Romance Wrap-Up 1/16/23-2/15/23

 Love & Other Disasters - Anita Kelly

This romance follows Dahlia and London as they meet on a TV cooking competition.  Dahlia is recently divorced and looking for a way to reinvent herself.  London announced their pronouns on television and is determined to prove the trolls wrong.  Neither expected to find a friend, much less love, during the hectic filming schedule. As they grow closer and the contestants on the show dwindle, they'll have to figure out if they're going to be together after going back to their regular lives.  This was such a fun read and Dahlia and London were so fun to follow!  I've seen a few episodes of TV cooking competitions, but I don't watch them regularly.  Kelly does a great job of building a world in this TV studio that the reader doesn't need to be super familiar with these types of shows to understand completely what is going on outside the romance plot.  I loved Dahlia and London's relationship and how it grew over time.  Their chemistry was impeccable and it was so well developed.  It felt very much like a typical slow burn where they go from strangers to friends to more but the pacing is a little faster because of the TV show.  We get a good cast of side characters - both on the show as well as friends from back home and I really liked the different sides we got to see of the MCs interacting with all these other characters.  I enjoyed the way London's non-binary identity was handled and it felt like a good balance of it being addressed when necessary but it wasn't their only personality characteristic.  As a note, there is some transphobia from some of the side characters, but it is loudly and concretely pushed back against by many of the other characters (including Dahlia). 

Not Your Ex's Hexes - April Asher

This is the second book in the Supernatural Singles series and follows Rose and Damian.  After spending her whole life training to become the next Prima on the Supernatural Council only to step down recently, Rose finds herself looking for a new purpose in life.  Since he was hexed by an ex-girlfriend that if he ever found love, he'd lose his humanity entirely, Damian is content with his quiet life of being a half-demon veterinarian.  But when Rose is sentenced to community service at Damian's clinic/animal sanctuary, the two have a hard time denying the attraction that brought them together for a one night stand a few months prior. Each have their own reasons for not wanting a relationship, but a little friends with benefits arrangement never hurt anyone. This was a great paranormal romance but I was a little lost at the beginning since I didn't read the first book in the series.  Asher does a good job of trying to give the reader some quick summary information early on in the book that acts more as a reminder than a deep dive.  Rose and Damian are both really interesting characters and I enjoyed how they each had a very different journey to go on in this book.  I loved Rose's journey to find her passion in life and that we got to see some starts and stops along that journey.  The grumpy/sunshine dynamic between the two of them is perfection and their slide from snippy comments to full on "uh oh I caught feelings" is so fun!  We get a ton of side characters and a little touch of romantic suspense as well which I'm always on board for. 

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC.  Publication date was Feburary 7, 2023.

Come as You Are - Jess K Hardy

This romance follows Ashley and Madigan.  Ashley will do just about anything to save her family's ski hill and avoid having to sell it to her ex-husband's ski conglomerate.  However, when her mom has the idea of hiring men from the local sober living house to staff the mountain for the winter, Ashley thinks that is a step too far.  Madigan is a recovering addict and ex-rockstar in charge of the sober living house. When the two have a meeting to discuss the potential employment opportunity, both feel an attraction, and when Ashley hire's Madigan's men, the two try to draw a clear line of friendship only.  But as the two grow closer, they both will have to overcome their pasts and choose to come together to create a more beautiful future.  I absolutely loved this romance!  I'd heard great things about it over social media and I was not disappointed.  We get such a great cast of loveable characters who are all easily distinguished from each other.  I thought the addict/sobriety themes were handled well and we got to see a wide variety of characters at various places on that spectrum.  I loved the growth of Ashley and Madigan's relationship as they grow closer as friends and then grow to more.  We get a little bit of the miscommunication trope, but it is quickly addressed and talked through.  These characters are both 40+ and they read as realistic 40+ year old people who have a good amount of past history that they work through to be together.  This had such great cozy winter vibes, it made for a perfect winter read - highly recommend!

Take the Lead - Alexis Daria

This is the first book in the Dance Off series and follows pro-dancer Gina and wilderness reality TV show member Stone as they are paired up for the next TV dance competition.  Gina is determined to win, but doesn't want to jeopardize her reputation in the industry or her family by giving into the producer's attempts at a showmance with Stone.  At the beginning, Stone is more focused with keeping his family's secret safe and winning this competition to help pay off his mom's medical bills. The audience, judges, and producers can all pick up on the chemistry between the two but they are just friends ... until they both can't take the tension and give into their attraction.  But when the tabloids pick up on the romance and the show producers take full advantage of it, Gina and Stone need to figure out if they can work this out or if they are just too different. This was impeccable!  I've seen a few episodes of these TV dance competitions, but they were never my go-to.  However, by the time I was done with this book I absolutely wanted to go binge-watch a whole bunch of them.  Daria handles this TV show set up with fantastic attention to detail and manages to seamlessly add in enough explanation that I think even a reader who has never seen this type of TV would be able to easily follow.  The chemistry between Gina and Stone is ~sizzling~ off the page and there's a delicious tension built up as they do their best to keep their relationship professional but also have to spend all day touching each other as they practice these dances.  Gina and Stone are pretty opposite in their background and future goals and there was a good chunk of the book where I was starting to panic that they wouldn't find a way to be together (despite knowing there would be a HEA because it is a romance book).  I do think the resolution was well developed and felt realistic to their individual characters. 

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC.  Publication date was February 14, 2023.

First published October 3, 2017 

What Have We Done - Alex Finlay

 

This mystery/thriller follows Jenna, Donnie, and Nico.  Twenty-five years ago the three were all residents of Savior House - an abusive group home for teens.  When the home shut down, the three split up and grew up to live successful and troubled lives.  Now, when each of them survives an attempt on their life, they reunite to find out who is trying to kill them and if it has any connection to a dark event in their past. 

This was a really fun, fast paced, over-the-top mystery read and I really enjoyed it.  I think there is often a focus on super twisty mysteries or really dark thrillers but I really loved this sub-genre of mystery also.  The opening chapters immediately immerse the reader in this world and our first introduction to these characters are them being almost killed.  We don't really know them very well at this point, so we have absolutely no guesses as to who is behind these crimes. However, when the book starts out so punchy and the characters are just as over-the-top as the plot, you know you're in for a good ride.

The multi POV was done really well and I loved how the chapters are so short that it really kept the pace of the book moving.  I did find the characters to be a little more like caricatures at first - the suburban mom with a secret past, the washed up rockstar, and the sleazy TV producer.  However, the choice to rapidly flip through POVs and follow each of these characters on their own really allowed the reader to quickly become grounded.  I love multi-POV mysteries and thrillers, but do find that if there is too much time between POV switches that it does drag down the pacing and takes me out of the story having to re-orient myself to the new POV.  We do also get the occasional chapter from some of the other characters in the book which I did like.  This book does use one plot device I don't love and that is conveniently having one of the POV characters not mention or think about a certain plot point while in their POV and that plot point comes up in the reveal.  This just always feel overly contrived and convenient for me.  

I loved the way the shared past of our 3 characters was sprinkled in throughout the book.  We get little flashbacks of their time at Savior House and these flashbacks happen more and more frequently as the book progresses.  I really enjoyed this method of delivering the characters' histories instead of having full chapters devoted to this past timeline. Instead, we have the characters flashing back on their own memories in a way that feels very true to the characters.  This was a really great way to flesh out the 'secrets from the past' trope in a way that didn't feel heavy handed.  I loved the way the mystery reveal was a mix of secrets from the past as well as more recent events.  I think sometimes when a reveal is solely based on a secret from the past, it ends up feeling a little bit like it comes out of left field because the main event was so long ago.  In this case, the addition of more recent events gives the overall danger aspect of the plot more weight and feels more realistic. 

I enjoyed the "who's trying to kill us" central mystery part to this story, but I think it could have been better navigated from the investigation point.  Our three main characters don't group together until the last 1/3 of the book and even then, they don't stay grouped together.  Due to their different life paths since leaving Savior House, one character is much more adept in their investigation skills than the other two.  The other two characters don't seem to be particularly interested in figuring out who it was who tried to kill them, they are content with letting the authorities handle the investigation.  Sure, they have some side plots going on in their stories that become important to the overall plot, but until the point where those reveals are shown to the reader, it really feels like it is the one character pushing the plot along.  I wish the friend group gathered together sooner in the story and maybe they don't fully trust each other due to their long time without contact, but I think if all 3 were actively investigating what happened to them it would have made for a more engaging read.  Once all 3 do get together and start really digging into their shared past, I absolutely loved the story and the way it ended up connecting all these different threads.

Overall, this was a very fun read.  Like a summer blockbuster, we had a lot of action, some over-the-top plot points, and a really snappy pace. I loved the way the secrets of the past and the character's flashbacks were utilized, but I wish the group got together sooner so we could have more of the group investigation instead of the 3 very separate plot threads for so long. 

TW/CW: alcohol abuse, drug abuse, parental death, drug addiction, gambling addiction, child abuse, pedophilia, sexual assault

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the ARC.  Expected publication date is March 7, 2023

Don't Fear the Reaper - Stephen Graham Jones

 

This is the second book in The Lake Witch Trilogy and picks up 4 years after the events of the first book, My Heart is a Chainsaw.  Jade Daniels returns to rural Proofrock at the same time as a blizzard and convicted serial killer Dark Mill South.  Thirty six hours later, twenty people would be dead. 

I loved the first book in the trilogy and was both excited but nervous to be back in Proofrock because I enjoyed the first book so much.  However, this second book in the series really hits it out of the park.  It is different enough from the first one to not just feel like a copy but similar enough in the themes and structure that it still feels very much connected to the first.  It was fun to see the way some of the elements from the first book - such as the academic papers - were tweaked in order to fit seamlessly into this second book.  I do wish I had re-read the first one before reading this as we don't get a whole lot of re-introduction into the town and these characters - we more so get plopped into the story and start running from there.

The tone and writing style of this I found a little less literary than the first one and feels like this one would have a more wide commercial appeal.  I remember seeing a lot of folks reading My Heart is a Chainsaw when it first came out and some of them were expecting it to be much more of a slasher on-page and ended up a little disappointed.  That first book starts off more slowly but really picks up by the end.  In Don't Fear the Reaper, however, it read much more like a typical slasher story where we get bodies dropping early and often.  There still is Jones's distinctive writing style but the story overall has more action and characters making active choices than the first one did.  And if you thought there were a lot of horror movie references in the first one, just you wait.  Again, it feels just different enough of a reading experience for this to feel new and exciting, but still similar enough that it feels we're in the same world as the first book.

The horror elements were spectacular and really squicked me out in the absolute best way.  Jones goes 100% in on Dark Mill South's murder history and spares no details.  For fans of Criminal Minds (like myself) South could 1000% be a character in that show and would probably have a whole season dedicated to catching him.  I'd say this book leans 75% into the gore and physical horror while the other 25% is the supernatural side of things.  I loved how Jones was able to keep the horror grounded as we get consistent reminders of the massacre from the first book as well as the aftermath and real impact on these characters.  While a lot of the horror in this book initially feels very big and flashy, it is also specifically shown to be realistic in a particularly haunting way.  

I thought Dark Mill South's trial and backstory were really well developed throughout the story.  As a result, those sections felt very much like a true crime episode all the way down to multiple fan theories and lore about Dark Mill South being built up over time.  We also get a few scenes from South's perspective which were one of my favorite parts.  Jones does a fantastic job of really dialing in the creep factor to these scenes by giving the reader access to the pretty fucked up things South is thinking about.  Dark Mill South is Native American and a lot of the lore around Dark Mill South centers on Native Americans being dangerous, bordering on supernaturally powerful.  I loved the different theories that are presented in the academic paper portions in regards to where Dark Mill came from and what his motives could be.  We do find out the most probable answer at the end and I really think that reveal tied together a lot of common threads that showed up in the theories presented. 

Just like in the first, we get a ton of horror movie references, but this time we had more recent ones mixed in.  Most of them were horror movies that I think were talked about so widely that most people would be at least vaguely familiar with them.  And if not, Jones does a good job explaining the connection the characters are making to the current situation.  Also, we get a good range of types of horror, not necessarily only slashers.  We also have other characters besides Jade who are making these connections/comments so we get some fantastic horror movie trivia laden conversations that are just ping-ponging references back and forth.  It also felt like there was more of a focus on the actors in these movies, not just the characters on screen.  I think this mirrors the sort of blurring of the lines between fiction and reality that Jade and the other characters had to grapple with in the aftermath of the massacre from the first book.  I love how Jones, in both books, doesn't just use these horror references to show off how knowledgeable he is in the genre, but how these conversations reflect the character development going on throughout the book.

Overall, this was a fantastic second book in the trilogy.  Just like the first one, it isn't quite clear where the story will go from here but I'm very much looking forward to the next installment.  This gave me everything I loved from the first one with more action and bodies falling consistently throughout the book.  

Thanks to NetGalley and Gallery Books for the ARC

Expected publication date is February 7, 2023