So many words. So little time.
Tag: reading
Well…I wrote no book reviews this week because of work chaos and DNFing Ciao for Now, by Kate Bromley (I’m not sure why I thought that was going to be a good fit for me in the first place: I avoid social media and superficial people like the plague). I did write a post over on A Little Bit Greener, though: Hello, beautiful! Hopefully this week will be a better writing week!
Happy writing!
Work was absolutely crazy again this week, so I only wrote two book reviews: Charm City Rocks, by Matthew Norman and Famous in a Small Town, by Viola Shipman. You should read the first book, but don’t waste your time with the second. I’m hoping this week will be a little less crazy.
Happy writing!
Title: Famous in a Small Town
Author: Viola Shipman
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 2 out of 5
For most of her eighty years, Mary Jackson has endured the steady invasion of tourists, influencers and real estate developers who have discovered the lakeside charm of Good Hart, Michigan, waiting patiently for the arrival of a stranger she’s believed since childhood would one day carry on her legacy—the Very Cherry General Store. Like generations of Jackson women before her, Cherry Mary, as she’s known locally, runs the community hub—part post office, bakery and sandwich shop—and had almost given up hope that the mysterious prediction she’d been told as a girl would come true and the store would have to pass to…a man.
Becky Thatcher came to Good Hart with her ride-or-die BFF to forget that she’s just turned forty with nothing to show for it. Ending up at the general store with Mary is admittedly not the beach vacation she expected, but the more the feisty octogenarian talks about destiny, the stronger Becky’s memories of her own childhood holidays become, and the strange visions over the lake she was never sure were real. As she works under Mary’s wing for the summer and finds she fits into this quirky community of locals, she starts to believe that destiny could be real, and that it might have something very special in mind for Becky…
I enjoyed the first half of this novel. The characters are quirky and interesting and the friendship between Becky and her BFF is great. But then, everything changed. I felt like I was reading an outline of a novel, not an actual novel. There were scenes, but they didn’t follow any logical path and there were no transitions to link them to the preceding scene. Supposedly the road trip/vacation is supposed to last for month, but in one scene the two women had just arrived at their destination, and the next scene the vacation was almost over. This was very jarring to me as a reader. I was not a fan of this novel, because it felt like the author didn’t do the work of actually completing and polishing the novel.
Viola Shipman is the pen name of bestselling author Wade Rouse, who chose his grandmother’s name as a pen name to honor her. Famous in a Small Town is his newest novel.
(Galley courtesy of Harlequin/Graydon House in exchange for an honest review.)
Title: Charm City Rocks
Author: Matthew Norman
Genre: Romance
Rating: 4 out of 5
Billy Perkins is happy. And why wouldn’t he be? He loves his job as an independent music teacher and his apartment in Baltimore above a record shop called Charm City Rocks. Most of all, he loves his brainy teenage son, Caleb.
Margot Hammer, on the other hand, is far from happy. The former drummer of the once-famous band Burnt Flowers, she’s now a rock-and-roll recluse living alone in New York City. When a new music documentary puts Margot back in the spotlight, she realizes how much she misses her old band and the music that gave her life meaning.
Billy has always had a crush on Margot. But she’s a legitimate rock star—or, at least, she was—so he never thought he’d meet her. Until Caleb, worried that his easygoing dad might actually be lonely, cooks up a scheme to get Margot to perform at Charm City Rocks.
It’s the longest of long shots, but Margot’s label has made it clear that any publicity is an opportunity she can’t afford to miss. When their paths collide, Billy realizes that he maybe wasn’t as happy as he thought—and Margot learns that sometimes the sweetest music is a duet.
I really enjoyed this read! I’ve never had any desire to visit Baltimore, but I loved how this city was such a big character in the story, and I loved the characters themselves. Even Billy’s cardigans. The family dynamics in the novel were interesting, to say the least, and they added so much to the story. Thoroughly enjoyed getting to know these characters!
Matthew Norman is from Nebraska. His newest novel is Charm City Rocks.
(Galley courtesy of Random House in exchange for an honest review.)
Another challenging week, but I wrote two book reviews: The Little Italian Hotel, by Phaedra Patrick and Same Time Next Summer, by Annabel Monaghan. I also got a little bit of reading done, so I’m calling it a win.
Happy writing!
Title: Same Time Next Summer
Author: Annabel Monaghan
Genre: Romance
Rating: 5 out of 5
Beach Rules:
Do take long walks on the sand.
Do put an umbrella in every cocktail.
Do NOT run into your first love.
Sam’s life is on track. She has the perfect doctor fiancé, Jack (his strict routines are a good thing, really), a great job in Manhattan (unless they fire her), and is about to tour a wedding venue near her family’s Long Island beach house. Everything should go to plan, yet the minute she arrives, Sam senses something is off. Wyatt is here. Her Wyatt. But there’s no reason for a thirty-year-old engaged woman to feel panicked around the guy who broke her heart when she was seventeen. Right?
Yet being back at this beach, hearing notes from Wyatt’s guitar float across the night air from next door as if no time has passed–Sam’s memories come flooding back: the feel of Wyatt’s skin on hers, their nights in the treehouse, and the truth behind their split. Sam remembers who she used to be, and as Wyatt reenters her life their connection is as undeniable as it always was. She will have to make a choice.
This book. Y’all…I was up until midnight reading this straight through because I could NOT put it down! Sam’s family is delightfully quirky and entertaining, and I loved them. I also loved seeing Sam and Wyatt’s relationship in the past—and watching as Sam rediscovered who she really is, not the person she’s been pretending to be. This would have been so much easier if Jack was a jerk, but he’s not (usually). Sam spends a lot of the book in denial, but her journey was absolutely wonderful to read. I cannot recommend this highly enough.
Annabel Monaghan lives in New York. Same Time Next Summer is her newest novel.
(Galley courtesy of Penguin Group Putnam in exchange for an honest review.)
Title: The Little Italian Hotel
Author: Phaedra Patrick
Genre: Fiction
Rating: 4 out of 5
Ginny Splinter, acclaimed radio host and advice expert, prides herself on knowing what’s best for others. So she’s sure her husband, Adrian, will love the special trip to Italy she’s planned for their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. But when Ginny presents the gift to Adrian, he surprises her with his own very different plan—a divorce.
Beside herself with heartache, Ginny impulsively invites four heartbroken listeners to join her in Italy instead while live on air. From hiking the hills of Bologna to riding a gondola in Venice to sharing stories around the dining table of the little Italian hotel, Ginny and her newfound company embark on a vacation of healing.
However, when Adrian starts to rethink their relationship, Ginny must decide whether to commit to her marriage or start afresh, alone. And an unexpected stranger may hold the key to a very different future… Sunny, tender and brimming with charm, The Little Italian Hotel explores marriage, identity and reclaiming the present moment—even if it means leaving the past behind.
Not going to lie: Ginny really got on my nerves at first. She was completely passive, lived in denial, and just let life happen to her. I started to enjoy the novel when Ginny got her wakeup call and started to make choices for herself, instead of letting everyone else decide things for her. Adrian got on my last nerve, so I was happy to see Ginny go to Italy and start enjoying life. This was a solid read, although I felt like the ending was a bit of a let down.
Phaedra Patrick is a bestselling author. The Little Italian Hotel is her newest novel.
(Galley courtesy of Harlequin/Park Row in exchange for an honest review.)
This was a very challenging week. I wrote one book review, Painted Devils, by Margaret Owen, my May reading post, and my best books I read in May post. I also worked 50+ hours at work, and I am tired. I didn’t get much reading done during the week. I’m really hoping this next week is a bit easier.
Happy writing!
In May, I read 14 books, bringing my total for the year to 84. Three of those were re-reads of beloved classics: Pride and Prejudice, The Return of the King, and All Creatures Great and Small. All excellent reads, of course. Some of the new-to-me reads were also excellent:
The Secret Book of Flora Lea, by Patti Callahan Henry. This book was a lovely read! I was enchanted from the very first page—with both timelines.
Emma of 83rd Street, by Audrey Bellezza and Emily Harding. I was on the fence with the first, frivolous scene of this book, but I ended up enjoying it very much!
Painted Devils, by Margaret Owen. This was the second book of a series, and I enjoyed this from the very beginning. Love the characters, the setting, and everything.
Title: Painted Devils
Author: Margaret Owen
Genre: Fantasy, YA
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
When misfortune strikes, the “reformed” jewel thief Vanja manipulates a remote village for help and in turn, accidentally starts a cult around a Low God, the Scarlet Maiden. Soon after, her nemesis-turned-suitor Emeric and a supervising prefect arrive to investigate the claim of godhood, and she realizes how in over her head she must be. But the Scarlet Maiden does reveal herself . . . only to claim Emeric as her virgin sacrifice. Desperate to save the only man she’s ever cared for, Vanja decides to seek an alternative: bring the Scarlet Maiden a drop of blood from each of seven brothers for the midsummer feast.
While the thief and prefect-in-training still have feelings for one another, Emeric must determine whether Vanja has committed fraud as his final test for prefect-hood. And as they travel the Haarzlands, a harsh land far from the rules of the city, the past that Vanja barely remembers comes into full view and she fears a future that does not require her to keep running.
The amount of snark in this novel is genius-level. I was snickering within two minutes after I started reading. Unlike the previous book, I was invested from the very beginning, and each obstacle the characters met only drew me further into the story. This is a gritty fantasy, not a sweetness-and-light one, but the characters and the world have so much depth that you feel everything they experience. I highly recommend this read and this author.
Margaret Owen lives in Seattle. Painted Devils is her newest novel.
(Galley courtesy of Macmillan Children’s/Henry Holt and Co. in exchange for an honest review.)
Tomorrow Is Another Day 