5-Star Archives - Page 15 of 15

Buckle up for this sweet and hilarious romance that tastes like pure candy! I bought this one on an absolute whim and it paid off big time! I enjoyed every page of this book. It was so endearing and I found myself rooting so hard for the characters. In a world of the same ol’ tropes over and over, this story was so refreshing! Ten out of ten, would recommend!

Naomi Light, Miami’s weathergirl, receives an unsigned death threat in the mail one day…and laughs. It’s not a real death threat, it’s just a note from the pen pal she’s had since fifth grade and has been estranged from for the past two years. It started with a project organized by the schools, but nothing about their relationship followed the rules. First, they kept writing long after the other students had forgotten about the project all-together — and they never said anything nice to one another. Every letter was an attempt to craft a better insult than the last. Even still, through the years, Naomi and Luca got to know one another, and they were a constant in one another’s lives. Luca wouldn’t know, but it was he who first suggested Naomi pursue a career in meteorology, and Naomi never knew that Luca kept track of her through social media through high school and beyond. They lose contact in a point of change in both their lives after high school, each of them with new addresses and no way to contact the other.

Until now.

Luca doesn’t leave a return address for Naomi on his sinister note, so, with the help of her friend, she plays along with his little game to see if she can find him anyway. She traces the steps of his life through his old addresses on the weekends, and meanwhile, a handsome hunk in Naomi’s building asks her out. They have a real connection, but what about Luca? He once wanted to meet in person, and she suspects that’s where his little game will end. Can she commit to the man in front of her with the idea of Luca lingering behind the postbox? Or does she need to track him down, meet him face to face, and finally see what lies behind the letters? The story unfolds one letter at a time in a playful and honest narrative that had me hooked from the get.

This book was the perfect balance of humor and lightness with a deeper authentic heart underneath. Did I mention there are skateboarding kittens? This one will definitely be in my reread rotation when I need a quick pick me up. What are you waiting for? If you’re a romance reader, this is an absolute must read!

Details

Title:: Hate Mail
Author:: Donna Marchetti
Genre:: Romance
Publisher:: One More Chapter
Length:: 355 pages
Audio Length:: 9h 27m
Audiobook Narrator:: Norma Butikofer
Audiobook Publisher:: One More Chapter
Published:: March 14th, 2024
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars

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Sometimes you read a book that kind of ruins you for awhile. You finish the last pages, close the back cover and just linger in the tingly afterglow for a moment, thinking about what a marvel you just witnessed. You think about the characters in the story like they’re real people and can imagine what might have happened between the pages. You remember the scenes you liked best and wonder how the hell someone came up with something so brilliant and moving and wonder why exactly it is as good as it is…like you learn something new about yourself for having found something you love so profoundly. That’s the feeling I had after finishing The Rom-Commers, by Katherine Center.

I knew it was something special when I stopped to tell my husband this is the kind of book that makes you wish you didn’t hand out so many five star reviews, so when you say this is a five-star book, it carries a little more weight. Folks, this is a five-star book. For realsies. That’s why I put them in the title of this post, if that wasn’t clear.

The Rom-Commers Katherine Center Book Cover

The premise is a once-promising screenwriter, who had to abandon her dream to care for her father after a catastrophic accident, gets a call from an old-friend-turned-agent begging her to help one of his clients rewrite an “apocalyptically shitty” rom-com screenplay. The client just happens to be one of the most renowned writers in the business who’s off his game, and Emma, our protagonist, worships him — in the manor of professional mentor, of course. The timing works out just so for Emma to have no excuses not to go, so she’s on the next plane to L.A. to see if her dream may still be in reach after all this time. When she gets there she finds out Charlie Yates (the Hollywood writer phenom) has the yips (*wink* not writers block *wink*), and hasn’t been able to write anything in the past five years. He only needs to write this catastrophe of a rom-com well enough to be ‘passable’ so he can get his actual passion project produced. Oh, also, the mutual-agent-friend, Logan (the real hero of this story), didn’t tell Charlie Emma was coming. Did I mention he also doesn’t believe in love? Emma has her work cut out for her!

(Also, look at that spectacular cover — friggin swoon)

There are so many things I could talk about loving in this book, but I think it boils down to the details. The superstitious items of clothing, the ever-the-optimist father, the casual googling of highly specific questions, the heartbroken guinea pig named Cuthbert, the douchebag bro-dude wannabe rival, Teej. And the more romantic ones: the writing workday detritus, morning laps in the pool, grocery shopping and cooking together, nicknaming the mean ex-wife the mean ex-wife. Some of them aren’t even really on the page, but alluded to in a way that is so real and tangible, that it makes it easy to sink in and adore the story.

One of my favorite things in the book is Emma & Charlie’s mutual recognition of anxieties. They don’t have the same ones, but they both experience it. Instead of trying to ‘fix’ it when it appears in the other, they more so just sit in the feeling together, steadying one another, instead. It felt real. It felt…beautiful. My favorite scene is the middle of the night earthquake/panic-attack where Emma finds Charlie and Cuthbert the broken-hearted guinea pig already up and playing a mindless power-washing video game that soothes them all back into calm. It was so tender, but also…was it? Nothing romantic happened. Hardly anything happened at all. That’s the point, really. And that’s when I fell in love with Charlie Yates.

It’s a lovely book with a compelling, witty narrative with a thousand thoughtful intricacies. Here I was thinking that Maybe Next Time by Cesca Major was going to be my favorite book of the year — but that was before The Rom-Commers. Bravo, Katherine Center. It’s a standing-O from me!

Details

Title:: The Rom-Commers
Author:: Katherine Center
Genre:: Contemporary Romance
Publisher:: St. Martin’s Press
Length:: 336 pages
Audio Length:: 11h 39m
Audiobook Narrator:: Katherine Center & Patti Murin
Audiobook Publisher:: Macmillan Audio
Published:: June 11th, 2024
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars