There are a lot of lessons we learn the hard way in our youth. but what if we got a second chance to change things?
Seventeen-year-old Amber rides home on her bicycle one day, but when her family sees her, they’re terrified. Amber was killed in a hit and run seven years before. But somehow, she’s there. Alive?
Between the mystery of her spontaneous reappearance is a story about losing faith, finding faith, forgiveness, family, and priorities. It’s about enduring love. It’s about making mistakes and learning from them.
Death has a way of instantly reprioritizing your life – especially, as it happens in this book, when it is your own. Families break apart. Other relationships strengthen. Our lives are constantly evolving, and it isn’t always until we’re not part of something anymore that we realize how much.
I really enjoyed this poignant young adult story that demonstrates that mistakes don’t make or break our lives. It’s a good message.
I was lucky to receive a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review from netgalley and the publisher. All thoughts are mine.
Details
Title:: After Life Author:: Gayle Forman Genre:: YA Contemporary Publisher:: Quill Tree Books Length::272 pages Audio Length::6h 36m Audiobook Narrator:: Gail Shalan, Jade Wheeler, & Andrew J. Andersen Audiobook Publisher:: Harper Audio Published:: January 7th, 2025 The Litertarian Rating:: 4-Stars
Do you believe in life after love? Specifically, once your (ex)husband of more than a decade turns out to be sleeping with someone who pretended to be your friend…the whole time? Or maybe after the woman you’ve been seeing more than two years dumps you after your first couple’s counseling session and starts dating your brother three months later? Meet the two heroes of Yours Truly, the second installment of the Part of Your World series by Abby Jimenez.
Jacob is starting a new job at the hospital as an ER doctor where Briana Ortiz is the frontrunner for the director position. He has high anxiety, especially social anxiety, and he’s not the best with making friends. No one at the new hospital likes him. He’s the odd man out, and Briana is convinced that he’s come for the job she wants. When he stumbles into the supply closet where Briana is sobbing after another ER visit from her brother (who has failing kidneys), something changes between them. In order to apologize for the incident that got them off on the wrong foot, Jacob decides to write her a letter, knowing it will be much easier to communicate clearly that way for him. A new friendship is born. Letters turn into texting which turn into phone calls which turn into a friendship which quickly morphs into a fake dating situation Jacob accidentally created trying to reassure his family he’s fine about his ex and his brother now announcing their engagement!
I have to say, Abby Jimenez is great at crafting characters that fundamentally fit together. It’s no question that Briana and Jacob belong together and will be very happy together forevermore. In this case, Jacob’s family has direct experience not only with medical issues like her brother’s, but specifically a kidney transplant, so he knows intimately how she must be feeling at this difficult time of her life. And her brother grew up with a lot of anxiety, so she knows how much of an effect it has on Jacob’s every.single.day life. He is quiet, but his family is loud and extroverted, like Briana. Vice versa, Briana is extroverted and overtly friendly (if not vengeful), and her brother is more reserved. They’re both doctors. They’re both pet owners and outdoorsy. It doesn’t get more synchronous than that!
Their love story is sweet and convincing and swoon-worthy.
However…
I didn’t like that Jacob was involved with Briana’s brother’s kidney donation. It really gave me the ick early because it felt like this was something that was going to taint whatever chance at a genuine relationship they might develop. There’s no way around how much complication that adds to the situation. It really caused me a lot of stress as I read, thinking it would ruin the book for me if it was used as a point of drama later in the book. (SPOILER:: All said and done, it ended up fine, mostly because she found out immediately what was happening.)
I also started to feel by the end of this book that the author was telling us far too much about how the characters were feeling. She does a great job already of crafting situations that exhibit and justify the complexity and depth of their feelings, so I felt like the constant “I loved this”‘s were unnecessary as often as they were used. Sometimes, supporting character voice? Okay. Constantly? Please give me some credit as a reader that I can figure out what’s going on here.
Also the final complications between the two of them before the H(appliy)E(ver)A(fter) soured things a little bit. All 100% understandable, but still.
Sigh.
All in all, I couldn’t quite give it five stars.
I’m looking forward to reading the third book in this series finally. I’ve heard nothing but great things about Just for the Summer. I’m hoping for a Part of Your World level romance epic, but gosh, that’ll be hard to beat!
Details
Title:: Yours Truly (Part of Your World #2) Author:: Abby Jimenez Genre:: Contemporary Romance Publisher:: Forever Length::416 pages Audio Length::11h 23m Audiobook Narrator:: Kyla Garcia, Zachary Webber Audiobook Publisher:: Forever Published:: April 11th, 2023 The Litertarian Rating:: 4-Stars Spice Rating:: 2
You think you know what the yellow brick road will bring. You have no idea. When you live life through the eyes of a bad dog, it’s a whole new world.
The Wizard of Oz is an American classic. Toto is a hilarious take on what is objectively a bat-shit crazy tale. I guess this takes my original assumption that the events in Oz were just a dream Dorothy has and tosses it out the window, but hey, at least it’s done well.
This book is funny. I know I already said that, but it’s really funny. Toto is sarcastic and spunky and vein and thinks of Dorothy as the one he’s training to be a good human and not the other way around. Toto’s internal dialogue is *chef’s kiss*.
I found it to be a much wider tale than the film. There is far more depth to it, and the scope is wider. There are wars, and rebellions, and pestilence. There are also some interesting character quirks that might give you an idea of the kind of shenanigans you might encounter in this tale. The wicked witch of the west, for example, is an avid crocheter.
I found it to be a nice escape, but I didn’t find it very emotionally interesting. I didn’t care overmuch about anything happening, and it took me awhile to get through. That being said, it is an excellent book. I laughed a great deal and was so impressed by the cleverness throughout. Well done, Hackwith!
Note: I received this from the publisher & netgalley in exchange for review.
Details
Title:: Toto Author:: A.J. Hackwith Genre:: Humor, Fantasy, Retelling Publisher:: Berkley/Ace Length::352 pages Audio Length::10h 45m Audiobook Narrator:: Andrew Santana Audiobook Publisher:: Penguin Audio Published:: November 12th, 2024 The Litertarian Rating:: 4-Stars
Under Loch and Key is a new Berkley paranormal romance release that will have you wrapped up in so many elements that are intrinsically interesting: family secrets, Celtic mythology, cryptids, curses, a generations-old family feud… Then you add in some really well executed romance ‘ingredients’, and you’ve got yourself a damn good book.
Keyanna MacKay travels to her father’s homeland of Scotland to spread his ashes and to meet her family on his side for the first time. A falling-out occurred when he moved to America before Key was born, so she isn’t sure what to expect. What she finds is a grumpy farmhand who calls her stupid two-seconds after meeting her (when he saves her from falling into the loch) and an unwelcoming grandmother. Key is all but ready to give up on her hope of connecting with her family when she does fall in the loch, and discovers an ancient, impossible secret about both herself, and the hunky farmhand, Lachlan. After that, she can’t leave until she gets to the bottom of the generations-old mystery.
First of all, bravo to the title. What a play on words while directly including the names of the two main characters. Color me impressed. There’s something special about a good title, and this one has it.
Let’s start with the romance.
Keyanna and Lachlan don’t get off to the best start (see above). And with their constant run-ins and a harmless prank, it gets close to EtL (enemies to lovers) territory. And ladies and gentlemen, these two have chemistry! Steamy, sexy chemistry. The force pulling them together is kinetic and so satisfying. Be forewarned that it does creep a little over the line into monster porn (lol) in two of the scenes, but the rest of them are everything, so I can forgive 😉
what about the plot?
Behind the romance is a mystery. We know Lachlan is hiding something early on through his POV chapters, but we don’t find out what it is until Keyanna does. Layers unfold just enough at a time to keep us readers tantalized with new facets to the story. There are secrets being kept on all sides, and Key is…you guessed it, the key to fitting all the pieces together (see what I mean about word play?). This is so much more than a romance, it’s a family saga, a mystery, and a literal legend.
If you’re looking for a new romance to escape into, this one is well worth your time!
Note:: I received an arc copy of this title from the publisher & netgalley in exchange for my honest review.
Details
Title:: Under Loch and Key Author:: Lana Ferguson Genre:: Paranormal Romance Publisher:: Berkley Length::416 pages Audio Length::13h Audiobook Narrator:: Samantha Summers & Flint Park Audiobook Publisher:: Penguin Audio Published:: December 3rd, 2024 The Litertarian Rating:: 4-Stars Spice Rating:: 3
Moose Springs is a magical place of hearty hometown comfort, constant hilarious (and sometimes nefarious) antics, and the kind of romance that will melt your heart into a puddle and snow-pack it back into working order with a little more tenderness than you had before. Gosh dang Sarah Morgenthaler, you’ve done it again.
Lana Montgomery is trying to fiddle her way out of the huge mess she’s made of Moose Springs. She’s bought up the whole town in hopes to save them from bankruptcy and ruin, but her family’s ultra-international-real-estate-conglomerate thinks it’s nothing but a waste of time and one of them is trying to use it as leverage to steal some of the prodigal light away from Lana for himself. Also, the town hates her for it. She’s catching heat from all sides, but she’s a Montgomery, and Montgomery’s don’t show weakness. Or stress. Or anything at all. And she’s good at hiding it, she really is, but for her hands shaking so badly she can’t apply her own makeup most days.
Rick? Rick is a simple man trying to keep his bar afloat in the locals-only culture of Moose Springs. He’s mostly a shell of a man after his wife left him years ago with her nephew Diego to raise and the bar that’s essentially falling apart at this point. He’s got a grumpy cat, a mean cereal habit, and an adorable hedgehog for company. He’s got so much love to share, and his eye is on Ms. Montgomery, though he’s far too reserved to act on it.
Fortunately, Lana isn’t.
After a misconstrued ‘hey baby’ and an accidental fly-by moose darting, the start of their (official) romance is when Lana finally asks him on an official date. You don’t want to know where they end up, but you do want to know not to try their house sausage.
Okay, the santa moose was a little obnoxious, but that’s part of the beauty of the Moose Springs we know and love. Our ultimate favs from The Tourist Attraction, Graham and Zoey, feature prominently in this book, satisfying an itch I didn’t realize needed scratching. And the dynamic of our two new love birds is everything. Rick has whatever the opposite of Graham’s outgoing personality is. Lana is far more confident and driven than our wandering doe-eyed Zoey. And the town of Moose Springs hangs in the balance.
This book is good, but the series…the series is must-read material. If you haven’t read The Tourist Attraction yet, seriously, you need to. Then you can read this gem of a book. And yes, I recommend reading them in order, though technically you don’t have to.
Get yourself the gift of Moose Springs this holiday season. The worst you’ll get is a giant smile on your face the entire time and the memories of the laugh-out-loud humor and heart-warming moments haunting you for the rest of time. In a good way though 🙂
(Also, the narrator, Elise Arsenault, is a genius. If you enjoy audiobooks, I recommend these!)
Details
Title:: Mistletoe and Mr. Right (Moose Springs, Alaska #2) Author:: Sarah Morgenthaler Genre:: Romantic Comedy Publisher:: SOURCEBOOKS Casablanca Length::400 pages Audio Length::12h 5m Audiobook Narrator:: Elise Arsenault Audiobook Publisher:: Tantor Audio Published:: October 6th, 2020 The Litertarian Rating:: 4-Stars Spice Rating:: 2
Rachel Hawkins is my favorite kind of suspense writer. A modern Gothic master. Her stories are somber and interesting and layered. If you enjoy historical mysteries, The Villa is the one you’ll want to pick up.
Emily (a suspense writer), and her best friend since grade school Chess (the world’s latest most popular self-help guru) decide to get away for the summer and rent a little Italian Villa with a dark and storied history. Emily is in the middle of a messy divorce, coming out of some unknown health issues, and has a stubborn case of writer’s block. She also doesn’t know how much she actually likes her best friend anymore. The place they’ve rented is where the world’s most popular horror novel, Lilith Rising, was penned, and one of the most popular albums of all time, Aestis (forgive me for any misspellings, I listened on audio, which I recommend!) was inspired by. Unfortunately that long lost summer, a man was also killed. Emily feels immediately inspired by their new setting and gets to work researching what happened at the Villa all those years ago. But life imitates art, and history tends to repeat itself. One thing is certain, this summer at the Villa will change everything.
I really loved the slow peeling back of historical layers, and how it merged with the modern timeline. Emily and Chess have a complicated friendship that has strayed into rival territory. They are both writers, and planned to write a book together one day. When Chess sees how invested Emily is in this new story, she wants to jump on board. But it was Emily’s idea, and she wants to keep it. The tone is fraught with tension, and the mystery of the past only elevates it.
While this is not my favorite Rachel Hawkins novel, it is certainly worth a read if you’re in the mood for gothic suspense!
Details
Title:: The Villa Author:: Rachel Hawkins Genre:: Suspense Publisher:: St. Martin’s Press Length::279 pages Audio Length::7h 57m Audiobook Narrator:: Julia Whelan, Kimberly M. Wetherell, Shiromi Arserio Audiobook Publisher:: Macmillan Audio Published:: January 3rd, 2023 The Litertarian Rating:: 4-Stars
If you love a good mystery with clues a-plenty and complex layers, you’ll love The Christmas Jigsaw Murders, by Alexandra Benedict.
Edie O’Sullivan is a professional puzzler, creating crosswords for a job. It’s a wonderful passion, until she gets a morbid note in the mail about four murders that would take place before Christmas, and a packet with a few jigsaw pieces. She calls upon her great-nephew (whom she raised when his immediate family died), who is an inspector, to help her once bodies start dropping. There seems to be a connection to him, too, through his husband’s running club. Clues continue showing up, and a killer is on the loose at the most wonderful time of the year.
I really enjoyed listening to this book. I received an alc through netgalley and the publisher, and the narration fit the book so well. Edie is an elderly lady, and Sandra Duncan did a wonderful job, especially with the humor of a little cantankerous old lady.
I enjoyed the mystery of this story, but it wasn’t my favorite part. Something about the recording and the story itself had this nostalgic sort of feeling about it. I’m not sure if it was because of the elderly MC (for most of the novel), or the Christmasy sort of spirit, but it felt really cozy to me (though I’m not sure I’d necessarily call it a cozy mystery…there are certainly high stakes).
If you’re a fan of both mystery and Christmas stories, hey, this is a perfect read for this time of year!
Details
Title:: The Christmas Jigsaw Murders Author:: Alexandra Benedict Genre:: Mystery/Thriller/Holiday Publisher:: Simon and Schuster Length::351 pages Audio Length::8h 56m Audiobook Narrator:: Sandra Duncan Audiobook Publisher:: Dreamscape Media Published:: October 8th, 2024 The Litertarian Rating:: 4-Stars
What do you do when you’re out of inspiration? F*ck off to North Carolina.
Aspen fears she is a one hit wonder when her second and third books don’t earn out their advances after her bestselling debut. She’s under a lot of pressure to Make The Next One Count, and under the advice of her agent, she takes off to spend the summer with her sister on the North Carolina coast. The problem is she wrote that bestselling book after the biggest heartbreak of her life, and she hasn’t been able to tap into that same deep well of emotion ever since. She’s convinced another devastating heartbreak is the only way to tap into her potential again. Enter Brick, the sulky hotter-than-sin man who moved to town to take over his grandfather’s dying touring business and is a known heartbreaker. Everyone advises her against it, and he isn’t interested either, until she strikes up a deal he can’t refuse.
I’m a little torn on this one, because I feel like it was executed well for what it is, but some of the premises got under my skin a little bit. The setting is idyllic and refreshing, but the gossip mongers in town make it sour. The romance between Aspen and Brick turns out to grow organically, but it’s set up under kind of a gross deal they strike up. A lot of things went a little too far over the top for me to give it a full five stars, but I would still recommend it to those who enjoy this genre.
I think my biggest gripe is actually with Aspen and her vice-grip on this idea of the suffering artist. That she can only make good art if her heart is in pieces on the floor. This belief is self-sabotaging and was frustrating to see her cling onto it for so damn long.
Once the romance got going, it was a really sweet story. These two characters had a real connection, and it was really nice to read. Their little adventures were so wholesome.
This was my first Jennifer Probst novel, but it looks like she’s quite prolific, and I’m excited to see what else she’s got on her backlist!
Note:: I received this title from netgalley & the publisher for free in exchange for a fair review.
Details
Title:: Book of the Month Author:: Jennifer Probst Genre:: Contemporary Romance Publisher:: Blue Box Press Length::294 pages Audio Length::10h 39m Audiobook Narrator:: Alexander Cendese & Mia Hutchinson-Shaw Audiobook Publisher:: Brilliance Audio Published:: October 22nd, 2024 The Litertarian Rating:: 4-Stars Spice Rating:: 3
The thing about life is we can’t see very far ahead of ourselves. We don’t know what will happen or who we’ll meet or how we’ll feel. All we have is potential. All this potential we hoard and cling to like it will be the thing to carry us, ultimately, to happiness, to fulfillment, to stability. The real truth is that life is what you make of it, and if you’re not careful, you’ll never really live it at all.
George has a Holden Caufield complex. Or, at least the same one as Holden. He’s stuck in his head far too much, he has grandiose ideas and passes judgment on everyone around him like he’ll win money for it. Except he doesn’t. He never has any money because he won’t get off his ass to do anything unless he convinces himself it has some sort of higher meaning unless and until he absolutely has to. And when he does have to do something, he will do anything to put it off. When he gets the slightest bit uncomfortable, he will reject whatever thing has done the wrongdoing or come back at it with teeth bared, even when he knows he’s wrong. His whole life is an identity crisis, and I’m not even sure he knows it.
This book is almost stream of consciousness, in the third person. We follow George through his mediocre life, glancing moments here and there — sometimes, okay, often, quite mundane moments. He has some formative experiences as a kid, he gets a philosophy degree, he flounders, and he doesn’t stop floundering. He lets others take care of him like he doesn’t understand it costs them something to do so. He has a longtime on and off again girlfriend called Jenny who he feels no passion for and is far too patient with him (girl, you deserve so much better). He tries to write a book. He sometimes gets the most random jobs. He often knows he is insufferable.
I know it might sound like I didn’t like this book very much, but that’s untrue. This is the type of book where you get out what you put into it. If you don’t come at it with a certain level of discernment as a reader, you probably won’t like it. George isn’t all that likable, but things he thinks and experiences, and things he encounters through the people he meets have lessons to teach us, and opportunities for us (as readers) to learn something about how we perceive the world, whether we agree with George or oppose him. There are plenty of takeaways pressed into these pages.
The writing is excellent. I love the level of detail we’re privy to, coloring George’s experiences. Like Holden Caufield, George is critiquing everyone and everything around him, while playing himself cool. It’s a very specific vibe, and Greathead nailed it. The audiobook narrator, Blair Baker, did an excellent job, too.
I was provided an advanced readers copy of this novel to read from netgalley & the publisher in exchange for an honest review. On netgalley this is categorized under both Literary fiction and humor/satire. I kept waiting for something funny to happen (not that George isn’t funny), but if this book belongs in that category at all, it is certainly on the satire side. It didn’t really come off that way to me.
Choose this book if you are a fan of literary fiction. If you like the structure of Catcher & the Rye and are interested in a modern twist on its main character. I think I’ll be carrying George around with me for a while.
Details
Title:: The Book of George Author:: Kate Greathead Genre:: Literary Fiction Publisher:: Henry Holt & Co. Length::272 pages Audio Length::9h 17m Audiobook Narrator:: Blair Baker Audiobook Publisher:: Macmillan Audio Published:: October 8th, 2024 The Litertarian Rating:: 4-Stars
Life is good. After struggling through so much of life, you’ve finally found the place you belong, and the one who is meant to stand by your side. Then, in the blink of an eye, all the memories of discovering these things are wiped from your mind. Before We Were Us is the story of Lauren Wentworth, who fell from a ladder and lost an entire, formative, summer.
As a new college graduate, Lauren took a job as the manager of a tourist lodge in New Hampshire as a condition to winner her dream job in Boston: being a bona fide party planner at one of the most prestigious firms in New England. It’s her chance to prove her capabilities to her future employer and she won’t let anything get in the way of the future she’s dreamed of for so long. Except one day she wakes up in the hospital and finds that four months have passed since her last memory, and suddenly the owner’s son she couldn’t stand is saying that somehow they’ve been in a loving relationship all summer long. The two realities are impossible to reconcile in her head, and she’s unsure if she wants to regain her lost memories.
Jonah, her almost fiancée, is devastated. Just on the cusp of their happily ever after, the woman he loves is suddenly all but repulsed by him. He steps back, gives her the space she desperately needs, and waits for her. All he can hope for is that she’ll remember their time together, but when nothing changes even weeks after her injury, he isn’t sure what their future might hold.
What a concept! I think a premise like this naturally tugs at our human heartstrings. Memory is fallible, and so deeply, deeply personal. You can’t convey to another person exactly how something felt, or how it affected you. Even journals probably couldn’t evoke the same feelings if you don’t have the memory to accompany it. You can try. Lord knows, we all try. That’s what literature is. Poetry, and music too…all art in its various shapes forms strives to capture and convey human emotion.
This is a very strong story with many moments of sweetness and heartbreak and necessary, if reluctant, soul searching. There are strong examples of family with themes of overcoming hardships and long-held grievances. Jonah was exemplary in his role as supportive, loving partner. Finding out that Thomas Nelson is a Christian publisher is not surprising. Though I wouldn’t say this book is blatantly religious, but it does serve as a good example of what I imagine a healthy religious practitioner should look like. It’s not a story about characters making conflict-ridden choices, but rather navigating difficult circumstances with all the nuance it entails.
Any reader, especially of romance, might enjoy this story. I know I did. I was lucky enough to be chosen as an advanced listener by netgalley and the publisher. The narrator, Kim Churchill, did a wonderful job.
Details
Title:: Before We Were Us Author:: Denise Hunter Genre:: Contemporary Romance Publisher:: Thomas Nelson Length::304 pages Audio Length::9h 9m Audiobook Narrator:: Kim Churchill Audiobook Publisher:: Thomas Nelson Published:: September 10th, 2024 The Litertarian Rating:: 4-Stars Spice Rating:: 1 (smooches only)
