Cassandra in Reverse

Cassandra in Reverse by Holly Smale
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What would you do if you discovered you could go back in time (though no further than a certain date)? Would you use it to win the lottery? Prevent accidents? Or try and keep from getting fired from your job and dumped by your boyfriend on the same day? Cassandra Penelope Dankworth chooses the latter option. It is, however, exhausting, and perhaps not what the universe had in mind.

I absolutely LOVED this book. Cassandra was such a wonderful, heartbreaking character. I would say I wanted to scoop her up and hug her and tell her there was absolutely NOTHING wrong with her, except, of course, she would hate that.

I did have a really hard time believing she had gone 31 years without realizing she was autistic, as that was blindingly obvious from almost the first moments of the book, but then I read that the author wasn’t diagnosed until she was 39, so I guess that’s sadly more plausible than I’d realized. I also read that the author herself processes emotions as colors, which explains the phenomenally beautiful way they are described throughout the book.

For readers’ advisors: character and language doorways are strongest. A fair amount of occasional swearing. References to sex and a time loop sex scene (as Cassie tries to “fix” things) which is not described in detail. No physical violence aside from the anti-fur protesters who yell and throw fake blood on Cassandra when she accidentally stumbles into their midst.

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Romantic Comedy

Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In April of 2018, Sally Milz is a writer for a live sketch comedy television show in New York City.  One week that month, Noah Brewster is both the guest host and musician.  They meet and hit it off when Noah comes to Sally for assistance in writing a sketch, though Sally doesn't believe a superstar could possibly be romantically interested in a regular, non-gorgeous, non-famous woman, so after an intense week of rehearsals and the live performance, she panics and says something hurtful to him during a conversation at the after-party.  Regret and pain follow, but life returns to normal...until the global pandemic shuts the world down in March of 2020, and by the time summer rolls around, Noah is bored and lonely enough to try reaching out to Sally via email.  That medium allows the pair time and space to be vulnerable and honest, rebuilding and strengthening what both had believed to be irretrievably lost.  But can their renewed relationship survive the reality of in-person contact? 

I loved the behind-the-scenes look at the inner workings of TNO (The Night Owls--i.e. the thinly veiled SNL), and it was completely believable to me that Sally would be confident in her professional abilities as a comedy writer, yet insecure in her personal life. This story had two things working in her favor, though: first, Sally & Noah met in a place where she felt confident, which is an attractive quality to most men, and second, Noah was old enough and had been through enough therapy to be tired of shallow connections. The story wouldn't have worked with younger characters, I don't think.

Actually, I'll add a third: COVID lockdowns. For those of us who lived through the pandemic (which is everyone reading this), we experienced the duality of this chaotic era that both caused massive upheaval but also gifted us with time to reevaluate our lives. And the latter is what allowed Noah to slow down enough to forgive Sally's verbal sabotage of their budding relationship and to reach out and reconnect.

While I couldn't always decide whether I wanted to hug Sally and give her a pep talk or shake her for making so many unhelpful assumptions about what Noah was thinking or feeling, I could definitely relate to her and rooted for the relationship to flourish.

For readers' advisors: character and setting doorways are both strong. Plenty of swearing, sexual references, references to bodily functions, mention of past alcohol abuse and recovery, and some cracked-open-door sex scenes. No violence.

My thanks to Bookbrowse for the free copy in exchange for participating in their online book discussion.

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The Proposal

The Proposal by Jasmine Guillory
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

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.

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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Mickey7

Mickey7 by Edward Ashton
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

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.

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 talked 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.

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?

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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The Ex Hex

The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

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.

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.

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.

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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Bewitched

Bewitched by Darynda Jones
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

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.

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.

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.

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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Book Lovers

Book Lovers by Emily Henry
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

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.

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.

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 Once in a Lifetime, 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.

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.

Many many thanks to NetGalley and Berkley Publishing Group for the free eGalley copy in exchange for my honest review!

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The No-Show

The No-Show by Beth O'Leary
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

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.

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.

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.

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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Payback's a Witch

Payback's a Witch by Lana Harper
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Emmy Harlow left town as soon as she graduated from high school and has only been back to visit a few times since then, determined to live a magic-free life on her own terms in Chicago, after a painful breakup from an ill-advised secret romance with the Blackmoore family scion decimated her self-esteem. Now 26, Emmy has a job she adores, a mountain of student-loan debt, and a fierce desire to maintain her distance from everyone and everything she used to love. Enter The Gauntlet, a centuries-old tradition wherein the scions of the town's magical founding families compete once "every fifty years to determine which founding family got to preside over all things magical in Thistle Grove." The Harlow scion is the impartial Arbiter, and Emmy is the Harlow scion.

Her first night back in town, Emmy heads to a local bar and encounters her worst nightmare: Gareth Blackmoore and his drunk buddies. For his part, Gareth...absolutely doesn't recognize her and tries to hit on her, stunned that his pickup lines fail to impress. Natalia Avramov witnesses Emmy and Gareth's encounter and, to Emmy's shock, not only recognizes but actively remembers her from high school, though Talia was two years ahead. The women spend the rest of the evening drinking and bonding. The following morning, Emmy drags her pounding head to brunch with her BFF Linden Thorn and gets another shock: not only has Talia also had..."unfortunate relations" with Gareth, but he recently broke Lin's heart. Talia crashes their brunch to propose revenge: an unprecedented alliance between the Thorn scion (Lin's twin brother Rowan) and Avramov scion (Talia) against the Blackmoore scion (Gareth) at the upcoming Gauntlet. Though the challenges cannot be known in advance, plotting and planning provides ample time for sparks to fly between Talia and Emmy. Will those sparks be enough to rekindle Emmy's love for their town, or will they flame out as the Gauntlet ends?

This book was great fun to read, especially the descriptions of how the magic felt as it roared through Emmy, and I really enjoyed the steamy romance between Talia and Emmy, though sometimes I wanted to remind them that relationships which last cannot be built from chemistry alone--feeling "at home" with your partner is far more important than flutters and zings. Reading Emmy's struggle with her quarter-life crisis made me grateful to be past that phase of life. So much angst and self-delusion, so much pointless resistance to that which feeds her soul. I also appreciated that for all the angst, sexuality was a non-issue. No one batted at eye at Emmy being bisexual or Talia having a strong preference for women, yet also having a foolish fling with a man after a bad breakup. Humans are humans, and heartbreak is heartbreak.

I look forward to book two in the series, which presumably will feature Rowan and Isidora. Perhaps the author will flesh out some unanswered world-building questions in that installment, such as how intermarriage between founding families affects magical abilities and bloodlines. Surely this has come up at some point in the past 300 years? They can't *all* have married "normies." Or along those same lines, how are family names passed down? Specifically, do men who marry into the founding families take their wives' last names? Is that how Emmy's grandmother was able to keep and pass on the Harlow name? Or Gareth's grandmother? These questions and others didn't keep me from enjoying the story, but they did make me stop and wonder.

For readers' advisors: story and character doorways are both strong. There is a lot of swearing and drinking (I am seriously concerned for their livers!) but no violence. Tons of flirting, raging hormones, sexy thoughts and banter--in short, it's pretty steamy/spicy, but not especially explicit. The Gauntlet is reminiscent of the Triwizarding Tournament in Harry Potter.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the eGalley ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

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The Shaadi Set-Up

The Shaadi Set-Up by Lillie Vale
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Six years ago, Milan broke up with Rita via voicemail while she was enroute to meet up with him for a European vacation the summer after their sophomore year in college. He shattered her heart, and she hasn't gotten over it in the slightest, despite all her protestations to the contrary. Now Milan is a successful real estate agent...with one exception. He has a house on the market he hasn't been able to sell, and he needs Rita's design help to stage it. Their mothers conspire to set up a meet and manipulate them into working together in the hopes that the reunion will give them a second chance.

What the mothers don't know is that Rita already has a boyfriend, and she isn't interested in giving Milan a second chance. She convinces her boyfriend they should coordinate their profiles on the Desi dating site, MyShaadi.com, so they will match, thereby "proving" they are right for each other. Unsurprisingly, they don't match with each other at all, and soon Rita's boyfriend is dating other women, and Rita is spending all her time fixing up a second home with Milan. However, for a relationship to be successful, the past and present must be reconciled.

I have had a hard time deciding on a rating for this book. I really wanted to like it more than I did. There were some very enjoyable aspects to it but also some aspects that just didn't work for me. I vacillated between two and three stars, for an average of 2.5 stars, which I will round up since half stars aren't an option in Goodreads.

What I enjoyed most about the book was the glimpse into Indian-American culture, much of the banter, and the interactions between Rita and her best friend Rajvee. I also appreciated the steamy foreplay that led into the tasteful fade-to-black sex scenes. And I loved that it was Rita who was the expert with power tools and refurbishing furniture. The story kept me reading and went by pretty quickly.

Overall, though, the book made me grateful I'm not still in my twenties. Ugh. So much angst, so few deep conversations. I just don't understand how it took six whole years for Rita and Milan to uncover the misunderstanding that caused their breakup, given that both maintained contact with Raj. That's a pretty big Best Friend Fail to NEVER talk about such a pivotal event or connect the dots to realize there was more to the story.

I think the love triangle would have been more effective had Neil not been such an obvious mismatch. I wanted to kick him to the curb from the first chapter, and he never changed my mind. SO many things wrong there, including that a relationship should never EVER be based on pheromones alone. It was clear from the very beginning that he would never put Rita first, and she was straining to convince herself everything was fine & he was a good boyfriend. (See above about being grateful to have left my twenties behind.)

One other thing that really bothered me was that it seemed like Rajvee's gender fluidity was an afterthought or a late-in-the-editing process revision because someone said there needed to be an LGBTQIA character somewhere in the book. I was really excited at first when Vale introduced Raj's backstory because books are windows into someone else's experience, and I was looking forward to seeing how that character would develop. But aside from mentioning that Raj feels masculine sometimes and went shopping with Milan in high school for boys' clothes and (theoretically) uses all pronouns, the whole rest of the book depicts Raj as female. In fact, if Vale removed the section of the chapter where Rita recalls the history of Raj and Milan's friendship, I think you would never know Raj was anything but a cisgender woman. That was disappointing to me.

For readers' advisors: story doorway is primary. There is no violence, some swearing. Sex is depicted positively, mentioned regularly, and not described in detail. The main characters are all Indian-American, and most (all?) secondary characters are presumed white.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free eBook ARC in exchange for my honest review!

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Undercover Bromance

Undercover Bromance by Lyssa Kay Adams
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Liv Papandreas is a brilliant pastry chef with a horrible boss. Braden Mack is a wealthy nightclub owner who wants to settle down with his current girlfriend so he can experience the kind of relationship he has helped his friends achieve. When Mack decides to splurge on a fancy dinner and $1000 cupcake at the restaurant where Liv works, the evening ends in disaster, with Mack's girlfriend dumping him, and Liv witnessing a young server being forced into performing sexual acts by their boss. Liv's defense of the girl costs Liv her job.

Realizing her former boss clearly has a history of harassing and coercing women, Liv goes on the offensive, trying to discover his previous victims, regardless of their fear, shame, and reluctance to come forward and accuse this powerful celebrity chef of his crimes. She demands Mack make up for costing her her job by offering a job to the server in an attempt to protect her. The girl initially refuses the help, but Liv is determined to put a stop to the abuse. Eventually the entire Bromance Book Club (plus a few others) cooks up a plan to break in to Royce's office and steal his computer files containing information on the women he's harassed and paid off so they have hard evidence with which to confront him.

All this plotting and planning means Liv and Mack are spending large amounts of time together, and despite Liv's initial disdain for Mack, she discovers there is more to him than she imagined. Mack, in turn, comes to realize he's going to have to face the trauma of his childhood if he wants to create something real with Liv, who has her own emotional baggage to deal with.

Book #2 in the series reveals more about how the Bromance Book Group got started and why Braden Mack, a bachelor, is a member. Spoiler alert: he started it! Getting to know more of Braden's backstory was one of my favorite aspects of the book. Also, the best thing about a hating-to-dating romance is the lack of insta-love. I generally prefer a slow burn story.

For readers' advisors: character and story doorways via for prominence. Profanity is pervasive, there are some steamy sex scenes, and a rooster gets pretty violent when men come to the farm where Liv resides. Trigger warning for anyone sensitive to issues of domestic violence and sexual harassment.

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The Bromance Book Club

The Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Kay Adams
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Gavin Scott messed up. Badly. The love of his life, his wife of three years and the mother of his twin 3-year-old daughters, wants a divorce. He hadn't even realized they had grown so far apart until the night he found out she'd been faking it in bed for their entire marriage. The pain of her revelation sent him into a tailspin, shutting both his mouth and his ears until she got fed up and kicked him out of the house.

The thing is, Thea is furious because somehow over the past three years she lost herself, subsumed her identity and morphed from an artist into a stereotypical baseball wife, one whom Southern Lifestyle magazine called "wholesomely pastel." What Gavin doesn't grasp is that it's not just sex she's been faking, but everything, and she is D.O.N.E. being a stranger to herself.

Gavin, though, is desperate to save his marriage. So desperate, his best friend drags him to a very unique book group. A dozen or so alpha men of Nashville society--business owners, athletes, city officials--meet to read romance novels ("We call them manuals") and save each other's relationships. What?! Gavin thinks he's being punked, but the men are completely serious. What better way to learn the language of women than to read books "written by women for women...entirely about how they want to be treated and what they want out of life and in a relationship"? The men formulate a plan for Gavin to win Thea's heart all over again. In short? Backstory. It's ALL about backstory, and Gavin needs to understand not only Thea's, but his own if he is to have any hope of success.

I am so glad this is just the first in the series, because it's hilarious, heartwarming, and I wish men would try this strategy in the real world! Seriously, so many relationships could be saved and strengthened.

There is so much to love about this book. One of my favorite quotes is from a funny-but-serious moment in chapter 5 when one of the men says, "Don't be ashamed for liking them. The backlash against the PSL [pumpkin spice latte] is a perfect example of how toxic masculinity permeates even the most mundane things in life. If masses of women like something, our society automatically begins to mock them. Just like romance novels. If women like them, they must be a joke, right?" OMG, yes! Well, I don't know about the PSL--I hate coffee-flavored anything--but Ms. Adams is Spot On about the pervasiveness of toxic masculinity and the constant condescension toward the romance genre in particular.

My biggest beef with this book is that I really wanted Gavin to have more of an Aha! moment after he and Thea are cleaning up the puking toddlers and he has zero idea where the extra towels are. I mean, DUDE. It's your own house, how can you not know where the linen closet and clean towels are? A telling moment, no? But Ms. Adams moves on and passes up the chance for Gavin to have a meaningful awakening there, and I SO wanted him to.

I also kept forgetting the main characters were supposed to be in their mid-20s. Most of the time it seemed more like they were in their early or mid-30s. But given the belly laugh I had in the scene where Thea and her sister Liv come home earlier than expected and interrupt book group in progress, I forgive Ms. Adams entirely!

For readers' advisors: story doorway is primary, character and language secondary. There is no violence, but there is a lot of swearing amongst the witty banter and some very steamy sex scenes. Gavin struggles with a stutter and all the self-esteem issues that can crop up around that. The main characters are presumed white, but there are a few POC secondary characters.

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Party of Two

Party of Two by Jasmine Guillory
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

3.5 stars

A fun rom-com about an African American attorney moving to L.A. to start her own firm with her best friend who meets a charismatic, idealistic white senator in a hotel bar without recognizing who he is. When they meet again by chance, they decide to start dating discreetly, despite Olivia's misgivings relating to Max's high-profile job.

I enjoyed the book very much. It's the fifth in the series, but only the second one I've read so far. It probably helps to have read the others, but it isn't necessary, particularly for this installment. I personally would have liked a bit more time to develop the characters and the relationship, and a bit less angst from Olivia, but it was a fun read nonetheless.

For readers' advisors: story doorway was primary. Several steamy sex scenes, but not terribly graphic. No violence, but plenty of swearing.

I read an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher in return for my honest option.

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Evvie Drake Starts Over

Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Evvie Drake's husband died as she was packing up to leave him, and a year later everyone still mistakes her trauma for grief. The truth is, their golden boy was actually emotionally abusive, and now that he's gone, she simply doesn't know what to do next. But no one, not even her best friend Andy, knows the truth. She's got baggage. And bills. Lots of them. So when Andy asks her to rent the apartment off the back of her kitchen to his friend Dean, who used to be a famous pitcher until he inexplicably lost the ability to throw a baseball where he wanted it to go, she agrees. Over the course of the next year, Evvie and Dean grow from acquaintances to friends to lovers, but they each have so much healing to do, can they move forward together?

I stayed up past my bedtime to finish this novel. I didn't want to put it down until Evvie got the therapy she needed and Dean figured out what direction he wanted his life to take now. I loved that the author didn't write easy, magical fixes, and that the romance was slow build. Since I would categorize this book as Relationship Fiction--Evvie's relationships of all kinds were important to the story--I was afraid for a while that Evvie and Dean would permanently go their separate ways.

For readers' advisors: character doorway is primary, story secondary. There are swear words sprinkled throughout and some alcohol consumption, but no violence, and the sex scenes are fade-to-black. Evvie is a survivor of emotional abuse (constant gaslighting and some social isolation), so that might be a trigger for some readers, though it's all in the past, as the perpetrator dies in the first chapter.

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A Good Day for Chardonnay

A Good Day for Chardonnay: A Novel by Darynda Jones
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Sheriff Sunshine Vicram is back in the second installment of the hilarious series that bears her name. A few months have passed since we last saw Sun, and since then her parents managed to con her into going on some really terrible blind dates. The current one is definitely the worst, so it's a huge relief when her deputy calls with an emergency, cutting the date short. A raccoon emergency. At his own house. But hey, it got her out of a creepy coffee date, so there's that!

All too soon her attention is diverted from Randy the Attack Raccoon to a stabbing and hit-and-run at the bar owned by Levi Ravinder, the man she's been in love with since childhood. One man is taken to the ICU, one refuses medical treatment, and a third has his body dumped down a nearby ravine. But before she heads out to track down witnesses to an altercation between the stabbing victim and unknown assailants earlier in the day, Sun receives a message from one of Levi's uncles, claiming to have information about her abduction 15 years ago, and her destination changes. Upon returning to Del Sol, Sunshine is stunned to recognize the face of a young kidnapping victim on security camera footage from the previous day--a child who went missing years ago. Meanwhile, Sun's daughter Auri decides to enlist the help of her boyfriend and best friend in investigating a serial killer from decades ago.

I absolutely LOVED this book. The witty, snappy dialogue and multiple plot threads interwove with tender personal moments. One minute I was laughing out loud, and the next (OK, mostly later in the book) I was sobbing and trying to explain to my kids why Mommy was so sad. I am grateful some questions from the first book were answered or at least partially resolved, even if the answers to the biggest were completely obvious the entire time to everyone but Sun. As per usual, the breakneck pace made putting my iPad down nearly impossible. Plus, I just wanted to spend more time with the characters. And hug them. And join the secret club.

For readers' advisors: story, character, and language are all very strong doorways. There is quite a lot of swearing, some sexual content, some on- and off-screen violence, some alcohol, and a couple of scenes where children or teens are in danger (they survive).

Many many thanks to NetGalley, Darynda Jones, and St. Martin's Publishing Group for letting me read an eGalley copy in exchange for my honest review. Um, when does the next book come out? Is it soon? Please may I read it right away? Please??

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A Bad Day for Sunshine

A Bad Day for Sunshine by Darynda Jones
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It's Sunshine Vicram's first day on the job as Sheriff of Del Sol County, New Mexico. She got elected despite being unaware she was even running, thanks to her parents, who were determined to both bring her back to Del Sol and get rid of the corrupt, inept incumbent. Within minutes of her arrival, homemade muffins are delivered, horrifying her staff, who have long since learned that the size of the muffin basket portends the scope of the crazy or catastrophic cases coming their way. Today's basket is huge, and sure enough, a short time later a Mercedes crashes through the front of the sheriff station, driven by a desperate mother whose teenage daughter has just been kidnapped--an event the daughter has been predicting since she was a little girl. Sunshine and her deputies have only three days to find Sybil before her captor kills her.

I stayed up WAY past bedtime because I couldn't stop reading until I finished this book. The writing style is very witty (quite similar to Jones' Charley Davidson series) and just as fast-paced as the plot. In fact, the relationship between Sunshine Vicram and her daughter Auri reminded me a lot of Lorelei & Rory Gilmore of Gilmore Girls. Well, except that Lorelei knows from the beginning who Rory's father is, and Sunshine doesn't figure out Auri's until WAY WAY WAY after the reader catches on.

For readers' advisors: story doorway is primary, language is secondary. The closest genre this book/series fits into at the moment is humorous mystery/suspense. There is a strong romantic subplot, (well, two, actually, and a bit of a third) but it will probably take another book or two (or 5, at the rate Sun's going) to develop into anything like a real relationship. There is one dream sequence that counts as a sex scene and some sexual references. Since the plot of the book focuses on a current and a past abduction, there is also reference to rape, in case that is a trigger for anyone. Also some off-screen violence, a bit of profanity sprinkled throughout, and on-screen teen bullying of Auri by a Mean Girl & her lackeys.

The diverse, quirky characters include many with brown skin in various shades and from a variety of ethnic backgrounds, chiefly Latino, African, and Apache. The father of one character is deaf, and another character is on the autism spectrum, so ASL is mentioned semi-frequently. Unlike with Jones' Charley Davidson series, there is only a hint of anything possibly beyond normal human experience. It's not urban fantasy. A minor character from the Charley series has a small cameo, however, and that was fun!

I read a free ebook ARC courtesy of NetGalley and St. Martins Press in exchange for my honest review. The only bad thing about that is that now I have to WAIT for the next book in the series to be written. Waiting is HARD.

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Highfire

Highfire by Eoin Colfer
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I finished reading the ARC from NetGalley a couple of weeks ago, and even with that amount of time to ponder, I still am not quite sure what I thought/think of the book. It is definitely unlike anything I have ever read before! From the description, I was expecting something much less dark and violent. Yes, there is a great deal of humor, but it's not a lighthearted read. Characters die, nearly die, and lose body parts. The vast quantity of profanity starts on page one, the crude sexual references and jokes not long after.

You can't help but root for teenage (Everett) Squib Moreau, and I grew fond of Vern, the depressed curmudgeon of an ancient dragon, as time went on, too. Constable Hooke freaked me out--he's a ruthless psychopath who has been getting away with murdering people for years, beginning with his cruel zealot of a father.

On balance, I think I'm glad I read the book because it was so unusual and kept me reading to find out what would happen. But it's not one I'll re-read. I prefer my escapist fiction to be more laugh-out-loud and less dark. I'm sure other people with different reading tastes will love this, though.

For readers' advisors: story doorway is perhaps primary? Readers will need an incredibly high tolerance for bad language, sexual references, and on-screen violence. Vern is, he believes, the last of his kind--a fire-breathing dragon ("Vern" is short for "Wyvern"). The closest genre it fits into is contemporary fantasy because the story revolves around a dragon living/hiding in a swamp in a modern-day Louisiana bayou.

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Twice in a Blue Moon

Twice in a Blue Moon by Christina Lauren
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When Tate Jones is 18 years old, her grandmother takes her on a rare vacation to London. While there, Tate meets the 21-year-old Sam Brandis and his grandfather, Luther, also on a rare vacation in London. The quartet spend most of their waking hours together, and Sam and Tate fall deeply in love, telling each other their deepest secrets: Tate is actually the daughter of Hollywood's biggest movie star, raised in a tiny town since her parents divorced a decade earlier, and despite being kept strictly out of the spotlight, what she really wants to do is act; and Sam would rather be a writer than take over the family farm. When circumstances cause Sam to sell Tate's identity to the paparazzi, she's devastated...and also plunged into the very career she secretly desired. For fourteen years, the pair have no contact, until the day the now-famous Tate steps foot on the set of the new movie she's about to film and is shocked to discover that the screenwriter is, in fact, Sam. Old wounds are reopened, lanced, and given an opportunity to finally heal.

I really enjoyed this quieter tale of first love and the struggle to understand and forgive. The common theme among reviewers who didn't like this book seems to be that they were all expecting the type of humor found in most of Christina Lauren's previous novels, so if readers set expectations aside (or read something else if they are in the mood for banter and slapstick), the tone of this book shines.

I did find that certain aspects of this story strained credulity, however. For one thing, once the initial shock of betrayal wore off, why didn't Tate ever ponder what could have caused Sam to sell her out? She had to have known it would take something extraordinary, and she knew the name of his town, so it wouldn't have been that hard to locate him. Likewise, she was insta-famous, so surely Sam could have tracked her down to apologize and explain?

For another thing, how on earth could Tate have read the movie script and NOT recognized the story? It was completely obvious who wrote it and about whom. Even if she didn't recognize it prior to arriving on set, she should have caught a clue the moment she discovered Sam was the screenwriter.

Also, despite her fourteen years in the spotlight, Tate remains surprisingly naive. She really should know better than to believe anything her father says--she KNOWS it's all an act. So why is she stunned when he betrays her in order to garner media attention? Then again, perhaps that is a common mistake for children of narcissistic parents to make because they so badly WANT to believe their parents might for once put their kids' needs ahead of their own? So maybe that's more accurate than I'd like to think.

Nonetheless, the overall story was really well done, and I greatly enjoyed it. Many many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the free ebook ARC in exchange for my honest review!

For readers' advisors: character doorway is primary. Some profanity and a couple of sex scenes. No violence. Main characters are white, but best friend is half Asian, step-grandfather (Sam's) & costar are African-American, & best friend's assistant is gay.

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A Closed and Common Orbit

A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I love this book SO much! I had a hard time getting into it because I started reading it quite soon after finishing book #1 in the series (The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet), and book #2, although it begins right where #1 leaves off, only tangentially mentions the characters from the first book. I wasn't ready to say goodbye to the original characters at all, but once I got past that and started learning more about Jane 23, Pepper, Sidra, Blue, and eventually Tak, I became completely absorbed in their story.

For readers' advisors: character and setting doorways are primary. The world-building is incredible, and I spent much of the book wishing fervently that I could reach in and hug the characters. A fair amount of swearing, especially when Jane is a rebellious teenager. Some references to sex but no sex scenes. Not really any violence except for when Jane kills her first feral dog as it attacked. A Closed and Common Orbit has a non-linear structure, alternating between Jane's story in the past and Sidra's in the present. ("Present" being hundreds of years in the future somewhere else in the galaxy.) Many completely different species, and humans are far from dominant. There is really no such thing as a "white" person any more. One of the characters comes from a 4-gendered species, and xe is of the gender that regularly switches between male and female. (Can I just add how much I love the creation of neutral gender pronouns in this series?! Xe and xyr are SO much more useful and specific than using the plural "they" to refer to a singular person. I wish this would transfer to real life!)

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The Big Kahuna

The Big Kahuna by Janet Evanovich
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The 6th installment of the Fox and O'Hare series is just as much of a fun romp as the first 5. Very fast-paced and story-driven, with very little character development (OK, none), but it made me laugh out loud several times, so I'm rounding up to 4 stars. Some swearing, sexual innuendo, and violence (especially blowing things up), but none of it is graphic.

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