2024 Release Archives - The Litertarian

Book Review:: Birding with Benefits | Sarah T. Dubb

Is there anything better than having a hunky guy teach you a new hobby? Turns out hanging out in nature for hours at a time with a single, patient, and knowledgeable man can be highly erotic, which is not a good thing when the last thing you want to do is jump into a new relationship.

Birding with Benefits by Sarah T. Dubb Book Cover

Celeste was only trying to help a friend in a pinch when she accidentally signed herself up for a six-week bird-watching competition. She thought it was a one-night-fake-date-for-revenge-on-an-ex type of situation, when really John just needed a partner to sign up for the contest he’s hoping will help launch his new bird guiding business. Although it wasn’t what she had originally expected, Celeste still agrees to help him, so long as he doesn’t think her inexperience will hinder his chances.

This is not really a slow burn romance, but there are some scenes between Celeste and John that get the longing and the littlest intimacies so right. I swear you can feel the steam wafting off the pages. And when the spice finally arrives, honey, it is an Indian food buffet: strong, yummy, and a depth of flavor you just can’t get enough of!

These two have both been burned in past relationships and aren’t ready to pursue new romance. However, it becomes impossible to deny the chemistry that is pulling them together. They set rules for their arrangement, but they quickly get blurry as the attraction gets further and further out of hand.

Celeste has an adorably bubbly personality that others often tell her is ‘too much’, and John is quiet and often criticized for not pushing himself hard enough. This story pushes both characters to face these perceptions of themselves and I appreciated the character growth each undergoes.

I really enjoyed this story. I thought it was a great representation of the (young?) middle-age demographic with characters who have been through real, complex relationship issues. The bird-watching aspect was really unique and makes me want to slow down and listen to the natural music birdsong in my own backyard more often.

Details

Title:: Birding with Benefits
Author:: Sarah T. Dubb
Genre:: Contemporary Romance
Publisher:: Gallery Books
Length:: 336 pages
Audio Length:: 9h 57m
Audiobook Narrator:: Mia Hutchinson-Shaw & Evan Sibley
Audiobook Publisher:: Simon & Schuster Audio
Published:: June 4th, 2024
The Litertarian Rating:: 4-Stars
Spice Rating:: 4

If you liked this book, check out…

The Rom-Commers | Katherine Center
The Paradise Problem | Christina Lauren
Lizzie Blake’s Best Mistake | Mazey Eddings

Book Review:: Mrs. Quinn’s Rise to Fame | Olivia Ford

Bake off, but make it bookish!

Mrs. Quinn’s Rise to Fame is the cozy adventure of a lithe septuagenarian ready to take a little piece of the world for herself for the very first time.

Mrs. Quinn's Rise to Fame by Olivia Ford Book Cover

Jenny Quinn bakes every day. She uses antique scales to weigh her ingredients, and recipes passed down to her from the women in her family. Recipes tell their own stories, you know, of the women who wrote them down, and the time they recorded them. One day on a whim, she decides to enter a televised baking competition, but she’s so unsure of herself (and specifically her bread baking skills) that she keeps her application a secret from her beloved husband. It’s only the second time she’s kept something from Bernard, and the guilt starts to rise like her nemesis: yeasted dough. Remarkably, she gets through to audition after audition and eventually, she can’t hide it any longer, and she realizes she doesn’t want to keep her other secret anymore either. She’s just not sure how to tell it.

Okay seriously, this book gives all the cozy feel-good vibes of Bake Off. Jenny is patient and kind and so sincere it hurts a little bit, but in a good way…? Somehow Olivia Ford has really captured the essence of that British baking competition and infused it into this story perfectly.

Some of the book focuses on some flashbacks to a young Jenny, who finds herself in a very difficult situation. The world was different in those days, especially for women, and I found that storyline so heartbreaking and emotional.

The writing was so engaging and compelling it was easy to connect to the story. A delight all the way through. Like a hug in a book!

5 stars, no notes.

Details

Title:: Mrs. Quinn’s Rise to Fame
Author:: Olivia Ford
Genre:: Cozy General Fiction
Publisher:: Pamela Dorman Books
Length:: 384 pages
Audio Length:: 11h 12m
Audiobook Narrator:: Melanie Crawley
Published:: January 30th, 2024
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars

If you liked this book, check out…

The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife | Anna Johnston
The Christmas Inn | Pamela Kelley

Book Review:: Here One Moment | Liane Moriarty

Cause of death, age of death. Would you want to know?

For some on one fateful domestic flight between Hobart and Sydney the prediction from one of the other passengers was a comfort. Long, healthy, full lives. For others, their predictions were not as lucky.

Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty Book Cover

“I expect intimate partner homicide. Age twenty-five,” she tells a newlywed. “I expect drowning. Age seven.” “I expect self-harm.” “Assault.” How might you react hearing someone say this to you completely unprompted? A woman walked down the aisle of the airplane, pointing one at a time, cursing each person as she went with the knowledge of their manor and age of inevitable death.

Then again, how seriously could they take it? No one there knew about her mother’s past as a psychic. They didn’t know her from Eve. Just an eccentric older lady having some kind of episode, so far as they knew.

Until the first death happened, exactly how she predicted.

I am a great fan of Liane Moriarty. Her novels explore topics that are often uncomfortable, and always intriguing. This novel explored a great many avenues of thought to consider and leaves quite a bit of room for interpretation.

In her typical form, the points of view are plentiful. Between chapters of how ‘the death lady‘ arrived at that fateful moment are sprinkled narratives of various passengers from the flight in the months afterward. Some of them brush it off. Some of them can’t do much but wait for something they cannot control like an accident or a scary diagnosis. Still others are as proactive as they can be. The mother of the son destined to drown gets him into more swimming lessons than is probably healthy. Loved ones rally, social media pages are created, and time passes…more predictions come true.

If the topic of psychics, mediums, and the everyday supernatural appeal to you in any way, and even if they don’t particularly, this novel is a wonderful read. A lot is left up to your own interpretation of what may have happened that day on the plane. For that reason alone, this would make an excellent book club read. I also found the real human stories to be engrossing and sometimes quite powerful. Another hit from Down Under!

I have more to say about this book, but it contains spoilers. Click at your own risk 🙂

Spoilers/Discussion

My favorite part of the novel is how, even when all is said and done, we still don’t have any incontrovertible truth that what Cherry experiences on that plane isn’t a divine intervention or prediction. A true supernatural gift.

It was not lost on me that Cherry’s mother’s gifts were not developed until after she lost the love of her life. And now that Cherry has lost hers, this happens. It makes you wonder…and I love that.

Either way, it is hard to deny her mother’s own predictions for her. The little girl, the castle, the notebooks? Those are not random things that would apply to just anyone, as Cherry commonly believes about her mother’s readings. I believe she had the gift. Some kind of gift (maybe not all the time). But it is clear that Cherry (and her mathematical brain) is a die-hard skeptic to the point she denies her own possible inclination toward it.

Details

Title:: Here One Moment
Author:: Liane Moriarty
Genre:: Contemporary Fiction
Publisher:: Crown
Length:: 512 pages
Audio Length:: 15h 53m
Audiobook Narrator:: Caroline Lee & Geraldine Hakewill
Audiobook Publisher:: Random House Audio
Published:: September 10th, 2025
The Litertarian Rating:: 4-Stars

If you liked this book, check out…

Book Review:: Colton Gentry’s Third Act | Jeff Zentner

I haven’t read many (or any?) romance novels based on the male’s point-of-view. Colton Gentry may be the first! For awhile it seemed like everywhere I turned there was another glowing review of this book until finally I was too curious to resist.

Colton Gentry's Third Act by Jeff Zentner Book Cover

Colton Gentry shot down his own country music career with a gun control speech after his best friend was killed in a music festival shooting. His audience doesn’t care (apparently). His label doesn’t care. His wife doesn’t even care. Or, maybe she did, but she was already sleeping with someone else, so if she did care, it was about the wrong things. Now Colton is alone. Broke. Grieving. And trying not to soothe the immense discomfort at the bottom of a bottle.

There’s nowhere he can go but home.

After high school Colt left Kentucky in pursuit of his musical dreams. His high school sweetheart left to pursue hers in architecture. But fate has landed them both back home. Though he broke her heart once upon a time, Luann extends a much-needed sympathetic hand to help him get back on his feet.

This book is chock full of great themes. Friendship, forgiveness, redemption, resilience, courage, sobriety, second chances, and holding firm when you know something’s right or wrong. Colton’s journey isn’t an easy one, but if you’re looking for a book that is ultimately uplifting, you’ve found it here.

Zentner is clearly a talented writer. I was quite impressed several times as I read. However, I was missing a little x-factor spark that would have pushed this book into five star territory. With a goodreads rating of over 4 stars, clearly I’m in the minority there.

Details

Title:: Colton Gentry’s Third Act
Author:: Jeff Zentner
Genre:: Contemporary Romance
Publisher:: Grand Central Publishing
Length:: 400 pages
Audio Length:: 11h 1m
Audiobook Narrator:: Charlie Thurston
Audiobook Publisher:: Grand Central Publishing
Published:: April 30th, 2024
The Litertarian Rating:: 4-Stars

If you liked this book, check out…

Summertime Punchline | Betty Corrello
Wild Love | Elsie Silver
Funny Story | Emily Henry

Book Review:: Intermezzo | Sally Rooney

I am perpetually entranced by the writing of Sally Rooney. Her prose is simple and sad, poetic and deeply honest. Each of her novels feels like a gift: an intimate experience of authentic humanity that almost feel as if they could be occurring within your own mind.

I read Beautiful World, Where Are You? three times back-to-back and cover-to-cover. I read Normal People in one sitting and am unsure if I’ll ever be brave enough to read it again. I have yet to experience Conversations with Friends, but I trust it will be moving and insightful and devastating in a way I could never anticipate.

Intermezzo (in chess):: An unexpected move that is played in the middle of a combination. Causes severe threat and forces an immediate response, designed to frustrate the opponent.
(at least this is what the ol’ google tells me)

In the case of the narrative, the Intermezzo is the death of Peter and Ivan’s father, before the story begins. Peter is a human rights lawyer in his thirties and Ivan, a young twenties chess savant who peaked early and is on the decline in the Ireland chess circuit. The novel delves into the sometimes-volatile relationship between the two of them as well as the romantic connections they become entangled in all while they’re processing the grief of their father’s death.

But describing the plot isn’t going to convince you to read this book. What happens in a Sally Rooney book is the least important thing about it, in my opinion. It is the writing itself that is valuable. The unique perspective she pulls you into – forcing you deep inside the head of the character, understanding what is happening, and at the same time examining every line of thought that occurs to them in real time. She takes her time in some moments, luxuriating in her careful command of language, and in others skims over the things that don’t matter, pulling out only a word or two here and there to convey the passage of time, or events occurring. It is the most fascinating thing, and it reminds me of my favorite writer of all time: Hemingway.

Intermezzo is a masterpiece.

Read it. Savor it. Adore.

Details

Title:: Intermezzo
Author:: Sally Rooney
Genre:: Literary Fiction
Publisher:: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux
Length:: 454 pages
Audio Length:: 16h 29m
Audiobook Narrator:: Eanna Hardwicke
Audiobook Publisher:: Macmillan Audio
Published:: September 24, 2024
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars

If you liked this book, check out…

Amazing Grace Adams | Fran Littlewood
The Most Fun We Ever Had | Claire Lombardo

Book Review:: Finlay Donovan Rolls the Dice | Elle Cosimano

Finlay Donovan Rolls the Dice is the fourth book in a contemporary mystery series starring a romantic suspense writer (and young mother) who has gotten herself into quite a real-life kerfuffle involving crimes she never imagined being wrapped up in. It is a consecutive series, so please click over to my review of book one of the series, Finlay Donovan Is Killing It, to avoid any spoilers.
(Links to the other books in this series can be found at the bottom of this post)

So, let’s talk about book four…

Finlay Donovan Rolls the Dice by Elle Cosimano Book Cover

After seeing Javier abducted by some goons at the garage, Finlay and Vero are off to solve Vero’s financial problems once and for all. The only thing is, they’ve brought the whole kit & caboodle with them. Fin’s mom, her ex-husband Steven, and the kids are all tagging along for the holiday in Atlantic City. Now they just have to find Javier, get Vero’s debtors off her back, and deal with the two dead bodies they stumbled into on their quest. That’s not all – wunderkind-hacker Cam calls for help when he gets himself in way too deep with Feliks, and to top it all off, the usual entourage of police characters show up unexpectedly soon after their arrival. Should be no problem pulling this off without anyone getting suspicious, riiight?

There’s a lot going on in this installment of the Finlay Donovan series! Maybe the most so far in one novel? Though it always seems that way, doesn’t it? There is a lot of overheard intel and one near miss after another as Fin and Vero struggle to solve their problems without being discovered themselves.

I am so impressed with Cosimano’s ability to constantly raise stakes for these characters while keeping everything relevant to so many aspects of what is going on, and still making it somehow plausible that everyone we care about stays out of trouble. It keeps you so far on the edge of your seat thinking again and again – it can’t keep on this way forever, can it!? But somehow it does, and it’s so yummy to read.

In the last book we got some clues into Vero’s relationship with Javier going far deeper than we might have previously expected, and it raises the stakes immediately in this book when he’s in danger and Vero is the one responsible. I’m hoping the best for a happy future between those two.

Finlay and Nick on the other hand…I fear they may be destined to keep a certain distance between them considering the obstacles standing between them. At the beginning of this book he was a superhero – assuring Finlay that she deserves a man who can handle all her imperfects and standing strong there with her to be that man. But Nick has been burned…repeatedly…in this series…and is all the more protective over his heart. I don’t know how the author could pull this off, but I’m hoping somehow Finlay is able to come clean to him before the series is over and he doesn’t have to choose between her and his career.

I’m dying to read the next book in the series, and lucky for me, I got my hands on an arc copy! The review is coming for book 5, Finlay Donovan Digs Her Own Grave, next week!

Details

Title:: Finlay Donovan Rolls the Dice (Finlay Donovan #4)
Author:: Elle Cosimano
Genre:: Contemporary Mystery
Publisher:: Minotaur Books
Length:: 320 pages
Audio Length:: 9h 5m
Audiobook Narrator:: Angela Dawe
Audiobook Publisher:: Macmillan Audio
Published:: March 5th, 2024
The Litertarian Rating:: 4-Stars
Spice Rating:: 3

Linky Links!!

Goodreads
Author Website
Amazon Affiliate Links
[Hardcover] [Paperback] [eBook] [Audible]

If you liked this book, check out…

Book One
Book Two
Book Three
Book Five

How to Solve Your Own Murder | Kristen Perrin
I Did Something Bad | Pyae Moe Thet War

Book Review:: Where the Black Line Ends | Meagan Williamson

Where do I start with this one? I went through most of this book expecting it to fall firmly into three-star territory. But then I finished it. The last 15% had me debating five. So let’s begin with basics: is this an indie romance worth your time? Absolutely.

Where the Black Line Ends by Meagan Williamson Book Cover

Reed and Hailey are two people with complicated relationships with their parents. They meet on a plane and don’t realize they’re both going to the same place – literally. They’re both starting new jobs on the Iron Summit Fire crew, Reed as a fireman, Hailey as an EMT. It’s where her father works, and by a strange twist of fate, he’s a man Reed knows from a formative childhood camping trip. Some might say fate has brought them together 🙂

The strength of this book is in the complex character relationships. First, great characters: Reed is a golden retriever puppy, the kind who is always looking for the next exciting thing and shies away from getting scolded. He always means well, but he’s gotten very good at running away when things get hard. Hailey’s past is full of grief and rejection. She’s coming back home as a last-ditch effort to connect to the father who never knew how when she was a kid after her mother died when she was born. It’s a big web of intersecting lives weaving in and amongst one another in a very organic and skillful way. Everyone, by the end, is meaningfully connected on par with one of my favorite romances of all time, The Simple Wild by K.A. Tucker. The emotional impact is undeniable.

The biggest issue for me in this book was the pacing. The beginning felt like it was stretched out far too long and further in the book there are weeks upon weeks that are glossed over. I wanted to sit in more of the conflict, I wanted longer intimate (not spicy, but intimate) scenes between characters. Without giving spoilers, I wanted to see the most emotional scenes, not just the aftermath of them. I wanted to see all the down and dirty details so I could feel it the same way as the characters. I wanted the hurts to hurt more at the time, not sinking in slowly afterwards. Skipping around like that can take a reader out of the story as they try to piece together what they missed, and that was the case for me multiple times with this book. I literally flipped back a few times to see if I missed a chapter.

Despite those flaws, it still made me cry. There were two moments that really got me, and one of them had real tears streaming down my face. The resolution really felt well executed (apart from the time jumping). The characters got the well-justified resolutions they deserved, so much so that in my heart I feel like it should be a five-star book. I just can’t go all the way there with the pacing being such a flaw for me.

Note…

Reading this book in the midst of the L.A. fires (2025) gave the story extra weight. I live in a state that struggles with wildfires anyway, but literally seeing the flames in the news every day as I read enhanced the impact of those scenes in the book. These firefighters are superheroes, and that’s not an exaggeration. They are doing God’s work.

Thank you to all who put their lives on the line every time they go out there to fight such a dangerous element so others of us can stay safe. You are loved and appreciated. Thank you, thank you.

Details

Title:: Where the Black Line Ends (Remember Me)
Author:: Meagan Williamson
Genre:: Romance
Publisher:: Indie
Length:: 332 pages
Published:: October 29th, 2024
The Litertarian Rating:: 4-Stars
Spice Rating:: 2

Linky Links!!

Goodreads
Author Website
Amazon Affiliate Links
[Paperback] [eBook]

If you liked this book, check out…

The Simple Wild | K.A. Tucker
Before We Were Us | Denise Hunter
Haunted Ever After | Jen DeLuca

Book Review:: Whale Fall | Elizabeth O’Connor

In the years between the Great Wars, two unexpected things happen on a remote Welsh island: a whale washes ashore, and two English stenographers arrive. For a young girl who knows nothing outside of her island, it seems like the chance of a lifetime.

Whale Fall by Elizabeth O'Connor Book Cover

Manod is an island native, along with her sister and her father. Life on the island is hard, but the people there are not afraid of hard work and difficult conditions. This is what the visiting ethnographers seem to be most interested in, and Manod agrees to help them understand her island and her people.

This is a beautiful, concise novel about the converging of cultures, exploitation, and the possibility of The Unknown.

I thought it was a very powerful story about a young woman coming into herself and deciding what it is she wants from life, sometimes trusting where she naught ought, and helping others where she’s able.

Elizabeth O’Connor comes from a background in short stories, and I feel like it shows, in the best way. It is written in a way that is clear and detailed, while also using symbolism and allusion to keep some things open to interpretation. This is her debut novel and I can’t wait to see what she comes out with next!

Details

Title:: Whale Fall
Author:: Elizabeth O’Connor
Genre:: Historical Literary Fiction
Publisher:: Pantheon
Length:: 224 pages
Audio Length:: 3h 50m
Audiobook Narrator:: Dyfrig Morris, Gabrielle Glaister, Gwyneth Keyworth, Jot Davies, & Nick Griffiths
Audiobook Publisher:: Random House Audio
Published:: May 7th, 2024
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars

Linky Links!!

Goodreads
Elizabeth O’Connor | Penguin Random House
Amazon Affiliate Links
[Hardcover] [Paperback] [eBook] [Audible]

If you liked this book, check out…

The Cheesemaker’s Daughter | Kristen Vukovic
Daughter of Ruins | Yvette Manessis Corporon
What the River Knows | Isabel Ibanez
The Familiar | Leigh Bardugo

Book Review:: The Memory Library | Kate Storey

The Memory Library is the story of an estranged mother and daughter coming back together in a moment of difficulty, as they discover that no wound is too deep to heal.

The Memory Library by Kate Storey Book Cover

Ella hasn’t seen her mother in over twenty years. After a grief-stricken fight, she moved to Australia and started her career and family away from England. But when her mother has a fall, she and her husband decide it is time for Ella to go. She is the only one who can.

While there, she and her mother, Sally, are forced to confront what tore them apart, and as the waves of healing wash over them, Ella comes to realize what her decision cost her.

Sally still lives in the same home, and has been continuing her tradition of buying a new book for Ella every year on her birthday, but since their estrangement, she’s been keeping them safe in her own library at home until Ella was ready. She inscribes them each with a little message, describing why each title was chosen, but it was ruined in the flood that resulted from her accident.

The idea of this book is sweet, but for me it felt a little forced. It’s an uplifting story that has a thread of sadness and grief tied all through it. It warns us to make sure we’re not taking for granted even the more difficult relationships in our lives, and urges us to try harder to understand others. It’s a great message, so I can forgive a few clumsy character motivations.

I can see people really latching onto this book if they have healed estrangements in their own lives, or have complicated relationships with their own mothers.

Note:: I received this book through netgalley from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Details

Title:: The Memory Library
Author:: Kate Storey
Genre:: Contemporary
Publisher:: Avon
Length:: 335 pages
Audio Length:: 8h 20m
Audiobook Narrator:: Jilly Bond & Imogen Wilde
Audiobook Publisher:: Avon
Published:: February 1, 2024
The Litertarian Rating:: 3-Stars

Linky Links!!

Goodreads
Author Website
Amazon Affiliate Links
[Paperback] [eBook] [Audible]

If you liked this book, check out…

Amazing Grace Adams | Fran Littlewood
The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife | Anna Johnston
Summertime Punchline | Betty Corrello

Book Review:: Not in My Book | Katie Holt

Oh, this is a good one. You want a yummy, rivals-to-lovers modern romance that’ll take your breath away? Grab Not in My Book, a phenomenal debut by Katie Holt, and thank me later.

Rosie and Aiden have been in the same NYU writing workshop for the past two years. He writes lit fic, she writes romance. And they got off on the wrong foot. They both take enormous pleasure in critiquing each other’s work to within an inch of its life, until it comes to a breaking point and they’re forced to write something together or get kicked out of the class.

They’re marketing this book with a comp for Beach Read, my favorite Emily Henry book, and I have to say…I see that. It’s Gus and January: the college years. The romance, once it gets popping, is electric, and it gets spicy as hell. It isn’t a fast thing though. I wouldn’t exactly call it a slow burn, but she makes us wait for the good stuff, and I loved every minute of it!

This book has a story within a story, with excerpts of the book the two characters are tasked with writing between all the chapters. At first I didn’t think it added much to the experience, but by the middle I was eating those up too.

Both Rosie and Aiden are great characters. They have depth and history and goals and desires…I really found myself caring about them early on, and I love how their story ended *swoon*. Rosie had quite a big group of friends, and I wonder if this will turn into a stand-alone style series.

I am so thankful to netgalley and the publisher for giving me the chance to review this one. It was a pleasure!

Details

Title:: Not in My Book
Author:: Katie Holt
Genre:: Contemporary Romance
Publisher:: Alcove Press
Length:: 320 pages
Audio Length:: 11h 30m
Audiobook Narrator:: Frankie Corzo
Audiobook Publisher:: Recorded Books
Published:: December 10th, 2024
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars
Spice Rating:: 4

Linky Links!!

Goodreads
Author Website (book reporter)
Amazon Affiliate Links
[Paperback] [eBook] [Audible]

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