Book Review: What Would Jane Austen Do? by Linda Corbett

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: What Would Jane Austen Do?
Author: Linda Corbett
Publisher: One More Chapter
Publication date: June 16, 2023
Length: 385 pages
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Source: Purchased
Rating:

It’s a truth often acknowledged that when a journalist and Jane Austen fan girl ends up living next door to a cynical but handsome crime writer, romantic sparks will fly!

When Maddy Shaw is told her Dear Jane column has been cancelled she has no choice but to look outside of London’s rental market. That is until she’s left an idyllic country home by the black sheep of the family, long-not-so-lost Cousin Nigel.

But of course there’s a stipulation… and not only is Maddy made chair of the committee for the annual village literary festival, she also has to put up with bestselling crime author –and romance sceptic – Cameron Massey as her new neighbour.

When Maddy challenges Cameron to write romantic fiction, which he claims is so easy to do, sparks fly both on and off the page…

What Would Jane Austen Do? was a spur-of-the-moment read for me, after seeing positive comments about it by another blogger (and once again, I failed to make a note of where I found the recommendation… sorry). (The $2.99 price tag on the Kindle edition didn’t hurt either…)

This contemporary romance has a sweet, upbeat air as it follows a few well-trodden but well-loved tropes: We have a city girl relocating to a small town, quirky neighbors, and grumpy-sunshine dynamics, to name but a few. Add to that a lovable dog, a ramshackle large house in need of repair, a literary festival to organize, and lots of Jane Austen references, and it’s got all the ingredients needed for this particular type of book.

Main character Maddy is successful in her writing career, writing a “Dear Jane” column for a popular magazine in which she provides “agony aunt” advice by channeling Jane Austen — until she’s let go for suspect reasons and has to figure out next steps. Conveniently, she receives word that the black sheep of the family, cousin Nigel (whom no one has heard from in decades) has passed away and left her his house in the countryside, with the stipulation that she must live in it for at least one year, or forfeit rights to it entirely.

With nothing else pending workwise, Maddy figures she’ll move in, clean the please up, then sell in a year and move back to London. She doesn’t count on the beauty of the old house or the community she’s soon pulled into, nor does she expect to learn that Nigel was totally beloved in this small town where he’d resided (unbeknownst to the family) for over twenty years.

At the same time, Maddy discovers that bestselling crime author Cameron Massey (whose real name is Luke) also lives in the same town, which doesn’t exactly thrill her: They’d had a recent on-air spat when they were guests on a radio show focusing on the romance and crime genres, during which Cameron was gruff and condescending. But Maddy starts to see another side of him when he’s foisted upon her as a lodger while his own home is being renovated. Soon, the two bond over his dog Buster as well as the rest of the shenanigans in their small town.

As if Maddy doesn’t have enough on her plate, she also learns that Nigel had been the chair of a local (unsuccessful) literary festival and she’s expected to step into his shoes, and also stumbles across a decades-old mystery about Nigel’s past and how the family misfit ended up so well-off and well-loved.

What Would Jane Austen Do? is a pleasant, engaging read. There are no major surprises here, but it’s still a fun bit of entertainment. Does Maddy chairing the festival make sense? No. Does the mystery about Nigel — with a connection to a formerly famous rock band as well as one of Luke’s bestsellers — really matter or get resolved in a big, “aha!” sort of way? Nope. Does the Big Misunderstanding of Luke and Maddy’s developing romance feel significant or get explained satisfactorily? No again. But all this is okay — the ups and downs are part of the whole, and overall, Maddy’s experiences adapting to small town life and finding a place to belong are sweet and enjoyable enough to make this a nice escapist read.

A final note: The Jane Austen bits don’t actually make all that much of a difference to the story. There are quotes from Austen’s novels at the start of each chapter (which is really fun), and every once in a while Maddy compares her own experiences to those of Austen characters, but the theme is a bit underplayed and ultimately not very central to the plotlines.

Overall, What Would Jane Austen Do? is a fluffy, light book that I read in a day — a great choice for a lazy summer day when you just want to relax and enjoy a comfort read.

13Aug2023

Book Review: Happiness for Beginners by Katherine Center

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Happiness for Beginners
Author: Katherine Center
Publisher: Griffin
Publication date: March 24, 2015
Length: 352 pages
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Source: Purchased
Rating:

A year after getting divorced, Helen Carpenter, thirty-two, lets her annoying, ten years younger brother talk her into signing up for a wilderness survival course. It’s supposed to be a chance for her to pull herself together again, but when she discovers that her brother’s even-more-annoying best friend is also coming on the trip, she can’t imagine how it will be anything other than a disaster. Thus begins the strangest adventure of Helen’s well-behaved life: three weeks in the remotest wilderness of a mountain range in Wyoming where she will survive mosquito infestations, a surprise summer blizzard, and a group of sorority girls.

Yet, despite everything, the vast wilderness has a way of making Helen’s own little life seem bigger, too. And, somehow the people who annoy her the most start teaching her the very things she needs to learn. Like how to stand up for herself. And how being scared can make you brave. And how sometimes you just have to get really, really lost before you can even have a hope of being found.

Katherine Center has become a go-to author for me, but I hadn’t gone back and read any of her earlier books. My introduction to this author was the 2018 novel How to Walk Away, and I’ve read all her books published since then. Fortunately, I stumbled across Happiness for Beginners, and I’m so glad that I finally gave it a try.

As the story opens, Helen is a 32-year-old teacher whose life for the past few years has, frankly, sucked. She’s divorced from her alcoholic husband and has been stuck in her own sadness for quite a while now, desperately in need of a change. Despite her rocky relationship with her younger brother Duncan, whom she barely tolerates, she grabs onto his suggestion of a wilderness backpacking course as a way to shake up her life, but then is dismayed to learn that Duncan’s best friend Jake will be participating as well — and what’s more, that Duncan has promised Jake that Helen will drive him to Wyoming for the start of the course.

The wilderness course is a 3-week backcountry hiking adventure that has a reputation for being incredibly difficult and dangerous. Helen could have gone to Paris, but she feels like this is how she’ll find a new outlook on life. She does not need Jake tagging along, although she’s surprised to learn just what a great companion he can be during their road trip. Still, an ill-advised kiss later, she decides that any closeness with Jake is a mistake, and informs him that once the backpacking trip starts, they’re to act like strangers.

As the group sets off into the wilderness, Helen finds herself both the oldest in the group and a total outsider. The others are mostly college-aged jocks and sorority sisters, many participating for the sake of college credits, and most are in much better shape than she is. Helen finds herself stumbling along at the back of the pack, picked on by the trip leader, and excluded from the easy companionship she sees developing between the rest of the group.

Her situation improves over time as she proves herself through determination and picking up wilderness skills (she’s an awesome map-reader!), and she becomes friends with a younger woman on the trip whose academic focus is the study of happiness. With Windy’s coaching, Helen begins to learn to center herself with appreciation and being present in the good moments, and the trip eventually brings the personal transformation she’d so hoped for… although she has to deal with heartache along the way too.

At first, I was annoyed by the plot of Happiness for Beginners. I think I may have been ruined for this sort of fiction by Cheryl Strayed’s Wild (which bugged the hell out of me). Call me old-fashioned, but I have little patience for characters who set off on adventures that they’re totally unprepared for and shrug off warnings about the risks — and even less patience for stories where these unprepared characters end up totally fine and triumphant, making it seem like anyone could… I don’t know… hike the entire Appalachian Trail on a whim.

Putting that aside, though, Helen really grew on me as a character, particularly as we learn more about her childhood and difficult family situation. Having her brother’s best friend as her companion and love interest is an unusual set-up. Beyond their great chemistry, one of the elements I appreciated about Helen and Jake as a couple is how her developing appreciation for Jake helped her begin to see Duncan in a new and better light.

The adventure elements are great, and I really enjoyed vicariously hiking up and down trails, camping under the stars, and seeing the glorious sites. (I was happy it was only a vicarious experience, though, given the descriptions of how gross and smelly they all were by the end of the three weeks). In fact, I got a little miffed that we didn’t get even more of the hike — the narrative skips ahead days at a time in some points, and I get it — seeing them hike trails for twenty-one straight days could get repetitive — but at the same time, I wanted just a few more days of hiking.

The characters are terrific, the love story elements are believable and nicely built, and I loved the setting and the overall premise. For fans who’ve discovered Katherine Center through her more recent novels, I definitely recommend checking out Happiness for Beginners too.

Netflix released a movie version of Happiness for Beginners last month, and even though at first glance the casting and tone seem different from what I’d expect after reading the book, I’m up for giving it a shot sometime soon. Here’s the trailer:

What do you think? Would you watch this movie?

29Jul2023

Book Review: With Love, From Cold World by Alicia Thompson

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: With Love, From Cold World
Author: Alicia Thompson
Publisher: Berkley
Publication date: August 1. 2023
Length: 400 pages
Genre: Contemporary fiction/romance
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher, via NetGalley
Rating:

She has a to-do list a mile long and falling for her coworker isn’t on it–yet somehow he’s become her top priority in this romantic comedy from the national bestselling author of Love in the Time of Serial Killers.

Lauren Fox is the bookkeeper for Cold World, a tourist destination that’s always a winter wonderland despite being located in humid Orlando, Florida. Sure, it’s ranked way below any of the trademarked amusement parks and maybe foot traffic could be better. But it’s a fun place to work, even if “fun” isn’t exactly Lauren’s middle name.

Her coworker Asa Williamson, on the other hand, is all about finding ways to enliven his days at Cold World–whether that means organizing the Secret Santa or teasing Lauren. When the owner asks Lauren and Asa to propose something (anything, really) to raise more revenue, their rivalry heats up as they compete to come up with the best idea. But the situation is more dire than they thought, and it might take these polar opposites working together to save the day. If Asa thought Lauren didn’t know how to enjoy herself, he’s surprised by how much he enjoys spending time together. And if Lauren thought Asa wasn’t serious about anything, she’s surprised by how seriously he seems to take her.

As Lauren and Asa work to save their beloved wintery spot, they realize the real attraction might be the heat generating between them.

In With Love, From Cold World, workplace tension between a pair of opposites hides a chemistry that pulls an unlikely couple together. Lauren is the buttoned-up bookkeeper who likes to keep her head down, focus on her spreadsheets, and — just for fun — do her to-do list items in random order. Asa is the free-spirited, blue-haired, tattooed jack-of-all trades who seemingly does a little of everything at Cold World, has no interest in moving up to a management position, and is ardently devoted to hosting Secret Santa exchanges every year.

Asa also seems to take an odd pleasure in teasingly calling Lauren a robot and trying to wind her up, which she SO doesn’t appreciate. And Lauren fears that she’s made a lifelong enemy due to a gaffe at her very first company holiday part, during which she suggested that Secret Santa was ultimately a waste of money (gasp!).

When Lauren and Asa are tasked by Cold World’s owner to come up with ideas for how to reenergize Cold World and increase revenues, they initially focus on competition rather than collaboration, but as circumstances force them together over and over, their enemy status shows signs of thawing and turning into something more.

There’s really a lot to enjoy about With Love, From Cold World. For starters, Cold World itself! The idea of a Florida attraction where visitors get to ice skate and play in the snow (in summer!) really does sound delightful.

Lauren and Asa themselves are both deeper than they initially appear to be. At first glance, they seem to fit very specific romance tropes — she’s the nerdy, uptight woman hiding her inner fire (and who’s much more beautiful than she realizes); he’s the daring, unconstrained artistic sort who believes in taking chances. They unlock something in each other and reveal their true selves…

And yes, that’s true here, but there’s more going on as well. Lauren was raised in the foster care system from a young age, and while she lucked out in having a kinder foster parent than many others she knew, she still grew up without the support or love of a family. She finds security in her orderly life, and is deeply afraid of opening herself up to rejection if she dares to start truly connecting with others.

Asa was kicked out of his family home after a parishioner sent his pastor father a photo of Asa kissing a boy. At age eighteen, Asa was on his own, cut off from family and support, but found a place to belong at Cold World. No wonder he’s still there ten years later — this is a place where he’s found acceptance, feels valued, and has created a found family for himself.

Lauren and Asa are a slow burn, and they constantly get in their own way when it comes to recognizing their connection and pursuing a relationship. Lauren in particular has a hard time communicating, and her difficulty with trust and defensiveness, creating barriers rather than risking being hurt, threatens to sink their relationship before it really has a chance to develop.

I enjoyed seeing each of them work through the obstacles keeping them apart and start to think about how to take the next steps in their own lives, as well as together. The Cold World setting is quite fun (if a little corny), and the dynamic of the larger friend group is really entertaining as well.

With Love, From Cold World is the second novel by Alicia Thompson, following last year’s Love in the Time of Serial Killers. After enjoying both of these books, I’m eager to see what she writes next!

15Jul2023

Book Review: The Hookup Plan (The Boyfriend Project, #3) by Farrah Rochon

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The Hookup Plan
Series: The Boyfriend Project, #3
Author: Farrah Rochon
Publisher: Forever
Publication date: August 2, 2022
Length: 368 pages
Genre: Contemporary romance
Source: Library
Rating:

Strong female friendships and a snappy enemies-to-lovers theme take center stage in this highly anticipated romantic comedy from the USA Today bestselling author of The Dating Playbook.

Successful pediatric surgeon London Kelley just needs to find some balance and de-stress. According to her friends Samiah and Taylor, what London really needs is a casual hookup. A night of fun with no strings. But no one—least of all London—expected it to go down at her high school reunion with Drew Sullivan, millionaire, owner of delicious abs, and oh yes, her archnemesis.

Now London is certain the road to hell is paved with good sex. Because she’s found out the real reason Drew’s back in Austin: to decide whether her beloved hospital remains open. Worse, Drew is doing everything he can to show her that he’s a decent guy who actually cares. But London’s not falling for it. Because while sleeping with the enemy is one thing, falling for him is definitely not part of the plan.

The Hookup Plan is the 3rd book in a trilogy about a trio of women who meet by discovering that they’re all dating the same cheating conman, and rather than turning on each other, they connect and become best friends. And while these books are romances, the women’s friendship is the true highlight of the overarching story.

In The Hookup Plan, pediatric surgeon London Kelley is the main character. She works long, stressful days at her underfunded public hospital, and always puts her patients first. She’s kind, caring, and supportive when it comes to the children in her care, but hard as nails and not afraid to take a stand when it comes to the hospital administration.

London has had a long, dry spell when it comes to men. First of all, who has time for dating? And secondly, after the disastrous attempt at dating that led to her meeting Samiah and Taylor, London has mainly given up hope — although the three made a pact early on to eventually find boyfriends by bettering themselves. It’s worked for Samiah and Taylor — both are happily in love. For London, her “boyfriend project” goal is to find a hobby, and while she’s gotten very into crocheting, that’s not exactly improving her love life.

At her 15th high school reunion. London is annoyed to encounter Drew Sullivan, her archnemesis from way back when. She’d been clearly and comfortably #1 in her class until his arrival junior year, but from then on, the two battled for first place and ended up as co-valedictorians. For a girl whose father only paid attention when she won something big enough for him to brag about, “co”-anything just wasn’t good enough. No wonder London resented and loathed Drew as much as she did.

But, adult Drew is charming and very hot (and very rich, although London doesn’t care about that). They have a no-strings one-night-stand after the reunion, which turns into a two-night-stand… until London discovers Monday morning that Drew is also heading up the team set to audit her hospital and recommend whether or not to sell it to a private company.

As the two continue their supposedly sex-only encounters at night and interact professionally during the day, they can’t escape one another’s company, and London eventually has to admit that maybe there’s more to their connection than just the (incredibly smoking) physical relationship. Meanwhile, her hospital’s fate rests in Drew’s hands, and she has big decisions to make about her professional future as well.

I enjoyed London and Drew’s chemistry, but other pieces of the plot felt underbaked to me. Drew is a former hedge fund manager who’s worth hundreds of millions (there’s an ongoing joke about how his fancy New York apartment even has views of Central Park from the bathroom), so why is he doing hands-on work at a county hospital in Texas? His new company and his role don’t make a ton of sense to me.

As with the other books in the series, the plot points regarding the workplace and the complications there hang too heavily over the romantic elements. It’s good to see London in her element as a doctor and a leader, but certain situations (such as struggles with the hospital administration) are left hanging, or are set up but then resolved off the page.

I wished for more time with Samiah and Taylor in this book. While the women’s friendship is still the underpinning of the story, it felt as though we saw less of them in this book than in the previous two. (By the end, it’s clear that they’re both doing well, experiencing great success with the professional goals they set for themselves, and are happily in love!).

London and Drew clearly have great physical chemistry, and even though it takes a while for them to acknowledge that they’ve caught feelings too, their progression from enemies-with-benefits to true partnership and romance is well described and seems well-earned. London’s family situation gets addressed as well, and I appreciated seeing how seriously she takes her role as an older sister and her commitment to making sure her father’s young children don’t have the same sorts of trauma she’s carried with her for so long.

As a whole, I’ve really enjoyed the Boyfriend Project trilogy, and The Hookup Plan works well as a grand finale. The women’s friendship is what really makes these books special, above and beyond the fun romantic entanglements.

Interested? Check out my reviews of the previous two books in the series:

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8Jul2023

Book Review: The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The Seven Year Slip
Author: Ashley Poston
Publisher: Berkley
Publication date: June 27. 2023
Length: 352 pages
Genre: Contemporary fiction/romance
Source: Purchased
Rating:

Sometimes, the worst day of your life happens, and you have to figure out how to live after it.

So Clementine forms a plan to keep her heart safe: stay busy, work hard, find someone decent to love, and try to remember to chase the moon. The last one is silly and obviously metaphorical, but her aunt always told her that you needed at least one big dream to keep going. And for the last year, that plan has gone off without a hitch. Mostly. The love part is hard because she doesn’t want to get too close to anyone—she isn’t sure her heart can take it.

And then she finds a strange man standing in the kitchen of her late aunt’s apartment. A man with kind eyes and a Southern drawl and a taste for lemon pies. The kind of man that, before it all, she would’ve fallen head-over-heels for. And she might again.

Except, he exists in the past. Seven years ago, to be exact. And she, quite literally, lives seven years in his future.

Her aunt always said the apartment was a pinch in time, a place where moments blended together like watercolors. And Clementine knows that if she lets her heart fall, she’ll be doomed.

After all, love is never a matter of time—but a matter of timing.

An overworked book publicist with a perfectly planned future hits a snag when she falls in love with her temporary roommate…only to discover he lives seven years in the past, in this witty and wise new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Dead Romantics.

It’s been a while since I’ve read a really satisfying time slip novel… and The Seven Year Slip absolutely delivers.

Clementine works as a book publicist, and has plans worked out for every aspect of her life. Her aunt Analea — vibrant, spontaneous, vivacious, always provided the spark in Clementine’s life, whisking her away for world travels, ready to explore, to taste, to try, to experience. But after Analea’s death, the joy has leached out of Clementine’s life, and moving into the apartment bequeathed to her by her aunt just drives home how much she’s lost.

Until she returns home one day, not to her stacks of unpacked boxes, but to the apartment as it was during Analea’s lifetime… and with a very cute guy zipping around the place, offering to make her dinner. Iwan informs Clementine that his mother is a friend of her aunt’s, and her aunt has offered to sublet the apartment to him for the summer while she’s off on a journey with her niece — a journey which Clementine and Analea took seven years in the past.

Clementine finds herself reeling — but not entirely unprepared. After all, all her life, her aunt has insisted that the apartment is magic, and even told of her own seven-year-slip romance at a younger age. Clementine never truly believed the stories, of course, but now, the proof is right there in front of her eyes.

She and Iwan connect over food, family, and dreams, and they enjoy each other’s company immensely. Still, she knows that once she leaves the apartment, she’ll be back to her regular life, and who knows if the magic will work more than once?

The plot of The Seven Year Slip unfolds deliciously, with clues and interludes and interactions woven together to form a wonderful, romantic, hopeful whole. For Clementine, so immersed in grief and loss, meeting Iwan is the spark she needs to rediscover her creative side once again and rethink her true sources of happiness. We see the story through her POV, but Iwan is a lovely character and we get hints of what his side of this magical yet strange experience must have been.

The Seven Year Slip is best experienced without too many expectations or foreknowledge. The book zips by, and the plot threads come together in such a rich and unexpected way. The characters are engaging, and getting to see them as different versions of themselves is really a treat.

This story exists in the same world as the author’s previous novel, The Dead Romantics, but it’s not a sequel — there’s a nod to some of the people from that book, but if you haven’t read that one yet, it won’t take away from The Seven Year Slip at all. (Although, it is VERY good, so check that one out too!)

I really enjoyed The Seven Year Slip, and recommend it highly! It’s a perfect summer read, full of hope and love, friendship, family, and romance. After reading this author’s YA Once Upon a Con trilogy and now two of her adult novels, I can definitely say that Ashley Poston’s books are must-reads!

2Jul2023

Book Review: The Dating Playbook (The Boyfriend Project, #2) by Farrah Rochon

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The Dating Playbook
Series: The Boyfriend Project, #2
Author: Farrah Rochon
Publisher: Forever
Publication date: August 17, 2021
Length: 368 pages
Genre: Contemporary romance
Source: Library
Rating:

When a personal trainer agrees to fake date her client, all rules are out the window in this delightful romantic comedy from the USA Today bestselling author of The Boyfriend Project!

When it comes to personal training, Taylor Powell kicks serious butt. Unfortunately, her bills are piling up, rent is due, and the money situation is dire. Taylor needs more than the support of her new best friends, Samiah and London. She needs a miracle.

And Jamar Dixon might just be it. The oh-so-fine former footballer wants back into the NFL, and he wants Taylor to train him. There’s just one catch — no one can know what they’re doing. But when they’re accidentally outed as a couple, Taylor’s game plan is turned completely upside down. Is Jamar just playing to win . . . or is he playing for keeps?

What a fun bit of escapism! In The Dating Playbook (the 2nd book in a trilogy), Taylor Powell is thousands of dollar in debt, is trying to resuscitate a floundering fitness business, and can’t seem to find a way to dig her way out of her problems. Sure, her best friends Samiah and London are supportive and more than willing to help, but Taylor wants to do it on her own… somehow.

And then Jamar Dixon shows up at her pop-up fitness class. Jamar is a former NFL player whose promising career was cut short in his first season after a devastating injury on the field. Jamar approaches Taylor with a proposition: He’s seen her YouTube videos, and is impressed with her approach to training. She’s also off the grid as far as the NFL is concerned, which is perfect for him. His goal is to work himself back into playing shape with the help of a private trainer, but keep it top-secret to avoid media scrutiny until he’s ready. He offers Taylor the job, and a hefty paycheck to go with it.

The catch? She has to agree to keep it completely secret. The payoff? In addition to earning enough to get herself out of her financial mess, Jamar will also reveal her as his trainer once he goes public and will endorse her fitness business, Taylor’d Conditioning.

When the two are spotted together and Jamar is questioned about whether Taylor is his trainer, she invents a lie on the spot — she’s not training him, she’s dating him. Despite her personal commitment to never date a client, she decides to see this fake relationship through. It’s better for Jamar this way, and she’ll still get the endorsement in the end when the truth is revealed. Meanwhile, she and Jamar put together a “dating playbook” — a way to convincingly act as a couple while secretly continuing the plan to get Jamar back to football-playing fitness levels.

The fake relationship trope doesn’t always work for me, but it’s done so well here that I was willing to buy it. There are solid enough reasons established to allow me to cheer for the ruse while also waiting for the fake-to-real transition to take place. Taylor and Jamar have oodles of chemistry, the sparks fly right from the start, and it’s only a matter of time before they give in to their feelings and mutual attraction.

One of the things I really appreciate about this trilogy (The Boyfriend Project) is how important the core friendship between Taylor, Samiah, and London is. The first book was Samiah’s story, and the third will be London’s, but in each book, all three women get together to support one another, share their joys and worries, and laugh together whenever possible. Too often, the best friend role in contemporary romance novels is tucked away in the background, but in these books, the friendship between the three women is really central to the storylines and the romantic relationships. It’s wonderful to see strong, smart women who are truly there for one another (and I can’t wait to see what happens with London in the next book).

The Dating Playbook spends maybe a bit too much time describing workouts and food planning for me, but that’s a minor complaint. I really enjoyed the main couple’s dynamics, and I appreciated the depth and seriousness applied to the central conflicts in both Taylor and Jamar’s lives.

Taylor’s situation is particularly well told. She thinks of herself as the black sheep of her high-achieving family, the disappointing child who doesn’t have the impressive careers and credentials of her siblings. As she realizes that a lack of a degree is hurting her professionally, Taylor is forced to finally consider why she hated school so much, including acknowledging that she may have an undiagnosed learning challenge at the root of her struggles.

Yes, I still find the sex scenes in this series to be a bit cringey, but there aren’t all that many, so I can abide getting through those in order to enjoy the rest of the story.

The Dating Playbook is a fun 2nd book in an upbeat series, and I look forward to finishing up with book #3, The Hookup Plan.

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25Jun2023

Book Review: Hello Stranger by Katherine Center

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Hello Stranger
Author: Katherine Center
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Publication date: July 11. 2023
Length: 336 pages
Genre: Contemporary fiction/romance
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

Love isn’t blind, it’s just little blurry.

Sadie Montgomery never saw what was coming . . . Literally! One minute she’s celebrating the biggest achievement of her life—placing as a finalist in the North American Portrait Society competition—the next, she’s lying in a hospital bed diagnosed with a “probably temporary” condition known as face blindness. She can see, but every face she looks at is now a jumbled puzzle of disconnected features. Imagine trying to read a book upside down and in another language. This is Sadie’s new reality with every face she sees.

But, as she struggles to cope, hang on to her artistic dream, work through major family issues, and take care of her beloved dog, Peanut, she falls into—love? Lust? A temporary obsession to distract from the real problems in her life?—with not one man but two very different ones. The timing couldn’t be worse.

If only her life were a little more in focus, Sadie might be able to find her way. But perceiving anything clearly right now seems impossible. Even though there are things we can only find when we aren’t looking. And there are people who show up when we least expect them. And there are always, always other ways of seeing.

Hello Stranger has one of the most instantly interesting set-ups I’ve read recently. Sadie, a portrait artist, is diagnosed with a problematic brain vessel that requires immediate surgery. But when she wakes in the hospital post-surgery, the world looks very, very different.

Sadie has a condition called acquired prosopagnosia, otherwise known as “face blindness”. There’s nothing wrong with her eyes — it’s her brain that can’t make sense of the faces around her. The surgery has left her with swelling near the brain center that processes faces, and there’s no telling whether this is a permanent or temporary condition. For anyone, this would be distressing. For a portrait artist, this is also potentially career-ending — not that Sadie’s career was going all that well. In fact, right before the surgery, Sadie learned that she was a finalist in a competition that could finally give her her big breakthrough — but if she can’t see faces, how can she paint them?

Sadie’s life was already messy before the surgery — barely making ends meet through her Etsy shop, estranged from her father, stepmother, and truly evil stepsister, living in a rooftop shed that she officially is only supposed to use as a studio.

Now, with face blindness, the entire world has changed for Sadie. She literally cannot understand faces — she sees basically pixelated messes. Sure, she can focus in and see an eye or a mouth, individual features, but she has no ability to make sense of the whole. She can’t recognize people by face at all, and has to rely on hair, clothing, and other cues to figure out who she’s talking to. When dealing with kind people, that can still be okay, but not everyone around Sadie is kind (I did mention the evil stepsister, right?), and the cruelty of some of these encounters is pretty astonishing.

Without going further into the plot, I’ll just say that Sadie’s situation is both fascinating and incredibly difficult to comprehend. I fell down quite the Google rabbit-hole searching for examples of face blindness and how it’s experienced, and learned that there’s a difference between hereditary prosopagnosia (where people have it all their lives, and often don’t even realize it, since that’s how they’ve always experienced the world) and acquired prosopagnosia, usually an aftereffect of traumatic brain injury or illness. After reading stories of people who walk right by their own children without recognizing them or wonder why a strange woman is staring at them before realizing it’s themselves in a mirror, I gained a better understanding of Sadie’s new world too.

Another fascinating element here is Sadie’s conversations with her neuropsychologist about confirmation bias:

Dr. Nicole paused for a good definition. “It means that we tend to think what we think we’re going to think.”

I added all those words up. “So… if you expect to think a thing is true, you’re more likely to think it’s true?”

As Dr. Nicole goes on to explain:

“Basically we tend to decide on what the world is and who people are and how things are — and then we look for evidence that supports what we’ve already decided. And we ignore everything that doesn’t fit.”

As Sadie fits back into her life and tries to find a new approach to understanding the world around her, her assumptions and facts are repeatedly challenged by the need to rethink what she sees and question whether what she understands is true.

Hello Stranger is also a romance, and yes, the romantic plotlines are very good — but for me, it was Sadie’s unique situation and how it impacts every aspect of her life that made this book so compelling to read.

The backstory around Sadie’s family life is the hardest part of the book to accept, because it’s awful and tragic (and yet another great example of confirmation bias and its consequences). I felt so angry on Sadie’s behalf, yet by the end, could kind of see how the situation unfolded from the different characters’ differing experiences of the same events.

The book does explain that face blindness doesn’t necessarily mean the inability to understand expression (which is apparently handled by a different brain area), yet occasionally there’d be lines like:

The smug look had most definitely faded from her face

… that made me question whether this was something that Sadie could actually see or process, or if this was a glitch in the writing continuity.

I’m always fascinated by stories about unusual neurological conditions (such as the novel Left Neglected by Lisa Genova, or any of the writings of Dr. Oliver Sacks, who himself suffered from hereditary prosopagnosia) — but this is my first time reading such a tale in the context of romance.

Sadie’s story is fascinating, and the romance elements add welcome joy and hope to a story that also includes loss and dislocation. Sadie’s romantic escapades can be quite silly, but she’s such a great character that we can’t help but cheer for her. I don’t think I’ve ever read a romance novel quite like Hello Stranger, but it absolutely works.

24Jun2023

Book Review: The True Love Experiment by Christina Lauren

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The True Love Experiment
Author: Christina Lauren
Publisher: Gallery Books
Publication date: May 16. 2023
Length: 416 pages
Genre: Contemporary fiction/romance
Source: Library
Rating:

Sparks fly when a romance novelist and a documentary filmmaker join forces to craft the perfect Hollywood love story and take both of their careers to the next level—but only if they can keep the chemistry between them from taking the whole thing off script.

Felicity “Fizzy” Chen is lost. Sure, she’s got an incredible career as a beloved romance novelist with a slew of bestsellers under her belt, but when she’s asked to give a commencement address, it hits her: she hasn’t been practicing what she’s preached.

Fizzy hasn’t ever really been in love. Lust? Definitely. But that swoon-worthy, can’t-stop-thinking-about-him, all-encompassing feeling? Nope. Nothing. What happens when the optimism she’s spent her career encouraging in readers starts to feel like a lie?

Connor Prince, documentary filmmaker and single father, loves his work in large part because it allows him to live near his daughter. But when his profit-minded boss orders him to create a reality TV show, putting his job on the line, Connor is out of his element. Desperate to find his romantic lead, a chance run-in with an exasperated Fizzy offers Connor the perfect solution. What if he could show the queen of romance herself falling head-over-heels for all the world to see? Fizzy gives him a hard pass—unless he agrees to her list of demands. When he says yes, and production on The True Love Experiment begins, Connor wonders if that perfect match will ever be in the cue cards for him, too.

The True Love Experiment is the book fans have been waiting for ever since Fizzy’s debut in The Soulmate Equation. But when the lights come on and all eyes are on her, it turns out the happily ever after Fizzy had all but given up on might lie just behind the camera.

Christina Lauren books can be counted on to deliver zippy dialogue, great chemistry, entertaining characters, and unexpected plot points… and The True Love Experiment exceeds expectations with all of these! In fact, The True Love Experiment might just be my favorite Christina Lauren book yet.

Fizzy Chen is a character we’ve met before — she’s the main character’s zany best friend in The Soulmate Equation. Apparently, fans have been clamoring for more Fizzy ever since the earlier book, and now she gets her own chance to shine!

Fizzy is a very successful romance author in her late 30s, who’s reveled throughout her adulthood in her casual, open-to-anything approach to sex and dating. But as The True Love Experiment opens, she’s realizing that she may finally have just plain run out. She’s never been in love, and (in a very funny scene) she explains to best friend Jess that she may in fact have now dated every single man in San Diego. With these eye-opening revelations, Fizzy hits a major writer’s block — how can she write compelling romance when she’s not sure she actually believes in it anymore?

We also meet Connor, a gorgeous guy (whom Fizzy initially categorizes as romance tropes Hot Millionaire Executive, Hot Brit, and DILF) who’s a completely devoted divorced dad and the producer of environmentally-conscious documentaries. When his boss gives him an ultimatum — produce a money-making new dating show to save the production company, or be out of a job — Connor has to weigh his professional integrity against the reality that if he loses this job, he’ll have to move to LA to find work, which means giving up his role in his daughter’s daily life. Reluctantly, he commits to the dating show concept.

When Fizzy and Connor meet, they initially rub each other the wrong way… but we know that won’t last, because there are instant sparks amidst the bickering and button-pushing. Between them, almost as a dare to see who can come up with the craziest concept, they develop a framework for the new show: Fizzy will be the star, and the show will cast “heroes” who fit into defined romance archtypes — the bad boy, the hot nerd, the cinnamon roll, the one who got away. Fizzy will date each of them, the audience will vote on her true soulmate each week and determine who gets eliminated, and in the end, the audience will select a winner who’ll receive a cash prize. But there’s another twist: Fizzy and all contestants will also take the DNADuo test (see The Soulmate Equation for more info), a genetic screening test that identifies relationship compatability and defines matches on a scale (Base, Silver, Gold, Diamond, etc). At the show’s finale, the DNADuo match results between Fizzy and the finalists will be revealed, and then Fizzy will get to decide who she truly wants to be with.

As you might expect, all does not go according to plan. How is Fizzy supposed to fall in love with one of the show’s heroes when she’s distractingly attracted to Connor? The more time they spend together, the clearer it becomes that this isn’t just a matter of physical connection — but falling in love isn’t an option when (among other reasons) it would breach her contract with the show.

Okay, that’s the basic plot outline. What that doesn’t tell you is the insanely great connection between Fizzy and Connor, the absolutely hilarious dialogues that occur throughout the book, Fizzy’s amazingness as a person, and how utterly loving Connor is, as a dad, a friend, and a person who’s mad for Fizzy.

The book is told through both Fizzy and Connor’s POVs, so we know what’s going on inside and out. There’s the obligatory big obstacle that seems to tear the two apart late in the book, and I was very frustrated at first — but getting to hear from both characters why the incident blew up the way it did, how it triggered them and what past issues it brought up, and how internally conflicted they were in the aftermath helped me accept what had happened, even if I disagreed with how both of them behaved in the moment.

The show itself is lots of fun, although I question whether a show like this would be as successful in real life as it is in the story. The show starts with eight heroes and unfolds over just six episodes — is that really enough time to find true love? (OK, I need to admit here that I have never watched a single episode of The Bachelor or other dating shows, so I take anything of this sort with heaps of grains of salt).

I listened the audiobook, which has different narrators for Fizzy and Connor, and they were both wonderful! The downside of listening to the audiobook is not being able to highlight the parts that made me laugh out loud (there were plenty!) and share them here.

The True Love Experiment is so engaging, charming, and funny. I love that the characters are clearly amazing people, and that we get to see them in other roles (parent, aunt, best friend, daughter) to get a view of their lives outside the relationship as well. Fizzy and Connor are each fantastic on their own, and their connection together is not only full of physical chemistry but also based on emotional honesty and empathy.

Overall, The True Love Experiment is a joyful, entertaining read, with plenty of humor but also sincerity and intelligence. Highly recommended!

7Jun2023

Book Review: The Boyfriend Project by Farrah Rochon

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The Boyfriend Project
Author: Farrah Rochon
Publisher: Forever
Publication date: June 9, 2020
Length: 345 pages
Genre: Contemporary romance
Source: Purchased
Rating:

If you love Jasmine Guillory, Abby Jimenez and Talia Hibbert, you’ll LOVE Farrah Rochon!

What happens when three women discover , thanks to the live tweeting of a disastrous date, that they’ve all been duped by the same man? They become friends of course!

Samiah Brooks never thought she would be ‘that’ girl. But a live tweet of a horrific date just revealed the painful truth: she’s been catfished by a three-timing jerk of a boyfriend. Suddenly Samiah – along with his two other ‘girlfriends’, London and Taylor – have gone viral online. Now the three new besties are making a pact to spend the next six months investing in themselves. No men, no dating, and no worrying about their relationship status…

For once Samiah is putting herself first, and that includes finally developing the app she’s always dreamed of creating. Which is the exact moment she meets the deliciously sexy, honey-eyed Daniel Collins at work. What are the chances? When it comes to love, there’s no such thing as a coincidence. But is Daniel really boyfriend material or is he maybe just a little too good to be true?

This book (and the trilogy as a whole) had been highly recommended to me, and I finally had a chance to dive in this week… and found it just the positive, friendship-centric romance that I needed.

In The Boyfriend Project, discovering a boyfriend is a cheater and a scammer is a blessing in disguise, as it brings together Samiah, Taylor, and London, three amazing women who have had terrible luck in finding worthy romantic partners. They’re each talented, smart, caring individuals, but somehow, the dating market in Austin seems to lead them nowhere.

After their confrontation with the cheater goes viral, the three connect and bond, and decide to devote the next six months to their own personal goals without the distraction of looking for a man. For Samiah, who has the starring role in this book, it means carving time out of her already busy life to focus on the app she’s dreamed of launching, although she already works around the clock at her demanding but fulfilling tech job.

Complications arise when she meets her company’s newest hire, Daniel, who’s clearly smitten with Samiah. What she doesn’t know — but we readers do — is that Daniel isn’t who he appears to be. Through chapters told from Daniel’s perspective, we learn that he’s a federal agent working undercover to bust a money laundering scheme running through Samiah’s company. He knows better than to get involved while on a case… but there’s no denying the connection the two feel, or their amazing chemisty.

The Boyfriend Project works well as a romance, but it’s also a terrific celebration of women’s friendship and the power it provides. I loved the way Samiah, Taylor, and London come together after their discovery of how they’d all been catfished — no cattiness or blaming, but instant support, empathy, and a shared sense of humor and encouragement. Taylor and London are supporting characters in this book, but I know that they each get their own starring roles in the other books in the trilogy, and I’m so looking forward to spending time with each of them.

I could quibble with a few elements of the book (and, okay, I will), but really these are essentially minor issues:

A little too much time spent on the tech details — I suppose it lends authenticity to Samiah’s work, but I didn’t need quite so much of the specifics.
Ditto for the details of the money laundering scheme. I’m not sure it all made sense, and maybe it’s meant to give substance to Daniel’s work, but this part of the story felt like a detour from the romantic plot (and mood), and I just wasn’t interested in the crime story aspects.
The sex scenes are graphic (per my steam factor ratings), which I can abide even though it’s not my preferred approach… but some of the writing in these scenes was just too cringey.

None of these quibbles stopped me from enjoying the book as a whole, and I still look forward to continuing the series.

Overall, The Boyfriend Project does a great job of keeping friendship at the forefront, even while focusing on the romance and the ups and downs involved with Samiah and Daniels’ story.

Next up in the series:

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20May2023

Book Review: Happy Place by Emily Henry

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Happy Place
Author: Emily Henry
Publisher: Berkley
Publication date: April 25, 2023
Print length: 385 pages
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Source: Purchased

Harriet and Wyn have been the perfect couple since they met in college—they go together like salt and pepper, honey and tea, lobster and rolls. Except, now—for reasons they’re still not discussing—they don’t.

They broke up six months ago. And still haven’t told their best friends.

Which is how they find themselves sharing the largest bedroom at the Maine cottage that has been their friend group’s yearly getaway for the last decade. Their annual respite from the world, where for one vibrant, blue week they leave behind their daily lives; have copious amounts of cheese, wine, and seafood; and soak up the salty coastal air with the people who understand them most.

Only this year, Harriet and Wyn are lying through their teeth while trying not to notice how desperately they still want each other. Because the cottage is for sale and this is the last week they’ll all have together in this place. They can’t stand to break their friends’ hearts, and so they’ll play their parts. Harriet will be the driven surgical resident who never starts a fight, and Wyn will be the laid-back charmer who never lets the cracks show. It’s a flawless plan (if you look at it from a great distance and through a pair of sunscreen-smeared sunglasses). After years of being in love, how hard can it be to fake it for one week… in front of those who know you best?

A couple who broke up months ago make a pact to pretend to still be together for their annual weeklong vacation with their best friends in this glittering and wise new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Emily Henry.

Emily Henry’s books have become must-reads for me, and this deceptively bright-looking book is a total win.

From the eye-wateringly hot pink cover to the title itself, we readers might safely assume that this is a carefree, joyous, lighter-than-air book. Think again! While lovely and full of funny and sweet moments, there is also a great deal of sorrow, heartache, and heartbreak in this novel.

Harriet, Cleo, and Sabrina are the core of a tight-knit friend group, going back to their early college days, when the three very different young women became the best of friends. Over the years, their group expanded to include Parth (now engaged to Sabrina), Wyn (the love of Harriet’s life), and Kimmy (Cleo’s beloved). Even after their college glory years ended, the six stayed together through thick and thin, and no matter the geographical distances between them, they met up each summer at Sabrina’s summer house in Maine for a sun-splashed week of joy, laughter, and crazy adventures.

But now, everything is changing. Sabrina’s father is selling the house, and this will be their final chance for one last week there together. Harriet is shocked upon arrival to find Wyn there — the two broke up five months earlier but haven’t told anyone, and Harriet had understood that he’d stay away. She’s determined to tell the truth, until Sabrina and Parth announce that they’ll be getting married that week, just them and their best friends. How can Harriet and Wyn announce the end of their own seemingly perfect romance and put a downer on Sabrina and Parth’s wedding? They decide to fake it — they’ll pretend to still be together for the sake of the group’s happiness, then go their separate ways again once the week ends.

What could go wrong?

For starters, Harriet and Wyn clearly still love one another. Harriet is hurt and furious — Wyn dumped her over the phone without an explanation — but beneath that, she still loves him deeply. As they spend time together, it becomes clear that their relationship and break-up are much more complicated that we initially understand. There are layers of hurt, of misplaced expectations, and trauma and misguided self-doubt stemming back to their childhoods that get in the way, over and over again.

Beyond the romance, one of the best aspects of this book is the friend group and its changing dynamics. What happens when best friends grow up and grow apart? Can their closeness survive when their separate lives pull them in such different directions?

I loved how thoughtful this book is in its approach to relationships and friendships. It captures the reality of growing up yet wanting to hold on to the best parts of the past, and the challenge of finding new ways to relate as life pulls people in different directions.

The relationship between Harriet and Wyn is lovely and overwhelmingly sad at times. These are two people who love each other deeply, yet face the very real possibility that they just don’t fit together any more. I also felt Harriet’s career and future were handled quite sensitively, in ways that I wouldn’t have expected.

I may be making this sound very serious, but there are also moments of utter silliness and great joy, and the banter between the friends, as well as between Harriet and Wyn, is just so funny and amusing. There’s so much humor here, as well as the deeper emotional impact, making Happy Place a consistently enjoyable and touching experience.

I listened to the audiobook, narrated by the always outstanding Julia Whelan — and not surprisingly, she absolutely nails the characters’ voices and sets the right emotional tone for each scene.

What more can I say? Happy Place is a must-read.