Audiobook Review: Any Trope But You by Victoria Lavine

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Any Trope but You
Author: Victoria Lavine
Narrators: Tim Paige, Jesse Vilinsky
Publisher: Atria
Publication date: April 1, 2025
Print length: 336 pages
Audio length: 11 hours 17 minutes
Genre: Contemporary romance
Source: Library
Rating:

A bestselling romance author flees to Alaska to reinvent herself and write her first murder mystery, but the rugged resort proprietor soon has her fearing she’s living in a rom-com plot instead in this earnestly spectacular debut by a stunning new voice.

Beloved romance author Margot Bradley has a dark secret: she doesn’t believe in Happily Ever Afters. Not for herself, not for her readers, and not even for her characters, for whom she secretly writes alternate endings that swap weddings and babies for divorce papers and the occasional slashed tire. When her Happily Never After document is hacked and released to the public, she finds herself canceled by her readers and dropped by her publisher.

Desperate to find a way to continue supporting her chronically ill sister, Savannah, Margot decides to trade meet-cutes for murder. The fictional kind. Probably. But when Savannah books Margot a six-week stay in a remote Alaskan resort to pen her first murder mystery, Margot finds herself running from a moose and leaping into the arms of the handsome proprietor, making her fear she’s just landed in a romance novel instead.

The last thing Dr. Forrest Wakefield ever expected was to leave his dream job as a cancer researcher to become a glorified bellhop. What he’s really doing at his family’s resort is caring for his stubborn, ailing father, and his puzzle-loving mind is slowly freezing over—until Margot shows up. But Forrest doesn’t have any room in his life for another person he could lose, especially one with a checkout date.

As long snowy nights and one unlikely trope after another draw Margot and Forrest together, they’ll each have to learn to overcome their fears and set their aside assumptions before Margot leaves—or risk becoming a Happily Never After story themselves.

I suppose I should have read the blurb more carefully before deciding that this book looked like fun. Earnestly spectacular?? — I’m not sure what that’s supposed to mean… but I don’t think that’s what I got.

In Any Trope But You, Margot Bradley, age 31, is a bestselling author of six wildly popular romance novels. Secretly, though, she’s stopped believing in love after one too many heartbreaks. She keeps a hidden file of Happily Never Afters — alternate endings to her novels, where instead of getting their HEAs, the characters get divorce, unhappiness and even (gasp!) erectile dysfunction.

When Margot is hacked and her HNA document is made public during a Zoom book event, her fans are outraged and demand that she be cancelled. She’s an instant pariah in the romance world, and her publisher drops her. She’s in desperate need of a reset.

Margot lives with her younger sister Savannah, who has a chronic autoimmune disease. Margot’s life revolves around caring for Savannah and keeping her healthy, and she’s aghast when Savannah informs her that she’s booked her into a six-week stay at a remote Alaskan wilderness lodge. How can Margot even think of leaving her sister for that long? But Savannah insists, and finally, Margot agrees that this will be a great way for her to get away and reinvent herself, dreaming up a murder mystery set in Alaska with absolutely no romance.

Things begin to go sideways for Margot as soon as she arrives at Northstar Lodge when, frightened at the sight of a moose, she literally jumps into the arms of the (gorgeous) flannel-shirted man who just happens to be standing there chopping wood. Her savior is Forrest, the son of the lodge’s proprietor, who (unbeknownst to Margot) is actually a top-tier cancer researcher who’s walked away from his career to take care of his injured father and keep the family business afloat.

Of course, there’s instant chemistry… which neither of them wants. Margot has sworn off romantic entanglements, and is horrified to realize how many tropes she’s apparently fallen into: Rugged wilderness man, heart of gold beneath grumpy exterior, secretly a doctor, excellent cook, beloved by animals… there’s even a mountain rescue in which he has to carry her down a mountain, and later, the old “let me save you from hypothermia through the warmth of my naked body”.

Meanwhile, Forrest (and the lodge) were badly burned (not literally! — no actual arson involved) after he had a fling with a guest years earlier, who then trashed him (and the lodge) through her viral reviews, resulting in serious damage to the lodge’s business and reputation. It’s taken years to bounce back, and Forrest has a “no guests” policy now that means that Margot is off-limits, no matter how attracted he is to her.

Any Trope But You has a potentially cute set-up (and I’m always a sucker for a good wilderness romance), but the writing and the story itself go downhill as the book progresses.

There’s just so much that doesn’t make sense. I never for a second believed that Margot could be a bestselling author, and her attempts at writing while at the lodge seem feeble at best. Her getting cancelled felt unrealistic, and where was any attempt at damage control? Surely, she and her publicist and the publisher’s marketing team could have launched an effective effort to explain the HNA document — I mean, she was hacked! Where’s the outrage? Instead, it was straight to cancellation plus loss of her publishing contract. Where are her lawyers?

Forrest’s decision to drop everything for his father is also unrealistic. He’s upset that he wasn’t by his mother’s side when she died of breast cancer years earlier… so he walks away from his groundbreaking breast cancer research to move to Alaska, run the lodge, and take care of his dad’s meds and physical therapy — rather than, I don’t know, hiring a nurse and flying up for visits?

And later, when we actually see the former guest’s review that supposedly nearly ruined the lodge… it feels like a big fat nothing. So one person wrote a bad review? So what? She makes it clear in the review that she slept with the proprietor, that he wasn’t interested in a relationship, and that therefore she’s pissed and wants to destroy him. It’s just so bizarre… almost as bizarre as Margot losing all trust in Forrest after reading the review. What a lame 3rd act breakup device.

Still, I was mostly going along with the story as something to pass the time, strictly a 3-star, sort of okay listen… but then we get to the sex scenes. And oh my heavens, they are awful. Not just open door, but full-on close-up views of every single thing that happens between them… and the scenes just go on and on and on. Maybe it’s not as awful in print, but listening to the audiobook, these scenes are excruciating, both in terms of their length and the writing itself, which I could not stand.

Here’s one of the tamer examples I could find:

She huffs a breath as she centers herself on what feels like the business end of a baseball bat in my pants, and I can’t stop the rusty sound she pulls from me when our lips catch for the first time. It’s just a graze, but the tease of her mint ChapStick may as well be a narcotic.

Granted, if you like your romances with lots of spice (and awkward metaphors), then this book might work for you. But for me, closed door or from-a-distance scenes with just enough to give a sense of the chemistry are really all that’s needed… and if it’s got to be more graphic, then at least try to avoid mentioning baseball bats!

Beyond all that, there are some basic premise aspects that are really irritating. Margot and Forrest both seem to need to swoop in and save their family members… whether or not they want it. They both assume they know what’s best for their ill or injured loved ones, disregard when they’re told otherwise, and are totally committed to giving up their own lives to be caretakers, without ever consulting the people they’re caring for to see what they really want. So, maybe Margot and Forrest really are perfect for one another?

Except even once they’re together, they can only envision having a relationship once Margot leaves the lodge if Forrest goes back to his medical work and leaves Alaska — so when his father has a setback, it means that he cant leave after all, so clearly they need to break up. Ummm, she’s a bestselling author and he’s a doctor — they can afford flights! Long distance is a thing!

I could go on and on… but I’ll stop. Clearly, this book was not the cute, fluffy escape I thought it would be.

Someone asked me why I didn’t just stop if the book was bugging me so much. Good question! I’d invested enough listening hours already that I wanted to see it through… and see if just possibly I’d feel differently about it by the end. (I didn’t.)

Points for a great setting and a few cute scenes here and there… but overall, I stopped enjoying this book well before the end, and just powered through to get it done.

Your mileage may vary. But for me, I’m mostly just glad that I’m done.

15May2025

Cover reveal: We Burned So Bright by TJ Klune (coming April 2026)

Posted in Bookish Thoughts by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Dying of excitement ever since seeing this post on social media:

Blurb from the publisher’s page:

A heart-wrenching standalone novel by #1 New York Times bestselling author TJ Klune, We Burned So Bright follows an older queer couple on an end-of-the-world road-trip.

The road stretched out before them. No other cars, just the headlights on the blacktop. Above, the cracked moon in a kaleidoscope sky….

Husbands Don and Rodney have lived a good long life. Together they’ve experienced the highest highs of love and family, and lows so low that they felt like the end of the world.

Now, the world is ending for real. A wandering black hole is coming for Earth and in a month everything and everyone they’ve ever known will be gone.

Suddenly, after 40 years together, Don and Rodney are out of time. They’re in a race against the clock to make it from Maine to Washington State to take care of some unfinished business before it’s all over.

On the road they meet those who refuse to believe death is coming and those who rush to meet it. But there are also people living their final days as best they know how–impromptu weddings, bright burning bonfires, shared meals, new friends.

And as the black hole draws near, among ball lightning and under a cracked moon in a kaleidoscope sky, Don and Rodney will look back on their lives and ask if their best was good enough.

Is it enough to burn bright if nothing comes from the ashes?

Book Review: Death at a Highland Wedding (A Rip Through Time, #4) by Kelley Armstrong

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Death at a Highland Wedding
Series: A Rip Through Time, #4
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Publication date: May 20, 2025
Length: 336 pages
Genre: Historical fiction/mystery
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via Netgalley
Rating:

Death at a Highland Wedding is the fourth installment in New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong’s gripping Rip Through Time Novels.

After slipping 150 years into the past, modern-day homicide detective Mallory Atkinson has embraced her new life in Victorian Scotland as housemaid Catriona Mitchel. Although it isn’t what she expected, she’s developed real, meaningful relationships with the people around her and has come to love her role as assistant to undertaker Dr. Duncan Gray and Detective Hugh McCreadie.

Mallory, Gray, and McCreadie are on their way to the Scottish Highlands for McCreadie’s younger sister’s wedding. The McCreadies and the groom’s family, the Cranstons, have a complicated history which has made the weekend quite uncomfortable. But the Cranston estate is beautiful so Gray and Mallory decide to escape the stifling company and set off to explore the castle and surrounding wilderness. They discover that the groom, Archie Cranston, a slightly pompous and prickly man, has set up deadly traps in the woods for the endangered Scottish wildcats, and they soon come across a cat who’s been caught and severely injured. Oddly, Mallory notices the cat’s injuries don’t match up with the intricacies of the trap. These strange irregularities, combined with the secretive and erratic behavior of the groom, put Mallory and Duncan on edge. And then when one of the guests is murdered, they must work fast to uncover the murderer before another life is lost.

New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong’s unique time travel mystery series continues to entertain as Mallory adjusts to life in the 1870s.

How to talk about the 4th book in a series? I’m tempted to simply say: Read this. It’s good! But no, I’ll attempt to explain why its so good, and why this is a must-read series.

Death at a Highland Wedding is the 4th full-length novel in Kelley Armstrong’s excellent A Rip Through Time series. (There are also a few novellas that serve as little side treats in between the main books).

In this series, Mallory Atkinson, 21st century homicide detective, accidentally crosses through a time anomaly and finds herself in Victorian Era Edinburgh, inhabiting the body of a beautiful but deceitful young housemaid. Four books into the series, the housemaid’s employer has accepted the weird-but-true fact that the person who looks like his maid is actually a highly trained, highly independent detective from 150 years in the future. Mallory has been “promoted” to assistant to her employer, Duncan Grey, an undertaker, trained physician, and lover of science and scientific inquiry. Because Duncan assists his best friend Hugh McCreadie with police investigations, Mallory is able to be of service — and introduces them to all sorts of 21st century forensic procedures not even dreamed of in Victorian times.

As Death at a Highland Wedding opens, Mallory has been living in this time period for about a year, and the household, along with Hugh, is taking a vacation of sorts. An old friend of Duncan and Hugh’s is getting married at his Highlands estate, and this is an opportunity for Mallory to experience yet another aspect of her new life.

At the estate, however, things quickly go off the rails. First, there’s an unpleasant groundskeeper who sets wickedly dangerous traps all over the property. There’s also some tension amongst the party attending the wedding, as former lovers and friends and connections intertwine in uncomfortable ways. The entire wedding is on the verge of cancellation once a dead body is discovered — it’s the best man, killed while out at night wearing the groom’s coat. Who was the true intended victim, what was the motive, and who could have carried out the violent act?

Hugh, Duncan, and Mallory seem like the obvious team to solve the mystery, but the young, inexperienced local constable has jurisdiction, and doesn’t want outside interference. When he bungles the process — badly — our trio undertake their own investigation on the down-low, trying to solve the murder while not letting the constable know what they’re up to.

In a house full of potential suspects and plenty of motives, Mallory et al have almost too many trails to follow. There are red herrings galore, and plenty of scandals to unearth — and naturally, the closer they get to the truth, the more they themselves are in danger.

Ah, this book is such delicious fun! First, the mystery itself is surprisingly twisted. What at first seems like a classic country house murder mystery is revealed to be that, but dialed up to eleven. I loved the fact that my guesses continually turned out to be wrong! Every time I was sure I knew who was particularly shady or dishonest or underhanded, something else popped up to steer me in a different direction. It’s a treat to read a mystery and not see the big reveals coming.

Second, and for me, the absolute best, is the ongoing delight of seeing Mallory navigate her new world. In previous books, it seemed that she’d have an option to return to her own time, but here, she’s fully convinced that she’s where she needs to be. There’s a slow-burn romance with Duncan, which is complicated for many reasons, and they’re both thoughtful enough to avoid bad decisions or letting their emotions cloud their judgment.

Then there’s the fun of Mallory using her 21st century police tactics in this setting — for example, explaining how (and why) to cordon off a crime scene or doing a rudimentary version of taking fingerprints. Seeing the cultures collide and the sharing of tactics and knowledge keeps the storytelling funny in dark moments, and gives Mallory a chance to shine and be appreciated for who she is.

As you can see, I love this series! As I’ve said in all of my reviews so far, you really must start at the beginning! Yes, this one might work as a stand-alone if you’re only interested in the murder mystery itself, but I honestly don’t think the book as a whole would make a ton of sense. The series is just so good — so dive into book #1, and keep going!

Now that I’ve finished Death at a Highland Wedding, I’ll be eagerly awaiting the next installment in the series. Highly recommended!

Purchase links: Amazon – Bookshop.org – Libro.fm
Disclaimer: When you make a purchase through one of these affiliate links, I may earn a small commission, at no additional cost to you.

For more in this series:
A Rip Through Time
The Poisoner’s Ring
Disturbing the Dead
Schemes & Scandals (novella)

13May2025

Top 5 Tuesday: Top 5 books with stars on the cover

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by Meeghan Reads — check out the next batch of upcoming topics here.

It’s been a while since I’ve done a T5T post — not for any specific reason, but just because my blogging habits have been a bit scattered lately. Too many real life distractions! Anyway, this topic caught my eye and seemed like fun, so here I am.

This week’s topic is Top 5 books with a star on the cover, with the prompt: Time to find your fave books with a (or multiple) star(s) on the cover. And in the immortal words of Nicola Yoon: The Sun is Also a Star. (Just saying!).

Here are a few from my shelves that fit the theme:

The Dog Stars by Peter Heller (review)
A Brilliant Night of Ice and Stars by Rebecca Connolly (on my TBR!)
Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki (review)
Winter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell (review)
The Midnight Watch by David Dyer (review)

Interesting… my five include two Titanic books!

So, those are my five top books with actual (astronomical/celestial) stars… but I’ll add two more books as a bonus, since I loved them both. These books’ covers have stars representing military service — another type of star!

Blue Stars by Emily Gray Tedrowe (review)
You Know When the Men Are Gone by Siobhan Fallon (excellent book of linked stories; I read it before I started posting reviews)

What “star” covers did you feature this week? What other books with stars on their covers do you especially love?

If you wrote a T5T post, please share your link!

12May2025

The Monday Check-In ~ 5/12/2025

Posted in The Monday Check-In by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

My Monday tradition, including a look back and a look ahead — what I read last week, what new books came my way, and what books are keeping me busy right now. Plus a smattering of other stuff too.

Life.

I spent much of the past week bouncing back from a bad cold and sinus infection. Blech. But, I’m happy to report that after several days of basically doing nothing but crashing, I’m feeling human again!

I did have a very nice Mother’s Day. None of my kids were around, but my husband and I drove down the coast a bit to a beautiful state park for a great hike, then stopped for lunch at a cute nearby town.

And now… back to work! Back to being super busy! But it’s good to feel like I have energy again (finally).

What did I read during the last week?

All the Lonely People by Mike Gayle: Such a sweet, uplifting story! My review is here.

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah: A powerful, memorable story of war, bravery, and sacrifice. My review is here.

Elsewhere in book world:

I reviewed Overgrowth by Mira Grant (Seanan McGuire) the week before last (review) — and this week, I was delighted/disturbed/intrigued to discover the author’s backstory and inspiration for this book. Read about it here.

Over at Pages Unbound, Krysta calls for more books to include recaps, and I’m 100% on board with this idea!

And elsewhere on the blog, I shared my 2nd Retail Therapy post, this time focusing on puzzles for book lovers. Now I’m itching to start a new puzzle!

Pop culture & TV:

I watched North of North on Netflix this week. Really fun! And easy to binge — eight 30-minute episodes… and done!

Fresh Catch:

I didn’t buy any new books this week, but I did swap out my black Kindle cover for a snazzy new green one, and I like it!

What will I be reading during the coming week?

Currently in my hands:

Death at a Highland Wedding (A Rip Through Time, #4) by Kelley Armstrong: The newest installment in an excellent series! I’m enjoying this one a lot — should be able to share a review in the next few days.

Now playing via audiobook:

Any Trope But You by Victoria Lavine: My listening time was really limited last week (another downside of being sick!), so I’m not quite done with this wilderness romance audiobook. It’s cute, if a tad predictable. I hope to finish in the next day or so.

Ongoing reads:

Two longer-term reading commitments right now:

My book group’s classic read is Mansfield Park by Jane Austen. We’re reading and discussing two chapters per week. Progress: 90%. Up next: Chapters 44 and 45. Getting close to the end!
New this week! We’re starting a group read of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, beginning with The Fellowship of the Ring. We’ll be reading and discussing two chapters per week, and should finish Fellowship by the end of July.

What will you be reading this week?

So many books, so little time…

9May2025

Book Review: The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The Nightingale
Author: Kristin Hannah
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Publication date: January 29, 2015
Length: 593 pages
Genre: Historical fiction
Source: Purchased
Rating:

FRANCE, 1939

In the quiet village of Carriveau, Vianne Mauriac says goodbye to her husband, Antoine, as he heads for the Front. She doesn’t believe that the Nazis will invade France…but invade they do, in droves of marching soldiers, in caravans of trucks and tanks, in planes that fill the skies and drop bombs upon the innocent. When a German captain requisitions Vianne’s home, she and her daughter must live with the enemy or lose everything. Without food or money or hope, as danger escalates all around them, she is forced to make one impossible choice after another to keep her family alive.

Vianne’s sister, Isabelle, is a rebellious eighteen-year-old girl, searching for purpose with all the reckless passion of youth. While thousands of Parisians march into the unknown terrors of war, she meets Gäetan, a partisan who believes the French can fight the Nazis from within France, and she falls in love as only the young can…completely. But when he betrays her, Isabelle joins the Resistance and never looks back, risking her life time and again to save others.

With courage, grace and powerful insight, bestselling author Kristin Hannah captures the epic panorama of WWII and illuminates an intimate part of history seldom seen: the women’s war. The Nightingale tells the stories of two sisters, separated by years and experience, by ideals, passion and circumstance, each embarking on her own dangerous path toward survival, love, and freedom in German-occupied, war-torn France–a heartbreakingly beautiful novel that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit and the durability of women. It is a novel for everyone, a novel for a lifetime.

Author Kristin Hannah has written several powerful works of historical fiction over the past few years, all of which I’ve loved and felt transported by. Somehow I’d missed reading The Nightingale until now. Finally, ten years after its original publication, I’ve now made a point of reading this compelling story.

The Nightingale takes place in France during World War II, following the timeline of the Nazi occupation to show the lives of two sisters and their divergent experiences during the war.

Vianne and Isabelle are ten years apart in age and miles apart in terms of their relationship as the book opens. Vianne is a wife and mother living in Carriveau, a small country village. She’s blissfully in love with her husband Antoine, and takes joy in her eight-year-old daughter Sophie, a miracle child born after a string of miscarriages. Meanwhile, Isabelle is an impetuous and hot-headed teen, constantly in trouble, always either escaping from or getting kicked out of her latest boarding school.

As children, after their mother’s death, they were essentially abandoned by their grieving, alcoholic father. But Vianne, caught up in her own grief and then struggling with the loss of pregnancy after pregnancy, didn’t have space in heart to love her little sister. The bond between the two seemed irreparably broken.

When the Nazi occupation of France begins, the sisters’ lives change dramatically. Antoine is called to military service and Vianne is left alone to tend to their home and their daughter. Isabelle is sent to take shelter with Vianne, but she yearns for purpose and adventure, not life on a farm. When Isabelle connects with an underground network fighting to carry out secret operations against the Nazis, her life changes yet again. While Vianne believes Isabelle has run off for some ill-advised, irresponsible love affair, Isabelle is actually setting out on a course of heroism and sacrifice, risking her own life over and over again to fight for freedom and justice.

Without going too much more deeply into the plot, I’ll just summarize by saying that The Nightingale balances the sisters’ stories by showing each of their struggles, triumphs, and losses during the war. It’s a devastating look at an awful period, and while many of us have read stories of this time before, this book’s focus on women’s lives under Nazi occupation — and the sacrifices they make in order to not only survive, but to save others as well — conveys an intimacy and fresh perspective that stand out.

It was interesting for me to note how my own sympathies and interests change over the course of the book. Perhaps because we meet Vianne first, I assumed she was our main POV character. When Isabelle first appears, we largely see her through Vianne’s eyes — young, reckless, self-centered. It was easy to feel annoyed by her, and to feel that her impetuous decisions put Vianne’s family at risk. As the book progresses, however, Isabelle takes on a much larger role, sharing the spotlight and growing into the person she always wanted to be. Isabelle throws herself into danger repeatedly, but her devotion and bravery are real. While she and Vianne are sometimes adversaries — even with life and death consequences — we know enough about each woman to understand her action and motivations, even when they don’t actually understand one another.

Kristin Hannah has clearly done a huge amount of research for this book, which I understand represents a major turning point in her writing career — her pivot into historical fiction. It was fasacinating to read her notes at the end and to learn about some of the historical figures who served as inspiration for her, including Andrée de Jongh, a Belgian resistance fighter during WWII who is credited with saving hundreds of downed airmen and other Allied soldiers by smuggling them across the Pyrenees from France into Spain.

The Nightingale is beautifully written and powerfully told, depicting the absolute horrors that the characters lived through, but also showing the beauty of their love for each other, their families, and even the strangers they save. It’s not an easy read, but it’s important and has a deep impact that I know will last.

The Nightingale was originally published in 2015. Earlier this year, the publisher released a 10th anniversary special hardcover edition, which is lovely. The Nightingale is also available in paperback, e-book, and audiobook formats.

^{A look at the 10th anniversary edition of The Nightingale}

Purchase links: Amazon – Bookshop.org – Libro.fm
Disclaimer: When you make a purchase through one of these affiliate links, I may earn a small commission, at no additional cost to you.

For more by this author, check out my reviews:

I have not yet read any of Kristin Hannah’s earlier works. If you have recommendations, please let me know!

8May2025

Retail Therapy: Puzzles for Book Lovers (part 1)

Posted in Fun and Whimsy, Real Life, The Reading Life by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

We booklovers tend to spend most of our “just for me” shopping dollars on books… but sometimes, it’s fun to branch out and consider book-adjacent little treats. So today, I’d like to share some of my favorite jigsaw puzzles, which are great in their own right, but also, especially great for book lovers!

Before the pandemic, I probably hadn’t done a jigsaw puzzle in over 10 years (or more). But during the pandemic, I got totally hooked, and ended up doing about one per week (and probably would have done even more, except I tend to get a bit obsessed when working on a puzzle and had to set myself some limits).

I’ve slowed down since then, so now it’s much more of an occasional hobby than a continuous activity — but I’m still always on the lookout for a great puzzle, especially when there’s a book-related angle to it!

For today’s Retail Therapy round-up, I’m focusing solely on bookish puzzles — and in fact, this is only part 1! I have so many bookish puzzles to share that I’ll just focus on one publisher this time around, and will be back with a part 2 in another week or so. I’ll also be sharing yet another post on non-book-related puzzles that I’ve found especially pretty or interesting or unique. There are a lot!

Note: This post contains affiliate links. When you click through a link and make a purchase, I may earn a small commission at no cost to you.

Onward: Puzzles for Book Lovers, part 1!

Here are some favorites. Why not see if any appeal to you as well?

The puzzles below are all from the world of Laurence King Publishing. They make high-quality puzzles filled with intricate details and eye-catching designs.

The World of Jane Austen

Purchase links: Amazon – Bookshop.org

The World of Shakespeare

Purchase links: Amazon – Bookshop.org

The World of Dracula

Purchase links: Amazon – Bookshop.org

The World of Frankenstein

Purchase links: Amazon – Bookshop.org

The World of Charles Dickens

Purchase links: Amazon – Bookshop.org

The World of the Brontës

Purchase links: Amazon – Bookshop.org

The World of King Arthur

Purchase links: Amazon – Bookshop.org

The World of Bridgerton

Purchase links: Amazon – Bookshop.org

These are just a few of their puzzles — they’re all amazing. Each puzzle has a lot of details from the world it portrays, and comes with a fold-out poster than includes a guide to all the places and characters hidden (or not so hidden) in the illustrations. The puzzles themselves have cleanly cut pieces with a satisfying snap, and are high quality and sturdy.

Keep in mind, there are plenty more from this “World of” series to choose from! Of the others I’ve found so far, some are related to books that I don’t particularly care for (The Great Gatsby), some are from worlds/series/books that I just haven’t read in-depth (or at all) yet, and some are on my maybe/someday list. Whether or not I’m interested in the actual subjects, the puzzles themselves look great!

Stay tuned — I’ll be back with more puzzle recommendations in my next Retail Therapy post!

7May2025

Book Review: All the Lonely People by Mike Gayle

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: All the Lonely People
Author: Mike Gayle
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Publication date: November 1, 2023
Length: 385 pages
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Source: Library
Rating:

If you loved A Man Called Ove, then prepare to be delighted as Jamaican immigrant Hubert rediscovers the world he’d turned his back on this “warm, funny” novel (Good Housekeeping).

In weekly phone calls to his daughter in Australia, widower Hubert Bird paints a picture of the perfect retirement, packed with fun, friendship, and fulfillment. But it’s a lie. In reality, Hubert’s days are all the same, dragging on without him seeing a single soul.

Until he receives some good news—good news that in one way turns out to be the worst news ever, news that will force him out again, into a world he has long since turned his back on. The news that his daughter is coming for a visit.

Now Hubert faces a seemingly impossible task: to make his real life resemble his fake life before the truth comes out.

Along the way Hubert stumbles across a second chance at love, renews a cherished friendship, and finds himself roped into an audacious community scheme that seeks to end loneliness once and for all . . .

Life is certainly beginning to happen to Hubert Bird. But with the origin of his earlier isolation always lurking in the shadows, will he ever get to live the life he’s pretended to have for so long?

All the Lonely People by Mike Gayle came to my attention thanks to a blog post highlighting an upcoming short story by the same author — and I was interested enough to want to read the story (which was just released last week, and I haven’t gotten to yet) and to look into his other works. Several of his books sound great… and I’m so glad I decided to give All the Lonely People a try!

Hubert Bird is a widower in his 80s living alone with his cat Puss in the home he shared with his late wife for over fifty years. Hubert was born and raised in Jamaica, and immigrated to London as a young man in search of a job and better prospects. There, he found true love, which flourished despite the racism that he and his white wife faced, raised a family, and lived through life’s ups and downs.

But now, Hubert shuns company and chooses isolation, having driven off his remaining friends years earlier during a dark time in his life. His one source of brightness is his weekly phone call with his daughter Rose, a professor living in Australia. Each week, he tells Rose about his active social life, going into great detail about the antics he gets up to with his close friends Dottie, Dennis, and Harvey, and Rose delights in hearing about his social circle and their escapades. The problem is, none of it is true — it’s a fiction that Hubert has created so that Rose won’t worry about him. But when Rose announces that she’s coming for a visit in a few months, Hubert begins to panic. He’ll have to come clean to Rose about all his lies, but maybe that won’t be so bad if he can actually make some friends between now and her visit.

When a chatty young neighbor, a single mom with a cute 2-year-old, comes knocking on his door, it’s Hubert’s first bit of connection. From there, as he ventures out more often, he starts meeting others, including a young baker from Latvia, an older woman who loves gardening, and a few other random people from the neighborhood. Hubert’s life takes an even bigger turn when the group of friends decide to form a committee — the Campaign to End Loneliness in Bromley. Suddenly, Hubert is thrust into the limelight as the face of the campaign, and his lonely life has been replaced by an ever growing circle of friends and associates.

Past sorrows never truly go away though, and when Hubert faces a shock that makes him finally confront a loss that he’s never gotten over, he’s tempted to retreat back into his former isolation, where he might have been alone, but at least he could pretend that nothing mattered to him.

All the Lonely People is a lovely book full of a charming cast of characters, depicting a life well-lived. Hubert’s life wasn’t easy, but it was full of joy. He experienced great pain and loss, but also true love and friendship. The story is told through chapters that alternate between “now” — Hubert in his 80s, reconnecting with the world around him — and “then”, his journey from Jamaica, finding his way in London, and his life with Joyce and their children.

It’s a beautiful story about connection, caring about others, and finding meaning in life through the people we meet along the way. Hubert is a remarkable character, and it’s wonderful to see him forging new relationships and rekindling old friendships.

As Hubert says toward the end of the book:

Extraordinary things can happen to ordinary people like you and me, but only if we open ourselves up enough to let them.

I highly recommend All the Lonely People. The characters are memorable and easy to care about, and while Hubert thinks of himself as ordinary, his story is anything but.

I’m eager to read more by this talented author! Suggestions welcome!

Purchase links: Amazon – Bookshop.org – Libro.fm
Disclaimer: When you make a purchase through one of these affiliate links, I may earn a small commission, at no additional cost to you.

6May2025

Top Ten Tuesday: California dreaming… authors who live (or lived) in my state

Posted in Top Ten Tuesday by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, featuring a different top 10 theme each week. This week’s topic is Authors (or books by authors) Who Live In My State. I’m including some authors who are no longer living, but who are certainly very much associated with my (adopted) home state of California!

Although I’m not a native, I’ve been living in California for almost all of my adult life — so it’s home! Here are a selection of books by authors who either live or lived in California. I love my literary neighbors!

Featured authors:

Jasmine Guillory
John Steinbeck
Gail Carriger
Armistead Maupin
Daniel Handler
Nina Lacour
Isabel Allende
Taylor Jenkins Reid
Ray Bradbury
Lisa See

It actually was a bit of a challenge to come up with my list this week — I had to do a bit of fact-checking to make sure that authors who I thought live/lived in California actually did! Did anyone else struggle with this week’s prompt?

If you wrote a TTT post, please share your link!

5May2025

The Monday Check-In ~ 5/5/2025

Posted in The Monday Check-In by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Life.

Welcome to May! A day late, but… May the 4th be with you!

I had… not the best week. My husband was sick early in the week, and by Thursday, I had it too. Cold, congestion, fever, headache… yuck. I was sick enough to have to cancel a few plans and not do much all weekend except lie around and read whenever I could keep my eyes open.

It still hasn’t entirely cleared yet, but I’m planning to try to work from home today and will see how it goes.

What did I read during the last week?

Vanishing World by Sayaka Murata: The weirdest book I’ve read in a long time… and not in a good way. My review is here.

The Love Haters by Katherine Center: Another enjoyable, light romance from a must-read author. My review is here.

Overgrowth by Mira Grant: Invasion of the alien plant people! This sci-fi/horror tale by the incomparable Mira Grant (aka Seanan McGuire) delivers complexity and chills. My review is here.

Elsewhere on the blog:

I shared my excitement about three upcoming new books in favorite series, here.

And if you’re looking for a tale of tragedy, loss, and renewed hope… here’s the sad story of my Kindle Oasis’s demise and the arrival of my new Kindle Paperwhite.

Pop culture & TV:

I finished watching Etoile (Prime Video), and loved it! Here’s hoping there’s more to come!

Sunday night was the premiere of Miss Austen, a new limited series on PBS (adapted from the terrific book by Gill Hornby). Check out the trailer:

Fresh Catch:

I bought the 2nd and 3rd books in this series last week while visiting a local bookstore… but since they didn’t have book 1 in stock, I had to place an order… and here it is! I’m excited to start this series. It looks adorable!

What will I be reading during the coming week?

Currently in my hands:

All the Lonely People by Mike Gayle: I started this book via audio, but because I was sick and didn’t leave my house for a good part of the week, I also didn’t get much time to listen, and now the audiobook is due back at the library. So, I’m switching to print so I can finish.

Now playing via audiobook:

Any Trope But You by Victoria Lavine: I’m a sucker for romance-in-the-wilderness stories, and with an Alaska setting? Even better. The library had this one available to borrow, and it sounds cute, so I’ll give it a go!

Ongoing reads:

My book group’s classic read is Mansfield Park by Jane Austen. We’re reading and discussing two chapters per week. Progress: 86%. Up next: Chapters 42 and 43.

What will you be reading this week?

So many books, so little time…