January 2024 Romance Wrap-up

Legally Binding - Sophie Snow

This age-gap office romance is the first in the Spicy in Seattle series and follows Maggie and Cal.  Maggie has been Cal's assistant for years and the two have worked very well together.  Maggie keeps Cal - and the rest of the office - running smoothly and Cal is a kind and caring boss.  But when the two run into each other at a sex club one night, the tension is palpable and neither can go back to seeing the other as just a coworker. They start spending more and more time together until one night stuck at the office together has them crossing a line neither of them thought they'd ever cross.  But one night isn't enough and the two need to figure out if this new relationship is worth them both turning their ideas for their lives upside down.  This was such a fun read and the characters were really the shining point of the story.  I loved Maggie, Cal, and the whole cast of characters we get to meet.  We got some absolutely fantastic character development with Maggie standing up to her neglectful family as well as figuring out what she wants out of her life for herself.  For an age gap, office romance, there was way less angst or drama than I was expecting.  I was really waiting for the other shoe to drop for the last 25% of the read where normally we'd see the relationship being outed and the fall out from that.  I did find the middle of the read to be a bit repetitive and I wanted to see Maggie and Cal be put in different situations to see how they'd react.  Overall, I had a good time and I'm looking forward to continuing on in the series.

 Thanks to the author for the ARC.  Expected publication date is February 13, 2024

 

When Grumpy Met Sunshine - Charlotte Stein

 This grumpy/sunshine romance follows retired footballer (soccer player) Alfie and ghostwriter Mabel.  The two seem too different, initially, and even Mabel starts to question her normal ability to pull stories and details out of her ghostwriting clients.  However, once the two start working together, they realize they have much more in common than they thought.  And when Mabel is assumed by the tabloids to be Alfie's newest romantic conquest, they agree to keep up the ruse so no one is the wiser to the ghostwriting arrangement.  That works well, until the fake kisses for the paparazzi start to feel too real. This read was not what I was expecting, but I think that made me love it even more.  This was much more of an emotional read than the adorable cover and synopsis lead me to believe. I never expected a book that looked like this would make me sob by the end.  It was only Mabel's POV which I disliked while reading because I thought Alfie was so obviously falling hard and fast for her and I wanted his POV so badly.  Stein seemed to be reading my mind because she used that to pull on my heartstrings when we get to the ending.  I loved Alfie and Mabel and their dynamic was a picture perfect grumpy/sunshine pairing.  The banter was fantastic and just weird enough that it really worked well as a window into these characters.  Overall, this was a great read that managed to worm its way into my heart much deeper than I was expecting and I imagine I'll be thinking about Alfie and Mabel for quite some time.

 Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the ARC. Expected publication date is February 6, 2024.

  

 One Billion Reasons  - Sophia Travers

This enemies to lovers romance follows Miles and Lane.  The two were friends until a fight 2 years ago that left them not speaking.  But after a chance encounter brings them together, Miles has a proposition for Lane.  One week, as his fake girlfriend, for $50k.  It is a deal too good for Lane to pass up, even though the two can barely stand to be in the same room without throwing verbal knives at each other.  But when some buried truths and complicated feeling start coming out during their week together, the two not only rekindle their friendship, but something deeper.  This was also a much more emotional read than I was expecting, but it was more on the angst-y side of things and didn't quite work for me as well (I'm not a huge fan of angst in my romances, in general). I also found the conflicts between Miles and Lane to be very repetitive and I just wanted them to fight about something different for a change.  I could really feel the contempt Lane had for Miles early on in the story and I remember thinking "this author has a lot of work to make me believe these two are going to fall in love".  I did think Travers did a great job of sprinkling in details of Miles and Lane's backstory throughout the read which helped.  These details really helped strengthen their current relationship arc, especially considering the short timeframe.  We did get both character POVs, which was great considering how hot/cold they both were to the other.  I also liked the amount of side characters we get to see and how Miles and Lane both talk to their friends about their budding feelings.  While I do think the emotional turmoil generally paid off in the end, I was expecting something different from the big love declaration moment.  This read did have some moments that worked really well for me, but overall it was a bit too angsty for me to really love it.  However, if you are a fan of this sort of angsty, friends to enemies to lovers, second chance type of romances I think this is a really good example of one. 

Thanks to the author for the ARC. Publication date was December 4, 2023. 

The Clinic - Cate Quinn

 

This mystery follows Meg as she enters a remote rehab clinic to find the truth behind her sister's death.  Meg's sister, Haley, was a famous actress and her death was labeled a suicide.  However, Meg doesn't believe that and is certain that Haley was murdered.  Once she begins her investigation on the inside, trying to hide her relationship to Haley, Meg has to battle her own addictions as well as her repressed memories.  The truth may be more complicated than even Meg can anticipate and in a place as remote as the Clinic, Meg may be completely on her own.

This was such a fun read and I was sucked in from the very first chapter.  I was a little hesitant at first, since this was almost 450 pages long and I wasn't sure how a seemingly straightforward mystery would handle being stretched out for that long.  However, I think Quinn did a great job of layering a few different plot threads as well as weaving these plots together at different points in the book. 

I loved all the characters in this read - especially Meg.  She is such an interesting and complex character.  I loved how the mystery thread is intertwined with Meg's character development and how, eventually, Meg comes around to the idea that in order to find out what happened to her sister, she'll have to work on herself first.  Meg can certainly fall into the 'unlikable female' main character but I found her to be incredibly realistic.  While we do get multiple POVs in this book, I found Meg to be the most well rounded character and I loved getting her inner monologue.  I do wish we had more time to see her life before rehab because her connection/relationships outside of the Clinic do play a role in the overall story.  The cast of characters at the Clinic were fantastic and we really get a whole range of emotions and reactions to the events happening throughout the book.

Obviously, since this was set in a rehab clinic, there is a lot of discussion about addiction of various types.  I don't personally have any experience in this area so I can't speak personally to the representation.  However, there is a note in the book that says Quinn was inspired to write this book after her own experience in rehab.  I did enjoy the different types of addiction we see represented across the different characters and the different areas of recovery each of the characters are in.  We also get some POVs from the professionals working at the Clinic and it was interesting to get their views on addiction, recovery, and the patients there. 

I was expecting this to read more like a typical mystery where Meg is investigating and checking people off her suspects list.  However, the investigation was used to sort of highlight Meg's own struggles with her relationships and her addictions.  There are a number of times where she sort of recaps her investigation up to this point and realizes she hasn't really gotten anywhere substantial but that doesn't stop her from making accusations.  While I was initially a little annoyed (I love a straight up isolated murder mystery) I do think overall this was the right choice as it fleshed out Meg's character even more. She does solve the mystery at the end, but only after a good chunk of personal growth and character development. 

On paper, this ending feels like it should be one of those off the rails endings that I absolutely love.  However, it didn't quite land right for me.  After giving it some thought, I came to the conclusion that while I very much enjoyed the twist aspect (I certainly didn't see it coming), I think it deflated some of the character development we get throughout the previous 400 pages.  But as with any twisty endings, results will vary reader to reader.

Overall, this was a good mystery with a great cast of characters.  The topic of rehab/addiction is core to the story but felt like it was handled well.  I loved Meg and her journey throughout the book.  The ending didn't work for me as well as I would have liked, but I can see other readers liking it.

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for the ARC.  Expected publication date is January 23, 2024.

Lone Women - Victor Lavalle

 

This historical fiction/horror follows Adelaide as she leaves her home in California after covering up the deaths of her parents.  She decides to start a new life in Montana as a homesteader with the secret that has ruled her life locked in the steamer trunk along with her.  Once she arrives, she begins to put down roots and join the community - finding other women homesteading without husbands.  But when her secret gets out, it may be the end of Adelaide and her new life. 

I'm not a real big historical fiction reader but I do think I found my niche in these historical fiction horror subgenre. I absolutely love the mix of genres and find the historical fiction portion to feel more like the setting/background to the horror so it doesn't feel as dry as I find regular historical fiction.  Obviously, there is a sliding scale and I find ones like Alma Katsu's The Hunger (which I also loved) to be more of a slow burn compared to Lone Women which really hit the ground running. 

The characters in this are absolutely remarkable.  Before picking this up, I heard from some Booktubers I watch that they DNF'd this in the middle because it slowed down and lost their interest.  I was a bit concerned, especially given my 'meh' feelings toward historical fiction.  However, I loved these characters so much that I loved reading about their more mundane daily struggle of living life out in such a remote area.  I did find the horror subplot to be a consistent thread and threat throughout the read but the middle did feel more character-focused rather than plot-focused. The characters are complex and each has their own reason for wanting a life out here.  While this read does have an added supernatural/creature horror element added, the characters we encounter show the more realistic horrors of this life.

The supernatural/horror element was fantastic and I loved how we were shown right at the beginning of the book that something was off.  We get the horror reveal pretty early on in the read which leaves a lot of time for us to see the impact/effects of that horror played out in this new setting.  We do get some gore, but much less overall than I was expecting given how the book opened.  I loved the amount of backstory we get as the plot progresses and how much depth and character development is wrapped up in the horror.  This was a case where the horror elements deepened the story instead of being just thrown on top as a gimmick. We also get an added horror element of what desperate people will do to others which I think was a realistic addition to the plot. 

I would imagine trying to find a satisfying ending to a book like this must be difficult but I loved where we ended up.  In the author's note at the end, LaValle credits his wife for the ending so big kudos to her!  I do think the ending might be a bit divisive because the story goes off the rails a little bit, but overall I do feel like it fit the plot and characters we'd been following through the book.  I also enjoyed the little epilogue we got so we were able to see the aftermath of the big ending scene and where some of these characters ended up 

Overall, this was a fantastic read and I'm so glad I picked this up from the library.  We get a great cast of characters, wonderful horror elements, and an interesting plot to follow between horror scenes.  

The Heiress - Rachel Hawkins

 

This domestic drama follows Camden McTavish and his wife, Jules, ten years after Camden's mother died.  Camden is the adopted son of Ruby McTavish - North Carolina's richest woman - and when she died, she left her entire estate to him. He originally didn't want anything to do with the money, estranged family, or Ashby House. But now, after his uncle's death, Camden returns to Ashby house with the goal of getting out and back to his normal life as quickly as possible.  But Jules feels differently and the more time she spends at Ashby house, the more she wants Cam to embrace his roots and take everything Ruby gave him.  

This was such a fun first read for the year and was everything I now look forward to in a Rachel Hawkins read.  We get into the meat of the story right away, the characters are a little over the top but fun to read their POVs, and the pacing was fast enough that this was such a popcorn read.  This read to me like a solid domestic drama where I was primarily interested in getting the truth along with the gossip.  I'm not a reality TV watcher, but it felt like this would scratch that same itch.  t didn't feel like there were enough stakes for it to qualify as a thriller or suspense and there wasn't really a core mystery that the characters were trying to solve so domestic drama just felt right. 

The family dynamics in this reminded me a lot of the movie Knives Out where all the family members don't really like each other but they all play nice enough so they can keep the cash flowing around when needed. I also loved how we got details of Ruby's relationship with her family in the past in addition to Cam and the current day family members. This really hit the spot for a book of 'rich people problems' and I know that isn't going to be for every reader, but I really enjoyed it.  I liked how many different interactions we were able to get between all the characters and how we get Cam's and Jules's reactions and feelings of these different interactions.  

If you love the Secrets of the Past trope - then this book is for you. We get secrets on top of secrets and as a result, we get a few unreliable narrators.  Either unreliable to the reader or unreliable between the characters which was a really interesting way of reading that trope.  One of the POVs is letters from Ruby detailing her chilhood/life before adopting Cam and those letters give the reader a lot of insider knowledge that the characters don't have.  So we can see the characters going about their lives with one belief but the reader knows the truth from these letters (and eventually the truth comes out). Jules and Cam each have their own POV chapters and they have their own secrets from each other, the rest of the characters, and the reader as well.  I do think a lot of the reveals of the secrets were pretty easy to see coming and I was really only surprised by one at the very end but I really enjoyed guessing and then reading along to see if I was correct.

The characters were borderline a bit underdeveloped for my taste as a character-driven reader but the act 3 reveals really added a bunch of layers to these characters that I was searching for.  The current day timeline takes place over only a couple of days or maybe a week so there isn't a ton of time for any real character arc there.  However, the amount of flashbacks and family history we get really come in clutch to show us just how far these characters have come.  I do think that if we had a bit more flashbacks of Cam's childhood or his adolescence then that would have helped even more.  We are told a lot about how he didn't like the family and the mental games they played but I wanted to see more of that on page and see the impact it had on Cam.

Overall, this was a really fun, popcorn type of read.  If you love rich people problems, secrets from the past, and messy family stories then this might be right up your alley. 

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the ARC.  Expected publication date is January 9, 2024