Book Review: The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The Wishing Game
Author: Meg Shaffer
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Publication date: May 30, 2023
Print length: 320 pages
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Source: Purchased

Years ago, a reclusive mega-bestselling children’s author quit writing under mysterious circumstances. Suddenly he resurfaces with a brand-new book and a one-of-a-kind competition, offering a prize that will change the winner’s life in this absorbing and whimsical novel.

Make a wish. . . .

Lucy Hart knows better than anyone what it’s like to grow up without parents who loved her. In a childhood marked by neglect and loneliness, Lucy found her solace in books, namely the Clock Island series by Jack Masterson. Now a twenty-six-year-old teacher’s aide, she is able to share her love of reading with bright, young students, especially seven-year-old Christopher Lamb, who was left orphaned after the tragic death of his parents. Lucy would give anything to adopt Christopher, but even the idea of becoming a family seems like an impossible dream without proper funds and stability.

But be careful what you wish for. . . .

Just when Lucy is about to give up, Jack Masterson announces he’s finally written a new book. Even better, he’s holding a contest at his home on the real Clock Island, and Lucy is one of the four lucky contestants chosen to compete to win the one and only copy.

For Lucy, the chance of winning the most sought-after book in the world means everything to her and Christopher. But first she must contend with ruthless book collectors, wily opponents, and the distractingly handsome (and grumpy) Hugo Reese, the illustrator of the Clock Island books. Meanwhile, Jack “the Mastermind” Masterson is plotting the ultimate twist ending that could change all their lives forever.

. . . You might just get it.

For all the adult readers who miss the sense of wonder and delight that a good children’s books series can bring… have I got a book for you!

The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer is a quest story for kids who believe in wishes… and then grow up. In this sweet, inventive, lovely tale, the reclusive author of the bestselling Clock Island children’s book series announces that he’s written a new book after a six-year gap… but there’s only one copy, and it will be gifted to the person who wins his contest, which is open to only a select few.

Jack chuckled. “The book exists. And there is only one copy of it in the world. I typed it up and hid it away.”

“And you’re seriously going to entrust it to some stranger?”

“No, but I shall whimsically entrust it to some stranger.”

Shades of Willy Wonka, right?

One of author Jack Masterson’s most devoted fans is Lucy Hart, a kindergarten teacher’s aide whose deepest, most heartfelt wish is to adopt Christopher, an orphaned seven-year-old who’s become the light of her life. Reality interferes in the form of finances: Without an apartment of her own, steady income, and a car, Lucy has no chance of getting approved to foster or adopt. Perhaps, the social worker suggests, it would be kinder to tell Christopher that it’s just not going to happen.

Just as Lucy is verging on despair, the news of Jack’s contest breaks. And Lucy has a secret: At age 13, she ran away to Clock Island and met Jack Masterson. Thanks to being able to solve his riddle, she is one of the four people chosen to compete — and if she wins, she’ll own the exclusive rights to his new book, which she can then sell for enough money to make her dreams of a family with Christopher come true.

Without delving too much further into plot details, let me just say that The Wishing Game is heart-warming, enchanting, whimsical, and full of joy. It’s a book for and about adults, but retains the sense of childish wonder that the best children’s books provide. It’s also a gift for those who love and cherish books, and who believe that stories are more than words on a page.

“Why do only brave kids get their wishes granted?” she asked.

“Because only brave children know that wishing is never enough.”

I loved so much about The Wishing Game. The characters are terrific, especially Lucy, Hugo, and Jack. There’s a romantic storyline, but it’s just one part of the whole, and fits well within the overall weave of the tale. Hugo’s artwork sounds amazing, and I wish it were real! Meg Shaffer does a fantastic job of taking fictional works of art — both Hugo’s paintings and Jack’s books — and making them come to life through her vivid descriptions.

The narrative brilliantly weaves together Lucy’s past — especially the very deep childhood wounds she carries — and the future she hopes for, incorporating a child’s wishes and beliefs into the fabric of an adult life. I loved how all the various pieces come together by the end. Realistic? Maybe not, but this is a book about dreams and wishes. It works.

I came to The Wishing Game after reading the author’s more recent novel, The Lost Story. I do still love The Lost Story best, but The Wishing Game is lovely and wonderful in its own special way, and I’m so happy to have made time to read it.

6Dec2024

Book Review: The Comeback Summer by Ali Brady

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The Comeback Summer
Author: Ali Brady
Publisher: Berkley
Publication date: May 9, 2023
Length: 475 pages
Genre: Contemporary fiction / romance
Source: Library
Rating:

Two sisters have one summer to crush their comfort zones and save their grandmother’s legacy in this sweet, sexy, and heartfelt novel by Ali Brady, author of The Beach Trap.

Hannah and Libby need a miracle. The PR agency they inherited from their grandmother is losing clients left and right, and the sisters are devastated at the thought of closing. The situation seems hopeless—until in walks Lou, an eccentric self-help guru who is looking for a new PR agency. Her business could solve all their problems—but there’s a catch. Whoever works with Lou must complete a twelve-week challenge as part of her “Crush Your Comfort Zone” program.

Hannah, whose worst nightmare is making small talk with strangers, is challenged to go on twelve first dates. Libby, who once claimed to have period cramps for four weeks straight to get out of gym class, is challenged to compete in an obstacle course race. The challenges begin with Hannah helping Libby train and Libby managing the dating app on her sister’s behalf. They’re both making good progress—until Hannah’s first love rolls into town, and Libby accidentally falls for a guy she’s supposed to be setting up with her sister.

Things get even more complicated when secrets come to light, making the sisters question the one relationship they’ve always counted on: each other. With their company’s future on the line, they can’t afford to fail. But in trying to make a comeback to honor their grandmother, are they pushing themselves down the wrong path?

The Comeback Summer is so much more than just a story about completing a challenge! This tale of sisters finding their own paths while navigating their relationship and their sense of family obligation is funny, touching, and highly entertaining.

Hannah and Libby have always been close, even more so since their parents divorced while they were still young. When their parents seemed to have mostly checked out of parenting, the girls relied on one another and on their wonderful grandmother Gigi. Gigi was a woman ahead of her time, a powerhouse businesswoman who owned and ran her own PR firm, which she left to the sisters upon her death.

But now, a few years after Gigi’s passing, the company is faltering and the sisters are floundering. Despite their hard work, the firm is losing clients, and without landing some major new accounts, they may lose the business altogether. When a fast-charging podcaster named Lou enters their office, she seems to be the answer to all their business problems — except she’s not quite ready to sign with them on the spot. To land her business, they have to complete her signature challenge — Crushing Your Comfort Zone. Hannah and Libby would rather just give Lou their business pitch, but she insists: They need to commit to her 12-week program, which she’ll monitor over the course of the summer. Only after they finish the challenge will she consider signing with them.

Given the state of their finances, they have no choice but to agree — even though the challenges ahead of them seem daunting. Shy, introverted Hannah — still aching after a traumatic breakup five years earlier — will have to set up a dating app profile and go on twelve dates. Libby — outgoing, energetic, and definitely not into anything more physical then ordering her favorite coffee drink on her way to work — will have to train for, and then compete in, the “Down & Dirty”, a mud-filled obstacle course race to be held at the end of the summer. Both will also be required to keep a “Crush Your Comfort Zone” journal, to explore and challenge the beliefs and approaches that hold them back.

As they move through their challenges, Libby and Hannah are forced to confront their dynamics. As the older sister, Libby has always seen herself as Hannah’s protector, but that has led to both of them getting pigeonholed into roles that seem to no longer be serving them. Libby interferes for Hannah’s own good, rather than trusting Hannah’s agency and instincts. Hannah hides behind Libby’s sociability, letting her do the parts of their work that involve connecting and generating relationships and ideas. Neither quite knows how to break out of their roles without hurting the other, but both start to realize — as they crush their comfort zones — that they way they’ve been living isn’t actually good for either of them.

But wait! Where’s the romance? Yes, there is romance — two romances, to be exact. Hannah’s ex, who broke her heart years earlier, is back in town and wants to reconnect. Hannah has never stopped loving Josh, but Libby is furious. She’s the one who picked up the pieces when Hannah fell apart after the breakup, and she has no intention of letting Josh hurt Hannah again… but is it really her job to still be the protector and make decisions for her sister?

As for Libby, she offers to manage Hannah’s comfort zone challenge by handling the dating app for her — she’ll set up the profile, select matches, and arrange the dates, and Hannah just needs to show up. This is meant to spare Hannah the anxiety that dealing with all this provokes, but it backfires in a major way when Libby finds a connection with one of the men she meets… as Hannah. Libby and Adam flirt and chat via the app, but he thinks he’s talking with Hannah. When Libby realizes that she has feelings for Adam, she’s in quite a bind — admit she’s been pretending to be her sister, let him go, or keep up the charade until it blows up in her face?

The Comeback Summer is yet another highly enjoyable and entertaining read by author duo Ali Brady. What I love about their books is that the women characters’ relationships are at the heart of the stories. Yes, there’s also romance, but those storylines tend to be secondary. What’s really important is the connection between the women. Here, it’s the complicated way in which Hannah and Libby love and need one another, yet also get in one another’s way. The Comeback Summer is at its strongest when it show them growing as individuals and facing the fact that they need to break free from their established roles and change their relationship if they want to lead their best lives.

The Comeback Summer combines emotional connections, sisterly bonds, and a strong sense of fun. Check it out!

I’d never read an Ali Brady book before 2024, and now I’ve read all three! Their next book, Battle of the Bookstores, will be released in June 2025, and I can’t wait to read it!

1Dec2024

Book Review: A Novel Love Story by Ashley Poston

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: A Novel Love Story
Author: Ashley Poston
Publisher: Berkley
Publication date: June 25, 2024
Length: 384 pages
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Source: Purchased
Rating:

A professor of literature finds herself caught up in a work of fiction… literally.

Eileen Merriweather loves to get lost in a good happily-ever-after. The fictional kind, anyway. Because at least imaginary men don’t leave you at the altar. She feels safe in a book. At home. Which might be why she’s so set on going to her annual book club retreat this year—she needs good friends, cheap wine, and grand romantic gestures—no matter what.

But when her car unexpectedly breaks down on the way, she finds herself stranded in a quaint town that feels like it’s right out of a novel…

Because it is.

This place can’t be real, and yet… she’s here, in Eloraton, the town of her favorite romance series, where the candy store’s honey taffy is always sweet, the local bar’s burgers are always a little burnt, and rain always comes in the afternoon. It feels like home. It’s perfect—and perfectly frozen, trapped in the late author’s last unfinished story.

Elsy is sure that’s why she must be here: to help bring the town to its storybook ending.

Except there is a character in Eloraton that she can’t place—a grumpy bookstore owner with mint-green eyes, an irritatingly sexy mouth and impeccable taste in novels. And he does not want her finishing this book.

Which is a problem because Elsy is beginning to think the town’s happily-ever-after might just be intertwined with her own.

What book reader hasn’t dreamed of living inside a fictional world? Maybe entering a stone circle and falling through time to meet the Scot of our dreams, or getting invited to the ton‘s ultimate social event of the season?

What about finding ourselves in a cheerful small town that’s quaint and cute, has amazing cafes and shops, and where the townsfolk are immediately warm and welcoming to a complete stranger?

In Ashley’s Poston’s newest book, A Novel Love Story, main character Eileen (Elsy) gets to experience a dream come true when she gets lost on a road trip and finds herself in Eloraton, New York — a town that exists only in the pages of Elsy’s favorite romance series, Quixotic Falls.

Elsy has had her share of heartbreak and loneliness over the past several years, but has found refuge in the pages of Quixotic Falls — a series left unfinished after the tragic death of its author, Rachel Flowers. The series has been a solace to Elsy in her darkest days, as well as a source of joy. Through Quixotic Falls, Elsy met her book group, a random, quicky bunch of strangers who found connection in their shared love of this fictional world. But this year, the group’s planned one-week vacation has fallen apart, and only Elsy ends up traveling to their rental cabin — except she never arrives.

Instead, her car breaks down in a town that seems oddly familiar. With shock, she realizes that she’s in Eloraton, meeting the characters whose lives feel real to her. There’s Junie, the main character from book #1, and Ruby, the heroine of book #2. In fact, Elsy can place everyone she encounters, except the grumpy bookstore owner she keeps running into (literally — she hits him with her car during a rainstorm).

Elsy soon learns from Anders, the bookstore owner, that no one in Eloraton knows that they’re fictional, and that they’re also unaware that they’re living in stasis. Each day is the same as the previous one. Yearning lovers never quite manage to connect, and household problems never get fixed. As Elsy comes to realize, the unchanging status quo is due to Rachel Flowers’s death while working on the final book in the series. For all of these beloved characters, their stories remain unfinished — but with Elsy’s arrival, tiny changes suddenly begin to appear. Elsy has to figure out her role in all this, how Anders fits in… and whether the connection she feels between herself and Anders could possibly be real, considering they’re living in a fictional world.

A Novel Love Story has a Brigadoon-esque feel — our main character stumbles into a town that can’t possibly exist, cut off from the world that she knows, yet feeling more vibrant and real to her than the life she left behind.

This town looked like every good part of every lovely town I’d ever seen, all jigsawed into one.

Readers shouldn’t worry too much about the how and why of it all — a hearty suspension of disbelief is required. If you’re going to enjoy this book, you have to simply accept “because magic” as an explanation and move on.

Themes of purpose and finding courage inform Elsy’s experiences. After being badly hurt in a previous relationship, she’s lost confidence, no longer trusting herself to take chances. She goes with what’s safe, in her work life and in her relationships (or lack thereof). But in Eloraton, she starts to realize that playing it safe isn’t working for her, and isn’t bringing her joy or any sort of truly fulfilling life. Both in Eloraton and back in the real world, she’ll have to take chances if she wants to be happy.

There’s a lot to like about A Novel Love Story. The phrasing can be spot-on perfect, with sentences that feel specifically crafted to appeal to readers who love the world of romance fiction.

Sometimes, a book can change your life. It’s hard to explain that to someone who doesn’t read, or who has never felt their heart bend so strongly toward a story that it might just snap in two. Some books are a comfort, some a reprieve, others a vacation, a lesson, a heartbreak. I’d met countless stories by the time I read a book that changed my life.

And here’s an example I just adore:

I’d met plenty of handsome men before, whose eyelashes were just as long, and who wore scars like pickup lines.

Elsy’s sense of deliberate denial is also delightful to read:

Today, he wore a loose heather-gray T-shirt and dark blue jeans that he most definitely looked horrible in. He didn’t have an ass for jeans, I told myself, and I didn’t take note of the way he fit in them. Not at all.

At the same time, the book seems to suffer at times from sloppy editing. I stumbled across sentences throughout the book that I had to read more than once, because something in them just didn’t work. And then there are plot oddities: On one page about midway through, Elsy is in the town diner:

“Ruby,” I called, putting down a ten for my lunch and scooting out of the booth.

She follows Ruby to the door so they can talk, and Ruby agrees to walk out with her.

But, as they leave, this happens:

So I put a ten down on the table for my food and followed her out of the Grumpy Possum and down the sidewalk toward the center of town.

Hmmm. Either someone in copyediting missed this, or Elsy overpaid for her lunch!

That aside, the story itself suffers under the weight of its “because magic” premise. I don’t need 100% logic or a scientific explanation to appreciate a fanciful romance, but the internal logic of the story felt to me like it was trying too hard. Elsy’s acceptance in the town, her romance with Anders, the explanation for the town’s existence and the characters’ lives — it’s all a bit crazy-glued together, and ultimately, the randomness of it all didn’t quite work for me.

However, I still found plenty to enjoy, despite the book’s flaws. Who can’t relate to Elsy’s sentiments about her surreal experience?

Every reader I’d ever known had wanted nothing more than to fall into the arms of a book boyfriend, some fictional Darcy, a shade of a Byronic hero, all their own. So I did.

Her real-life emotional distress feels all too relatable as well:

I was tired of being stagnant, I thought. I wanted to be a main character in my own life again.

While Elsy’s experience in Eloraton isn’t all that believable, the sadness of her past and her fear about taking chances again feel true-to-life, and it’s lovely to see her take steps to start risking her heart and embracing a more challenging future.

Overall, I’m happy to have read A Novel Love Story. While I didn’t love it as much as the previous two novels by this author (The Dead Romantics and The Seven Year Slip), I still found it a fast, engaging story with some unexpected, creative twists. And now, I’m looking forward to checking out Ashley Poston’s upcoming 2025 release, Sounds Like Love!

30Nov2024

Book Review: Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Before the Coffee Gets Cold
Author: Toshikazu Kawaguchi
Publisher: Picador
Publication date: September 19, 2019
Length: 213 pages
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Source: Purchased
Rating:

What would you change if you could go back in time?

In a small back alley in Tokyo, there is a café which has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. But this coffee shop offers its customers a unique experience: the chance to travel back in time.

In Before the Coffee Gets Cold, we meet four visitors, each of whom is hoping to make use of the café’s time-travelling offer, in order to: confront the man who left them, receive a letter from their husband whose memory has been taken by early onset Alzheimer’s, to see their sister one last time, and to meet the daughter they never got the chance to know.

But the journey into the past does not come without risks: customers must sit in a particular seat, they cannot leave the café, and finally, they must return to the present before the coffee gets cold . . .

Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s beautiful, moving story explores the age-old question: what would you change if you could travel back in time? More importantly, who would you want to meet, maybe for one last time?

I’ve been hearing about Before the Coffee Gets Cold for years now, and finally made the time to sit and enjoy this cozy, sweet tale.

The setup is simple: A tiny basement cafe in Tokyo has only three tables plus a counter, has three clocks on the wall that show different times (although no one knows why), and is the focus of an urban legend that just happens to be true:

If you sit in a particular chair and focus on a time you want to visit, you can travel to the past — but you can’t leave that chair, nothing you do actually changes the future, and you have to finish your coffee before it gets cold, at which point you return to the present.

For many people, the rules are deal-breakers. What’s the point of going back in time if you can’t actually change anything? But as we see through the four chapters of this slim book, each of which highlights a different person’s reason for time traveling, there’s much to be gained with an open heart and open mind.

At just over 200 pages, Before the Coffee Gets Cold is a fast read, and it felt easy and natural to read it pretty much straight through. The storyline is very calm — there’s little action here; rather, it’s a book about connections, emotions, and getting the chance to say the things we wish we’d said in the first place.

Without going into details about the characters and their particular stories, I’ll just say that the cafe staff and its regular visitors have simple yet strong connections, and as their stories unfold, the emotional impact builds as well.

Before the Coffee Gets Cold is a lovely, sweet reading experience — a warm hug of a book that I recommend enjoying on a day when you especially need something bright and uplifting.

Since Before the Coffee Gets Cold was published, four more books have been added to the series. Before the Coffee Gets Cold feels very complete on its own, so while I’d like to eventually read more of these books — assuming the rest will be as lovely as the first! — I feel like I can take my time and pick up the next book on a whim, on a day when I need it.

21Nov2024

Short fiction: The Answer is No by Fredrik Backman

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The Answer is No
Author: Fredrik Backman
Publisher: Amazon Original Stories
Publication date: December 1, 2024
Length: 68 pages
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Source: Purchased
Rating:

In a hilarious short story from New York Times bestselling author Fredrik Backman, the absurdities of modern life cause one man’s solitary world to spin suddenly, and comically, out of control.

Lucas knows the perfect night entails just three things: video games, wine, and pad thai. Peanuts are a must! Other people? Not so much. Why complicate things when he’s happy alone?

Then one day the apartment board, a vexing trio of authority, rings his doorbell. And Lucas’s solitude takes a startling hike. They demand to see his frying pan. Someone left one next to the recycling room overnight, and instead of removing the errant object, as Lucas suggests, they insist on finding the guilty party. But their plan backfires. Colossally.

Told in Fredrik Backman’s singular witty style with sharply drawn characters and relatable antics, The Answer Is No is a laugh-out-loud portrait of a man struggling to keep to himself in a world that won’t leave him alone.

A new story from Fredrik Backman is practically guaranteed to be a joy to read… so does The Answer is No succeed? The answer is yes!

This funny, quirky tale is about a man who wants the world to leave him alone, but the world doesn’t seem to get the message. He’s perfectly happy, until the frying pan incident spirals out of control, bringing visitor after visitor to his door.

It’s a cute, clever story with a simple plot. What makes it a gem is Backman’s writing, of course. Here are a few choice snippets:

Lucas is happy. This is a very provoking thing to the world. Because people aren’t supposed to be happy, they’re only supposed to want to be happy, because how otherwise are you supposed to be able to sell things to them?

Just to be clear: It’s not that Lucas hates other people. He just really enjoys being where other people aren’t. He works well in groups as long as it’s groups of fewer than two people.

“During the night someone left an old frying pan on the ground outside the recycling room!” the first head explains, as if this were the beginning of a detective novel where a dead body’s been found in a lake, and a divorced police officer from the big city who has just returned to her childhood home is drawn into an investigation that forces her to confront her past, but which may or may not also give her the chance to fall in love with a man in a flannel shirt who has a golden retriever and a charming down-to-earth view of life.

Lucas opens the door with the defeated manner of a sausage that dressed itself up as a carrot to avoid being eaten by a bear, only to be found by a rabbit.

The Answer is No is available now as a First Reads pick for Amazon Prime subscribers, and will be released officially as of December 1st. It’s a sweet, cheery treat — and obviously, a must-read for Fredrik Backman fans!

17Nov2024

Book Review: The Beach Trap by Ali Brady

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The Beach Trap
Author: Ali Brady
Publisher: Berkley
Publication date: June 14, 2022
Length: 384 pages
Genre: Contemporary fiction / romance
Source: Library
Rating:

Two best friends torn apart by a life-altering secret. They have one summer to set the record straight.

When twelve-year-olds Kat Steiner and Blake O’Neill meet at Camp Chickawah, they have an instant connection. But everything falls apart when they learn they’re not just best friends—they’re also half-sisters. Confused and betrayed, their friendship instantly crumbles.

Fifteen years later when their father dies suddenly, Kat and Blake discover he’s left them a joint inheritance: the family beach house in Destin, Florida. The two sisters are instantly at odds. Blake, who has recently been demoted from regular nanny to dog nanny, wants to sell the house, while social media influencer Kat is desperate to keep the place where she had so many happy childhood memories.

Kat and Blake reluctantly join forces to renovate the dilapidated house with the understanding that Kat will try to buy Blake out at the end of the summer. The women clash as Blake’s renovation plans conflict with Kat’s creative vision, and each sister finds herself drawn into a summer romance. As the weeks pass, the two women realize the most difficult project they face this summer will be coming to grips with their shared past, and learning how to become sisters.

I’m a sucker for books with a connection to summer camps… and from the opening chapter, when twelve-year-old besties spend a glorious summer at camp together, only to have their friendship end disastrously, I knew The Beach Trap would be a book for me.

When Blake and Kat meet at Camp Chickawah**, they become best friends right away — but when Kat’s father comes to pick her up early due to a death in the family, the girls make a shattering discovery: Kat’s dad is Blake’s dad too. Blake’s mom had been “the other woman”, and while Blake has happy childhood memories of time with her dad, that all ended when her mother died in a tragic accident, and her father never came for her. Rather than bringing the girls closer, the discovery of their half-sister status permanently drives them apart, and Kat refuses to respond to any of the letters Blake sends her in the months following camp.

**If the name Camp Chickawah seems familiar, then perhaps you’ve read the authors’ most recent book, Until Next Summer, in which the camp and its staff members take center stage. (It’s a lot of fun!)

Fifteen years later, their father has died, and his will reveals a startling bequest: He’s left the family’s Florida beach house to both his daughters, to share 50/50.

Blake is a stressed-out nanny for a wealthy family, working long hours to pay for her grandfather’s assisted living facility. Kat is a social media influencer (ugh), making enough to support herself, but not quite at a point where she can count on financial security. Blake assumes they’ll sell the beach house, or Kat can buy her out — but either way, the proceeds will help ensure that she can continue to care for her grandfather. Kat sees the beach house as a reminder of rare happy childhood memories, and wants to keep it — and also, it might make a great home reno project to enhance her feeds and help her nab a coveted corporate sponsorship.

When Blake and Kat meet at the beach house, they’re dismayed to find the place in shambles. The only way to turn it around and make it at all viable for sale is to repair, renovate, and redecorate. Kat has the funds; Blake has the time (since the family she nannies for is spending the summer in France) and the skills, thanks to the years she spent learning at her grandfather’s side. While there’s palpable tension and animosity between the two women, they know neither can move forward without the other’s cooperation, and they work out a deal. They’ll alternate weeks at the house, Blake will handle most of the actual work, and Kat will have final say on all decor decisions.

After achieving a tense détente of sorts, they move forward. As the summer progresses, and they start having to communicate and spend together, tentative connections are rebuilt. They once loved each other — who will they be to one another now?

I really enjoyed seeing Kat and Blake work their way back toward friendship, and more. Both grew up lonely; both grew up hungry for the love and attention of a distant father, who cause each one intense emotional pain in the aftermath of the big revelation years earlier. While having very different backgrounds and upbringings, Kat and Blake connect on a deeper level. It’s lovely seeing them work through the hurt and misunderstandings, and start to realize how much time they both spent blaming one another for things outside of their control.

Each woman also finds romance over the course of the summer, but one thing I really appreciate in this book (and in the other Ali Brady book I’ve read, Until Next Summer) is that romance is secondary to friendship. The romantic relationships and storylines are great, but it’s the friendship and sisterhood between Kat and Blake that drive this book and give it its emotional impact and joy.

Where The Beach Trap falls a little short for me has mainly to do with Kat’s character. Bluntly put, she’s hard to like. First off, having a social media influencer as a main character is an instant turn-off for me. (Side note — I feel like contemporary romances have a higher proportion of influencers as characters than is representative of the demographic in real life…) Kat’s whole shtick for most of the book is summed up by her tagline, “life is a fashion show”. She eventually learns to appreciate the messiness of life and what it means to connect, and revises her philosophy — but it’s a fairly quick turnaround, not entirely believable. I’m glad she ended up in a better place, but her attitude for much of the book is very hard to take.

Overall, however, I liked The Beach Trap a lot. The story moves quickly, the setting is terrific, and I loved the dynamic of these sisters finding a way to salvage the defining pain of their separate lives and find a way forward together.

I’ve now read two books by this author duo, and look forward to more! There’s one more book I haven’t read that’s currently available (The Comeback Summer), and an upcoming new book to be released in 2025 (Battle of the Bookstores). I plan to read them both!

About the authors: Ali Brady is the pen name of writing BFFs Alison Hammer and Bradeigh Godfrey. The Beach Trap is their first book together. Alison lives in Chicago and works as a VP creative director at an advertising agency. She’s the author of You and Me and Us and Little Pieces of Me. Bradeigh lives with her family in Utah, where she works as a physician. She’s the author of the psychological thriller, Imposter.

9Nov2024

Audiobook Review: Every Summer After by Carley Fortune

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Every Summer After
Author: Carley Fortune
Narrators: AJ Bridel
Publisher: Berkley
Publication date: May 10, 2022
Print length: 320 pages
Audio length: 9 hours 38 minutes
Genre: Contemporary romance
Source: Library
Rating:

They say you can never go home again, and for Persephone Fraser, ever since she made the biggest mistake of her life a decade ago, that has felt too true. Instead of glittering summers on the lakeshore of her childhood, she spends them in a stylish apartment in the city, going out with friends, and keeping everyone a safe distance from her heart.

Until she receives the call that sends her racing back to Barry’s Bay and into the orbit of Sam Florek—the man she never thought she’d have to live without.

For six summers, through hazy afternoons on the water and warm summer nights working in his family’s restaurant and curling up together with books—medical textbooks for him and work-in-progress horror short stories for her—Percy and Sam had been inseparable. Eventually that friendship turned into something breathtakingly more, before it fell spectacularly apart.

When Percy returns to the lake for Sam’s mother’s funeral, their connection is as undeniable as it had always been. But until Percy can confront the decisions she made and the years she’s spent punishing herself for them, they’ll never know whether their love might be bigger than the biggest mistakes of their past.

Told over the course of six years and one weekend, Every Summer After is a big, sweeping nostalgic look at love and the people and choices that mark us forever.

Six summers to fall in love. One moment to fall apart. A weekend to get it right.

Book friends! I have a new romance author on my must-read list! Thanks to my recent audiobook experience with Every Summer After, I can safely say that I need to read ALL of Carley Fortune’s books.

In Every Summer After — the author’s debut — 30-year-old Persephone (Percy) Fraser is called back to the small town where she once spent ever summer, to attend the funeral of the mother of the boy she thought would always be by her side and in her life.

As a 13-year-old, Percy began spending summers in her family cabin at Barry’s Bay, next door to the Florek family, whose 13-year-old son Sam quickly became her best friend. As the years passed, Percy and Sam moved from friendship into romance, realizing that they’d had the good fortune to fall in with their soulmates at such an early age. While on different paths as their college years approached — Sam moving away for an intense premed program, Percy remaining in Toronto to study writing — they always expected to spend their lives together. Until something went very, very wrong.

Now adults, it’s been 12 years since Percy and Sam last saw one another or even spoke. Something terrible happened all those years ago — but what? As Percy arrives back in Barry’s Bay for the funeral, she’s both fearful and excited at the thought of seeing Sam again. But will he even want to see her? Can old wounds ever heal?

The book takes us back to Percy and Sam’s teen years, as chapters alternate between then and now. The “then” chapters are charming. The author’s depiction of 13-year-old friendship is sparkling and authentic, and as the two teens grow closer and begin to acknowledge deeper feelings, their dialogue, actions, and flirtation feel sweet and real. These chapters gave me The Summer I Turned Pretty vibes — not identical plotwise by any means, but just a really sweet portrait of young love, insecurities, playfulness, and teen conflict and pressure.

Meanwhile, the “now” chapters show how little Percy has gotten over Sam, despite all the years that have passed. She’s built a life and a career that seem fulfilling on the surface, but has never let anyone even close to her heart. Seeing Sam again brings all the old emotions flooding back, and he seems just as drawn to Percy as she is to him. But there are old hurts and secrets still to be unpacked, and Percy is afraid that it’s all much too late.

What can I say? I loved Every Summer After. The descriptions of the summers on the lake are so evocative of the beauty of being young and free and full of joy at everything life has to offer. There are ice cream cones and swimming, pizza parties and movies on DVD… the teen chapters are so full of nostalgia and warmth, and give off such happy vibes, even though we know that, eventually, something is going to ruin it all.

The adult chapters are harder emotionally, because Percy is clearly not okay, and whatever happened — which is only revealed in the book’s final chapters — must have been a doozy. We spend so much time seeing how much Sam and Percy love each other, so there’s a sense of dread as we get closer to the end, realizing that the bad thing, whatever it is, is coming soon.

Unlike many romance novels, the catastrophe between Sam and Percy feels believable. They’re teens, and yes, some of it has to do with poor communications, but those errors and mistaken assumptions and hurt feelings feel realistic for characters at that age. It made me very sad to realize where their relationship was heading, and we know from the start of the book that twelve years go by with no contact… but none of this feels like a contrivance for the sake of romance tropes.

Every Summer After packs an emotional punch, but includes so much joy and hope that the heartbreaking elements don’t weigh it all down. And of course, there’s the requisite HEA, but even knowing it will work out, it’s still a roller coaster until we get there.

The audiobook narration is terrific. I really appreciated how the narrator modulates her voice to reflect Percy’s age. Young Percy really does sound like a young teen, and her delivery, voice, and speech patterns are spot-on. As Percy grows up, summer after summer, her voice changes subtly as well. It’s all just so well done.

I truly enjoyed every moment of listening to Every Summer After, and immediately put myself on the hold list for the author’s other two available novels. Based on Every Summer After, I expect them to be great!

3Nov2024

Audiobook Review: Better Than Fiction by Alexa Martin

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Better Than Fiction
Author: Alexa Martin
Narrators: Nicole Lewis
Publisher: Berkley
Publication date: November 8, 2022
Print length: 384 pages
Audio length: 8 hours 47 minutes
Genre: Contemporary romance
Source: Purchased (paperback); library (audiobook)
Rating:

Love isn’t always by the books in this charming romantic comedy about a bookseller discovering how to be the main character in her story.

As a self-proclaimed book hater and a firm believer that the movie is always better, Drew Young didn’t anticipate inheriting her grandma’s bookstore, the Book Nook. She’s in way over her head even before the shop’s resident book club, comprising seven of the naughtiest old ladies ever, begin to do what they do best–meddle.

Bestselling author Jasper Williams is a hopeless romantic. When he meets Drew at his Book Nook signing event, he becomes determined to show her the beauty of reading. He curates a book bucket list in exchange for her help exploring the local Denver scene for his current manuscript. From river rafting to local restaurants, Drew begins to connect with Jasper in a way she only thought happened in fiction.

When messy family ties jeopardize the future of the Book Nook, Drew is caught between a bookshelf and a hard place. She’s reminded that real life isn’t always big dreams and sweeping romance. But Jasper is the plot twist she never saw coming and he’s writing a happily ever after just for them.

When I first encountered a recommendation for Better Than Fiction a couple of years ago, my initial reaction was “hard pass”. Why would I want to read about a main character who hates books? No thanks.

But then, on a recent visit to the Strand bookstore in New York, I gave into temptation and picked this up:

I knew I was taking a risk with a “blind date with a book”, but it was just so cute! And naturally, once I opened the wrapping and discovered that it was a book I didn’t think I wanted to read, I was hesitant… but that’s the thing about blind dates: Sometimes, you just see it through and hope for the best!

In this case, my blind date was a surprisingly great time! (Not that I’ve really been on blind dates IRL, but we all hear the horror stories). Better Than Fiction was a joyful, fast-paced read, and I enjoyed it way more than I expected to.

Because I tend to read romances as audiobooks, I borrowed the audio version of this one from the library, then used my paperback to bookmark and add sticky notes to places I wanted to remember. Win-win!

Okay, so the book itself: A year after her beloved grandmother Alice’s death, Drew has put her own plans and dreams on hold to keep Alice’s legacy alive. While some of Drew’s happiest memories are of time spent in the Book Nook, it was because of Alice and the time they spent together — not from a love of the books themselves

Drew herself is not a reader — from her perspective, why spend time on made-up stories when the real world has so much beauty in it? Her passion is the outdoors and nature photography, and she was just starting to make a name for herself and build her professional career when Alice’s death derailed all her plans. Drew feels an immense responsibility to make sure the Book Nook thrives, but she’s completely cut herself off from photography and her sources of joy in order to make it happen. On top of all that, she’s still reeling from Alice’s death and suffering grief that hasn’t eased with time — and her estranged father (who’s absolutely the worst) is making everything harder for her.

Luckily, Drew has a best friend, Elsie, in her corner, and unexpectedly reunites and forms a bond with her younger half-sister Daisy, who is nothing like her father (thank goodness). And then there’s the Dirty Birds — a group of seven older women whose book group focuses on romance novels, and who like nothing more than watching over Drew and trying to “fix” her life.

When the Dirty Birds arrange for bestselling romance author Jasper Williams to stop by the Book Nook for a signing, Drew is unimpressed… until he walks in the door and they get a good look at one another. Sparks fly. And while Drew isn’t looking for love or any sort of relationship, she and Jasper hit it off and seem drawn to one another right away. They make a deal: Drew will act as tour guide for Jasper, showing him some of her favorite outdoor destinations around Colorado as background for the new book he’s working on, and he’ll put together a list of books for Drew to read, paired with outings tied to the books, to help convince her that this reading thing is worth her time.

There are complications, of course, mainly related to the fate of the Book Nook and whether Jasper has been completely honest with Drew. Drew also learns that Alice’s intentions for her may have been different than what she originally thought, throwing her life plans into serious disarray.

As expected, there’s a third act major breakup, followed by the traditional grand gesture. Honestly, for once I’d like a contemporary romance that doesn’t follow this trajectory… but we have what we have. I thought the reasons for the breakup were a bit flimsy, and could have been worked out with some straightforward communication. (Poor communications in romance novels is a big peeve for me). Still, the grand gesture moment is charming, and there’s a very nice resolution to it all.

My only other real quibble with the book (and it’s fairly minor) is the reliance on slang like “obvi” and “def” (for definitely) that pops up throughout the book as part of Drew’s first-person narration. It may work better on the page, but in the audiobook, it sounds like a jarring wrong note. (Also, in one scene, she uses the word “cosign” — twice! — to mean agreeing with something, as in “‘She’s not wrong,’ Daisy cosigns…”, and I was not a fan!)

I really enjoyed the Colorado travel aspects of the story, and only wish there had been more of this. (Drew and Jasper go on three significant outings — more would have been even better!). Ditto re the reading list. Drew describes one or two of the books Jasper gives her to read (the first one sounds a lot like Daisy Jones & The Six), but doesn’t actually name them. I would have loved seeing Drew’s Reading List as an extra at the back of the book!

Narrator Nicole Lewis does a terrific job with the audiobook, really bringing Drew’s personality to life — from her innate sparkle to her grief and struggles, it all feels real and genuine.

Overall, I really enjoyed Better Than Fiction, which just goes to show that some blind dates can defy expectations and lead to good things!

26Oct2024

Audiobook Review: Lil’s Bus Trip by Judy Leigh

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Lil’s Bus Trip
Author: Judy Leigh
Narrator: Julie Mullen
Publisher: Boldwood Books
Publication date: August 26, 2021
Print length: 350 pages
Audio length: 10 hours 36 minutes
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Source: Purchased
Rating:

From the USA Today bestselling author of Five French Hens and The Old Girls’ Network comes a story of the journey of a lifetime across Europe in pursuit of memories, love, and new adventures. It’s always a good time for a road trip…

When 82-year-old Lil decides to book herself, her 65-year-old daughter, Cassie, and her friend Maggie on a bus trip across Europe, she hopes for a little adventure to counteract the monotony of life.

Along with three members of the Salterley Tennis Club and the Jolly Weaver football team, whose ideas of a good time are rather different to Lil’s and strikingly at odds with each other’s, the merry band of travellers set out on their great adventure.

From moving moments on the beaches of Normandy, outrageous adventures in Amsterdam, to the beauty of Bruges and gastronomic delights of France, the holiday is just the tonic Lil, Maggie and Cassie needed.

And as the time approaches for them to head home, Lil makes an unexpected discovery – even in her advancing years, men are like buses – there isn’t one for ages then two come along at once. Is Lil ready to share her golden years, and can the ladies embrace the fresh starts that the trip has given them. Or is it just too late to change…

Judy Leigh’s books can be counted on to provide cheery scenarios, heart-warming encounters, and memorable (and often feisty) older women as the main characters — and Lil’s Bus Trip is yet another terrific listening experience!

Lil’s life is perfectly nice, if not exceptionally exciting. She lives in a pleasant senior community, has good friends, and is very close to her daughter Cassie, whom she’s raised on her own after becoming unexpectedly pregnant as an unwed teen. But couldn’t they both use a little adventure for a change?

When a friend from the local pub decides to organize and lead a European road trip, Lil decides it’s just what she and Cassie need. What’s more, Lil’s best friend and next-door neighbor Maggie is slowly suffocating from neglect, as her husband mainly ignores her and sits watching TV all day, so Lil practically forces her along as well. Joining them on their trip are a group of younger folks from a local football team, the pub owner and his elderly father, and a trio of snobs from the tennis club who insist they’re only interested in culture and intellectual pursuits.

As the trip gets underway, the group gets to experience both serious moments — such as the beaches of Normandy — as well as silly mishaps… like what happens when the three oldest members of the group order a brownie to go with their coffee in an Amsterdam coffeeshop.

There’s actually not a ton of plot to describe, other than the highlights of the road trip itself. And yet, there’s something so warm and delightful about this audiobook. I was apprehensive at the beginning about there being so many characters, but ultimately, the twelve people on the mini-bus are each developed over the course of the story, so that by the end, it feels like we’ve been hanging out with a group of our own friends.

The adventures on the road are lots of fun, and there are more serious moments too, as the various characters have opportunities to rethink their lives back home and come to terms with what they want (or don’t want). For Lil especially, it’s a chance to look back at a life lived on her own terms, but often lived alone, and consider whether it’s too late to take a chance on loving someone new.

The audiobook narrator rises to the challenge of voicing the twelve travelers, and bringing them all to distinct life… along with several other memorable people they meet along the way. For me, a jarring note was that the narrator adds in the vocal effects described… so if it’s stated that a character laughs, the narrator laughs… or coughs… or takes a deep breath. I find this approach a bit annoying, but I’m sure some listeners like that sort of thing. (Also, Cassie is a singer, and when she performs in the book, the narrator sings Cassie’s songs, rather than just reading the words. Again, whether you’ll enjoy this is a matter of taste and preference. She does a perfectly respectable job with the singing, but it’s not my cup of tea.)

Still, audio/narration preferences aside, I did really have a great time with this sweet story. Listening to Lil’s Bus Trip is the audiobook equivalent of a warm blanket and a cup of hot cocoa. It’s comforting and pleasant, not particularly dramatic, but so easy to sink into and enjoy.

This is now my 4th book by Judy Leigh, and it won’t be my last! Fortunately, she has a good-sized backlist for me to dig into while waiting for her next new release!

19Oct2024

Audiobook Review: Life’s Too Short (The Friend Zone, #3) by Abby Jimenez

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Life’s Too Short
Series: The Friend Zone, #2
Author: Abby Jimenez
Narrators: Zachary Webber and Christine Lakin
Publisher: Forever
Publication date: April 6, 2021
Print length: 384 pages
Audio length: 9 hours 6 minutes
Genre: Contemporary romance
Source: Library
Rating:

A brilliant and touching romantic comedy about two polar opposites, one adorable dog, and living each day to its fullest.

When Vanessa Price quit her job to pursue her dream of traveling the globe, she wasn’t expecting to gain millions of YouTube followers who shared her joy of seizing every moment. For her, living each day to its fullest isn’t just a motto. Her mother and sister never saw the age of 30, and Vanessa doesn’t want to take anything for granted.

But after her half-sister suddenly leaves Vanessa in custody of her infant daughter, life goes from “daily adventure” to “next-level bad” (now with bonus baby vomit in hair). The last person Vanessa expects to show up offering help is the hot lawyer next door, Adrian Copeland. After all, she barely knows him. No one warned her that he was the Secret Baby Tamer or that she’d be spending a whole lot of time with him and his geriatric Chihuahua.

Now she’s feeling things she’s vowed not to feel. Because the only thing worse than falling for Adrian is finding a little hope for a future she may never see.

In Life’s Too Short, a crying baby brings a pair of strangers together in the middle of the night, changing both of their lives.

Vanessa Price has just been handed temporary custody of her troubled half-sister’s newborn baby, and is handling it fine… until the baby simply won’t stop crying. Her next-door neighbor, Adrian Copeland, shows up at her apartment door at 4 am offering to help. She’s suspicious… but she knows him by reputation, and she’s desperate enough to allow him in, hand him baby Grace, and go take a shower to calm down (and get the spit-up out of her hair). Lo and behold, the nonstop crying jag has ended by the time she gets out of the shower. An instant friendship is born.

Adrian is a successful, hard-driving criminal defense attorney who needs to be in control at all times. Vanessa is a free-wheeling YouTuber with a huge following, who’s spent the last few years sharing her worldwide travels. But Vanessa’s live-for-today approach has a darker underlying motivation — her mother and sister both had ALS and died young, and she’s trying to make the most of her own life before ALS catches up with her as well.

Adrian and Vanessa form an instant connection, and within days, they’re constantly in and out of each other’s apartments, sharing food, watching TV, caring for baby Grace, and become besties. Both are very clear that they’re not interested in dating or relationships… but we know where that’s going, right?

As the pair spend time together, they each develop strong feelings — as well as an intense attraction — but both assume that the other person isn’t interested in them that way. There’s a lot of time spent on false assumptions and faulty communication before they finally realize the truth of the matter.

I enjoyed the audiobook of Life’s Too Short, with narrators alternating to read chapters told from each character’s perspective. Both narrators do a great job conveying delivery and personalities, and they’re also terrific at pacing and providing humor.

Overall, though, I didn’t love Life’s Too Short as much as some of the author’s other books. First, there’s the communication issue, already mentioned. This is such a staple of contemporary romance novels, and honestly, it overdone. Adrian and Vanessa are both smart people who communicate for a living — yet they can’t get past their misinterpretations and inability to say what they mean or what they want. The misunderstanding phase of their relationship drags on way too long — and then there’s a phase two, once they’re together, about whether Adrian actually knows Vanessa’s health history and possible prognosis. This second phase of communication blunders leads to the major breakup phase of the book, but to me, it didn’t make sense that they ended up with this huge misunderstanding in the first place.

Second complaint: this book leans heavily into the trauma/drama that’s prevalent in so many of Abby Jimenez’s books. Not only is Vanessa dealing with the threat of ALS, mourning her deceased sister, and caring for an infant, but she’s also trying to deal with a father who’s a hoarder and push her half-sister (the baby’s mother) into rehab for her drug addiction. As for Adrian, his control issues stem from his father’s abandonment of the family when he was a child and the lingering fears and damage that’s caused him. It feels like these aspects overwhelm the love story at times, and could probably have been dialed back without losing the overarching emotional impact of the plot.

Finally, I felt that there was a level of emotional manipulation regarding Vanessa and whether she has the early symptoms of ALS. I won’t go into details, because that would be too spoilery, but by the end I felt very manipulated as a reader.

This may make it sounds like I didn’t enjoy Life’s Too Short at all, and that’s not actually the case. As in all Abby Jimenez books, the writing is crisp and funny and entertaining, and there are plenty of silly moments to lighten the mood. Sure, the male love interest is too perfect to possibly be a real human being, but that’s okay — it’s a nice fantasy to get to know a man who’s gorgeous, amazing with babies, successful, and always picks the perfect gift/date/adventure.

Life’s Too Short is considered the 3rd book in the Friend Zone trilogy, but apart from a very slight connection, it’s really more of a standalone. Adrian was introduced in a very minor way in The Happy Ever After Playlist, and characters from the other books show up briefly in Life’s Too Short — but someone picking up Life’s Too Short on its own would be perfectly fine and would not feel that they were missing anything.

I discovered Abby Jimenez’s books just this year, and have now read them all! While I may have quibbles about plot points and communication styles, overall, her books are zippy, engaging reads that include romance, humor, and deep emotional connection. She’s an excellent storyteller, and creates characters who feel like fully developed, living, breathing people.

The author’s next book, Say You’ll Remember Me, will be released in April 2025 — and I’ll be ready with grabby hands as soon as it’s available!