Library Loot Mini-Reviews: Karma And Dead Teens

My reading in 2024 has started out like my reading in 2023 - I'm going great guns on audiobook listening but my eyeball reading, um not so much. Happily living in a library dense area and being eligible to get cards in multiple jurisdictions means I'm not suffering for want of audiobook content.  Here's what I've listened to recently:

Boy George has written a couple of books already but his latest, Karma, is being touted as a definitive memoir.  I wouldn't classify myself as a Boy George and/or Culture Club fan, despite generally being a sucker for 1980s pop.  I'll be honest, I read this for George's personality. I'm not above enjoying some well-done catty bitchiness.  I mean, when you've mainlined as many soap operas as I have in 40+ years it's to be expected.

This was, unfortunately, not very good.  It's written in a way where it's assumed the reader is a fan and/or already knows at least some of the details of George's life. Hey, I've seen the Behind the Music episode, but that's about it. You're just dumped right into this book and he starts talking about people in his life like you, as the reader, already know who these people are.  I had to resort to Google a couple times just to make the puzzle pieces fit.

What does work in this book is George's disarming self-awareness. I mean yes, there's an exorbitant amount of astrology talk, but even with his foibles George comes off as a straight shooter.  This is a guy who will say it to your face and not just behind your back.  He also owns and acknowledges his own foibles and failings. To be blunt, this is a guy I would love to have a one-on-one conversation with. Not only would it be a lot of laughs, but it would be an interesting, intelligent conversation. He never comes off as a phony.  Also, even though I felt this book wasn't particularly well written as a memoir, the chapter where he talks about his mother's death was very well-written and very moving. 

Final Grade = C-

I'm quickly developing a yen for teen suspense, probably because that's what Teenage Wendy desperately loved to read and self-preservation had me moving to adult suspense by the time I was 13. Nostalgia is a powerful drug.  Anyway, I heard about Win Lose Kill Die by Cynthia Murphy somewhere and this is another book with problems - but listen, sometimes all I want is to get sucked into a crazy, twisted ride, and on that score this one delivered.

Morton Academy is a British boarding school that caters to the cleverest and smartest kids. You don't need to be a blue-blood born with a silver spoon in your mouth, so long as you're clever and smart you've got a chance.  Which is how Liz ends up there, despite neglectful, largely absent parents.

The previous year Liz and her friends were welcomed into the school's secret society, Jewel and Bone. However on the night of their initiation there's a horrible accident. Liz sustains a head injury and the golden Head Girl of the school, Morgan, accidentally drowns. Liz spent the entire summer recuperating at home and while she's still haunted by what happened, she's ready to be back at school.  That is, until the new head girl, the one named to replace Morgan, also ends up dead.  Soon the best and the brightest of the student body start dropping like flies...

The story centers around Liz, her two BFF's Taylor and Kat, Taylor's hottie boyfriend, Marcus (Head Boy) and new student, Cole - who Liz quickly develops a crush on.  Morgan's death was chalked up to an unfortunate accident, but two dead bodies dropping in quick succession at the start of the new term, and the head mistress acting cagey and secretive soon has our clique turning into amateur sleuths.

This was a middle of the road read for me for a long time. For the sheer number of bodies dropping (it's more than 3 by the end...) the story lacks urgency, and frankly I expected the teen characters to be a lot more freaked out than they were.  Also, "accidents" start befalling them personally, including Taylor who gets a cut on her face thanks to a rusty nail found in a make-up brush.  I'm sorry folks, but a pretty teen girl with a hottie boyfriend who develops a festering wound ON HER FACE and refusing to see the school nurse about it?  It beggars belief. 

Then we get to the ending. Other reviews have cried foul, basically saying it doesn't make any sense. Does it defy some logic? Well, yes.  Did I care?  Not really.  Honestly it's twisted and gruesome and perverse and well, I'm only human.  I walked into this thinking I was getting a teen suspense novel and really it's more teen thriller / horror adjacent. It certainly wasn't without it's faults, but by the end I didn't care.  I'm already planning on reading more by Murphy.

Final Grade = B

Mini-Reviews: Aggressively Fine

Part of my reading resolution for 2024 is taking a deeper dive into my Kindle and pulling out long lost ARCs.  Unfortunately my first two picks for the new year fell into the "aggressively fine" category.  I don't know about you all, but there's something about average reads that can be just as depressing as the duds. 

Harlequin Blaze was never a favorite line of mine, but a few still ended up finding their way into my TBR, usually because the back cover blurb tickled my fancy in some way.  Make Mine a Marine by Candace Havens was published in 2016 (yikes on bikes Wendy) and is, from what I can gather, part of a series featuring hunky Marines. 

Chelly Richardson is marking time in Nashville when an obsessive ex who won't take the hint that they broke up has her making the drastic decision to get out of dodge. She heads to Texas only to discover the friend she was planning to crash with took off to elope (and said "friend" knew Chelly was on her way). She's near broke, her car is on it's last gasp, so Chelly decides to do the one thing that always gives her some comfort - she comes across an estate sale and stops.  That's where she meets said hunky Marine, Matt Ryan. His parents have died and he's left with their house full of "stuff" (Mom was a bit of a collector with plans to remodel the house) and instead of hiring an expert to liquidate the holdings, he's doing it himself - and a terrible job of it. Chelly tells him he's underselling stuff and before you know it - bingo bango she's staying in his pool house, takes on liquidating his parents' stuff, and will help him remodel the house to put on the market. He gets the help he obviously needs and Chelly gets a leg up in starting her own business.

On the surface this story is fine. Unfortunately it takes enough wrong turns that ultimately sink any hope I might have had for a solid category romance. Look, I get that the police do not have the best track record with domestic situations but Chelly doesn't even take a whiff near the cops about the obsessive ex. She just runs. In fact that's her solution to every problem life throws her way - she runs. Yeah, she's one of those heroines. Then there's the fact that she's a hot mess and our frickin' Lieutenant Colonel hero just offers her the keys to the kingdom even though he acknowledges she's a hot mess. She's flighty and artistic, he's so uptight he probably starches his underwear. The conflict in the story centers entirely around their inability to communicate with each other and assuming the worst. 

Is this the worst category romance I've ever read? Absolutely not.  Is it pretty ho-hum? Yes.

Final Grade = C

Dead Dead Girls by Nekesa Afia was a debut historical mystery that I was pretty intrigued by when I downloaded the ARC in 2021 - and well, here we are.  And of course I was intrigued! It's set in the 1920s during the Harlem Renaissance!  What's not to love about that concept?  Unfortunately, while I found the heroine intriguing, I was let down by the pacing and writing.

It's 1926 and young Black women are turning up dead in Harlem. Their bodies are being dumped in front of Maggie's Cafe, where Louise Lloyd works as a waitress and where the dead girls all worked in the not-so-secret speakeasy run by the proprietor's son ahem serving the customers more than bootleg liquor if you catch my drift. Ten years earlier Louise escaped the clutches of a kidnapper and rescued captive girls in the process. She was dubbed the "Hero of Harlem" - notoriety she's been running from since and that helped lead to her estrangement with her father. Through a series of happenstance (OK, it's Louise's temper getting the better of her) she ends up in the cross hairs of the cops - and the lead detective on the dead girls' case says they won't press charges on one condition - she has to help them.  Frankly Louise can get into places, talk to people, that the white cops cannot.

What I liked best about this book was Louise as a character - she had depth and contradictions that I found intriguing. Her estrangement from her father, her relationship with her three sisters, her relationship with her girlfriend. The author really embraced the era and setting and it's also a book that is unapologetically queer. 

Unfortunately the pacing is a mess. Most reviews cite a slow beginning, but I was more bored with the final 1/3 of the story - which by then our "bad guy" has been unmasked and the whole thing slogs on until I literally noticed there was less than 5% left and we were rushed to the final showdown. The transitions between chapters were also a problem which didn't do the pacing any favors.  To give one example: in the final chapters of the story Louise breaks into an apartment and finds a secret compartment. Then the chapter ends.  One would think that at the start of the next chapter would be Louise still in the apartment revealing what she found, right? Nope. It's a completely different scene - we have no idea how Louise got out of the apartment undetected, and what was in the secret compartment isn't revealed until several pages into the next chapter. 

Nothing about the pacing of this story was smooth and while I liked the story for the most part, I was just ready for it to be over by the time I got to 60%.  I will say this though, the author wasn't afraid to "go there" and kill her darlings. There's a shocking turn towards the end that actually made me gasp in a "Oh wow, I can't believe she did that..." sort of way.

Will I read the next book in the series? Jury still out but it's looking doubtful. Frankly I found Louise's lover a little annoying and it seems like she plays a more prominent role in Book 2. Maybe? But honestly, I'm feeling kinda meh about the idea at the moment...

Final Grade = C+

#TBRChallenge 2024: The Boy Is Back

The Book: The Boy Is Back by Meg Cabot

The Particulars: Contemporary Women's Fiction / Romance Adjacent, Book 4 in the Boy series, In Print, 2016

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: I'm a fan of Cabot's YA Princess Diaries series and I snagged a copy of this ARC from work. Yes, I'm aware the book came out in 2016.  Anyway, the ARC has been in my TBR all this time and it fit perfectly with this month's Once More With Feeling theme, so here we are.

The Review: A couple of things right out of the gate - while this is book four in a series, the series seems very loosely connected.  I have not read the previous Boy books and did just fine reading this one as a stand-alone.  Also, remember when books with illustrated covers actually meant "romantic comedy?"  This one definitely takes some broad strokes and while aspects of the story weren't always "funny" to me (more on that in a bit) - it was an enjoyable reading experience once I reminded myself to not take it so bloody seriously.

Reed Stewart is a golf pro whose game has been on the skids and now he's summoned back home to Bloomville, Indiana - a place he left 10 years ago and never looked back from.  His parents, who disowned him and threw him out on his ear, are in serious hot water.  They tried to pay for a dinner at a local casual dining establishment (think Applebee's) with a postage stamp they told the waitress was worth $100.  Yeah, turns out it was only worth $4, the cops were called, and charges have been pressed.  This is just the latest in a series of incidents with his parents.  Feral cats setting up camp around their home, out of control "collecting" turned to hording, and turns out...they're broke.  Flat broke. His older sister, Trimble, has washed her hands of them and basically tells the middle brother, Marshall, and his wife, Carly, that it's their problem now - hence begging Reed to come home after a 10 year exile.  If nothing else they need his help financially to sort out the mess.

The fly in the ointment? The girl Reed left behind, Becky Flowers. The night Reed's father disowned him happened to be their prom night. Teenage drinking, a golf cart, and a country club swimming pool later - Becky has a dislocated shoulder, Reed hightails it out of town, and she never hears from him again. Now running her father's moving company, Becky specializes in helping seniors downsize and get their affairs in order - which is how she enters back into Reed's orbit. His sister-in-law, Carly, hires Becky to help sort out the mess with his parents. She is also dating the owner of the local wine and cheese shop, although it's a relationship on life support by the time Reed blows back into town.

This is a epistolary retelling of Austen's Persuasion, with the story told through emails, text messages, and group chats. It works surprisingly well and was compulsively readable.  I tore through the majority of the book in a couple hours one evening.

What doesn't work as well?  There are uncomfortable underpinnings to the humor. The situation that Reed's parents are in is not a laughing matter, but is played that way through the tone and some light wackiness. It's a little squirm-inducing at times. Also some of the humor is aging rapidly - like Reed's niece who is obsessed with wearing her Chief Massasoit costume (although there's some funny bits about parenting and cultural appropriation during those scenes).  Again, the only way this really works is if you don't take it seriously, which is generally easier for me to do with a Cabot novel because she tends to keep her tone so light and frothy.

While there is a second chance romance in this book, there's also a fair number of secondary characters and it takes a while for Reed and Becky to cross each others' paths again.  Also, while it was FANTASTIC that Becky and Reed pay lip service to 10 years being a long time, they're not kids anymore, they've both grown up, yada yada yada - they still are incredibly hung up on each other and fall right back into a relationship without too much heavy lifting. It's all right as rain in the end without the reader seeing any real "work" for the two characters to get there.

Is this a good book I would recommend?  Well, it depends. I certainly had issues with it, but it kept me entertained and it hit my brain candy sweet spot.  I don't have a burning desire to necessarily go back and read the other books in this series, but I also don't regret reading this one - if that makes any sense whatsoever.  I had a good time reading it even with the quibbles, even though it didn't change my life.  Oh, and I liked the ending. The resolution to what's been going on with Reed's parents and how Reed and Becky address their new relationship (he's in California, she's in Indiana).  He's not doing all the taking and she ain't doing all the giving.  That was good enough for me.

Final Grade = B-

Pop the Champagne: A Bonanza of Unusual Historicals for January 2024

The first Unusual Historicals post for 2024 is an embarrassment of riches. Can I guarantee all of these will be winners? No. But hot damn, we're spoiled for choice this month. Without further ado, or more unnecessary preamble, happy browsing! And Dear Lord, do not send me all y'alls credit card bills.

Liaison with the Champagne Count by Bronwyn Scott

In a picturesque French château…

A battle of wills is about to ignite!

Julien Archambeau, Comte de Rocroi, has dedicated his life to reclaiming his family’s lands. Only Lady Emma Greyville-Luce now stands in his way. The British heiress is the new owner of the vineyard that’s the final piece of his plan. Much to Julien’s frustration, Emma won’t relinquish what’s now hers, and soon it’s not just champagne corks that start to fly, but sparks…of desire! 

 

This is the first book in Scott's Enterprising Widows series and y'all it is chock-full of Unusual Historical catnip! Victorian era set, each book in the trilogy follows a widow rebuilding her life after losing their husbands in the 1852 Holmfirth Flood. In Book One, the hero wants to reclaim his ancestral lands, only to have a British widow standing in his way. It's France post-Revolution, post-Napoleon, set against the backdrop of the champagne industry. I'm really looking forward to this whole series!

The Mayor of Maxwell Street by Avery Cunningham

The year is 1921, and America is burning. A fire of vice and virtue rages on every shore, and Chicago is its beating heart.

Nelly Sawyer is the daughter of the “wealthiest Negro in America,” whose affluence catapulted his family to the heights of Black society. After the unexpected death of her only brother, Nelly becomes the premier debutante overnight. But Nelly has aspirations beyond society influence and marriage. For the past year, she has worked undercover as an investigative journalist, sharing the achievements and tribulations of everyday Black people living in the shadow of Jim Crow. Her latest assignment thrusts her into the den of a dangerous vice lord: the so-called Mayor of Maxwell Street.

Born in rural Alabama to a murdered biracial couple, Jay Shorey knows firsthand what it means to be denied a chance at the American dream. When a tragic turn of fate gave Jay a rare path out, he took it without question. He washed up on Chicago’s storied shores and forged his own way to the top of the city’s underworld, running Chicago's swankiest speakeasy, where the rich and famous rub elbows with gangsters and politicians alike.

When Nelly’s and Jay’s paths cross, she recruits him to help expose the Mayor and bring about lasting change in a corrupt city. But Jay also introduces a whole new world to Nelly, one where her horizons can extend beyond the confines of her ivory tower. Trapped between the monolith of Jim Crow, the inflexible world of the Black upper class, and the violence of Prohibition-era Chicago, Jay and Nelly work together and stoke the flames of a love worth fighting for.

This debut is published by Disney's Hyperion Avenue imprint ("commercial fiction and nonfiction for adults")  which is to say that this book might be more historical fiction / romance adjacent than genre romance - but honestly y'all, I don't care. Chicago! Prohibition! A debutante turned investigative journalist! A speakeasy owner! This sounds fantastic!

Seduction at the Chateau by Delphine Roy (Kindle Unlimited)

A wicked game of seduction turns into insatiable desire.

The last surviving member of his family after the Revolution, Guy de Cazal leads a life of decadent pleasure in Paris. But his past catches up with him when he agrees to a wicked wager with a notorious beauty—she will take him as a lover if he can seduce the innocent young lady his parents intended him to marry many years before.

Antonia Saint Yves dreams of overcoming her reserved nature and leaving the family nest before she well and truly becomes the spinster aunt. An invitation to attend a fashionable house party seems like the perfect opportunity, until she comes face to face with Guy, the object of her adolescent infatuation. Guy never even looked her way when she was a shy, awkward girl, but now the heat in his gaze is unmistakable... and impossible to resist.

A hero who lost his entire family in the Revolution enters into a wicked wager to seduce an innocent only to have the tables turned on him. Complicating matters? The innocent was, at one point, the young woman his parents wanted him to marry.  Another book set in France.

A Marquis to Protect the Governess by Parker J. Cole

Romance and scandal ignite in the Palace of Versailles…

A Cinderella governess…

With a royal secret!

Reeling from the discovery that everything she knew about her life was a lie, Isadora is forced to take up a position as a governess in the brooding Marquis de Lyonnais’s household. As she helps the marquis bond with his orphaned nephew, Isadora can’t help but be drawn to the man behind the title. But can she trust him to protect her secret…one that’s so explosive it could rock the court of King Louis XV! 

Apparently January is the month for historical romances set in France? Who knew!  Cole's second book for Harlequin Historical is set in 1750, so a few years before the fun and games of the Seven Years' War. A heroine of diminished circumstances with a Big Secret, takes a governess position only to fall in love with a marquis.  All this against the backdrop of Louis XV court? What could possibly go wrong?

The Lady Thief of Belgravia by Allison Grey

London, 1879. The city’s most notorious pickpocket is about to become the jewel of high society…

Della Rose learned her trade as a pickpocket on the vice-ridden streets of the notorious Seven Dials. But when the handsome Cole Winthrop offers her a huge sum of money to steal from his arch nemesis, the nefarious Duke of Salisbury, it seems Della’s days of deceit and thievery could soon be behind her.

To do the job she must go undercover as a member of high society, learning to walk, talk, ride and flirt like a lady. Which also means pretending to be Cole’s cousin…

As an undeniable attraction grows between them, Della must fight to stay focused. Succeeding in her mission could be her ticket to a new life. And this thief won’t let the small matter of falling in love get in her way…

A pickpocket heroine hired by our hero to steal from a Duke finds herself preparing for the job by getting schooled in the ways of being a lady. A Pygmalion story featuring a pickpocket heroine in the late Victorian era? It's enough to get me to overlook the illustrated cover. 

A Rogue to Cherish by Hildie McQueen (Kindle Unlimited)

Can he abandon a life of opulence to follow his heart to be with someone who possesses nothing but the richness of love?

Grant Murray’s extravagant lifestyle is maintained by his string of lovers. Upon an opportunity to make his own wealth, Grant uses every charm in his arsenal to convince an older lover to gift him the money. The luster of his lifestyle dulls upon meeting a beautiful woman, who although a servant, her life is richer in ways his can never be. Grant comes to the realization that he can never actually be a free man unless he breaks the ties that bind him to his extravagant lifestyle. Will he make the sacrifice?

Wren Darrow is thankful for a place to live and work as a servant at a grand estate. When a handsome gentleman pursues her, she is wary of his intentions. Although he is kind to her, she is more than aware of the difference in their stations. Just as she begins to consider his courtship, she learns the horrible truth about his lifestyle. Her shattered heart demands she walk away but what about love?

This is a late December release I missed last month but who cares about that? OMG THE HERO IS KEPT MAN!!!!!! Captivated by a mere servant, what will happen after he falls hopelessly in love and she learns of the true nature of his lifestyle?

Snowed in with the Viking by Lucy Morris

Stranded in the Arctic

With a lone-wolf Viking!

Lost in the remote wilderness in a snowstorm, Embla is rescued by local “Wildman” Runar and taken to his cabin—with just one bed! But as he warms her icy body with his, passion inflames them both… She’s been warned against this man her entire life—but as she realizes she could be stranded with him for weeks, it seems her only option is to trust him…and their intense attraction! 

 

Morris' latest stand-alone is a Viking romance with an Artic twist. They're snowed in! Trapped in his cabin! With only one bed! And naturally he has a "reputation" that the heroine has been warned away from. This sounds fantastic and I'm sucker for survivalist storylines in romance.

Never Blow a Kiss by Lindsay Lovise

The utterly charming Emily Leverton has a dark past and is determined to leave it behind in her respectable new role as a governess. But when she is recruited by a secret network of governesses who spy on the ton, it may just be a way to redeem the dark secrets of her past.

Straddling the worlds of the ton and the working class, as an ex-solider turned railroad magnate, Zach hunts killers for the Metropolitan Police by day and dutifully attends balls at night. In neither world has he met a woman with the brazenness to mock him. So when a saucy governess blows him a kiss he is determined to catch her, never expecting that when he does he will find an intelligent, quirky woman hiding more than her true name. As Zach peels back the layers of Emily’s lies, he falls for the street-wise woman who handles a dagger like a pro and kisses like a mistress. But when his affair with Emily intertwines with his hunt for a killer, he discovers Emily is hiding an explosive secret—one that could destroy them both.

Lovise's debut is the first in a new series about governesses who spy on the ton - which includes the heroine of this first book. The hero is an ex-solider (swoon) and railroad magnate (double swoon!) working for the Metropolitan Police to apprehend villains - which is how he crosses paths with the heroine.

The Lyon's First Choice by Sara Adrien

Step into Harley Street’s world of medical miracles, where Dr. Phil Rosen excels in surgery but struggles to mend his broken heart. Could the Black Widow lead a brave nurse to his rescue?

Meet Nurse Shira, a woman of courage who dared to defy societal norms by choosing a career over reputation. Her journey leads her to the bustling clinic on Harley Street, where destiny intertwines her path with the dashing surgeon who saved her friend’s life. In his presence, she discovers that her passion for medicine has guided her straight into the arms of love.

In a story where the lines mustn’t be crossed between a surgeon and his nurse, Mrs. Dove-Lyon teaches a lesson on embracing taboos to find love. Join the story that unveils the drive of London’s most notorious matchmaker and witness the love match she forges like no other.

Part of the larger connected Lyon's Den world, this is Adrien's second book to feature doctors on Harley Street. Folks, I am trash for nurse heroines and what we have here is a historical doctor / nurse romance and OMG get this in my eyeballs right now!

Mayfair Misfit by Jennifer Seasons (Kindle Unlimited)

A cold heart meets blazing passion . . . can it be love?

Stifled by the rigid confines of Mayfair society, Lady Carenza Castlebury lives a secret life. One full of passion and color in the heart of London’s rookery, where she sings in a tavern as the infamous Masked Meadowlark. Coveted by many, claimed by none, Carenza refuses to conform to a life dictated to her by her controlling father, the powerful Earl of Castlebury. She will run away from his every attempt to quell her freedom, regardless of what her father believes—and regardless of any man he sends to bring her home. Or so she thinks, until she encounters the one man who stops her—and her heart—dead in her tracks.

Commoner Damon Crowe has made a lucrative living digging through the secrets of the rich and titled. In the recovery business, Damon thinks nothing of assisting the Earl of Castlebury in retrieving his spoiled daughter from her covert nighttime escapades before her ruse is discovered. Damon sees only a hefty payout on an easy assignment. Truly, how big a problem can one nobleman’s bored and pampered daughter be?

Turns out, she’s a rather large one. But when Carenza’s brazen nature puts her directly into the path of the Revivalists—a group of murdering noblemen rampaging London—Damon can no longer deny his feelings for the passionate hellion.

A Lady with a desire to preform, hemmed in by societal restrictions falls for a private investigator-like hero hired by her Daddy to bring her to heel. Oh these historical romance fathers, will they never learn? 

 

It Takes a Rake by Anna Bennett

She’s about to face her biggest challenge yet…

Since she was a girl, Miss Kitty Beckett has been adept at finding trouble: sneaking brandy, running away, and getting under the skin of the boy who, like her, was an apprentice to an architect. Now Kitty’s a talented heiress who can take a dry building plan and breathe life into it with her pencils and paints. Also? She can spot a rake at a hundred yards—and she won’t be tricked or charmed into marriage. Certainly not by a man who might interfere with her dreams. When Bellehaven Bay announces its first ever architectural design contest, she vows to win—with a little help from her childhood rival.

Turning her buttoned-up nemesis into a certified rake.

Leo Lockland, a hardworking architect with a gift for numbers, has returned home after a few years in London, and he has secrets. The biggest? He’s been in love with Kitty since they were both apprentices. She refuses to give her heart to any man, but Leo’s determined to beat the odds—even if it means learning how to be a rake. Fortunately, Kitty’s willing to tutor him in the nuances of fashion, flirtation, and seduction in exchange for his help with the contest. But the whole plan would fall apart if she knew how he felt, so he’ll have to be very convincing.

Let the lessons begin…

Leo proves to be a surprisingly quick study in the ballroom, on the beach, and in the bedchamber. Before long, he’s softening Kitty’s hard edges with his wicked words and kissing his way past all her defenses. Perhaps she’s a bit too skilled at teaching, because her lessons are threatening to backfire, putting her closely guarded heart in grave danger…

The third book in Bennett's Rogues to Lovers series gives us our second Pygmalion theme of the month, but this one is a role reversal with the hero (carrying a torch for the heroine, because of course he is...) getting made over in all the ways of rakedom. Oh and just a small minor detail that THEY'RE BOTH ARCHITECTS OMG! 

Protecting Her Heart by Nancy Campbell Allen

When newly graduated medical doctor Charlotte Duvall receives word that her father has died, she immediately leaves America and returns home to see to her family’s estate. Among her father’s possessions is a box of her late mother’s letters, which feels like a balm to Charlotte’s grief-stricken heart. But the letters contain some inconsistencies that suggest there was more to her mother’s death than Charlotte had been told. She turns to the one man she trusts more than anyone—her treasured friend and director of London’s police force, John Ellis.

John Ellis has harbored feelings for Charlotte ever since he first met her. Tucked into his heart are thoughts of her sharp mind, quick wit, and remarkable beauty. Though he has not yet found the courage to share his feelings with the young doctor, he is eager to help her in her hour of need.

Investigating the details of a death was not how Charlotte imagined she would find love, but as she and John work to unravel a dark web of secrets and lies, she finds herself relying on him more and more—and opening her heart to him in the process.

As the danger draws ever closer, John vows to do everything in his power to protect Charlotte from harm. But he fears protecting her heart might come at the cost of breaking his own.

A doctor heroine comes home only to stumble across family secrets. To solve the mystery, she needs to investigate her mother's death and for that she needs the hero's help, a man who is carrying a torch for her (because of course he is...). This is late Victorian, and published by Shadow Mountain Publishing, so readers should expect chaste and/or just kisses. 

Crossing the Bridge by Nancy Cunningham

Can two wounded hearts find peace in a time of war?

1944. Widow Poppy Guilford is fighting to save her farm, the one thing tethering her to her husband - and the legacy promised for their young son. But a devastating secret from her husband's past threatens to derail her struggle to save the property and keep her son by her side.

Former soldier JB Beaton's wartime injuries and personal losses have left him with scars, both inside and out. Believing he's too damaged to be the father his son deserves, he leaves him with his sister and takes on a job as a farmhand, far away from the city and his failures.

Poppy, battling the elements and the heartache of her husband's secret, finds the new farmhand is never far from her thoughts, and JB's world is thrown into disarray by one of the most beautiful and capable women he has ever met. Neither can battle the surge of attraction they both feel.

In a small town where gossip reigns, will they surrender to duty or follow their hearts?

This debut novel from Australian author Cunningham has garnered a few awards Down Under - including the Romance Writers of Australia Valerie Parv Award (for unpublished manuscripts). A former soldier who abandons his son to the care of his sister (oof!) and accepts a job on the widowed heroine's farm. This sounds right in my wheelhouse.

Whew! I feel the need to suddenly go lie down. What a way to kick off the new year! What Unusual Historicals are you looking forward to in the new year?

Reminder: #TBRChallenge Day is January 17

Here we are and happy 2024!  A new year means a new #TBRChallenge and we're kicking things off on Wednesday, January 17.  This month's (always) optional theme is Once More With Feeling.

This suggestion came from the (now) annual theme poll I open up and I think it's perfect for the first month of a new year. With this theme my mind drifted to second chance or redemption themes so popular in romance.  Reunion romances, a main character returning to their hometown or moving to a new city, maybe taking a new job or changing careers - this month's theme really leans into the concept of "starting over." 

That being said, remember that the themes are completely optional. The goal of the challenge has been, and always will be, to read something (anything!) that's been languishing in your mountain range of unread books. 

It is certainly not too late to join the Challenge (to be honest it's never too late).  You can get more details and get links to the current list of participants on the #TBRChallenge 2024 Information Page. 

Review: There Should Have Been Eight

While some of y'all count down the days for a new Nalini Singh paranormal release, I'm over here wishing she wrote more suspense novels. Two years after her last suspense release, she drops There Should Have Been Eight, and what has become apparent to me with this third stand-alone suspense title is that Singh writes what I call slow burn suspense - and that it's by design.

They were a group of eight friends who grew up together, continued to live in each others' pockets through college, when the suicide of the group's bright light sent them scattering into the wind.  Now, nine years later, they've agreed to come back together for a reunion.  Luna, who makes her living as a photographer, agrees to go, despite a devastating health diagnosis she hasn't told her friends about (she's going blind thanks to a genetic condition) and she's still angry that Darcie had her sister, Bea, cremated. No funeral. No chance for any of the friends to say goodbye.  

Darcie is now married to Ash, who once upon a time was desperately in love with her sister Bea.  There's Luna's best friend, Vansi, a nurse, and her husband, Phoenix, a doctor. Kaea is the playboy of the bunch, now a successful lawyer and then there's Aaron, who's dream it is to open his own restaurant, and his fiancée, Grace - a newcomer that Luna will be meeting for the first time. They agree to come together in a remote manor owned now solely by Darcie, the rest of her family now gone. The manor comes complete with breathtaking views, isolation, secret passages, a burned out wing thanks to a mentally ill ancestor, oh and impending bad weather.  I mean, what could possibly go wrong?

Turns out, quite a bit. However it takes some time to happen. It starts with creepy pranks, someone leaving Bea's childhood doll for Darcie to find, then moves into suspicious accident territory, until finally someone ends up dead.  This book, while similar to Singh's two previous suspense novels in some ways, has one important difference - this one is actually more claustrophobic.  Instead of a small town or upscale cul-de-sac, Singh leans all in on Gothic with this book isolating the action to this group of eight people, the memory of Bea (who casts a long shadow), and a creepy house. The story is told exclusively from Luna's point of view.  Luna, always documenting with her camera. Luna, slowly going blind and incandescently angry with Darcie that she was robbed of saying goodbye to Bea. Her special, precious Bea. 

When I say this is a slow burn, I mean it. It takes a while for the action to come in and Singh focuses on building the Gothic atmosphere and tension.  And naturally, Darcie's ancestors, the previous owners of the manor, come into play as Luna tries to unravel what's exactly happening.  The world-building is evocative and extremely well done.  

That said, I wasn't in love with this as much as Singh's previous suspense novels. The twists didn't work quite as well for me and to be honest, I disliked most of these people. There's also events and choices made at the end of the story that just left me with a slight deflated feeling.  Like the one person that I didn't totally hate, I'm not sure I like all that much anymore?  If that makes any sense.

However, what is done well is the overall theme of this story - that of obsession.  This isn't a story about friendship or even love. Nope, it's obsession all day long and twice and Sunday. And naturally Bea is at the center of it all. 

I'm left slightly conflicted. This didn't work as well for me as Singh's other suspense novels, but there's still bits to admire here.  The Gothic atmosphere, the world-building, and how obsession runs through the story - but I never entirely got wrapped up in it. In some ways it felt too cool, remote, almost distant. Like looking through the lens of Luna's camera - which I suspect might have been the point.

Final Grade = B-

Reading Year in Review 2023

2023 is dead. I would say long live - but let's be honest, it's a year I think a number of us would like to put behind us.  I spent a good chunk of 2023 just wanting to crawl into bed and stay there - mainly because my ability to compartmentalize took a long walk off a short pier.  I also completely threw over my health and well-being - so 2024 will be the year I knuckle down, make long overdue doctor's appointments and get serious about better habits.  All this adds up to a rather rocky reading year, as it was difficult for me to sustain any real momentum. My goal every year is to get through 100 books and well, I got to 81 in 2023.  Not great, but not a dumpster fire either.  Here are how the grades broke down:

A Grades = 5

B Grades = 35

C Grades = 25

D Grades = 10

F Grades = 0

DNF = 6

Even though I read fewer books this year than last, I'm happier with my grade spread this year. My A grades were low (honestly, they're always low...) but for the first time in 2 years my B and C grades are not in a dead heat!  My D grades were down and I didn't have a single F grade. Deciding to take a break from contest judging paid dividends. 

I am perpetually behind on my reading, so a reminder that my Best Of 2023 list features titles I read in 2023.  Publication dates vary.  Now, on to the books!

Title links take you to full reviews

Meant-To-Be Family by Marion Lennox (Contemporary category romance, 2015) - A heartbreaking second chance gem from Lennox who infuses tragic realism (infertility, death of a child) to spin a hard-fought emotionally satisfying happy-ever-after. I was rung out in the best possible way when I finished the last sentence.

The Little Wartime Library by Kate Thompson (Historical fiction, 2023)  - Yes, we really did need another World War II historical fiction novel. Thompson mines the true story of the Bethnal Green Library that operated in an unfinished tube station during the war. Two dynamite heroines, and a story that is equal parts triumph and heart-break. Oh, and did I mention both heroines get happy ever afters?  Y'all know how I feel about "long" books - at over 400 pages I didn't want this one to end. It's my number one with a bullet for 2023.

Desert Phoenix by Suzette Bruggeman (Historical fiction, 2023) - Based on a true story and set in a backwater Nevada mining town, a young German immigrant left for dead falls in love with a prostitute 12 years his senior.  A dynamite Hero In Pursuit story, it needs to be read simply for how the author handles consent. It's pure gold. This one reminded me a lot of the sagas that were so popular in the 1970s/1980s but without many of the problematic elements those stories featured. It's a big sweeping story that I got completely lost in.

Pretty Little Wife and The Replacement Wife by Darby Kane (Contemporary suspense, 2020 and 2021) - I burned through Kane's backlist in 2023 and the first two books, both stand-alones, were my favorites.  Pretty Little Wife features a missing husband, which comes as a shock to his wife who left his body in a place where it was sure to be found.  The Replacement Wife takes gaslighting to new heights thanks to a twisty suspense thread and the heroine's instability isn't because she's gorking herself out on booze and pills (shocking, I know).

Hide by Tracy Clark (Contemporary police procedural / thriller, 2023) - The first in a new series from Clark, our detective heroine returns from an administrative leave to a new precinct, new partner, and a new case that soon morphs into the hunt for a serial killer. A gripping story that mines current events (the first victim was last seen at a Defund the Police rally) and features dynamite world-building. 

The Soulmate by Sally Hepworth (Domestic suspense, 2023) - A disquieting domestic suspense novel that pulled me out of month-long reading slump. The mystery of why a couples' new home along the rocky coast came so cheap is answered when they learn the hard way that an area near their property is a "favorite" spot for people choosing to commit suicide by jumping off the cliff. The heroine's husband has managed to talk down several people already, until the day he doesn't - and the heroine thinks she sees her husband push the woman off the cliff.  But surely, that can't be right?

Dead of Winter by Darcy Coates (Contemporary suspense / horror, 2023) - Folks, this is horror adjacent so that's your warning that the gore level in this one is high. The heroine and her boyfriend are on their way to a secluded lodge in the Rocky Mountains when their tour bus gets stuck due to inclement weather.  Soon they and their fellow travelers find refuge in a secluded hunting cabin to wait out the storm - and that's when the bodies start dropping.  Part locked room, part survivalist story, this one kept me on the edge of my seat. 

The Night Swim by Megan Goldin (Contemporary suspense, 2021) - This was a great listen on audiobook given that the story follows a true crime podcaster.  The heroine decides her next series will cover a rape trial in a small coastal town, which will put her listeners "in the jury box." She's not in town long though before she's distracted by a stalker, someone who wants to look into a "suicide" of a young woman 20 years earlier. This was a very difficult book to read and I was seething with anger by the end of it (content warnings for rape, gang rape, rape culture and slut-shaming) - but hot damn, it's amazing. 

Sleepless City by Reed Farrel Coleman (Contemporary hardboiled / crime, 2023) - A book where everybody is a villain. Hero, ex-military and a cop, from a family of cops (all with checkered pasts and presents) finds himself with a mysterious new boss when he takes on the roll of "fixer" for the department. Everyone is skating edges here or just flat-out crossing every line they come to. The world-building is breathtakingly fantastic, there's soapy edges (the hero has a Secret Baby because of course he does...) and to be frank it scratched the itch I've had since finishing Lawrence Block's Matthew Scudder series. I'm hoping there's a book two in the near future.

Down the Drain by Julia Fox (Memoir, 2023) - Sex, drugs and rock n' roll.  OK, mostly sex and drugs. This is one of those seedy underbelly memoirs, and honestly Fox kind of scares the sh*t out of me.  Here's the thing though, she can write her face off.  This is one of the best celebrity memoirs I've read from a writing standpoint, and by all accounts, Fox didn't use a ghostwriter.  Also the world-building here is fantastic, Fox transports the reader to New York City in the 1990s/2000s. 

The Woman in Me by Britney Spears (Memoir, 2023) - Is this well-written? Quite frankly, no. But it's like reading the literary equivalent to a primal scream. There's a raw honesty to Britney's memoir, that largely focusses on her 13-year conservatorship, that is riveting, impossible to dismiss or ignore. This is a dynamite listen on audiobook thanks to Michelle Williams' narration. Her ability to convey emotional vulnerability and rage in her reading is superb. If she doesn't win a Grammy for her performance it'll be a tragedy. 

Do I wish I had read more in 2023? Yes. But I certainly can't complain too much as I found a number of quality reads.  Only five of these were A grades, but these were all books that were memorable enough to stick with me.  Also, looking back, 9 out of the 12 books mentioned here were ones I got from the library (either The Day Job or another jurisdiction that I have access to). Did I find myself on wait lists? Yes. Did I rightly care? No. 75% of the quality reads I had in 2023 came from that most American of institutions - the public library.  Support your local library folks - we're doing the Lord's work.