Tag: book reviews

Book of the Week, books

Book of the Week: Devil in Winter

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Yes, this was one of my impulse purchases while compiling the Kindle Offers post; yes, I read it immediately; yes it’s now book of the week. I’m predictable like that.

Sebastian, Lord St Vincent is licking his wounds after a failed abduction of a potential bride when Evangeline Jenner finds him to make him a proposal: marry her to save her from the machinations of her relatives. A marriage of convenience seems to be the solution to both of their problems. But it’s never actually simple is it and feelings get involved that means that shy wallflower Evie comes into herself and her own power and a notorious womaniser is tamed.

This is the third in a set of four novels and I’m pretty sure if you’ve read the previous two (which I haven’t yet!) you have seen Sebastian being pretty awful – I mean the woman he abducted is one of Evie’s friends and is engaged to his best friends – so this is a reformed rake resumption story on a par with Eloisa James’s Villiers. Add into the mix a gaming hell and a bit of the seamier side of regency life and it’s incredibly readable and a lot of fun.

Devil in Winter came out back in 2006 when the historical romances tended to stick much more to the haute ton, Almacks and house party side of things – so Lisa Kelypas was doing interestingly new things at the time even if it might be more common now. If you’ve read Sarah MacLean (and I’ve told you to enough) and haven’t read this, then go back for this immediately – it’s even on offer to make it easier for you!

I read this on Kindle, but it’s also on Kobo and it’s on offer for 99p there too. You may be able to get hold of a paperback too if you look in the right places. And if you read this and want some more reformed rakes then I have a post for that too!

Happy reading!

Book of the Week, books, romance

Book of the Week: To Swoon and to Spar

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It was a long list last week, and there were a couple of options for this post, but I settled on To Swoon and to Spar because it’s really fun and it’s been a while since I picked a historical romance!

Viscount Penvale has spent his adult life trying to buy back his family’s home in Cornwall. When his uncle finally agrees to sell it to him, there is one condition: Penvale must marry his ward Jane. The two meet and although first impressions aren’t the best, both agree to a marriage of convenience. What Penvale doesn’t know is that Jane has been spending months persuading his uncle that Trethwick is haunted so that he would move out, and she’s going to use the same tactics to try and rid herself of her new husband. What could possibly go wrong?

This is the fourth book in Waters’ Regency Vows series, and Penvale was a side character in the other book in the series that I’ve read and given how close he seems to his friends I assume also the two that I haven’t, so I suspect I’ve read the series you’ll have some feelings about him already. And of course the faux haunting made it a good book to read in the run up to Halloween. It rattles along nicely and the plot has enough turns to keep you wondering what will happen next. I had a few minor niggles with some of the language choices – at one point Jane is surprised Penvale is still hungry as he’s eaten “an entire rasher of bacon” at breakfast – and I’m not sure Jane really would be surprised that Penvale hadn’t read a novel, but I enjoyed it enough that I let it off. Although I suppose as I’m mentioning it here, I haven’t really have I?! Anyway, there is a fifth book in the series coming next year and I’ll keep an eye out for that, and if any of the two I haven’t read come my way I wouldn’t say no to reading them.

My copy of To Swoon and to Spar came from that trip to The Works, so it hasn’t even been on the pile for very long which is unusual for me, and means you should be able to get hold of the paperback fairly easily I think. And it’s also available in Kindle and Kobo.

Happy Reading!

Book of the Week, books

Book of the Week: Duke Actually

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Bit of a marginal choice this week, but I thought I’d do something different and throw in a rare Royal Romance read that’s also a Christmassy one – even if we’re not past Halloween yet!

Dani Martinez is a professor hoping for tenure. She’s also hoping her ex-husband will sign the divorce papers and has sworn off love completely. Trouble is, she’s about to be an attendant at a royal wedding and this involves some contact with the playboy duke the bride dumped for Dani’s friend. Max has issues of his own: his parents are awful, he’s finished his studies and doesn’t have a job, and now his engagement has been broken off, his parents are trying to find a replacement fiancée for him, stat. Dani and Max become unlikely friends, but it can never turn into anything more – can it?

This was absolutely delightful until about the 80 percent mark at which point it just didn’t quite stick the landing. I’m not quite sure what went wrong – whether it was too much to do in not enough time, if I just didn’t like the way Jenny Holiday decided to resolve the conflict/tension in the relationship or if it was a combination of the two but after an absolutely cracking unlikely friends, vanquishing the evil ex, rebuilding sibling relationships ride, it just didn’t quite end as well as I wanted it too. But it’s still pretty good – and better than a lot of the other romances I’ve tried lately, many of which haven’t even made it on to the list because I didn’t get further than 50 pages before I gave them up in a rage. And not always in a Sunday afternoon funk either!

This one is on offer on Kindle and Kobo at the moment, and it’s the second book in a trilogy of related romances which are also on offer. Enjoy!

Book of the Week, books, LGTBQIA+, romantic comedy

Book of the Week: 10 Things that Never Happened

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Today’s Book of the Week is actually out today – so it’s very apt and I’m sort of pleased with myself for the timing of my reading. Look, it’s the small things at the moment. I’ll take positives where I can find them.

Sam is the manager of a bed and bath store. His days are spent trying to pull the rest of the staff out of whatever disaster they’ve just caused. They need the jobs and he likes them. Trouble is, Jonathan, the owner of the chain has noticed that’s Sam’s store isn’t doing as well as the others so he sends for him to visit the head office in London. The trouble is, while Sam is there, there’s a little accident involving a shower enclosure and the next thing Sam knows he’s in hospital with concussion and he’s accidentally made Jonathan think he has amnesia. With no one to call to help, Sam ends up staying at Jonathan’s house and how on earth is he going to get out of this, especially as maybe Jonathan isn’t as bad as he thought he was…

So, amnesia-related storylines are not my favourite type of romance plots, but generally I have loved Alexis Hall’s contemporary romances, so I made a rare foray in to the trope to see what he would do with it. And it’s a lot of fun. It made me surprisingly emotional at times – and obviously faked amnesia is an easier sell for me than actual amnesia – although there are some issue still around how you un-fake the amnesia. It’s a grumpy-sunshine sort of thing, although I’m not sure we really got to understand enough of why Jonathan is the way he is – especially as he’s so mean to start off with – I wanted more of him being kinder. Also I wanted to know a bit more about Sam – but then when I did, I got what was going on there, and yes I know that’s a bit cryptic but it will make sense if you read it! I don’t think I love it as much as I loved Boyfriend Material, but it’s still a really, really good read and I will happily recommend it. In fact I already have, even before this post!

My copy came from NetGalley (praise the gods of books!) but as I said at the top it’s out today in Kindle, Kobo, audiobook and paperback – which Waterstones seem to have in stock across their Central London branches so I’m optimistic that you’ll be able to get a copy if you want one!

Happy Reading!

Book of the Week, books

Book of the Week: The Lost Summers of Newport

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As I mentioned yesterday, I read both of the physical books that I took with me on holiday this time – and today’s pick was one of them. To be fair, I did pick what I was taking quite carefully and this was one I’d been looking forward to reading.

The Lost Summers of Newport is a three-stranded story about a Gilded Age Mansion in Newport, Rhode Island. Set in three different points in the mansion’s life, each is connected to the other, and you move between the three. In 1899, Ellen is just started a job as a music teacher at Sprague Hall, to help an heiress snag an Italian prince. In 1959, Lucky is living at Sprague Hall with her husband Sty, who she married when she and her grandmother fled Mussolini’s Italy. Her husband is a womaniser and an alcoholic but she’s worried what a divorce would do to her young daughter. In 2019, Andie is working on a TV home makeover show that’s featuring Sprague House as its latest project. She wants the programme to focus on the history of the house and restoring it – but the network higher ups have different ideas. On top of that, the house’s reclusive owner has two conditions to filming – don’t talk to her, and don’t go near the boathouse. And she has two grandchildren who don’t want the TV crew there at all.

This was a really good book to read on the beach or by the pool. Because you’re switching between timelines it comes in nice sections so you can read a bit, go for a swim, read a bit more while you dry off, go for an ice cream, read a bit more – you get the idea. And in case you didn’t get it from the description, this has got some Gilded Age Rich People problems stuff going on. And there are Vanderbilts and society rivalries here galore in the two plots in the past. My enjoyment of books set in periods like this is well known – whether it’s novels or non-fiction – and so that worked well for me, particularly with the element of high society rubbing up against the seamier side of life. The different story lines gives more scope to layer secrets and see characters at different stages of their lives.

But of course the downside of having three plot strands to a book is that you can often wish that you got more time with each strand – or with one strand in particular. And there is a little bit of that with this, but it actually works together really well, especially when you consider that the book has three authors – and that each author writes one storyline (or at least that’s what the readers guide at the end says).

I read Beatriz Williams‘ and Lauren Willig‘s solo novels – and have written posts featuring some of them – although I haven’t read any of Karen White’s other books. This is the second of their joint efforts that I’ve read and I liked it more than I remember liking the first one. If you’ve read Beatriz Williams other novels you’ll spot some of the same families popping up here, which is a nice Easter Egg.

The paperback of this came out in July – and I had it preordered and so I’ve actually got to it quite quickly in the grand scheme of things – but it’s also available in Kindle and Kobo as well as in an audiobook with a different narrator for each strand.

Happy Reading!

Book of the Week, books, new releases

Book of the Week: We Could Be So Good

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This week’s BotW is one of the books that I picked up on my buying spree while writing last week’s Kindle Offers and that I couldn’t help but read pretty much straightaway (within a week counts as straightaway for me) because it has a pretty cover and it was sitting there on my Kindle and Cat Sebastian is just so reliably good.

This is set in the world of newspapers in New York in the late 1950s. Nick is from the rough end of Brooklyn and has gone into journalism despite the disapproval of his family. Andy’s dad owns the paper and has sent him to work in the newsroom as part of the process of finding out how the business works. The two of them shouldn’t get on, and yet they do and soon they’re friends. Except that Nick really wishes it wasn’t just friends, but he knows that that’s all that’s possible. Isn’t it?

This is a very sweet slow burn love story. But its also low on angst and despite the 1950s setting you don’t need to worry too much about Bad Things Happening to characters because they’re gay. And you can argue about whether or not that is realistic or not, but I chose to believe that happy endings were possible and I think Cat Sebastian has done a really good job of figuring out a scenario where Nick and Alex can have one. I spent most of my time reading this with a big soppy smile on my face and really that’s what I needed. It’s sweet and romantic and it has a couple at the centre of it who get each other and want to make each others lives better in little ways and big ones. They’re both just happier when the other person is around them, preferably around them and happy. And there’s a really cute bit with a Cat. Perfect reading when you need a happy ending to make your day better.

I can see some people on Goodreads complaining about the fact that it’s written in the third person present, but honestly that bothered me so little that I didn’t even notice before I saw the reviews mentioning it. But to be honest, it’s very rare that the Point of View of a book bothers me – unless it’s second person, or the POV is inconsistent in some way. I can’t help that I’m not fussy like that!

As I mentioned at the top, I bought my copy on Kindle because it’s on offer at the moment for 99p, and the good news is it’s on offer on Kobo too. You’re welcome. I’m super pleased it’s on offer at the moment because it only came out in June and my experience with Cat Sebastian is that it’s unusual for her books to be at discount this quickly. So snap it up while you can and thank me later.

Happy Reading!

Book of the Week, Chick lit

Book of the Week: The Secret Bridesmaid

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As is often the way with me in the weeks after putting a Recommendsday post together on a theme, I’ve started reading some of the books related to the theme that I discovered on my Kindle in the process. And today it’s one that I’ve read after writing the Romances with Weddings post the other week!

Cover of The Secret Bridesmaid

Sophie is a professional bridesmaid. What’s that I hear you ask? Well harnessing the skills she developed as a PA, she’s hired by brides-to-be to pose as a friend and be their right hand woman throughout the wedding process. Think of it as a halfway house to having a wedding planner – but without admitting it! Anyway, she’s carving herself out a little word of mouth niche as the Best Bridesmaid Ever and then lands her biggest gig yet: to organise the aristocratic wedding of the year. Only trouble is, she’s been hired by the Mother of the Bride, and the bride herself is not happy about it. Can she pull it off – and keep her secret intact?

Now this is being shelved a lot as a romance – and as I said I read it after writing a post about romances set at weddings – but I think it’s actually closer to some of the women’s fiction I used to read back in the early 2000s, when it was being called Chick Lit (and although I have problems with that as a phrase, it is a useful descriptor in this case). It has a romantic element, but it’s not at all the main thrust of the plot. This is about Sophie trying to win over the prickliest and most hostile of clients and also figure out who she is after her own long term relationship ended. With lots of humour. Now some of that humour is a little too cringe/embarrassment-based for me, but I often found that with authors like Sophie Kinsella too and I know that other people love it.

That aside, I did really enjoy reading it – I miss books like this, or at least my memories of books like this – where they’re funny and female-centered with some competency porn in there too. It also has an added side of stately homes and rich people problems, so it’s ticking a bunch of my boxes.

My copy came from Netgalley aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaages ago – but in a brilliant stroke of fortune it’s in Kindle Unlimited at the moment AND it’s also still available on Kobo and in paperback.

Happy Reading!

Book of the Week, books, new releases

Book of the Week: Brynn and Sebastian Hate Each Other

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Say hello to a BotW that’s actually featuring on its publication day! Make a note, it doesn’t happen very often!

Brynn is just finishing her first week in a prime new breakfast TV job when a hot mic moment threatens to derail everything she has worked for. The small town girl persona that she and the network have crafted for her is derailed when she disparages her home town to her cohost – not knowing that the ad break is over. Her only route to redemption is to head back to that small town and try and make amends. Her host in Adelaide Springs is newcomer (well it’s all relative) Sebastian, a former superstar reporter who disappeared from the journalistic world in mysterious circumstances. Not that Brynn knows that. It’s hate at first sight. Or is it?

The fact that the cover says “A Love Story” on it should give you the clue that it’s not, and it’s a full on grumpy-sunshine enemies to lovers sort of thing. I read it in about 36 hours and although the journalist in me had a few issues with it, they mostly didn’t bother me at the time! I also love a small town romance – especially when they feature someone returning after a long period away so if any of that floats your boat usually then this might be a good one to try. I haven’t read any of Bethany Turner’s previous novels but based on this I would happily read more if they came my way.

My copy of Brynn and Sebastian Hate Each Other came via NetGalley, but it’s out now in all the usual formats – Kindle, Kobo and hard copy. As it’s only out today, I have no idea how easy it will be to find in stores, but you know me well enough to know that I’ll report back if I spot it!

Happy Reading!

Book of the Week

Book of the Week: Chef’s Kiss

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And it’s a rare graphic novel pick for this week’s BotW because it was what I needed last week and the art is great.

Ben is freshly graduated from college with his English degree. He and his friends have got a flat share and are starting out on their working lives. The trouble is Ben can’t get a job in the areas he’s looking at because he doesn’t have any experience. Running out of money and downhearted, he sees an advert for jobs – no experience necessary – at a restaurant. He goes in and gets a chance to land a full time job in the kitchen. He’s always like cooking, but can he take it to the next level and impress the owner – and his pet pig? And what about his crush on Liam, one of the other chefs at the restaurant…

This was exactly the sort of low stakes story I needed last week. The drawing is lovely with a great aesthetic, and it’s quirky and charming and has the best looking food I’ve seen in a graphic novel in ages. I think it needed a little bit more resolution about Ben’s parents at the end, but in the main it was a very satisfying read.

Chef’s Kiss is in Comixology at the moment – which is bundled with Kindle Unlimited. I’ve tried to find it in comic stores previously but without much luck. However, I may just have been looking in the wrong places.

Happy Reading!

Book of the Week, books, romance, romantic comedy

Book of the Week: Dating Dr Dil

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So. Quite a difficult choice this week because there wasn’t anything that I finished that I didn’t have a few reservations about. I actually wrote another book up as BotW before I wrote this one because that first one just didn’t feel right because I didn’t like it enough. But – I had less issues with this than I did with the other options, and I read it really quite quickly which is always a positive sign with me. Plus the next book in the series came out last week (which I had forgotten I had preordered, hurrah for Past Verity sending a nice suprise) so it’s sort of timely. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it anyway.

Cover of Dating Dr Dil

Our heroine is Kareena, who dreams of a big love story, but at the start of Dating Dr Dil it’s the morning of her 30th birthday and it hasn’t happened for her so she’s about to hit the dating apps. Then her family forget her birthday and drop the bombshell that her dad is selling the family home that her mum had renovated and poured her heart into. Kareena and her dad strike a deal: if she can find her soulmate before her sister’s engagement party, he’ll give her the house. Our hero is Prem, a cardiologist who doesn’t believe in love and who has a TV talk show that he’s using to boost his profile to try and fund the medical centre he wants to set up. When he and Kareena first meet it turns into an argument that goes viral and his donors start to pull out. So he proposes a plan: they should date – to restore his image, but also so her dad will follow through on his deal about the house. But how does that fit with Kareena wanting true love?

This is a reimagining of the main plot strand of The Taming of the Shrew – the Petruchio and Katherina bit (not the Bianca bit) or alternatively if you’re a musical fan the Fred/Lili bit of Kiss Me, Kate. And if you’re feeling frustrated with how some of the characters are behaving, remind yourself of that fact and use it to channel your annoyance to the source material. I wanted the two of them to come to their senses a bit earlier, but: plots need conflict, even if Verity wants every one to be happy all the time. But this is basically an enemies to lovers romance with a side order of meddling friends and family and that makes it a lot of fun really.

My copy was on Kindle – bought when it was on a really good offer a while back- but it’s also on Kobo is £2.99 on both at the moment which is quite a good deal really. It’s also in a paperback edition that I’ve even seen in stores. And the next in the series is out now – this time it’s retelling Much Ado About Nothing.

Happy Reading!