Title twins two-fer: Battle of the books about battles between bookstores

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Two new releases with titles so close to being identical that I’m constantly having to check to see which is which!

It looks like battling bookstores are all the rage… or at least, the hot topic of summer 2025, as both of these new books seem to prove.

I’ve read them both. Neither ended up being a stellar read for me, but I have a clear preference between the two. Which battling bookstore book comes out on top? Read on for my thoughts!

Title: Battle of the Bookstores
Author: Ali Brady
Narrator: Karissa Vacker, Brandon Francis
Publisher: Berkley
Publication date: June 3, 2025
Print length: 432 pages
Audio length: 9 hours 32 minutes
Genre: Contemporary romance
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley; audiobook via library
Rating:

Rivalry and romance spark when two bookstore managers who are opposites in every way find themselves competing for the same promotion.

Despite managing bookstores on the same Boston street, Josie Klein and Ryan Lawson have never interacted much—Josie’s store focuses on serious literature, and Ryan’s sells romance only. But when the new owner of both stores decides to combine them, the two are thrust into direct competition. Only one manager will be left standing, decided by who turns the most profit over the summer.

Efficient and detail-oriented Josie instantly clashes with easygoing and disorganized Ryan. Their competing events and contrasting styles lead to more than just frustration—the sparks between them might just set the whole store on fire. Their only solace during this chaos is the friendship they’ve each struck up with an anonymous friend in an online book forum. Little do they know they’re actually chatting with each other.

As their rivalry heats up in real life, their online relationship grows, and when the walls between their stores come tumbling down, Josie and Ryan realize not all’s fair in love and war. And maybe, if they’re lucky, happily ever afters aren’t just for the books.

This was one of my most highly anticipated summer reads, given how much I enjoyed this author duo’s previous three books. Sad to say, Battle of the Bookstores just doesn’t measure up.

This story about rival bookstore managers — one manages a romance bookstore, the other a store focused on literary fiction — embraces pretty much every trope under the sun. It’s done in a cute, self-aware sort of way (the characters talk about how they’re living out the enemies-to-lovers trope, for example). The story also includes the stereotypical extremely tall male love interest, fake dating, just one bed, corresponding with someone online without realizing they know each other in real life, and so much more.

On the plus side, the focus on reading, books transforming lives, and getting to truly know a person by reading the books they love all really appeal to my book-loving soul.

However — what I loved about the other Ali Brady books was the strong focus on friendships and family dynamics as the central storyline, with romantic plots being more secondary. Here, the romance is all there is. Honestly, we barely get to know anyone else in either main characters’ lives, and all issues and considerations are secondary to their enemies-to-friends-to-lovers story trajectory.

Add to that some over-the-top sex scenes and awkward lines (“My pants grow tight in anticipation”), and I just couldn’t get past the sense that this story was somewhat (to use one of Josie’s put-downs) run-of-the-mill.

The audiobook wasn’t fabulous either — the narrators are okay, but a few mispronunciations (like saying the CH in “Chanukah” like the CH in “cheese”) felt like sheer laziness to me.

Overall… Battle of the Bookstores get a lukewarm “meh” from me. Which makes me sad — as I’ve said, I adored Ali Brady’s three previous books and recommend them wholeheartedly!

Title: The Battle of the Bookshops
Author: Poppy Alexander
Publisher: Avon and Harper Voyager
Publication date: August 19, 2025
Length: 336 pages
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

A charming literary-themed novel about a young woman determined to save her great-aunt’s beloved bookshop from extinction by the shiny new competition—which also happens to be run by the handsome son of her family’s rivals.

The cute, seaside town of Portneath has been the home of Capelthorne’s Books for nearly a hundred years…

The shop, in the heart of a high street that stretches crookedly down the hill from the castle to the sea, may be a tad run-down these days, but to Jules Capelthorne, the wonky, dusty world of literary treasures is full of precious childhood memories. When her great-aunt Florence gets too frail to run it alone, Jules ditches her junior publishing job in London and comes home to make the bookshop’s hundredth birthday a celebration to remember.

Jules quickly discovers things are worse than she ever imagined: The bookshop is close to bankruptcy, unlikely to make it to its own centenary celebration, and the lease on the building is up for renewal. With a six-figure sum needed, the future looks bleak.

To make matters worse, the owner of the property is the insufferable Roman Montbeau, from the posh, local family who owns half of Portneath. The Montbeaus and Capelthornes have feuded for years, and Roman has clearly not improved since he tormented Jules as a child. Fresh from a high-flying career in New York, he is on a mission to shake things up, and—unforgivably—proves his point about Capelthorne’s being a relic of the past by opening a new bookshop directly opposite—a shiny, plate-glass-windowed emporium of books.

Jules may not be able to splash the cash on promotions and marketing like the Montbeaus, but she’s got some ideas of her own, plus she has a tenacity that may just win the hardest of hearts and the most hopeless of conflicts.

Let the battle of the bookshops commence…

I did NOT realize this was going to be a Romeo and Juliet retelling before picking up the book (guess I didn’t read the synopsis very carefully… Montbeaus and Capelthornes, indeed!). I still would probably have requested this ARC, but might not have groaned out loud once I realized the central plot device.

In this battling bookstores book, Jules’s family has run Capelthorne’s Books for one hundred years, but it’s getting shabby around the edges. And now the wealthy Montbeau family has opened up shiny new Portneath Books right across the street — and what’s worse, they own the land on which Capelthorne’s stands. It seems that this small town isn’t big enough for two bookstores, but which will prevail?

Jules wants to hate Roman Montbeau — for everything his family stands for, for his perceived snobbishness, and for trying to ruin her aunt’s business — but she’s also had a crush on him since they were teens, and it appears that he’s felt the same way all these years. Jules and Roman go from business adversaries to lovers in the blink of an eye, but they still have to contend with centuries of animosity between their families.

I did so want to like this book! Sadly, it was pretty much a bust. Jules and Roman have no chemistry, and we only know that they’ve fallen in love because they tell us so. There’s no discernible build up or early sparks or any sign of growing feelings. Very unconvincing.

I also intensely disliked this moment of high drama (spoiler: there’s a fire) when Jules seems intent on fulfilling her role as a Juliet stand-in:

It was too hard to breath, too hard to keep going. Roman must have perished, and Jules knew, in that moment, life without him was impossible. She was done.

I’m sorry, what? I just can’t…

Meanwhile, the families’ feuding and backstory is a yawn, mainly just a device to shoehorn in the Romeo and Juliet theme. Some intrigue about an antiquarian book found on the Capelthorne’s premises seems to be meant to add excitement — but again, it’s just not particularly convincing

There’s a sweet, small-town-UK vibe to the story, and the village and its people are rather charming. A nice setting doesn’t compensate for lack of an interesting plot. Unfortunately for me, I have two other books by this author in my Kindle library (grabbed based on cute covers and steep price drops) which I now doubt that I’ll want to read.

So which book comes out on top in the battle of the bookstore battle books?Save

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Battle of the Bookstores by Ali Brady

Is this a perfect book? No.

Is it this author duo’s best book? Again, no.

But, in the battle of the bookstore battle books, this is the one that kept me entertained, had a fun, upbeat tone, and made me care about the characters and their silly competition (and their romance).

Also, the Ali Brady book clearly revels in a love of books, with the characters engaging in endless swooning over their favorites novels and authors and characters, and with plenty of terrific mentions of great books. The Poppy Alexander book is sadly lacking in this area, which is downright odd for a book about bookstores.

As I mentioned right from the start, Battle of the Bookstores is not my favorite Ali Brady book — I adored their three previous novels, and wholeheartedly recommend any or all of them. But, as a light piece of summer entertainment, this book is sure to please booklovers with a soft spot for book-centric love stories.

Final verdict: If you’re looking for a bookstore battle book for your summer reading, check out Battle of the Bookstores by Ali Brady!Save

11Jun2025

Book Review: The Other Side of Now by Paige Harbison

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The Other Side of Now
Author: Paige Harbison
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Publication date: June 3, 2025
Length: 320 pages
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

A hilarious and heartfelt novel about how loves and lives are never truly lost, for fans of Rebecca Serle and Taylor Jenkins Reid.

With a leading role on a hit TV show and a relationship with Hollywood’s latest heartthrob, Meg Bryan appears to have everything she ever wanted. But underneath the layers of makeup and hairspray, her happiness is as fake as her stage name, Lana Lord. Following a small breakdown at her thirtieth birthday party, she books an impromptu trip where she knows the grass is greener: Ireland. Specifically, the quaint little village where she and her best friend Aimee always dreamt of moving—a dream that fell apart when an accident claimed Aimee’s life a decade ago.

When Meg arrives, the people in town are so nice, treating her not as a stranger, but a friend. Except for the (extremely hot) bartender giving her the cold shoulder. Meg writes it all off as jetlag until she looks in the mirror. Her hair is no longer bleached within an inch of its life, her skin has a few natural fine lines, and her nose looks like… well, her old nose. Her real nose.

Her phone reveals hundreds of pictures of her life in this little town: with an adorable dog she doesn’t know; with the bartender who might be her (ex?) boyfriend; and at a retail job unrelated to acting. Eventually, she comes to accept that she somehow made a quantum slide into an alternate version of her life. But the most shocking realization of all? In this life, her best friend Aimee is alive and well…but wants nothing to do with Meg.

Despite her bewilderment, Meg is clear-eyed about one thing: this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to reconnect with her friend and repair what she broke. She finagles an opportunity to act in the play Aimee is writing and directing and as the project unfolds, Meg realizes that events as she remembers them may not be the only truth, and that an impossible choice looms before her.

What a great surprise! Something about the title and cover of this book caught my eye, and I requested an ARC on a whim, knowing nothing about it. The Other Side of Now turned out to be an engaging, sweet, funny look at friendship and second chances. Sure, there’s some hand-wavey alternate reality business going on, but so long as you’re not looking for concrete explanations, it’s an enjoyable journey into a woman’s incredible chance to fix some of the mistakes she’s made.

Meg Bryan (don’t laugh! She’s had to suffer enough Meg Ryan jokes throughout her life!) is the 30-year-old star (known as Lana Lord) of TV’s smash hit Brilliance (which, frankly, sounds pretty awful). She has stardom, success, and a live-in relationship with the latest Marvel star (and his abs)… and she never has a day where she feels like she can be true to herself. Or eat bread.

At the end of her rope after a miserable birthday party, Meg impetuously books a flight to Ireland, to spend a week in the small town of Avalon — home to the performing arts college she’d once hoped to attend. Way back when, she and her best friend Aimee dreamed of attending Avalon together, but when Aimee didn’t get in, Meg stayed home to attend college in Florida with her. After Aimee’s tragic death a few years later, Meg ran off to LA to forget her past and start over, and never looked back.

But now, arriving in Avalon, Meg suspects something strange is going on. The sweet little rental cottage she’s booked for the week is filled with familiar items, there’s a dog who seems to know her, and when she catches a glimpse of her own reflection, she sees her pre-Hollywood face — pre-cosmetic surgery, pre-hair coloring, pre-severe dieting. It’s who she still thinks of as her true self.

I feel a real sense of fondness for the girl in the mirror. She didn’t deserve to be changed. She didn’t deserve to be whittled into something more palatable for social media. She’s a good person who deserves carbs and sugar and whatever else makes her happy.

Even more disconcerting, when she ventures out to the local pub, a perky woman acts like they’re besties, and the very attractive bartender seems to both care for her and be mad at her. Everyone in the town knows her — but she doesn’t know them.

Eventually, Meg admits to herself that she seems to have landed in an alternate version of her own life, where she did actually attend college in Avalon and then stayed to create a life there. Even more incredible, Aimee is there too, alive and well, married and a mother — but apparently, Meg and Aimee haven’t spoken in years. Something happened, and Megan has no idea what, but she’s desperate to reconnect and try for a second chance with the friend she’s been too devastated to even mourn properly.

The set-up here is quite delicious. Meg remembers her Hollywood life, but when she tries to prove to her Avalon friend Kiera that she’s not who everyone thinks she is, she can’t. Lana Lord doesn’t exist. There’s a show called Brilliance, but someone else is the star. Aimee has lived in Avalon all along, and so has Meg. Meg has a job, a home, and an on-again/off-again love life, and it’s all wonderful… but Meg also knows that she’s somehow been dropped into a life that isn’t really her own. The more attached she becomes to this other version of her reality, the more she wants to stay forever… but she has a sneaking suspicion that it won’t last, and that she’d better make the most of this strange opportunity to be with Aimee once again.

The Other Side of Now has some very funny moments, but it has depth too. Meg seemingly had everything she’d wanted — success and fame — but clearly was terribly unhappy beneath it all. Unresolved and suppressed grief has kept Meg from truly feeling. By landing in this alternate reality, Meg finally has the chance to face her emotions, feel the pain of her loss, and come to terms with how very far she is from feeling happiness or satisfaction in her “real” life.

I enjoyed Meg as a character, and Kiera is a total hoot. Seeing Meg and Aimee work through conflict that neither of them fully understands is quite powerful, and I also loved seeing Meg struggling to figure out life in a town that she’s supposedly lived in for a long time. There are plenty of silly moments, but also quite lovely instances of connection and simple joys.

As I mentioned, this isn’t a sci-fi book, and there’s no firm answer as to the why and how of it all. To enjoy this book, we have to accept the premise and let it flow. I found it really moving, and also very entertaining — and really like Meg’s thoughts on the snippets of memories of a different life that pop up for her unexpectedly:

What if her soul knows? What if all our souls know things? What if that’s what instinct is? What if that really is the explanation for gut feelings, intuition, déjà vu, kismet, and everything else? What if it’s our souls, remembering or knowing the truths of all our other lives?

The Other Side of Now does have romance in it as well, but it’s a subplot that’s more background than foreground. The friendship with Aimee, and the loss and grief from Meg’s real life, are what truly define her experiences and fill the story with depth and emotional impact.

If you’re looking for a fast-moving summer read that’s full of whimsy and friendship, but has a serious side too, definitely consider The Other Side of Now!

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

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18May2025

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

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

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

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

Love is a lie. Laughter is the only truth.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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10Jan2025

Book Review: The Christmas You Found Me by Sarah Morgenthaler

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The Christmas You Found Me
Author: Sarah Morgenthaler
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Publication date: September 24, 2024
Length: 304 pages
Genre: Contemporary romance
Source: Library
Rating:

Sarah Morgenthaler is back with a heart-mending contemporary romance featuring a single dad you’ll fall for; a satisfying slow burn love affair; found family you’ll root for; small town holiday magic; and all the quirky animals and snowy rustic scenes your heart desires.

Sienna Naples’s family has taken care of their wild Idaho land for generations and Sienna can’t imagine any other life. But at Christmastime, with her parents gone and her painful marriage finally over, it’s full of memories…and incredibly lonely. Until a tall, handsome stranger and a little girl walk into her life and suddenly the holidays are alive again.

When single father Guy Maple shows up as the result of an ad meant to be a joke, the handsome Montana construction worker isn’t joking. Money is tight this Christmas, and Guy’s four-year-old daughter Emma has stage-five chronic kidney disease. She needs a kidney transplant, but if Guy can’t prove that he can afford Emma’s anti-rejection medications, his daughter isn’t going to stay on the transplant list. Guy’s willing to do anything, including marrying a stranger, to keep her safe. It’s an impulsive marriage of convenience, and Sienna knows this isn’t real, no matter how much she adores Emma, how well Guy fits in to the ranching life—or how much light and laughter is coming into their lives as a result. But the more time she spends with her new family, the more she fears losing the fragile, feisty little girl and the kind, devoted, hard-working, incredibly attractive man who is her husband—but is it only in name?

When you pick up a holiday romance, certain things are for certain: Christmas spirit, lots of cookies and twinkling lights, and a happy ending. The Christmas You Found Me provides all of these ingredients… but adds in moments of near-tragedy and oodles of tears too. (But no fear! It’s not a spoiler — just look at that cover! — to promise that all will be well in the end.)

On the day Sienna’s divorce is final, her best friend Jess publishes an add in the local paper:

Wanted: Husband for Hire

Temp to full-time position, based on satisfactory job performance.

Eligibility requirements: Ability to lift, push, or pull 50 pounds. Willingness to perform ranch work in extreme weather without whining. Experience with livestock a plus. Broad shoulders preferred.

Benefits include medical, dental, 401(k) matching. Salary negotiable.

Current husbands need not apply. (Previous husbands of Sienna Naples are ineligible for the position.)

And sure, Jess means it to be a cute joke to lift Sienna’s spirits and get the entire (tiny) Idaho town to laugh along with Sienna… but the ad leads to a few random propositions, and one sincere applicant.

When Sienna reluctantly agrees to meet Guy Maple, she already feels bad. She’s not actually looking to hire a husband, after all. But then she gets a good look at Guy — a hot, attractive, polite, but apparently underfed man with a desperate air to him. He’s embarrassed but determined: if there’s any chance this job is a real thing, he wants it. Guy is a single dad with an adorable 4-year-old daughter who’s in end-stage kidney failure. Dialysis multiple times a week isn’t enough any more; she needs a new kidney, or she won’t survive.

Health insurance isn’t the problem, but money is. Because of their ongoing medical crisis, Guy is only able to work short-term gigs, and has no family to fall back on for assistance. Emma absolutely qualifies for a kidney donation based on her medical condition, but to stay on the transplant list, Guy has to be able to demonstrate the financial means to afford the ongoing anti-rejection medication that will be required… and he can’t.

Sienna’s heart breaks hearing him talk about his daughter, but she really isn’t looking to hire a husband. Except later that night, thinking about Guy and Emma, she realizes she really could help. Sure, she’s cash-poor at the moment, having lost most liquid assets in the divorce, but she’s kept her beautiful family ranch and some livestock. The value of the property would more than meet the financial requirements for Emma… so not quite believing what she’s doing, Sienna calls Guy and offers to marry him the next day.

What Sienna doesn’t count on is how lovable Emma is and how much of a sweetheart Guy turns out to be. When she realizes they’re living out of a seedy motel while he looks for local work, she insists they move in with her at the ranch. Et voila! Insta-family… and before long, insta-love as well.

Super cute scenes of family time at the ranch, Emma bonding with Sienna’s dog and mule, and Guy doing his workouts in the kitchen ensue. It’s all quite adorable, but Emma’s dire health looms large. When a medical crisis arrives right on Christmas Eve, well… even a curmudgeon like me had to fight to remain dry-eyed. (I lost that battle…)

The Christmas You Found Me is a sweet, romantic story — but extreme suspension of disbelief is required if you want to enjoy it. I was more than willing to go along with it all and let the love and holiday spirit float me along, but seriously, some story elements are a bit hard to swallow:

If an unattractive man had approached Sienna with the exact same circumstances, would she have considered marrying him?
It’s lucky for Sienna that the husband-for-hire turned out to be the sweetest, most respectful, most supportive man on the planet.
Absolutely no stepmother/stepdaughter adjustment phase — the insta-love aspect applies 100% to Sienna and Emma’s relationship.
As they enter the courthouse to get married, Sienna agrees to change her last name! Which she never did during her first (real) marriage! Because her family has a longstanding history in the region and the Naples name means something! But okay, she’ll change it for the guy she met less than 24 hours earlier.

Things work out much too perfectly… but that was okay with me, for the most part. Reading The Christmas You Found Me is like partaking in a Hallmark Christmas movie in book form. You can predict the plot beats all the way through, and you know more or less what some of the important elements will be — but it still feels like a nice holiday treat to sit back and enjoy.

I’d read Sarah Morgenthaler’s previous trilogy of books (the Moose Springs series, set in small-town Alaska). This author does a great job presenting heartwarming rural, rustic life, capturing the quirky traditions, hard-working locals, and a sense of a community that’s really there for one another. Reading her books makes me yearn for a cabin of my own, with cozy flannel, a warm fireplace, and fluffy socks.

Overall, I enjoyed The Christmas You Found Me. Realistic? Nope. A bit predictable? Yup. But also, romantic and sentimental and satisfying in a very cozy, wintery sort of way. I’d happily read more about these characters and their Idaho ranch.

Note: Goodreads lists The Christmas You Found Me as book #1 in the Heart of the Wilderness series. I’m curious to see where the series might go — more about Sienna’s friends and neighbors? Or unconnected wilderness-based Christmas romances? I guess we’ll have to wait and find out!

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!

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.

13Aug2024

Book Review: Haunted Ever After by Jen DeLuca

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Haunted Ever After
Series: Boneyard Key, #1
Author: Jen DeLuca
Publisher: Berkley
Publication date: August 13, 2024
Length: 352 pages
Genre: Contemporary romance
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

It’s love at first haunting in a seaside town that raises everyone’s spirits from USA Today bestselling author Jen DeLuca.

Small Florida coastal towns often find themselves scrambling for the tourism dollars that the Orlando theme parks leave behind. And within the town limits of Boneyard Key, the residents decided long ago to lean into its ghostliness. Nick Royer, owner of the Hallowed Grounds coffee shop, embraces the ghost tourism that keeps the local economy afloat, as well as his spectral roommate. At least he doesn’t have to run air-conditioning.

Cassie Rutherford possibly overreacted to all her friends getting married and having kids by leaving Orlando and buying a flipped historic cottage in Boneyard Key. Though there’s something unusual with her new home (her laptop won’t charge in any outlets, and the poetry magnets on her fridge definitely didn’t read “WRONG” and “MY HOUSE” when she put them up), she’s charmed by the colorful history surrounding her. And she’s catching a certain vibe from the grumpy coffee shop owner whenever he slips her a free slice of banana bread along with her coffee order.

As Nick takes her on a ghost tour, sharing town gossip that tourists don’t get to hear, and they spend nights side-by-side looking into the former owners of her haunted cottage, their connection solidifies into something very real and enticing. But Cassie’s worried she’s in too deep with this whole (haunted) home ownership thing… and Nick’s afraid to get too close in case Cassie gets scared away for good.

“The Most Haunted Small Town in Florida” — Boneyard Key — is the setting of Jen DeLuca’s first book in a new romance series, where the locals and their residents ghosts seem to live in a friendly sort of coexistence.

When Cassie relocates to Boneyard Key from the Orlando area, it’s for purely practical reasons — rents are out of control and her social group is no longer a fun place for a single, childless woman… so maybe buying an affordable home in a new town (with ocean views!) is just what she needs to reinvigorate herself. The renovated little cottage is adorable, although the electricity is a bit wonky. Luckily, there’s a cute coffee shop with reliable wifi nearby. Added bonus: The owner is hot and makes a mean banana bread.

At first, Cassie is skeptical about the town’s claim to fame and assumes the ghost fixation is all for the sake of tourism, but after some weird experiences in her new house, she’s willing to admit there may be more to it than she realized. And as Cassie learns more about the town history and her house’s former occupants, she comes to understand that she may need to find a way to connect with — and make peace with — the ghost she shares a home with.

Meanwhile, after a bumpy start with Nick, the cafe owner, a very nice little romance seems to be brewing (!) … until his behavior becomes concerning when he visits her house. Is he secretly a sexist ass… or is something else going on?

I love a good ghost story, but I’m not sure that Haunted Ever After really delivers one. Most of the ghosts we meet are perfectly nice, and their presence is more or less on the amusing side. There’s one nasty ghost — the rest are all lovely, and even offer dating advice and company for binge-watching trashy reality shows. As for the nasty ghost, it represents a key plot point that is really obvious to the reader, if not to the characters involved, and gets resolved by the end of the book.

Haunted Ever After is lots of fun, and makes an entertaining bit of fluffy summer diversion. I’m a big fan of the author’s Ren Faire series (Well Met plus three more books), so I had high expectations going into this book. Haunted Ever After is cute, but doesn’t quite live up to the richness of the other series — the characters aren’t as engaging, and the premise itself takes a bit more of a “just roll with it” attitude.

Haunted Ever After is cute, and the romance is sweet. As I mentioned, it’s pretty fluffy — but it’s enjoyable fluff, and made for a nice bit of reading over a few days when I needed something on the light side. It’ll be interested to see where the author goes next with Boneyard Key — I’d imagine that future books will focus on some of the side characters we meet in Haunted Ever After — and while they didn’t especially stand out for me, I’m guessing they’ll be much more interesting once they get leading roles of their own.

Overall, Haunted Ever After is a good choice for a late summer read… or save it and read in October, if you’re in the mood for a non-scary haunted house book!

22Jun2024

Book Review: Funny Story by Emily Henry

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Funny Story
Author: Emily Henry
Publisher: Berkley
Publication date: April 23, 2024
Print length: 387 pages
Genre: Contemporary fiction
Source: Purchased

A shimmering, joyful new novel about a pair of opposites with the wrong thing in common.

Daphne always loved the way her fiancé Peter told their story. How they met (on a blustery day), fell in love (over an errant hat), and moved back to his lakeside hometown to begin their life together. He really was good at telling it…right up until the moment he realized he was actually in love with his childhood best friend Petra.

Which is how Daphne begins her new story: Stranded in beautiful Waning Bay, Michigan, without friends or family but with a dream job as a children’s librarian (that barely pays the bills), and proposing to be roommates with the only person who could possibly understand her predicament: Petra’s ex, Miles Nowak.

Scruffy and chaotic—with a penchant for taking solace in the sounds of heart break love ballads—Miles is exactly the opposite of practical, buttoned up Daphne, whose coworkers know so little about her they have a running bet that she’s either FBI or in witness protection. The roommates mainly avoid one another, until one day, while drowning their sorrows, they form a tenuous friendship and a plan. If said plan also involves posting deliberately misleading photos of their summer adventures together, well, who could blame them?

But it’s all just for show, of course, because there’s no way Daphne would actually start her new chapter by falling in love with her ex-fiancé’s new fiancée’s ex…right?

I’m going to keep this review short (which can be hard for me!): Funny Story is entertaining, heart-warming, funny, and relatable — in other words, a great summer read, and highly recommended.

Daphne and Miles have exactly one thing in common as the story opens: Daphne’s fiance and Miles’s girlfriend, life-long best friends, have realized they’re actually in love in the lead-up to Daphne and Peter’s wedding. Suddenly dumped, Daphne not only loses Peter, but also her home (which is actually his) and her local friends (which are also actually his). With no place else to go, she moves into Miles’s spare room, and two partake in lots of wallowing and pity parties, alone but at least under the same roof.

Daphne had uprooted her whole life for Peter, moving to his small town and into his social circle — and newly single, she faces the harsh fact that she hasn’t built a life for herself apart from him. Yes, she loves her job as a children’s librarian, but she really has nothing else. With a major fundraiser coming later in the summer that she’s responsible for, she can’t leave Waning Bay just yet… but with every chapter in the book, we get a countdown of just how long is left before she can get away.

And yet… Miles (who we first meet as a big, stoned, crying mess) is a sweet guy with a heart of gold who has the rare skill of making everyone he meets feel special. He knows just about everyone in Waning Bay, and the people he doesn’t know are just one conversation away from being his devoted friends too. Miles and Daphne first start hanging out from a sense of mutual sadness and loneliness, but they soon find that they connect as more than just the people who got dumped together. A sweet friendship grows, and each is able to offer the other a shoulder to cry on, a distraction, a companion, and eventually, a deeper connection of support, caring, and affection.

Without going into a ton of detail, I’ll just say that I loved seeing Miles and Daphne’s relationship develop, and one of the really delightful aspects is noticing, without being hit over the head with it, how Petra and Peter kind of fade out of the storyline as they become less and less important to Miles and Daphne.

Beyond the growing friendship/chemistry/attraction between Miles and Daphne, Daphne’s efforts to find more for herself in Waning Bay are also integral to the story. I love that a book about romance gives plenty of space to women’s friendships. Daphne has to force herself to connect and interact, but once she does, she finds a true friend. Sure, there are complications and ups-and-downs, but it’s so important for Daphne’s sense of purpose that she learns how to be present for someone else, and how to open her heart to a whole community of people.

OK, I said I’d keep it brief, so let me wrap up by saying that Funny Story is signature Emily Henry, meaning that the smart, sensitive plot has just enough silliness and humor to keep it bubbling along, without losing sight of the characters’ inner lives and their emotional growth. The love story is delicious, but so is the story of a woman finding herself a place to belong.

As with previous Emily Henry books, I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Julia Whelan, who is just as fabulous as she always is. The narration and the character voices are all spot on, and listening to this book is a total treat.

Print or audio, Funny Story is sweet, emotional, and oodles of fun. Don’t miss it.

16Jun2024

Book Review: Summer Romance by Annabel Monaghan

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: Summer Romance
Author: Annabel Monaghan
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons
Publication date: June 4, 2024
Length: 321 pages
Genre: Contemporary romance
Source: Review copy courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley
Rating:

Benefits of a summer romance: it’s always fun, always brief, and no one gets their heart broken.

There aren’t enough labeled glass containers to contain the mess that is Ali Morris’s life. Her mom died two years ago, then her husband left, and she hasn’t worn pants with a zipper in longer than she cares to remember. She’s a professional organizer whose pantry is a disgrace.

No one is more surprised than Ali when the first time she takes off her wedding ring and puts on pants with hardware—overalls count, right?—she meets someone. Or rather, her dog claims a man for her in the same way he claimed his favorite of her three children: by peeing on him. Ethan smiles at Ali like her pants are just right—like he likes what he sees. The last thing Ali needs is to make her life messier, but there’s no harm in a little Summer Romance. Is there?

Summer Romance delivers on the promise of its title, but with so much more. And it’s really no surprise — this 3rd book** by author Annabel Monaghan is just as delightful as the previous two, Nora Goes Off Script and Same Time Next Summer.

**3rd adult novel — she has earlier YA and non-fiction books, according to her Goodreads profile.

In Summer Romance, the main character is Ali, whose life is incredibly messy despite her professional role as a home organizer. It’s been two years since her mother’s death and one year since her husband Pete decided he wanted out. Ali’s pantry is overflowing with unneeded items (who needs four boxes of corn starch?), her sweatpants have seen much better days, and her counters have piles of paper everywhere. Just keeping her three children going takes all her effort — and yes, she’s a terrific mom, but her emotions are a mess and she’s just so, so worn out.

When Ali’s best friend Frannie pushes her to make a change and at least put on a pair of “hard pants” (i.e., any that don’t feature an elastic waist), Ali thinks Frannie’s probably expecting too much, but a trip to the dog park leads her to a very attractive man with a cute dog and a sense of humor. He’s new to their small town — Ali would definitely know if he were a local — and he seems to like what he sees when he looks at Ali. For the first time in years, Ali feels a bit of joy. Maybe a summer romance with a visitor to town will snap her out of her funk.

Of course, the mystery man — Ethan — has more to him than meets the eye, but Ali is drawn to him, and their chemistry is terrific. Plus, he’s kind and considerate and funny, not to mention hot, and with very specifically appealing features, such as his “shouldery shoulders” and:

His hands are the hands of a man who works construction all day and then races home to perform a piano concerto.

As they spend time together, Ali starts to get a new sense of energy for the rest of her life too, and starts to realize that the line from her high school graduation speech (which gets quoted back to her at a key moment) about being “the architect of your own experience” might be more relevant to her today than it was all those years ago.

Without going too far into the plot, I’ll just talk about some of the elements you might not get based just on the synopsis. The central theme in Summer Romance is not just the love story, but Ali rediscovering herself and finding a way to live through and past her grief. Her mother was her touchstone, the one constant in her life, the person who was there for her even when her marriage wasn’t going great and she started feeling like she’d lost her way. When we first meet Ali, she talks to her mother in her car whenever she’s alone, and hears her mother’s responses — not in a “oh my god, she’s hallucinating” sort of way, but more like she’s soothing herself by imagining how her mother might talk her through any of her fresh challenges.

And it’s in this moment that I understand my mother’s love for me. I can still feel the intensity of that love and the way she walked into my home, bright as the sun, and blinded me to all the shadows.

The depiction of Ali’s life as a single mother feels realistic. She loves her kids and is wonderful with them, but she’s also tired. Her ex can’t be counted on — he’s the type of clueless ex-husband who still just walks into the house when he arrives, and changes plans on a dime when he’s supposed to have the kids because something else has come up. Ali is the anchor, the one who can be counted on, and it’s clearly exhausting to have to be the one responsible person in all of their lives.

I really appreciated how well the author shows Ali’s return to hope and joy over the course of the summer. It’s not just about having a new man in her life — it’s about recognizing her own worth, finding purpose, and recommitting to all the messiness that emotional involvement can bring, even knowing that sometimes there will be loss down the road, but getting involved anyway.

As with her previous books, the author excels at writing clever or funny lines that capture something true beneath the wittiness:

When I stopped working, I started making the coffee to suit Pete. He liked me to add cinnamon to the grounds, which I think completely ruins the taste of the coffee, but I made it that way because he was the one going to work. It seemed like his coffee moment mattered more than mine.

One of Ali’s big epiphanies over the course of her summer romance is that love and beauty and joy need to be embraced, even if there’s sorrow inevitably coming later. Whether it’s befriending the old woman next door despite knowing her time is limited, or getting a dog who in the natural course of things she’ll eventually see die, Ali learns that her life is richer when she accepts the joy in the moment — even if, like a summer romance, it has a predetermined end date.

Summer Romance is a wonderful read — the romantic elements are absolutely great, but the family dynamics, the memories of Ali’s mother and how Ali processes her grief, the appreciation of the connections of life in a small town, the depiction of how sexy kindness can be — all of these really make this book something special. Don’t miss it.

**Save

Save

24Apr2024

Book Review: The River We Remember by William Kent Krueger

Posted in Book Reviews by Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies

Title: The River We Remember
Author: William Kent Krueger
Publisher: Atria Books
Publication date: September 5, 2023
Length: 421 pages
Genre: Historical fiction
Source: Purchased
Rating:

On Memorial Day in Jewel, Minnesota, the body of wealthy landowner Jimmy Quinn is found floating in the Alabaster River, dead from a shotgun blast. The investigation falls to Sheriff Brody Dern, a highly decorated war hero who still carries the physical and emotional scars from his military service. Even before Dern has the results of the autopsy, vicious rumors begin to circulate that the killer must be Noah Bluestone, a Native American WWII veteran who has recently returned to Jewel with a Japanese wife. As suspicions and accusations mount and the town teeters on the edge of more violence, Dern struggles not only to find the truth of Quinn’s murder but also put to rest the demons from his own past.

Caught up in the torrent of anger that sweeps through Jewel are a war widow and her adolescent son, the intrepid publisher of the local newspaper, an aging deputy, and a crusading female lawyer, all of whom struggle with their own tragic histories and harbor secrets that Quinn’s death threatens to expose.

The River We Remember was my book group’s pick for April, and we were fortunate enough to have a zoom chat with the author. I myself was late in finishing, so I attended the chat having only read half the book… but that’s okay. He was gracious and engaging, the group avoided giving spoilers on the central mystery, and all in all, it was a wonderful event. And then I finished the book the next day!

OUR LIVES AND the lives of those we love merge to create a river whose current carries us forward from our beginning to our end. Because we are only one part of the whole, the river each of us remembers is different, and there are many versions of the stories we tell about the past. In all of them there is truth, and in all of them a good deal of innocent misremembering.

In The River We Remember, a Minnesota community is rocked by the violent death of one of its leading residents. Jimmy Quinn was not loved — not by a long shot — but as the biggest landowner in the area, he was powerful, connected, and in many cases, someone to fear. Lots of people would have had grudges, resentment, even hostility, but was his death murder, suicide, or just a gruesome accident?

The story unfolds through the eyes of multiple characters living in the small town of Jewel. Chief among these is Sheriff Brody Dern, a veteran of WWII with visible and invisible scars and a complicated personal life. At various points, though, we see through the eyes of many different people — there’s a sense of the community being the true main character. All the people we meet — deputies, a diner owner, teen boys, local farmers, a lawyer, a reporter — are connected and have histories that weave together, with their actions affecting one another in an intricate chain of events.

The mystery of Jimmy Quinn’s death is the central plot thread of the novel, but as this unfolds, we encounter themes around war and survival, guilt, growing up with violence, generational trauma, and the ripple effects of hate, bigotry, and racism. There’s also the concept of home — what makes a community, a piece of land, or even a specific person feel like home? Where do people find belonging?

I won’t go further into plot details, but will sum up by saying that while the mystery has a satisfying resolution, the true beauty of this book is the outstanding character depictions. Each of the people we meet are distinct and have complex inner lives that come into play as they interact. The whole is emotional and evocative, allowing the reader to experience the time and place of the story in a way that feels authentic and powerful.

Simply put, The River We Remember is a beautiful novel. This is my third book by this author (I also loved his two other stand-alones, This Tender Land and Ordinary Grace), and I look forward to starting his long-running Cork O’Connor series.