Tag: Fiction

Book Review:: Wished | Sarah Ready

Do you believe in love at first sight? Anna does. She felt it the moment she laid eyes on her stupidly rich client, Max Barone. She is one of the cleaners for the jewelry magnate’s mega-mansion and might as well be invisible for as much as he notices her. But she notices him, and for three years she pines after him from afar.

Wished by Sarah Ready Book Cover

One day while cleaning, she finds a necklace with a note – it makes wishes come true. So she closes her eyes and whispers her most secret wish – that the two of them would be married. Realizing how silly that is, she takes it back, but before she can put the necklace back, he catches her with it, and fires her. Not exactly the way she was hoping to be noticed by him. But when she wakes up the next morning…she finds her dream came true.

Though there is plenty of humor and silly rom-com antics sprinkled throughout, this book is much deeper than the high-concept plot might appear. I found myself contemplating much bigger philosophical questions as I listened to the advanced listening copy I was provided access to by netgalley & the publisher (the narration was great, by the way). Questions of free will, honesty, self-sacrifice, what love is (or what it can be), and how we hold ourselves back because of mistakes we’ve seen modeled for us as we grow.

Max is lonely in that big ol’ mansion, and adamant that he will not repeat the mistakes of his father. Anna sees him in the way he keeps his house: the books he reads, the food he eats, the glimpses she gets of him when he works from home. Her life in a small Geneva apartment she shares with her mother and young sister is difficult, and dreaming of Max helps her cope. But will she feel the same when she gets to know him face to face?

This story is another instance of the age-old lesson: be careful what you wish for. Do valuable things have value if you don’t have to work hard to get them? And when she realizes the consequences of her mistakes, can Anna undo the phenomenon she set into motion?

I can tell how much thought and craft went into this novel, and I’m intrigued to read more from this series by Sarah Ready. If you’re a fan of magical realism, you’re really going to enjoy this novel!

Details

Title:: Wished (Ghosted #4)
Author:: Sarah Ready
Genre:: Romance
Publisher:: Swift & Lewis Publishing LLC
Length:: 313 pages
Audio Length:: 9h 36m
Audiobook Narrator:: Amanda Ronconi & Will Watt
Audiobook Publisher:: Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), Members’ Audiobooks
Published:: October 1st, 2024
The Litertarian Rating:: 4.5-Stars
Spice Rating:: 3.5

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If you liked this book, check out…

Haunted Ever After | Jen DeLuca
Hello Stranger | Katherine Center

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

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Author Website
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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

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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

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Author Website
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If you liked this book, check out…

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

Book Review:: It’s All Relative | Rachel Magee

In It’s All Relative, Rachel Magee has crafted a tangled saga of blending families delivered with the levity of a fun romantic comedy.

It's All Relative Rachel Magee Book Cover

Helena’s mother is getting married, which means an extended stay at the Maddox family beach house with her soon-to-be family. She is happy about the wedding, she wants all the best for her mom, but Helena doesn’t fit in with the groom’s family, who she’s secretly dubbed ‘the perfects’ – and to top it off, she has a huge crush on her future sister-in-law’s fiancé, Gage. In a panic, she drags her closest friend Landon to the week-long getaway, but since she never used the family’s real names, they never realized the sister-in-law is actually Landon’s one-that-got-away in college. Amelia is her name, and she has packed the itinerary within an inch of its life with thoughtful activities and plenty of time for contingencies if anything goes wrong. She would do anything for her family. A week all together on an island should go smoothly, right?

The book starts off with a bang – so much conflict in so little time! It was very compelling to wonder how in the world this double romance was going to get pulled off, but she did it! I felt like everything was resolved satisfactorily by the end, with plenty of hijinks along the way.

There are a lot of underlying conflicts worked through in this book. Helena is struggling with the feeling of not belonging within her new expanded family, feeling like she’s ‘too much’. She is also grieving, on some level, the life she and her mother shared solo all those years before. Amelia is caught between duty and passion. She works for the family business and is marrying the ‘right’ guy, both of which are fine. Just, fine. Nothing in her life lights her up anymore. Being confronted with her past in Landon is a reminder of the girl she used to be, before she shouldered so much responsibility.

If you’re a no spice girly, rejoice! There is nothing untoward in these pages. Personally I like to follow the relationships a little bit longer so you do get into those moments of intense intimacy, but this was handled the way it was meant to. I think it would be maybe a little icky if anything went too fast, considering how things were set up at the beginning.

This is apparently a retelling of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which I have not read. I’m going to need to – I think it’d be so interesting to find out more about the inspiration material.

If you’re looking for a charming book to fall into to recharge or cleanse your palette between heavier books, this one is a great choice!

Details

Title:: It’s All Relative
Author:: Rachel Magee
Genre:: Contemporary Romance
Publisher:: Thomas Nelson
Length:: 336 pages
Audio Length:: 10h 1m
Audiobook Narrator:: Tanya Eby
Audiobook Publisher:: Thomas Nelson
Published:: August 6th, 2024
The Litertarian Rating:: 4-Stars

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

If you liked this book, check out…

The Cheat Sheet/The Rule Book | Sarah Adams
The Perfect Putt | Annah Conwell

Book Review:: The Paradise Problem | Christina Lauren

The Paradise Problem Christina Lauren Book Cover

Anna opens the door one evening to find the last person she ever expected: her husband. In college, she married the brother of a friend in order to qualify for student housing. After graduation, they parted ways and she never expected to see him again. Turns out though, he’s been lying to his family this whole time that they’re not only still married, but happily so. It’s complicated, but he’s there to beg Anna a favor – come with him to a private island in Singapore to his sister’s wedding and play into this farce he’s built. Turns out his family is ungodly rich – the exact opposite of Anna, who is a struggling artist with debt up to her eyeballs. When he sweetens the deal with some cash, she can’t say no. Shenanigans ensue!

This is a very fun summer romantic comedy. Christina Lauren novels have a very easy and compelling readability to them, and this one is no exception. The Paradise Problem reminded me a lot of The Unhoneymooners…like, really reminded me of it (maybe too much). But I only recently read it, so I’m probably in the minority there. I mean, both are ‘fake dating’ tropes (essentially, I mean marriage of convenience is the same thing, right?) in an incredible tropical setting.

Anna is basically a stoner artist who has throw away jobs to make ends meet to pay her father’s hospital bills. She doesn’t take life very seriously. Liam has a terrible relationship with everyone in his pretty horrible family, and has an enormous hero complex driven by his traumatic history with them. It was really fun to see them getting to know each other for what is really the first time, with Anna so completely out of her comfort zone.

The chemistry between them was pretty steamy. Anna is very outgoing, and Liam would rather be anywhere else, and that really made for a fun dynamic. Anna, as the outsider, is quite perceptive to the problems within the Weston family, and their backgrounds are crafted in a way that juxtaposes the root of Liam’s issues. Most of the conflicts are very situational, so it’s not heavy to read, staying firmly in the romantic comedy territory, but the overall message is a meaningful one: live an authentic life.

You can’t go wrong picking up a fun summer romantic comedy. Absolutely this is a great choice if you’re in desperate need of a vacation – this might just be the escape you’re looking for!

Details

Title:: The Paradise Problem
Author:: Christina Lauren
Genre:: Romantic Comedy
Publisher:: Gallery Books
Length:: 352 pages
Audio Length:: 11h 43m
Audiobook Narrator:: Patti Murin, Jon Root
Audiobook Publisher:: Simon & Schuster Audio
Published:: May 14th, 2024
The Litertarian Rating:: 4-Stars
Spice Level:: 3

Linky Links!!

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

If you liked this book, check out…

The Unhoneymooners | Christina Lauren
The DNA(duo) Duology | Christina Lauren
Hate Mail | Donna Marchetti
Funny Story | Emily Henry

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

Book Review:: The Tourist Attraction | Sarah Morgenthaler

Oh my gosh, what a feel-good sweet little romance novel we have here! The Tourist Attraction by Sarah Morgenthaler is such a fun story about an unlikely connection between a grumpy local and an exuberant out-of-towner.

The Tourist Attraction Sarah Morgenthaler Book Cover

Zoey has been saving up forever to travel to Alaska, and finally, she’s there. Her rich friend Lara convinced her to time her trip to coincide with her next visit to the resort in the small town of Moose Springs. Zoey has a long list of budget activities to keep her busy, and she makes fast friends with the handsome diner owner who is dead set against dating tourists.

The little town of Moose Springs Alaska is quirkier than most quirky small towns. Monotone tour guides, locals-only cinnamon rolls as big as your head, a spa that specializes in wildlife shaped designs for the nether regions…and don’t forget Ulysses, the bull moose with a strong attraction to yeasted dough. It’s an idyllic setting, especially within the state of Alaska, which is a whole world of its own.

I loved Graham Barnett. Yes, he was a grouch, but at the same time, he was more laid back and far funnier than most grouchy romance heroes. There was something so special about him. He hates running his diner, The Tourist Trap, and refuses to hire anyone to help him run it, but he also invents The Growly Bear custom cocktail and turns his favorite customers’ reindeer dogs into cute little reindeer. He hates tourists, but he’s also committed to making sure Zoey has a great experience in Alaska. Also, he calls her Zoey bear. Adorable. He’s an enigma in the best way possible.

Zoey is kind of the everywoman, if every woman is grouchy in the mornings, excited to experience as much as she can in the world on her own terms, and isn’t used to eating ground reindeer on the regular. She’s loyal and friendly, and sweetly oblivious – quite easy to love.

There are also plenty of side characters with lots of potential. The twins, Lara and her rich whosits and whatsits – the world Morgenthaler creates is just big enough to get really immersed.

I listened to this as an audiobook narrated by Elise Arsenault, and I really recommend it – she really gives the characters a great voice.

I said it in the intro, but I’ll say it again – this is such a feel-good romantic comedy. I dare you to read it without a smile! If you’re looking for something to lift your spirits and tickle your flirty romance craving, this one is it! The characters are so endearing and they get into plenty of questionable situations. AND, it’s the start of a series, so if you like it, there’s even more where that came from!

Details

Title:: The Tourist Attraction (Moose Springs Alaska #1)
Author:: Sarah Morgenthaler
Genre:: Romantic Comedy
Publisher:: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Length:: 352 pages
Audio Length:: 11h 36m
Audiobook Narrator:: Elise Arsenault
Audiobook Publisher:: Tantor Audio
Published:: May 5th, 2020
The Litertarian Rating:: 5-Stars
Spice Level:: 2

Linky Links!!

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

If you liked this, check out…

The Cheat Sheet/The Rule Book | Sarah Adams
Savor It | Tarah Dewitt
Hate Mail | Donna Marchetti
The Unhoneymooners | Christina Lauren

Book Review:: The Christmas Inn | Pamela Kelley

This might just be the coziest book I’ve ever read! The setting is a Cape Cod Bed and Breakfast during Christmas, and a vibrant cast of characters makes this one of the most wholesome holiday books possible.

The Christmas Inn Pamela Kelley Book Cover

After losing her job in New York City, Reily moves back home for a few weeks to help her mother run their B&B for the Christmas rush after her mother breaks her leg. The place has been in a steady decline for the past several years, but with Reily’s help as a content marketer, they work to make this holiday season special. Among those staying at the inn this year is Reily’s widowed high-school sweetheart and his son Luke, and Franny, an older woman who recently lost her sister, who is following a chain of nostalgic letters left to her.

What a beautiful little story we have here! I’ve never read anything by Pamela Kelley before, and I have to say, I’m adding her whole backlist to my TBR! This is the kind of story you can sink into – it transports you into another world and wraps you up in layers of feel-good story. There is romance, yes (we’ll get to that in a second), but what really makes this book shine is the overwhelming feeling of community – you could even call it Christmas spirit, I suppose. Beth and her little family are so kind-hearted and everyone is so open and willing to be present in any room they’re in. It just warms the soul on a level I don’t remember experiencing in another book in quite the same way.

We have two little romance stories going on here. My favorite was mama Beth! She’s been divorced a long time and has felt very discouraged in the dating scene ‘these days’ and has all but completely thrown in the towel, but when the hired help (Shawn) shows up to fix the damage in a few of the rooms at the inn, he’s handsome and kind and capable (and also divorced) – and brings his mama to the holiday festival!

Reily has been dating a big-shot lawyer named Jack in The City. He works long hours because he enjoys his job and has lots of ambition to one day make partner. They have both understood that it will be several more years, at least, of the same pace, before he will have more time to spend on anything else, including her. When she tells someone they’ve been together two years and they respond with an understandable ‘it must be serious’, Reily is surprised, which is…very telling. Spending more time in her hometown, and around the folks around the inn makes her realize how lonely her life in the city has become, and wonder if that kind of life is still the right choice for her. It begins to factor into her job search, as well. What does she really want her life to look like?

Overall, this felt like an immersive Hallmark movie of the best variety. I can see myself craving to read The Christmas Inn again in the future. I absolutely recommend it for anyone wanting to lean into the cozy vibes that come with the fall and winter seasons. There are also plenty of book recommendations in the book (how cool!). So glad I was chosen as an arc listener for the audio version of this title. Thank you to netgalley and the Macmillan Audio for providing the arc in exchange for my honest review.

Details

Title:: The Christmas Inn
Author:: Pamela Kelley
Genre:: Women’s Fiction
Publisher:: St. Martin’s Griffin
Length:: 320 pages
Audio Length:: 10h 48m
Audiobook Narrator:: Stephanie Németh-Parker
Audiobook Publisher:: Macmillan Audio
Published:: September 24, 2024
The Litertarian Rating:: #-Stars
Spice Rating:: 0

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