tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58472449651060232402024-03-02T14:01:58.245-08:00Librarian in PeriwinkleA blog in which I regale you with my thoughtful analysis--or, more likely, with my sometimes-snarky comments--about books of all sorts and for all ages.beachreaderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14341007472524703583noreply@blogger.comBlogger565125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5847244965106023240.post-76000035721584384822024-03-02T14:01:00.000-08:002024-03-02T14:01:12.088-08:00Remember Love<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59382074-remember-love" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Remember Love (Ravenswood, #1)" border="0" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1651542464l/59382074._SX98_.jpg" /></a><p><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59382074-remember-love">Remember Love</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/9759.Mary_Balogh">Mary Balogh</a><br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4602463616">3 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />Gwen Rhys and Devlin Ware grew up as neighbors, each secretly infatuated with the other until they realize their mutual attraction the day of the annual summer fete and become engaged. But that same night, the pair discover Devlin's father with his mistress, and Devlin's strong sense of justice and love for his mother lead him to confront his father in public. Devlin is banished, joins the army to fight Napoleon, and doesn't return for six years, two years after he inherited his father's title. <br /></p><p>I liked this story, but I didn’t love it. Mostly, I think, because we don’t witness Gwen & Devlin falling in love. They never really get to know each other, just go from childhood crushes they believe to be love to insta-love after being reunited 6 years later. They respect each other, which is a good start, but they don’t actually know enough about each other to be in love. <br /><br />I also really hated that Devlin had sex with SOOOO many women during the war. Historically accurate? Probably. But really, what are the odds he didn’t come home with multiple sexually transmitted diseases, which he would then have passed on to Gwen?! Ruined all romance for the rest of the book, especially the one sex scene, which I just had to quickly skim because all I could think about was how he was almost certainly giving her syphilis. *shudder*
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</p><p> </p>beachreaderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14341007472524703583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5847244965106023240.post-77913905623637107522023-10-21T23:32:00.000-07:002023-10-21T23:32:51.807-07:00Slacker<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32332952-slacker" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Slacker" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1476361002l/32332952._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32332952-slacker">Slacker</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2130.Gordon_Korman">Gordon Korman</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5924139901">2 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
I'm a huge Gordon Korman fan and have been since childhood, uh, some decades ago. Unfortunately, this one is not my favorite. I'm really tired of all the adult characters being clueless and/or uncaring, for one thing. And for another thing, the "main" character (if you can call him that in a book where only a few of the chapters are from his POV), Cameron Boxer, is a video game addict who really doesn't grow or mature very much over the course of the book until he suddenly has something of a change of heart at the very end. <br /><br />I think that's really why this story didn't resonate with me: virtually no character development. So much more *could* have been done with that. I would love to have learned more about Xavier's background and emotional growth, for example. I enjoyed the scene with the handmade bowl. Both Pavel and Chuck had potential. Melody's motivations begged for elaboration. And what was up with the high school mean-girl-on-steroids who never got her comeuppance or ah-ha moment? Seriously, NO adults figured out what was happening? And NONE of the high schoolers--in a supposed do-gooder group--were willing to resist her nasty schemes or spill the beans? *sigh*<br /><br />What this book was, was fast-paced and plot-driven. I read it in a single evening after I got my son to bed. The short chapters bounced from character's POV to another's and flew by rapidly, so I think this book will be far more interesting to kids, who typically read for plot anyway and who lack the adult perspective that makes the plot holes and cardboard characters so obvious. There are some mildly humorous situations, mostly the result of people ascribing positive motivations to this self-centered kid who doesn't care about anyone or anything except his video games. I was actually shocked he followed the dripping water in his chapter at the retirement center. <br /><br />For readers' advisors: story doorway is obviously primary. No sexual content or swearing. The only violence was a middle school girl tackling a senior citizen to save a beaver. Well, and a big chaotic "fight" in a sabotaged swimming pool, but no one got hurt that I can recall--it was mostly a lot of yelling and anger vaguely described.
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<p> </p>beachreaderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14341007472524703583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5847244965106023240.post-67587676615859381862023-10-13T22:22:00.002-07:002023-10-13T22:22:34.757-07:00The Wishing Bridge<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/75339195-the-wishing-bridge" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="The Wishing Bridge" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1684210255l/75339195._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/75339195-the-wishing-bridge">The Wishing Bridge</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14056193.Viola_Shipman">Viola Shipman</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5906987565">1 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
Henri Wegner grew up a beloved child in Frankenmuth, Michigan, helped her father plan and execute his dream of opening the world's largest Christmas store, and then moved to Detroit to live her own dream of going to business school. She couldn't wait to leave behind small-town life and her childhood sweetheart. Fast forward a few decades, and the company she has worked for since graduating is now run by the son who inherited when his father died, and the son's a 2-dimensional stereotype of a greedy corporate shark. To save her job, she impulsively promises to convince her father to sell his now-famous, beloved store to a soulless company that will destroy it for profit. All she has to do is go home in December for the first time in years and betray her family to save a job she hates and doesn't really need or have strong ties to anymore. <br /><br />*sighhhhhh* I wanted to like this book. It's a Hallmark Christmas movie in book form. Sadly, it is NOT one of the good Hallmark movies. There is no real conflict in this book, just a couple hundred pages of a grown woman agonizing over the world's most obvious choice. <br /><br />This story is an identity crisis, and not in the way it intends (see above about the faux dilemma). Henri is introduced as being 52 years old, but the math on that doesn't work out, since based on the timeline of all the flashbacks, she had to be born in 1967, and the main part of the story has to take place now (2023) or thereabouts because of how the author refers to the COVID pandemic's effect on businesses in town. So Henri is actually 56. A 56-year-old woman with the angst and immaturity of a 26-year-old. <br /><br />And that's, I think, really the problem. I LOVE finding stories centered on middle-aged characters, but this one doesn't feel authentic in the slightest. We are supposed to believe that Henri has lived and worked in the same place for *decades* and yet seems to have zero community? Her assistant is the closest thing she has to a friend in the city. There is no mention of anything that would in any way tie her to her current life--no friends or neighbors or former coworkers she keeps in contact with, no favorite restaurants or theatres, no faith community, no personality of any sort in her fancy, cold, uber-modern condo, and her work life is unbearably toxic. Apparently Henri has had the world's most routine, robotic life for the past 34 years, and we're supposed to believe this is in some way hard to give up to come home to a place she says she loves and feels loved, to take over management of a business she helped get started and still feels nostalgic for? <br /><br />If Henri *had* been 26, I could buy that she was a workaholic driven by ambition and focused on her career to the exclusion of all else. I could believe that she was facing a quarter-life crisis and grappling with the realization that her life was going in the wrong direction. Actually, I could believe that of a 56-year-old if the circumstances of her life were different--multi-dimensional instead of a negative caricature of "Big City Life." It feels as though Henri was intended to be 26, but the author wanted to include all the nostalgia of life in the 1970s & 80s, which she couldn't do without making Henri a generation older. And it just doesn't work.<br /><br />I did appreciate the nostalgic bits--I am old enough to have grown up with the excitement of those huge Wish Books at Christmastime that came from Sears and Montgomery Ward. However, I'm also old enough to know that NO ONE in 1975 was excited to get Star Wars figurines for Christmas, as is asserted in the opening of the book, because Star Wars didn't come out until 1977. That was just the first of several anachronisms. <br /><br />One other thing really bugged me: toward the end, when Henri's boss & rival showed up at her family's store "unexpectedly" (it was telegraphed so hard...), Ms. Shipman describes the two of them sitting on the giant Santa throne in an "unchristian" way. I'm assuming she meant something akin to "lewd" or "x-rated," so the term raised my hackles. And then I snort-laughed at the implication that Christians don't have sex. Sure would be a lot fewer if that were true! <br /><br />As with all Hallmark Christmas movies, there was supposed to be a romantic theme. Again, it would have worked quite well if the main characters had been 26 instead of 56. Or if they had spent more time getting to know the people they've grown into over the past 35 or so years since Henri broke Shep's heart, and IF the people they have become were actually a good fit. But that was pretty much glossed over, aside from Shep's newfound maturity a la post-divorce therapy. Nothing at all with the realities of single-sided step-parenting (which I can promise you is tricky!). I honestly think the most real character was Shep's ex-wife Hannah, who had done some major self-reflection and personal growth that Henri and her childhood BFF had not. Well, Sophie might have done a bit. All that is to say, the romance aspect of the book, which is usually my favorite part of a Hallmark Christmas movie, was both incidental to the main story and disappointingly paper thin. <br /><br />For readers' advisors: I'm going with setting doorway as primary, for the descriptions of Frankenmuth and all its snowy businesses. There was no sex or violence, only a little swearing and a fair amount of drinking. Don't suggest this book to anyone who cares about complex, well-developed characters or a compelling plot, but it will probably appeal to readers who don't care about those things and just want to inhabit a Bavarian Christmas fantasy-land for a while. In that, it succeeds! <br /><br />Nevertheless, I am very grateful to NetGalley and the publisher for the free eBook ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.
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<p> </p>beachreaderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14341007472524703583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5847244965106023240.post-72872361651490941382023-08-01T17:46:00.002-07:002023-08-01T17:46:36.380-07:00The Bad Guys (#1)<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28128845-the-bad-guys" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="The Bad Guys (The Bad Guys, #1)" border="0" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1599333137l/28128845._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28128845-the-bad-guys">The Bad Guys</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1634014.Aaron_Blabey">Aaron Blabey</a><br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5736875695">4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
Mr. Wolf is tired of being thought of as a Bad Guy just because he's a wolf, so he rounds up some other folks (Mr. Snake, Mr. Shark, and Mr. Piranha) who have faced the same prejudice, cajoling and convincing them to join his new Good Guys Club to seek out opportunities to do Good Deeds and change their reputations. They aren't at all certain this plan will work or whether they even want it to, but Wolf sweeps them along through sheer force of personality and enthusiasm. The team starts with rescuing a cat in a tree and moves on to liberating a dog pound. <br /><br />My kids screeched with laughter as we read this fast-paced graphic novel, and I was quite glad I'd bought the full set. The series is a strong incentive for them to get ready for bed on time for a change so as to maximize bedtime story time. <br /><br />For readers' advisors: story doorway is primary, language (humorous banter) is secondary. Target audience is elementary school children. Piranha gets swallowed temporarily, and both Piranha and Snake get smacked against the side of a building a few times, but no realistic violence.
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<p> </p>beachreaderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14341007472524703583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5847244965106023240.post-73172071909532255332023-08-01T17:13:00.001-07:002023-08-01T17:13:47.989-07:00The Proposal<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37584991-the-proposal" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="The Proposal (The Wedding Date, #2)" border="0" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1550603962l/37584991._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37584991-the-proposal">The Proposal</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16287225.Jasmine_Guillory">Jasmine Guillory</a><br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2881164780">3 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
I bought and read this book months ago because I love Jasmine Guillory's books, but this one wasn't my favorite. It was mostly good, and there were parts I really liked, but what stands out most in my head is the scene where (slight spoiler ahead) Carlos tells Nik he loves her, she freaks out because she's in dire need of some therapy to work out her issues, and then--what drove me nuts--she uses the word "care" in the way that men use that word, and he responds to her use of the word in the way that women respond to it, which is to say, Not Well. I'm all in favor of gender-flipping things usually, but that part had me arguing with the book out loud, and months later that is what I remember most. I may need to re-read the book to remind myself of the rest of the story.<br /><br />For readers' advisors: some steamy sex scenes and a fair amount of swearing. One person (who deserves it!) gets punched. Two secondary female characters meet & begin falling in love. Trigger warning: discussion of domestic abuse, specifically emotional abuse.
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<p> </p>beachreaderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14341007472524703583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5847244965106023240.post-85071599112030199422023-08-01T16:54:00.001-07:002023-08-01T16:54:41.295-07:00Hey, Bruce! An Interactive Book<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59568519-hey-bruce" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Hey, Bruce!: An Interactive Book (Mother Bruce Series)" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1653947705l/59568519._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59568519-hey-bruce">Hey, Bruce!: An Interactive Book</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15059113.Ryan_T_Higgins">Ryan T. Higgins</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5000664784">4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
Ryan T. Higgins' books are an auto-buy for our family, and this one did not disappoint. My kids giggle and take turns poking, swirling, lifting, turning, and shaking the book, etc. as the mice try and "help" Bruce take his nap. We've read it many times since the Easter Bunny first delivered it in April.
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<p> </p>beachreaderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14341007472524703583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5847244965106023240.post-39573661675661679622023-06-07T17:24:00.004-07:002023-06-07T17:24:42.124-07:00Princess Pulverizer: Grilled Cheese and Dragons<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35018348-grilled-cheese-and-dragons" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Grilled Cheese and Dragons" border="0" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1498831365l/35018348._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35018348-grilled-cheese-and-dragons">Grilled Cheese and Dragons</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/11905.Nancy_E_Krulik">Nancy E. Krulik</a><br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5603589721">3 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
A spoiled brat princess hates her teacher and her Royal School of Ladylike Manners. She wants to go to Knight School instead because that looks way more fun. Her father tells her she can go to Knight School on the condition that she will first go out into the world and do eight good deeds, bringing back proof of each. This proves harder than she imagined, since honor, kindness, and sacrifice are not her strong suits, but eventually she gets an ogre to capture her so she can try and retrieve the jewels he stole and return them to their rightful owner. Along the way, she grudgingly teams up with a Knight School dropout and his dragon friend who wants to be a chef. One down, seven more good deeds to go! <br /><br />I bought this book for my daughter, and it's pretty cute. I like how the self-centered princess (very) slowly begins to think of others, which bodes well for the later books in the series. I do wish Lady Frump and the ogre weren't basically caricatures of stereotypes, but perhaps they might be given depth and nuance later on in the series? I won't hold my breath on that, though.<br /><br />For readers' advisors: story doorway is primary, character secondary. Very fast-paced. Good for showing that not everyone fits neatly in predetermined gender (or species) roles, and even misfits have strengths to contribute.
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<p> </p>beachreaderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14341007472524703583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5847244965106023240.post-44903515162378356382023-04-03T12:04:00.002-07:002023-04-03T12:04:19.311-07:00Mickey7<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57771369-mickey7" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Mickey7 (Mickey7, #1)" border="0" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1633525953l/57771369._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57771369-mickey7">Mickey7</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/10864410.Edward_Ashton">Edward Ashton</a><br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5459470110">3 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
When I finished the book last night, I rounded 3.5 up to 4 stars, but now that the end-of-book-high has worn off, the problem I have with the characterization of Eight has become increasingly irritating to the point where I'm downgrading my rating. Now I'm at 2.5 rounding to 3. For the moment. Might go down to 2.<br /><br />The premise of the book is centered around the concept that on a colonization mission to a new planet, one crew member is "Expendable," and after each death, he (Mickey) is bioprinted into a new body and comes out of the tank with the exact memories and personality of the original Mickey and all subsequent iterations as of the most recent upload data. So WHY does Eight come out of the tank acting like a jerk? For this premise to hold water, 7 and 8 should have been almost the same person, minus the most recent six weeks, and based on the personality of 7, nearly all the challenges of the story could have been either overcome or improved if 7 and 8 had simply <b>talked</b> to each other. Kept each other informed of what was going on, who said what to whom, etc. Heck, even keeping an open comm link might have helped! Then the story could have focused on the two of them working *together* to figure out what was up with the creepers rather than taking forever to figure out what the reader grasped immediately. I get that hunger makes people irrational and grumpy, but still. I find myself wanting to rewrite the story with the characterization problem solved to see how that could play out and what opportunities that might present with both Cat and Nasha. <br /><br />For that matter, there were LOTS of characters who could have benefited from being 3-dimensional instead of archetypes. Berto, for one. Marshall, for another. Cat, Nasha, the prime creeper who never even gets a name.... Maybe later books in the series will flesh out the characters?<br /><br />For readers' advisors: story doorway is primary, setting (outer space on an ice planet about a thousand years in the future) doorway is secondary. Some occasional swearing. Some death, but even the descriptions of the various ways Mickey has died are not especially graphic. References to sex, but it's of the fade-to-black variety.
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<p> </p>beachreaderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14341007472524703583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5847244965106023240.post-54788226581796352512023-02-02T14:15:00.005-08:002023-02-02T14:15:38.240-08:00The Princess in Black and the Giant Problem<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56917495-the-princess-in-black-and-the-giant-problem" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="The Princess in Black and the Giant Problem" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1617081128l/56917495._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56917495-the-princess-in-black-and-the-giant-problem">The Princess in Black and the Giant Problem</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/49177.Shannon_Hale">Shannon Hale</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3331917557">4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
It's a quiet, snowy winter day and time for a superhero playdate, when suddenly the fun is interrupted by a giant who starts squashing everything and doesn't respond to the usual superhero tactics. What to do? Call in reinforcements, of course! Soon the Princess in Black, Princess in Blankets, and the Goat Avenger are joined by not just their superhero friends, but also 8 NEW superhero friends and animal sidekicks. Together they trap the giant in a giant-sized twine playpen, and the giant starts to...cry?? <br /><br />My kids and I love the theme of friendship and collaboration, and it's fun to see the silly combination of disguises the new friends come up with. You don't learn anything much about the new characters, but that may come in future installments in the series.
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<p> </p>beachreaderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14341007472524703583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5847244965106023240.post-9927755300840636872022-10-30T11:53:00.002-07:002022-10-30T11:53:17.092-07:00Restart<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35195583-restart" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Restart" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1507986153l/35195583._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35195583-restart">Restart</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2130.Gordon_Korman">Gordon Korman</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2265532673">4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
I loved this funny tale of a bully who falls off a roof while doing something illicit, then wakes with near total amnesia and is pretty horrified to find out what a jerk he's been. I enjoyed reading from the other characters' points of view as well as from Chase's, and I loved watching him choose to be a better person the second time around. It was a little unbelievable that losing his memory would have instantly transformed him into a kinder, better person, but I'm in no way an expert on head trauma, so I will totally give Gordon Korman the benefit of the doubt on this one and hope he did his research. <br /><br />The other thing that kept this book from being a 5-star middle grade story for me was Chase's dad's abrupt switch from being a grown-up bully into a supportive father at the very end. That didn't ring true. I would like to think he, too, could change! But probably not without a lot of therapy. Dude was a jerk for a very long time, and he didn't have the benefit of amnesia. Otherwise, though, I loved this book!
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<p> </p>beachreaderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14341007472524703583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5847244965106023240.post-3938080458475459032022-09-29T21:56:00.005-07:002022-10-08T11:44:52.283-07:00The Ex Hex<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59338234-the-ex-hex" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="The Ex Hex (Ex Hex #1)" border="0" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1639862927l/59338234._SX98_.jpg" /></a><p><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59338234-the-ex-hex">The Ex Hex</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/12326128.Erin_Sterling">Erin Sterling</a><br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4280273753">2 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />Nine years ago, Vivi and her cousin Gwen got drunk and cursed Vivi's boyfriend after she broke up with him because he told her he was (sort of) betrothed to someone else back home in Wales. Now he's returned to her small witchy town to recharge the ley lines, and she discovers her curse wasn't all wishful thinking. <br /></p><p>I really wanted to like this book more than I did. Too much angst, swearing, and sex. I was listening to the eAudiobook, and I could only listen when my children were either in school or asleep--yikes! It might not have been as bad had I read the ebook instead and could more easily skim over the excessive bits, but I did at least take advantage of the 15-second-skip-ahead button quite a few times. <br /><br />It wouldn't have bothered me so much if there had been more of a foundation for the relationship, I think. But I was never convinced they had enough in common besides magic to build a life together. They initially broke up because they failed to communicate or be honest about their feelings, and neither one really did enough growing in the intervening nine years before the present-day part begins. So when they reunite, they still can't properly communicate, and when would they fit it in between All The Sex anyway? Seriously, if you have a town full of witches and clueless non-witches with all magic going spectacularly haywire, maybe stop with the sex long enough to focus on figuring out a solution?? And maybe in doing so, you could figure out whether or not you make good partners? I honestly thought for a long time that maybe the sex was in there because it was going to turn out to be somehow related to breaking the curse, but no. <br /><br />So, meh. I think this book might appeal to folks who are in the mood for an angsty, steamy, witchy fall romance and don't care about character development, multi-dimensional characters, or a well-thought-out plot, though.
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</p><p> </p>beachreaderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14341007472524703583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5847244965106023240.post-16438119302060612492022-09-16T20:17:00.002-07:002022-09-16T20:17:21.789-07:00Small Move, Big Change: Using Microresolutions to Transform Your Life Permanently<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22684609-small-move-big-change" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Small Move, Big Change: Using Microresolutions to Transform Your Life Permanently" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1404840373l/22684609._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22684609-small-move-big-change">Small Move, Big Change: Using Microresolutions to Transform Your Life Permanently</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7730965.Caroline_L_Arnold">Caroline L. Arnold</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4852362431">4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
While this book is a little repetitive, the concepts and concrete examples are fantastic. Arnold's main premise is that instead of getting totally overwhelmed trying to make sweeping changes in your life, the only way to truly alter your habits is to identify specific, measurable actions you can take--no more than two at a time--and focus on doing those relentlessly until they become automatic and no longer require any conscious effort, then move on to the next small shift, and so on. Sometimes this means altering your routine; sometimes this means altering your internal dialogue. <br /><br />The hardest part for me is deciding where to start. So next up: finding a quiet hour to do some soul-searching to decide what is bothering me the most and what is a small change I could make that would have a positive impact and focus on continuing to do it, no matter what. <br /><br />I borrowed the eAudiobook of this from my library, but I may need to buy my own copy to refer back to when I need a refresher.
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<p> </p>beachreaderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14341007472524703583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5847244965106023240.post-73383471638156534902022-08-04T17:39:00.002-07:002022-08-04T17:39:51.790-07:00The Murder of Mr. Wickham<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59089899-the-murder-of-mr-wickham" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="The Murder of Mr. Wickham" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1639679832l/59089899._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59089899-the-murder-of-mr-wickham">The Murder of Mr. Wickham</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1192311.Claudia_Gray">Claudia Gray</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4859566164">4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
Hooray for an absolutely delightful historical mystery where the characters are all from Jane Austen's novels (or the children thereof), gathered at the Knightleys' estate for a house party crashed by the infamous Mr. Wickham of Pride & Prejudice fame! The second night he is there, young Juliet Tilney stumbles over his body on her way back from the privvy. He has caused most of the guests personal and financial losses, so absolutely no one mourns his death, but magistrate Frank Churchill still has to determine who killed him and why. Since Jonathan Darcy, eldest son of Elizabeth & Fitzwilliam Darcy, and Juliet are not under suspicion, they begin investigating, lest an innocent servant be falsely accused. Since seemingly no one was abed that fateful night, there are plenty of twists and turns in what is essentially a locked-room mystery. Everyone has secrets and is in need of courage and honesty if they are to heal their cracked relationships. <br /><br />Claudia Gray has done an outstanding job of remaining true to Austen's characters even as she ages them forward in time according to the loose chronology of when the books were published. Jonathan's neurodivergence at a time before such traits were understood is sympathetically handled, making his growing relationship with Juliet both believable and endearing. Likewise, Fanny's conflict with Edmund over her brother's confession of love for his fellow sailor rings true for the era and indicates a possible path toward compassion and kindness for those today who still cling to the belief that homosexuality is a sin and not simply the way someone was born to be. <br /><br />For readers' advisors: story and character doorways are primary, setting secondary. No on-screen violence, no sex, and I cannot recall any profanity, though there may have been one or two mild historical epithets uttered in the heat of the moment. I forgot to check before my copy returned itself.
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<p> </p>beachreaderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14341007472524703583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5847244965106023240.post-87823342676088684502022-07-16T13:10:00.000-07:002022-07-16T13:10:51.858-07:00Julián Is a Mermaid<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/46161269-juli-n-is-a-mermaid" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Julián Is a Mermaid" border="0" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1559783405l/46161269._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/46161269-juli-n-is-a-mermaid">Julián Is a Mermaid</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20626253.Jessica_Love">Jessica Love</a><br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4851725585">5 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
I love this beautiful picture book about a boy who goes swimming with his grandma and on the way home sees people dressed as mermaids on the train, then creates his own mermaid costume while his grandma is in the shower. He isn't sure how he is going to respond when she sees the mess he's made, but she doesn't get mad, she helps him accessorize and takes him to see a show with other mermaids. <br /><br />I love how this book celebrates imagination and depicts the loving, supportive relationship between a boy and his grandmother. I love the inter-generational and diverse characters and body types depicted in the lovely illustrations. My son also loves to dress up in costumes and play pretend, and though I'm pretty sure I would not react well if he took down our curtains to make a costume, I try very hard to create an environment where he has no worries about being accepted for expressing himself. I love that this book features a scene where such support is not only possible but just the way things are. Our world would be an infinitely better place if that were true everywhere. <br /><br />
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<p> </p>beachreaderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14341007472524703583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5847244965106023240.post-26570334721140899372022-07-16T11:49:00.005-07:002022-07-16T11:49:57.337-07:00Starla Jean: Which came first? The chicken or the friendship?<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52516423-starla-jean" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Starla Jean" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1613659753l/52516423._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52516423-starla-jean">Starla Jean</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5772357.Elana_K_Arnold">Elana K. Arnold</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4851648472">2 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
My kids thought this book was great; I thought it was meh. A little girl goes to the park with her dad and comes home with a chicken. I totally sympathized with the dad who stupidly said she could keep it if she could catch it, never imagining she'd actually catch it. I also sympathized with the mom who did not want a chicken inside the house, though I would have been a LOT more forceful about keeping it outside and away from my dining room table. <br /><br />It was OK. Silly enough to make my kids laugh; ridiculous enough to make me roll my eyes. (Putting a diaper on a chicken??)<br /><br />Oh--one thing I didn't understand was that at the end of the book there were some "chicken facts," including that chickens can do basic addition, with an illustration showing a chicken at a chalkboard adding 1+2=3. What?? How is this a chicken fact? If chickens have somehow been proven to be able to add, then the illustration should explain this, not be wildly impossible. That...just...NO.
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<p> </p>beachreaderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14341007472524703583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5847244965106023240.post-73364142858059916432022-07-08T00:56:00.002-07:002022-07-08T00:56:48.345-07:00Nora Goes Off Script<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61305857-nora-goes-off-script" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Nora Goes Off Script" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1655477111l/61305857._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61305857-nora-goes-off-script">Nora Goes Off Script</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/645867.Annabel_Monaghan">Annabel Monaghan</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4748042896">5 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
Nora Hamilton makes a living writing screenplays for The Romance Channel (a thinly veiled Hallmark Channel), swapping out the details but keeping the essential fantasy romance elements intact. However, when her deadbeat husband leaves, she turns her personal story into a major Hollywood movie, earning enough (barely) to get herself and her kids out of the debt he left behind. The studio even pays extra to use her actual tea house/writing studio for the last two days of filming. However, when they pack up and leave, she discovers the leading man--famous actor Leo Vance--remained behind. He begs to be allowed to stay and rest in the tea house, offering her $1000/day in rent--money she badly needs to fix her gutters. She agrees, and suddenly she finds herself playing tour guide and shopping tutor for a gorgeous man eager to participate in her family's life. As he integrates into her world, their relationship evolves into a romantic one, but will he actually stay, or will he leave like her ex-husband did? Nora felt relief when her husband took off; she's very much afraid Leo's departure could shatter her heart. <br /><br />I absolutely loved this book. It both pokes fun at the formulaic Hallmark movies we all love and love to hate, and also works within that same basic framework. Thankfully, this story is one of the good ones, not the ones with the plastic blonde (or brunette) attempting to pretend to be a regular person. I loved that Leo actually did seem like he could fit into Nora's world, and later she proved she could hold her own in his. Nora's daughter Bernadette seems a bit older than her 8 years, but 10-year-old Arthur is entirely believable. Plus it was a breath of fresh air to read a romance novel where the protagonists are 40-ish instead of 20-somethings.<br /><br />I think this would be a great book to discuss in a book group. What makes a person stay with someone like Ben who has no observable redeeming qualities? Yet Nora endured almost two decades of his freeloading and emotional abuse until *he* decided to leave. Even if his absence is welcome, those years he was around were traumatic and left emotional scars, so how did that conditioning impact Nora and Leo's relationship, particularly after Leo flew to L.A. for the audition? <br /><br />For readers' advisors: story doorway is primary, character secondary. All sex happens offscreen, and there are only a few well-placed swear words, so the book is nearly a "gentle read." No violence. All the characters seem to be heterosexual, and racial identity isn't indicated that I can recall, aside from a few names that indicate some secondary characters might be something other than white. Pretty much like the majority of the Hallmark movies, really. (Honestly, that's the biggest drawback--how hard would it have been to make the characters more diverse?)
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<p> </p>beachreaderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14341007472524703583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5847244965106023240.post-2925677278007357172022-07-06T16:52:00.001-07:002022-07-06T16:52:50.005-07:00Bloom of the Flower Dragon<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57468758-bloom-of-the-flower-dragon" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Bloom of the Flower Dragon: A Branches Book (Dragon Masters #21)" border="0" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1651025278l/57468758._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57468758-bloom-of-the-flower-dragon">Bloom of the Flower Dragon: A Branches Book</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17719.Tracey_West">Tracey West</a><br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4829968028">2 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
My kids loved this book; I was bored out of my mind and annoyed to boot. These stories are quite formulaic, which bothers my kids not a whit. I wouldn't mind so much if the formula was better--I'm really not on board with the 8-year-olds-save-the-world-completely-without-grownup-supervision concept. <br /><br />In this iteration of it, Drake and Worm transport Ana and Kepri to some mountains where there are tiny dragons living in a field of flowers near a village but somehow without the villagers knowing about it. The dragon stone chose a blond boy to be the dragon master for the tiny dragon who first came to Bracken to ask for help. The "twist" this time is that the blond boy is rude to this little dragon because he's not thrilled the dragon is small, and he doesn't want to help because he's determined to go search for his missing father instead. Lovely. <br /><br />A seer has predicted the imminent arrival of a monster, so the children go off to the field and figure out that Kepri can use sunshine powers to charge up the tiny dragons so they can basically hypnotize & heal the monster, which turns out to be a werewolf-type creature--i.e. a human who ate the wrong berries & morphed into a murderous beast. Most adults will be able to guess this outcome of this story.
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<p> </p>beachreaderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14341007472524703583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5847244965106023240.post-33867529602555318902022-06-16T22:53:00.002-07:002022-06-16T22:53:40.796-07:00Under Lock & Skeleton Key<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57771328-under-lock-skeleton-key" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Under Lock & Skeleton Key: A Secret Staircase Mystery" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1655444603l/57771328._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57771328-under-lock-skeleton-key">Under Lock & Skeleton Key: A Secret Staircase Mystery</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4750529.Gigi_Pandian">Gigi Pandian</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4774901008">4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
Tempest Raj loves being a magician. She comes from a long line of Indian magicians, and she never believed in the family curse, but her recent spate of misfortunes has her wondering whether there might be some truth to the legend. She's back home in the Bay Area after her assistant sabotaged their Las Vegas show, nearly killing Tempest in an attempt to discredit her and steal her show. <br /><br />Since she's home, her dad has requested her assistance looking over the blueprints for the current project his company, Secret Staircase Construction, is working on, because something about them just doesn't quite add up, and Tempest is an expert in the art of building elaborate illusions. Unfortunately, not long after Tempest arrives on site, the bagged body of her backstabbing body double falls out of a wall that's been sealed for decades. How is that even possible, and was Cassidy the target, or was the killer aiming for Tempest?<br /><br />As you might expect with a book about magicians, misdirection abounds. Tempest and her friends investigate, uncovering means, motives, and opportunities that conflict and overlap. One thing I most appreciated about the story was that there was never any question of Tempest being charged with the crime, unlike so many mysteries featuring amateur sleuths. She simply needed to know what was really going on, and how, and why. <br /><br />My absolute most favorite things about this book were the hidden rooms and secret entrances, the magical nooks and crannies, sliding bookcases, tricks, and illusions. I want to live in her house or maybe in the treehouse with her grandparents!! I want to eat her grandfather's delicious cooking even though I am a wimp and cannot handle spicy Indian food, though maybe the Indian/Scottish blended recipes he's invented might be less fiery? <br /><br />One issue I had was that I doubt so many people would have believed Tempest would ever have tried those dangerous tricks that destroyed her show. For one thing, her work ethic would have been obvious to everyone in her crew, so I had a hard time believing that anyone who knew her could have been convinced she was at fault. Along those lines, though Tempest feels like she belongs everywhere and nowhere as a result of her multicultural heritage, she's not antisocial or a jerk, so it was hard to see why she didn't seem to have any true friends aside from Sanjay, Ivy, & Gideon. Las Vegas must have been a painfully lonely place for her.<br /><br />This series opener did nicely set up future plotlines or subplots regarding uncovering her mother's disappearance and who was behind it. Probably the answer will also tie directly to solving her aunt's murder. I'm also looking forward to seeing how this burgeoning love triangle plays out, and learning more about the backstory behind her estrangement from Ivy. <br /><br />For readers' advisors: story doorway is primary, setting is secondary. No sex or onscreen violence. Only a couple of swear words. Plenty of real-world magic and illusions, nothing supernatural.
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<p> </p>beachreaderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14341007472524703583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5847244965106023240.post-7661857612254035212022-06-10T18:07:00.004-07:002022-06-10T18:07:39.617-07:00Bewitched<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57400148-bewitched" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Bewitched (Betwixt & Between #2)" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1615672620l/57400148._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57400148-bewitched">Bewitched</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4175419.Darynda_Jones">Darynda Jones</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3572453901">2 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
After a 6-month suspended animation nap, Defiance Dayne is once again awake and getting into and out of trouble. While she was sleeping, her dads and her best friend moved across the county to join her in Salem, MA, in her magical house, Percival, haunted by the ghost of her grandfather. Defiance tries at first to lie and say her magical powers have vanished, but that doesn't work, and soon she is tracking down all sorts of missing objects and people, trying desperately to figure out how to keep everyone alive, or at least keep them from dying again. <br /><br />This volume in the series could have used some heavy editing, particularly the endless repetitions of how sexy Roan was and what his inked existence did to Defiance's "nether" or "girl" parts. That got old REALLY fast, and the book would have been much improved if we could have just skipped over most of that. Roan's backstory was a key subplot, so I wish Defiance had acted her age (45) and dialed back the lust in favor of really getting to know Roan for who he was and not just fixated on the heavily tattooed, kilted outer package. If readers are supposed to go for the pair as a serious couple by the end of the series, there has GOT to be more to the relationship than electricity. In both directions, though mercifully we are spared the recitation of Roan's lustful thoughts. <br /><br />I LOVE Darynda Jones' books, but this is my least favorite. Some excellent parts, though! And I do still want to listen to the next book to see how the loose ends get tied up. <br /><br />For readers' advisors: story doorway is primary. Tons of sexual content, though really only one actual sex scene. Plenty of profanity, some violence and threats of violence, but not overly graphic. Trigger warnings for spousal and child abuse. LGBTQIA-adjacent, as Defiance was raised by her two dads, one of whom is Latinx. Her grandmother's love interest, the police chief, is African-American. Other characters are either white or not memorably specified.
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<p> </p>beachreaderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14341007472524703583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5847244965106023240.post-48131648868096290102022-05-28T18:20:00.002-07:002022-05-28T18:20:22.485-07:00Once More Upon a Time<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61075272-once-more-upon-a-time" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Once More Upon a Time" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1652291916l/61075272._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61075272-once-more-upon-a-time">Once More Upon a Time</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13695109.Roshani_Chokshi">Roshani Chokshi</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4708621055">4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
I'm having a hard time deciding on a rating for this one because on the one hand, it was an absolutely delightful second-chance romance tale of a young King Ambrose and Queen Imelda whose love was taken away by a curse the day after they married, in exchange for saving Imelda's life. To rule their tiny kingdom, they must love each other, however, so they were forced out after a year and a day had passed. Only then, on a quest to steal a potion from one witch to give to another, do they discover that though they no longer remember being in love, there never was anything preventing them from falling in love all over again. They simply wasted that year. The journey they undertake together is both literal and figurative, with plenty of personal growth and adventurous escapes from carnivorous beds, enchanted animals, and potion-wielding witches. Both the narrator (the witch) and a cloak that thinks it's a horse provide plenty of humor along the way.<br /><br />On the other hand, I somehow forgot it was a novella and was unpleasantly startled when the book ended just as it was getting going. This really would have been better as a full-length novel, in my opinion. Not because I think the romance needed to take any longer to rekindle, but because there was so much more story to be told of how they found their way once it was and adjusted to their newly realized heart's desires. Their healing from adolescent traumas was just beginning, and I wanted to stay with these characters as they built something new. <br /><br />But Goodreads doesn't allow half stars, so I think I'll round up to 4 because I really did enjoy the novella until there were no more pages. <br /><br />For readers' advisors: character and language doorways are primary, but setting is strong as well, since it's beautifully written, humorous fantasy based on the fairy tale of the dancing princesses. Though the target audience is adults, it works for older teens as well. It's steamy, but the one sex scene happens off-screen. No real gritty violence or profanity that I can recall.
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<p> </p>beachreaderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14341007472524703583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5847244965106023240.post-68998520386627670292022-05-21T12:48:00.001-07:002022-05-21T12:48:08.448-07:00Book Lovers<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58885775-book-lovers" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Book Lovers" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1638867337l/58885775._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58885775-book-lovers">Book Lovers</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13905555.Emily_Henry">Emily Henry</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4368604895">5 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
Nora Stephens has been dumped not once, not twice, but FOUR times by men who leave New York City for a Hallmark-movie-ending in the country. If her life were a romance novel trope, she'd be the "Evil City Girlfriend." Nora adores NYC, though, and has zero desire to live anywhere else. She is a classic workaholic, devoted to her clients and dedicated to securing the best publishing deals she can in her role as a fierce literary agent. She is also devoted to her younger sister, nieces, and brother-in-law, so when Libby begs her to take a month-long sisters' vacation to the very small town that's the setting of a client's best-selling novel, she acquiesces. Little does she know her sister has ulterior motives for the trip and is on a mission to give Nora her very own Hallmark movie experience. Not long after the women arrive, it's not a handsome stranger they run into, though, but the very editor who once turned down the book that put this town on the map, so to speak, and Nora begins to learn that everyone has a backstory, and sometimes first impressions are dead wrong. <br /><br />I absolutely adored this book! Yes, the solution the characters struggle to see was obvious to me from the moment we learn what Libby's secret is--and it crossed my mind even before that--but the journey they took to get there was necessary, heartwarming, and sometimes even heart wrenching. Plus the witty banter was perfect, like an R-rated Gilmore Girls, and had me laughing out loud or at least grinning 'til my face hurt though most of the story. <br /><br />What I don't understand is why the official synopsis of this book says Nora and Charlie are rivals. They barely know each other until Nora & Libby arrive in Sunshine Falls. The only time they've ever interacted was 2 years prior at the meeting where Nora pitched Charlie the manuscript for <i>Once in a Lifetime</i>, and he turned it down because he hated the setting. In fact, when Nora does spot Charlie in the coffee shop, she isn't sure it's him and has to look up his address to send an email as a test to see if the man ahead of her in line responds. Which he does, because apparently they both have email notifications turned on--something I would never do because the constant pinging would make me insane, but I suppose it makes sense for their business email accounts. At any rate, they aren't rivals; they are acquaintances who become colleagues and friends with enough electricity sparking between them to start a wildfire. <br /><br />For readers' advisors: character doorway is primary, language secondary (for the banter). There is no violence, but there are a few steamy sex scenes and some profanity sprinkled throughout. <br /><br />Many many thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the free eGalley copy in exchange for my honest review!
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<p> </p>beachreaderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14341007472524703583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5847244965106023240.post-51656659940268965782022-05-13T18:40:00.002-07:002022-05-13T18:40:49.372-07:00Fly Girl: A Memoir<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58999205-fly-girl" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Fly Girl: A Memoir" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1643414004l/58999205._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58999205-fly-girl">Fly Girl: A Memoir</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/24558.Ann_Hood">Ann Hood</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4693467513">4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
I was in preschool the year that Ann Hood began her career as a flight attendant for TWA, but I do remember a little bit about what it was like to fly at that time, though I most definitely never got to experience the luxuries of flying first class. Her memoir is a fascinating look at what it took to become and remain a flight attendant in the years when the airline industry was undergoing massive upheaval both culturally--the sexism is nauseating in the extreme--and financially, with deregulation bringing both positive and negative changes, and corporate greed causing widespread devastation. <br /><br />My favorite parts of the book were the ones focused on her personal experiences and growth. Hood's recounting of her time at the Breech Training Academy in Kansas City was captivating. I wasn't surprised that they were trained to do all the obvious things like demonstrate how seatbelts and life vests work, but I had <b>no</b> idea the breadth and depth or complexity of their training, from how to carve chateaubriand (they used to do that on airplanes?!) to how to deliver a baby, and a million other responsibilities big and small. I don't know how many of those tasks are still part of modern-day flight attendant training--I'm assuming the meat carving isn't a thing any more--but I have a whole new appreciation for the men and women who have patiently offered me drinks and hot towels on past flights. <br /><br />I also found the history of the airline industry itself to be fascinating, though I struggled with the lack of coherent timeline. Actually, that's true for some of her personal recollections as well--she tends to go off on tangents during anecdotes sometimes. All of which are interesting, but the non-linear detours did make it difficult for me to figure out when various events took place. The overall story arc moved chronologically, but the individual threads zigzagged. <br /><br />One thing that surprised me was that for all the stories of what life was like as a beautiful, young, single woman with an adventurous spirit, and her tales of dating or refusing propositions, there is virtually nothing about meeting or marrying her husband. I thought that's what she was alluding to with her recollection of meeting 47F, but alas, no. Perhaps that means meeting her husband was unrelated to her time as a flight attendant? Perfectly fine to keep that story private, but I admit I was a little disappointed. <br /><br />All in all, I very much enjoyed reading this memoir. 3 1/2 stars, but I'll round up. Many thanks to Bookbrowse and the publisher, W. W. Norton & Company, for the free ARC in exchange for my honest review.
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<p> </p>beachreaderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14341007472524703583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5847244965106023240.post-91434626929847822802022-04-29T19:10:00.003-07:002022-04-29T19:10:50.089-07:00Mr. Perfect on Paper<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59001890-mr-perfect-on-paper" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="Mr. Perfect on Paper" border="0" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1651284354l/59001890._SX98_.jpg" /></a><p><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59001890-mr-perfect-on-paper">Mr. Perfect on Paper</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/20590894.Jean_Meltzer">Jean Meltzer</a><br />
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4608673923">3 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
Dara Rabinowitz has made a fortune turning her family's matchmaking legacy into the Jewish dating app J-Mate, but she hasn't used those skills to find her own perfect match, so her grandmother forces her hand by announcing Dara's "perfect husband requirements" on live television. Dara is humiliated, but it turns out to be a ratings boon for both J-Mate and the daytime TV show when the producers turn her search into a series of segments on the show. <br /><br />Widowed single father Chris Steadfast is the exact opposite of Dara's criteria, but they gradually get to know one another through the string of hilariously disastrous dates his show's camera crew films and broadcasts. Unfortunately, Dara's insistence on only marrying a Jewish man blinds her to the perfect match right in front of her and has her clinging to one that's only perfect on paper. <br /><br />What I loved about this book was the way mental illnesses, grief, and Judaism are addressed. I learned so much about all three! Dara struggles with all sorts of mental health challenges, particularly anxiety, and she has developed strategies and coping mechanisms to handle them. I thought those aspects of her character were so well done. Plus having the dates all relate to various Jewish holidays and traditions gave the opportunity to tell readers about the history and meanings of each, which was interesting. <br /><br />Unfortunately, the secondary characters in this book are pretty one-dimensional. Even Dara's beloved Bubbe doesn't feel like a fleshed-out character. Frankly, it was difficult to believe that an expert matchmaker wouldn't notice how unhappy Dara was. Dr. Daniel was a perfectly nice person, just completely wrong for Dara. She let her prejudice get in the way of her happiness. I suspect this book would work much better as a movie, where a good set of actors could use nonverbal communication to develop into 3D people both figuratively and literally. And that climactic scene at Bubbe's party would make a very dramatic, cinematic movie ending. <br /><br />For readers' advisors: story doorway is primary. The New York/New Jersey setting might also appeal to some readers. No sex or violence, and if there was any swearing, it was so mild I can't remember it. It's a pretty fast-paced read. </p><p>My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the free advance copy in exchange for my honest review!<br /><br />
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</p><p> </p>beachreaderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14341007472524703583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5847244965106023240.post-8304104695653874772022-04-07T15:40:00.003-07:002022-04-07T15:40:26.104-07:00The No-Show<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58678550-the-no-show" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="The No-Show" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1639766654l/58678550._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58678550-the-no-show">The No-Show</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13038484.Beth_O_Leary">Beth O'Leary</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4556658584">5 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
This is, hands-down, my favorite adult fiction book so far this year, and I've read some excellent ones. I requested the eGalley copy from NetGalley thinking I was getting a rom-com, and while there definitely is romance as well as some humor, this book took me on an emotional journey I was not expecting, and I could not bear to put it down. <br /><br />The first half of the book is character-driven, focusing on the three women Joseph Carter stands up on Valentine's Day: Siobhan, Miranda, and Jane. We get to know Siobhan's over-scheduled world as a life coach with past relationship grief. We learn about Miranda's life as the only woman on a tree surgeon crew (a.k.a. arborist). And we wonder exactly what trauma caused Jane to flee corporate London for a volunteer job as the youngest member on staff at a charity shop in Winchester. Their lives intersect in only one way: their relationship with the same man. <br /><br />The second half of the book (or maybe the last 3rd? eGalleys have wonky formatting) is hard to talk about without giving anything away. The pace intensifies, the story taking unexpected twists and turns. I anticipated loathing Joseph, yet he defied all my expectations, and I honestly couldn't decide what outcome I wanted...none of which mattered in the end because O'Leary is a genius. <br /><br />For readers' advisors: character and story doorways are both VERY strong. The setting is England and Ireland. Some profanity and mild sexual content. One scene with accidental violence. Discussion or mention of grief, death of loved one, depression, dementia, stalking, sexual harassment, self harm, miscarriage, and panic attacks. LGBTQIA+ secondary characters.
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<p> </p>beachreaderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14341007472524703583noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5847244965106023240.post-42492335179395333372022-03-11T16:53:00.000-08:002022-03-11T16:53:28.434-08:00Someone to Cherish<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55287868-someone-to-cherish" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Someone to Cherish (Westcott #8)" src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1613184803l/55287868._SX98_.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55287868-someone-to-cherish">Someone to Cherish</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/9759.Mary_Balogh">Mary Balogh</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4002947715">3 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
Harry Westcott has done a lot of healing, both physically and emotionally, the past four years since he's been back in his childhood home, alone except for the army of servants. He is content with his life and has regained his happiness. But on the cusp of turning thirty, suddenly his contentment is threaded with a bit of restlessness. Maybe he does need more in his life?<br /><br />Lydia Tavernor has lived alone in her tiny cottage opposite the gateway to Hinsford Manor for more than a year, since she bought it and moved in after her husband drowned saving a young boy from the village. Her husband had been a beloved vicar, ardent in his faith and dedicated to his parishioners. What no one knows is that he was a benevolent despot as a husband, dictating every aspect of her life, eschewing both physical contact and humor. After grieving the loss of her husband for the full length of her mourning period, Lydia is learning to find herself--her <i>true</i> self--again, a person she lost track of in the 20 years since her mother died when she was eight and her father and brothers wrapped her in metaphorical cotton wool to protect her from the Big Bad World. Now that she's had a taste of freedom, she never again wants to hand it over to a man. Still, living alone can be lonely. She just doesn't realize what a can of worms she will open by asking her handsome neighbor if he ever gets lonely, too. <br /><br />The outcome is never in doubt--I mean, it IS a romance novel--but the journey these two take to get there is interesting. They have been acquaintances for about 4 years by the time the book begins, and yet Harry has never truly noticed Lydia, ever, even while chatting politely with her at social events. She, on the other hand, has built up a fantasy version of him based solely on seeing him interact with their neighbors, and he has become literally the man of her dreams. <br /><br />My favorite parts of the novel were when they were engaged in quiet conversation about things they'd never told another soul. The reason I am rating the book--and I wrestled with this--three stars instead of four is because I think there needed to be an additional scene or two where they maybe had a moment or two to converse privately while in public view (or even not in public?) and do a better job of building the foundation for a relationship. To me it felt like Balogh was skirting too close to the "insta-love" trope by having them fall in love on the basis of so little. <br /><br />The second reason for my lower-than-usual-rating for a book in this series is that I really think Lydia capitulated far too quickly. She is initially so strong and determined, I think it would have made far more sense for her to resist marriage until she got a closer view of the relationships between spouses in the Westcott family. She needed to see in action that husbands don't necessarily dominate their wives and dictate all their choices. She needed time to begin building relationships with Harry's sisters, cousins, and mother. There really was no "Aha!" moment of growth where her change of heart would make sense. <br /><br />Also, I wished the characters of Jeremy and Mrs. Piper had been fleshed out more. They were rather two-dimensional.<br /><br />Otherwise, though, I loved the book! <br /><br />For readers' advisors: character edges out story doorway as primary, setting (Regency England) is secondary, though I realize my complaints about the book are about deficiencies in characters. There are some makeout scenes and a couple of sex scenes. The occasional mild swear word appeared. One scene depicts a solid punch being thrown.
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<p> </p>beachreaderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14341007472524703583noreply@blogger.com0