In a Dark, Dark Wood - Ruth Ware

 

This isolated mystery follows Nora as she's invited to a bachelorette party of a friend she hasn't spoken to in years.  Nora, usually a reclusive crime writer who doesn't like to leave her apartment, reluctantly agrees and finds herself in an isolated house deep in the English countryside.  Soon, a series of strange events start to unnerve Nora and as interpersonal tensions rise and bubble over - she finds herself in a hospital bed injured but alive.  However, she isn't wondering "what happened" but rather "what did I do".  As Nora tries to piece together her memory of the past weekend, Nora must reach into her long buried past to figure out the truth of what happened. 

TW/CW: alcohol use, drug use, abortion, suicide

This was Ware's debut thriller and I think it had some good bones, but I didn't love the overall execution.  I know she's a very popular author and I have most of her other books on my TBR and I'm looking forward to getting to them.  I read this during jury duty and it was an entertaining way to spend a few hours that day.  

These isolated, closed-circle mysteries are one of my favorite types of mysteries and I did like the time we spent in the house with the characters.  However, the dual timeline aspect took away some of the tension for me because I do prefer these to be completely isolated from basically start to finish.  The fact that Nora is in the hospital and thinking back over the past few days really took me out of the immediacy of the situation in the house.  In the sections where we are in the house with the characters, Ware does a really good job creating interpersonal tension and the sort of awkwardness that comes with groups of somewhat strangers coming together. I also thought Ware did a great job of giving the reader the lay of the land (literally) through various situations that had the characters exploring or going out to different areas of the house.  I do wish we had more of that creeping dread built up before the climactic scenes start, but since the characters were only at the house for a long weekend, I know Ware could only fit in so many details.  

I didn't love the use of dual timeline in this and after letting the story sit in my brain for a bit, I think this is because I felt it gave too much away.  I can see that Ware was trying to use this as a way of building tension and letting the reader know a big event was going to happen.  I didn't guess what, exactly, was going to happen, but I felt my guesses being steered in certain directions based on the information we find out in the 'present' timeline. This might just be because it was Ware's debut, but it sort of felt like the dual timeline was a bit of a crutch to insert some artificial tension or intrigue into the story.  Almost like Ware felt that the story wouldn't be as interesting as a single timeline and instead of working on the plotting or mystery reveals, this was sort of a 'quick fix' for that problem.  I did enjoy that the past timeline caught up with the present at about 75% mark and then we were able to finish up the book in one linear direction which I think was a strong decision for the last act.

The characters and their relationships were really interesting and I loved being a fly on the wall for this celebration.  I loved the mix of personalities that felt natural for each character and, thus, naturally created conflict.  For example, we had a free-spirit type of person who just wanted to have fun and then a type-A personality who wanted everything to be done exactly how they'd planned it. I did find Nora the blandest character in the bunch, which was a bit disappointing since we were following her for the story.  However, this did make her an easy way for the reader to sort of insert themselves into the story. We know from the beginning that Nora used to be friends with the bride-to-be but they have since grown apart.  We see Nora pretty consistently judging or making comments about the relationships she's seeing during this weekend and I think it would have been more interesting to see some flashbacks of the friend group dynamic in the past. I've seen a number of reviews that really disliked Nora and I do think she's not meant to be a very likeable narrator.  I personally really enjoy unlikable narrators, but I want them to be unlikable in interesting ways which I didn't find the case with Nora.

As far as the mystery plot and the reveals, I really didn't like the way they were presented.  I thought the points worked okay on paper, but there was something about the way the reveals were executed that didn't work.  It was a little hard to put my finger on why exactly they didn't work and I think it came down to Nora's character and a bit of the lack of backstory/history we get.  We find out certain information about Nora a little too late in the book and then it felt like we didn't get enough time to see how that information impacted her/the story.  Also, it seemed like most of the reveals were for the reader only and it was information that the characters already knew which also made it feel a less impactful.  I think this mystery had all the potential to be a really twisty and fun ride but ended up taking the more simple route and thus was a pretty standard read.

Overall, this had some elements I really enjoyed, but I didn't quite like the way the pieces came together in the end. This was a real solid middle of the road mystery and maybe my perspective is a bit skewed because I gave my copy to my mom and she really enjoyed it (she isn't much of a mystery reader).

Smartasses: A Sexy Nerd Rom Com Anthology

The title says it all - this is an anthology of nerdy rom-com goodness.  There are stories by 12 authors: Avery Flynn, Erin Mallon, Helena Hunting, Jana Aston, Jiffy Kate, Karen Grey, Kayley Loring, Krystyna Allyn, Penny Reid, Sara Ney, Sonali Dev, and Susannah Nix.

Overall, I really enjoyed this anthology.  I normally prefer longer reads (300-400 pages is my go-to), but I've really enjoyed shorter romance reads in the past and have started to expand my reading in that area.  Nerdy rom-coms are right up my alley and I've loved full length works from a number of the authors in this anthology.  I did enjoy the wide variety of 'nerd' topics included - from comic movies, mathletes, library science grad students, D&D, Comic Con, and more.  There's also a wide variety of romance tropes that were really fun and many of our leading men wear 'Clark Kent' glasses which the women absolutely love.

This is 750 pages long and there are 12 stories, so each is about 62 pages on average.  Due to this, we're in solid insta-love territory for a lot of these stories and we don't have a lot of time to get through a typical romance book plot arc.  Of course, I was expecting that going in, and I was pleasantly surprised at how each author structured their stories in different ways.  We do have some that fit in a lot of the major plot beats you'd find in a full-length romance, but others that basically show the beginning of a relationship and then give a quick fast-forward view at the end. 

I don't often give my actual rating in these written reviews, but for anthologies I do like to rate each story and then the anthology as a whole.  For this, the average rating of the individual stories works out to 3.9 which I'll round up to a 4.  I gave 5 of these stories 5 stars and I overally really enjoyed this reading experience. 

Thanks to the authors and SocialButterfly PR for the ARC.  Publication date for this anthology was August 16, 2022

Attracting Aubrey - Avery Flynn

 This vacation romance follows Aubrey and Carter on a singles cruise.  Aubrey is there to spend time with her friends and never expected the handsome stranger next door to be her favorite movie star - undercover.  When she inadvertently reveals his secret, they team up to keep his identity under wraps and soon find themselves wrapped up together.  I'll admit that famous person + regular person romances are a hard sell for me, but I really enjoyed this one.  I thought Flynn did a great job of really fleshing out both characters and making their connection believable.  I did wish we spent more time with Aubrey and her friends together, maybe to get some outside perspective on her budding romance but I understand we just didn't have the pages available for that type of detour.  I loved that we get a full romance arc complete with a meet-cute, dates, steamy scenes, third act breakup, and a big declaration at the end. 

5/5  

Snowmancing the Bone - Erin Mallon

This thespian romance follows Wendy and Duncan.  Wendy is a life-long theater nerd with the super organized binder to prove it.  What initially starts as a normal weekend picking up some new plays to read at the library snowballs into Wendy being hired as the new stage manager for the local community theater's soup-centric production.  The big upside to her new job - the lead actor is her crush from a few years prior. And it turns out, the feelings are mutual. This one went a little too far to the 'adorkable' side for my personal tastes, but if you love quirky small town residents then maybe this will be more your jam.  I really liked Wendy and Duncan as characters, but I think their relationship was maybe more suited for a longer-form story. They both have details of their lives that seem to really get dropped into the story and then forgotten (like Wendy's daughter, for instance). We're watching their connection grow over the six week long rehearsal and performance time for this community theater play and that's a lot of time to squeeze into the amount of pages.  There are a good number of time jumps but I think rushing through like that made me feel like I was missing out on some off-page character development.  I did think our main characters have fantastic chemistry and I loved that this was a sort of second-chance for them.  And as much as I initially thought it was strange, by the end I was really wishing there was a soup-only restaurant near me.

TW/CW: death of spouse from cancer

3/5 

Not Just a Crush - Helena Hunting 

This snowy romance follows Dahlia and Conrad.  After her planned girls weekend gets derailed by a snowstorm, Dahlia finds herself trapped alone in the small cabin she rented.  When she calls for assistance, the last person she expects to show up is her high school crush.  Now they're both snowed in together and have nothing to do but explore their mutual attraction. Snowed-in with an old crush?  Yes please!  Even better when that old crush is a big burly mountain man who knows his way around starting a fire. I thought this was a cute take on a high school crush story where there wasn't some big explosion in their past.  Sure, she was the nerd who got teased, but it wasn't a big event and didn't seem like it really impacted their current day relationship.  I did find Dahlia a bit over-the-top with some of her reactions and I just wanted her to take a deep breath.  There were a number of times when it felt like she was a chicken running around with her head cut off.  I loved how Conrad was able to calm her down in a real opposites attract situation.  I wish we spent some more time with these two just talking and catching up instead of them jumping pretty much immediately into flirting and then into bed together. This is one of the stories where we see their steamy beginning and then it basically gives us a "they lived happily ever after" note at the end. 

4/5

Central Park - Jana Aston 

 This office-ish romance follows grad student Liberty and businessman Mason.  Liberty signs up with a nanny agency in hopes of making enough money to afford to live in New York as she finishes school.  When she gets assigned an emergency case, she shows up to Mason's office only to find out that he doesn't have any kids for her to nanny.  But with expenses piling up and no other jobs lined up, Liberty is focused on making the best out of this situation. This is another one where I felt like it would have worked better if it was longer.  I absolutely loved the set up and how LIberty and Mason meet and I thought the beginning of their relationship was really well paced.  I loved their chemistry and they had some great banter.  However, their feelings for one another ramped up really quickly over nothing more than basically some flirty texts and I really needed to see more of them actually interacting together for the level of emotional attachment to really hit for me. We also only get Liberty's perspective, and maybe if we had Masons POV as well it wouldn't have felt quite so fast. 

3/5

 

The Doctor and the Dungeon Master - Jiffy Kate 

This slow-burn romance follows Griff and Jenna when they meet in Jenna's dermatology practice.  Griff is there to remove the tattoo of his ex-fiance's name off his chest.  Their connection is electric, but they both know they can't do anything while they're patient and doctor.  But when the removal is complete in a couple months - all bets are off.  I absolutely loved this story!  I thought the chemistry between Griff and Jenna was fantastic and sizzling right off the page.  I loved how easily their backstories were integrated into the main story as well as their relationships with the secondary characters.  I really enjoyed the slow-burn elements and it felt like we got enough scenes with them interacting that we could see the relationship develop realistically.  I also loved how we get 2 epilogues - 1 year later and then 10 years later to give us a flash forward into their HEA.

TW/CW: infidelity (in past, not MCs) 

5/5

What Happens in Carolina - Karen Grey

This story follows Tina and George who are the newly hired junior writers on a new TV series in 1998.  The two share a broom-closet of an office and initially seem like complete opposites.  But when they fly from LA to North Carolina to check out the locations of the show, the two end up getting closer.  And when a hurricane forces them to take the last hotel room together, the two finally find they have more in common than they originally thought.  This was cute, but the writing style wasn't really working for me.  It felt like the narration style was trying a little too hard to be snappy and witty and it had me rolling my eyes a few times.  I did like Tina and George as characters with their own little quirks.  I did like them together but wanted more scenes of them actually interacting.  We get a lot of scenes where they're together with a third person and they only seem to interact with that other person.  I loved the scene where they finally do get together and George shares his secret with her and how well that reveal played out. Overall, this was just a smidge too over-the-top for me but it was still a cute read.

3/5 

There is Also a Dog - Kayley Loring 

This story follows Jillian and Mitchell.  Jillian needs a place to spend Christmas and for someone who strongly dislikes the holiday and has a bunch of work to get done, Mitchell's remote cabin (complete with WiFi) seems like the perfect spot.  Even more perfect when it seems like Mitchell is flirting with her via text but when he comes to fix the router, he seems so aloof, Jillian starts to wonder if she was mis-reading all the winky faces.  I liked this read, but there was something about the characterization of both MCs that was a little off putting.  Looking back, I think this was an issue of trying to fit in too much in a short timespan.  For example, a mutual friend tells Jillian that Mitchell can be aloof and might even seem like he doesn't like you but he's really a nice guy once he warms up.  If that warm up was done over the course of maybe a week in a full length novel, then I could 100% see that working.  However, in this case it felt like Loring tried to insert a full character arc into just a few hours and it ended up coming across less like character growth and more like inconsistent writing. That being said, once both characters actually got over themselves and got together, this book heated up pretty fast.  Plus, Mitchell has a cute pet french bulldog so that's always a plus.

3/5

Comic-Complications - Krystyna Allyn

 This story follows Brooke and Ben.  After an on-air microphone disaster, local reporter Brooke is forced to cover NYC Comic Con.  On her first morning there, Ben ends up stealing her coffee order out from under her and from then on, the enemies seem to keep running into each other and their attraction grows.  I liked a lot of the elements in this story but unfortuneately, the main couple wasn't one of them. I didn't buy for a second that their connection was anything other than physical and it gave me the feeling they probably would burn out in a few weeks.  I didn't believe they would get their HEA and this dragged the whole story down for me (they do get an on-page HEA, in case anyone was worried about that). I absolutely loved Ben and thought he seemed like such a sweet guy.  I also loved how much the Comic Con setting was used and how much nerdy information was packed into this story.  But liking the setting can only do so much for a romance and the fact that I wanted Ben to end up with anyone other than Brooke really was the nail in the coffin for this story for me.

2/5

Pash No Rash - Penny Reid

This office romance follows Audrey and Elias.  While they're on a work retreat, Audrey heads to a local bar to let off some steam.  Elias finds her there and as the two get to know each other better, Audrey finds he might not be the scary Darth Vader CFO she initially thought he was.  I really liked this story and wished it was longer.  This really read like the first chapter of a full length novel.  We see them meet, grow a connection, and kiss all in the span of an evening, but then that's about it.  There's an implication that they'll continue to cultivate this relationship going forward, but we don't actually see any of that on page.  Because of the short timeframe (only a couple of hours) there wasn't much time for us to explore these two as characters on their own.  Again, this made it feel like the opening chapter to a novel, not a romance story on its own. That being said, if this did get turned into a full-length novel, I'd love it.  I was immediately pulled into the story and I thought our two characters had some really good chemistry that was simmering under the surface

4/5 

Things Liars Fake - Sara Ney

This story follows Daphne and Dexter.  They meet one night through mutual friends and both are intrigued by the other.  Then, when they run into each other during their solo Saturday sci-fi movie time, they find out they might have more in common than they originally thought.  And when they run into Dexter's aunt who runs and tells the rest of the family about Dexter's new girlfriend, Daphne ends up as his fake date.  Because there's no way she'd actually be into him, right?  I absolutely adored this. I loved Daphne, Dexter, the side characters, the chemistry, everything.  I really love the level of communication these two (eventually) get to where they both just say flat out what they're feeling and what they want.  Their connection really pops off the page.  I always love a solid fake dating plot and I thought this had the perfect pacing of that fake relationship turning real.

5/5 

The Runaway Bride - Sonali Dev

This marriage in trouble romance follows Nish and Neel on the day before their wedding.  When Nish finds out that Neel has talked to his ex (the woman he chose over Nish 8 years prior) and kept the meeting a secret, Nish does the only thing she can think of - run away.  In the early hours of the morning, there aren't many places she can go and there's only one man who can help her make the decision of going or staying.  This was fantastic!  I haven't read many marriage in trouble romances, but this is making me feel like I need to get some added to my TBR ASAP.  I loved the emotional depth we get with both characters in this story and how we can see them growing together as the story progresses.  I thought the pacing and length was perfect and Dev does a fantastic job of giving the reader all the necessary information about their past without it feeling too info-dumpy. 

5/5 

 

Close Encounters of the Nerd Kind - Susannah Nix

This billionaire romance follows Sarah and Henry.  He's the CEO of a tech company who frequently comes into the diner where Sarah works and always sits at the same table.  Only instead of sitting, working, and drinking endless black coffee one night he has a proposition for Sarah.  He needs a date to a family function and he wants to bring her as his fake date.  She accepts and as the two of them start getting their story straight for Henry's relatives, it seems like there might be more truth to this fake dating than either of them initially planned.  This was so good!  I absolutely loved Sarah and Henry together and following how their relationship developed. They were so sweet to each other and really felt like they had a genuine connection. I really enjoyed how up front they both were and neither of them was really trying to be anything other than their true selves. I really enjoyed the scenes with Henry's family and thought that dynamic was interesting. This was long enough that we pretty much got a whole romance arc included - complete with a big gesture at the end. 

5/5

All Good People Here - Ashley Flowers

 

This small town mystery follows Margot as she returns to Wakarusa, Indiana to help care for her uncle who was recently diagnosed with early-onset dementia. Soon after her arrival, news breaks of the abduction of five-year-old Natalie Clark one town over. The circumstances of which remind Margot of the abduction and murder of January Jacobs twenty years prior.  Margot was January's neighbor and despite the tragedy happening so long ago, she's never stopped thinking about January or the fact that her killer was never caught. As Margot begins her investigation, she encounters more blocks than she initially expected and the two cases begin to feel miles apart.  However, small town secrets don't stay buried forever.

TW/CW: child abduction, child murder, child death, CSA, suicide, stalking

Ashley Flowers is the host of true crime podcast Crime Junkie.  I knew this only because it is mentioned in the book description on NetGalley and Goodreads.  You'd think for all the murder books I read (and murder TV shows I watch) that I'd be one of those stereotypical true crime girls.  However, I've yet to find a true crime medium that really works for me (the very occasional true crime documentary seems to be the winner).  All that to say, I've never listened to Crime Junkie but from the reviews I've been seeing on Goodreads, a lot of folks are pre-ordering or reading ARCs because they really like her storytelling on her podcast. This is Flowers's debut novel and I really enjoyed the writing style and storytelling.  I personally can't compare it to the narrative style of the podcast but from what I've seen, if you like the flow of the podcast, then you'll like the writing style of this book.

I loved the dual timeline aspect of this story and I think Flowers did a great job at knowing when to switch between the two.  We're following Margot in 2019 and then Krissy (January's mother) in 1994.  I really thought the dual timelines were a great way to highlight the odd way small towns can be almost 'stuck' in time where we see a lot of the same characters in both times and we see that they're still having a lot of the same conversations twenty years apart.  We also get to see the cycle of how some characters who have plans to get out of this small town, end up stuck despite their plans.  In regards to the reveals, Flowers does one of my favorite things - uses the dual timeline switch to reveal even more to the reader.  There were multiple times when something was revealed/discovered in one timeline and then we'd immediately switch and either see the direct repercussions or the events in detail (depending on the situation).  I really enjoy when authors do this because it really helps my immersion in the story and helps them avoid long chunks of exposition or info-dumping.

The setting was fantastic and I really enjoyed the town being a character.  While we do see and speak to some specific people in the town, the overall feeling I got was that 'the town' was this faceless sort of entity.  I grew up in a small town (in New England, not middle America) and I really related to the way Flowers uses the pressure of the town to drive her characters.  We see Krissy in the opening chapter directly tell the reader that no matter what personal issues she may be having, she'll always be dressed and on-time to church on Sunday because otherwise the town starts talking and then other secrets will get revealed. There's this group-think aspect to how rumors and public opinion changes throughout the story and I thought that concept came across really clearly in the story.  I also enjoyed how Margot uses the small town rumor mill to help her investigation but couldn't 100% rely on it. 

I did find Margot and Krissy to be interesting characters, but I do wish we got a bit more from the secondary characters.  This book read like it was the first in a series where there was some good set up for the side characters but we'll get more in future books (I can't find any evidence that this is the first in a series). While I did like the dual timeline aspect, I think it did take up a good amount of page time which meant that the interactions with the secondary characters were fairly brief.  There were also numerous people that Margot wanted to speak to for her investigation and they would open up to her pretty easily after the reader was told that they'd kept private for the past 20 years.  I understand why Margot is our protagonist but I do wish we were able to follow Krissy more.  Instead, we're following Margot in real-time and then flashing back to Krissy for pretty short periods of time. 

The ending (specifically the last page) is the main issue I had with this book.  We get a pretty significant cliff-hanger ending that, if I'm being 100% honest, made me furious for about an hour.  There is an epilogue to the book, but that epilogue is a flashback to the 1994 timeline so it doesn't resolve the cliff-hanger issue.  The final line of the main story does also act a bit like a thesis statement where it really felt like Flowers was stepping through the fourth wall and laying out this bigger idea and it didn't land for me.  I didn't have a philosophical issue with the actual idea, but it didn't work for me in the narrative.  I think it would have been better suited to an acknowledgement page or an afterward by the author.  I generally dislike cliff-hanger endings already, but the way the last few sentences played out on page made me feel almost a little manipulated because I was so invested in the story.  It was like the rug got pulled out from under me at the last second, I was completely lifted out of the story, and it Flowers was there giving a lesson.  The only upside was that the cliff-hanger does leave the door open for a sequel which I would be interested reading if that happens (but I couldn't find anything about this being the first in a series or that Flowers had a mult-book deal). 

Overall, I really enjoyed this small town mystery read and I loved the way the investigation developed.  While Margot was a compelling protagonist to follow, I do wish we got a bit more substance out of the secondary characters.  I'd be interested to read more from Flowers in the future and I'm holding out hope that this might turn into a series.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Ballantine for the ARC

Expected publication date is August 16, 2022

July 2022 Romance Wrap-up

 Inextricably Tied - Aveda Vice

This is the second book in the Lost Touch Duet and picks up a few months after the events of the first book.  While the first novella isn't entirely necessary to read prior to this novel, I really enjoyed it and would highly recommend. Inextricably Tied follows Harbinger (banshee) and Flint (gargoyle) as they agree to help find the remains of a serial killer with help from a night terror named Agony who was extracted from the mind of the killer. As the three spend more time together, their connections change and they'll each have to confront parts of their pasts long buried in order to uncover the truth.  This was spectacular! I love Vice's character work and how much depth and character growth they're able to fit in these stories.  I also love the amount of lore and world building Vice is able to weave into the story from pretty early on without being an info-dump.  We know the details we need to know for this story, but no real extra fluff is added in which really helped me focus on these characters and this story.  The relationship development between the three characters was really interesting and I loved the aspect of having a lot of physical connection but really struggling to open up emotionally.  Agony wasn't in the first novella so I wasn't sure how adding in a third would work out but Vice did a fantastic job of slowly bringing Agony into the already established relationship between Harbinger and Flint in a really believable way.  The romantic suspense elements were a little weak for me and there were times where I almost forgot about it altogether.  I think because the serial killer was in custody already and our characters were looking for evidence of his past crimes, that there wasn't as high of stakes as I would have liked in a romantic suspense book.  That being said, the third act really picks up and shifts to being more focused on the serial killer case (which is also when the stakes get heightened as well). 

Kinks and Content Information/Warnings are on Vice's website

Thanks to Aveda Vice for the ARC.  Publication date was July 8, 2022

A Line in the Sand - Teri Wilson

This is the second book in the Turtle Beach series and follows marine biologist, Max, and local mermaid, Molly. Max has recently taken over for his uncle in the local aquarium and turtle hospital but his no-nonsense attitude doesn't exactly fit in with the colorful local characters.  What starts out as a potential meet-cute with Molly rescuing Max from a strong rip tide takes a turn for the worse as Max fires Molly from her job as aquarium mermaid the next day.  However, in a small town like Turtle Beach, the two can't seem to keep away from each other for very long (and it doesn't help that the other townsfolk are not so subtly scheming to get them together). I thought this was a really cute read and I loved the whole town.  It toed the line really well of being too overly cutesy and I think the more fantastical side of things stayed well grounded (such as Molly being a professional mermaid but also working on getting a grant for the aquarium).  I loved the characters and found them to be believably flawed which, again, helped this not feel like too fluffy of a read.  My one issue with the book was how Molly and Max's relationship progressed.  This is a slow burn, low heat book (we only get a kiss at around the 80% mark). I really enjoyed the build up to this slow burn and Wilson has some absolutely fantastic moments of sexual tension where I was mentally screaming at the book to just let these two kiss already.  However, the progression was very much a two steps forward, one step back sort of push/pull which made it feel overly repetitive.  It just felt like Max and Molly would keep running into a problem, get over it, move a little forward, then have some sort of communication breakdown and be back at square one.

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for the ARC

Expected publication date is August 2, 2022

The Sizzle Paradox - Lily Menon

This friends to lovers romance follows grad students Lyric and Kian.  Lyric is studying sexual chemistry in romantic partners to try and crack the code to long-term happiness in partnerships. She has the data, the interviews, and a year before she has to defend her thesis.  Only problem is that she doesn't have a personal connection to the data since her own romantic relationships were always lacking in one aspect or another.  Her best friend and roommate, Kian, has the opposite problem - he has no problem talking to women or getting into a relationship but he always leaves before things get too serious. With her thesis advisor pushing to see some progress from her, Kian agrees to teach Lyric his methods for attracting a partner and she'll work on setting him up with women outside of his usual type. What neither of them expect is for the lessons to feel so real and for their perfect match to be their best friend all along. This was cute, but overall I found it a little lacking in chemistry.  Friends to lovers is a real solid trope that I almost always enjoy and there were some really great moments of that dynamic in this story.  However, those moments were then undercut by some underdevelopment of the characters and their relationship.  Lyric and Kian seem to be constantly reminding everyone in their lives (and, thus, the reader) that they're best friends and would never work out as a couple but they never really get into specifics.  Their communication style was also odd because they didn't seem to have problems discussing anything in the beginning but then once they started to develop feelings, they could barely speak a few words to the other one.  For pretty much the last half of the book, they were in some weird holding pattern where they both recognized their feelings but were so determined to not ruin the friendship that they wouldn't even give a hint that they were actually attracted to the other one.  That being said, when they did open up and give into their feelings, it was really cute and I really liked them together. 

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the ARC. Publication date was June 28, 2022

The Hookup Plan - Farrah Rochon

This is the third book in The Boyfriend Project series and follows pediatric surgeon London and millionaire Drew.  The two reconnect at their high school reunion and after some reminiscing about how they were enemies back in the day, they end up in bed together.  London is in need of a way to de-stress from her job and Drew is in town temporarily so the two agree to a hookup arrangement.  Only problem is that Drew ends up being head of the team auditing London's hospital and he's dead set on showing her that he can be more than just a hookup. But with their past and having to make a big decision about her future, London isn't sure falling for her hookup is part of the plan.  I really loved this book and I thought London and Drew were perfection.  I loved how easily their history was worked into the story without having a bunch of flashbacks or info-dump sessions.  I also found the way these adult characters acted now that they're back together was more accurate than I think some other stories with similar premise would have.  Sure, there was a good amount of verbal sparring at the beginning, but it wasn't like these two very professional adults fully regressed back to their high school selves.  Their chemistry together was off the charts, even in the non-sexual scenes where it just really felt like they were in sync all the time. My one complaint is that it did feel like the story got bogged down in all the hospital auditing plot points.  I get that the hospital is the biggest thing in London's life, but I think some of the scenes could have been condensed a bit and we still would have gotten the same idea.  There was also a big reveal in regards to this plot point at the end and I really wanted to see the fall out of that reveal but it was sort of swept aside.

TW/CW: cancer (pediatric and adult), death of a parent (in recent past), narcissistic parent, pediatric surgery, domestic violence (in past)

Thanks to NetGalley and Forever Publishing for the ARC

Expected publication date is August 2, 2022

Pretty Girls - Karin Slaughter

 This thriller follows Claire Scott as she goes about her life as the glamorous wife of a millionaire.  Her sister, Lydia, is a single mother struggling to make ends meet.  Twenty years prior, their sister Julia went missing and their relationship never went back to what it was.  The two are basically estranged but when Claire's husband is suddenly murdered, they reconnect and cautiously start to rebuild their relationship.  However, in the wake of the tragedy, new details come to light that could suggest these two crimes aren't as random as they initially seem and these surviving sisters must journey into the darkness to unearth the truth.

TW/CW: kidnapping, sexual assault, rape, torture, manipulation, grief, death of a sibling, death of a spouse, drug use, drug abuse, drug abuse recovery

I just really want to highlight the subject matter in this book.  I feel like when people talk about this book, they often say it is one of the most graphic and fucked up thrillers they've ever read.  I know that's all I've heard about this book and those types of comments were my main reason for picking it up.  The book description, title, and cover don't really scream out as being a really graphic read so I was taking these types of comments with a pinch of salt.  I also read a good amount of graphic-y horror/thrillers already and I (luckily) don't have any big triggers so my reading tastes skew more toward the fucked up side of the spectrum.  However, I still wasn't expecting to have so much of this violence depicted on-page.  Slaughter does not shy away from these moments and there's a good amount of character build-up before these moments so they really hit the reader on a physical and emotional level.  So I fully agree with the other readers who have called this book graphic and fucked up and I loved every second of it.  However, I do recognize that there is a lot of subject matter that would be upsetting for readers and, again, since there isn't much about the title or cover that would suggest such level of violence, I want to be clear that this book is intense. I personally find it toed the line of being a bit torture-porn at times but it didn't ever cross the line, but I could 100% see how other readers would feel differently.

I absolutely loved the characterization and relationship between Claire and Lydia. From what I've heard, Slaughter has great character relationships in many of her books and I can see how this would be a draw for some readers.  I really enjoyed how we saw both Claire and Lydia separately and how they're each dealing with their own struggles as well as their perception of the other one.  Then, seeing them try to come back together when they have all that past baggage still was fantastic.  I thought Slaughter really captured the feeling of being/having a sister really well and showed how complex that relationship can really be.  We get some flashbacks to the past around the time that Julia went missing and seeing this sort of before and after of these characters was fantastic.  Both women were fully fleshed out and wonderfully complex characters.  I really liked how both of them had their moments where they could be labeled an 'unlikable' woman character but I thought these aspects just made them feel even more real.  I did think the other side characters felt really flat in comparison, but since we only see them for a few scenes, at most, I wasn't too bothered by this.

The twists and reveals were perfectly paced and overall really impactful.  Each of the reveals felt like they deepened an aspect of the story and seemed to have some real emotional weight behind them. I can't quite figure out if this is because of the character work Slaughter does before we get these reveals or if it is the reveals themselves (probably a mix of both).  This was a long-ish read at 420 pages and there is a lot of plot folded into those pages.  The reveals start pretty early and don't quit until the very end.  The reveals really helped the forward momentum in the story because each reveal lead the characters to another question they had to answer which would then spur them into action. So many of these reveals had me absolutely on the edge of my seat and even if I could see a few of them coming, I was still entirely thrilled when they actually happened. There was a nice gradual escalation to these reveals as well which also helped give the story this building sense of dread as our characters got further and further into the mystery. 

I was pleasantly surprised by the ending and how it was somehow both more and less sad than I was expecting.  I don't want to give too much away, but at the 75% mark, I was afraid that these characters I had grown really attached to were careening toward a cliff of the absolute worst imaginable things.  And, in the end, they did sort of go over that cliff but not in the exact way I was expecting. This is one of those endings where even the characters who survive don't get out of the situation without some scars (physical and mental) of their own. But after reading 400 pages of some pretty depressing stuff, I was surprised at Slaughter's ability to turn it around just a bit and give the reader and the characters a little bit of closure. Calling this a "bittersweet ending" feels too small of a phrase to use for the emotional magnitude of the journey the characters/reader have just gone through and how changed they are by the end.  I think the ending is one thing that helped keep this book out of the 'torture porn' category for me by having that tiny light spot at the end of all these horrible things.  

Overall, this was my first Karin Slaughter book, but it definitely won't be my last.  I really loved everything about it - characters, plot twists, world building, and even the graphic scenes were really well crafted. Again, I would encourage all potential readers to check content warnings as there are a lot of sensitive topics in this book but I found this 100% worth the hype and I absolutely recommend it.

2022 Mid-Year Book Freakout

So I watch a good amount of BookTube content and many of the creators I watch do this Mid-Year Freakout every year.  While I don't have a BookTube channel, I think the questions are fun so I wanted to join in!  All books mentioned here are ones I've read from January 1 - June 30, 2022.  I've also linked to the full reviews of the books I mention so if any of them pique your interest, you can check out my full thoughts! 

Original creators: Chami and Earl Grey Books.

 [here are some general stats before jumping into the actual Mid-Year questions]

• 106 books read (42 ARCs, 64 backlist)
  
• 33550 total pages (avg of 317 pages per book)
• avg rating of 4.09 (avg romance rating: 4.1, avg non-romance rating: 4.08)
• 16 debut books
  

Best book you’ve read so far in 2022

I can't pick an overall favorite but I do pick a monthly favorite for romance reads as well as non-romance books.  Here's how the year has shaped up so far!

Better Than People by Roan Parrish

A Brush With Love by Mazey Eddings

Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert

What We May Be by Layla Reyne

Carnal Urges by J. T. Geissinger

Satisfaction Guaranteed by Karelia Stetz-Waters

Road of Bones by Christopher Golden

The Paradox Hotel by Rob Hart 

The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James

Go Down Hard by Ali Seay

Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter

One of the Girls by Lucy Clarke

 

Best sequel you've read so far in 2022

I very rarely read traditional series where the same plot and characters carry on through multiple books.  What I do read a lot of is series that can also be read as standalones.  For example: romance series where each book is a different couple but the series has interconnected characters or police procedural series where we follow a detective solving a new case in each book.  

My favorite 'sequel' would be The Executioner by Chris Carter.  This is the second book in the Robert Hunter series which is a detective procedural.  I'd call this the best sequel because I did not enjoy the first book in the series but this second book was a 5-star read!

 

Favorite re-read

 I don't have an answer for this one, I hardly ever re-read books and I haven't re-read anything this year at all (and, if I'm being honest, I don't really have any plans to re-read in the future)

Genre you've been loving/reading the most

While I've been still really enjoying the romance genre and have been exploring more sub-genres such as paranormal romances, the genre I'm really enjoying exploring is cozy mysteries and I'm growing to really love them.  

New release you haven't read yet, but want to

Romance: Hook, Line, and Sinker by Tessa Bailey (pub date March 1, 2022)

Non-Romance: The Book of Cold Cases by Simone St James (pub date March 15, 2022)

Most anticipated release for the second half of the year

 Romance: Ship Wrecked by Olivia Dade (expected publication date November 15)

Non-Romance: Flight Risk by Cherie Priest (expected publication date November 1)

Biggest disappointment

 The Wild Girls by Phoebe Morgan.  

My review is about as rant-y as I've ever gotten, and I'll just sum up my disappointment simply by saying that in an isolated thriller on a safari resort, I'd expect more from the setting especially in terms of potential lion involvement.

Biggest surprise

The biggest surprise would be how much I'm enjoying paranormal romances. Previously, when I'd think of paranormal romances, I'd think of a lot of the super popular, often YA books (looking at you, Twilight) and I didn't have much interest in these so it felt like paranormal romances just weren't for me.  However, obviously paranormal romances come in a wide variety and I've been really enjoying my time finding and exploring this sub-genre. Here are some I've enjoyed so far this year:

Sing Me To Sleep by R. M. Virtues

Deceived by the Gargoyles by Lillian Lark

The Trouble with Trying to Date a Murderer by Jennifer Cody

The Witch's Wolves by Ellie Mae MacGregor

Favorite new author (Debut or new to you) 

R. M. Virtues, hands down.  I've been hearing such great things about his books for a while but they never quite sounded like my preferred sub-genres or tropes.  However, I finally picked them up for 2 separate readathon challenges and absolutely loved them both!  I read the first book in his Gods of Hunger series for the Queer Romance Readathon and immediately went and bought books 2 and 3 in the series. I think he has a fantastic way of building characters and the worlds in his books without ever feeling info-dumpy or heavy handed.  

 

Newest favorite character

Beard Science by Penny Reid 

 

I know I'm a few years behind on this one, but I absolutely love both Cletus and Jen (but if I had to pick one, I'd say Cletus is my favorite).  I'm so excited that Reid gave them their own cozy mystery spin off series!  

Book that made you cry

 A Brush With Love by Mazey Eddings. 

I cry pretty easily but I don't particularly enjoy reading angsty or hard-hitting books.  But every so often, a romance book I pick up that I expect to be a pretty light contemporary or maybe even a rom-com will sneak in an emotional gut punch that I wasn't expecting.  In A Brush With Love, Eddings does such a fantastic job of really building up my emotional buy-in so that by the time we're hurtling toward a pretty big emotional moment, I was 1000% invested.

Book that made you happy

 Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert.  

Again, I was a bit behind the curve on this one.  While I very much enjoyed the entire Brown Sisters trilogy, Eve's book hit me just right and I absolutely loved every page.  

Most beautiful book you've bought so far this year (or received) 

 I don't buy many books and even fewer physical books (library, ARCs, and Kindle Unlimited make up the large majority of my reading).  However, I did ask for a physical copy of The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman because I received the first book in the series for a gift last year and I really love how they look together on my shelf.

 

What books do you need to read by the end of the year? 

 I'm lagging a bit behind in my ARC reading so I would love to catch back up.  I even have an ARC from October 2021 still unfinished (eek!).  I have a personal goal to read and post reviews of ARCs approximately 1 month prior to the publishing date and I would love to get back to that schedule.  

Favorite video or post you've done so far this year

 I've really enjoyed the number of readathons I've participated in so far this year and I liked having these wrap-ups separate from my general romance wrap-ups.

Dark Romance Readathon

Mafia Romance Readathon

Queer Romance Readathon

Favorite book community members  

 "Favorite" is a really loaded adjective as I watch/follow different creators for different reasons.  However, some new-to-me book community members are:

Katie Colson

Reading Wryly

 

Queer Romance Wrap-up June 2022

This Wrap-up includes all of the romances I read in June outside of the week long Queer Romance Readathon (post here).  All of the romances I read this month were queer in some way and I was glad to get through so many that have been on my TBR for a while. 

 

 Work For It - Talia Hibbert

This grumpy/grumpier MM romance follows Keynes and Griff.  Keynes needs a break from his life in London after a traumatic situation that has left him anxious, especially in sexual situations.  He heads out to the countryside to a small village to clear his head by spending time in the clean air and helping with the annual elderflower harvest. When Keynes's first interaction with Griff doesn't go to plan, both are surprised to see the other at the farm the next day.  Griff is the production manager in charge of just about everything - including the flower harvest.  The two trade barbed insults, heated looks, and some honesty neither of them expect.  I absolutely adored this read and the journey Keynes and Griff went on.  These two men both have some pretty significant walls up and they try their best to keep people at arm's length away.  I did like the push/pull of their relationship where one would get a bit past the other's wall and then get pushed away.  The small town setting was adorable and it was nice to see a bit of the 'darker' side of small towns (gossiping, cliques, etc). These two, despite their histories and their walls, had some pretty realistic communication where they maybe didn't say things perfectly, but they did own up and apologize when they really put their foot in their mouth.

TW/CW: outing, homophobia, anxiety, depression, suicide, death of a parent, blackmail

Hang the Moon - Alexandria Bellefleur

This is the second book in the Written in the Stars series and follows Brendon and Annie.  Annie is Brendon's sister's best friend who comes into town unexpectedly.  Brendon had a crush on Annie when they were growing up, but nothing ever came of it.  Brendon is a textbook hopeless romantic and when he finds Annie to be a skeptic, he decides to show her that magical romance is still alive.  As a fellow hopeless romantic, I absolutely adored this book.  I thought Brendon walked the line really well between being a lover of love without veering into the cringey or unrealistic territory.  This had a really nice mix of opposites attract banter with some sister's best friend pining. I really loved how open Brandon was with his feelings and how comfortable he made Annie so she could also express herself. We get a lot of Darcy and Elle from the first book which was fantastic.  I also loved how we didn't get any weird possessiveness over Annie between Darcy and Brendon.  I don't love how, in many of these types of books, we would get Darcy telling Brendon that Annie was her friend first and he should stay away - basically calling 'dibs' on Annie.  In this case, Darcy was really relaxed about the situation, but did ask Brendon to only proceed if he was serious about Annie and to do his best not to break her heart.

Psycho - Onley James

This is the second book in the Necessary Evils series and we're back with everyone's favorite family of psychopaths.  In this book we follow August and Lucas.  August is the genius in the Mulvaney family but that genius comes at a cost.  Lucas is an ex-FBI profiler who used his secret clairvoyant ability to help close cases.  Once Lucas's secret came out, his coworkers think he's crazy and he ends up out of the FBI and teaching at the same school as August.  The two bump into each other, literally, one day and Lucas gets a vision of what August does in his free time (namely, torture and murder).  As the two spend more time together, their connection deepens and when a threat from Lucas's past life comes to town they just might have to work together and get a little messy.  I really enjoyed this read and I was so excited that James was able to capture that same dark humor that I loved so much in the first book.  I do think the pacing was a bit too fast for my personal liking and I would have preferred maybe a little slower, more gradual introduction of the main antagonist.  August is autistic (at one point he does refer to "his Asperger's" but later does just say he's autistic) and I really enjoyed how he shows his caring for Lucas in his own way.  He never tries to mask who he is when he's with Lucas and both of them pretty much lay everything out from the beginning. I really liked Lucas and his passion for helping the victims.  However, I felt like his shift from FBI guy to being okay with how the Mulvaney's dole out justice was a little fast.  The victims of the main antagonist include indigenous women and I felt like James handled this topic pretty seriously and in the acknowledgements James did include some information on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women organization (https://mmiwusa.org/).

TW/CW: kidnapping, torture, sexual assault, indigenous women victims, child neglect, suicide,

Satisfaction Guaranteed - Karelia Stetz-Waters

This FF romance follows Cade and Selena who initially meet at Cade's grandmother's funeral.  Cade's family is full of colorful, eccentric people and her grandmother was no different.  Selena helped Cade's grandmother run Satisfaction Guaranteed - a sex toy shop.  Cade was expecting to return to NYC and her role of running her parent's art gallery but when her grandmother's will dictates that Cade and Selena must work together to save Satisfaction Guaranteed, these two opposite women will need to find a way to work together. I really enjoyed this slower burn read and how Cade and Selena's relationship grew.  They're both attracted to the other from the get-go but Selena is in a period of celibacy and Cade is too busy to even think about a relationship.  Through working together to save the store, the two women also learn some life lessons from each other that really helps them build their relationship outside of pure attraction.  I also loved the representation of Cade never having an orgasm - not even solo - and some of the hardships that caused in her previous relationships.  Art and being an artist are a pretty big part of this book and I really felt the passion come off the page.  I loved the personal growth that both Cade and Selena showed and how they were finally able to come together.

TW/CW: student/teacher relationship

A Lady for A Duke - Alexis Hall

This historical romance follows Viola and Gracewood.  When Viola was presumed dead after the battle of Waterloo, she took the opportunity to finally live as herself. However, returning as Viola means she had to give up her title, wealth, and best friend.  Two years later, Viola's family receives a letter from Gracewood's sister detailing how Gracewood is not doing well.  Viola and her sister-in-law go to visit, and Viola strives to bring Gracewood back to being the man she knew.  This is my first historical romance ever and I absolutely adored it! I really enjoyed the balance Hall was able to strike between the polite, super light flirting I'd expect from a historical romance and some pretty heated moments. I also loved how this story also explored Viola becoming more comfortable in herself and being able to ask for and get what she wants out of her life.  I loved the side characters and how supportive they were to our main couple.  This was a long read (480 pages!) but it didn't feel like that long of a read.  There were a lot of things going on in the plot outside of the romance that I was also invested in.   I also really liked how the main conflict in the relationship wasn't Viola being outed and becoming a 'scandal' (although that is an understandable fear of hers).  Bonus points to Hall for making me actually love an epilogue just as much as I loved the rest of the book.

TW/CW: abelist language, PTSD, dead-naming, opioid use, suicidal thoughts

Thanks to NetGalley and Forever for the ARC.  Publication date was May 24, 2022

Falling for the Enemy - Katie Golding

This is the second book in the Malibu Millionaire series and follows Jasper and Blake.  They work for rival companies, both trying to sign new and upcoming bands, and that rivalry has grown over the past few years into some pretty heated contempt on both sides.  Another thing they both have in common is they've been texting a mystery person after a wrong number text kept going.  But when Jasper and Blake turn their heat up a few notches and start falling into bed together, they both feel bad for continuing to text their mystery person on the side.  But as Jasper and Blake learn more about each other, they may just find that their perfect mystery texter has been in front of them all along.  This was a really fun and steamy read.  I loved seeing the differences between Jasper and Blake when they're verbally sparring vs when their being vulnerable via text.  I thought the reveal was done in a really great way that was surprisingly low angst.  The verbal sparring was really great between Jasper and Blake and I loved how their fighting was so well known amongst the other people in their industry.  I think it was really interesting how they both had some pretty thick walls built up around themselves and I thought it was really realistic that it would take a while for them to feel comfortable around someone to let those walls down.  Their chemistry was off the charts pretty early on, but the real journey of this book was them both feeling comfortable enough to open up all the way.  I do think the magnitude of Jasper's reaction at the end didn't feel aligned with his character through the rest of the book and felt a little like Golding wanted to put in some extra drama at the end.