Book Review: The Comeback Summer by Ali Brady

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1Dec2024

Book Review: A Novel Love Story by Ashley Poston

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

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

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

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

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

Because it is.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And here’s an example I just adore:

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

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

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

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

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

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

But, as they leave, this happens:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

17Nov2024

Book Review: The Beach Trap by Ali Brady

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

9Nov2024

Audiobook Review: Every Summer After by Carley Fortune

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

3Nov2024

Audiobook Review: Better Than Fiction by Alexa Martin

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

19Oct2024

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

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

13Oct2024

Audiobook Review: The Happy Ever After Playlist (The Friend Zone, #2) by Abby Jimenez

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The Happy Ever After Playlist
Series: The Friend Zone, #1
Author: Abby Jimenez
Narrators: Zachary Webber and Erin Mallon
Publisher: Forever
Publication date: April 14, 2020
Print length: 401 pages
Audio length: 9 hours 17 minutes
Genre: Contemporary romance
Source: Library
Rating:

From the USA Today bestselling author of The Friend Zone comes a fresh romantic comedy full of “fierce humor and fiercer heart” about one trouble-making dog who brings together two perfect strangers. (Casey McQuiston, New York Times bestselling author of Red, White & Royal Blue)

Two years after losing her fiancé, Sloan Monroe still can’t seem to get her life back on track. But one trouble-making pup with a “take me home” look in his eyes is about to change everything. With her new pet by her side, Sloan finally starts to feel more like herself. Then, after weeks of unanswered texts, Tucker’s owner reaches out. He’s a musician on tour in Australia. And bottom line: He wants Tucker back.

Well, Sloan’s not about to give up her dog without a fight. But what if this Jason guy really loves Tucker? As their flirty texts turn into long calls, Sloan can’t deny a connection. Jason is hot and nice and funny. There’s no telling what could happen when they meet in person. The question is: With his music career on the rise, how long will Jason really stick around? And is it possible for Sloan to survive another heartbreak?

Dear Romance Writers:

PLEASE STOP MAKING CHARACTERS BREAK UP WITH THE PERSON THEY LOVE FOR THEIR OWN GOOD WITHOUT TELLING THEM WHY.

Phew. Glad I got that off my chest.

Moving on with my review… which includes unavoidable spoilers for The Friend Zone, so proceed with caution.

The Happy Ever After Playlist picks up two years after the events of The Friend Zone, moving the best friend from book #1 to center stage.

Sloan may not seem to be a prime candidate for a romance lead — her story in The Friend Zone (spoiler alert!) was a tragic one. Just one week before her wedding, Sloan’s fiancé was hit by a drunk driver while riding his motorcycle and eventually died.

As The Happy Ever After Playlist opens, Sloan thinks of her life as being in the “in between”. Since Brandon’s death, she’s stopped cooking, stopped painting original pieces (focusing instead on Etsy commissions for pieces such as astronaut cats), and basically just gets by. If not for best friend Kristen and her husband Josh, Sloan would barely even eat.

All that changes when Sloan heads to the cemetery to visit Brandon’s grave, and nearly hits a dog wandering on the road… who then jumps into her car through her sunroof. What’s Sloan to do? She takes him home, tries in vain to contact his owner, and after a couple of weeks, has settled into a happier sort of life with Tucker as company — until Tucker’s owner Jason finally returns Sloan’s many calls.

He’s a musician, has been working in Australia, but is now headed home and wants his dog back. After some initial resistance, Sloan agrees, but only if Jason proves he’s worthy. As Jason and Sloan banter via text and then phone calls, a spark of life comes back to Sloan. She’s having fun, she’s enjoying getting to know this random person, and (after seeing his picture), she thinks she might actually be open to meeting him… although only if they call it an appointment, not a date.

Needless to say, Sloan and Jason have amazing chemistry, and within days, are inseparable. As Sloan works through her complicated feelings about allowing herself to be open to attraction and possibly romance, Jason is beyond perfect, making clear his desire and interest, but only at her own pace and comfort level.

Things become even more complicated once Sloan shows Kristen a picture of Jason… and Kristen freaks out. Does Sloan even know who she’s kinda-sorta dating? That’s Jackson Waters, the recording artist behind the cover of The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald**, the song Sloan listened to on repeat during the worst of her days of grief. Jason is poised for stardom, about to leave on tour, with a major record label promoting him and propelling him into the spotlight. But how can Jason leave when things are just getting started with Sloan, and how can Sloan fit into the high-pressure world of a world-famous rock star?

**And believe me, it makes me mad that the Jackson Waters version of this song (and its accompanying claymation music video) does not actually exist!!

The Happy Ever After Playlist is engaging right from the start, although in some ways, it feels like two (or possibly three) different stories smushed into one. At the beginning, it seems to be about Sloan allowing love back into her life, and that’s quite lovely to see. Her cautious first steps toward happiness turn into a running leap, once she and Jason start to connect on a deeper level. They realize almost instantly that what’s between them is the real thing.

Midway through the book, the storyline turns much more into the celebrity romance trope — how can an ordinary person fit into the world of fame and paparazzi and constant scrutiny, much less endless months on the road?

Jason and Sloan are worth rooting for, but it drives me mad (see my declaration at the start of this review) when one romantic partner makes a decision (usually a break-up) for what they perceive to be the good of the other person, without even telling them why or giving them the opportunity to discuss it. Of course, in a romance, this is the 3rd act big blowup when all seems lost, but we know (because romance) that it will all work out, and that there will likely be some amazing, over-the-top big moment to bring it all to a happy ever after. (There is).

I really did enjoy The Happy Ever After Playlist as a whole, but certain fights and then the breakup made me a little batty. If ever a situation calls for couples’ counseling, or at least a neutral third party, this is it. These two characters do not do a great job of talking to one another in crucial moments. Yay, they work it all out eventually, but the pain and suffering before they get there could have been avoided through actual communication.

As in The Friend Zone, the men in this second book are once again very manly indeed. Hunting, home improvement skills, and general outdoorsy-ness abound. Jason is a sensitive singer/songwriter/guitarist, but he’s also great with his hands (in all ways), can fix anything, and goes camping on remote islands for the fun of it.

Overall, The Happy Ever After Playlist is a great audiobook listen. Despite the plot points that bugged me, I never wanted to stop once I started listening, and the narrators do an excellent job bringing the characters to life and conveying their banter, humor, fights, and sorrows.

I will absolutely finish the trilogy, although based on the peek I took at the 3rd book’s synopsis, it seems to only have a very tangential connection to the first and second books. Still, I know what I’ll be listening to next!

29Sep2024

Audiobook Review: The Friend Zone by Abby Jimenez

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The Friend Zone
Series: The Friend Zone, #1
Author: Abby Jimenez
Narrators: Teddy Hamilton and Erin Mallon
Publisher: Forever
Publication date: June 11, 2019
Print length: 372 pages
Audio length: 9 hours 32 minutes
Genre: Contemporary romance
Source: Library
Rating:

Kristen Petersen doesn’t do drama, will fight to the death for her friends, and has no room in her life for guys who just don’t get her. She’s also keeping a big secret: facing a medically necessary procedure that will make it impossible for her to have children.

Planning her best friend’s wedding is bittersweet for Kristen—especially when she meets the best man, Josh Copeland. He’s funny, sexy, never offended by her mile-wide streak of sarcasm, and always one chicken enchilada ahead of her hangry. Even her dog, Stuntman Mike, adores him. The only catch: Josh wants a big family someday. Kristen knows he’d be better off with someone else, but as their attraction grows, it’s harder and harder to keep him at arm’s length.

The Friend Zone will have you laughing one moment and grabbing for tissues the next as it tackles the realities of infertility and loss with wit, heart, and a lot of sass.

After loving Abby Jimenez’s Part of Your World trilogy, I knew I needed to go back and read her earlier books. The Friend Zone, the author’s debut novel, is a bit bumpier and less polished than her later books, but it definitely shows the heart and spirit that are such quintessential elements of her writing.

Kristen and Josh have a meet-cute that’s not particularly cute at all: He rear-ends her truck when she hits the brakes without warning. After a contentious exchange, they part ways, never expecting to see one another again… only to come face to face moments later at the fire station where he’s newly stationed.

Josh has moved to LA after a bad break-up back in North Dakota, joining his best friend Brandon at the fire house and hoping to get a fresh start. Brandon’s fiancée Sloan is Kristen’s best friend, so it was inevitable that Kristen and Josh would bump into one another… just maybe not quite so literally.

Putting aside their tension-filled first meeting, Josh ends up taking a temporary job doing carpentry work for Kristen’s home-based doggy supply business. Kristen’s lost-distance boyfriend Tyler is reaching the end of his military service and is due to move in with Kristen once he’s out, but she’s having serious second thoughts. Realizing that Josh is not only fun to be around but also very attractive, Kristen does whatever she can to keep him firmly in the “friend zone”, but there’s no denying that sparks are flying all over the place whenever she and Josh hang out.

Kristen’s life is further complicated by her health. Since her teens, she’s suffered with extreme cramping and heavy, nonstop periods caused by uterine fibroids, and has decided to go ahead with a hysterectomy, scheduled for a few weeks after Sloan and Brandon’s wedding. She knows this is the right choice for her — the only sure way to finally end the constant pain and anemia she’s dealt with for so many years.. But as she and Josh begin to acknowledge their deepening feelings, Kristen’s medical condition gives her yet another source of heartache: Josh comes from a huge family, and has talked frequently of his dream of having a huge family himself. How can she get involved with a man whose dreams so clearly don’t match her reality?

The Friend Zone pulled me in right from the start, although its initial upbeat vibe clashes later with the seriousness of Kristen’s pain and emotional distress. When the plot takes an unexpectedly tragic turn, it feels sort of like two entirely separate books got mashed together.

Parts are very good: I enjoyed the banter and developing connection between Josh and Kristen. Her tactics to keep him in the friend zone are decidedly goofy and quite fun to read about. Flipping between their two perspectives from chapter to chapter gives readers a chance to hear both sides of the story, understand why they act as they do, and see how their decisions and actions affect the other person, whose knowledge in different situations may be limited and missing key information.

Other parts drove me a bit batty. The men in The Friend Zone come across as ultra macho — either military or firefighters, gun owners, hunters, motorcycle riders. There’s a scene where Josh picks Kristen up and carries her over his shoulder to get her to talk to him… and that’s a big no for me.

As for Kristen, I was frustrated by her internalized beliefs. I understand that the author was trying to accurately portray the struggles and emotional distress of what Kristen experiences, but I still found it disturbing to hear Kristen continually think of herself as damaged and less than desirable because of her inability to have children. I might have appreciated hearing this internal dialogue more if it was coupled with therapy or some counterbalance to convey a healthier message. I get that we’re inside Kristen’s head and she’s holding onto unhealthy beliefs about herself, but at the same time, as a reader who’s dealt with fertility challenges, I think seeing Kristen confront these beliefs on the page would present a more well-rounded approach to the issue.

One romance trope that I particularly dislike is when a character makes a decision for the good of their love interest — often, ending a relationship — without actually discussing the situation with their partner. That trope is in full force in The Friend Zone, and it really bothered me. Kristen spends a good portion of the book making decisions that cause deep pain for her and Josh, but never talks with him about what’s going on. So much heartache could have been avoided if she’d been honest with him and trusted him to work through it with her.

Complaints aside, there are also elements that I loved, such as when Josh finally realizes that the way to reach past Kristen’s defenses and get her to hear him is through logic and facts. The way he does this is amazing, and I found it incredibly touching.

Overall, The Friend Zone captured and held my attention, and when the plot takes a turn in the latter part of the book, I could barely catch my breath.

A word to the wise: Proceed with caution if you’re listening to the audiobook! I was on the highway during rush hour when I got to the intensely emotional part of the book, and don’t recommend trying to navigate traffic while choked up and teary-eyed!

As I mentioned, The Friend Zone doesn’t come across as quite as polished as Abby Jimenez’s later books, but it still managed to draw me in and engage my emotions. With her signature mix of humor and traumatic situations and events, it’s a roller coaster ride with a beautiful love story at its heart.

I’m eager to continue the trilogy that starts with The Friend Zone. Next up: The Happy Ever After Playlist.

Caution: DO NOT READ THE SYNOPSIS FOR THE HAPPY EVER AFTER PLAYLIST BEFORE FINISHING THE FRIEND ZONE! I did, unfortunately, and got the spoiler of all spoilers for the major event in the 2nd half of The Friend Zone. Learn from my mistakes!

12Sep2024

Book Review: Magical Meet Cute by Jean Meltzer

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Magical Meet Cute
Author: Jean Meltzer
Publisher: Mira
Publication date: August 27, 2024
Length: 400 pages
Genre: Contemporary romance
Source: Library
Rating:

Is he the real deal…or did she truly summon a golem?

Faye Kaplan used to be engaged. She also used to have a successful legal practice. But she much prefers her new life as a potter in Woodstock, New York. The only thing missing is the perfect guy.

Not that she needs one. She’s definitely happy alone.

That is, until she finds her town papered with anti-Semitic flyers after yet another failed singles event at the synagogue. Desperate for comfort, Faye drunkenly turns to the only thing guaranteed to soothe her—pottery. A golem protector is just what her town needs…and adding all the little details to make him her ideal man can’t hurt, right?

When a seriously hot stranger mysteriously turns up the next day, Greg seems too good to be true—if you ignore the fact that Faye hit him with her bike. And that he subsequently lost his memory…

But otherwise, the man checks Every. Single. Box. Causing Faye to wonder if Greg’s sudden and spicy appearance might be anything but a coincidence.

In this Jewish-themed romance, Faye Kaplan enjoys her life in the close-knit community of Woodstock, New York. After her fiance dumped her several years earlier, she sold her Manhattan legal practice, moved to a quiet town, and rediscovered her love of ceramics and creating.

A self-described “Jewitch”, she also discovered Jewish magical rituals, which she imbues with her own sense of creativity and spirituality. She’s still hurt and lonely after her break-up, and carries deeper pain stemming from growing up with an abusive mother, who eventually injured her in such a way that her dreams of pursuing her artwork professionally were shattered. Mostly, though, Faye is happy with her circle of close friends and a supportive community.

Her sense of safety is shattered when anti-Semitic flyers appear in town. Suddenly, Faye feels targeted, even in her own home. After a night of self-soothing via wine and magical rituals, she’s ready to reengage with the town’s rally against hate — and then hits a stranger with her bike, landing him in the hospital.

The stranger is tall, muscular, gorgeous, and red-haired, and due to the accident, has a head injury and amnesia. His speech functions are impaired, and he doesn’t know who he is, nor does he have any ID on him. As the hospital prepares to send him to a shelter upon discharge, Faye feels it’s her responsibility to take care of the man she injured, and against the advice of everyone who cares for her, she decided to bring him back to her home until he recovers.

Somewhat randomly, he chooses the name Greg, and as he regains his powers of speech, he and Faye get to know one another. He seems to be the perfect man — he helps her with anything she needs, he plays Scrabble with her, he reads her books, he likes her temperamental dog. But as Faye realizes just how perfectly he matches everything she might want in a man, she thinks back to that wine-soaked night of magic… and wonders if Greg is actually real, or whether she accidentally created a golem, a mythical protector of Jewish legend, called forth to protect the Jewish community in times of need.

As the plot moves forward, we see a growing connection between Faye and Greg, increasing threats from the anti-Semitic element hidden within the town, and Faye’s confusion about who (or what) Greg really is. There’s a lot to like about this quirky romance, but I think the author is trying to do too much, and Faye’s belief that Greg is truly a golem strains all credulity.

The sense of community in Magical Meet Cute is lovely. It’s easy to see why this town has become a refuge and a place of safety for Faye, a woman not truly recovered from childhood trauma and heartbreak. I enjoyed seeing her close friends and the way the people of the town come together in a crisis.

The storyline about anti-Semitism has the potential to be powerful, but shoe-horned into a romance, it feels a bit discordant, especially once Greg decides that the best way to protect Faye is to infiltrate the local cell of anti-Semites and figure out who’s responsible for their threats and violence. Greg’s investigatory scenes are tonally a mismatch for the rest of the book, where the romantic and mystical elements are emphasized.

Faye’s belief that Greg is not a real person, but is in fact a golem… well, it’s just so out-there that I couldn’t help engaging in some heavy-duty eye-rolling. There’s a scene of Faye trying to banish the golem that’s perhaps intended to be funny… but just made me cringe. Hard.

This is now the 3rd book I’ve read by Jean Meltzer, and while all three have been enjoyable in many ways, I’ve realized that the author’s approach to humor just isn’t a good match for me. In each of the books, there are scenes that are clearly meant to be funny, usually involving some slapstick or physical comedy, but they fall flat and feel embarrassing, not silly or cute.

The writing itself is also a mixed bag. It feels to me that the author is trying too hard to incorporate Jewish bits. It’s nice to have the cultural flavor, but there are times in Magical Meet Cute where it’s over the top and doesn’t make sense. For example:

Goddess give her strength. The man was built like a challah.

What does that even mean? Are his muscles braided? Because that sounds like it would hurt.

I did like a lot about Magical Meet Cute, but as with some of the author’s other books, the balance between light and serious seems off. Anti-Semitism and childhood abuse that results in a permanent disability are heavy subjects… and mixing them into a story where (among other things) an octogenarian delights in showing off her stun gun, someone uses kosher salami as a weapon, and there’s a running gag about Faye’s dog leaving… um… surprises on the floor makes this feel as though the author couldn’t quite decide what story she was trying to tell.

It pains me to not be able to rave about this book (and the others I’ve read by Jean Meltzer), as I love the idea of incorporating Jewish elements in a romance novel, and want to support writers who create strong Jewish women as central characters. Something about the writing style and approach makes Magical Meet Cute a mixed experience for me, and at this point, I’m on the fence about reading future books by this author.

8Sep2024

Book Review: Pardon My Frenchie by Farrah Rochon

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Pardon My Frenchie
Author: Farrah Rochon
Publisher: Forever
Publication date: June 4, 2024
Length: 384 pages
Genre: Contemporary romance
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley; audiobook via Boundless download (library loan)
Rating:

The New York Times bestselling author of Almost There delivers the start of a new rom-com series with an enemies-to-lovers romance, perfect for readers of Abby Jimenez and Jasmine Guillory.

Ashanti Wright is ecstatic over the success of her dog boarding business, Barkingham Palace. In fact, it has become so successful that Ashanti has plans to expand her empire with a doggie bake shop. There’s just one problem, the building she’s had her eye on has just been sold to the surly grandson of one of her favorite customers.

Thaddeus Sims is not a dog person. He’s barely a person’s person. But when his grandmother is transferred to a senior living facility that doesn’t accept pets, the former army officer agrees to care for her annoying Standard Poodle, Puddin’. After all, it was with his grandmother’s help that Thad was able to buy the building that will soon house The PX, a sports bar/all-around hangout space for former servicemen that he plans to open.

Puddin’ and Ashanti’s French Bulldog, Duchess, have become a bit of a sensation on Barkingham Palace’s livestream because of their budding romance. When a video of the dogs sharing a doggy treat Lady and the Tramp-style goes viral, their owners are sucked into a media frenzy that captures the nation by storm…and creates some sparks for their owners too.

After loving Farrah Rochon’s The Boyfriend Project trilogy, I was really excited to see that she has a new contemporary romance series kicking off. The fact that it features adorable doggos and a business called Barkingham Palace is icing on the cake!

In Pardon My Frenchie (yes, that title is totally adorable), Ashanti Wright is a small business owner who works nonstop to keep her doggy day care going while also raising her twin teen-aged younger sisters. Ashanti’s business, Barkingham Palace, is very successful, but their small space means growth is limited. Meanwhile, Ashanti’s side business, home-baked doggy treats called Duchess Delights, is ready to take off — but there’s only so many treats she can produce in her home kitchen. Between that, and keeping an eye on her sisters’ school attendance, she more than has her hands full.

Ashanti’s dream is to buy a house she’s had an eye on, with a great location and room for her to expand both the day care and the baking — but she misses the opportunity when the grandson of one of her favorite customers arrives in New Orleans and buys it before she can even get an offer in. Thad is caring for his grandmother’s poodle Puddin’ and is skeptical of dogs in general and Ashanti’s business in particular, and the fact that she calls him out for buying “her” house doesn’t help them get off on the right foot.

However… Puddin’ and Ashanti’s French bulldog Duchess are in doggy love, and they’re a viral sensation thanks to getting caught in a super cute moment on the doggy cam. Puddin’ and Duchess’s wild popularity can be a huge boost to both Thad and Ashanti’s businesses, if they can get past their initial disagreements and work together. Of course, their immediate sense of attraction doesn’t hurt one bit.

Ashanti and Thad have great chemistry (just like Duchess and Puddin’), and despite complications, there’s no doubt that they’ll end up together — but it’s really sweet and enjoyable to watch them get there.

Farrah Rochon once again creates a compelling romance where the love story is just one piece of the greater story. Both Ashanti and Thad have really interesting businesses and backstories, and their family histories are well-developed too. They’re also surrounded by friends, coworkers, and family, providing them with much more in their lives beyond the will-they-won’t-they romantic entanglement.

I enjoyed Ashanti and Thad very much as people on their own, and appreciated each of them having a strong sense of commitment to their responsibilities, to the communities they serve, and to their families. Ashanti’s doggy business is adorable of course, and it’s really fun to see the ups and down of a day in the life of Barkingham Palace.

The book synopsis describes Pardon My Frenchie as the start of a new series, and while I don’t see anything online yet about a next book, I can imagine that Ashanti’s two best friends are likely to be the main characters in upcoming books, and I’ll be there to read them!

Pardon My Frenchie has terrific human interest elements, in addition to very cute dogs, and is sure to please readers who love a bit of canine fun mixed in with their romance.

A note on my reading experience: Although I had an e-ARC of the book, I ended up waiting for the audiobook to become available through the library, and really liked it. The dual narrators provide chapters from both Ashanti and Thad’s points-of-view, and give them each very warm, evocative voices. Highly recommended.

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