Review: Ghost Station

Ghost Station by S.A. Barnes
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review

Ghost Station was a chilling suspenseful space horror that pitted childhood traumas with and against extraterrestrial beings. This had a slow start with the story being told all from the character Dr. Olivia Bray's head. It's 2199 and she's a mental health specialist about to go into cold sleep to travel to the Resilience, a ship with a five person R & E crew about to land on a planet to continue exploring after the planet was sold from Olivia's family's company to it's rival, who Olivia works for. She's a black sheep as her mother married against her rich family's wishes and dealing with her uncle and mother constantly messaging her telling her not to go on this mission. Olivia's dealing with the trauma of just having a patient commit suicide and knows the crew she's going to has just lost a member to suicide also, so she's determined to go on this mission to try and make up for failing her patient and help others, among other personal reasons.

The beginning of this was a pretty slow start as we get a lot of Olivia's back and forth on guilt, her rich family and a traumatic experience when she was eleven with the cover-up lies that all lead to. The pace kind of stalls with this stuck in Olivia's head part but really takes off when she joins the R & E crew and they arrive on the alien planet. There's the mystery of the crew not seemingly wanting Olivia to know the full story of what happened to their deceased crew member, not wanting her to get inside their heads, and the mystery of what happened to the previous crew on the planet as the station is littered with distressing clues that not all was right.

The dynamics between the crew members and Olivia, helped pull the story out of exclusively keeping Olivia in her own head and breathed some outside life to it. As Aliens is one of my favorite horror movies, it's hard not to compare a lot of space horror to it, and this definitely had similarities that fans of that franchise will enjoy here. The building tension, suspense, and mystery with human dynamics mucking and helping paired with the unknown and danger of an alien planet was engrossing and fun entertainment. The ending delivered on human emotional breakthroughs for satisfying character development and alien danger for a suspenseful plot climax. This also left readers with a much more uplifting ending that what we usually get from this genre, which was pleasantly surprising, so if looking for scifi horror that supplies a little romance thread and a happily for now, definitely pick this one up.

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Review: Man of My Dreams

Man of My Dreams by Olivia Worley
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review

Maybe it should unsettle me that this man appeared out of nowhere with my character’s exact name and appearance—with my book in his bag—but isn’t this exactly the sort of thing that would happen in a rom-com? As soon as I’ve had the thought, though, another, darker one swallows it: It’s also the sort of thing that happens at the beginning of a horror movie.

Man of My Dreams was a mystery thriller that at first had the reader thinking they could be witnessing a stalking story only to be thrown into the wilding out for wilding sake end of the pool. Ivy's a new successful debut author who's struggling to finish her second book and getting stressed about the deadline. She had an almost meet-cute in a bookstore, only to get a real one outside, with a man who turns out to have the exact name, occupation, and London birthplace as the character in her new book she's writing. After each encounter with Liam, he's seeming more and more perfect, except she's also started to get threatening notes from someone claiming she's a fraud the exact time she started a relationship with him. Is he the one trying to out Ivy's carefully guarded secret, or is her guilt driving her paranoia? Strap in because you may guess one or even two reveals but you'll never guess the craziness avalanche that hits at the end.

With every passing breath, I am more certain of two things: I am falling in love with Liam, and I don’t know if I can trust him.

Told mostly from Ivy's point-of-view, the reader is lead by, not fully an unreliable narrator, but one that purposefully holds onto her secrets for the sake of mystery until the end. I was willing to go along with this, as it does work to deliver an intriguing mystery aspect but, the aforementioned wildness, got way too sensational and unbelievable at the end. With Ivy's povs, we also get flashbacks, to eleven years ago, from Ivy's older sister Cora. Cora is severely immune compromised and can't leave the house. As Ivy is dealing with Liam and a potential danger in the present timeline we get Cora dealing with loneliness and her own potential budding romance in the past povs. Cora's povs give a background on the familial dynamics and why Ivy may be so paranoid in the present.

I freed us both.

It's when things start coming to a head in the present that the story started to unravel, not a good way, at the end. With Ivy and her budding romance possible danger from Liam, we also get some secondary character relationships with her Aunt and a friend about to get married, both characters were not developed enough and, especially the friend, felt kind of what is the point of them. A couple reveals we get from Cora's past povs were sensational and good for shock values but it's when we get the reveals in the present pov that sent this story into wilding for me. So many connections and tie-ins get thrown at the reader in the end that I almost started laughing, not in a good way. You'll definitely have more than one “Oh come on!” moments as reveal after reveal gets thrown out. The ending gives a One Month Later update that delivers the cherry on this wilding sundae. The beginning had me locked in wondering what was happening but this ultimately fell apart for me and lost good entertainment value when the story and some characters lost it's way to building substance and most of the reveals were too wild to enjoyably go along with. If you're looking for truly wild though, the later part of this would deliver that in spades.


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Review: Chasing Demons

Chasing Demons by Will Shindler
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review

The memory of that figure standing in the doorway came back to him and he shivered, remembering what had unfolded next.

Chasing Demons was a gruesome story that started to get lost in it's scifi, supernatural, horror, and emotional drama weaving. The story starts off with a fifteen year old Joel, who's currently in a centre for adolescent mental health. He's trying to deal with the death of his father, which he can't fully remember, and just walking out of a session with the psychiatrist that churned him up emotionally. In the commons room, a kid that likes to bully Joel and a huge six foot five kid are also getting riled up. As tensions rise, Joel suddenly finds himself out in the hallway sitting up after having blacking out and seeing the carnage of something that ransacked, ripping apart bodies, and murdering the occupants of the room, with only him, the bully, a nurse, and the six foot five kid surviving. The story then jumps twenty-three years to an adult Joel who's a teacher, amicably divorced with an eight year old daughter, and just learning that the psychiatrist who treated him in that centre, has been ripped apart murdered, just like the bodies in that commons room. This time however, the six foot five kid that was blamed for the murders, killed himself in prison years ago, so the question of who or what is to blame is coming back unanswered.

“It’ll follow you if you let it. Stay out of the shadows and you’ll be okay, ’cause it hides in the shadows.”

This had some gruesome horror moments, with all the body ripping apart, and some animal cruelty, so reader beware. There were multiple point-of-views, Joel, the bully, police detective, and various other secondary characters getting pulled into the horror to give a pretty rounded out scope of the story. Joel obviously dominates the povs, as the murders that keep happening in his hometown that he goes back to, on the advice of his new therapist to deal with the death of his father, seem to stem from connections to him. A lot of the hows and whys is kept to the shadows until the later half of the book and I thought it all got a little a messy with the scifi mad scientist aspects and the overall messaging of deal with your personal demons or they're are going to deal with you.

“I told him that— he’ll never, ever outrun it.”

I enjoyed the interpersonal relationships touched on for some emotional bulking up but some secondary characters felt at turns a little intrusive and underutilized. The police detectives helped to add keeping track of facts but I think the reader could have handled it on their own and while a main villain and accompaniment were the conductors of the horror, their revealed purpose never fully felt developed. If you like gruesome horror with messaging this would scratch that itch, even if I thought all the genre weaving got a little messy.

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Review: One of Us Must Die

One of Us Must Die by Zelly Ruskin
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review

“Legally speaking, one of you must die.”

One of Us Must Die was a straight forward domestic thriller that showed what can happen when abusive people have the power. Sterling came from a very wealthy family where her parents, mother especially, didn't like her “attitude”. When Sterling meets Keith in college she starts to fall in love, even when warning signs of his demeanor towards her start to creep up. Sterling then learns that her parents have created a trust for her inheritance and the stipulations are she must marry before twenty-five years old and can never divorce her husband or she and any children she has will lose any claim to the money. Seems like this could cause problems in the future, but parents, am I right?

He was an illusionist, her husband, and she his reluctant assistant.

Readers get their first introduction to the dynamic between Sterling and Keith with Sterling driving her car towards Keith to run him over. After the rush of that moment, the story goes back six months to Sterling starting to wake-up out of the abusive fog Keith has put her in after years of cheating on her and gas-lighting her that she's just crazy. There's numerous flashbacks that show Keith's abuse and the always hovering trust legalities that keep Sterling trapped in the marriage. It's when her eldest daughter is about to get married, with the other two children now out of the house also, she decides that she's going to start gathering evidence of Keith's cheating. Sterling also brings a former friend that Keith made her drop to investigate Keith and get any more dirt on him. I was really disappointed when the friend's evidence never really gets revealed and the promise of all that juicy dirt never came to fruition, making it feel what was the point.

For better or for worse, for richer and by trust, they were forever bound.

When Sterling starts talking to lawyers, it's when she learns that getting out of her marriage and still retaining the money in her trust could be impossible that she starts to fantasize about killing Keith. The flashbacks showing Keith's abuse and constant cruelty towards Sterling wasn't exactly fun, thrilling reading, and it pretty much persists throughout the whole book. There wasn't much mystery to this, most of it was clearly spelled out with maybe a little ending murder mystery. As for a domestic thriller, it's that, but was kind of depressing to read with all the abuse towards Sterling, her at first just living through it and then how she had to take it because of the trust. The family aspects, Sterling's parents, brother, and children come in towards the second half more to give her character more loving support but this still didn't exactly deliver a feel good ending. This was straightforward to the point of not being thrilling and the way Sterling's parents set-up her trust was a little, you'll just have to go along with it, because it's the reason she's staying with Keith. This did have a just desserts ending though, so if looking for a domestic thriller with that requirement, this would meet it.

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Review: Where the Truth Lies: A Mystery

Where the Truth Lies: A Mystery by Rupert Holmes
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review

In the seventies, I had three unrelated lunches with three different men, each of whom might have done A Terrible Thing.

Where the Truth Lies was a mystery told from late twenties reporter, Kerry. She has a great opportunity to write a memoir for Vince Collins, an older celebrity who made a name for himself as one half of a comedic duo that was big in the 1950s. His partner, Lanny Morris, and him had a falling out after a young woman was found dead in their hotel room, a room they could prove neither had been to that would work with the time of death. It's the 1970s now and people are still curious about the murdered girl and with Kerry seemingly charming Vince into cooperating and answering any questions she has, she senses a big leap for her career. It's when she has a chance meeting with Lanny, that entanglements start weaving webs she never could have predicted.

We are, as Dickens once said, “secret and revengeful.”

If you were alive in the seventies, I imagine this would be a fun walk down memory lane with all it's shout-outs to pop culture and every day sights and sounds of the decade. There was dedicated time given to tons of time period additives for time setting. Our leader Kerry was a determined enough character to ride along with, if at times a bit willing to get flighty and loved to get herself into pickles, which, with her career in jeopardy, well, there was also a fantasy scene with an Alice in Wonderland Disney actor to help readers remember this was all written by a man.

As Kerry tries to play and ping pongs off Vince and Lanny, there starts to be little bread crumbs for her to follow and put together about the murder mystery. The mystery stayed hidden with enough clues doled out to keep you guessing but some of the characterization wasn't as strong or didn't capture my attention as much. The ending delivers on some suspenseful reveals and then an epilogue to wrap it all up in what some would call a happily ever after for Kerry.

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Review: The Lion's Den

The Lion's Den by Alina Hurtado
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review

How many of our choices would be different had we known the outcome in advance?

The Lion's Den was an mystery, suspense, and romance drama that took hiding it's big reveal very seriously. The beginning introduces readers to Laura's pov, a seemingly wide-eyed late twenties woman who sounds like she was set-up by her friend Lane to act as Donny's girlfriend. She's a fish out of water as Donny is involved in a cartel and her pov is immersed in fear but somehow always doing the right thing, to the point that the cartel members that she starts to befriend, make her a part of their business.

And there are times we meet a version of ourselves we didn't know existed.

Laura and Donny are kept in the shadows, as the story goes on, I think one of the reveals gives enough clues to what is going on but the bigger one, I think was forced kept hidden, which I mean in the sense if you go back and think about some of Laura's thoughts and actions, it doesn't make sense. While the vast majority of this story is from Laura's pov, there are a few from Donny and other side characters. Secondary characters play a big role in the story, kind of creating a family epic drama feeling, this family just so happens to be a cartel. One of the brothers that leads this cartel, Kid, seems to be very curious about Laura and beside herself, she is drawn to him, even though she's supposed to be in a relationship with Donny. There's some push and pull there, hyping up the drama, and building to the climax romantic drama.

And somehow we collided into each other,<?i> if only for a brief moment in time.

This was over five hundred pages and ends in a cliffhanger (the second book is out) so while there is that family epic drama I was talking about, there was also some slow pacing and stretching out with Laura almost dithering around. There was some Mary Sue with Laura, she can just do it all and doesn't recognize how hot she is! Almost all of the men just find her so resistible, to the point of putting lives and business in danger. The cartel side of the story world building was there if not fully believably structured out but the relationship drama was there enough to keep me reading. Laura makes an insane amount of questionable decisions, to the point you'll just have to go along with them for Drama's sake. The last twenty percent gives the hinted at reveals and a few very surprise ones that may have a few gasping. The cliffhanger felt predictable in it's line of Drama Plot and with the second book going another five hundred pages, if you're looking for some sensational, a bit drawn out, cartel, with family and romance drama, this series could drown you in it's pages.

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#TBRChallenge Review: A Bed of Spices

A Bed of Spices by Barbara Samuel
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

*This is a #TBRChallenge review, there will be spoilers, I don't spoil everything but enough, because I treat these reviews as a bookclub discussion.

"I wish she had loved more wisely," Charles said heavily, looking away. "How could she love you, knowing how dangerous it was? How could you let her?"

September's TBRChallenge was “Lush Life”. I'm going back to NOT reading the back of books because this was the synopsis:
He filled her dreams with desperate longing...

The exquisite Frederica der Esslingen fled the castle to the herbalist's cottage. Rica could never give in to her father's wishes and marry the man her twin sister loved. Another man, a stranger, set her blood racing and understood her bold, searching heart. Yet he was denied her forever.

She set him afire with forbidden desire...

Son of a wealthy Strassburg merchant, and determined to become a physician, Solomon had come to study the herbalist's art. It was there, in a wild garden, that he first set eyes on Rica. Her golden-haired beauty and bold spirit bewitched him. As plague ravaged Europe, he struggled against his passion, risking his life for the woman he longed to hold in his arms forever on...A Bed of Spices.

Sounds “lush”, right? Y'all. Just, please be aware this book discusses/has antisemitism, rape of a child, physical abuse, and murder. I thought I'd get a purple prose heavy on the sexual tones and instead I just got HEAVY. It took me two weeks to finish this and it's about a month later that I'm sitting down to finally write some thoughts. I kind of wanted to forget this story but for readers that like some not oft discussed historical aspects in their historical fiction, I wanted to at least mention some things about this.

Throughout that summer, plague and pogroms raged through Germany.

It's Strassburg, Summer 1348, and we know what that means, the Black Plague is lurking around. True to form, no matter the time, people are frightened about a disease they don't understand and are blaming Jewish people for it, creating a dangerous atmosphere. So, of course, our FMC Rica, is falling in love with our MMC Solomon, a Jewish man studying medicine under the same midwife Rica goes to for herbs and medicines to help the people of her father's castle. Rica is also the twin sister of Etta, who is mute to just about everyone than Rica. When Etta was six, she was out walking with her mother when soldiers came and raped her mother to death and then raped Etta, leaving her unable to have children or have sex again. I told you, this book gets so dark. One of Rica's father's knights, Rudolf, wants to marry Rica and makes a deal with her father that he'll court her over the summer but if he still doesn't win her over, he still gets to marry her. Even though Etta seems to keep herself pretty distance from everyone, she likes Rudolf and this starts off Rica and Etta pretending to be each other at times to fool Rudolf. Rica thinks he'll eventually fall in love with Etta, not knowing how often Etta pretends to be her. Rudolf is very religious, growing more towards zealot as the story goes on and this causes him to see one of the sisters in his thoughts as a whore and generally just gets more erratic as they play with his mind by switching.

His eyes were grave when he looked at her, and weary beyond measure. "There is no force that can stop fear, liebling. Remember that."

The romance has that “trying to fight it but not too hard” back and forth between Rica and Solomon, as they both know her being a Lady and him being Jewish kind of forbids them to be together. There's also the added danger growing as the Plague gets closer and the danger for Jewish people grows because of antisemitism. It all comes to a head when Solomon's father finds out about their romance and he beats Solomon, trying to put fear into him about he's risking his life and the end of summer has Rudolf wanting to marry Rica. Solomon is told by his father that Rica died and leaves town, while Rica prepares to marry Rudolf thinking it's her way of saving Solomon, only to be drugged by Etta, who has also steadily grown more erratic, and takes Rica's place as Rudolf's bride. Because of the physical damage from the rape, Rudolf realizes he married the wrong sister and this causes him to strangle Etta to death.

We're at 50%. If you're still hanging in there, some comic relief:
His limbs trembled so violently he reached for a crotch of the tree to brace himself.
Romance, where even the tree crotches get action!

"It seems we are fated to meet, my lady. What are we to do?"

Rica's been miserably living at home as her once bestfriend father won't speak to her because he blames her for Etta's death, thinking Rica maneuvered it so Etta had to marry Rudolf. It takes the midwife straight talking the father to finally get him to see the truth. Meanwhile, Solomon ends up surviving the Plague, causing him to go back home and in his traveling ends up seeing Rudolf whipping himself because he has joined the flagellants (still doesn't feel like a justice enough ending for him to me). Once home, Solomon immediately runs into Rica, who pretends to be Etta but Solomon's not fooled but goes along with it for the moment. Once he is reunited with his father, all the antisemitism catches up with them and we get Solomon relaying this make you tear up story to Rica when he decides to finally go to her:
"My father pretended he would leave with me on Friday. I dressed as you see me now to travel. When the mob came to arrest us with the others, he screamed that I was trying to convert him." Solomon raised his eyes, unable to quell his grief. "He would not come with me. He screamed that he'd rather die a Jew than—" Overcome, Solomon bent his head. "And die he did."

With Rica's father also dying (a stroke), they decide that life's too short to be apart and get married. Their love doesn't solve antisemitism though, and they recognize the danger and decide to move to Cairo, where Solomon's ancestors originally moved from. It felt a little out of left field to me but maybe there was a historical movement by Jewish people at this time to Cairo that I'm not aware of. So, they get their HEA but my god, what a not make you particularly feel good love story, however, there was good historical context and feel if you're wanting a different time period historical romance, just be prepared for all those trigger warnings.

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Review: Broken Rival

Broken Rival by Tessa Bailey
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review

My parents abandoned me fifty-two years in the past.

A dystopian young adult romance that leaned into the teenybopper feel. Magnolia's parents were scientists in the year 2076 who found a way to invent time travel, which ends up causing catastrophic results for the year 2024. While they tried to keep the technology restricted to trusted users, it gets out to the masses, and in a world where resources and environmental concerns are rampant, everyone is trying to travel back. This causes havoc for 2024 and with people trying to protect their resources in their time, a General Cyrus gets power and he uses it to kill any time travelers that come through. Magnolia's parents are killed when they come through but she's only sixteen years old at the time, causing people to stick up for her and she ends up being taken in by a family. A family with two sons, one who seemingly loves her right away and one who seemingly hates her on sight.

After Magnolia's initial arrival, the story then jumps two years and she's eighteen about to graduate high school and dating Fallon, the son who was taken with her right away, while Ramsey, the son who seemed to hate her left the house Magnolia's staying at with his mother and stepfather, and is working and living with his father, who just so happens to be the killer General.

The story had some interesting time travel plot, the whys of people clamoring to time travel back and how the current time period people react, some shadowing of current immigration issues. However, it didn't really capture me with the romance. Ramsey's revealed instalove made no sense to me, he never knew Magnolia nearly enough to immediately be saying lines like: “Like I said, I’ll go breathe somewhere else.”
Two beats pass. “What about me? How will I breathe, then?”
I think it was around twenty percent when some “I love yous” were said and I was just baffled by it all because at no time did I think there was enough substance between the two for such statements.

The story got a little better for me deeper in, Magnolia realizing Fallon's controlling love was not healthy and more development of the time travel politics. However, I found myself not a personal fan of how the characters younger ages, eighteen and twenty-one, was written with them forgoing a condom and baby talk; it's all personal dislike but with the climate in the US right now, it felt like I was suddenly reading a story implementing an appeal I'm not personally about.

The ending gave some us some action and a switch in pov from all Magnolia's to Ramsey's and some quick, sloppy to me, reveal about Magnolia's true power her parents gave her. I thought a storyline was going to be continued in a next book but it was surprisingly wrapped up and an epilogue gave us an HEA. Some interesting dystopian time traveling concepts here but for a younger demographic that would probably enjoy a less depth filled romance.

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Review: False Flag

False Flag by Rachel Grant
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review

Jake stood at the foot of his bed, a bemused look on his face. “Please tell me you aren’t armed this time.”
She hesitated for just a moment, then dropped the towel, raising her hands high. “As you can see, no weapons.”
“That’s debatable.” Jake’s voice came out hoarse.

Rachel Grant is back with book four in the Evidence: Under Fire series and it contained all the action, history, and hotness that I've discovered are hallmarks of her storytelling. If you've been reading the series you'll remember Staci, this starts off with her having a sparking moment with a guy named Jake she meets at a pseudo-archaeology podcaster's dinner that she's semi-undercover at, she shuts down anything before it can really get started. Jake's there to try and repair a very strained relationship with his older brother and not an active listener, so he crashes and burns when he tries to impress, the unbeknownst to him, phd student working to show how and why pseudoscientists spread disinformation. When they meet again five months later, the attraction is still there and they'll get an opportunity to explore it when Staci gets picked to join the podcaster's archaeological expedition team and Jake, a Navy SEAL, gets sent in undercover to discover how a billionaire, podcaster, and the Vice President of the United States are entwined.

While exposing him was a goal and even the main benefit, she was also doing it for science.

You could easily pick this up without reading the series, you'd miss some friendship connections and maybe start off a little confused how Navy SEALS and a group called the Friday Morning Valkyries, archaeologists and intelligence agents working to covertly protect archaeological sites and stop artifact looting and trafficking, are all connected but there's just enough rehashing to get new readers caught up. The secondary characters work great as emotional touchstones and series baiting, I need Vickie and Teague's book now. As with most of Grant's stories, there's intricate and complex suspense story weaving; sometimes I think there are too many moving parts but I'm not sure what I could say to take out, you just need to be ready to lock-in when your're reading.

She could hear him whispering her name now, feel his lips trailing on her skin.

This had open-door hotness and I liked the chemistry between Staci and Jake. I thought it took a little while to get Jake's character going because of the front heavy story setting up but Staci was an interesting enough character to carry the load and then with Jake's familial drama coming in, we get good emotional investment from him. The villains were timely with their evilness, making it easy to root for Staci to give readers a living vicariously through her to enjoy some joy revenge. I just really enjoy this series' world Grant has created, for romantic suspense, it's one of the best going right now. I mean, where else can you get believable danger, Pig War(!!!)mention, citogenesis explaining, and a devious paintball war kiss.

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Review: Unspeakable Things

Unspeakable Things by Elizabeth Hand
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

2.5 stars 

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review 

I wanted to bite someone, to draw blood. To run and never stop. 

It's after the first World War and Olivia is coming of age in Cornwall with her struggling to still have a career actor and playwright father and his companion, Martin. She loves the moors and dressing as a man and when she meets Tasmin, her “Oliver” finds it's match in “Tommy”. When her cousin gets sent to them to rethink his got caught misbehavior, she suddenly finds herself at a houseparty and getting caught up in Tasmin's dreams, fighting to keep secrets, and the naivety of youth's thinking of invincibility. 

That thread of power that hummed between us had been spun into a web. We were invisible, seen yet not known. We were inviolable. 

The Cornish setting with it's winds and cliffs and the old rambling estate helped to set the Gothic tone all before the mystery and murder came onto the pages. It was all hushed as the genre tends to keep it's cards to the vest with first person point-of-view to keep the reader in the dark about certain characters' motivations. Olivia worked as an eighteen year old coming into her own power as conventionally good looking and being the focus of men's dark desires. Her lack of interest and wanting to be left alone with Tasmin to make a life gave a little different direction and dimension but the same Gothic beats were all there with Tasmin being clouded with murder-y shadows. 

“[...You like to see how close you can get to the edge of things without falling. Not as close as you believed, as it turns out....]” 

The pace picked up when Olivia, Tasmin, and her cousin go to the houseparty and we get outside influences affecting the Oliver and Tommy bubble. The host Rex de Voil with his standoffish but seemingly drawn to Olivia (and drawer full of women's hairbrushes) brings in some more dread but as things picked up to come to a head, the ending felt like a whiff to me. The slow burn that was finally leading somewhere suddenly cuts off with numerous threads left dangling, left to the reader to decide if Olivia's youthful sense of power will be her downfall or if Oliver and Tommy will succeed in all the ways they hope to. It was hard not feeling like when the story finally was starting to go somewhere it abruptly ended, it didn't give the feeling of “left to your imagination” but rather, “leaving it for the sequel”, making me feel like I didn't get much of a story. I was drawn the most to Olivia's father's companion Martin and Rex de Voil's housekeeper, would love to read their novellas. Some Gothic atmosphere, murder and mystery, but ultimately, felt unfinished and unexplained.

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Review: A Nest of Magic

A Nest of Magic by Kate Moseman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review 

“If everything is magic, then nothing is magic.” 

Nest of Magic was a perfect cozy magical realism story about coming out of your shell and meeting your person. Corinthia is a librarian in Shadow Ridge who's a little bit uptight and stuck in her routine but luckily has a bestfriend, Stevie, who pushes her to chase her feelings for Rosemary, a new woman who entranced her as soon as she walked into the library. Rosemary comes off ethereal and maybe a little, airy, but Corinthia can't help but want to leave her ridged world and connect with her. 

But just as she could not resist turning pages to find out what happened next, she could not resist knowing what might lie behind that door. 

When Corinthia loses a bet with Stevie, she has to take a walk in the Refuge, a protected park in the scrublands of Florida, connected to their town. When she has an unexplained experience, ended up in a part she's never seen before, her eyes start to get opened to the possibility of magic and she starts to wonder if Rosemary is somehow connected. This was mostly told from Corinthia's point-of-view but we get a Rosemary Interlude that let the reader in on Rosemary's story and why she is acting the way she is, even when she also shares feelings for Corinthia. 

 “We are all secretive about certain things.” 

Along with Corinthia and Rosemary trusting and finding their way to each other, there was a secondary romance, grounded more in realism, between bestfriend Stevie and Drew, who owns a food truck and is the local handywoman. If you're not into the spooky side of the Halloween season but want to embrace the magic, this would be a perfect pickup. This was low-stakes, cozy, sweet, and all about loving who the person is, no matter their form. The ending gave us a fun and sweet Corinthia's dog Beaufort's Interlude with a happily ever after.

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Review: The Pumpkin Bride

The Pumpkin Bride by Fiona Buttercup
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review 

To be seen was to be loved. 

The Pumpkin Bride was a cozy light read that would be fun to start off the Autumn season with. Taking place in a fantasy land, Bram has left Thornwick to make a name and fortune for himself so he can feel worthy of asking for Princess Marigold's hand. Unfortunately for him, he's put his trust and future in Prince Crispin's hands and when he betrays him, Bram ends up cursed by a sprite and turned into an orc. 

Now living as Jask Bone-Cracker on Grimroot farm, he's not allowed to leave the farm or tell anyone his true name, he's managed to make a life for himself these past three years. When his true love suddenly shows up at his door asking for shelter, he's panicked thinking she could be risking her life but with Crispin hunting her, they're to be married, Bram can't help but let her stay on the farm. 

This was light and cute with, while, not a lot of depth, some thinking of worthiness, and being true to yourself. Marigold's magic added some extra fantasy touches but the whole world structure surrounding magic felt a little off with the “it's banned” “the prince uses it”, for some pick and choose to what needs to fit for the moment. I also thought Marigold pretty much had the whole Bram/Jask thing figured out fairly quickly but got conveniently moved away from at points to keep it going. 

If you're into cozy fantasy worlds more than me, you would probably enjoy this; I got tired of some of the focusing on mundane tasks and would have liked more focusing/filling out of plot and characterization. There were some open-door scenes and what I thought was a quick wrap up to a happily ever after. Light and cozy autumn vibes to get you into the season and an orc for those into that :).

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Review: Dark Matter

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

He says, “Listen to me. You’re going to be scared, but you can make it yours. You can have everything you never had. I’m sorry I had to scare you earlier, but I had to get you here. I’m so sorry, Jason. I’m doing this for both of us.” 

Oof, well, that was a wild intense ride. Told from Jason's point-of-view the reader is on the ride with him as he starts off his normal day of saying goodbye to his wife Daniela and his son Charlie before supper as he goes to meet a friend for a quick celebratory drink. Instead of making it home, he gets kidnapped, taken to an abandoned warehouse, told to strip, shot up with some drugs, and then thrown into a box. He wakes up surrounded by people he doesn't know but seem wildly excited to see him. 

And maybe that’s what makes tragedy so tragic. Not just what happens, but how it happens: a sucker punch that comes at you out of nowhere, when you’re least expecting it. 

What follows was a multiverse thriller with heart. I watch Rick and Morty, so I'm pretty, well, versed, in the multiverse concept. I do not, however, have a PHD in physics, so while I got a little glazing at moments when the author got into the weeds of describing, I think it was detailed enough to seem credible and explanatory for understanding and believing for a fiction story. If you haven't watched Rick and Morty and/or you're smarter than me, then your mileage will vary. From the moment Jason1 starts the ride, I was hooked and flew through this book. 

And maybe I can let go of the sting and resentment of the path not taken, because the path not taken isn’t just the inverse of who I am. 

When Jason manages to escape the world that Jason2 came from, with a psychologist named Amanda, the bleakness sets in as he becomes lost in all the different doors of roads taken and not taken. While, as the reader, you can get a little lost in the sheer enormity and complexity of the multiverse theory, I think the author still managed to get the emotional aspects in there, especially when, a bit fortuitously, Jason finds his world again, and we get him reuniting with his Daniela and Charlie. 

Daniela says, “Life doesn’t work that way. You live with your choices and learn. You don’t cheat the system.” 

As Jason fights to get his life back, the last half had a surprise that I should have seen coming (but I don't have a PHD in quantum mechanics!) and really started boggling my mind. The thriller aspects of this are pretty much the star of the show but, like I mentioned, the emotional moments when Jason reflects about choices not picked almost got me teary for a moment, because I think everyone thinks about The Choices that obviously forked their lives, if you believe in the Many-Worlds interpretation. It gives readers a moment to think about how other versions of themselves are out there living those lives and I do think, like Jason, makes you more appreciative of the fork You took (unless you're the Jason who had chunks torn out of his back). 

A thriller that had me not wanting to put the book down with some hitting emotion. 

Does Amanda get her own story??

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#TBRChallenge Review: Heart of the West

Heart of the West by Penelope Williamson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

*This is a #TBRChallenge review, there will be spoilers, I don't spoil everything but enough, because I treat these reviews as a bookclub discussion.

I started this a couple days before August 19, TBRChallenge day, and what a sweet summer child I was thinking I could finish it on time. First off, it's 700 some pages but pre-reading slump Whiskey could have done it! Slowly coming out of slumplandia Whiskey didn't have a hope, PLUS holy god was I not prepared for the encompassing this story was going to deliver. August's theme was Backlist Banger, I went to the ancient artifacts on my bookcase from the 1900s and picked an author I hadn't read since days of yore. I notoriously don't read the synopsis after I put a book on my tbr, no matter how many years it was shelved, but slump, so I flipped it over and read this was a historical set in the West and our female main character was going to lust after her brother-in-law. Sounds like a Backlist Banger! I went in expecting hot tension in the beginning and a husband getting trampled by buffalo by 20%. Y'all. What I got was a Louis L'Amour-esque epic but make it women's fiction and romance styled. This spanned 12 years (ok, after doing the math, this surprises me, would have said 30 years lol) and had a historical romance husband that lingered around late enough that when something does happen, you'd almost wish it hadn't.

"It's not a lot," her mother was saying in a strained whisper. "Not more than a hundred dollars. But it would be a good start for you, should you ever need to run away someday from this man you are running off with now."

This starts 1879 in Boston as seventeen year old Clementine is setting up to run-off with a cowboy. We get that pull you in with the sense of a little bit of danger as it's obvious Clementine fears her dad and with her mom coming in and quietly aiding her. There's some internal flashbacks by Clementine as she remembers her preacher father striking her and all around trying to smother her spirit and make her be who he thinks a girl/woman should be and observations by Clementine as she grew-up watching how her mother was around her father. When her mother hands Clementine her saved up money, your eyes are going to water because you'll think about hows/whys her mother didn't use the money to save herself. It's a common theme throughout this story, commentary on societal structures and how they benefit some and not others. It was mostly focused on speaking to sexism but out west where Clementine encounters Native Americans, fallen women, and different nationality mail order brides, there was some racism discussions too. There were a couple times I felt Clementine started to fall into the white savior role but there are numerous point-of-views in this story and all the characters I mentioned get pretty/decent full mini-stories played out to fruition that was pleasantly surprising.

Clementine Kennicutt looked back to the house, to the window of the room that had been hers for all of her life. A flickering light flashed once and was gone—her mother lifting a candle in a brief and lonely farewell.

When Clementine runs off with Gus McQueen, her cowboy she met on the Boston streets when he runs her over on a bike, we get more internal flashbacks to why she made this choice. With a fun historical tidbit we learn a maid in Clementine's house shared her five cent Wide Awake Library's Wild West series novels with her (there was a scene where Clem's father finds out and fires the maid where Clementine is crying saying “you're my friend” that made you hurt for her loneliness). So, Clem's a naive seventeen year old with allusions of what a wild west life will be like. Also, Gus is twenty-five and there was a cringe moment where he asks her age and makes a comment like “lord help me”, and if such age differences disturb you, well, there wouldn't be an ignoring that.

There ain't a man out here who wouldn't give his left ballock to be gettin' the cook, housekeeper, laundress, and all-round slave that you're gonna be to your man. Yup, slave and broodmare and bedmate all done up in the starchy trappings of an honest-to-God lady—Christ, the wonder of it stretches the mind." She hooted a laugh. "Dearie, you ain't only a rarity, you're a damned luxury!"

When Clem makes it to Gus' ranch in Montana, the rose colored glasses start to come off when she sees how rough the “town” and little cabin Gus' home is. And that he co-owns the ranch with his brother, Zach Rafferty. Which, when Clem first sees Zach he's looking like he walked off a Stetson's commercial, so, girl, same. There's that instant animosity between them that comes with sexual tension and not wanting/being able to act on and hating that you feel that way. Zach's constantly on her that she won't make it a year out there and that drives Clem even more to make it.

"I won't accept your different ways, Mr. McQueen. Not all of them."
A startled look came into his eyes; then his mouth tightened. "You will if I say you will."
"I won't."

With the years that this spans, you're going to be able to see and feel Clem's growth, her coming into her own. As she gets older and more experience seeing the world and mingling with people from all different walks of life, she starts to question things. Like, why can't she be friends with Hannah, the retired fallen lady who now owns the brothel? For his part, Gus is mostly blustering with his disapproval, they do have a blow out, but Clem's got a grit spirit and she always thinks back to how her father stifled her and she won't go back to the feeling.

"Oh, God, God, how could I have known, how could I have known? Up until that moment, you see, he was the closest thing I'd found to you."

Around 25% we get Clem and Zach cracking more under their attraction and it's that teeth gritting tense. You have that initial gut reaction of don't betray your husband and brother like that with the great layered character work of understanding why these two feel towards each other the way they do. Clem was too young to know herself, let alone who she could and want to love, and Zach has lived a life where he spent years not growing up with his brother and under the care of an awful father. Their personalities just go together better with both of them wanting to face the grit and Gus always turning away to not have to deal with the “hard” stuff. Clem's too strong for Gus and meets her match in Zach. It's not that Gus is necessarily “bad” but he's just not the right one for her, I appreciated the author not easy demonizing Gus, making this more taunt push and pull for the reader.

And she felt a rage at virtuous women like herself, who condemned their own kind for the things that were done to them by men.

Around 50% we jump to 1883 with Clem having given birth, a scene that binds her and Zach together even more and frays that rope that has them hanging on. There's also more of giving time to other side characters, Hannah and Zach have their own, sort-of, romance, Erlan the Chinese mail-order bride comes into the picture along with two brothers from Cornwall, and Gus and Zach's father makes some appearances, along with some other minor characters. There's dedicated time to their povs and stories.

"I always think of Montana as a he, for this is every bit a man's place, and you will hate him in the way that only a woman can hate a man. You will hate the wind and the dirt and the miserable cold winters, hate his harsh strength and his lawless, violent ways. And then one day you will realize that you have come to love him fiercely in the midst of all your hate. Love him in a way that only a woman can love a man..."

The setting was also huge in this, I wouldn't say it romanticizes American West pathos, but it did make me think of my own sod house ancestors and what those women endured. The characters and story show you the reality of how tough it was, child deaths, injuries, and the lack of rights but it also touches on the wrongness of how these settlers treated Native Americans and hunted food supplies to almost extinction for sport. It will get the conversations in your head going about they were gritty tough and they did awful things.

Zach's internal goodbye thoughts to Gus:
He thought sometimes that Gus was so stupid blind he couldn't track a fat sow through a snowdrift. He wanted to grab his brother by the scruff of his neck and shout into his face: You big, dumb son of a bitch. I want to fuck your wife. I eat, breathe, sleep, and fuck thoughts of fucking your wife, and if you weren't such a big, dumb son of a bitch you'd see it.

Zach's spoken goodbye to Clem:
"Clementine," he said, and her name came out of him broken and mangled. "My love for you won't stop with my leaving. Come an evenin' over the years, when you step outside your door and hear the wind blowing through the cottonwoods, that'll be me, thinking of you, whispering your name, and loving you."

Around 70% Zach realizes that rope is going to snap so in 1886, he leaves and we get more of Clem and Gus dynamics and trying to fit together when clearly Clem has just outgrown the marriage to him. But, circumstances being what they are, Clem makes it work and it's not to say there wasn't love between them, he just wasn't the best choice for her. There was also a quick little scene where the reader learns that Gus was aware of the reason for the tension between his wife and brother. I gasped, lol. But in true Gus character fashion, he just doesn't face it head on. Later on, Gus has this thought: “Sometimes he hated the strength he saw in her. Sometimes he thought he was married to a woman he didn't know, and didn't like.”
And I thought, bingo. “he hated the strength he saw in her.”

She looked from one dear friend to another. Saphronie, in her satin whore's dress, with her tears inked permanently on her face for all the world to see and shudder over. Erlan, in her blue quilted Oriental robe and English croquet sandals, with her homesick eyes. And Clementine... Clementine, looking so very Bostonian in a plain black muslin mourning dress with a high, stiff cleric collar, looking so very sad. How different we all are, Hannah thought. And yet how much the same, in all our woman's sorrows and fears and vulnerabilities. In all our woman's strengths, to have endured what we have.

I really liked the women bonding in this and it's clear in the story that they all needed each other and the different strengths each one brought to the table to survive the west. Also, as a little bonus, our Hannah gets an HEA with a younger man. There was also great heart hurting commentary on motherhood: She is all that I once had it in me to be, Clementine often thought, before my father and life beat it out of me. And she worried for her little girl's future. She wished she could wrap Sarah up against the pain that was coming as easily as she had bundled her up against the cold. For as sure as night ended even the sunniest of days, life would try to break her daughter's spirit. The world was cruel to little girls who didn't want to please, and to grown-up women who bravely spoke out and went their own way.

"It's hard, Clementine. Hard for a man to look into a woman's eyes and see love lookin' back at him. And to know that when she's lookin' at him, she's seeing not what he is, but what he ought to be."

Like I mentioned in the beginning, what you go in immediately wanting to happen, doesn't until around 80% and I was more sad than I thought I would be, kudos to the author. It's not until 1891 that Zach returns, four years after Gus is gone and seven years gone total. There's a period of feeling out between the two, both have grown even more and I think some fear of finally might be able to act on such deep feelings. The end also jammed in some economic and environmental plot that I felt intruded on Clem and Zach time in a way but also felt so timely with how the women are the ones to step up and initiate change, a women's march 1890s style.
So yeah, this story was a lot and the chunk of Clem and Zach's relationship is going to be individual character internal with the reader having to feel what is not said (I think the author accomplished it, I felt that fraying rope). If you're looking for a historical western romance that feels like an epic, willing to go on many journeys with different characters, and take the time to watch a character grow from naive seventeen to coming into her own, this would be one to hunt up.

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Review: Fatal Castle

Fatal Castle by David Boito
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review 

Fatal Castle was a little bit of the movies Die Hard and The Rock for me. With point-of-views from Ashley, a twenty-something visiting her head of the Tower of London Yeoman Warders (Beefeater) father Clive, getting placed in the middle of a hostage/jewel heist scheme, we get thriller action with some relationship drama. 

This starts off with how the Koh-I-Noor diamond came to be given to Queen Victoria, with a little foreshadowing with the legend of it's curse. It then jumps to present time and how after her parents divorced Ashley chose to live with her mother in America and is now trying to reconnect with her father. There's all the different life experiences disconnects and misunderstood, with the complicated emotions of familial drama. 

The drama and emotion comes very close to being drowned out with the extensive focus on the setting, The Tower. I'm a history geek, but one who's read a few Tower historical facts books and the like, so while a few historical tidbits felt new, the constant listing and telling of all the historical trivia points started to get a bit intrusive to the actual story; it will be a very your mileage will vary. 

The action and villain were able to go along with, there were some moments Ashley's character slid into TSTL (too stupid too live) to continue the danger, but for the most part you'll probably enjoy the ride. I wished the personal interactions between characters had been given a little more filling out and given as much attention as the research, as the historical trivia started off fun but then got intrusive to the character drama and action plot. If you're into The Tower history, this setting will definitely be for you and you won't be disappointed in how it's medieval roots come back to life to take on the bad guys once again.

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Review: The Backup Plan

The Backup Plan by Jill Shalvis
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review 

And now she, a woman who owned little but the big, fat chip on her shoulder, also owned one-third of the Last Chance Inn and all its surrounding property. 

The Back-up Plan was a story of when you can't run from your past anymore and have to face old hurts. Alice grew-up on the Wild West Last Chance Inn with her father, brother Will, and pseudo-grandmother. She fixed cars with her father and brother, had a bestfriend in her brother's girlfriend Lauren, and was crushing hard on the Inn's help Knox. When her brother crashes his car, one Alice had just fixed the brakes on, and dies, she can't take the pain and leaves the ranch and all her relationships behind the first chance she gets. Four years later, she's called back when Eleanor (pseudo-gram) dies and she's listed as an inheritor of the ranch, along with two other people she never wanted to face again. 

“I don’t want to be alone in the end.” The look in her eyes, the soft, mesmerizing mix of vulnerability, pain, and stubbornness got him right in the heart. 

“So change the ending of your story.” 

This had the Shalvis charm along with some deeper emotional hurts, with the death of her brother and Knox's emotional issues stemming from having an alcoholic mother, and Lauren having a town keeping her in the grieving “widow” role. You'll get povs from all three characters and a mini-bonus romance between Lauren and a new person to town. The forced proximity plot was a romance genre special with all having to meet will requirements that keep them from being able to leave right away and not sell the ranch immediately. This forces Alice to have to sit in her grief and discomfort and have those hard conversations with Knox and Lauren. The romance had some sparking moments but the fixing the relationship between Alice and Lauren had more emotional depth moments to me. With all three having character work to do individually and together, there wasn't a lot of time to focus down deep into one aspect but if you're looking for a Shalvis special of charm, funny, and some heat, this wouldn't be a bad beach read pick-up with it's old hurts, secrets, and finding a way back to each other and an epilogue that delivers on some happy favorite elements.

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Review: Pride and Pemberley: A Novel Inspired by Jane Austen

Pride and Pemberley: A Novel Inspired by Jane Austen by Dee Garretson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

2.5 stars 

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review 

Did I want this? 

Pride and Pemberley was a story inspired by Jane Austen's characters where American Libby Darcy inherits her grandmother's bed and breakfast estate in England. Libby's recently out of a relationship where her ex still acts as if they'll get back together and trying to find her herself as her law career never got it's footing after she failed the bar exam and she constantly is fighting negative thoughts about herself that are fueled by her mother's emotionally abusive comments to her. Libby dreams of revitalizing the bed and breakfast and with a wedding with a high profile couple, she might just be able to make her dream come true. 

With a lost contact childhood friend, Davin de Bourgh showing up to be the landscape architect, we have our mild and not too focused on romance with misunderstandings, pride, and prejudice. Libby's sisters also make some sideline showings along with with some Bingley's playing a little villain role and a ghost Lady searching for a pig. This was really about Libby trying to decide what she was going to do in life with problems and obstacles popping up in regards to fixing up the estate in time for the wedding, with some relationship navigating. A lot of the middle of the story got lost in house issues minutiae for me with it picking up a bit towards the end as Davin and Libby's romance entered the story more. It was more of “hey, I misunderstood this about you and now we can be together because we like each other” quick, mild interaction but for the tone of the overall story, it fit. If you enjoyed the original characters and want another glimpse of them and looking for a mild trip into fixing up an estate and growing into yourself, this could be a pick in the Austen world.

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Review: Holiday Ever After: One Snowy Night/Holiday Wishes/Mistletoe in Paradise

Holiday Ever After: One Snowy Night/Holiday Wishes/Mistletoe in Paradise by Jill Shalvis
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review

I love to read a snowy holiday book in the summer!
Three short stories that fit into Shalvis' Heartbreaker Bay series, which I've read four books in (close enough!) were short, varying degrees of enjoyment, quick hits.

One Snowy Night 3 stars

Fate or Karma or whatever was in charge of such things was a cruel master, having her first crush of all people, the one guy on the entire planet who made her feel like that young, neglected, bullied, unwanted teen all over again, be the only smart ride home tonight.

Not for the “Just Talk About It!” crowd. A misunderstanding event that happened between our two leads, Rory and Max, in high-school, had Max angry at Rory and Rory avoiding going home for years. She finally makes a promise to herself that she'll make it home for Christmas but a snow storm leaves her stranded on the highway. Fortunately for us readers, Max is also headed home and we're off with some forced proximity.

Rory crushed on Max in high-school, so those feelings flare up and while Max feels betrayed by her from the high-school incident he also has the feels for her. We get some hotel play and misunderstanding resolving but the I love yous arrived too fast for any deep emotional hit.

Bonus: Carl the doberman

Holiday Wishes 2.5 stars

>They’d tutored each other, the perennial bad boy and the perennial good girl, and then one night they’d been each other’s world in the back of her dad’s pickup on the bluffs of Marin Headlands.

Charlotte has just lost her dad to cancer and she's about to close the Inn she runs down for two weeks and escape to Cabo. Unfortunately for her, she's about to get snowed in with a wedding party, a wedding party who includes her high-school love Sean. They'd slept together and Charlotte had told him she loved him but Sean had just lost his parents, added in with Charlotte was moving, Sean decides to cut the chord and not respond to her calls or letters. Now, years, later, Charlotte's acting like she doesn't know him and Sean is ready to admit to feelings he should have years ago.

I didn't quite feel their connection, a lot hinges on the reader believing that they had a deep, close relationship when they were in high-school and that building block never held the weight for me. Charlotte is coming off her own canceled wedding, with Sean deep in the whirlwind of his brother's and that made me think they were getting swept up into the moment.

Mistletoe in Paradise 2.5 stars

When he opened his eyes and whispered her name, she lost herself in him, completely. Just as when she was with him like this, she also felt . . . found.

Wrapping up our second-chance romances, this had more emotional turmoil for our leads, Hannah and James, to work through. Hannah's charter boat step-dad hosts her mom's bestfriend family that had two sons every year. Just as Hannah and James are old enough to realize their romantic feelings, James' brother dies and shatters both their worlds. James asks Hannah to travel the world with him but Hannah needs stability at that time and they don't speak for years. It's when Hannah is pushed by her mom to deliver divorce papers to her step-dad and James' parents are delayed that they're forced to finally spend alone time together on the charter and talk out their feelings.

Definitely had the emotional grief meat in this one, the brother death and then Hannah dealing with how she feels her step-dad's love is conditional, both those weighty things edged out the romance to me. I'm not sure I believed in their hashing out, making their romance feel a little bereft to me.

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Review: Married to the Mafia

Married to the Mafia by Lucy Smoke
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review

If I want to continue to act as his second— and soon, his son’s— then I need to form a “family” of my own— starting with a wife. 

If I could borrow a thought from Logan Roy for a second, I love you romance but you're not always serious. Y'all. I'm a little too long in the tooth, in both age and romance genre reading, to, umm, appreciate this. Look, I know, it's right there in the title for (most) seriousness to go out the window but, y'all. Daisy is a broke recent college grad who is filling in for her roommate at her catering job when she walks in on a group of mafia men standing around a dead body. The dead body? The bride. The mafia men's solution to her walking in on the scene? She must now marry the bride-less mafia man. 

“You’re a barely contained little psychopath,” he tells me. 

This was marketed as “Dark romance”. I guess there was a murder? The vibes of the tone were more comedy of errors to me, joking dark instead of emotionally/psychological dark. What is really going to your-milage-may-vary, is Daisy's “inner psycho b*tch”, which constantly gets a pov and never stops. It's at once over-the-top, intrusive, and incredibly annoying and Daisy cherry-on-tops it all with an ending TSTL moment to really have her grinding my gears. This was dual pov but Giulio was pretty much copy and paste mafia dude and even though they had a wild meet-cute, the depth was far from depth-ing. 

There was some approaching plot with a rat in the family and solving who murdered the bride and some series baiting secondary characters but definitely approach this with the unseriousness it gives right back.

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Review: It Happened One Summer

It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review 

He was a set-in-his-ways fisherman. She was a rich, adventurous socialite. 

The “for Schitt's Creek fans” had some ringing true as Piper, a late twenties socialite starts to feel the creep of social media fame fading away. With a step-father that is over her aimlessness, he tells her about the bar her deceased father left her and her sister in the “wilds” of Washington. Needing a place to lay low out of the lime light and figure out what she wants to do with her life, Piper, and accompanied by her sister Hannah, heads to her father's hometown in hopes of learning more about her father and herself. 

“Which girl are you? The girl in the pictures or the one sitting next to me?” 

“Both, I think,” she said after a pause. 

This was a Tessa Bailey standard (maybe even a little more top tier to me) and you'll get that sexy, sparking, and entertaining usual, with some more emotional. I much appreciated that Piper had vulnerability, lack of self-confidence, front and center to combat the instant dislike that could be brought from a at first-take vacuous socialite. Pairing her with the grumpy widowed (for 7yrs) Brendan hit just right for me. She was the breath of fresh air, shake-up that he needed and he was the solid foundation she needed, I love pairs like that. 

And in that moment, Brendan saw right through her. Saw what she was doing. Making tonight about sex. Trying to keep things casual. Categorizing him as a friend with benefits. With a less determined man, she would have succeeded, too. 

The plot “trapping” Piper in the Washington town, her step-father says he won't pay anymore of her bills until she can prove to him that she can run her father's bar for 3 months will have you going along with it because the ride was just fun. I wasn't totally on board at first with her sister Hannah joining her, questioned reasoning, forcing a secondary character for series bait, but as the story went on, while I not totally lost the not necessary, her character started to also feel very essential (if that makes any sense). 

This girl. He’d be keeping her. There was no way around it. 

Adding in Piper looking for strength and confidence in herself by gaining knowledge and an emotional connection to her birth father was Bailey digging for emotional depth I much appreciated it; I think there were a couple moments that will have eyes watering for some. My heart really liked Brendan taking Piper out on his boat to help understand his job more and work to, while not completely, ally some fear she had in relation to how her father died. This was a deep topic and while we don't sink completely into the trauma of dating a man who works the same job you father died from, it at least was broached for deeper relationship connection. This was all about accepting yourself and finding someone who loves you for you and I enjoyed this little treat of a story. (Now when does the movie/tv show adaption come out? Because NEED)

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