#TBRChallenge 2025: How to Rescue a Family

The Book: How to Rescue a Family by Teri Wilson

The Particulars: Contemporary romance, Harlequin Special Edition #2675, 2019, Book 2 in multi-author continuity series, Out of print, available in digital

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: I had an autographed print copy in my TBR, which means I picked this up at an RWA conference. 

The Review: Reading the author's note in this book I learned this was Teri Wilson's first book writing in a multi-author continuity series, and I'm sad to say it showed. Wilson has written some fine category romances and this could have been one of them - but instead it languished in "OK but with pacing problems" territory for me.  I still zipped through it in one sitting, but it wasn't a terribly memorable read for me, and trying to dredge up thoughts one day after finishing the last page is proving to be a challenge.

Amanda Sylvester grew up in small town Spring Forest, North Carolina and now runs the family restaurant. She has dreams of branching out into higher end catering for events like weddings but her parents have proven resistant to the idea, wanting the restaurant to remain the way her grandmother ran it. This is enough for anyone, but lately Amanda has gotten distracted by a handsome new man in town, Ryan Carter, who is now running the local newspaper.  Ryan comes into the restaurant a lot for take-out and she soon learns he was once a hotshot reporter for The Washington Post and is a single father.

Ryan left his fast-paced life in D.C. after his wife died in a car accident. Since her death, their young son, Dillion, has stopped speaking. Now a single father needing to change his workaholic ways, Ryan relocates them to Spring Forest, but a tornado that ripped through town in the first book of the series has further rattled Dillion.  Ryan is desperate to help his son and decides to take Amanda's advice - maybe visiting the local animal rescue to play with the animals will bring him out of his shell.  Next thing he knows, he's adopting a dog and Amanda is teaching him in the ways of pet ownership.

The official back cover blurb says that Ryan proposes to Amanda, which doesn't happen.  What does happen?  Not much.  The local animal rescue was severely damaged by the tornado, Amanda finds out the sisters who run the place don't have insurance, Amanda decides to host a fundraising barbeque, she helps Ryan and Dillion adopt a dog, Ryan and Amanda are attracted to each other.  Really, that's about it until the final few chapters when Ryan's in-laws show up, decide to fight for custody of Dillion (a suit with no real teeth to it - but whatever...) and AMANDA proposes to Ryan, because having a fiancée will make Ryan look that much more stable. It's tacked on, rushed conflict for like 3 chapters to get our couple to say their I-love-yous and ride off into the sunset.  The problem being I'm not sure they do love each other outside of Ryan being grateful to Amanda for coming up with the dog idea because it gets his son to talk again.

This story could work but the pacing is all off. The first 3/4s of it are tied up in small town shenanigans and continuity series stuff. In order for the romance to work I needed Amanda and Ryan to be in each others' pockets a lot more, and for the conflict in the final 3 chapters to happen a heck of lot sooner.  There's no urgency here, which is a problem with category romance when you have a finite word count you're working with.

Is this a terrible read? No. It's just flat, and pretty boring. It's another in a long line of cutesy, non-descript small town romances. If you can't get enough of these and you also love cute animal companions in your romances? Sure. Otherwise, this one is strictly lather, rinse, repeat.

Final Grade = C

Reminder: #TBRChallenge Day is September 17

Our next #TBRChallenge is set for Wednesday, September 17 and this month's option theme is Friend Squad. Even though I've been mired in a "no spoons" slump, the TBR Challenge waits for no gal, and this month it's also not waiting for my vacation. Yours truly is jetting off to Ireland with her older sister for a 10-day, bucket list trip and two whole weeks off work (OMG!).  Will I get my book read? Will I get a review posted for the 17th?  Cross your fingers folks, I need all the luck I can get.

The Friend Squad suggestion came out of my annual theme poll, and I'll admit I'm blindly reaching into my TBR and hoping for the best. Generally speaking I don't actively seek out books featuring friendships but am always pleasantly surprised when I find one. And if you're like me with this theme suggestion? Remember, the goal of this challenge is to always read something, anything, that has been languishing in my TBR pile - so straying away from the theme is perfectly acceptable if your pick ends up featuring jaded loners.

Also, a reminder that it's not too late to sign-up for the Challenge (fun fact: it's never too late to sign up!).  For more details and for a list of participants, you can check out the 2025 #TBRChallenge page.

Guest Post: Pulp Romance

We don't do a ton of Guest Posts here at the Bat Cave but when author Jill Sorenson reached out to me recently I couldn't say yes fast enough, especially when I learned her proposed subject matter. 

Welcome Jill!

According to dictionary.com, pulp fiction refers to books or magazines “dealing with lurid or sensational subjects, often printed on rough, low-quality paper.” Romance readers don’t use the term “pulp,” but other words like “trashy” and “smut” are common. As mass market paperbacks lose ground to other formats, pulp fiction has become a relic of the past.

Pulp romance perfectly describes what I read as a teenager, however. 

My first historical romance was a Zebra Hologram title called Bandit’s Embrace. I’d read shorter romances from Harlequin, but I’d never tried a full-length, full-tilt cowboy romance before. Bandit had me shook. I couldn’t believe what I was reading. I couldn’t even understand what I was reading. I had no reference for the lurid activities the characters engaged in.

The love scenes were so explicit, and bewildering, that I had to take the book to school to show my friends. You can read more about it at My First Smut. Better yet, you can submit your own story! 

I don’t remember how I ended up with Bandit’s Embrace. YA titles were scarce when I was young, so I read adult books. I was an independent reader with free rein, allowed to scare myself shitless with Stephen King and Dean Koontz. 

As a Gen X kid, I also had free roaming privileges. One summer I discovered pulp romance at my local used bookstore. I liked the public library, but I loved the used bookstore. It was the Wild West for book nerds: dusty, disorganized, disreputable. I browsed through a carousel rack of clinch covers. Silhouette Intimate Moments looked promising. At 20 for $1, I got two bags full. 

After I read all of those and came back for more, the owner of the shop gave me a side-eye. She asked if my mom knew what I was reading. I said yes, although my mom had no idea where I was, let alone what I was reading. This was the 80s! I rode my bike barefoot without a helmet and bought cigarettes from a vending machine. Naughty books were the least of my parents’ worries.

Bandit’s Embrace might have been one of the treasures I found in that dusty little shop in Nowhere, Kansas, but my love for pulp romance didn’t begin with Bandit, or even with those steamy Silhouettes. It started earlier, with Sweet Valley High and Sweet Dreams. 

My middle school library had shelves upon shelves of teen romance, and you’d better believe I ate them up. I read P.S. I Love You, which launched the Sweet Dreams series but is ironically not a romance. I burned through all the books in the catalogue. These stories bridged the gap toward Adult Fiction. 

Did Sweet Dreams train me to be a romance reader? Most certainly. The covers for teen romances looked uncannily similar to adult romances. The style was typical for the era, but it was also by design. Publishing companies wanted teen romance readers to transition into adult romance readers. 

Sweet Dreams…a gateway drug. 

Bantam, the company that published Sweet Dreams, also had an adult romance imprint called Loveswept. If I hadn’t read P.S. I Love You, would I have picked up Sandra Brown’s category romances, become her biggest fan, and decided to write books like her? Who knows! 

Loveswept…the bestselling author’s training ground.

I have mad love for pulp romance, from Sweet Dreams and Zebra Hologram to Silhouette and Harlequin. I love the pulp cover style, which is making a cool comeback. I love the tawdry, dog-eared, back-aisle vibe. Most of all, I love the memories of the used bookstore—the crowded shelves, the smell of paperbacks, the thrill of discovery—where I lost and found myself. 

Tell me what you think about pulp romance. Do you prefer a different term? What’s your favorite series or title from back in the day?

Thanks so much for stopping by the Bat Cave today Jill! Historical romances with lush and lusty clinch covers and old school category romance. It's like you totally get me! 

Jill's latest book, Cowboy's Last Stand, just dropped on September 3 and it's the first in a new series.

Website: jillsorenson.wordpress.com

Bluesky: jillsorenson.bsky.social