Tag: 5-Star

Book Review:: Every Moment Since | Marybeth Mayhew Whalen

Tragedy changes people. It ripples outward, affecting more than just the usual suspects. It captures the families with the biggest waves, the friends and acquaintances, and still others, too, as reality struggles back into equilibrium. Simply bearing witness to something is enough, sometimes, to change someone. And for anyone involved, it can calcify even the most innocent things into something to be held close like a secret. Words muttered by instinct; others unspoken. Guilt somehow osmotically bleeds into everyone surrounding tragedy. Because it’s not just one story, is it? Everyone has their own. Every Moment Since is a brilliant and compelling crime suspense novel that captures these truths, and others, so well through an emotional character driven narrative.

Every Moment Since Marybeth Mayhew Whalen Book Cover

Eleven-year-old Back to the Future obsessed Davy Malcor disappeared one night over twenty years ago. Now, his iconic jacket has been found, and the case is no longer cold. His brother, who now makes a living off of his tell (almost) all book, comes back to town to be with his family as the investigation ramps back up. It is the formative unsolved case for the town of Wynotte North Carolina. There was never any evidence for conviction, but rumor has power too, and the town has its suspect, who never did leave town.

This story was so profound for me. It is not about the solving of a decades-old cold case, it is about the repercussions the disappearance of one little boy had on a whole community of people. The father who could not let go of hope to a level of personal detriment, the mother in denial of deep-rooted resentments, the brother, parading around behind a facade of the truth for a living. The sculptor, the girl next door, the young girl who was the last to see Davy alive…it is such a rich and compelling story with layers that resound through time. It is a study, in some sense (as I suppose all novels are), of human nature.

I loved the jumping perspective. Getting into the heads of so many characters was so interesting, as each one seemed to focus on a different aspect of the tragedy. It also kept the pacing and suspense wound tight. I was lucky to be granted an advanced listening copy by the publisher and netgalley, and the full cast did an excellent job giving life to each of the characters. I couldn’t stop listening!

I have been enjoying reading suspense novels more and more as the days grow shorter, and this one is one of the best I’ve read. If you are a fan of the genre at all, you’ll want to get your hands on a copy. I can’t wait to read more from Marybeth Mayhew Whalen.

Details

Title:: Every Moment Since
Author:: Marybeth Mayhew Whalen
Genre:: Thriller/Suspense
Publisher:: Harper Muse
Length:: 384 pages
Audio Length:: 9h 48m
Audiobook Narrator:: Cassandra Campbell, George Newbern, Kirby Heyborne, Jane Oppenheimer, Macleod Andrews, Renata Friedman
Audiobook Publisher:: Harper Audio
Published:: October 1st, 2024
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars

Linky Links!!

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

If you liked this book, check out…

Wrong Place Wrong Time | Gillian McAllister
The Midnight Feast | Lucy Foley

Book Review:: Ruthless Vows | Rebecca Ross

Letters of Enchantment Book #2 (conclusion)

[Book One is Divine Rivals – skip this review if you haven’t read it yet! There will be rampant book one spoilers!]

The last pages of Divine Rivals left me SO nervous. I was terrified it was going to be similar to a Hunger-Games-Peeta situation, but it was clear pretty early that was not going to be the case. Maybe that’s a spoiler, but it held me back from picking this book up for a few weeks, because my heart couldn’t take that! So for anyone else in the same boat, know it’s okay. This book isn’t going to run your heart through a shredder in that same agonizing, irreparable way.

Ruthless Vows Rebecca Ross Book Cover

The war between gods continues with fervor. Dacre moves relentlessly toward the city of Oath and his estranged god-wife Enva. Corruption in the city has left it unprepared for the invasion Dacre is planning. Iris is back in town, working at the newspaper with Attie and they’re striving, as ever, for the truth. Meanwhile, Roman wakes up among Dacre’s ranks with no memory of who he is, or how he came to be there. He is tasked with writing articles for Dacre, from his side of the war, in direct opposition of Iris and friends. But he’s still using the Aluette typewriter, and Iris is determined to save him.

This is a book about war. War is violent and messy and maims or destroys everything it touches. Rebecca Ross did a great job keeping that front of mind. There was no character unscathed by their experiences in this story, but in the end, there was hope. There was always hope, and that’s the key to a story with so much darkness.

If you loved the romance of Divine Rivals, rejoice! This book is still very romantic. Iris and Roman’s romance is plagued by distance and danger, but there are other sparks kindling, too. I loved the subtlety of Attie’s love story told in lingering looks, concern, and quiet conversation. I loved that Forest was able to find someone to share himself with, too. Within the darkness, there is always light.

The focus, of course, is not the romance, but the whole saving-the-world-as-we-know-it thing. Rest assured, there is plenty of action in the relentlessly paced plot. So much is at stake, and success isn’t guaranteed. The tension is strung tight, but there are little moments of respite sprinkled in too that offer great balance.

This book had to accomplish so much. It is the conclusion of the series, and from where Divine Rivals ended, there was a lot of ground left to cover. This book was far more heavy on the magic and fantasy, but since book one eased us in, I still think it’s a great entry-level fantasy book those unused to the subject could easily devour.

There is nothing in this duology I would change. It’s wonderful. No notes! If it were up to me, it would be required reading! I know I will personally be rereading these beautiful books many many times, and the hardcovers look gorgeous on their well-earned place on my bookshelf.

Details

Title:: Ruthless Vows (Letters of Enchantment #2)
Author:: Rebecca Ross
Genre:: Historical Fantasy
Publisher:: Wednesday Books
Length:: 432 pages
Audio Length:: 14h 6m
Audiobook Narrator:: Alex Wingfield & Rebecca Norfolk
Audiobook Publisher:: Macmillan Audio
Published:: December 26th, 2023
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars

Linky Links!!

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

If you liked this book, check out…

In the Likely Event | Rebecca Yarros
Divine Rivals | Rebecca Ross

Book Review:: Divine Rivals | Rebecca Ross

Letters of Enchantment Book #1

Holy hell, I was not prepared for this book. I like to go into new stories blind, especially the hyped ones, and this one has earned its reputation. In fact, I’m not sure it’s popular enough! Y’all have to read this.

Divine Rivals Rebecca Ross Book Cover

Iris E. Winnow has taken a job as an obituary writer at a local newspaper after her brother went off to war, fighting for a god, leaving her alone with her alcoholic mother to care for. She is in direct competition with fellow newspaper cleric Roman C. Kit for a columnist job. For Roman, it’s supposed to be the start of a respectable career, pressured heavily by his father – for Iris, it could change her and her mother’s entire lives. In the evenings, Iris types out long letters to her brother, but each and every one of them are unanswered. He’s disappeared. Then one day, a reply shows up…in her wardrobe. She and the mystery correspondent who wrote to her strike up an unlikely friendship through the pair of magically connected typewriters, and she resolves, eventually, to do anything she can to find her brother and bring him back home.

That’s all I’ll say without revealing too much. But Magical typewriters? Rivals to…more? FMC with a hero complex (in a good way)? Genuine friendships with good people? What is there not to love?

When I was young, I read a WWI YA romance – a random choice at the library (all the best ones are – aren’t they?). I can’t remember what it was for the life of me, but this book has me back in those same feels. It harks of a time where words wooed, expectations of ‘the right path’ were high, and love was quick and all-consuming in a different sort of way. When you find something you love in a war-torn world – you hold on tight and make each moment count, because anything might happen next.

Iris is not only pulling herself up by her bootstraps and earning every inch of what she has, she is constantly in search of more she can do, ways she can be of service. Listening to the accounts of soldiers in the divine wars, helping with evacuations…Iris is a symbol of many real-life heroes that existed in a war-torn Britian once upon a time.

It’s not often you read a book with a perfect title. The kind that actually reflects the content, not only on one level, but several. The kind where you reach for your book as you’re nearing the end, catch the title out of the corner of your eye, and realize what it means. Deeper than the surface level. On all the levels. Both Divine Rivals & Ruthless Vows (the sequel) have this epic energy.

Readers of historical fiction, especially of the early twentieth century/WWI&II era, will eat this up. It’s nostalgic of wartime British Isles, with a fantastical twist. It’s perfect for those looking to dip their toes into fantasy. The fantasy elements are certainly present, but they’re not overwhelming or difficult to understand. It’s really a scintillating wartime love story all readers can enjoy. Consider Divine Rivals a gateway drug, and prepare yourself to crave more!

Details

Title:: Divine Rivals (Letters of Enchantment #1)
Author:: Rebecca Ross
Genre:: Historical Fantasy
Publisher:: Wednesday Books
Length:: 357 pages
Audio Length:: 10h 50m
Audiobook Narrator:: Alex Wingfield & Rebecca Norfolk
Audiobook Publisher:: Macmillan Audio
Published:: April 4th, 2023
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars

Linky Links!!

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

If you liked this book, check out…

In the Likely Event | Rebecca Yarros
Ruthless Vows | Rebecca Ross

Book Review:: Wrong Place Wrong Time | Gillian McAllister

It started with a feeling. Deja vu? Something like it? A bad feeling. The calm before the storm type of feeling. Like in the next instant, the world will change. Irreparably.

Wrong Place Wrong Time Gillian McAllister Book Cover

Jen knows something is wrong as she’s waiting up for her teenaged son to come home late on an October evening. Propelled by this supernatural feeling, she goes to the window and witnesses her son stab a stranger, killing him. The next hours are a nightmare as she and her husband Kelly grasp for answers about what happened and why. Somehow, they make it home to sleep in the wee hours of the morning. When she wakes, it is to the previous morning, before the crime. Her son is there, safe and happy. The next morning, it’s another day earlier. Somehow, she’s stuck in a backwards time loop, moving further and further back through time. Every day, she notices something new – signs she missed that led to that moment with her son holding a knife. She’s convinced it’s an opportunity for her to change things – to prevent that dark day from ever happening. But the more she discovers about the past, the more impossible it seems to untangle her family from the web of events that led them there.

We’re all familiar with the groundhog-day trope – living the same day again and again until things set themselves right – but this one does it different. Jen continues traveling back in time, weeks, months, years – gathering information she will need to unravel the mystery of that night and the truth everyone around her has been hiding.

There are twists and turns and each piece of the puzzle built the suspense and had my mind engaged the entire time. The pacing was just right; not so quick that you missed things because the details were too quick or subtle, and not so slow that any part of it was boring.

I don’t read this genre often because I have a soft heart that can’t take much evil, and though there are dark things in this book, for me, it was the perfect amount of darkness to still be able to enjoy it. I especially hate when books get darker at the end, taking a gruesome turn that haunts you. This one does not.

I’ve been reading a lot of books this year with protagonists who are mothers. I’m devouring them. There are certain things that are universal, and a mother’s love and falling into the trap of not paying enough attention to the every-day things are two of them. This is the suspense/thriller side of the same coin as Maybe Next Time by Cesca Major, one of my favorite books of the year. I highly recommend both!

Details

Title:: Wrong Place Wrong Time
Author:: Gillian McAllister
Genre:: Mystery/Thriller
Publisher:: William Morrow
Length:: 416 pages
Audio Length:: 10h 7m
Audiobook Narrator:: Lesley Sharp
Audiobook Publisher:: Harper Audio
Published:: August 2nd, 2022
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars

Linky Links!!

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

If you liked this book, check out…

The Midnight Feast | Lucy Foley
Amazing Grace Adams | Fran Littlewood

Book Review:: The Cheesemaker’s Daughter | Kristin Vukovic

Sometimes when it feels like life is falling apart, it’s really the opportunity for a new beginning.

The Cheesemaker's Daughter Kristin Vukovic Book Cover

That’s the case for Marina, when she is disillusioned by her life in America, and travels home to the island of Pag in Croatia. Her family’s ancestral cheese factory, Sirana, is in trouble. Her marriage is in trouble. She’s suffering intense trauma from losing a baby in her second trimester. She’s at rock bottom and wants to feel more settled. She wants to feel like she’s home. But when her father sent her away during a terrible war as a refugee to New York when she was a young woman, her life was split in two. Now she doesn’t feel whole in her old life or her new one, and she’s struggling to decide if the best path is the one she left behind, or one that is still waiting to be uncovered ahead of her.

I learned so much in this book: lots of history about Croatia, so much detail about cheesemaking and the whole World of Cheese. It was a delight to read. And compelling! I came in with almost zero context for both, and it rapt my attention all the way through. I guess you could consider me a ‘typical middle American’. We eat cheddar, mozzarella, colby jack/pepper jack, provolone, parmesan, maybe an occasional gouda. Cow’s milk cheeses. Marina and her family make cheese from sheep’s milk, which has a distinct flavor due to the amount of herbs that grow on the island. It sounds fascinating. I’d like to branch out and try more types of cheese, especially old world cheeses. It’s a whole thing. This book did that to me.

Marina’s story is difficult to swallow sometimes. If you’re in the middle of fertility struggles, this one might be a hard read for you, but it may also be healing to read of someone else in a similar position. She has to come to terms with a reality she never thought she’d experience.

I appreciate that this is not a romance. This is the story of a woman coming into her own. There are men in this book. There are relationships to navigate. But this is about The Cheesemaker’s Daughter. I have to say, I grew tired of novels being named The ___ Daughter in the 2000s when everything had a similar title, but this one fits so well. She is the daughter of Nicola, the famed cheesemaker of Pag, and she embraces that.

I am so glad I had the opportunity to listen to this book. I had planned to buy the paperback upon release, but then I was chosen for an advanced listening copy from netgalley and the publisher – Sophie Amoss, the narrator, did such a great job with the foreign words and so many accents to juggle. Croatian, French, English, and even different dialects. If you’re able to, I recommend listening to this one!

If you like books that are a little somber in tone with a message ultimately of hope, I think you’ll enjoy this book.

Details

Title:: The Cheesemaker’s Daughter
Author:: Kristin Vukovic
Genre:: Women’s Fiction
Publisher:: Regalo Press
Length:: 272 pages
Audio Length:: 10h 7m
Audiobook Narrator:: Sophie Amoss
Audiobook Publisher:: RB Media
Published:: August 6th, 2024
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars

Linky Links!!

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

If you liked this book, check out…

Thank You for Listening | Julia Whelan
My (Not So) Perfect Life | Sophie Kinsella

Book Review:: Malibu Rising | Taylor Jenkins Reid

Family is the most complex thing there is. The history. The responsibility. The everyday choices and the ones that come once in a lifetime. The mirrored features and gestures. The shared experience, or absence from them. All of these things cumulate into how we experience family. What are the expectations of being a parent, or a sibling, and what happens when those expectations aren’t met? Are blood ties enough to support relationships, no matter what? And what of marriage vows? Trust, betrayal, forgiveness? What do we owe those we’ve made promises to, and who created us?

I’m probably taking things too far here for an introduction, but Malibu Rising is a phenomenal work of literary fiction that had these very questions running through my head. It is an exploration of family in many forms, and an intriguing family saga that hooked me from page one and still hasn’t let go.

Malibu Rising Taylor Jenkins Reid Book Cover

The Riva family has been through a lot. Four siblings, bonded by love through hardship, are now on their way into adulthood. They have two things in common – their famous deadbeat father, and their deep love of surfing. Jay is a professional surfer, Hudson is the photographer who captures all his best shots, Nina is the older sister who got famous modeling on her surfboard, and Kit, the baby, might just be better than any of them at the sport. Every year they throw a party to close out the summer. Anyone who finds out about it can come. Celebrities of all shapes and flavors don’t dare miss it. It’s the talk of the town. But this year the party will leave the siblings changed forever.

Life is messy. In great novels, the mess happens all at the same time in a slow but relentless crescendo that keeps us riveted until the cacophonous finale. Each of the Riva siblings is at a crisis point in their lives, and we’re taken through their family origin story to help us understand how they got to this moment, and why they might be making the choices they make. One sibling is deeply in love with someone he’s not supposed to be, one is falling out of love, one thinks he’s found the one after a single night, and one is having doubts she has the capacity for romantic love at all. Their parents, Mick and June, had an explosive type of love that led to heartbreak when they were both unable to break the patterns of the families before them, leaving wounds and wreckage in a blazing trail behind them.

Taylor Jenkins Reid continues to astound me with her capacity for storytelling. I mean, the details she includes are just incredible. Her omniscient tendency allows her to showcase happenstance from all the interesting angles and explore human nature in all its nonsensical and sometimes beautiful inevitabilities.

I think I loved every single aspect of this story. The experience of reading was a pleasure in itself. Every sentence was interesting. Every facet of each character the author chose to showcase…so interesting. As in, it literally captured my interest. It kind of reminds me of the character of Vida Winter in The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield, the disillusioned storyteller who isn’t interested in anything that doesn’t serve a story. Like the storyteller in Margaret Atwood’s The Blind Assassin. Crafting story is simple. Just make it interesting. This is how I imagine Taylor Jenkins Reid as she’s sifting through ideas for her stories. She’s on a higher plane of storytelling. She’s a weaver. She’s a curator. She’s a master.

This is the kind of story that begs to be appreciated. It’s not one thing that makes it stand out. It’s all of it together as one thing. One awesome, specific, thing. I hope you read it. But if you don’t like it, don’t tell me. I don’t think I could take it.

Details

Title:: Malibu Rising
Author:: Taylor Jenkins Reid
Genre:: Contemporary Fiction
Publisher:: Ballantine Books
Length:: 369 pages
Audio Length:: 11h 5m
Audiobook Narrator:: Julia Whelan
Audiobook Publisher:: Random House Audio
Published:: June 1st, 2021
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars

Linky Links!!

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

If you liked this book, check out…

The Most Fun We Ever Had | Claire Lombardo
Summertime Punchline | Betty Corrello

Book Review:: How to Hide in Plain Sight | Emma Noyes

How to Hide in Plain Sight is a powerful story about a young woman’s struggle to come to terms with her mental illness, her family, and the boy she once ran far away from to save him from herself. OCD is a disorder of obsession. It’s not always something you can see – endlessly washing your hands, locking locks, or counting things – but patterns of thinking. Often invisible. Constant. Torturous. This novel brings thoughtful clarity to a disorder that can be largely misunderstood, filtering it through the lens of a young woman plagued by her endless Worries.

How To Hide in Plain Sight Emma Noyes Book Cover

Eliot is the youngest of her large, ungodly rich, family. Her oldest brother is thirty years older than her, and she often felt like the odd man out. Henry, on the other hand, was her Irish twin, only a year older than her, and they were inseparable – until he died. His death sent a shockwave through their family, and left Eliot even more disconnected than ever before. Not long after, she developed obsessive compulsive disorder which manifested in intrusive thought patterns she could not escape from. The story begins with Eliot returning to the family’s private island at Lake Huron for her brother’s wedding. She hasn’t seen and has barely spoken to any of them for the three years she’s been off in New York, developing routines to keep her Worries at bay. She’s terrified to see them again, afraid that they’ll trigger the Worries. She was prepared to see them, she had a spiel to placate them and everything, mostly the truth, and then she sees Manual, her childhood best friend – another someone she pushed away three years ago and hadn’t spoken to since.

This book is incredible. The kind of book I know I’ll be thinking about for years to come. It is a stunning representation of what OCD might look like for someone who manifests the disorder mostly through thoughts, trapped in their own brain by thought spirals Emma Noyes illustrates in a way that makes perfect sense. The author herself has the same disorder and wanted to write a story that captured her experience.

Eliot is constantly caught up in her thoughts, which are mostly horrifying, terrible, and untrue, but outside of that struggle, life is happening around her. I thought making her the youngest child of a family with children spaced out so much was another unique aspect of humanity to include. How strange it must be to have siblings you never lived in the same home with because they were grown adults, even married, by the time you were born. Eliot has many thoughts about that dynamic, and her voice is so strong and the prose so beautiful that I found myself highlighting passages everywhere.

Manny and Eliot were the kind of best friends everyone dreams of having. Bosom buddies, practically siblings. She latched onto him in the absence of Henry, and so did her mother Wendy, allowing him to sleep over and come on vacations with them when the other siblings never had that option with their friends. His own parents were distant and often absent, and it worked for them. They know each other better than any other souls on Earth. He even knows her Worries. Through the narrative, we’re shown snapshots of their relationship through the years, right up until the moment she makes her decision to leave everything she’s known behind and strike out to New York alone.

I liked Manual. He didn’t coddle her. He showed anger and frustration when he wasn’t heard or given a chance, which felt authentic to the kind of relationship they had. A shorthand sort of connection, where they didn’t always have to say things out loud to understand one another. He always told her to never lie to him about her disorder – a true friend. He’s wonderful, and their relationship was handled so well and with great care by the author.

By the end, I was in tears. Realizations Eliot had, the long-overdue conversations, and the things she allowed herself to feel…it was a beautiful ending to a tension ridden story that was so skillfully and wonderfully written. I was lucky enough to receive this book as an advanced reader’s copy from Netgalley & the publisher, but I’ve also preordered a paperback copy. I already know this is going to become a well-weathered volume in my home library. Please read it.

Details

Title:: How to Hide in Plain Sight
Author:: Emma Noyes
Genre:: Literary Fiction/Romance
Publisher:: Berkley
Length:: 400 pages
Audio Length:: 10h 16m
Audiobook Narrator:: Emily Stewart
Audiobook Publisher:: Penguin Audio
Published:: September 10th, 2024
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars

Linky Links!!

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

If you liked this book, check out…

The Most Fun We Ever Had | Claire Lombardo
Summertime Punchline | Betty Corrello

Book Review:: Hello Stranger | Katherine Center

Another beautiful romance by Katherine Center, this one with a high concept and a Cinderella twist that is sure to move you.

Hello Stranger Katherine Center Book Cover

Sadie Montgomery is a finalist in the same prestigious portrait contest that her mother once participated in, before her untimely death. It could be the big break she needs as a struggling portrait artist to prove to her father and to herself that she won’t wind up in a pauper’s grave. However, a medical scare leaves her with symptoms that throw her entire world on its head when post-surgical swelling leaves her unable to recognize human faces – even her own.

There are two men in Sadie’s post-surgical life. The veterinarian who helped save her beloved dog’s life, sparking with potential, and a bowling-jacket wearing Lothario who lives next-door who made a terrible first impression with an overheard phone conversation but seems to always show up in the right place at the right time.

Sadie and Cinderella have a few things in common. A mother who has passed and a father who married right away. An ‘evil’ step-mother and step-sister who take pains to misunderstand her and even torture her a little bit. Being so poor she has to live essentially in squalor (crashing in her art studio because she can’t afford an apartment). The ‘unable to recognize someone in different contexts’ element is switched, because The Prince knows it’s her all along, it’s Sadie who can’t recognize him.

There are a lot of valuable takeaways from this book. Seeing beyond someone’s physical appearance. We take so much for granted every single day – things as simple as recognizing someone when they’re right in front of you. It’s okay to be vulnerable sometimes. Nothing is ever all bad or all good, even if you don’t see it right away. Sadie is holding onto a lot of heavy stuff from her past, and though she hardly realizes it herself, she’s letting it guide who she’s become as an adult. Through this difficult time, she learns that maybe it’s okay to be a little more herself.

What does it say about me that I identified with Sadie through much of the early story? She holds herself to perfect standards and has to be okay, always. Fierce independence, I call it in myself. Difficult to ask for help. Difficult to even acknowledge it’s needed in the first place. I saw her so completely in that feeling. It was nice to see that reflected in a character so exactly. I clearly have some work to do on myself, too – ha.

I am once again so impressed with Katherine Center’s skillful storytelling. There are lots of clues throughout the novel for what the romantic climax will look like. No one thing is blaringly obvious, but the volume is such that I feel confident saying everyone knows where the story is going except Sadie herself. Still, the layering of clues really puts us in Sadie’s head, so we understand the story through her currently distorted perspective.

Some of the drama might have gone a little over the top (the evil-stepsister element, especially) but I can’t deny this little gem is absolutely a five-star read! I loved it!

Details

Title:: Hello Stranger
Author:: Katherine Center
Genre:: Contemporary Romance
Publisher:: St. Martin’s Press
Length:: 323 pages
Audio Length:: 10h 39m
Audiobook Narrator:: Patti Murin
Audiobook Publisher:: Macmillan Audio
Published:: July 11th, 2023
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars

Linky Links!!

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

If you liked this book, check out…

The Rom-Commers | Katherine Center
Savor It | Tarah Dewitt
Business Casual | BK Borison

Book Review:: Wild Love | Elsie Silver

How often do you find a small-town romance AND the billionaire trope in one story? Look no further, fam – you’ve found it in Wild Love by Elsie Silver.

Wild Love Elsie Silver Book Cover

Ford Grant is ready to put down some roots, and he wants to do it in the only place that’s ever felt like home, the small town of Rose Hill, where he used to spend summers as a kid. He’s been very successful in business, but was burned by some collogues and is ready to set out on his own. Rosie just lost her job due to sexual harassment from her dirtbag boss, and she decides to go home to Rose Hill after her dirtbag boyfriend didn’t stand up for her. Ford is her brother’s best friend, and when she learns he is starting a new company in the area, she negotiates an office manager position to help them both out. One day, Ford gets a knock at the door and discovers a sperm donation in his distant past resulted in a teenaged daughter who needs his help. It isn’t what he expected, but with these two new ladies in his life, Ford realizes this might just be what he’d been missing all along.

This romance is fun, snarky, sweet, and sexy – probably the four most important adjectives for a romantic comedy! The stakes are low, but the journey is everything.

Rosie is the type of spunky FMC we love. She is fun and spontaneous and has a depth of feeling that pulls us in deep. She wants to do the right thing, but also follows her gut feelings, which have proven trustworthy so far.

Rosie and Ford have fantastic chemistry. The banter is top tier, and the professional e-mail signoffs between the two are laugh out loud funny. Rosie digs into her old journals of their summers together and leaves the entries for Ford to find, and I’m learning that whatever trope that is to be one of my favorites!

The relationships that the daughter, Cora, catalyzed were so special. She and Rosie have a special connection, but seeing Ford flounder and stand up for her in every possible sense was so charming. You learn all you need to know about a man’s character when he’s faced with a situation like that, and that’s how we know Ford’s a good one.

I’m not the greatest fan of the billionaire trope. I think this story would have been just fine if Ford was simply well off rather than richer-than-god. However, if it can be done well, it was in this book. The money adds a degree of power that is simply undeniable, and Ford wields it well.

The small town of Rose Hill absolutely charmed me. The quaint settings, the personalities, the obligatory small-town quirk (bowling league). It’s all gold, and I can’t wait to read more in Wild Eyes, coming out in September. If you’re looking for your next steamy romance fix, Wild Love is a safe bet.

Details

Title:: Wild Love (Rose Hill #1)
Author:: Elsie Silver
Genre:: Contemporary Romance
Publisher:: Bloom Books
Length:: 402 pages
Audio Length:: 11h 26m
Audiobook Narrator:: Zachary Webber & Vanessa Edwin
Audiobook Publisher:: Elsie Silver Literary Inc.
Published:: April 9th, 2024
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars

Linky Links!!

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

If you liked this book, check out…

Play Along | Liz Tomforde
The Rom-Commers | Katherine Center
Summertime Punchline | Betty Corrello

Book Review:: The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife | Anna Johnston

Grief is one of the most universal constants of life. It is the opposite of love. The absence of anyplace to emote the love you feel, and it comes in many forms. Death. Abandonment. Betrayal. Lost opportunities. Failure. Illness. We all have to find ways to cope when grief finds us. We must keep hope alive – it is what allows us to carry on. The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife resounds throughout all the hollows of grief, touches all the raw and jagged edges of it, and teaches us to celebrate the opportunities still ahead of us through an unlikely hero with a heart of gold.

The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife Anna Johnston Book Cover

Frederick Fife isn’t having the best day. After stretching his pennies as far as they can go, his landlord finally kicks him out. Unsure of what to do next, or where to go, Fred takes a stroll in the park and stumbles across the only person who might be having a worse day than him: his doppelgänger, a man who died peacefully in his wheelchair by the river on a nursing home outing. Frederick and his hero’s heart tries to help get the man back to his group when they both slide down into the river. At 82 years old, Fred’s body isn’t what it used to be, and he is unable to recover the body. Just as it floats around the bend (with Frederick’s dropped wallet), the nursing staff find Fred and mistake him for Bernard, the dead man. Bernard was in the early stages of dementia and was often confused, and as it happens, his carer that day is overwhelmed with her own personal issues and is only half listening. Frederick tries several times to set the record straight, but no one believes him. Turns out, Bernard had a pretty nice situation at the nursing home, and the warm bed and hot meals are impossible to ignore for a man like Frederick, who would otherwise still be in that park, sleeping on a bench. When he overhears Bernard has no visitors or family left, Fred stops struggling so hard to be understood. Perhaps the strange twist of fate is some kind of cosmic gift from Dawn, his late wife. Who is it hurting? Maybe it would be okay to borrow Bernard’s life for awhile. After all, he’s not using it!

This book does an incredible job of balancing humor with the intrinsically soul crushing themes of grief in all its holographic colors. Somehow, through all of the darkness, the story never feels unbearably heavy. Though it made me cry, they were the good kind of tears, brought on by the deepest empathetic connection to the characters during the epic finale.

Frederick is a gregarious guy. He’s had a long life and has learned many tough lessons. This new life in the nursing home is his big second wind. Suddenly, he’s not so lonely. He finds himself able to help the people around him in the simplest of ways. Conversations. Shared meals. Forgotten letters sent. He is a good and patient man. He is the embodiment of forgiveness and understanding. He is the medicine many of his cohorts are in need of, and they are the same for him.

Speaking of which, the cast of characters at the nursing home is quirky and endearing, and their antics help color the narrative with playfulness and heart. Not all of them are bubbly and positive in the monotony of assisted living, but together they brighten the setting and make it a wholesome place to spend 300 pages.

If you can’t tell already, I greatly enjoyed this novel. It made the topic of grief feel approachable. I’m still astonished at how many facets of the concept were explored, and while none of it felt glossed over, it also never felt overwhelming. What an accomplishment!

Details

Title:: The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife
Author:: Anna Johnston
Genre:: General Fiction (Adult)/Humor & Satire
Publisher:: William Morrow
Length:: 336 pages
Audio Length:: 10h 49m
Audiobook Narrator:: Tim Carroll
Audiobook Publisher:: Harper Audio
Published:: September 10th, 2024
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars

Linky Links!!

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

If you liked this book, check out…

The Most Fun We Ever Had | Claire Lombardo
The Last Love Note | Emma Grey
Maybe Next Time | Cesca Major