The husband was a real life child star and was one of the two brothers in the Pete and Pete show that was popular on Nickelodeon Channel. The male protagonist in the story was also a child star and that forms part of the challenges he has in the dating world. Wondering if he’s liked for himself or for his former role and fame. His older brother is a big movie star now and our hero, Rudy, also has some angst about that success of his brother—making for an edgy relationship between them.

The female protagonist, Lucy, is witty, klutzy, and has a plethora of crazy date stories and failures.  She works at odd jobs which find her in all kinds of scrapes. I have to confess, I wasn’t too sure about this book in the first chapter as she seemed so over the top and silly. I wasn’t convinced I was going to like her but I pushed on and, after Chapter one, I found her to be quite a charming character and someone I could root for. 

This was such a cute story and read. It also had some deep messages about forgiveness and finding ways to make life work when expectations don’t quite come to fruition. 

Humorous and engaging, yet full of wisdom. I recommend this one. 

Nov29

In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren, a Review

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I have been working on my NaNoWriMo novel so have not been posting any reviews this month.

I was browsing at Sam’s Club on Black Friday when I was in the store to pick up a new television for my dad and made my way to the book section, because of course I did. 🙂 I saw this one and the cover appealed to me as well as the back blurb.

This was super fun and I gobbled it down. This was the first book I have read by this writing team but it is definitely not the last. I loved the way they made the characters so appealing. A large cast of characters, but so well done that there was no issue keeping them all straight. All the characters were supportive of each other no matter the circumstances and it was great to not have even one nasty character in the story. It shows that books can be entertaining and have conflict without meanness and, in our times, I love that so much.

The heroine was very witty and the interaction between her and the guy she had a crush on was super fun. They bantered with some of the best banter I’ve read in a book. So clever and never dull at all. Creativity abounded in this story.

This was a story with elements of the movie “Groundhog Day” as well as a great tale of family and lasting friendships. It was a great read and so appropriate for the time of year. I highly recommend it.

Sep18

The Trouble with You- by Ellen Feldman- A review

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Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

Franny Fabricant was the product of her time as well as her position in life. Although she graduated from one of the Seven Sisters colleges, she was mostly educated in order to be a successful wife and mother as well as to support her husband’s career by being a good conversationalist and able to hold her own at dinner and cocktail parties.

Her mother passed away while she was still young and thus her aunt, Rose, had a strong effect on her along with the culture in which she was raised. Sometimes the two forces were diametrically opposed. And that is the crux of the story. How Fanny navigates not only young widowhood, being a single mother, and learning how to support herself and her daughter makes for a very interesting story. Throw in the McCarthyism and two men who are polar opposites and therein lies the inner conflict of the main character.

I enjoyed reading Franny’s journey and rooting for her to make the right decisions. Her aunt Rose was a great character and her story was intriguing as well. We got it in little dribbles, but she was a strong character who lived a full life herself even though many people in the book felt sorry for her for never marrying. I liked this character a lot.

This book moves at a nice pace. No explosions, car chases or other crazy drama, just a lovely read with a likeable cast of characters—although one of the men set my teeth on edge—in a good way as far as bringing conflict to the plot.

The setting, era and morals of the day are well set out by the author and this is just very much an enjoyable read. Five Stars.

Description

In an exuberant post WWII New York City, a young woman is forced to reinvent her life and choose between the safe and the ethical, and the men who represent each…

Set in New York City in the heady aftermath of World War II when the men were coming home, the women were exhaling in relief, and everyone was having babies, The Trouble With You is the story of a young woman whose rosy future is upended in a single instant. Raised never to step out of bounds, educated in one of the Sister Seven Colleges for a career as a wife and mother, torn between her cousin Mimi who is determined to keep her a “nice girl”—the kind that marries a doctor—and her aunt Rose who has a rebellious past of her own, Fanny struggles to raise her young daughter and forge a new life by sheer will and pluck. When she gets a job as a secretary to the “queen” of radio serials—never to be referred to as soaps—she discovers she likes working, and through her friendship with an actress who stars in the series and a man who writes them, comes face to face with the blacklist which is destroying careers and wrecking lives. Ultimately, Fanny must decide between playing it safe or doing what she knows is right in this vivid evocation of a world that seems at once light years away and strangely immediate.

Aug18

Gigi, Listening by Chantel Guertin

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This was a fun book with a cool premise.

Gigi is the owner of a romance bookstore. She has a massive crush on the narrator of an audio book, Zane. His voice makes her swoon and the book he’s reading is one her parents fell in love reading, so the book has meaning to her in addition to her lust for the narrator. For her thirtieth birthday, her friends go in on a trip to England for her. (Wish I had friends like that!) A bus trip led by a tour company the narrator’s family owns and he happens to be the guide scheduled for that ten day excursion.

And the adventure begins. There’s a wonderful cast of characters who are on the bus tour as well as the bus driver and tour guide. Each character is fully fleshed out from the estranged couple, to the two women who fell in love later in life, to the widow, the older tour guide, a YouTuber, and the man who records everything and is a font of trivia knowledge.  

When Gigi arrives at the bus depot, the narrator guide, Zane, isn’t there as he’s had a family emergency. Disappointment washed over Gigi and she thought about not going on with the trip. But she stays and finds herself having fun despite no Zane. She lives in hope that he’ll turn up, but she also makes the most of the days he’s not there. It doesn’t hurt that the bus driver is witty and up for adventuring with her when she doesn’t want to follow the itinerary. She has an aversion to churches since the death of her parents and tries to avoid entering the sacred places which is difficult since the tour is called Spires, Shires, and Shores. The bus driver figures out her reluctance to be inside the churches quickly and distracts her with other activities.

When Zane, the tour guide, eventually shows up, things get more complicated for Gigi.

This was an entertaining read with lots of humor, but also some serious moments. The message in the story is about how to move on in life when you might be stagnating or not seeing opportunities in your path by being focused on the past or some dream that really won’t bring you the satisfaction you crave. Lessons are learned by Gigi as well as other characters. For example, the bus driver learns his true calling might be the very thing he avoided, the young YouTuber learns about forgiveness and moving into acceptance, and the widow learns about starting over.

The author used a lighthearted way to inject some serious life lessons into the story. I thoroughly enjoyed Gigi’s bus tour.