Book Review: It’s a Love Story by Annabel Monaghan

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: It’s a Love Story
Author: Annabel Monaghan
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Publication date: May 27, 2025
Length: 368 pages
Genre: Contemporary romance
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

From the USA Today bestselling author of Nora Goes Off Script, a novel about a former adolescent TV punchline who has left her awkwardness in the rearview mirror thanks to a fake-it-till-you-make-it mantra that has her on the cusp of success, until she tells a lie that sets her on a crash-course with her past, spending a week in Long Island with the last man she thinks might make her believe in love.

Love is a lie. Laughter is the only truth.

Jane Jackson spent her adolescence as “Poor Janey Jakes,” the barbecue-sauce-in-her-braces punch line on America’s fifth-favorite sitcom. Now she’s trying to be taken seriously as a Hollywood studio executive by embracing a new mantra: Fake it till you make it.

Except she might have faked it too far. Desperate to get her first project greenlit and riled up by pompous cinematographer and one-time crush Dan Finnegan, she claimed that she could get mega popstar Jack Quinlan to write a song for the movie. Jack may have been her first kiss—and greatest source of shame—but she hasn’t spoken to him in twenty years.

Now Jane must turn to the last man she’d ever want to owe: Dan Finnegan. Because Jack is playing a festival in Dan’s hometown, and Dan has an in. A week in close quarters with Dan as she faces down her past is Jane’s idea of hell, but he just might surprise her. While covering up her lie, can they find something true?

By this point, I’m not at all surprised by the fact that I LOVED Annabel Monaghan’s newest book. I’m four for four! Her romances deliver beachy, summer-filled love stories firmly rooted in real life. There are swoony moments… but also the stresses and secrets and unrealistic expectations that come with being an adult.

In It’s a Love Story, main character Jane is a Hollywood studio executive who hopes that she’s finally found the perfect script, the one that will give her the all-important producer title and prove that she’s got what it takes to make it in the industry. What’s more, it’s not just any script: True Story speaks to Jane in a way she hasn’t experienced before. It makes her feel.

But when she walks into the meeting that will determine whether the film gets greenlit, her hopes are almost instantly dashed. Standing between Jane and success is Dan Finnegan, a cinematographer who’s already sunk a previous movie for Jane, and is now sitting in the studio head’s office proclaiming that Jane’s script isn’t commercial. The studio wants flash and noise, and this is not it. Before True Story gets tossed on the trash pile, Jane panics and blurts out a whopper: She know pop star Jack Quinlan, and what’s more, Jack is interested in writing and singing an original song for the movie. The studio head is immediately interested… but now Jane has to deliver something that she has no idea how to get.

The truth is, Jane knew Jack for only a couple of days, way back when she was fourteen years old. Jane played Janey Jakes, the sidekick/comedic relief on a TV sitcom about a group of kids forming a band. Janey was known for pratfalls and unfortunate mishaps (like sitting on nachos) — she was funny, but definitely not leading lady material. And she knows that Jack’s memories of her — if he remembers her at all — are achingly embarrassing.

Jane is furious at Dan for torpedoing her shot at getting her film made, but it turns out he might be able to provide access to Jack — he’ll be playing at a music festival in Dan’s hometown, and Dan’s brother is working on tech for the show. If Jane goes to Long Island with Dan, they may be able to get to Jack, and maybe, just maybe, she can convince him to do the song after all.

There’s so much more going on than simply chasing down a celebrity: Jane’s fake-it-till-you-make-it approach to life is based on deep hurt and shame stemming back to her teen years. She’s convinced that her real self isn’t actually lovable, and has constructed elaborate steps and rules for dating, covering everything from how to dress per date to how much to laugh and how much to talk about her career.

But being around Dan opens something up in Jane. He’s very real — part of a big, boisterous family that loves him, but he’s never quite fit the mold of the Finnegan brothers, and has always gone his own way in search of his own truth. He sees Jane in a way no one else has, and as they spend time together, Jane starts to unwind some of the tight cords she’s wound around herself to rein in her true personality and be what she thinks the world wants of her.

Jane is a polished professional who hides under her desk to corral her pre-meeting fears and eats candy in her closet when she’s stressed. After the traumas of her teens, she doesn’t trust her own emotions.

My heart is treacherous and historically wrong about everything, it is the weakest muscle in my body, but Dan and his family and our script are conspiring to whisper it back to life like it’s an ember worth restoking.

It’s beautiful to see her transformation. It’s not a love-fixes-everything situation — instead, it’s Jane finding acceptance and seeing different ways of appreciating people and letting them appreciate her. It’s putting on a silly swimsuit and not caring, because no one is mocking her or judging her; instead she gets to enjoy a sunny day and play at the beach. It’s coming to understand what Dan’s mother, celebrating her 40th wedding anniversary, means when she says “love happens over breakfast”. At dinner, there are candles and wine and fancy clothes…

But at breakfast everything’s just as it is, in the light of day. No one wears lipstick to breakfast. And this is where you talk about your day and the part of the roof that might leak this fall. You bring your real self to breakfast.

Jane and Dan end up in a gorgeous romance, but it’s only possible when Jane starts to welcome her real self. She has plenty to unravel and hard truths and secrets from her childhood to confront — and as she does so, she finally has to admit that she might be someone who can be loved after all.

I don’t think I’m actually capturing the magic of It’s a Love Story — so I’ll just say that this book really has it all. The characters are well-developed and feel like real people. They speak and act like adults, and deal with actual, complex histories and families and relationships. The Hollywood career element is fun, but the book doesn’t focus on celebrities — it’s about creativity and joy and finding truth amidst all the bang and flash of an industry focused on blockbusters.

On top of all this, the writing and dialogue and pacing of It’s a Love Story is spot-on. I simply couldn’t put it down, and read it all within a span of 24 hours.

It’s a Love Story is a wonderful, 5-star read. It’s full of heart — and while, yes, there are some romance tropes at play (enemies-to-lovers, forced proximity, forced to share a room, grand gesture), they’re so well done that they feel like natural parts of the story. A perfect book to slip into your beach bag this summer. Don’t miss it!

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

Interested in more books by Annabel Monaghan? Check out my reviews:
Nora Goes Off Script
Same Time Next Summer.
Summer Romance

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16May2025

Audiobook Review: Any Trope But You by Victoria Lavine

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

3May2025

Book Review: The Love Haters by Katherine Center

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The Love Haters
Author: Katherine Center
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Publication date: May 20, 2025
Length: 320 pages
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

It’s a thin line between love and love-hating.

Katie Vaughn has been burned by love in the past—now she may be lighting her career on fire. She has two choices: wait to get laid off from her job as a video producer or, at her coworker Cole’s request, take a career-making gig profiling Tom “Hutch” Hutcheson, a Coast Guard rescue swimmer in Key West.

The catch? Katie’s not exactly qualified. She can’t swim—but fakes it that she can.

Plus: Cole is Hutch’s brother. And they don’t get along. Next stop paradise!

But paradise is messier than it seems. As Katie gets entangled with Hutch (the most scientifically good looking man she has ever seen . . . but also a bit of a love hater), along with his colorful Aunt Rue and his rescue Great Dane, she gets trapped in a lie. Or two.

Swim lessons, helicopter flights, conga lines, drinking contests, hurricanes, and stolen kisses ensue—along with chances to tell the truth, to face old fears, and to be truly brave at last.

Katherine Center has become a must-read author for me. Her books include a wide variety of people and interesting or unusual situations, and it’s always a treat to see where she’ll end up taking us each time a new book is released.

In The Love Haters, Katie is a talented videographer who makes corporate videos for a living (think CEO interviews, brand introductions, etc) but whose passion is documentary filmmaking. She’s found a following on YouTube with her “Day in the Life” series, in which she spends 24 hours filming people going about their normal lives — except these are all people who’ve done something heroic. She blends their voice-over interviews exploring their moment of heroism with footage of daily life, creating a unique series of six-minute videos that are compelling and popular.

Not that that’s going to save her job, once layoffs loom.

But Katie’s company has been selected to shoot a promotional video for the Coast Guard — specifically, her supervisor Cole has been requested by the person the film will focus on, a rescue diver who certainly fits the hero profile Katie so loves to explore. Except… the rescue diver is Cole’s brother, and Cole absolutely refuses to do it. He cajoles Katie into going in his place: It’ll help save her job, and might even give her Day in the Life footage, if his brother Hutch agrees.

Cole describes Hutch as a “love hater” — someone stoic, upright, and with no sense of fun, let alone any sort of human emotion.

“He’s morally upstanding and physically unstoppable. He does two hundred push-ups a day. He can hold his breath underwater for thee minutes. He has never had a cavity. He’s more of a machine than a human. He just goes around all day doing good deeds.”

“So, he’s… too likable?”

“He’s the opposite of likable! He’s perfect.”

“Not sure those are opposites.”

But there’s history between the brothers that Cole doesn’t share with Katie, and as Katie soon learns, Hutch is not at all as Cole describes.

As Katie arrives in Key West, she’s warmly welcomed by Cole and Hutch’s Aunt Rue, a live-life-to-the-fullest sort of older woman who immediately coerces Katie into ditching her standard black jeans and tees and embracing the island, floral vibe. Katie faces another problem besides her dark clothing: Whoever makes this video will be going out on the rescue helicopter with the team, and being able to pass a water safety test is required. And Katie can’t swim.

Naturally, Hutch is there to save the day. He teaches Katie to swim, and patches her up after some unfortunate incidents with his very affectionate Great Dane (who seems to think he’s a lap puppy). Hutch and Katie are quite cute together, although Katie isn’t sure whether the vibes she thinks she’s picking up are actually there.

Meanwhile, Katie struggles throughout the book to overcome a devastatingly damaged sense of self-worth and complete lack of body positivity. After her then-boyfriend become insta-famous thanks to the viral success of a song he’d posted, Katie found herself accompanying him to red carpet events — and the internet was brutal to her. Between the trolls who savaged her appearance, and his then dumping her for a pop star (only to later regret it and continue releasing songs about her), her self-esteem is garbage. With the love and support of her cousin/best friend/sorta sister Beanie, she’s trying to get her mojo back… but it’s hard for Katie to imagine ever finding love again when she can’t find anything to love about herself.

There are plenty of interwoven story threads in The Love Haters. We have Hutch and Katie’s growing chemistry, Katie’s journey to reclaim herself and her body, Cole and Hutch’s relationship, and Katie’s professional life. Late in the book, Cole shows up on the scene in Key West spouting a pack of lies, theoretically to help both his and Katie’s careers, but his timing is terrible. Forcing Katie to go along with his lies damages the trust she’s been building with Hutch, and it’s questionable whether the damage can be repaired.

Without getting too deeply into spoilers, I do want to mention that this is the second book I’ve read in a month in which a houseboat getting lost at sea is a pivotal plot point. (See Swept Away by Beth O’Leary for the first). Just a weird coincidence, but it made me laugh.

Note to self: Stay off houseboats. Second note to self: If you must go on a houseboat, triple check that it’s securely tied to land.

The Love Haters is a sweet, often funny, charming love story, as well as a relatable tale about a woman working to reclaim belief in herself and her own beauty and value. I loved Katie and Beanie’s relationship, and Rue and her gang of Gals are a lovely, lively set of characters who instantly provide Katie with a place to feel wanted and accepted.

I was less thrilled with the plot elements involving Cole and the lies he tells (and forces Katie into) — none of that felt particularly necessary, and seemed like a stretch in terms of needing some sort of 3rd-act obstacle to derail Katie and Hutch’s love story.

Overall, though, The Love Haters is an entertaining, heart-warming book, and will make a great summer read. It does feel a little slight relative to some of Katherine Center’s other books — somehow, it feels like there’s not a lot of there there — but I still found plenty to enjoy.

Recommended for fans of the author as well as anyone looking for a nice beachy, summery escape.

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

Interested in this author? Check out my reviews of other Katherine Center books:
The Bright Side of Disaster
Get Lucky
Happiness for Beginners
Hello Stranger
How to Walk Away
The Rom-Commers
Things You Save in a Fire
What You Wish For

27Apr2025

Audiobook Review: Say You’ll Remember Me by Abby Jimenez

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Say You’ll Remember Me
Author: Abby Jimenez
Narrators: Christine Lakin & Matt Lanter
Publisher: Forever
Publication date: April 1, 2025
Print length: 416 pages
Audio length: 9 hours 59 minutes
Genre: Contemporary romance
Source: Library
Rating:

There might be no such a thing as a perfect guy, but Xavier Rush comes disastrously close. A gorgeous veterinarian giving Greek god vibes—all while cuddling a tiny kitten? Immediately yes. That is until Xavier opens his mouth and proves that even sculpted gods can say the absolute wrong thing. Like, really wrong. Of course, there’s nothing Samantha loves more than proving an asshole wrong…

. . . unless, of course, he can admit he made a mistake. But after one incredible and seemingly endless date—possibly the best in living history—Samantha is forced to admit the truth, that her family is in crisis and any kind of relationship would be impossible. Samantha begs Xavier to forget her. To remember their night together as a perfect moment, as crushing as that may be.

Only no amount of distance or time is nearly enough to forget that something between them. And the only thing better than one single perfect memory is to make a life—and even a love—worth remembering.

In what I’ve come to think of as signature Abby Jimenez, Say You’ll Remember Me presents two people who are perfectly, devastatingly in love… but who have family challenges and childhood traumas presenting seemingly insurmountable obstacles to their HEA.

But, as is also signature Abby Jimenez… there is obviously going to be a Happily Ever After, no matter how unlikely, so we can breathe easy as we follow along.

In Say You’ll Remember Me, Samantha and Xavier have a not-so-cute meet-cute, during which she shows up at his veterinary clinic with a sickly kitten (awwww, cute!!) and he rudely (not cute!) tells her that the kitten can’t be saved and should be given a merciful death to avoid suffering. She tells him he’s an ass, and motivated to prove him wrong, raises enough money through a GoFundMe campaign to pay for the kitty’s lifesaving surgery. Xavier, not actually being an ass, not only donates to the campaign, but reaches out to own up to being wrong.

Both Samantha and Xavier felt a spark at their initial meeting, despite the hostility bouncing around the room, and eventually, he asks her out on a date. She agrees, although she can’t stay out late because she has an early flight the next morning. They have a fantastic time, until they get stuck in an escape room (which, for the record, they solved — but they got stuck anyway), and are forced to wait until morning to be let out. During their one verrrrry long date, they open up and connect, and realize they have something special.

Except… what Samantha hadn’t told Xavier earlier was the reason for her flight the next day. She’s leaving Minnesota permanently and moving back to California to care for her mother, who’s experiencing intensifying early-onset dementia. Samantha’s ticket is one-way; no matter how great their date was, she won’t be back, and there’s no point in pursuing anything further. She tells Xavier to forget her — there’s no future for the two of them.

But he can’t, no matter how he tries. They each suffer through weeks of silence before reconnecting, and realizing that no matter how crazy it might be, they want to be together, in whatever way they can. Between Samantha’s family obligations and Xavier’s business (he’s deeply in debt from the loans he took out to open his practice), all they can have is fleeting weekends, whenever one or the other can afford to buy plane tickets. It’s not sustainable, but they also can’t give it up.

Layered beneath and around the love story are the emotional challenges and traumas each has to deal with. For Samantha, it’s seeing her beloved, vibrant mother fade to gray. Despite the entire family — her father, grandmother, and siblings — banding together to care for her mother so she can remain in her home, as they promised her when she was first diagnosed, caring for her is much more demanding than any of them anticipated. The emotional distress of witnessing her mother’s decline is matched by the physical toll of her increasing needs. The family is barely hanging on.

For Xavier, it’s the need to be strong and successful, to prove to his negligent, abusive parents that he’s made it without them. After cutting ties more than a decade earlier, he still feels an intense need to show that they were wrong, that he’s not stupid or worthless, that he was good enough to make something of himself. Part of that, for Xavier, is not letting his practice fail. He’s love to sell it and move to California to be with Samantha — but that would mean losing his investment, not being able to pay off his loans, and most likely declaring bankruptcy. His long-held childhood traumas won’t let him give his parents the satisfaction, no matter how much he and Samantha are suffering from not being together.

That’s the plot in a nutshell. Obviously, there’s quite a bit of nuance, but the overarching theme of Say You’ll Remember Me is: Long distance relationships are haaaaarrrrrrd.

This is not exactly a revelation, and I couldn’t help shrugging my shoulders a bit and feeling like Samantha and Xavier could do with a bit less whining. Yes, they’re both dealing with a lot — but they’re not the first couple in the world to be kept apart by circumstances outside their control. I got a little tired of hearing them describe their relationship as if it were the most special love story ever. I liked them together, and I liked them as people — but they come across as both unrealistic and too couple-centered to be utterly sympathetic.

Especially when Xavier says things like:

I think there are two types of people you fall in love with. The ones who are a good fit. Their lifestyle matches yours, you share the same values and beliefs, you find them attractive and you like spending time with them. It’s good. Great even. You can live your whole life with this person and be madly in love and never want anything different… unless you’ve already met the other type of person you fall in love with.

The One.

The person who was made just for you. And you only ever get the one.

Samantha was my one.

Something about that just got on every one of my nerves. Because the way he describes the first type makes it sound pretty perfect — that’s an ideal relationship! And yet, he’s holding up this ideal of the “the one” as if it’s something holy and destined and somehow above and beyond all other types of relationships. And just, no. Much too self-centered and sanctimonious for me, thank you very much.

There’s a bit of wording weirdness too. Samantha thinks of Xavier as giving her a “contemplative” look… like, a thousand times in the book. And eventually, they even talk about it between themselves, but it’s very overdone — or at least, via audiobook, it jumps out as being very overused.

Samantha and Xavier also discuss wanting to lead “parallel” lives:

“You can’t fake that kind of thing,” she said, softly. “It’s the result of a parallel life. A shared collection of experiences, like a snowball rolling downhill, getting bigger as it goes. And then you get to a point where you’re so far in, you can never replace that person. Not really. No one else can ever be the same kind of witness because you’ve through so much. It really is a once in a lifetime thing.”

First, I don’t think a snowball rolling down hill is a particularly positive metaphor for a relationship. And second, every time they talk about wanting to have a parallel life, I couldn’t help wondering if they understand what parallel means — side by side but never touching. I don’t think that’s what they actually want.

Criticism aside… there’s still plenty to enjoy about Say You’ll Remember Me. Quippy banter, humor in even dire situations, lots of silliness, and oodles of very cute animals (none of whom die or are ever at risk, so don’t worry!).

The audiobook narration is well done, with different narrators for Samantha and Xavier, each getting separate chapters. One thing I really liked is that they do their own characters in dialogue — so even if it’s an Xavier chapter, the Samantha narrator still does Samantha’s lines. (This isn’t always the case in audiobooks, and it can be jarring to switch deliveries for the same character from chapter to chapter).

By this point, Abby Jimenez has legions of fans, and I’m sure most will love Say You’ll Remember Me. I didn’t hate it — but I can’t say it was more than an okay story for me. Maybe it’s just how much Samantha and Xavier come across as special snowflakes… but I found myself running out of patience (and therefore sympathy) for their dramatics.

Still, I’ll be back for whatever this author writes next, whether a stand-alone or another story set in this world. Abby Jimenez writes stories with punch, humor, and emotion, and even when I think they’re only okay, they still hold my attention from start to finish.

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

19Apr2025

Audiobook Review: Swept Away by Beth O’Leary

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Swept Away
Author: Beth O’Leary
Narrator: Connor Swindells, Rebekah Hinds
Publisher: Berkley
Publication date: April 1, 2025
Print length: 384 pages
Audio length: 9 hours 53 minutes
Genre: Contemporary romance
Source: Audible (eARC via NetGalley)
Rating:

Two strangers find themselves stranded at sea together in this epic new love story by bestselling author Beth O’Leary.

What if you were lost at sea…with your one-night stand?

Zeke and Lexi thought it would just be a night of fun. They had no intentions of seeing each other again. Zeke is only in town for the weekend to buy back his late father’s houseboat. Lexi has no time for dating when she needs to help take care of her best friend’s daughter.

Going back home with a stranger seems like a perfect escape from their problems. But a miscommunication in the dark, foggy night means no one tied the houseboat to the dock. The next morning, Zeke and Lexi realize all they can see is miles and miles of water.

With just a few provisions on the idle boat, Zeke and Lexi must figure out how to get back home. But aside from their survival, they’re facing another challenge. Because when you’re stuck together for days on end, it gives you a lot of time to get to know someone—and to fall in love with them.

Beth O’Leary’s books have become must-reads for me. I love the way she blends engaging, unusual love stories with unexpected real-life situations and complications.

Swept Away offers all this… and in terms of unexpected situations, this one is off the charts. (Sorry, my feeble attempt at nautical humor…)

Lexi works at the local pub in Gilmouth, a small town on the northeast coast of England. She lives with her best friend/practically sister Penny and Penny’s four-year-old Mae, whom Lexi has helped raised since she was born. After a big fight with Penny, Lexi finds herself moping over a drink at the pub when her eye is caught by a gorgeous stranger. Zeke is charming and attentive, and he’s just in Gilmouth for one night. Sparks immediately fly. After a few more drinks, they head back to Zeke’s houseboat, both very clear that all they’re looking for is one great night. Which they have.

Things take a decidedly uncomfortable turn the next morning due to confusion about whose boat it actually is and which of them should leave… which all becomes moot when they head out on deck and see nothing but water in every direction. Due to a misunderstanding (plus fog plus drinks), each thought the other had made sure the boat was tied up properly, and neither actually did.

So what do you do when you can’t escape your one-night stand? The boat has no power, and because Zeke only bought it the day before, it has limited provisions. They expect to be rescued right away, but have no way to signal for help, and no ability to steer or navigate. All they can do is float, repair the things that break, and try to survive on what they have.

The longer they’re at sea, the more they open up. With nothing to do but wait, they talk and get to know one another in a way they hadn’t on their night together — and they agree early on to take sex out of the equation, so talking and sharing is really all they have. At first, they’re hesitant, but especially after a dangerous injury (no spoilers!), they’re forced into an intimacy they hadn’t expected. If they’re going to survive, they need each other, and with each passing day, their connection deepens and strengthens.

I won’t go too deeply into spoilers or divulge the major events of their ordeal or how it ends… although I think you can safely assume, even without me saying so, that given the cover and the marketing blurbs, this is not going to be a tragedy.

There’s a lot to love about Swept Away. It’s such an odd, offbeat setup. Lexi and Zeke’s struggle to stay alive and hold on to hope seems doomed at times, especially once the boat starts to break down bit by bit. And yet, their honesty with one another, their explorations of their pasts and their family tangles and secrets add a poignancy to each day, despite the stress of their dwindling supplies and options. As they come to care for one another more deeply, they each become committed to taking care of the other, and there are some sweet, more light-hearted moments as they find ways to bring joy into their otherwise bleak situation.

On the other hand, there are times when Swept Away feels tonally odd. There are plenty of typical romance beats along the way, and mixing these with a survival story can feel jarring. The more days they spend at sea, the more the dangers pile up — and the more out of place some of these cute romantic exchanges can feel.

Still, my occasional skepticism was overridden by the mounting tension as the stakes got higher and higher. I absolutely had to know what would happen! There’s even a Titanic-esque moment (even though this boat is so much tinier!) where I felt all sorts of dramatic feelings… but as I said, it was a safe bet all along that they’d get rescued, so mostly, it was a question of when and how, and in what condition Lexi and Zeke would be when they finally do get saved.

Now, is it realistic that a houseboat that hadn’t left a dock in years, and was designed for gentle river or canal floats, could actually survive the North Sea? Who knows! I doubt it, but it’s something we just have to go with in order to enjoy the story.

I did have a couple of quibbles with loose ends at the end of the book. We never do find out exactly where they were when they were rescued or how far they’d traveled… and I want to know! Also, there is one particularly scary injury that happens during their journey — we know they’re both fine in the end, but I wanted to know more about this in the immediate aftermath, and didn’t feel like I got closure on this particular element.

In general, though, I really enjoyed Swept Away. This isn’t a surprise — Beth O’Leary is a terrific writer who spins engaging tales about people we can’t help but care about. The survival tale provides captivating moments and a highly unusual story arc for a romance, and because Lexi and Zeke are both such layered, well-drawn characters, there’s not a moment where we don’t feel invested in both their well-being and their happiness.

The audiobook narration by Connor Swindells and Rebekah Hinds flows beautifully. The alternating chapters from Zeke and Lexi’s perspectives work very well as a whole, and the narrators bring out their characters’ personalities through their delivery. The funny bits really work, and the emotional moments are well done too.

Fans of Beth O’Leary will not be disappointed, and Swept Away is also a great introduction for those new to this author. Either way, if you’re looking for a book with high stakes, a love story to root for, and a plot to keep you hooked, don’t miss Swept Away!

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

For more by Beth O’Leary:
The Road Trip
The Flatshare
The Switch
The No-Show
The Wake-Up Call

10Apr2025

Audiobook Review: Promise Me Sunshine by Cara Bastone

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Promise Me Sunshine
Author: Cara Bastone
Narrator: Alex Finke
Publisher: Dial Press
Publication date: March 4, 2025
Print length: 416 pages
Audio length: 11 hours 11 minutes
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Source: Audible (eARC via NetGalley)
Rating:

Grieving the loss of her best friend, a young woman’s life is turned upside down when she meets a grumpy stranger who swears he can help her live again, in this heartwarming, slow-burn romance by the author of Ready or Not

Lenny’s a bit of a mess at the moment. Ever since cancer stole away her best friend, she has been completely lost. She’s avoiding her concerned parents, the apartment she shared with her best friend, and the ever-laminated “live again” list of things she’s promised to do to survive her grief. But maybe if she acts like she has it all together, no one will notice she’s falling apart.

The only gigs she can handle right now are temporary babysitting jobs, and she just landed a great one, helping overworked, single mom Reese and her precocious daughter, Ainsley. The only catch: Ainsley’s uncle, Miles, always seems to be around, and is kind of. . . a walking version of the grumpy cat meme. Worse – he seems to be able to see right through her.

Surprisingly, Miles knows a lot about grief and he offers Lenny a proposition. He’ll help her complete everything on her “live again” list if she’ll help him connect with Ainsley and overcome his complicated relationship with Reese. Lenny doubts anything can fill the void her best friend has left behind, but between late night ferry rides, midnight ramen, and a well-placed shoulder whenever she needs it, Miles just won’t stop showing up for her. Turns out, sometimes your life has to end to find your new beginning.

After listening to Ready or Not by Cara Bastone just recently, I was more than happy to jump at the chance to listen to her newest audiobook as well. Promise Me Sunshine does not disappoint… although I think billing this book as a romance might be a bit misleading. Yes, there’s a love story — but Promise Me Sunshine is very much a book about living with grief and figuring out how to carry on after a tragic loss.

When we meet Lenny, she’s bustling uptown to start a temporary babysitting gig, caring for a cute 7-year-old while her single mom is away on a business trip. Lenny connects with Ainsley and her mom Reese right away, but she’s a bit put off by Ainsley’s uncle Miles, who shows up at the apartment as soon as she does, and seems to just plant himself there. He’s cold and judgmental, and watches Lenny like a hawk. Reese doesn’t seem to particularly want him there, but he stays, and stays, and stays.

Lenny is full of sunshine around Ainsley, but alone, it’s clear that she’s not okay. Her best friend Lou died just six months earlier, still in her 20s, after battling cancer for years. Lenny can’t bring herself to return to the Brooklyn apartment they shared, so instead, during her off hours, she rides the Staten Island ferry all night, dozing on and off until she returns to her job the next morning.

She’s annoyed by Miles’s constant hovering, but a breakthrough comes when he spots a book about grief in her backpack. He’s read it too — and he lets Lenny know that he’s been there. Miles lost his closest family members ten years earlier, and while he’s worked through the immediate pain, he understands how grief changes a person and never truly ends. He offers to be there for Lenny — someone to call in the bad moments, someone to lean on when needed. She’s skeptical at first: Why would he go to the effort for someone he barely knows? It turns out, Miles wants something in return. Ainsley and Reese are all the family he has left, and he doesn’t know how to connect with them. Lenny is such a natural with Ainsley, and Miles wants her to teach him how to build a relationship with his niece.

Lenny agrees, and also agrees to extend the weekend babysitting into a longer-term job. Miles is as good as his word. He refuses to allow Lenny to wall herself off and to continue indulging in riskier behaviors (like sleeping on the ferry all night) — he insists that she stays (for now) at the studio apartment he’s not using, that she calls him if she can’t sleep, and that she starts working her way through the “live again” list Lou left her with.

Lenny and Miles are charming together. She’s funny in an oddball, off-kilter sort of way, silly and ridiculous, yet loads of fun. He’s the typical grumpy half of the familiar grumpy-sunshine dynamic, but he’s lovable too. Yes, he comes across as judgy and walled-off and stiff, but he goes above and beyond for Lenny from day one, and it turns out that his gruff exterior hides a big, squishy heart.

Promise Me Sunshine doesn’t shy away from showing the depths of Lenny’s grief and despair. There are many terribly sad scenes where we see her absolutely fall apart — because loss is like that. Time helps, but there’s no avoiding the seemingly innocuous triggers that wait around every corner, sending Lenny into a spiral of sobs and fresh mourning at a moment’s notice. With Miles in her life, though, she’s no longer suffering alone… and eventually, Lenny is able to start appreciating the sunshine moments again.

There’s a lot to love about Promise Me Sunshine. Miles and Lenny bond right away, and their dynamic is cute in the funnier moments, heartfelt in the sadder times. As I mentioned earlier, this isn’t strictly speaking a romance novel, in my opinion — it’s contemporary fiction that includes a love story, but the romantic element isn’t the whole point. Yes, of course Miles and Lenny fall in love, but it takes the entire book for them to get there, and meanwhile, what we see is a story of two people helping each other find reasons to embrace life again.

Beyond the love story, it’s refreshing to see that Miles and Lenny don’t instantly become each others’ entire worlds. Miles encourages Lenny to make new friends, be open to connecting with people, and even, finally, stop avoiding her parents and everyone/everything who reminds her of Lou. For Lenny’s part, she helps Miles find a way to build trust and affection with Reese and Ainsley, to let go of some difficult chapters from his life, and to start planning for a future instead of living in a sort of holding pattern.

My only quibble with Promise Me Sunshine is that Miles comes across as too good to be true. He’s absolutely selfless, and devotes himself 100% to doing and being whatever Lenny needs. It’s lovely… but he seems more like an ideal than an actual person.

The audiobook narration is quite a lot of fun. Narrator Alex Finke capture’s Lenny silliness and over-the-top delivery, as well as Miles’s stilted, awkward lines in his grumpier moments. As with Ready or Not (same narrator), I sometimes found it difficult to distinguish between Lenny’s spoken lines and her internal dialogue, having to figure it out based on context or whether other characters responded to what I thought she might have said to them.

These quibbles in no way detract from the overall pleasures of listening to Promise Me Sunshine. There are plenty of funny interludes, but the heart of the story is Lenny’s heartbreaking grief over the loss of the friend she describes as her soulmate. The depth of their friendship is beautifully depicted, and Lenny’s journey feels real and powerful. Plus, the love story elements really work, and Miles and Lenny, with all their differences, click amazingly well as friends before becoming much more.

I’m happy to recommend Promise Me Sunshine… and now that I’ve had two great experiences with Cara Bastone’s books, I’ll be on the lookout for more!

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

9Apr2025

Book Review: Flirting Lessons by Jasmine Guillory

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Flirting Lessons
Author: Jasmine Guillory
Publisher: Berkley
Publication date: April 8, 2025
Length: 416 pages
Genre: Contemporary romance
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

The exciting new contemporary romance—and her first to feature a queer romance—by New York Times bestselling author Jasmine Guillory

Avery Jensen is almost thirty, fresh off a breakup, and she’s tired of always being so uptight and well-behaved. She wants to get a hobby, date around (especially other women), flirt with everyone she sees, all the fun stuff normal people do in their twenties. One Avery doesn’t know how to do any of that. She doesn’t have a lot of dating experience, with men or women, and despite being self-assured at work, she doesn’t have a lot of confidence when it comes to romance.

Enter Taylor Cameron, Napa Valley’s biggest flirt and champion heartbreaker. Taylor just broke up with her most recent girlfriend, and her best friend bet her that she can’t make it until Labor Day without sleeping with someone. (Two whole months? Without sex? Taylor?!?!) So, she offers to give Avery flirting lessons. It will keep her busy, stop her from texting people she shouldn’t. And it might distract her from how inadequate she feels compared to her friends, who all seem much more settled and adult than Taylor.

At first, Avery is stiff and nervous, but Taylor is patient and encouraging, and soon, Avery looks forward to their weekly lessons. With Taylor’s help, Avery finally has the life she always wanted. The only issue is: now she wants Taylor. Their attraction becomes impossible to ignore, despite them both insisting to themselves and everyone else that it isn’t serious. When Taylor is forced to confront her feelings for Avery, she doesn’t know what to do—and most importantly, if she’s already ruined the best thing she’s ever had.

Mega-popular author Jasmine Guillory returns to Napa Valley, setting of her previous novel, Drunk on Love, for her newest romance. As the blurb tells us, this is the author’s first foray into queer romance, with a love story featuring two women who start as friends and become much more.

Taylor is the woman everyone loves to be around, and she’s dated practically every woman in wine country at one point or another. She’s famous (or infamous) for not doing relationships — everyone knows that she’s great for a fling, but not someone to get serious with.

At an event at the winery where she works, Taylor runs into Avery, the best friend of a former coworker. Avery is gorgeous and a bit reserved. She’s excellent at her event planning business, but comes across as shy and self-conscious in social settings. After a couple of glasses of wine, she admits to Taylor that she’s tired of being seen as reliable and predictable — in other words, boring. She wishes she knew how to to have fun, flirt, and grab onto life.

Meanwhile, Taylor’s best friend Erica has just bet Taylor that she can’t stay celibate for the entire summer, and Taylor never can resist a dare. Since sleeping with anyone new is off the table, she needs a distraction, and offers to be Avery’s dating guru. She’ll give her flirting lessons! Avery has never dated women before, but wants to, and Taylor offers to take her out, put her in high-potential flirting situations, and teach her how to flirt like a champ.

What follows is a series of very fun lessons, where Avery is given challenges such as talking to five new people or trying something outside her comfort zone. The goal isn’t going to bed — it’s empowering Avery to feel more confident with new people, and to stop the self- talk that holds her back.

Of course, Taylor and Avery end up catching feelings for one another, and their flirting lessons turn into much, much more…

Flirting Lessons is at its best when it’s focused on the social settings and activities that Taylor orchestrates for Avery’s lessons. An author event at a bookstore, queer salsa dancing, trivia night at a bar, community gardening — all are terrific venues for seeing the two women interact with each other and with new people, and provide different ways for Avery to spread her wings and try something new.

I appreciated that honesty was an important part of what both women needed to learn — how to accept a compliment without deflection, how to express what they actually feel rather than what they think the other person wants, how to stop undermining themselves by wondering if they’re interesting enough or match what others want to see. It’s also nice to see that they have other friends. Their relationship is not their sole focus, and for each, paying attention to the other people in their lives is yet another element that helps them grow and acknowledge their own strengths and blindspots.

Despite the positives, I can’t say this was more than just a so-so read for me, and here’s why:

I’m not sure that I entirely bought Avery and Taylor’s chemistry. Avery is just too tentative and walled off to make true sense as a partner for Taylor, or to hold Taylor’s attention long enough for her growth to give them a more equal footing. Further, the plot as a whole is a bit dull. Sure, the various dates and events are fun, and the ups and downs of Taylor and Avery’s relationship are nice to see unfolding, but it’s entirely predictable. Even the potential breakup is easy to see coming, as is its solution.

On the whole, Flirting Lessons is a bit longer than it needs to be, and doesn’t cover much new ground or provide a ton of surprises. I enjoyed the book enough to want to keep going, but now that I’m done, it’s not likely to stick with me in any meaningful way.

Still, Flirting Lessons could be a good choice for a light summer read — and the Wine Country setting provides a nice sense of a sun-filled getaway.

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

13Mar2025

Book Review: The Love Lyric (The Greene Sisters, #3) by Kristina Forest

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The Love Lyric
Series: The Greene Sisters, #3
Author: Kristina Forest
Publisher: Berkley
Publication date: February 4, 2025
Length: 400 pages
Genre: Contemporary romance
Source: Library
Rating:

An R&B singer and a corporate executive find love that hits the right notes in this romance by Kristina Forest, USA Today bestselling author of The Partner Plot.

Iris Greene used to be a woman with a plan. But all of that changed after she met the love of her life at twenty-four, got pregnant and married…and then became a widow and a single mother all within the span of a year and a half. Now, after years of hustling, Iris is the director of partnerships at a beauty company and raising spunky six-year-old Calla by herself. Despite her busy life, she still can’t help but feel lonely. She just needs to catch her breath—and one night, at her sister’s wedding, when she steps outside to do just that, she sees a certain singer who takes her breath away. . . .

By all accounts, pop R&B singer Angel Hughes has it made. He’s a successful musician and has just scored a brand ambassador deal with an emerging beauty company. But he’s still not fulfilled; he’s not producing songs he’s passionate about, and there’s a gaping hole in his love life. When he visits the Save Face Beauty office to kickstart his campaign, he’s delighted to see Iris, his stylist’s sister—the beautiful woman he’s secretly had a crush on for years.

Despite their obvious attraction to each other, they must stay professional throughout the campaign tour—which doesn’t quite pan out. But when it becomes clear their lives aren’t in sync, can they fall back in step to the same rhythm and beat?

The Love Lyric is the 3rd book in author Kristina Forest’s Greene Sisters trilogy, following The Neighbor Favor and The Partner Plot. The first two books focus on sisters Lily and Violet; here in The Love Lyric, their older sister Iris takes center stage.

Iris is an ambitious career woman, who juggles a successful corporate role with raising a six-year-old on her own, having been widowed when her daughter was still a baby. While still grieving for her beloved husband Terry, Iris has reached a point in her life where maybe, just maybe, she might consider trying to date again. If only the idea of getting on the apps wasn’t so awful.

A few years earlier, she’d crossed paths with Angel, who then was just starting on his rise to pop stardom. He’d made an impression, but Iris hasn’t seen him again until her sister Violet’s wedding. After sharing a moonlit dance with Angel, Iris pulls away, not wanting to risk taking things any further — because Angel is the brand ambassador for her company, and she needs to maintain professional boundaries… but also because he’s a huge celebrity with women practically throwing themselves at his feet. Why would someone like that ever be interested in someone like her?

There’s more to the story, of course. Angel is still adjusting to his own stardom, and while he achieves top of the chart success with each new track, his label pushes back when he tries to make the kind of music — true R&B — that he really cares about. Plus, having come from a strict, religious home, he faces constant criticism and insults from his mother, who sees his public persona as a disgrace, much too far from his gospel roots.

For Iris, there’s a combination of professional frustration, fear of making changes or taking big risks, and most especially, the fear of letting herself care for someone and risk getting hurt.

Still, Angel and Iris so clearly care about one another and have great physical chemistry too — so it’s inevitable that their resistance can only hold out so long. Factor in the intensity of a week-long business trip and the proximity that comes with it, and it’s only a matter of time before they give in to temptation.

Complications ensue — with a celebrity like Angel, things can’t remain a secret forever. Iris is fearful for her job and also very protective of her and her daughter’s privacy. When their secret relationship is exposed, Iris has some very hard choices to make, and must decide what kind of life and future she wants.

The Love Lyric is a very enjoyable wrap-up to the trilogy. We get time with the rest of the Greene family, and it’s lovely to see Lily and Violet both happy with their relationships and their careers. I appreciated seeing the turmoil Iris faces as a single working mother, trying to do the classic balancing act of being everything to everyone, without letting her daughter down or letting her work commitments slip. Iris’s loss and grief are handled respectfully, showing her love for her late husband and how she navigates the possibility of loving again.

Angel and Iris make a great couple, and despite their ups and downs, they’re able to communicate in a way that’s refreshing and honest. When the typical 3rd act breakup that seems standard in so many romance novels occurs here, it’s for reasons that make sense and that are actually discussed — it’s nice to see healthy conversations in a romance, when so many books rely on miscommunication as a plot device!

The Love Lyric is a great read all on its own, as well as a satisfying conclusion to a very good trilogy. What I especially appreciate about these books is the strong family dynamic and the close bond between the sisters, as well as the individual women themselves and how well-drawn their characters are. I just wish they had another sister so the series could continue!

As far as I understand, the Greene Sisters trilogy is author Kristina Forest’s first foray into adult books, after publishing several YA novels. I’ll look forward to reading whatever she writes next!

5Mar2025

Audiobook Review: The Love of My Afterlife by Kirsty Greenwood

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The Love of My Afterlife
Author: Kirsty Greenwood
Narrator: Sofia Oxenham
Publisher: Berkley
Publication date: July 2, 2024
Print length: 369 pages
Audio length: 9 hours 32 minutes
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Source: Library
Rating:

A recently deceased woman meets “the one” in the afterlife waiting room, scoring a second chance at life (and love!) if she can find him on Earth before ten days are up….

If she wasn’t dead already, Delphie would be dying of embarrassment. Not only did she just die by choking on a microwaveable burger, she’s also now standing in her “sparkle and shine” nightie in front of the hottest man she’s ever seen. And he’s smiling at her.

As they start to chat, everything else becomes background noise. That is, until someone comes running through a door yelling something about a huge mistake and sends the dreamy stranger back down to Earth. And here Delphie was thinking her luck might be different in the afterlife.

When Delphie is offered a deal in which she can return to Earth and reconnect with the mysterious man, she jumps at the opportunity to find her possible soulmate and a fresh start. But to find him in a city of millions, Delphie is going to have to listen to her heart, learn to ask for help, and perhaps even see the magic in the life she’s leaving behind. . . .

This delightful rom-com has so much more to it than you might suppose from the synopsis! After Delphie chokes on a burger and ends up with a particularly chatty afterlife attendant who clearly is dying (ha!) for a project, she’s given the chance to return to the world of the living, but with a catch. Delphie will have ten days to locate the man she’s briefly met (whose afterlife arrival is apparently an error; he’s sent back after their encounter, with his memory wiped). If she can get him to kiss her, of his own free will, she’ll get to stay alive — and presumably, get her very own happily ever after with her soulmate. If not, though… she’ll be dead again, this time permanently.

For Delphie, the proposition is decidedly challenging. For years, she’s been living in isolation, carefully walling herself off from having to interact with practically anyone. As she informs us early on, she’s only talked to three people in the past several years — the two women she works with at the pharmacy across the street, and her elderly neighbor, whom she checks in on every day.

She’s not just shy. Delphie has been severely emotionally wounded in her earlier life. After her parents’ divorce, her mother stopped functioning, only reviving after falling in love again and basically ditching Delphie to move away and pursue a new life as an artist. Delphie was also horribly bullied during her high school years by her former best friend, causing her to shut off, trust no one, and even give up the drawing and painting that had given her so much joy.

In her late twenties, Delphie is a virgin, has never dated or been kissed. So for her, having to suddenly dash around London to locate one particular man feels like an impossibility — except she wants to live, and actually believes that he could truly be her soulmate. She’s smart enough to realize she needs help, and thus begins the truly lovely part of this story — seeing Delphie start to break out of her shell and connect with other people.

From admitting to her boss and coworker (a mother and daughter) that she needs time off and reluctantly agreeing to finally join them for after-work drinks (which they’ve been inviting her to for years), to meeting the local librarian and having him enthusiastically give her books on finding missing persons, to (literally) running into a friendly dogwalker in the park and having her decide to accompany Delphie on her quest — Delphie suddenly expands the circle of people she knows, and finds, to her surprise, that she doesn’t hate it.

Most interesting is the grumpy downstairs neighbor with whom she’s exchanged snide comments and insults for many years. (She describes him “like if Timothée Chalomet had an extremely tall, extremely brooding asshole of an older brother”.) Cooper may be a jerk, but he assists her when she needs it, and is soon asking her for a favor in return. As they spend time together, she learns more about what’s going on beneath his surly exterior… but all her focus is on finding Jonah, her true soulmate, so onward she must go!

The quest to find Jonah is quite silly and full of mishaps. How to find one man in all of London, when all she knows is his first name and what he looks like? With her growing circle of acquaintances helping her track down clues, Delphie has a series of near-misses, seeking Jonah at a running club, a life-drawing class, a silent disco, and more, before figuring out a way to meet him at last. But as we readers know to expect, tracking Jonah down is very different than convincing him that she’s the love of his life, and things go all sorts of sideways.

The Love of My Afterlife surprised me in so many ways! There are romance tropes galore, but the narrative cleverly recognizes that tropes are at play, and Delphie’s awareness of these tropes (enemies to lovers! only one bed! fake dating!) makes it especially fun.

The true beauty of this book is in seeing Delphie emerge from her painful past and finally start living.

“I never wanted people, though. They make everything messy.”

“That’s a good thing, love. The thing about people is you have to let them drag you to places you don’t want to go. Let them tell you things you don’t want to hear. Let them break you and put you back together… That’s what being alive is.”

As she meets the people of her neighborhood and starts engaging with them, new relationships form, and she finds herself making connections with people who want to know her. She spent years feeling unworthy and unloved, but by opening herself to new people and experiences, she gets to experience what it feels like to care and be cared about.

And yes, there’s a romance! It’s a delicious slow-burn, and the interference of her meddling afterworld coach is quite funny and entertaining.

I listened to the audiobook, and had a blast with it. Narrator Sofia Oxenham captures the silliness and the somewhat zany escapades with flair, but also conveys Delphie’s sadness and loneliness, and the steep hill she has to climb in order to let people into her world.

The Love of My Afterlife only crossed my radar thanks to idly looking up celebrity book club picks one day. This was a Good Morning America pick last year — and I’m not sure why it initially caught my eye, but I’m so glad it did!

With very funny interludes and a lovable main character, and with real emotion to balance the humor and silliness, The Love of My Afterlife is deeper than it might initially seem. It’s wonderful storytelling, full of laughter, that also manages to pull on the heartstrings. A great choice for when you’re in the mood to be uplifted and entertained. Don’t miss it!

23Feb2025

Audiobook Review: Ready or Not by Cara Bastone

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Ready or Not
Author: Cara Bastone
Narrator: Alex Finke
Publisher: Dial Press
Publication date: February 13, 2024
Print length: 373 pages
Audio length: 10 hours 50 minutes
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Source: Audible
Rating:

A surprise pregnancy leads to even more life-changing revelations in this heartfelt, slow-burn, friends-to-lovers romance of found family and unexpected love.

Eve Hatch is pretty content with her life. Her apartment in Brooklyn is cozy and close to her childhood best friend Willa, but far from her midwestern, traditional family who never really understood her. While her job is only dream- adjacent , she’s hoping her passion and hard work will soon help her land a more glamorous role. And sure, her most recent romantic history has consisted of not one but two disappointing men named Derek. At least she always knows what to expect…until she finds herself expecting after an uncharacteristic one-night stand.

The unplanned pregnancy cracks open all the relationships in her life. Eve’s loyal friendship with Willa is feeling off , right when she needs her most. And it’s Willa’s steadfast older brother, Shep, who steps up to help. He has always been friendly, but now he’s checking in, ordering her surprise lunches, listening to all her complaints, and is… suddenly kinda hot? Then there’s the baby’s father, who is supportive but conflicted. Before long, Eve is rethinking everything she thought she knew about herself and her world.

Over the course of nine months, as Eve struggles to figure out the next right step in her expanding reality, she begins to realize that family and love, in all forms, can sneak up on you when you least expect it.

Something about the plot synopsis for Ready or Not seemed right up my alley, just what I was looking for in a feel-good audiobook listen… and I was right. Ready or Not hit the spot, and I had a great time listening to this sweet, funny tale of unexpected pregnancy and unexpected romance, both of which happen in a very unexpected order.

Eve Hatch is in her late 20s, happily living life in Brooklyn near her best friend Willa, working in a job for a non-profit she really believes in, even though she’s stuck in an admin-level job without having the graduate degree needed to pursue the work she actually wants to do. As the book opens, Eve is at the ob/gyn office, waiting for official confirmation of what she already knows thanks to three home pregnancy tests: Yes, she’s pregnant. A hot and heavy one night stand a few weeks earlier (with proper protection) has led to this moment, and all Eve wants is to confide in her best friend.

Unfortunately, Willa takes the news very personally — she and her husband have been struggling with fertility challenges — and is not supportive. But fortunately, Willa’s older brother Shep is staying with her, and immediately jumps in to be there for Eve in whatever way she needs, including going with her to tell the hot bartender (a/k/a baby daddy) that she’s knocked up. Ethan (who, it turns out, is the bar owner) is thrown for a loop, especially since he’s in a relationship (they were on a break at the time of the hookup) and loves his girlfriend.

Ethan is an inconsistent, emotional mess, and Willa is trying to be there for Eve but is clearly struggling. It’s Shep who provides Eve with friendship, encouragement, and foot rubs; Shep who makes sure she has groceries and a shoulder to cry on. He’s a big, floppy, golden retriever of a guy, and he’s just so good you want to hug him nonstop. It takes Eve quite a while to realize that the boy she’s known since childhood means more to her than she realized, and even longer to figure out whether she’s really fallen for him, or if it’s just the pregnancy hormones talking.

Ready or Not is a sweet, engaging listen. Eve’s quirky sense of humor shines through, and her personal evolution over the course of her pregnancy feels believable, as she’s forced to take her life more seriously and figure out what she actually wants, not just accept whatever comes her way.

I press my ear to his chest and isn’t it so wild that you can go forever knowing someone and never really listen to their actual heartbeat until they kiss you behind a tree?

I enjoyed Eve and Shep’s relationship so much — they’re incredibly cute together, even when she’s being completely obtuse and taking way too long to realize how deeply Shep adores her. At the start of the book, we see Willa as somewhat selfish, but over time, it’s clear that she’s struggling to deal with her own pain while also trying to be the friend Eve needs in the moment. Ethan is hard to take — true, he’s thrust into a situation he had no idea was coming, but then again, so was Eve. His waffling and self-pity make him come across as unreliable and pathetic for a lot of the book, but eventually, even he gets a chance to improve.

My main quibble with this book is that Eve does absolutely no reflection about being pregnant at the start of the book. She gets the news, she goes to tell Willa, she reacts to Willa’s reaction, she deals with Ethan’s reactions too… but we never see her pause and consider whether she wants a baby, or what this will mean for her life. She tells Willa right away that she’s keeping the baby, which is a perfectly fine choice for her to make — but it feels as though we should have seen at least a bit of contemplation and consideration about what this big change will mean for her life.

The narration was mostly fun and enjoyable, although I found the narrator a little too over the top during the book’s one sex scene and in the labor scene — the auditory equivalent of TMI, if that makes sense. My other issue with the narration is that it can be hard to distinguish between Eve’s spoken lines and her inner thoughts — I had to rely on other characters’ reactions to figure out if certain things were said out loud or not.

Quibbles aside, Ready or Not is an entertaining, romantic story, and although the friends-to-lovers trope is practically everywhere these days, it still feels fresh here. The pregnancy element adds an unusual element to Eve’s relationship with Shep, and it’s nice to see how things work out with Ethan as well.

Check out Ready or Not when you’re in the mood for quippy banter, great chemistry — and lots and lots of descriptions of the main character’s baby bump!