Review: Herons Landing

There are two types of contemporary romance readers: those who turn up their nose at category and novellas because they're "too short" and those who look at single titles and think, "Dear Lord, how much filler crap am I going to have to wade through to get to the good bits?"  If you've been following this blog for any length of time you'll know I'm definitely the latter.  And yet?  I still occasionally dip my toes into the single title contemporary pool looking for...I'm not sure exactly.  One that doesn't make me feel like I'm wading through filler, I guess?  Herons Landing by JoAnn Ross is the first book in her Honeymoon Harbor series that sort of read like it was probably spun off another series.  While there's plenty of "filler" in this story, I'm here to tell you that if you love world-building and you love small town contemporaries?  This one is very, very good.  Even a hater like me has to recognize.

Brianna Mannion is in the hospitality business, a concierge at a ritzy Las Vegas resort/casino. She's used to the comically bizarre,  but after a run-in with a guest she not-so-lovingly dubs "Dr. Dick," she quits her job and heads home to Honeymoon Harbor, a quaint small town in the Pacific Northwest.  "Dr. Dick" was the final straw and when she sees a grand Victorian home that she's been obsessed with her entire life, Herons Landing, up for sale?  She takes it as a sign.  She's going home to open her own bed & breakfast - and for that she needs a contractor to help her restore the old gal to her former glory.

The best contractor in town is Seth Harper, her former childhood crush.  Like, serious crush.  Brianna has been pining after this guy since she was in short pants.  But Seth only had eyes for her BFF, Zoe - who went to nursing school on the Army's dime and was killed in a hospital bombing in Afghanistan.  That was two years ago and Seth is still heavily grieving. His routine of getting through the days, weeks and months since Zoe's death is so consistent that the town residents can set their watches by what Seth is doing at that moment.  Seth is at Quinn Mannion's brewery picking up dinner, so it must be 6:00PM on a Tuesday.  He's still got Zoe's car in the garage.  This guy might as well have "no fly zone" stamped on his forehead.

Brianna was Zoe's BFF and Seth is still mourning - so they share in that grief.  But as they begin to work on Herons Landing they are reminded of how much they think alike, how much they have in common, and naturally what happens in romance novels starts happening between Seth and Zoe.

Look, I'm going to be brutally honest.  If you strip out all the small town "stuff" from this book the romance between Seth and Zoe is essentially category romance length.  Like, probably the length of a Harlequin Desire (around 200 pages).  It's kind of frustrating actually because while I do think the author does eventually get there with the ending, I wanted a lot more of Seth working through his grief to see Brianna standing on the other side.  In the end I have every confidence that Seth is ready to move on - that he'll always love Zoe - but Brianna is a new happiness, a promising future if only he can get past his survivor's guilt.  I just wanted more lead-up getting to that point.

Ah, but that small town "stuff."  I have a low tolerance for such shenanigans, often suffering from cutesy overload - but Ross's world-building is so, so good.  Her characters are interesting without being overly saccharine.  She teases that some characters have a "past" that could become fodder for later books.  Plus she includes some added drama with Seth's parents - whose marriage has hit the skids. It's really clever - showing another side to Seth's character through his parents' pasts.

It did feel overly long to me at times and I did feel the pacing (especially early going) took a while to get anywhere - but oh how it pays off in the end.  Because y'all know what happens right?  Seth is a jackass, Brianna gets her heart broken, and the emotional aftermath that plays out is gut-wrenching.  Like cold-hearted Wendy almost leaked out some tears while listening to the final chapters of the audiobook gut-wrenching.

So, yeah.  Look.  I'm probably never going to be a reader to fully embrace long-ass single title contemporaries and I've never completely gotten on board with the small town contemporary craze - but folks, if this is your jam?  This book is a good one.  And the set-up of the series is also very promising.  Even I'm invested, which is saying something.

Final Grade = B

Guest Review: Summer on Mirror Lake

Today the Bat Cave is hosting guest reviewer Janet Webb who many of you know from her writing at Heroes & Heartbreakers (RIP), Criminal Element, and as a longtime resident of Romancelandia. Welcome Janet!

Honeymoon Harbor is a romance destination worth visiting—it’s a vibrant Pacific Northwest community, complete with a long-ago Romeo/Juliet*esque family feud, gorgeous brothers, to-die-for scenery, and plots that gently wind themselves around the heart strings. Summer on Mirror Lake is the 3rd Honeymoon Harbor book. Herons Landing #1 and Snowfall on Lighthouse Lane #2 are the first two book in the series. It reminds me of Debbie Macomber’s Pacific Northwest series (a compliment, believe me!) because earlier characters don’t disappear after they get their HEA: they are woven into the plot. (N.B. what really packs a wallop, the pointed brother to brother advice.)

Gabriel (Gabe) Mannion is the second oldest Mannion son, destined from birth to compete with his over-achieving older brother Quinn (former hot-shot lawyer, now crafts beer entrepreneur extraordinaire). Gabe did not expect to collapse at the funeral of his mentor but hey, who would? Where to recover and recuperate?

When he lands in the emergency room after collapsing at the funeral of a colleague and friend, Wall Street hotshot Gabriel Mannion initially rejects the diagnosis of an anxiety attack. But when warned that if he doesn’t change his adrenaline-fueled, workaholic lifestyle he could end up like his friend, Gabe reluctantly returns to his hometown of Honeymoon Harbor to regroup. 

Gabe reluctantly admits “that everybody had their limits,” and he decides to go for a run each morning along a lakeshore trail and visit Quinn’s bar each night to drink away his chagrin at having a life-plan interruptus. He knows that second chances don’t come along all that often. And in case we missed it, JoAnn Ross slyly reminds us of the quintessential second chance story.

But it wasn’t too late. He figured that ER doc was more like Scrooge’s Ghost of Christmas Future. He hadn’t revealed what would happen. Only what could. Gabe was perfectly capable of changing his fate. All he had to do was make a plan. It wasn’t all that different from analyzing financial data. 

What could go wrong? Gabe is a man with a plan and everyone in Honeymoon Harbor knows he’s richer than God. The problem with drinking at Quinn’s bar is that after two weeks Quinn tells it to him straight: “You do realize that you’re driving customers away.” Come again? But Quinn’s right, the bar isn’t as busy as it was when he first came to town. Of course, Gabe denies that it has anything to do with him but Jarle Biornstad, Quinn’s Norwegian giant of a cook, agrees: “The edgy vibe radiating off you is scaring people away.” They tell him how to fill his “days of leisure.” He should build a boat, something he loved to do before he went away to college. Specifically, a Viking faering.

“Even if I wanted to, which I haven’t said I do, it’d be a push to get a decent-size one done in three months.” Which was his deadline. By then he’d be rested, at his fighting weight and ready to get back into the fray.  

“Because your summer schedule is so booked.”  

Gabe gave him a hard stare. “You’re pushing me.”  

“Just saying,” Quinn said mildly. That was a funny thing about the eldest Mannion. Gabe couldn’t remember his older brother ever yelling, or even raising his voice. Yet, somehow, just like his dad, who was the quieter of his parents, he always got his way, always made things happen. 

Quick aside to JoAnn Ross: when is Quinn’s story coming down the pike because I’m more than ready!

I’m sure readers are more than ready to meet the heroine of Summer on Mirror Lake. Chelsea Prescott, head librarian and friend to all, faces life with a determinedly glass-half-full attitude. That’s her choice. Her childhood slid into tragedy after her younger sister died and her doctor dad left the family. Her mother died when Chelsea was in college—police called it an accidental overdose, but Chelsea saw it as a slow, tragic suicide. Honeymoon Harbor’s library was her safe place and former head librarian Lillian Henderson was her second mother. Chelsea may have stepped into Lillian’s shoes, but she’s determined to put her own stamp on the job. The Summer Readers’ Adventure group is Chelsea’s pet project—she not only wants kids to delve into books during the summer, she’s planning field trips to enhance the curriculum. What would match up better with a “Caldecott Medal-winning children’s book on northern myths” than a visit to see an actual Viking ship under construction? Brianna, a good friend of Chelsea, and the only Mannion sister, spills the beans, although she warns her girlfriend “not to get your hopes up.”

"He’s been a loner out at the lake, and extremely noncommunicative even with us. I have the feeling something significant happened in New York, but if anyone knows what it was, it’d be Quinn, and he’s not talking." 

Everybody knew that Quinn Mannion held secrets as tightly as a priest hearing a confession at St. Peter the Fisherman’s church. Which was why he undoubtedly knew personal things about most people in Honeymoon Harbor.  

“Well, it wouldn’t hurt to ask,” she decided. “All he can do is say, no, right?”  

“Right. And good luck. Quite honestly, I think it’s be as good for him as it would be fun for the kids.” 

A week or so later, Chelsea tracks down Gabe in a “back corner of the Honeymoon Harbor wooden boat-building school.” He doesn’t remember her although he has fond memories of Lillian Henderson. Chelsea tells him that Mrs. Henderson is on the advisory board.

“I didn’t realize libraries had advisory boards.”  

“Many do.” Twin dimples appeared in her cheeks as she smiled. She was, as his grandfather Harper would say, cute as a button. Even as her naughty librarian glasses had him imagining unbuttoning a few more of those buttons, Gabe reminded himself that he didn’t do cute. 

And he doesn’t do boat-building tours, telling her it’s a liability issue. Chelsea protests: “Even if I promise that they won’t touch a thing?” “Even then,” Gabe says and if you think that’s the end of it, you need to read more romance.

Summer on Mirror Lake is my favorite of the Honeymoon Harbor series because the protagonists are so different, yet they’re absolutely made for each other. Even when they resolve their difficulties over boat visits and decide to have a secret summer fling (that everyone in town knows about), the end of August looms like a big dark storm cloud. Everyone knows Gabe’s real home is the gold-paved canyons of Wall Street—or is it? JoAnn Ross never disappoints—take this to the beach and enjoy.

#TBRChallenge 2015: Everything and the Kitchen Sink

The Book: Impulse by JoAnn Ross

The Particulars: Romantic suspense, Pocket, 2006, In print

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: I honestly have no idea.  This isn't an autographed copy, so I don't think I picked it up at a conference, and the condition of the book is spectacular.  So I must have bought it new in a bookstore because the back cover blurb intrigued?  Your guess is as good as mine.

The Review: This book was a hot mess.  A readable hot mess, but a hot mess all the same.  As far as I can determine it's a stand-alone book, not connected in any way to any other books in the author's backlist.  And yet?  It's drowning in a sea of backstory and the author takes us out to dinner at The Trope Smorgasbord.

Once upon a time Will Bridger was working undercover vice in Savannah, Georgia.  Then he gets shot in a bust gone bad and loses his nerve.  It doesn't help that as he's lying in a hospital bed recovering from his gunshot wound he finds out his ex has died, leaving his teenage son motherless.  Oh, and he didn't know he had a teenage son.  Knowing he needs to make a change and knowing that he has an angry kid to now take care of, he moves back to his hometown of Hazard, Wyoming and is hired as the new Sheriff.

Faith Prescott has the late night radio show at the local station, and knew Will back in Savannah.  They had an affair while he was working a case that she was, unwittingly, wrapped up in.  Will makes his bust and their relationship hits the skids (because, like, duh).  She moves to Las Vegas, more stuff happens, she runs away to Hazard (Will said he was from there but he lied about everything else and it sounds like just the place to hide - so there you go) under an assumed identity.  Unfortunately her past seems to have found her in the form of a Las Vegas bounty hunter, and a pretty local teenager is found with her throat slashed out on a frozen lake.

So yeah, the backstory.  Good Lord there's a ton of it.  Faith's background alone is enough to make your head spin (sexually exploited child, teenage prostitute, unwittingly works for criminal, has affair with undercover cop, attracts stalker in Vegas, life falls apart in Vegas once stalker caught, goes to extreme lengths by running away, ends up in small town where serial killer sets up shop yada yada yada).  Then there's Will, the whole Savannah thing gone wrong, having his son dumped in his lap, his post-traumatic stress, his wild teenage years, his time in the military - and a partridge in a pear tree ::sing-song::.  Between all this baggage, none of which can possibly be explored with any depth in a 350 page novel, along with the suspense thread, and the fact that the author introduces us to several secondary characters - yeah, the "romance" here is totally Insta-Love.  Normally it would help that the characters have a shared history, but all of the backstory is "told" to the reader and I never got a good handle on who these characters were supposed to be.  They never felt real to me. 

Oh, and did I mention this entire story takes place in like 48 hours?  Yeah.

It's a lot of little things, like mini-bombs going off on the page.  Like the fact that Faith and Will's son Josh are supposedly "close."  But they spend zero time together on page until the end - so really, how "close" can they possibly be?  Also that Faith admits that while she knew the dead girl, and they talked, they never delved deeply into personal matters.  Then Faith sells Will on the fact that he needs her help looking for the killer because she knew things about the dead girl.  Really, like what?  You just said a few chapters ago that you didn't bear your souls to each other!

Then there's the writing.  It's lumpy.  There are moments when the author crams in current-at-the-time references that just felt jarring (the Torino Olympics, Janet Jackson's boob-snafu during the Super Bowl etc.) and asides that were just odd.  For instance, this is good:

Salvatore Sasone hated three things: Democrats, spaghetti sauce from a jar and cold weather.

 And this, is awful:

Given that his great-grandfather had immigrated to America from Sicily, obviously an appreciation of spaghetti (which had, by the way, been invented in his ancestral city of Catania) had been woven into his DNA with his black hair and dark eyes.

Oh for the love of Jeebus.  How was I expected to not laugh while reading that?

And there's things like that throughout the whole book, right down to an ending that puts the Capital R in Rushed.  Stuff starts flying out of left field in, what I'm guessing, was supposed to feel like a big, dramatic, and climactic ending.  Instead it was ::eyeroll:: seriously?

So why didn't I DNF this?  That's the million dollar question.  It was readable for me, despite it's numerous faults, it has short chapters, and having the print book meant it was super easy for me to skim (especially towards the end when any goodwill I had started to vanish).  Plus, I've pulled worse out of the depths of the TBR.  This isn't the worst thing I've ever read (not by a long shot), but there's also nothing here for me to recommend.  Although....I did keep reading it.  So I guess that's something.

Final Grade = D+