Review: I Dream of Falling

I Dreamed of Falling by Julia Dahl is a hard book for me to wrap my head around. Dahl can write, she excels at writing about insular communities with plenty of secrets they want to keep buried. It's what kept me going with this book, also the fact that it's a rather short audiobook (8 hours), and y'all, I have to listen to something on my commute. That said, I can't say I really enjoyed this experience.

Roman Grady is the sole reporter for a local newspaper in his small hometown in the Hudson Valley area of New York. A graduate of NYU, he's the type of reporter who once earned a fellowship at the Los Angeles Times, but now he's writing about the dedication of park benches and the hottest news in the area would be someone getting arrested for a DUI. He has a four-year-old son, Mason, with his longtime girlfriend, Ashley, and they live with his mother, Tara, and her fiancé, John, in his childhood home that is falling down around their ears. Then, Ashley goes missing.

Roman finds her at the bottom of a steep ravine at a former friend's house. Dead. There was a party at Bella's house. The three were once close, but as Roman and Ashley settled into a relationship, when Mason came along, Bella's increasingly messy life meant they were no longer truly friends. Roman had no clue Ashley was talking to Bella again, nor that Ashley was using. They find a packet of pills in her pocket and the assumption is she overdosed. It's 2023, they suspect the pills are laced with fentanyl. 

The problem with this story for a long time is that it's more domestic drama than thriller. Ashley's found dead in short order near the start of the book, but then the reader is trapped in an endless cycle reading about miserable people being miserable. Look, I get it. I understood why these characters were miserable, but it doesn't mean I wanted to be trapped in their heads reading about their misery either.

Ashley and Roman met in middle school and quickly formed a bond. As they got older it was clear they loved each other, but they had an open relationship (and still do - despite Mason coming along, these two are still hooking up with other people). It was all going great guns until Ashley ends up pregnant and Roman defers his fellowship to the LA Times. Then the pandemic hits, Ashley has to give birth to Mason alone in the hospital, nearly dies, and falls into postpartum depression. Tara steps in, determined to be Super Grandma because she was certainly no Mother of the Year when Roman was growing up. That creates a push-pull between Ashley and Tara over Mason's care and affection (the kid is four, plenty of love to go around yo) and meanwhile Roman is feeling increasingly trapped by his job and obligations but has zero momentum or drive to do something about it. Tara, of course, is the I Know Best Grandmother, her and Ashley clash over pandemic restrictions, and the house they live in is in desperate need of repair, which John is working on, but all this costs money and it's a lot. 

Finally, FINALLY, over halfway through the book, the What Happened To Ashley question finally starts to cook - and we get to the ending. Dahl does a good job of leading readers down various blind alleys but ultimately the question of who killed Ashley is completely wrapped up in all these miserable characters being miserable and not unpacking their trauma. And Roman? This guy y'all. I desperately wanted him to leave behind scorched Earth at the end. Lord knows the denouement warrants it. Instead I'm convinced he chooses the path he does because it's easier for him. It saves him from having to man up, find his stones, and take it all on himself like a frickin' grown up.

Dahl can write, but man I didn't like these people and wanted to punt them into the sun.

Final Grade = C- 

Review: The Murder After The Night Before

The Murder After the Night Before by Katy Brent is a stand-alone suspense that blends chick-lit with dead bodies. I never could read a steady diet of chick lit, despite being the target demographic back in its heyday, but throw some dead bodies in there? I'm all in. This book was an experience, not always a good one, but an experience nonetheless.

The only way to describe this book is ugly. Molly Monroe is a 30-something journalist stuck in a dead end job writing for a tween girl magazine. She wakes up the morning after her office Christmas party to discover a strange man, fully clothed (and so is she...) in her bed. She's a hungover walking disaster hustling the guy out of her apartment, getting ready for work and making it to the office, naturally, late. And since she's such a hot mess she forgot to charge up her phone, so she hasn't seen any social media or retrieved any messages from last night. If she had, she at least would have been prepared. 

When she arrives at the office she learns the truth. She got rip-roaring black-out drunk at the office party then proceeded to barhop through London until she's livestreamed by an unknown person performing a sex act on a complete stranger outside a London bar. The social media response is predictable, and her boss sends her home for some time off, not being unsympathetic and offering to help her - in Molly's state it's entirely possible she was the victim of sexual assault. 

This would be bad enough for anyone to face. Molly is already spiraling when the hits just keep on coming. She returns home and finds her BFF and roommate, Posey, dead in the bathtub. Posey was the responsible one. The one who is a serious journalist, having just been promoted at work, who has her shit together, pays her bills on time etc. The cops arrive in short order and declare Posey's death an unfortunate accident, which doesn't track for Molly at all. I mean, it doesn't make sense. And since the cops aren't taking her seriously (I mean, duh) then it's up to Molly to snoop into Posey's life to try to find the truth. Which is no easy feat given Molly is still piecing together what happened the night before, but also turns out Posey was keeping plenty of secrets.

Despite immediately thinking of Molly as a hot mess, it was pretty obvious to me from the jump that Molly was "helped" along into her drunken state, likely with her drink(s) being tampered with. So she is a victim, but damn, she's still a hot mess. The first 30% of this book is just really unsavory and uncomfortable to read. Molly caught on a livestream giving a BJ to a stranger, social media behaving like social media, and very few people thinking there's anything wrong with tearing this woman to shreds. I stuck with it though and things really start to cook once Posey is found dead because then Molly is given a mission to discover the truth, against the insurmountable odds of nobody believing her because, well, see hot mess, live streamed sex act. 

The twists and turns then start to pile up and I was riveted. RIVETED I TELLS YA!  The author also explores grief in an honest way and has a lot to say about feminism and misogyny in general. Unsavory it may be, but it's an interesting stew all the same. 

But then, it happens. 

We get to the ending. Y'all I hate when an author doesn't stick the landing. There is some resolution to the story, especially in respect to what happened to Molly. We also find out who killed Posey. The problem with that? We just find out. We don't see that person being apprehended. There's no final showdown. We don't even find out what happens to the murderer. So we find out whodunit but we don't get the payoff. We don't get the justice. And y'all, bare minimum I need see the killer slapped in handcuffs or dead by the last sentence. While Molly ultimately pieces it together, the last chapter is literally a flashback scene to Posey's death. Shit, for all I know this bad person is still out there living their best life and now I just want to light everything on fire.

So what was hovering around a B- (seriously, the beginning is just really unpleasant and unsavory), ends up going down several notches, despite the middle portion when I couldn't tear myself away. I keep reading Brent because there's something about her voice and exploration of feminist themes that intrigue me, but I'm still waiting for her to hit all her beats and stick her landings.

Final Grade = C-

Review: How to Wed a Courtesan

When it comes to romance my top two pet peeves are 1) Fated Mates and 2) Cop-Out Endings. Fated Mates is pretty self-explanatory (free will is sexy, I'll die on that hill). Cop-Out Endings as I define them are endings when the conflict, the same conflict that the couple has been fighting tooth-and-nail to overcome to get to the hard-fought happy ending is hand-waved away, washing away all the angsty-goodness that came before.

Lord above, I hate a Cop-Out Ending and the last two chapters of How To Wed a Courtesan by Madeline Martin irritated me no end. 

The timeline of the story hops around a bit, but for all intents and purposes, the story begins in 1809 when Charlotte "Lottie" Rossington makes the acquaintance of Evander, Baron Murray at a ball in Bedfordshire. How did Lottie, the daughter of a poor country vicar, score an invite? Because she's friends with Charles, Duke of Somerville (see first book in series), whose country manor is in tiny Binsey where Lottie and her father live. They were childhood playmates and have remained friends.  Evander and Charles are friends, and when Evander is introduced to Lottie he's immediately smitten.

What follows is a courtship and a proposal, never mind Lottie's father opposes Evander even courting his daughter. Gretna Green is in their future, until just as they begin to make plans, Evander's father dies and he's now the Earl of Westix. Even more troublesome? Dear Old Dad left the coffers bare. Evander can't very well wed Lottie as a pauper, so he sets plans in motion to head overseas to make money. He promises Lottie he'll only be gone 6 months to 1 year. She begs him not to leave. 

Four years later....

Evander returns to London filthy stinking rich and Lottie, the poor vicar's daughter, became a courtesan. She didn't have much of a choice. Her father died shortly after Evander took off and nobody was going to hire her as a governess without references. That led to work in an opera house, which then led to being a courtesan. She has since gotten out of that life thanks, in part, to Evander's mother of all people. Lottie now schools young ladies in the art of seduction and snagging a man - although in reality it's more like lessons in confidence and self-worth with some matchmaking thrown in on the side. 

Evander is still besotted and determined to wed Lottie. Lottie is, quite frankly, pissed. Four years and no letters. In reality Evander, gem that he is, wrote her TWO LETTERS (LIKE WTF DUDE?!) that never got to her because, see dead father, becoming a courtesan yada yada yada. But, fool that she is, she still loves him. What's standing in their way? Her unresolved rage at him (there's a lot of backstory related to her becoming a courtesan) and the fact that her reputation is in tatters. A courtesan does not wed an Earl. It just is not done. 

What follows is Evander persistence in love-bombing Lottie (weekly hot house flowers, among other things) and Lottie opening up to him about what her life truly became while he was off making a fortune that she never truly wanted or asked for in the first place. We've got her grief and his pride, and there are more than a few scenes in this book that damn near ripped my guts out.

So where does it all go wrong? Lottie's reputation. Look, here's the thing - these two have a legit, true blue circle of friends. Certainly there will be corners of upper crust society that will always snub Lottie and look down their nose at her, but ultimately these two are not friendless. Their family members aren't friendless. So who gives a flying fig if some small minded folks snub you? These two would never truly be cast out into the wilderness.  And yet? That's not enough apparently because soon a Big Secret comes to light that makes it all right as rain. Was it sort of fun to see snobs get their commuppance? I mean, a little I guess. But it's so unnecessary and sweeps all the conflict and challenges that preceded the revelation completely aside. I mean, why did I read this book and struggle along with these fictional characters if you're just going to hand wave it away in the end? Ugh.

I think most romance readers can read between the lines here because these sorts of Cop-Out Endings are fairly common in historical romance. It is why, to this day, when readers rejoice in their love for The Proposition by Judith Ivory my lip immediately curls (no amount of beautiful writing makes up for that travesty of an ending, says me)

A book that was easily going to land in my B range (OMG, so much angsty goodness!) immediately ran right off the cliff like a horde of lemmings with that ending. What a disappointment.

Final Grace = C-

#TBRChallenge 2026: Sex, Lies & Secret Lives

The Book: Sex, Lies & Secret Lives by Thea Devine

The Particulars: Contemporary erotic romance, Simon & Schuster Gallery Books, 2010, In Print

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: I'm not going to apologize for loving Thea Devine. Frankly, I don't think she gets enough credit for coming up through the Bodice Ripper Era and helping to kick off the first wave of Erotic Romance (as a subgenre) in the early 2000s (as one of the writers to help launch the Kensington Brava line). She also was writing unapologetic bad girl heroines back in the day when that was unheard of (and still is, mores the pity). Her writing and plots tend to be nonsensical but this woman has never met a soap opera plot she didn't love. Do I universally recommend her books? No. Do I get sucked in all the same? Yes. Look, I love me some trash, and Devine excels at writing trash.

I have an autographed print copy of this, which means I picked it up at an RWA conference and probably made a fool of myself meeting her.

The Review: Y'all, this book is trash and it features a heroine who suffers from magical thinking. It also has so many seedy sex scenes in it that I lost count - not only of the number of men the heroine boinks, but also how many scenes there actually were. One every chapter would not be hyperbole. 

Jillian Durant has disappeared, but not before she sent out a SOS text message to her twin sister Justine Durant. "Justine Time" - a play on the phrase "just in time," and developed during their hard scrabble childhood. An abusive household and an alcoholic father led to the girls getting split up in foster care. When Jillian used "Justine Time" - Justine knew her sister needed her and came running.

Justine goes to Jillian's apartment and soon learns the truth about her sister's life. She's Jillian Dare, high priced prostitute to powerful and wealthy men. Jillian's way of dealing with the trauma of their childhood? Get your hands on money, a lot of it. However when your clients are billionaire assholes you find yourself (sometimes unintentionally) privy to a lot of secrets - which is why Jillian has gotten in the habit of leaving behind bread crumbs for her twin every time she takes a new job.

So what does Justine do exactly to help find her sister? She falls into her life and pretends to be Jillian. That means moving into Jillian's New York City apartment and having a lot of sex with a lot of different men. Never mind that she learns in fairly short order that the last known whereabouts of Jillian was in London. I mean, staying in New York City and banging a bunch of random rich dudes will surely lead her to finding her sister - um, somehow. God, I love magical thinking in a heroine!  Anyway, she eventually ends up in bed with Doug Rawls who rocks her world for two straight days then treats her with contempt by literally throwing money at her - so of course he's our hero. 

The plot, if we want to call it that, is basically Justine walking a tightrope of pretending to be Jillian and hoping to fool people long enough to try to find out what's going on even though she's not actively doing anything to search for her sister other than banging a bunch of dudes. We eventually learn that Doug has ties to a dead billionaire back in London and one of the last times he was seen alive and well? Yeah, he was with Jillian. So when "Jillian" resurfaces, everyone, including our villain, start to become worried and Dougie boy steps into the protector role even though he's a sneering asshole who treats the heroine with contempt while banging her brains out.  He's not too good for sleeping with a whore but he's going to remind her constantly of what and who she is. 

You've got a heroine impersonating her twin and enough sex in this book to make you think about making a doctor's appointment to get multiple shots of penicillin. The whole thing is completely over the top, from the plotting to the characters to the sex. Seriously, I began to wonder how the heroine was able to walk around over the course of this book and every man in this story had to be drinking at least 3 gallons of water a day to stay hydrated. Is it remotely "realistic?" No. Is it utter trash? Yes. Can I recommend this book to anyone? I mean....

Devine's books take up space in a very Id part of brain. It's Thea Devine and 90% Harlequin Presents. It's pure escapist camp and I inhaled this book in a few hours. I also didn't skim, even though, and this cannot be overstated, this book is basically one giant sex scene. One after another. Take the sex scenes out and you probably have a 50 page short story left. 

Do I like myself for reading this? Hey, life is too short and the world is on fire. How I feel about myself after reading this book is the least of my worries. Is this high art? No. Could I tear myself away? Also, no.  I may have felt a little cheap and a lot dirty after, but I ain't mad.

Final Grade = C+

#TBRChallenge 2026: The Pirate and His Lady

The Book: The Pirate and His Lady by Margaret St. George

The Particulars: Contemporary romance, Harlequin American Romance #462, 1992, Out of print - including digital, reprinted 2002 as part of Harlequin's defunct Dreamscapes line - also out of print, including digital. If you want this book y'all, you're buying a used print copy.

What Was It In Wendy's TBR?: So for you young'uns running across this post, once upon a time there was an author named Maggie Osborne who wrote some dynamite historical westerns. Well, she also wrote category romance under the name Margaret St. George. I didn't make the same concerted effort to hunt down the St. George books as I did the Osborne titles, but I tend to pick them up when I stumble across them at library used book sales or charity shops. I'm not sure how long I've had this one though since it appears I failed to catalog it (yes, I have my print TBR cataloged - don't hate the player, hate the game). 

The Review: Back in 1992 there weren't monster romances featuring heroes with tentacles, nor Kindle Unlimited for that matter, to give readers their WTFBBQ fix, there was just category romance. Now this may seem like a sad and long ago bygone era, but let me assure you, Harlequin got a lot of mileage out of throwing wacky at the wall and sometimes you'd stumble across stories with plots you could only compare to a fever dream. Ladies and gents, I present to you The Pirate and His Lady - a time travel romance featuring an 18th century privateer who washes up on the shore of Key West and is rescued by a modern, 20th century heroine. Published in the Harlequin American Romance line. Dear God, what a time it was to be alive!

Elizabeth Rawley and her Uncle Cappy (seriously) run a salvage / treasure hunting business in Key West, Florida. Her and the guy she's about to break up with are getting ready to attend Cappy's annual "Pirate's Ball" costume party when she spies a ship battle from the beach and she knows it's a "reenactment" of the battle between The Black Cutter and the Madre Louisa. Elizabeth knows this because she and Cappy have been hoping to find the Madre Louisa, which sank shortly after she defeated the Black Cutter in battle so they can claim the riches that were on board. The problem? Instead of catching a clue where on the vast ocean floor the Madre Louisa is located, all Elizabeth has accomplished is an unhealthy obsession with Richard Colter, Captain of the Black Cutter.  She's deeply moved by the reenactment which is happening on the 200th anniversary of the battle - except there's one minor detail.  Her boyfriend that she's about to break up with? Doesn't see a thing. Did Elizabeth hallucinate the reenactment?

After returning from the party, and breaking it off with the dud, she heads down to the beach only to stumble across a man. That man? None other than Captain Richard Colter, wounded and likely suffering a concussion.  He suspects nothing is amiss other than having just lost his ship and crew, what with Elizabeth rescuing him while wearing period colonial clothing. However once he's inside her house? Well, witchcraft comes to mind.

What follows is the comedy of errors one would expect in a time travel romance with some icky gender expectations tossed in for good measure. Richard talks like a pirate and has definite notions on a woman's place in the world - so single Elizabeth living alone, unchaperoned, never married, I mean she's probably a whore right? And he's flabbergasted to discover she's in her late 20s and not 18. Then there's of course modern day small appliances like the coffee maker and toaster - never mind the bathroom. Honestly I've never been the ideal audience for time travel because I find these requisite scenes rather tedious, but I got some chuckles when, needing to distract him, Elizabeth turns on the television. Needless to say she slips out of the house unnoticed and when she returns? He's right there on the couch where she left him and he's amazed that "King Larry" will be interviewing "the Madonna" later that evening. I couldn't help it, I laughed.

I'll hand it to St. George, she really threw herself into the question "What would happen if you threw a man with 18th century sensibilities into the 20th century?" Unfortunately, it's icky. All I could think of is that certain segment of Romancelandia who decries historical romance heroes who happen to have one enlightened idea about a woman's place in the world wringing their hands and crying anachronism! Anachronism!!!!!! Seriously, they'd love this book. To put it bluntly, Richard is a bit of a Neanderthal. Not the most offensive of this ilk I've read over the years, but Alan Alda this guy ain't. (And if you get that reference, congratulations - you're officially old)

For a good portion of this book Richard is the sort of romance hero who bemoans that Elizabeth won't simply do as she's told and then is flabbergasted that he can't do much about it. "So it's true. 'E can't discipline a woman, even if she needs a strong hand." My hero 🤮

Unfortunately Elizabeth didn't pick up the slack for me. She dumps the guy she's seeing at the start of the book because the next step would be them taking the relationship to the next level (yes, sex) and while she has every indication he'd be a gentle and considerate lover, sometimes a woman just needs to be "taken." And yet, once Richard is in her life? She struggles with the push-pull factor to their relationship.

There was the rub. Elizabeth would fight like a tiger to be the dominant partner in any relationship. But in her heart, she couldn't respect a man who would let her dominate him. And she sure as hell didn't intend to allow any man to dominate her.

Why is Elizabeth like this? Daddy issues. It was the 1990s folks, you shouldn't need to ask.

These gender roles, how masculinity and femininity are defined, make up the bulk of the conflict in this book and, likely not seeing anyway around this, St. George then moves the conflict to Richard potentially returning to his own time, will Elizabeth go with him, Cappy needing to close the business because they're broke, and the potential possible discovery of Richard's sunken ship which was carrying a boatload of gold - not the Madre Louisa. Unfortunately even as she moves off of it, it's still there. Lurking between the lines, bleeding into the margins. 

Where does that leave us? Well, even taking into account this was published in 1992, I found the gender dynamics and "expectations" pretty gross for most of this story. On the other hand? St. George slathers on the angst in the last third and how the time travel aspect is resolved and the discovery of Richard's sunken ship made those chapters sail (ha!) by for me. 

Would I recommend this? I mean, maybe if you were interested in gender and power dynamics in early 1990s romance, but trust me - you'd be better served to pick up a Maggie Osborne western if you're looking for unconventional, strong yet vulnerable heroines and the men who lose their hearts to them. If there's a Grossness Scale to be applied to vintage romance, this is 1990s Gross as opposed to Bodice Ripper Era Gross - but all of it's not great, we're just talking varying degrees. Very much a product of it's time.

Final Grade = C-

#TBRChallenge 2026: Her Naughty Holiday

The Book: Her Naughty Holiday by Tiffany Reisz

The Particulars: Contemporary romance, Harlequin Blaze #916, Book 2 in Men at Work trilogy, out of print, available digitally, repackaged and reprinted as Harlequin Special Release 2024

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: I actually downloaded this as an ARC from Netgalley back in 2016 mainly thanks to the fake dating trope. Then, it happened. Romancelandia went wild for this entire trilogy to the point where some reviewers (you know who you are) were practically crowning Reisz as the savior of category romance and that was enough to raise my hackles and here we are. I have an unreasonable amount of baggage when it comes to certain corners of Romancelandia side-eyeing category romance, then suddenly discovering one they like and giving us all "not like other girls" reviews for category romance. Look, I've never claimed to be reasonable - I'm a reader, therefore I am a nutjob. 

The Review: When this review posts I will be going into day six of being very sick. Like the sickest I've been in a long time. So bad that after my long weekend off work (thank you Dr. King), I called out the rest of the week. I popped very negative for Covid on Day 2 of this hellscape, but I had a fever, still a terrible cough, and a headache that was so bad I wanted to cry. RSV? The flu? Punishment from the gods? All of it's possible. Which is to say I'm miserable and cranky but I still think I would have disliked this book anyway. Y'all it's got all the heft of wet tissue paper.

Clover Greene has just received two very divergent and distressing emails. A corporate buyer has just offered her $5 million for her nursery (greenhouse - like plants and stuff) business in Mount Hood, Oregon and her family has dropped the bomb that she's hosting Thanksgiving. She's still wrestling with whether or not to accept the offer on her business - no, it's the family news that's got her all spun up.  To be blunt, her family is a bunch of assholes. Her academic parents constantly reminding her she's their "little drop-out" and when is she going to get married and squirt out more grandbabies for them? SHE'S 30 FOR GOD'S SAKE! And her brother and sister are no help at all. Snide, backhanded "compliments" from them as well - just different ones. It's all bad. She just can't face another holiday dealing with them and that's when her teenage employee gives her the brilliant idea of a fake boyfriend - and oh, her Dad would be perfect for the job.

Original Blaze Cover

Erick Field has his own contracting business (cedar siding, decks, that kind of thing) and is raising his teenage daughter, a would-be eco-warrior named Ruthie, nearly full-time, since his ex lives in Los Angeles. He's been attracted to Clover from the jump, when he practically begged her to give his daughter a job so she could pay back court-ordered damages because eco-warrior. Anyway, he's been strictly hands off with her because Clover has been a positive female influence, Ruthie needs that, and Erick loves his daughter. Then, Ruthie, that sly minx, pushes them together just as she's walking out the door to visit her Mom. 

They have roughly a week before the Greene family descends on Mount Hood, so what do they do for the first 80% of this book? Talk endlessly and have sex. Seriously, these two never shut-up. Not even when they're having sex. Yes, ladies and gents, we're regaled with dirty talk (which I tend to hate with a burning passion in romance novels because it's nigh to impossible IMHO to write it well - go ahead and fight me). I can't even begin to tell you how much of this book I skimmed. Like giant, cavernous chunks of it. In fact the only reason I didn't DNF this is because I was waiting for it - the big confrontation scene with Clover's family that I knew was coming. A big confrontation scene over Thanksgiving dinner.  And y'all - it was GLORIOUS!

Which I guess means I cared a modicum about Clover? Although I think I cared more about those assholes getting the dressing down of a lifetime. Seriously, for my money just skip the first 80% of this book, get to the point where the Greene family shows up and start reading. You're getting the best part. 

Am I not being fair to this book? Maybe. I'm sick, I had a bad attitude going into it because as a general rule I have a bad attitude about most books people seem to gush over (look, I'm contrary OK - but it's my blog I'm allowed). But that Thanksgiving dinner scene? Worth the price of admission. Finally, after years of reading about romance heroines who let their families walk all over them, we get one that erupts like Mount Vesuvius. But of course her Mom calls after and they agree to work on their relationship and of course Clover is a virgin when she starts climbing Erick like a jungle gym in the first 20% of the story. I mean, it doesn't tread that much new ground.

Final Grade = C-

#TBRChallenge 2025: Regency Christmas Parties

The Book: Regency Christmas Parties by Annie Burrows, Lara Temple and Joanna Johnson

The Particulars: Regency Historical Romance Anthology, Harlequin Historical #1689, 2022, Out of Print, Available digitally

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: Seriously? It's a Harlequin Historical Christmas anthology. The better question would be which ones AREN'T in my TBR? 

The Review: Of course I waited until the last minute to pick out and read something for this month's Celebration! theme. When time is short (typical) I go diving into the cupboard where I horde my stash of print Harlequins and a cursory dig didn't turn up anything inspiring. So to the digital pile I went and immediately stumbled across this anthology that features Christmas parties! I mean, how perfect can you get? And lucky me, this turned out to be a pretty enjoyable anthology overall.

Invitation to a Wedding by Annie Burrows gets us off on the right foot. Clara is a spinster assistant teacher at a boarding school where the students are mainly the children of indigent or decreased clerics, so her former pupil, Isabella "Bella" Fairclough, was a bit of an oddity. Her father being well off and still alive. No, Bella was dumped off at the school because her father remarried and her stepmother didn't want her underfoot, especially after she birthed twin boys. Bella was a handful and Clara was the only teacher who could bring her (somewhat) to heel, although the headmistress is still a bit put out that Clara scored an invitation to Bella's upcoming wedding - to a Duke no less! So off Clara goes, spinning fantasies of her first real Christmas family gathering since her parents died when she was ten.

Lieutenant Hugo Warren meets Clara's carriage and rescues her from the path of an on-coming horse. Naturally Clara is not what he expected, what with her drab clothing, threadbare coat and one small bag. This is the bride's maid of honor? He has reasons for not wanting this marriage to happen, and regardless of what Clara might think, it's not because he's next in line to inherit the title unless Bella spits out a son. No, he's more concerned about the Duke being three times the bride's age and four times her girth. Maybe he can get Clara on his side to talk some sense into Bella? 

Clara is glad she came because obviously Bella needs someone on her side! It doesn't take long to realize it's a nest of vipers around her former student, who is lavishing Clara with a fabulous, albeit "used", wardrobe and making sure she partakes in all the delights the Duke's household has to offer. Bella knows that Clara might feel "out of place" so she's doing everything in her power to make sure she has a great time. This leads to Clara spending more time with Hugo and before you know it, these two are smitten.

This story feels very Traditional Regency with a bit of an edge to it - namely the sour secondary characters and ultimately what we learn about Bella's character and motives. The romance moves along at a good just-kisses clip, and there's plenty of tension to give readers a little sizzle. A very pleasant read.

Grade = B

Snowbound with the Earl by Lara Temple was the highlight of this anthology. Bella (no connection to the Bella in the previous story!) is a poor, orphaned relation living with her "sickly" aunt and her flighty, rebellious, and spoiled cousin, Violet. Violet fancies herself in love with Rupert, who is not yet of age - but no matter they're running away to Gretna Green to elope! Rupert is a nice boy who doesn't deserve to be used by her social climber cousin, and Violet deserves better than a mooncalf mama's boy. Having already set plans in motion to keep Violet at home, Bella arrives at the designated rendezvous site to deal with Rupert - only to find his insufferable cousin, Lord Deverill. Nicholas is also there to thwart the elopement and they both have been trying to break up the couple for months. However, even though they have the same goal they literally cannot stand each other. These two rub each other in all the wrong ways - which we all know what that means.

Circumstances lead to Bella going back to Nicholas' family home to conclude the business at hand but wouldn't you know it? Bella gets snowed in. She'll have to spend the holidays with Nicholas and his family. Gee, whatever shall happen next?

The banter in this story is so delicious. I laughed out loud on a couple of occasions and the tension between these two is thick. Naturally one thing leads to another and they fall in love. My only quibble with this story is the doomed "romance" of Violet and Rupert is dealt with an perfunctory manner and one wonders what those two kids are going to say when Nicholas and Bella 1) end of married and 2) catch wind of what they did to keep them apart. No mistake, I don't feel bad for them. It's pretty obvious it's a "romance" in name only and Violet definitely reads like someone who would move on quickly. 

Grade = B+

A Kiss at the Winter Ball by Joanna Johnson is the last story in the anthology, and also, unfortunately, the weakest. A shame since it's got a very unique premise.

Maria Bartlett is the daughter of a gentleman farmer desperate to get her father to see reason. She's capable of more than just sitting at home doing needlepoint. She wants to work on the farm just like her brother does! So with a bit a subterfuge and the luck of her brother spraining his ankle, she's driving the last remaining Christmas turkeys into the town of Atherby. But, of course, she ends up taking a wrong turn and is rescued by a man who tells her she's on Viscount Stanford's land. With the hour getting late, Alex offers to take her up to Millbrooke Hall for the night. The Viscount would not want a woman traveling alone at night with a storm rolling in. 

We all know where this is going - Alex is, of course, Viscount Stanford and soon the weather turns so nasty that Maria is forced to stay several days at the estate. It's Insta-Love from the jump, which is already not my favorite, but then add in that Alex is engaged to someone else. It's an arrangement agreed upon by his and the bride's parents when they were barely out of diapers. No matter, it doesn't stop him from falling in love with Maria (somehow?) after clamping eyes on her and it doesn't stop Maria from feeling all gooey about him even AFTER she finds out the engagement will announced at an upcoming ball at Millbrooke Hall that of course Alex invites her to attend (my hero, I guess?). 

This just didn't work for me. I get that his impending engagement is not a love match, and his intended isn't crazy about marrying him either (more on that in the story) but it doesn't change the fact that Maria and Alex decide they're in love with each other in about 10 seconds flat.  I understand some folks like Insta-Love stories. I think they're wrong, but to each their own. This was certainly readable and I liked the "walking Christmas turkeys to market" premise - but it was pretty meh otherwise.

Grade = C-

Anthologies are typically mixed bags and even though the final story was my least favorite, the overall reading experience was really solid for me. I've never read Temple before and the strength of that story alone will have me diving into my TBR to see what else turns up. The world-building was strong in every story and left me with the first small glimmer of Christmas cheer I've had this season. I'm calling this one a win.

Overall Final Grade = B

Mini-Reviews: Cozy (and Series) Round-Up

Now that I'm fully back to reality (mores the pity) from my fabulous two-week vacation in late September, it's time to catch up with reviews for books I read but never go around to blogging about. Given that the first book on our hit parade was finished before I went on vacation (and my memory ain't what she used to be...), it's time for another round of patented Auntie Wendy Mini-Reviews. 

Just Make Believe by Maggie Robinson is the third book in her Lady Adelaide series and one I finished back in early September. Off page between the second book and this one Addy apparently put the moves on Detective Inspector Devenand Hunter, advances that he rebuffed. Not because he's not attracted to her (which is what Addy thinks) but because of the fact that they come from two completely different worlds. This on top of the fact that her dead husband, and now the ghost haunting her to "make amends" so he can get into heaven, Rupert couldn't keep it in his pants while he was alive (and he died in a car accident with one of his mistresses no less) - let's just say Addy's pride is a bit hurt. So she decides to go to a house party hosted by her closest neighbors, Hugh and Pamela Fernald to take her mind off her embarrassment. Hugh, now confined to a wheelchair, is one of England's great war heroes - so when his wife is found poisoned in the conservatory it's shocking indeed. Setting her wounded pride aside, Addy calls in Inspector Hunter who is soon working the case.

Is there anything better than dead bodies showing up at an English house party? To my way of thinking, not really - and it's the premise of this story that kept me engaged. Hugh may have been a war hero but his wife had a pile of secrets - secrets that ultimately got her killed. The question being, which one of the house guests, servants or family members actually poisoned her?  Rupert's ghost, of course, shows up to help Addy, and that was my issue with this entry. I typically eschew ghost characters in mysteries because so often they serve as sleuthing shortcuts and while Rupert avoids that tag in the first two books, he's a big ol' giant shortcut in this entry. Enjoyed the premise, wasn't entirely wild about the execution.

Final Grade = B-

Farewell Blues by Maggie Robinson is the fourth and final book in the Lady Adelaide series and picks up right were the third book left off (which is a cliffhanger).  Unbeknownst to Addy and her sister, their mother, the very proper Dowager Marchioness had...a lover?!  A Duke with a reputation for being a big ol' stick in the mud, but a man has needs I guess so not so much of a stick in the mud that he didn't take a lover.  Anyway, the man has been shot dead in their love nest at The Ritz, and Addy's mother was found standing over the body holding a gun. Um, her gun. And turns out her gun was the murder weapon. The Detective Inspector assigned to the case sees it as open and shut so his desire to actually investigate is nil.  Enter Detective Inspector Devenand Hunter, who is recovering from injuries from the previous book so decides to take some time off so he can privately work the case.

There's plenty of suspects because the Duke's family is a veritable nest of vipers and of course Rupert's ghost comes back to help with the case, despite the fact he feels he more than earned his wings in the last book. While the mystery itself features a nice amount of twists and a variety of suspects, there's a lot of unanswered backstory left off page - namely what Addy's mother would have seen in the Duke, who was stodgy, crusty and frankly had a vile family.  We'll never know, since the author chooses not to address it.  Rupert's ghost provides more shortcuts here, but not as many as the previous entry and in the end he finally earns his wings and stops haunting Addy, to her great relief.  Since this is the final book in the series the author gives the reader 3 (!) epilogues to wrap up the various romantic entanglements that developed over the series.  These felt very much like an afterthought to me, like the author found out in the 11th hour that the publisher was dropping the series so hurry up quick and write some epilogues so we can tack them on at the end. Did I think they could have been better integrated into the story?  Yes.  Did I not like them? Good heavens, I'm not a monster. Who doesn't love 3 happy endings?  Monsters, that's who.

Final Grade = B

Murder in the Dressing Room by Holly Stars is a book I wanted to like a lot more than I actually did.  It has a dynamite premise, which is why I downloaded it in the first place. By day, Joe works a drab, dreary day job as a hotel accountant but by night he is the fabulous drag queen, Misty Divine, working at the legendary Lady Lady's club in London's West End. It starts out as just another night at the club but Misty, who is very close to her mentor, Lady Lady, notices that she seems "off."  When she goes to check on her after the show she finds Lady Lady dead in her dressing room, poisoned by a box of doctored chocolates.

Naturally everyone who had access to the backstage dressing room area are suspects and of course the lead Detective Inspector on the case is an asshole, although his female partner isn't all bad. There's nothing for it, Joe/Misty decides to investigate the crime themselves and naturally lands themselves in a bit of hot water as it appears the killer isn't afraid to strike again.

Like I said, the premise is dynamite and the world-building is pretty good.  Unfortunately the writing isn't. It lacks polish, is very tell-y and more than a bit repetitive - especially when it comes to Misty's internal thoughts and worries. I think had I been home at the time I started reading this it would have failed the pick-up / put-down test, but I was trapped on an airplane when I started it so I plowed through a massive chunk right out of the gate.

Things got a bit better for me once the coincidence of Misty turning up where she doesn't belong too many times gets her arrested, but ultimately she's sprung by the cops and ends up solving the case. Unfortunately while Misty is a fabulous drag queen she suffers from the same affliction that many straight cupcake-baking, knitting amateur sleuths do - which is she's a bungling incompetent more often than not. There's also a dangling loose thread left unaddressed, likely because it's going to be fodder for the next book in the series, currently targeted for June 2026.  I liked the premise and this did keep me reasonably entertained, but between the lackluster writing and Misty annoying me in that special way a lot of amateur sleuths annoy me, it's unlikely I'll pick up Book 2.

Final Grade = C-

#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

Review: Reunited With His Long-Lost Nurse

Y'all, my reading mojo has been in the toilet for well over a month now. I'm getting TBR Challenge books read and I've gotten through an audiobook, but I'm not reading. Why? Fatigue, not having the spoons, torn with indecisiveness of what to read next - I mean, it's a lot of things. But I miss reading and I need to kick start my mojo somehow, so I thought a category romance might be in order. When I find a decent one I can inhale the story in one sitting, which is what happened with Reunited With His Long-Lost Nurse by Charlotte Hawkes.  This is Harlequin Medical I dug up from the depths of my Kindle and it is hardly perfect, but it was readable so I'm counting it as a win.

Liam Miller is on his way to the fictional Caribbean island of St. Victoria to take over a case from a heart surgeon who has been laid up thanks to an accident. The only reason he's going is because of his dedication to his work and ensuring patients get the best care possible, otherwise he'd avoid St. Victoria like the plague. It's her home. Nurse Talia Johnson. The woman who breathed color and life into his empty existence when they worked together in North Carolina, only for him to come home one day to find she had ghosted him. Poof! Gone. No call, no note, nada.

Talia returned home for "reasons" (it takes some time to find out why) and I feel some kind of way about folks who ghost lovers, but when you meet Liam you understand. This guy might as well have a neon sign blinking over his head that screams "Emotionally Unavailable." Liam isn't the one who got away so much as he was the one that was never hers to begin with, even though she was in love with him.  Nope, this guy is an emotional black hole. Doesn't believe in love. Thinks he's damaged beyond repair. Why? Daddy, of course. Liam's mother died in childbirth and from the cradle Daddy took his grief out on his son.  

The conflict in this story is all internal and, while highly emotional, it's one of those stories where if Talia just told Liam why she had to rush home and that part of why she left is because he's emotionally vacant - well, this story would have been 50 pages long. Which means we get some talking in circles and repetition. The author infuses a decent sense of place, and pours on some medical jargon (honestly, heavier than I've read in most Medicals) but it boils down to this - Liam is emotionally unavailable and needs therapy, Talia should probably have slapped him and said, "Come find me when you want to stop punishing yourself." 

Does this sound heartless of me? Probably. And yet still I zipped through the story. Hawkes can certainly bring the sexy times and while I found the internal conflict a little tedious at the start, it becomes more emotionally charged by the end.  That said, it all felt too long and drawn out, and Medicals are roughly the same length as Harlequin Presents (under 200 pages) - so, yeah.

This is fourth and final book in The Island Clinic multi-author continuity series and it stands alone amazingly well. I didn't fall in love but I kept turning the pages and I read it in one sitting, only coming up for air when I couldn't ignore the need for dinner any longer. There was enough on the page here that I'd read this author again.

Final Grade = C+

#TBRChallenge Review: The Wedding Journey

The Book: The Wedding Journey by Cheryl St. John

The Particulars: Inspirational historical romance, Harlequin Love Inspired Historical #131, 2012, First book in multi-author Irish Brides trilogy, Out of print, Available digitally

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: St. John is an autobuy. Also I was so intrigued by the premise that I bought the entire trilogy back in the day because why let one book languish in your TBR if you can let three?

The Review: I didn't start reading for this month's Challenge until Sunday evening and I ended up DNF'ing my first choice after the prologue (seriously, here's my GoodReads "review"). Panic officially setting in, I picked up my tablet and went diving through the digital Harlequin stash and stumbled across this book by St. John that fit this month's Road Trip theme to perfection. I had a number of issues with this story but I managed to finish it in one sitting.

Nora, Bridget and Maeve Murphy live in Castleville, Ireland (there's references to a "County Beary" which I've never heard of, but Castleville is in County Mayo so if anyone Irish is reading this let me know if the authors of this trilogy totally ran off the rails) and they've just buried their father, who perished thanks to old friend influenza. Their mother has been dead for a decade and it's 1850, right in the middle of the Irish Potato Famine.  Times are hard and the landlord is throwing the girls out of the only home they've known.  They have a few coins and are well and truly desperate when they uncover a hidden letter in their mother's trunk. A man, who talks like he's a former beau, who says he's settled in Faith Glen, Massachusetts. Along with the letter?  A deed to a small cottage.

The girls have never heard of this man but with zero options they decide to take a flier. There's less than nothing left in Ireland, America at least offers hope. They sell a couple of things their mother saved "for a rainy day" and board the Annie McGee in Galway, headed to Boston Harbor. What money they had paid for their passage so the hope is they can find work on the ship.  That's turning out to be difficult until divine intervention steps in.

A young boy is hurt when the ship's doctor's assistant overturns a load of supplies on the dock. Maeve was a midwife and healer (homeopathic, herbal remedies) back in Castleville and that training leads to her reacting quickly. By the time the ship's doctor arrives on the scene she's fashioned a tourniquet and slowed the bleeding, saving the boy's life.

Flynn Gallagher is the ship's doctor, is from a well-to-do Irish family and is running from his past, hence ship's doctor. He's also smart enough to fire his assistant on the spot and hire Maeve once he learns she's going to be a passenger on the ship. Even better? He has positions for her sisters as well! Nora helping in the galley and Bridget taking a governess post for a family left in a lurch. Jobs squared away, the sisters set sail to America, hoping for a fresh start, and to learn more about their mother's past.

Flynn and Maeve are the featured romance in this story, and if you're wondering why I buried the lede, there's a reason for that - it's rather thin, along with the characterizations. There's quite a bit of telling in this one and while Flynn and Maeve have baggage it all felt surface level. Also Maeve borders dangerously close to Mary Sue territory and while the couple spends time together I felt like it wasn't meaningful time together. I'm not sure how these two fell in love other than they think the other one is kind and nice.

But hey, marriages have been built on less in and out of romance novels and the story moves along at a good clip in large part thanks to the setting.  St. John does a good job with it and features a light "found family" storyline and details about life on the ship. Think of it like a floating boardinghouse and you'll get a good idea of what to expect. There's trials, tribulations and plenty of personalities.  This aspect of the story is definitely what kept me turning the pages, more so than the romance. In fact I was so invested in all these people I met on the ship that the next book I'm reading is the second one in this trilogy.

This is an inspirational romance so I'm going to talk about The God Stuff. Folks, it's heavy and clunky. I am capable of enjoying inspirational romance but I much prefer the ones where that aspect of the story comes through in themes and nuanced characterizations. Here it's a lot of dropped scripture and characters praying when they burn breakfast (OK, not literally - but they pray a lot). It all felt heavy-handed, which is probably a good thing since it was easy to see coming a mile off and I would know to start skimming.

There's a Mean Girl secondary character's redemption at the end of the book that left me unconvinced but at least this is an inspirational where the couple isn't dead below the waist (Flynn and Maeve share a few kisses) and truly, the "life aboard a ship" stuff was really entertaining. Even with all my issues I was invested enough to snarf down the book in one gulp.  St. John has written better but after DNF'ing my first choice (after the prologue!), I certainly could have done worse.

Final Grade = C

#TBRChallenge: Silver Belles

 The Book: Silver Belles by Sarah M. Anderson, Ros Clarke, Laura K. Curtis, Yasmine Galenorn and Suleikha Snyder

The Particulars: Contemporary romance anthology, 2016, Self-published, Out of print, two stories (linked below in review) available separately in digital

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: Disclaimer that I know Sarah M. Anderson and Laura K. Curtis. Anderson and I presented a workshop together at an RWA conference a million years ago and Curtis and I have hung out together at various events. I suspect Anderson might have sent me a copy of this book once upon a time.

The Review: I had a completely different book picked out for this month's Challenge but when I went looking for it, I couldn't find it. What I did find was this holiday anthology that I had totally forgotten I owned, it fit the theme perfectly, with characters all over the age of 40, and I'm nothing if not an opportunist.

The Christmas Pony by Sarah M. Anderson gets things off to a good start thanks to a very funny meet-cute of an opening. Alice is a divorced teacher with a grown daughter who acts like she's decrepit even thought she's only 50 ("Mom I worry about you all alone..."). She likes her life in her Midwest town and she's friendly with her neighbors. Maybe too friendly since one of them shows up and leaves a pony (yes, a pony) on her doorstep. One of his daughters is her student and while his wife and daughters are citizens, she thinks he may be undocumented. Which she suspects is why he's leaving a pony on her doorstep about one step ahead of the local law.

Kirk Douglas (yes, really - it's joke fodder in the story) lands on Alice's doorstep after getting an anonymous call that someone is keeping a farm animal within city limits. The fact that it's Alice, this attractive, single, straight-arrow school teacher doesn't fit. There's obviously more to the story, and he's more than happy to investigate, as well as ask Alice on a date to an ugly sweater party.

This was a charming story with a fun rom-com style vibe and a very light mystery about the pony (Where did it come from? How did Alice's neighbor come to have it?).  Although not gonna lie - the undocumented neighbor plot element really hits differently in 2024 given current events.  Frankly the happy ending feels positively quaint.

Grade = B

Midnight Clear by Ros Clarke is essentially an inspirational (no sex, but the characters aren't dead below the waist) given the importance faith plays in the story. Allison is a single mom to two teenage boys, having left her unfaithful ex-husband back in South Africa, she's now in rainy, cold England for her first Christmas post-divorce when her dreary mood is interrupted by an rambunctious Irish setter at the local park.

The dog's owner is local vicar Peter. The two soon strike up a friendship and Allison is feeling tingly for the first time since her husband ran over her ego and self-worth. The fly in the ointment? Allison's faith is badly shaken....did I mention her philandering husband was also a vicar? Who cheated on Allison with members of his own congregation?  Yeah, great guy that one.

The presence of this story, with it's strong inspirational themes, is an interesting inclusion in this anthology. The short word count isn't enough to convince me that Allison is really moving on from the betrayal of her ex, but it's a quiet story that packs a punch. It petered out a bit at the end, but still - very interesting.

Grade = B

Sparks by Laura K. Curtis finds Kate Bellows returned home to her small upstate New York town to pull a local moving company back from the brink. The business is losing money and it's her job to right the ship. She starts by interviewing staff, including Adam Miller, the IT guy on staff and local volunteer firefighter. He's also very attractive, but given that she's now his boss - well that's a complication.  It gets even more complicated when her house catches on fire and Adam offers her a temporary place to stay.

I fell right into the first two stories but this one took a couple of chapters for me to find my sea legs. However once Kate's house catches on fire I was settled in.  This is a closed door romance and its strength lies in the details. I have a passing familiarity with upstate New York and Curtis does a fantastic job with the setting. I knew this town and could immediately picture it in my mind. I also loved the inclusion of a volunteer fire department. A good, solid romance with some added workplace complications to juice up the conflict.

Grade = B

The Longest Night by Yasmine Galenorn features the Winter Solstice and a practicing pagan heroine. Merilee Johansson has just gotten out of a bad marriage - her husband changed, she didn't. Things turned emotionally abusive until one day Merilee decided it was time to walk away.  She's relocated to a small artist community in Washington hoping to pick up her paints again - just as soon as she finds her muse. What she didn't expect to find was Chris Hunter, the handsome tech geek who comes to her new home to install her Internet. 

Not much happens in this story as it's mainly internal conflict.  Merilee and Chris like each other, go on dates, the end. Galenorn doesn't try to do too much with a short word count and it's well executed. Mileage will vary on this one. I zipped through it at a fast clip but it felt a little hippy-dippy new age-y for my tastes and anytime "fate" is mentioned in a romance novel my eyes tend to roll back in my head.

Grade = C

A Taste of Blessings by Suleikha Snyder features a lower angst forbidden romance against the backdrop of the Bengali Hindu celebration of Durga Puja. A book editor based out of Chicago, Tiya Chatterjee is coming home to Ohio for Durga Puja. A breath away from 40, single, and with no prospects on the horizon, Tiya is bracing herself for well-intentioned matchmaking, nosy aunties and her mother's disapproval over just about everything in life. She's also bracing herself to see Arnav Biswas, divorced father of two, sexy as sin, and her unrequited crush.  He's single, she's single, sparks start flying right away, so what's the problem?  He's divorced, she's never been married, and well that just won't fly with most of the folks in their community, including her parents.  Given the importance of community and family to both of them, this isn't something to take lightly, even if they want to tear each others' clothes off.

Another story that took me a moment to settle in, mainly because there are a number of secondary characters. But once I figured out who was who it was off to the races.  The fun is in the flirtation between Tiya and Arnav and the sly humor that Snyder infuses into the story.  The forbidden romance trope is not a favorite of mine, but in a novella where the angst is tempered by humor and banter?  It really worked for me.

Grade = B

This was a really strong anthology and a nice way to pass the time. I've been in a slump, put off my TBR Challenge read to the last minute, but had no trouble getting through all of these stories in two sittings. It's a shame that the anthology is no longer for sale and that three of the stories are currently unavailable.  Here's hoping the authors can make them available again down the road.

Review: The Girl Who Knew Too Much

One thing the collective we don't talk about enough is how what format you consume a story in can affect your enjoyment of that story, for good or ill.  As a long time audiobook listener (cough, cassettes, cough), I learned this very early on. I'll be honest, most narrators land in a middle ground for me. I don't notice them half the time. But the really bad ones?  Those stick out. Which brings me to The Girl Who Knew Too Much by Amanda Quick, the first in her Burning Cove series.  If I had read this it would have fallen into the very definition of a comfort read for me. Quick is a pro and can spin a good story, despite some foibles in this story that didn't work for me. No, instead I listened to the audio edition narrated by Louise Jane Underwood, and folks - it was not good. But more on that in a minute....

Spoilers

Anna Harris is an efficient, competent secretary for a wealthy woman in New York, until the night she shows up at her employer's country house to discover the woman very much dead. Obviously murdered, what with the blood spatter all over the place. In fact there's so much blood that her employer scrawls out a message to Anna - "Run."  As Anna is grabbing her personal belongings she finds that the shoebox where she was stashing her savings contains a lot more money than what she saved, a mysterious notebook, and a letter from her employer explaining that the notebook is valuable and that Anna might be able to use it for leverage.  The fly in the ointment? Anna can't make heads or tails of the numbers and scribblings in the notebook.

Anna ends up running all the way to Los Angeles, California, changes her name to Irene Glasson, and takes a job writing for a seedy gossip rag. This is the 1930s, gossip about Hollywood stars is in high demand, and Irene has stumbled into a humdinger of a story about a rising leading man. She heads to Burning Cove, an exclusive resort outside of LA that caters to the Hollywood elite, to meet with a woman who says she has dirt on this leading man. Too bad when Irene goes to meet this woman she finds her very much dead, drowned in the hotel's spa. I mean, this girl and dead bodies - what are the odds?

Oliver Ward is a former magician and was rather successful until an on stage "accident" ended his career. Now he owns the Burning Cove Hotel.  He prides himself on the exclusivity and privacy his hotel offers, so Irene, a reporter, being there isn't great, but the dead body is more worrisome.  I mean, he can't have guests getting murdered in his establishment, it's bad for business. So to get his own answers he's going to stick close to Irene, and they agree to work as a team. Of course things get stickier when Irene's past comes back to haunt her. 

I want to start off by saying I loved the setting of this story and Quick does a great job with it. 1930s California, a golden era in Hollywood movies, the fashion, night clubs catering to the elite in a post-Prohibition world, it's all great stuff.

So what's the problem?  This narrator y'all. The voices for Oliver and Irene were fine but the majority of the secondary characters were just terrible. The women sound like Gal Fridays in screwball comedies and the men all sound like 1930s radio ad men.  It's like the characters were SCREAMING! IN! ALL! CAPS! WITH! ENDLESS! EXCLAMATION! POINTS!

This was exhausting. And annoying. And because it was annoying I started to nit-pick things that I suspect would have rolled right off my back had I read this book.

Anna is on the run and in the 1930s assuming a new identity was easier than it is today. She also does a decent job of covering her tracks and is smart to run across the entire country. Then she loses me by taking a job has a gossip columnist in Los Angeles when waitress or factory worker are RIGHT THERE! For that matter she could have buried herself someplace like Middle of Nowhere, Oregon and nobody would have found her. Of course the bad guy who murdered her former boss ends up finding her and the way he finds her?  Through her current job of course (her picture ends up in the papers because of course it does).

Then there's the two mysteries thing - which felt like word count filler. The Hollywood mystery should have been enough, but instead we get the first murder which bakes in a espionage plot and then we have the secret of what happened when Oliver almost got killed on stage and it all felt disjointed. As a reader I was getting pulled into too many different directions.

The romance is fine but a little flat. Oliver and Irene make a good team in the mystery department but I'm not sure I really got "passion" and of course there's a marriage proposal after they've known each other for, like, a week. 

I ended up slogging my way to the end and was happy to put it behind me because y'all, this narrator. Oof!  Had I read this book my grade would probably be around a B-. I think I still would have nitpicked the plot half to death (I'm nothing if not on brand) but I would have ended this review with something like "it's not perfect but I had a good time reading it and inhaled it in two sittings."  Instead after a 2+ week slog on audio, we're left here.

Final Grade = C-

#TBRChallenge 2025: Greek Heir to Claim Her Heart

The Book: Greek Heir to Claim Her Heart by Jennifer Faye

The Particulars: Harlequin Romance #4794, Contemporary romance, first in trilogy, 2022, Out of print, Available digitally

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: It's a more recent release and it was in the print TBR, which means this was an impulse buy at either a used bookstore or library book sale (likely the latter).  These days the vast majority of my new Harlequin purchases are in eBook.

The Review: The best way to describe this book is inoffensive but bland. It's the kind of book that starts to fade from my memory the moment I finish the final page. I'm not sure this makes it "bad" but it definitely makes it flat.

Hermione Kappas was all alone in the world (and homeless) when she took a job at an exclusive luxury resort on a private Greek island. This is the kind of place that doesn't need to advertise that magically stays afloat by rich people in the know who talk the place up to their equally rich friends. Anyway, Hermione has worked her way up the food chain and is now the resort manager. She loves her job and has a nice little "found family" among the other resort staff.  The fly in the ointment?  The longtime owner has passed away and her estranged son has inherited the whole enchilada. 

Atlas Othonos runs a very successful security firm and needless to say he does not want to deal with his mother's death nor this inheritance. The woman abandoned him. Just up and left Atlas to be raised by his cold fish father. No contact, no nothing - poof! She's there one minute, gone the next. Needless to say he feels some kind of way finding out his mother owned a resort on a private island and that she built this whole new life where she was well-liked and respected while never giving a second thought to the son she just left behind like an out of season designer dress donated to a charity stop.  His plan is to get in, get out, and sell the resort to the first person with a reasonable offer that comes along. 

Thanks to terrible weather and a car accident, Hermione and Atlas unceremoniously meet and of course she doesn't disclose right away that she's the resort manager - which of course gets Atlas all butt-hurt when he finds out.  This unintended subterfuge doesn't last long but it's the first in many instances of the conflict lacking credibility or urgency. Anyway, he's grumpy and Hermione is determined to have Atlas fall in love with the resort so he won't want to sell and everybody can keep their jobs.  

The conflict here is all internal. Atlas was estranged from his mother and is rather put-out that she was Mary Mother of Private Greek Islands to everyone at the resort. There's absolutely no questions from Hermione of "hey, why are you a jackass and never talked to nor visited your mother?" nor is there any moment of Atlas retorting, "this woman you thought was so great just left me without a by-your-leave and dropped off the planet leaving me to be raised by my asshole father so yeah, my apologies I don't think she was all that and a bottle of ouzo."  Basically he just grumps around and she tries to get him to see how great the island and resort are.

Then there's the fact that Hermione's ex was always undermining her and chipping away at her self-esteem, questioning her choices and implying she wasn't doing something (OK, anything) right.  So when Atlas steps in to offer to help her out (which comes in the form of planning a big Valentine's Day party at the resort) she immediately thinks he's implying she's not capable or competent in her job.  I mean, seriously. She sets the land speed record for jumping to conclusions. This could work as conflict if the author spent any time developing it, but she doesn't. This, along with Atlas' feelings about his mother are written in a "by the way..." manner. It's all surface. I realize the limitations of category length but pages upon pages of angst aren't needed to accomplish this. A modicum of depth would have done the job. One or two heartfelt conversations between the couple or one of them and a secondary character would have gone a long way.

There's a number of secondary characters, including a prince from a made-up country (ugh, I miss the days when Harlequin Romances featured normal, everyday characters....), the resort concierge, and a friend of Atlas', who he is trying to sell the resort to. They're mostly there as sequel bait, although the concierge plays a healthier role as she's trying to throw Hermione and Atlas together as much as possible.

Of course things are torn asunder for a third act break-up and of course Atlas falls into a giant vat of melted Velveeta dialogue to win Hermione back.  Declarations of true love, a marriage proposal and they all live happily ever after.

Is this the worst category romance I've ever read? Hardly. But there's just not much here. The conflict could have worked for me but it lacks any sort of urgency or oomph to make it compelling. A hero with abandonment issues? A heroine with self-esteem issues? I mean, the angst should be dripping off the pages here. Instead it's mentioned in a way that felt like the author was ticking boxes and, as a result, I wasn't emotionally invested.

It's a quick read and I wasn't reading angry, but I was reading to get to the end so I could move on to something more compelling in my TBR.  Very much meh.

Final Grade = C

Review: Hollywood Homicide

Y'all my TBR is like the scene out of disaster movie, except instead of bodies, it's print books scattered across the landscape or digital files buried on my Kindle. In both instances I'll turn to spelunking to unearth stories long neglected, which is how I finally came to read Hollywood Homicide by Kellye Garrett. She has since gone on to write more hard-boiled suspense (see my recommendation for Like a Sister), but this was her debut back in 2017 and it's a cozy mystery.

This book is a cozy mystery the way I like 'em. There are no small town cupcake shops that employ magical baking cats who knit in their spare time. It was marketed as a cozy because it's light on gore, violence and "bad language," but it doesn't devolve into any of the cutesy crap that the subgenre has morphed into. It's cozy in the way that Sue Grafton would sometimes be cozy, and y'all I was here for it.

Dayna Anderson is a nice Southern girl and retired actress. She's also flat broke. After a successful run as a spokesperson for a fast food chicken franchise, she's made the decision to quit Hollywood and find another line of work. The problem being that she hasn't yet, has been relying on temp jobs, and well....she's broke. Then her father calls. The bank is about to foreclose on her parents' house. Dayna is desperate. She'll do anything to help her parents. And that's when she sees the billboard. Haley Joseph, pretty, young and blonde, was killed in a hit a run and the cops have opened up a tip line, offering a reward. If a tip comes in leading to an arrest? That person will be $15,000 richer. Dayna, seeing no other options, decides to to play amateur private detective. 

This story has a lot going for it. Our lead protagonist is a Black woman who has had a boob job, and not villainized for it. She investigates Haley's death with the help of her two best friends, Sienna, an ambitious would-be actress and Emme, a tech nerd who happens to be the twin sister of a famous actress. The LA setting is well drawn, and Garrett's occasional skewering of the entertainment industry hits all the right notes. I was enjoying this quite a bit, until I wasn't.

About halfway through it just starts to descend into too much silliness. Dayna has a tendency to exclaim privately (in her own head) things like "Fudge" and "Blergh" when things don't go her way. Then there's Aubrey S. Adams-Parker. This guy y'all. We never get his full story (presumably fodder for the next book in the series?), but he's apparently a former cop who is now a private investigator. Oh and he doesn't drive - he rides a bike. Yes, in LA. It's hard to not have a car in this town and this guy is a private investigator? Sure Jan. Also, since he rides a bike that means he wears a reflector suit and he keeps showing up in the middle of Dayna's snooping. And it's always "Aubrey S. Adams-Parker," never just Aubrey or weirdo guy wearing a reflector suit. I think he's supposed to be funny, but frankly he's tedious.  

Dayna keeps calling the tip line and talking to a gum smacking operator who doesn't take her seriously because by the end of this thing Dayna has accused four different people of running Haley down. The truth comes out in the end, but by that point the ending dragged on a little too long and things got a little too convoluted, and what started out as a fun, breath of fresh air read for me, turned into a book that took me three weeks to finish.

Look, there are definite high points here. Like a said, a Black woman protagonist with a group of friends who solve a mystery together - this is not something growing on trees. Also Garrett does an excellent job with the setting and the cozy vibes. It's just that the humor didn't always land for me, and humor is subjective as hell. Among my mutuals there are folks who really loved this book and folks who, like me, were more "this is OK but didn't always work for me." On the bright side, nobody seemed to outright hate it - so definitely one where mileage is gonna vary.  If this sounds like your thing? I definitely think it's worth a look.

Final Grade = C+

Review: In the Face of the Sun

After reading and enjoying Wild Women and the Blues by Denny S. Bryce last year (her debut from 2021), I fully expected to enjoy her follow-up from 2022, In the Face of the Sun. Unfortunately this ended up being a dreaded case of the "sophomore slump" for me.

This is a duel timeline historical fiction novel with some romantic elements. After an introduction set in 1990, the book opens in 1968 with Frankie Saunders finally determined to leave her no-account abusive husband. What was the final straw for Frankie? She's pregnant. Unfortunately her carefully choregraphed plan goes all to hell when Jackson comes home early from work and her escape route, her Aunt Daisy, shows up in her flashy cherry red Ford Mustang early and stoned out of her mind to boot. A bunch of Drama Llama happens, Frankie ends up not taking the bus from Chicago to Los Angeles, and instead ends up agreeing to making the trip in the Mustang with Daisy and a white boy named Tobey (apparently Daisy and his mother were friends, but this is 1968 and Frankie doesn't trust white boys as a general rule). 

The other half of this story is set in 1928 and follows a young college-dropout (for reasons) Daisy working at the newly opened, Black built and owned, Hotel Somerville, located on "Black Broadway" in downtown Los Angeles. Daisy is a chambermaid with ambitions to be a journalist working for one of the famous Black newspapers, and the hotel quickly becomes the hotspot for the city's Black elite. This means Daisy has the inside track on collecting ALL the gossip - which she's doing for a local newspaperman she went to high school with. Daisy needs the money and is hustling her pretty little butt off. Her mother fell into a deep depression after her brothers (Daisy's uncles) died in the St. Francis Dam collapse and has been catatonically lying in bed ever since. Daisy wants to get her mother into one of those posh sanatoriums, not the vile state run hospital that her father is proposing. 

My goal in reading fiction is not to "learn something," but I will admit it's a nice added bonus when I do.  I live in Southern California and had NO CLUE about the Hotel Somerville (which still stands today as part of Dunbar Village and provides affordable senior housing) so the setting, the peppering in of real life historical figures, and the glimpse into that history was really interesting. Unfortunately it's wasted on poor pacing and half-baked character development.

The story is bookended with chapters set in 1990 and it's in the first chapter we learn there was a murder in 1928. Honestly, I ended up forgetting about it because the story drags on and the murder doesn't even happen until the 80% mark. What happens before that?  Not much. 1928 Daisy playing spy gathering gossip, trying to keep her younger sister in line, and falling in love with Malcolm Barnes, an affluent Black man determined to become a premier architect. 1968 Frankie spends the entire time bickering with 1968 Daisy all while somehow not having any kind of meaningful conversation with her (Daisy and Frankie's mother haven't spoken in 40 years and Frankie LITERALLY JUST MET Daisy like two weeks prior to the start of the book). Literally they just bicker. About nothing. It's boring and exhausting.

There's no bread crumbs. No teasing little reveals of family secrets to keep the reader moving forward in the book. It's all backloaded towards the end and when the murder finally does come to light?  Everything, quite literally EVERYTHING, is told to the reader. A police officer showing up on 1928 Daisy's doorstep telling her there's been a murder. The final denouement at the end told to 1968 Daisy by a secondary character. Tell, tell, tell. I wasn't invested in any of it. 

Exacerbating the problem is Daisy's character development. Folks, I couldn't figure out for the life of me how I was supposed to believe that 1928 Daisy was the same person as 1968 Daisy.  For lack of a better description, 1928 Daisy is hardworking, earnest and has a stick up her butt. Oh she'll bend some rules but in many ways she's quite proper. 1968 Daisy is a cherry red Mustang driving, smoking (cigarettes and marijuana), drinking, switchblade carrying (and not afraid to use it) mouthy woman with no filter. I'm not saying these two people can't be the same person - what I am saying is that with nothing happening for 80% of the book there's not enough bread crumbs left for me to believe these two people are the same person. When it comes to Daisy we start at A and somehow end up at Z with no explanation let alone foreshadowing along the way.

It's, of course, all right as rain in the end. Frankie escapes her abusive husband (yes he of course learns she's pregnant and goes chasing after her cross country), Daisy learns the truth and reunites with her sister...along with another secondary character. The problem is I didn't care. It's hard to care about a dead body when it simply falls from the sky at 80% and then the "suspense" is told to the reader. It's hard to care about what happens to the characters when not much happens for most of the book. This is hardly an offensive read, but it's disappointing because the concept, setting and history all made for an interesting framework. It's just what was populating that framework was rather bland.

Final Grade = C-