Audiobook Review: The Neighbor Favor by Kristina Forest

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The Neighbor Favor
Author: Kristina Forest
Narrators: Keylor Leigh & Malik Rashad
Publisher: Forever
Publication date: February 28, 2023
Print length: 403 pages
Audio length: 10 hours 6 minutes
Genre: Contemporary romance
Source: Library
Rating:

In this heart-fluttering romance by Kristina Forest, a shy bookworm enlists her charming neighbor to help her score a date, not knowing he’s the obscure author she’s been corresponding with.

Shy, bookish, and admittedly awkward, Lily Greene has always felt inadequate compared to the rest of her accomplished family, who strive for Black excellence. She dreams of becoming an editor of children’s books but has been frustratingly stuck in the nonfiction division for years without a promotion in sight. Lily finds escapism in her correspondences with her favorite fantasy author, and what begins as two lonely people connecting over e-mail turns into a tentative friendship and possibly something else Lily won’t let herself entertain–until he ghosts her.

Months later, still crushed but determined to take charge of her life, Lily seeks a date to her sister’s wedding. And the perfect person to help her is Nick Brown, her charming, attractive new neighbor, whom she feels drawn to for unexplainable reasons. Little does she know that Nick is an author–her favorite fantasy author.

Nick, who has his reasons for using a pen name and for pushing people away, soon realizes that the beautiful, quiet woman from down the hall is the same Lily he fell in love with over e-mail months ago. Unwilling to complicate things even more between them, he agrees to set her up with someone else, though this simple favor between two neighbors is anything but–not when he can’t get her off his mind.

The Neighbor Favor is a sweet contemporary romance, set in the world of book publishing and sure to set booklovers’ hearts a-flutter! A random email exchange between a book fan and the book’s author turns into a deeper connection… and while it ends badly, the two people involved still manage to find one another and explore what it means to open up in real life.

Lily emails the author of her favorite fantasy novel on a whim when she discovers that the mysterious author finally has a website. She loved his book, but it seems to have faded away into obscurity after publication by a small indie press. She’s thrilled to hear back from N. R. Strickland, and soon their correspondence turns into an ongoing series of honest exchanges, where each reveals more of themselves than they ever have to other people. But when “Strick” reaches the point where he’ll have to truly show himself to Lily, he breaks off contact abruptly and leaves her heartbroken.

Months later, Lily keeps running into the new guy who just moved into the apartment down the hall from her. And he’s hot. Oh, and seems like a really nice guy, and she’s even noticed him carrying books with him — always a good sign. Of course, he notices Lily too, despite her shyness and awkwardness around new people. As they strike up an acquaintance and set off some early sparks, Nick puts the brakes on — so Lily asks him (as you do) to help her find a date for her sister’s wedding. (It’s complicated).

Of course, Nick IS N. R. Strickland, and he realizes pretty quickly that this Lily is the Lily from the emails, and knows he should stay far, far away. His life is messy and he’s sure he’d be no good for her, so despite how much he likes her and how attractive he finds her, he’s determined to stay away. But fate seems to keep throwing them together, and their chemistry really is undeniable.

Meanwhile, both are dealing with their own family situations and career struggles — and yet, it’s only a matter of time before they get together. Even when they do, they have to deal with the fallout of hidden identities and cover-ups, and figure out whether they can truly trust enough to let one another in.

I liked quite a bit about The Neighbor Favor, although in general, I think I’ve run out of patience for romances where a significant lie is the main obstacle between the love interests. Nick could have come clean much earlier, or he could have stayed away. Getting involved but not being honest feels like an overworn romance trope, and it irritated me here. Nick and Lily are both such likable people — it’s no fun seeing them tied up in knots over a problem caused by base-level dishonesty.

On the other hand, the fact that these two are such book lovers, and especially, that they love fantasy so much, makes this book a delight. The author has the characters name-drop a ton of great books (Ella Enchanted, Riot Baby, How to Win the Time War, The Poppy War) — some of which I’ve read, some I’ve immediately added to my TBR list — and it’s a geeky joy to see them gush over how much they love their favorite books and authors. (Although, I was so frustrated to learn their shared favorite author, Elena Masterson, and her books, The Nermana Chronicles, are fictional — I want them to be real!) (And I’d also love to read Nick’s books, The Elves of Ceradon… it sounds amazing!)

I listened to the audiobook, and it was very entertaining, with gifted narrators. In the Lily chapters, the narration did become kind of screechy while voicing certain characters (especially one of Lily’s sisters), but otherwise, the narrators did a fine job bringing Lily, Nick, and their friends to life. A downside, however, is the fact that part one of The Neighbor Favor is the initial email relationship between Lily and Nick… and at least as it comes across via audio, it goes on for a really, really long time. Maybe it’s better in print, but listening to this endless email exchange gets really tiresome after a while.

Other than that, I enjoyed the audiobook. The plot moves quickly, and there are lots of fun side characters and situations that sparkle. Sure, the plot relies a bit too heavily on coincidence (really? he moved not only to New York but into Lily’s apartment building? and the very same floor?), but given how much I liked the characters, I decided to just accept it and enjoy the ride.

The Neighbor Favor is an entertaining story about relatable characters who may make questionable choices, but are still fundamentally good people. The author has a new book that released earlier this year, The Partner Plot, with Lily’s older sister as the main character. It’s supposedly a stand-alone, but in the same general world as The Neighbor Favor. While I didn’t love this particular sister in The Neighbor Favor, the description of this book makes it sound like it’ll be another fun one to experience.

Meanwhile, if you enjoy contemporary romance with booklovers front and center, be sure to check out The Neighbor Favor!

18May2024

Book Review: Where Have All the Boys Gone? by Jenny Colgan

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Where Have All the Boys Gone
Author: Jenny Colgan
Publisher: Avon
Publication date: 2005
Length: 368 pages
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Source: Purchased
Rating:

From New York Times bestselling author Jenny Colgan comes this hilarious romance about a woman who trades in the comforts of city life in hopes of finding love in a small Scottish town in the middle of nowhere.

Faced with the harsh reality that there are 25,000 more women than men in London, Katie’s dating prospects are at an all-time low. While she’s glad it’s not a man’s world anymore, it wouldn’t hurt if there were more eligible bachelors.

More likely to get murdered than married, according to gleeful media reports, Katie resigns herself to the fact that there’s no sex in the city for her and decides to head for the hills—or the Scottish Highlands to be exact. Despite the fact she’s never been one for muddy rain boats—and Fairlish is in the middle of nowhere—the tiny town does have one major draw: men. LOTS of them!

But while Katie relishes the chance to do battle with armies of admirers, she’s not excited about going head to head with her shady new boss, Harry. At least there’s the local eye-candy to distract her, including gorgeous newshound Iain. But he is at loggerheads with Harry, and she can’t afford to get on Harry’s bad side any more than she already has.

Life in the country might not be one big roll in the hay, but now that Katie has taken the plunge, can she ever turn her back on the delights of Fairlish and return to city life…?

Jenny Colgan is a go-to author for me, and since I’ve read all of her more recent books, I’ve decided to go deeper into the backlist. Sadly, Where Have All the Boys Gone? was not the fun reading/listening experience I was looking for.

In this book, originally published in 2005, a London-based young woman who’s suffered through bad date after bad date gets assigned to a temporary job in a small town in the Scottish Highlands. Along with gorgeous forests and landscapes, Fairlish is also home to men — lots and lots of them. And they all seem super excited by the arrival of Katie and her bestie Louise.

Much silliness ensues. Katie’s job in Fairlish is doing PR for the local forest preservation society, whose director seems to believe it’s better to keep quiet about the threat of a new golf course moving in rather than upsetting all the locals. Doesn’t exactly make sense, but okay. Katie has to convince him to go public and make a splash — otherwise, the greedy corporate types will be chopping down Harry’s beloved forests in the blink of an eye.

Meanwhile, Katie and Louise get into all sorts of mishaps, such as inadverently sharing secrets over a hot mic at a country fair, pissing off the local baker, and breaking the rules of their starchy, food-withholding boarding-house owner. Katie also gets drawn into a love triangle (the outcome seems pretty obvious), has to deal with a spoiled, irresponsible sister, and yet somehow manages to pull off a gala that’s the social event of the season (Ewan McGregor even attends!).

This is a lightweight novel, and it shows its age. At almost 20 years past its original release, Where Have All the Boys Gone? feels dated and full of cringey observations about dating, what men want, what women want, relationships, and more. Perhaps it might have felt more fun and breezy back in 2005; as a 2024 read, the attempts at humor seem slapstick, the sexism on display isn’t quaint or endearing, and there’s one element of the fundraiser that’s just awful. (A slave auction! They actually call it a slave auction. Noooooo. It’s just a terrible scene).

I usually love Jenny Colgan books, so it pains me to say that this one is a bust. I wholeheartedly recommend her more recent books — the Mure series is wonderful, the Little Beach Street Bakery books are terrific, and I loved the Sweetshop of Dreams books, not to mention some great stand-alones. But reading Where Have All the Boys Gone? has reminded me that sometimes backlist books are best left unexplored.**

**I do actually have a couple of other older Jenny Colgan books on my Kindle, so… never say never, but I’ll approach those with caution.

16May2024

Book Review: The Return of Ellie Black by Emiko Jean

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The Return of Ellie Black
Author: Emiko Jean
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Publication date: May 7, 2024
Length: 320 pages
Genre: Thriller
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

Detective Chelsey Calhoun’s life is turned upside down when she gets the call Ellie Black, a girl who disappeared years earlier, has resurfaced in the woods of Washington state—but Ellie’s reappearance leaves Chelsey with more questions than answers.

“I stayed up late into the night turning the pages until I learned the truth of what happened to Ellie—and gasped when Jean delivered a truly jaw-dropping twist.” —Jessica Knoll, New York Times bestselling author of Luckiest Girl Alive and Bright Young Women

It’s been twenty years since Detective Chelsey Calhoun’s sister vanished when they were teenagers, and ever since she’s been searching: for signs, for closure, for other missing girls. But happy endings are rare in Chelsey’s line of work.

Then a glimmer: local teenager Ellie Black, who disappeared without a trace two years earlier, has been found alive in the woods of Washington State.

But something is not right with Ellie. She won’t say where she’s been, or who she’s protecting, and it’s up to Chelsey to find the answers. She needs to get to the bottom of what happened to Ellie: for herself, and for the memory of her sister, but mostly for the next girl who could be taken—and who, unlike Ellie, might never return.

The debut thriller from New York Times bestselling author Emiko Jean, The Return of Ellie Black is both a feminist tour de force about the embers of hope that burn in the aftermath of tragedy and a twisty page-turner that will shock and surprise you right up until the final page.

The Return of Ellie Black is certainly a departure for author Emiko Jean, whose three most recent books are on the light, upbeat, quirky side. That description does not fit this new book at all — it’s a dark, disturbing book about abduction and abuse.

In The Return of Ellie Black, detective Chelsey Calhoun’s life is defined by sorrow. As a teen, her beloved older sister was murdered, and she’s never gotten over the pain. As an adult, Chelsey investigates missing girls, dedicating herself to these difficult cases to the point of obsession. Loss is a constant for Chelsey, and despite being married to a lovely man who supports her every way he can, Chelsey has an emptiness inside that’s constantly with her.

As the story opens, Ellie Black — missing for two years — suddenly turns up on a hiking trail. She’s disoriented, has wounds on her body, and is wearing a bloody sweatshirt. Ellie is clearly traumatized, and although she initially speaks with Chelsey, she soon declares that she wants to be left alone and refuses to participate in the investigation.

But Chelsey doesn’t want to give up. Whoever took Ellie is still out there, and what’s to stop them from taking another girl? As Chelsey refuses to leave the case alone, she unearths an unexpected pattern, and before long, it’s clear that Ellie is far from the only victim of this unknown predator — and it’s also clear that there still may be girls to locate and save before it’s too late.

(Content warnings in the next paragraph — skip if you prefer not to know)

The Return of Ellie Black is very, very dark. (I know I said that already, but it bears repeating). Content includes kidnapping, imprisonment, mind control, cult-like conditions, sexual abuse, rape, physical assault, intimidation, and more. I don’t often get too into the details when it comes to trigger warnings, but this may be a very upsetting book for some readers.

(End of content warnings)

The case itself is fascinating. Chelsey is a complicated, damaged character, and her childhood traumas are all very much a part of her day-to-day life, informing her investigations and her approach toward evidence and witnesses.

In sections interspersed throughout the book, we also get glimpses of Ellie’s memories of her experiences while a captive, and it’s very harrowing and difficult to read.

As for the mystery element, there are clues that come together, as well as false leads and missteps. I didn’t love the ultimate resolution, largely because there were too many coincidences and overlaps for my liking. (Can’t really say more without getting into spoiler territory…) Still, the suspense is terrific, and the mounting sense of time running out and looming disaster is very well developed. I was on the edge of my seat throughout, and couldn’t put the book down.

The Return of Ellie Black is a gripping thriller that’s almost painful to read — but I’m glad I hung in there. The story is unfailingly interesting, with some unusual and unexpected twists, and Chelsey herself is a terrific, complicated main character. If you enjoy thrillers, definitely check it out.

9May2024

Book Review: The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The Paradise Problem
Author: Christina Lauren
Publisher: Gallery Books
Publication date: May 14. 2024
Length: 352 pages
Genre: Contemporary fiction/romance
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

Christina Lauren, returns with a delicious new romance between the buttoned-up heir of a grocery chain and his free-spirited artist ex as they fake their relationship in order to receive a massive inheritance.

Anna Green thought she was marrying Liam “West” Weston for access to subsidized family housing while at UCLA. She also thought she’d signed divorce papers when the graduation caps were tossed, and they both went on their merry ways.

Three years later, Anna is a starving artist living paycheck to paycheck while West is a Stanford professor. He may be one of four heirs to the Weston Foods conglomerate, but he has little interest in working for the heartless corporation his family built from the ground up. He is interested, however, in his one-hundred-million-dollar inheritance. There’s just one catch.

Due to an antiquated clause in his grandfather’s will, Liam won’t see a penny until he’s been happily married for five years. Just when Liam thinks he’s in the home stretch, pressure mounts from his family to see this mysterious spouse, and he has no choice but to turn to the one person he’s afraid to introduce to his one-percenter parents—his unpolished, not-so-ex-wife.

But in the presence of his family, Liam’s fears quickly shift from whether the feisty, foul-mouthed, paint-splattered Anna can play the part to whether the toxic world of wealth will corrupt someone as pure of heart as his surprisingly grounded and loyal wife. Liam will have to ask himself if the price tag on his flimsy cover story is worth losing true love that sprouted from a lie.

It’s no surprise that a new Christina Lauren book is fun, fast-paced, steamy, and full of delicious plot twists… right? I’m happy to share that The Paradise Problem continues this author duo’s winning streak — CL fans will be over the moon.

In The Paradise Problem, Anna Green is having a Very Bad Day. She’s been fired from her terrible convenience store job by its terrible 18-year-old manager. Her decrepit car has been sideswiped and damaged. Worst of all, her crappy job was her one means of attempting to pay off the mounds of medical debt related to her father’s chemo treatments. And that’s not even mentioning the fact that her artwork has failed to sell, and she hasn’t heard from her agent in a year.

So Anna is not in a great place when “West” Weston (aka Liam) knocks on her door needing her help. Five years earlier, she married Liam (on paper) so they’d qualify for campus housing… but when he moved out, she signed divorce papers, or so she believed. It turns out that the papers stipulated a divorce further in the future (along with a nice buyout) — and while Anna thinks it’s weird that they’re still technically married, she doesn’t see the problem. The time is almost up, after all.

The catch is, Liam’s sister’s wedding is coming up, and his family is demanding that he attend with his wife. Yes, his fake wife (that would be Anna), who he’s also told them is a busy medical student (okay, well, she was pre-med back when they shared an apartment.) Liam desperately needs Anna to come to the wedding, play the part of loving wife, and get him through the big family event. Once they make it to their five-year anniversary, Liam’s inheritance will be secure, and they can safely divorce. As incentive, he’s offering Anna a huge payment in exchange for her play-acting, which will more than cover the medical bills, and even give her enough breathing room to focus on her art. How could she say no?

Once they zip off to the private island (via Singapore) where the wedding will be held, it’s like something out of Crazy Rich Asians (if it had a baby with Succession). These people are so elitist and over the top that it’s impossible not to just laugh at how ridiculous they are. The money is insane… and Liam’s family is just awful. His father is a controlling pig, and his mother exudes wealthy passive-aggressiveness with every breath she takes.

And yet… Anna actually starts to enjoy some parts of this little escapade, especially sharing the over-water bungalow with Liam and getting to appreciate the hotness she never fully noticed back when they lived together.

I won’t go too far into the details — but use your imagination, and picture two hot, interesting, awesome people forced into constant close proximity on a gorgeous tropical island. To say sparks fly is putting it mildly. But on top of all this romantic chemistry, there’s a non-romantic plot too! Liam’s family is messy (and not in a good way). With Anna’s support, he has to navigate the awful family dynamics and try to come out of it unscathed, and no, it’s not just about the money. There’s more at stake than initially meets the eye, and getting to the bottom of it all is a big piece of the fun of this book.

My quibbles are truly very minor. Within the big lie about being happily married, why maintain the lie about Anna being a medical student, with stories about fake med school attendance and projects overseas? This seems like a detail that Liam could have explained away — the family has never met Anna and Liam has kept his distance from them, so surely he could have said she changed careers at some point? As is, this is the piece of the lie easiest to trip Anna up with, and it seems like it needlessly complicates an already complicated situation.

Another minor issue for me — Liam’s name! He’s introduced as West, his family calls him Liam, his name is actually William… Even writing this review, I wasn’t sure which name to use!

For those who like to know the steam levels in advance: Some scenes are more explicit than suits my taste, but fans of the open door approach will love it. I tend to enjoy the “implied” rather than “shown” approach to these scenes, and in The Paradise Problem, we see all! This didn’t stop me from enjoying the book in the slightest… I just sort of wanted to look away from time to time.

Overall, this book was a terrific read, and I finished it in one day. Seriously, I just couldn’t stop!

The Paradise Problem revolves around an intriguing set-up, opposites-attract characters in a fake (but getting more real by the second) marriage, an ultra-luxury setting, and crazy family politics. It’s a blast, plain and simple.

Christina Lauren fans will be delighted… and for anyone who hasn’t had the pleasure yet of experiencing one of their novels, The Paradise Problem is a great place to dive in. Definitely recommended for anyone who enjoys contemporary romance with more than a pinch of humor and outstanding chemistry between lead characters.

28Apr2024

Book Review: Love, Lies, and Cherry Pie by Jackie Lau

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Love, Lies, and Cherry Pie
Author: Jackie Lau
Publisher: Berkley
Publication date: May 7, 2024
Length: 352 pages
Genre: Contemporary romance
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

A charming rom-com about a young woman’s desperate attempts to fend off her meddling mother…only to find that maybe mother does know best.

Mark Chan this. Mark Chan that.

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

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

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

In this cute fake-dating romance, Emily realizes that the best way to get her mother to stop pushing Mark Chan on her… is to pretend to date Mark Chan. Emily is the only unmarried daughter in her large family, and she knows that all her immigrant parents want is for her to have a steady, successful career, own a nice home, and marry an eligible man. That’s not asking too much, is it?

Unfortunately for her mother’s dreams, Emily, while a published author, still has to work as a barista to make rent on her shared apartment, and struggles to find time and energy to finish edits on her second novel and finally develop the great new idea she has for her next book. She’s well aware that she’s a disappointment, and it’s hard to take… and the fact that Mark Chan is the perfect guy that every Chinese parents dreams of is not helping matters. Finally pushed too far, Emily proposes a fake-dating scenario, and surprisingly, Mark agrees.

But just pretending to go on dates isn’t working, since Emily’s mom has eyes and ears everywhere, and soon the couple realizes that they’ll have to actually go on dates together in order to keep up the charade. As they spend time together, Emily starts to realize that there might be more to Mark than she assumed (the fact that he has an adorable cat named Ms. Margaret Muffins certainly helps), and… gasp… are they actually developing feelings? But that would mean that her mother (another gasp!) is right!

Love, Lies, and Cherry Pie is a funny, engaging blast that’s easy to tear through in a day. Emily’s varied predicaments had me laughing out loud, and I really enjoyed seeing the world through her eyes. There’s a lot going on beneath the humor and silliness, including dealing with more serious issues around parental expectations, family pressure, and how easy it is to misinterpret other people’s actions, no matter how well meaning they are.

My only quibbles with this book are (a) I don’t necessarily felt like I got the best handle on Mark as a person — he’s a delicious fake (then real) boyfriend, but his personality remained a bit of a cipher, and (b) the big crisis that’s obligatory at the end of any contemporary romance here felt a bit uneventful. Thankfully, the crisis isn’t about a huge misunderstanding between Emily and Mark, but even so, it’s something that feels unimportant to me, and has a weirdly magnified effect.

Putting those two minor issues aside, I thoroughly enjoyed this book! Having read the author’s two previous novels (Donut Fall in Love and The Stand-Up Groomsman), I wasn’t surprised by how much fun this book is. Jackie Lau is great at creating engaging, funny characters and putting them in relatable but over-the-top situations.

If you enjoy light-hearted romance with plenty of humor — plus great exploration of family dynamics and expectations — definitely check out Love, Lies, and Cherry Pie.

27Apr2024

Book Review: Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Darling Girls
Author: Sally Hepworth
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Publication date: April 23, 2024
Length: 368 pages
Genre: Thriller
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley (also won a copy in a Goodreads giveaway)
Rating:

SISTERS, SECRETS, LOVE, AND MURDER… Sally Hepworth’s new novel has it all.

For as long as they can remember, Jessica, Norah, and Alicia have been told how lucky they are. As young girls they were rescued from family tragedies and raised by a loving foster mother, Miss Fairchild, on an idyllic farming estate and given an elusive second chance at a happy family life.

But their childhood wasn’t the fairy tale everyone thinks it was. Miss Fairchild had rules. Miss Fairchild could be unpredictable. And Miss Fairchild was never, ever to be crossed. In a moment of desperation, the three broke away from Miss Fairchild and thought they were free. Even though they never saw her again, she was always somewhere in the shadows of their minds. When a body is discovered under the home they grew up in, the foster sisters find themselves thrust into the spotlight as key witnesses. Or are they prime suspects?

A thrilling page-turner of sisterhood, secrets, love, and murder by New York Times bestselling author Sally Hepworth.

If you’ve read any books by Sally Hepworth, you know to expect twists, turns, and then even more twists. Darling Girls delivers them all, and packs in plenty of complex relationships and emotions as well.

In Darling Girls, we meet Jessica, Alicia, and Norah — a chosen family of sisters who came together through traumatic years as foster children. Despite the terrible experiences they endured as young teens, their relationship has been the bedrock of their years since then. Now adults, they’re all dysfunctional in different ways, but their sister bonds are the one constant that keeps them grounded.

When bones are found under the demolished home where they once lived, they’re summoned back to the town of Port Agatha to give statements to the police. What actually happened at Wild Meadows? Whose bones could they be? And are the sisters witnesses or suspects?

Through flashback chapters, we learn more about their childhood. Jessica was the first to be fostered with Miss Fairchild, a seemingly lovely woman whose farmhouse and grounds appear to be ideal for a small child. And at first, everything is perfect. Miss Fairchild dotes on Jessica, encourages her to call her “Mummy”, and never wants them to be apart. There are downsides, of course: When Jessica begins attending school and talking about new friends, she’s quickly shut down. No one is allowed to replace Mummy as the center of Jessica’s life.

Years later, when Miss Fairchild also takes in Norah and Alicia, Jessica’s world is abruptly changed yet again, as she’s reprimanded, punished, and pushed aside. But Miss Fairchild’s iron control is slipping — she hadn’t anticipated the girls’ bond or that they might start to question her rules and her methods.

It’s best not to know much more than that when reading Darling Girls. The characters are quite interesting — the sisters all have lasting scars from their years in the foster system, and their trauma manifests in different ways. The depiction feels realistic, and it’s sad and scary to read. At the same time, the chosen family is beautiful in its own way, and I loved seeing the unwavering support that Jessica, Norah, and Alicia provide to one another.

Being a Sally Hepworth book, I knew to expect to have my expectations up-ended, and that’s exactly what happened. I’m not a frequent thriller reader, but diving in every once in a while and going along for the roller coaster ride is quite fun.

As with all books by this author, Darling Girls is immersive and impossible to put down. It made me think, it gave me a few chills along the way, and it definitely kept me on my toes. Check it out!

14Apr2024

Audiobook Review: Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Just for the Summer
Author: Abby Jimenez
Narrators: Christine Lakin & Zachary Webber
Publisher: Forever
Publication date: April 2, 2024
Print length: 452 pages
Audio length: 11 hours 43 minutes
Genre: Contemporary romance
Source: Library
Rating:

Justin has a curse, and thanks to a Reddit thread, it’s now all over the internet. Every woman he dates goes on to find their soul mate the second they break up. When a woman slides into his DMs with the same problem, they come up with a plan: They’ll date each other and break up. Their curses will cancel each other’s out, and they’ll both go on to find the love of their lives. It’s a bonkers idea… and it just might work.

Emma hadn’t planned that her next assignment as a traveling nurse would be in Minnesota, but she and her best friend agree that dating Justin is too good of an opportunity to pass up, especially when they get to rent an adorable cottage on a private island on Lake Minnetonka.

It’s supposed to be a quick fling, just for the summer. But when Emma’s toxic mother shows up and Justin has to assume guardianship of his three siblings, they’re suddenly navigating a lot more than they expected–including catching real feelings for each other. What if this time Fate has actually brought the perfect pair together?

Interesting marketing — based on its Goodreads listing and the synopsis, I had no idea that Just for the Summer is not, in fact a stand-alone, but is the 3rd book in an interconnected world that includes Part of Your World and Yours Truly. Both of which I adored, by the way (you can see my reviews here and here). That said, Just for the Summer can absolutely be read on its own, but you’ll miss some of the meaning of the names, places, and relationships that factor into this compelling story.

Based on the synopsis, I was not quite prepared for how deeply serious and emotional many parts of this story are. At the outset, the tone is upbeat and humorous: Emma reads a Reddit AITA thread that is both hilarious and strikes a chord: The writer, Justin, realizes that every woman he dates goes on to find her soulmate right after they break up… and Emma has the exact same experience! She contacts Justin, and they exchange funny texts comparing their situations — and from the start, they just click.

Before long, they’re in regular contact, and have progressed to video chats and phone calls. Justin has a brilliant idea: What if they date, and cancel out each other’s curses? They’ll be guaranteed to find “the one” just as soon as they finish with one another. They even figure out the general parameters: Based on past experiences, they’ll need to go on at least four dates, text or talk every day, and kiss (more than a peck) at least once. Easy!

The complication is, Emma is a traveling nurse, and she and best friend Maddie never stay in one place for more than a few months. They take turns picking the destination for each new contract, and next up is Maddie’s pick — a summer in Hawaii. Justin is in Minnesota, and due to some family complications (more on that later), he can’t travel to date Emma. Their master plan seems like a no-go, until Emma convinces Maddie to swap Hawaii for six weeks in Minneapolis. Maddie’s more than a bit reluctant, but when Emma shows her the adorable cottage on an island in a lake — with its own boat! — where they’ll be living, she agrees, and the dating plot can move forward.

There’s much more to the story than initially meets the eye. Justin is about to assume guardianship of his three younger siblings and is soon to become a full-time parent. Emma is dealing with a lifetime of trauma due to severe neglect and abandonment by her narcissistic mother. Emma bounced in and out of foster care throughout her youth (meeting Maddie when Maddie’s parents provided Emma with the most stable and loving home she’d ever had). Emma’s trauma response has been to wall herself off and get “small”, isolating herself, refusing connection, never putting down roots, and never letting herself truly get involved emotionally with anyone but Maddie.

As Justin and Emma spend time together, their chemistry is powerful, but Emma’s unresolved trauma doesn’t allow herself to fully connect — and the fact that he has children in his life raises the stakes even higher. When Emma’s mother intrudes on her summer and her life, a series of clashes and crises ensues, and Emma’s well-being is severely challenged. Her flight instincts are never deeply buried, and this experience with her mother threatens to cause her run once again.

Just for the Summer is an absorbing, engaging read (and listen — the audiobook narrators are terrific). I was completely caught up in Emma and Justin’s stories. We get chapters narrated by each of them, often offering competing perspectives on the same events, allowing us to see the characters’ hopes, fears, joys… and understand why what they’re experiencing might not be the same for both of them.

I don’t think I was prepared for how painful Emma’s experiences would become over the course of the book. Based on the cover and synopsis, a reader could reasonably expect a romantic comedy (also, kicking through the waves at the beach, which is not a thing that ever happens). Still, expectations aside, I was thoroughly drawn into this novel and the characters’ lives, and got to the point where I almost couldn’t stand to read about one more obstacle to their happiness.

I loved the connection to the earlier books. As I mentioned, Just for the Summer could work fine as a stand-alone, but I strongly recommend reading the previous two books, which will make this one a much richer reading experience.

I did feel that the ending (happy, of course) came a little too quickly and easily, based on what we’d learned about what each character was dealing with. For Emma especially, I don’t know that I feel the timeline provided would truly allow a person in real life to progress as far as she does. Still, given the conventions of the genre, these two absolutely do need to get together, and it’s lovely when it all finally works out.

These three interconnected books all feature characters dealing with the fallout of mental health challenges, past traumas, and emotional scars. Listening to them all in such a short time period (for me, almost back to back) can be a lot. I think I might have appreciated Just for the Summer a little more if I’d had more of a break from the other books.

Still, Just for the Summer is powerful, and manages to infuse quite a lot of humorous moments into the much heavier content. I really enjoyed it, and highly recommend reading all three of these terrific books.

3Apr2024

Book Review: Studies at the School by the Sea (Maggie Adair, #4) by Jenny Colgan

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Studies at the School by the Sea
Series: Maggie Adair / School by the Sea
Author: Jenny Colgan
Narrator: Eilidh Beaton
Publisher: Avon
Publication date: March 26, 2024
Print length: 288 pages
Audio length: 7 hours, 19 minutes
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Source: Purchased (audiobook); E-book ARC from the publisher/NetGalley
Rating:

The long-awaited and never-before published finale in New York Times bestselling author Jenny Colgan’s delightful School by the Sea series. After all those lessons, it’s time to graduate…. Beloved literature teacher Maggie Adair loves her life at the prestigious Downey House boarding school on the gloriously sunny, windy English coast. It was there that she found her footing as a teacher and fell in love with her colleague David—the two great anchors of her life. But these days Maggie’s feeling restless, lured by the promise of a different life back in her Scottish hometown. How can you follow your heart when it seems to be taking you in two directions at once? Meanwhile, Maggie’s favorite students are abuzz at the thought of graduation and set to fly the nest to their next adventure. What will life hold for mercurial Fliss, glamorous Alice, and shy, hard-working Simone when they finally finish their studies at the school by the sea? Will Maggie stay to welcome the next class of girls, or will she too graduate to new adventures?

Oh dear. I hate to say it, but after eagerly awaiting this 4th and final book in the School by the Sea series… I sort of wish the author had left things as they were.

The original three School by the Sea books were published between 2008 and 2018, and were more recently reissued over the past few years. I’ve loved this sweet series, focusing on Scottish teacher Maggie’s adventures at a posh girls’ boarding school in Cornwall and her professional and romantic entanglements — which also introduces us to the girls of the school and other staff members, and creates it own special little world.

I was so excited for this 4th book, but sadly, I found the entire thing sort of perfunctory and unsatisfying. In Studies at the School by the Sea, Maggie returns to Downey after a summer back in Scotland with her family, feeling torn between family expectations and the new life she’s chosen for herself. She’s eager to explore her developing relationship with David, a fellow English teacher now working at an underfunded, low-performing local school.

Meanwhile, the main student characters we’ve gotten to know — Simone, Fliss, and Alice — are also back, navigating friendships and rivalries and dealing with serious stress over their upcoming GCSEs. There’s added pressure as Maggie and David create plans for shared school activities, inducing all sorts of culture and social shock among their students.

Somehow, none of the plot lines feel particularly well-developed. The girls’ dynamics get fairly short shrift, we spend no time at all with the Downey headmistress, who had some lovely story arcs in previous books, and Maggie herself seems to have undergone a major personality transplant.

Suddenly, she’s whiny and guilt-ridden, dumping an entire summer’s worth of plans to rush home to Scotland when her ex-fiance is injured — despite there being no actual purpose for her there and having no interest in picking back up with the relationship. Again and again, Maggie makes strange choices, and also seems to have lost her way professionally. A major conflict and almost-breakup occurs between her and David when they escort their students on an Outward Bound program and she feels that he’s focusing too much on the students rather than stealing romantic moments with her. Seriously?

Sigh. I adore Jenny Colgan’s books, and really enjoyed the characters of this series until now. Yes, it’s a nice idea to have a wrap-up book giving everyone a happy ending — but I just never felt that I was reading a particularly engaging story.

My recommendation? Do check out books 1 – 3… and maybe stop there! Or, at the very least, give yourself a pause before reading this one. And if you have time to kill, check out any of the author’s other terrific books. There are plenty to choose from, and so many to love!

PS – The world of British boarding schools — their traditions, grades, exams, etc — remains fairly impenetrable for an uncivilized American like me. However, I did learn two words that I’d never heard before… and I just love how they sound:

Rusticate: Basically, suspension. From Wikipedia: Whereas expulsion from a UK independent school means permanent removal from the school, rustication or suspension usually means removal from the school for a set period, for example, the remainder of the current term.
Invigilate: Supervise candidates during an examination; to watch over the administration of a test to ensure that no cheating occurs.

31Mar2024

Book Review: Jack of Hearts (And Other Parts) by L. C. Rosen

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Jack of Hearts (And Other Parts)
Author: L. C. Rosen
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date: October 30, 2018
Length: 385 pages
Genre: Young adult
Source: Purchased
Rating:

Riverdale meets Love, Simon in this modern, fresh, YA debut about an unapologetically queer teen working to uncover a blackmailer threatening him back into the closet.

Jack has a lot of sex–and he’s not ashamed of it. While he’s sometimes ostracized, and gossip constantly rages about his sex life, Jack always believes that “it could be worse.”

But then, the worse unexpectedly strikes: When Jack starts writing a teen sex advice column for an online site, he begins to receive creepy and threatening love letters that attempt to force Jack to curb his sexuality and personality. Now it’s up to Jack and his best friends to uncover the stalker–before their love becomes dangerous.

Ground-breaking and page-turning, Jack of Hearts (and other parts) celebrates the freedom to be oneself, especially in the face of adversity.

Jack of Hearts (And Other Parts) is a book sure to set book-banners’ hair on fire… which is just one indication that this is a book that absolutely should be available to teen readers. Yes, it’s extremely frank about sex — and I’m sure that there are plenty of teen readers who’d absolutely benefit from the novel’s fresh, positive approach.

Jack is a high school boy who loves sex, isn’t interested in a relationship (at least, not for now), believes in consent, communication, and positivity, and isn’t crazy about how much his alleged sexual antics become the fodder for school gossip. He has good friends he can count on, is happy to be out of the closet and enjoys the various boys he hooks up with, and overall, has a pretty good life.

Everything changes when he starts receiving creepy notes in his school locker, which at first seem to be secret admirer messages but quickly turn into creepy, threatening, stalker-y demands. Jack’s confidence and sense of safety are on the line, as the stalker threatens not just him, but his friends and his mother, and it seems as though the only way to protect everyone is to give into the stalker’s demands… and sacrifice his true self along the way.

Meanwhile, Jack’s best friend Jenna convinces him to write a sex advice column for her blog, and he’s soon dispensing sex and life advice that’s personal and informative — but his school principal, among others, wants him to cease and desist, and even insists that Jack’s column and personal appearance are to blame for the stalker’s fixation.

Jack of Hearts (And Other Parts) contrasts the tension and fear of the stalker plotline with the joy that otherwise defines Jack’s life. As such, it’s highly readable, entertaining, and emotional, and once I started, I didn’t want to stop until I finished.

Jack’s advice columns are explicit, in that they provide clear, detailed accounts of sexual encounters that help Jack answer questions or explain various situations. Jack’s actual sexual encounters are presented less explicitly — we see before and after, but aren’t actually in the room during. For my own reading experience — an adult reading a YA novel — I was perhaps a tad uncomfortable with that much detail about teen sex… but I’m not the target demographic for this book, so that really is irrelevant. What I think really matters is that there are probably many teens who will feel seen and heard after reading this book, and who may gain some important new pieces of information and things to consider — and to me, that makes this book an important one to keep accessible for a teen audience.

I’ll wrap up by sharing the author’s statement on attempts to ban Jack of Hearts (And Other Parts). It’s far more eloquent than anything I could say myself, and absolutely conveys why this book matters.

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31Mar2024

Book Review: The Good, the Bad, and the Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The Good, The Bad, and the Aunties
Series: Aunties, #3
Author: Jesse Q. Sutanto
Publisher: Berkeley
Publication date: March 26, 2024
Length: 378 pages
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

What should have been a family celebration of Chinese New Year descends into chaos when longtime foes crash the party in this hilariously entertaining novel by Jesse Q. Sutanto, bestselling author of Dial A for Aunties.

After an ultra-romantic honeymoon across Europe, Meddy Chan and her husband Nathan have landed in Jakarta to spend Chinese New Year with her entire extended family. Chinese New Year, already the biggest celebration of the Lunar calendar, gets even more festive when a former beau of Second Aunt’s shows up at the Chan residence bearing extravagant gifts—he’s determined to rekindle his romance with Second Aunt and the gifts are his way of announcing his courtship.

His grand gesture goes awry however, when it’s discovered that not all the gifts were meant for Second Aunt and the Chans—one particular gift was intended for a business rival to cement their alliance and included by accident. Of course the Aunties agree that it’s only right to return the gift—after all, anyone would forgive an honest mistake, right? But what should have been a simple retrieval turns disastrous and suddenly Meddy and the Aunties are helpless pawns in a decades-long war between Jakarta’s most powerful business factions. The fighting turns personal, however, when Nathan and the Aunties are endangered and it’s up to Meddy to come up with a plan to save them all. Determined to rescue her loved ones, Meddy embarks on an impossible mission—but with the Aunties by her side, nothing is truly impossible…

The Good, the Bad, and the Aunties is the 3rd and final book in author Jesse Q. Sutanto’s comedy series about Meddy Chan and the meddling, hilarious Chinese-Indonesian matriarchs of her huge, interfering family.

Book #3 sees Meddy happily enjoying her honeymoon with her beloved husband Nathan, after the disastrous adventures of the previous two books (including corpses, stolen goods, and potential Mafia hitmen). After a few blissful weeks in Europe, Meddy and Nathan head to Indonesia to celebrate Chinese New Year with the family… and of course, this is when it all hits the fan.

There’s a chaotic storyline about a long-lost lover of Second Aunt’s, now a respectable businessman (and definitely not a crime lord… according to him), whose generous red envelopes go astray — ultimately entangling Meddy, Nathan, and the aunties in a convoluted scheme to get back what was inadvertently lost.

Along the way, the Chan family engages in drugging innocent bystanders, invading (possible) cartel leaders’ homes, minor kidnapping, and other nefarious deeds… but always with the best of intentions. And hey, at least this time there are no bodies hidden in coolers!

The Aunties books are silly, entertaining, and not at all to be taken seriously. The Good, the Bad, and the Aunties is a satisfying wrap-up. Sure, it’s all entirely ridiculous and improbable, but readers who go along for the ride will have a great time.