#TBRChallenge 2022: A Season of the Heart

The Book: A Season of the Heart by Jillian Hart, Kate Bridges and Mary Burton

The Particulars: Historical romance anthology, Harlequin Historical #771, 2005, Out of Print, Not available digitally (at one point it was though - so check your digital TBRs and/or local library).

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: It's a historical western anthology with a Christmas theme published by Harlequin Historical. Of course it was in my TBR.

The Review: I don't know exactly how long I've had this anthology in my TBR, but well over a decade is likely in the ballpark - and that's the problem. Because I think younger, less jaded, not beaten down to her soul by the last two years Wendy might have enjoyed this purely on a comfort read level - for a lot of the same reasons folks turn to Hallmark movies. But it's 2022 and I've lived five lifetimes in the past two years and this ended up being an anthology where none of the stories entirely worked for me.

Rocky Mountain Christmas by Jillian Hart is straight-up Rescue Fantasy. Sheriff Mac McKaslin is summoned to the train station on a snowy night where a single mother and her young daughter have been discovered stowing away on the train. The train conductor (in all his leering, "I'm sure there's some way you can settle up missy..." glory) is demanding restitution for his employer and Mac, while not wanting to throw her in jail, can't feed her to the wolves.  So he makes all the appropriate mouth noises and takes Carrie Montgomery into town, depositing her with his parents until he can figure out what to do with her.

What he does is basically try to get her out of town as fast as possible. Mac's a widower, haunted by his wife's tragic death, and Carrie makes him feel tingly in his manly bits - which is obviously like the worst thing that can happen to these sorts of romance heroes.  Her parents put her to work in their store, he secures her a train ticket to Seattle (where she was hoping to go to find work) and of course Carrie is one of those prideful Won't Take No Charity sorts of romance heroines so they butt heads.   

I mean, that's pretty much it.  Then they decide after knowing each other a few days that they're in love and the requisite marriage proposal happens.

I mean, it's fine, I guess?  But there's just not much fire here. There's not much of anything here.  Heroine in trouble, hero playing white knight, the end.  Meh.

Grade = C

The Christmas Gifts by Kate Bridges was the best story in the bunch for me, and while it didn't light my world on fire, it was better than OK. Sergeant James Fielder, a Canadian Mountie, is patrolling an isolated area on his dog sled when he finds an abandoned baby. Out in the cold.  The infant girl is cold, hungry and he's days away from civilization but he knocks himself out to get to Maggie Greerson's store in record time. Maggie is a young widow and James has mighty unrequited feelings for her.  Anyway, Maggie takes the baby in, her and James rekindle feelings they once had for each other and deal with past baggage between them.

What stood out for me in this story was what Maggie and James fight about - money.  Maggie is a widow with a successful business and sees all men as interlopers out to get their hands on her money.  James has a strained relationship with his father stemming from financial hardships the family had when he was growing up.  As sick as this sounds, I love reading a good argument in a romance story, and this was a really good argument.  This is also the story that I found was heaviest on the Christmas atmosphere, so a good candidate for a quick Christmas Eve read.

Grade = B-

Before Mary Burton took to writing suspense novels she wrote several historical westerns, and while The Christmas Charm starts out promising it ended up leaving me cranky.  It's 1869 and Colleen Garland is a young widow who has spent the past several years nursing an elderly husband from complications of a stroke. She made a lot of sacrifices so that her younger sister, Deirdre, could have the opportunities she never did, but now the bubble-headed ninny says she's quitting school and she's run off to marry a local ranch foreman!  Turns out the foreman works for Keith Garrett, the boy Colleen loved prior to the War, and who refused to marry her before he went off to fight. He's now a prosperous local rancher and naturally all butt-hurt that Colleen didn't wait for him - so there's tension there.

I cannot abide romance heroes like Keith. He's all up in his fee-fees because Colleen married "an old man" not considering for one hot damn minute that maybe she had no choice. It was either marry the old man or become a prostitute.  Her parents died, she finds out her father took out another mortgage on their land, the cattle all died during a terrible winter, the crops failed, like it all went to hell.  And there's Keith judging her after the fact. The same Keith who was all "I couldn't marry you, Virginia needed men to fight" and I'm reading this thinking child, please! F*ck Virginia!

And then of course they fall into bed together and they decide to get married and this asshat is all like "You need to give up the store."  After she worked herself to the bone to keep the store profitable after her husband's stroke?! The store that saved her from a frickin' life of poverty?!  Go f*ck yourself Keith. And then go f*ck the horse you rode in on. Seriously, this guy!

But of course they end up working it out and she pops out twin boys during a Christmas Day epilogue.  He's a jerk and she's an idiot for not shooting him in his manly pride. And on top of all this? He fought for the wrong damn side.  Seriously, I hated this guy.

Grade = D

So not a terribly successful anthology, although Bridges' story was not without some charm.  Honestly, what I'm taking away from this reading experience is the satisfaction that a long neglected print book is out of my TBR. Dare I say it? It feels like an actual sense of accomplishment.

#TBRChallenge 2022: The Mistress Deception

The Book: The Mistress Deception by Susan Napier

The Particulars: Contemporary romance, Harlequin Presents #2111, 2000, Out of Print, Available digitally

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: This was a recommendation from Willaful and Amazon has "helpfully" informed me that I bought the Kindle version in 2015 😬.

Spoilers Ahoy!

The Review: I have no idea how to write a review for this book. On one hand I got sucked in and inhaled this story in two gulps and it left me slightly hungover (in a good way). On the other hand, it's a But Wait, There's More! book. Just when you think the author can't cram in any more angsty drama llama, she somehow does and after a while it's one "shocking revelation" too many.  Yes, yes, I am aware this is a Presents, but seriously y'all - it's a lot.

Rachel is working security at a ritzy private party when Matthew Riordan arrives, already more than slightly drunk, and proceeds to make "a scene."  Well, a subtle scene - but the hostess is so freaked out she begs Rachel to do something so the matter doesn't escalate. Through a series of misadventures Rachel eventually gets Matt into the guest house where he behaves like a lout (there's no "forced seduction" or sex for that matter but it's an uncomfortable scene - the only saving grace being that Rachel can handle herself...). Eventually drunken Matt passes out and that should have been the end of it - except it isn't. Someone was there to take photographs, rather misleading ones, and someone appears to be up to blackmail.  Of course since this is a Presents Matt thinks Rachel is the blackmailer and vice versa.

If you distilled this story down to it's essence that's essentially it. Eventually, once the misunderstanding is cleared up, Rachel and Matt join forces to unmask the blackmailer and for that they need to neutralize the threat - which means, yep you guessed it, they're going to play the role of happy couple.  Matt swept her off her feet dontcha know.

The book starts out pretty great and Napier is a category romance pro. Once I started this I couldn't put it down.  But seriously, there are so many "revelations" in this book that it's hard to keep track.  I've got a mountain of spoilers ahead, so don't say you haven't been warned!

1) Rachel is described as "Amazonian." Six feet tall, a lot of lush curves, besides security she works as a masseur and personal trainer. Not the most egregious I've read, but some body issue hang-ups are on page.

2) Rachel is "an older woman."  She's got 4 years on Matt, which frankly didn't seem like a big deal to me but it's enough of a big deal for her that she thinks about it a couple times over the course of the story.

3) Rachel was engaged until her fiancé died in a car accident. He swerved to miss hitting a child and hit a tree instead. He leaves his half of a security company to her and Rachel's would-have-been brother-in-law (and now business partner) isn't her biggest fan.

4) Rachel was raped as a teenager. She gave birth to the child who was adopted by a very close family member. The kid is well aware that Rachel is the bio mom - so no big secret at any rate.

5) Matt is a virgin widower! He was Mr. Piney McPinens over his first wife, who fell hard and fast for Matt's Evil Cousin.  When she contracts HIV from an infected needle (she was a nurse), Evil Cousin dumps her like a hot potato even though she's pregnant with his baby. Mr. White Knight Matt marries her but first wife who is now a fragile emotional mess commits suicide. While she's still pregnant. 

6) Then, finally, to necessitate a third act separation (which blessedly doesn't last very long) the Evil Cousin tells Rachel that Matt was questioned by authorities and remanded for - oh just take a wild guess what offense.  Go on, I dare you.  (And of course he didn't do it - but this little bombshell was the biggest Out of Left Field moment of them all. I mean, it wasn't left field so much as out in the overflow parking lot for cripes sake. It's dropped like a live hand grenade into the reader's lap and then resolved within a couple pages. Like really?).

And I haven't even mentioned that Matt's father is laid up in the hospital to have bypass surgery.  After a while I lost track y'all.

Which makes it sound like this was an eye-rolling slog of a read for me. Yes, it's a lot of Drama Llama and yes it features a lot of problematic proto-typical Presents nonsense - but ask me if I care.

Narrator: Wendy, in fact, did not care.

It's hard to explain to folks who don't read (or particularly like) category, but when you land on an author who excels in writing the format it has a very Calgon, Take Me Away! quality to it. It also doesn't hurt that Rachel carries this book. Matt is an insufferable jackass for a good 60% of it but Rachel is the type of heroine who pushes back, gives as good as she gets. Matt can be cruel but Rachel can cut him to the quick just as easily.  She's no pushover and it not only saves the story but made me love it in spite of the But Wait, There's More!

What I'm left with is a book I enjoyed but I can't necessarily say I'd "recommend."   Well, let me rephrase - if you're a sucker for Presents, yes - this is one I'd recommend.  If you question the sanity of every Presents reader out there?  Maybe not so much.  But I did enjoy it despite, well, everything. Because, like, wow.

Final Grade = B

#TBRChallenge 2022: Witness on the Run

The Book: Witness on the Run by Susan Cliff

The Particulars:  Harlequin Romantic Suspense, 2019, Out of Print, Available Digitally

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: I had a long-neglected ARC of this on my Kindle. Also, fun fact, Cliff is a pseudonym for Jill Sorenson, who wrote several single title romantic suspense novels that I enjoyed.

The Review: Just look at that cover goodness. What can you expect from this story? Just look at the cover.  For once an art department in Romancelandia totally nailed it.  There was a lot about this book that screamed Wendy Catnip. I'm a sucker for a heroine in peril story and this one features working class characters.  The hero is also an Ice Road Trucker - which gives the story a survivalist "couple against nature" vibe.  Unfortunately I didn't love this story as much as I truly wanted to.

Tala Walker finally gathered up the courage to flee her abusive husband in Canada, a matter complicated by the fact that he's a cop. After being on the move for a while, she finally has settled (under an assumed name) in Middle Of Nowhere, Alaska. She's a waitress at a diner that mainly caters to truckers and cops (which she's not wild about - but the owner gives them free coffee and she keeps her head down).  She arrives to work one morning to find her boss sleeping off a drunk in his office, so she's alone to open in.  In walks a cop (free coffee) and shortly thereafter three rough looking characters.  They eat, they leave, and Tala decides to take out the garbage - and that's when she sees one of the rough looking guys shooting one of his companions. The cop gets irritated and tells the thugs to go back into the diner to do further "clean up."  Tala, not being stupid, sees this as a threat and takes off.  Safety comes in the form of the nearby truck stop and stowing away on a big rig.

The driver of said big rig is Cameron "Cam" Hughes. He knows Tala from the diner, having eaten there in the past and gotten his head turned.  This makes him uncomfortable because he's in Alaska to be alone darling.  He's a widower, a former cop, with a healthy White Knight Complex and a heaping side guilt. When his wife died he ran away to Alaska to become an Ice Road Trucker.  When he finds Tala stowing away on his truck he's not pleased.  Besides the fact that she's pretty and tempting?  Oh, the minor detail that she's obviously running from something and not giving him the entire truth. 

What follows is Tala traveling with Cam on the ice road, even though it could cost him his job, and the bad guys lurking around every snow drift.

The story got off to a rocky start because the early chapters felt spoon-fed to me.  I felt like the author was "telling" me the set-up instead of unfolding it through the characters feelings and actions.  But the writing did smooth out for me after a bit, and things picked up once Tala stows away on Cam's truck.

Cam is classic emotionally wounded hero. He's still hung up over his wife's untimely death (she was killed in an accident) and is the sort of guy who would rush into a burning building to save a family's pet cat - so even though he knows Tala isn't telling him everything his White Knight Complex kicks into overdrive. This was my main issue with him.  I would have hog-tied Tala until she told me the truth or else left her freezing butt behind in a snow bank until I got the truth out of her - but then we wouldn't have a story.

Tala was OK, I guess. I understood her distrust of law enforcement given her past (besides the abusive cop she's still married to, she's First Nations) and she immediately pegs Cam as the kind of guy who would demand going to the authorities (oh, little does she know...).  So she tap-dances around the truth a lot.  She's also a person whose crisis response is flight - so she runs. A lot. After a while I was not only exhausted, but annoyed.

The lines between Harlequin Romantic Suspense and Harlequin Intrigue have always felt murky to me, but someone once explained it to me that Romantic Suspense tends to be more "romance forward." That's certainly the case here, with Cam getting distracted and wanting to boink Tala even though he knows she's not being entirely forthcoming and Tala starting to not feel dead below the waist.  Of course this also means the suspense is kind of meh.  Not much is done about the murder, other than to say yes this guy was shot and yes Tala witnessed it. Fleshing out a motive? Not so much (we get one but not a lot of detail). This will probably satisfy 95% of romance readers, but if you're a suspense reader (like yours truly) it comes off as a bit of a Nothing Burger.

I'm left with a story I read fairly quickly but that didn't rise up past a lukewarm response.  I wasn't left out in the cold, but I also didn't feel like I was in a house on fire.

Final Grade = C+

#TBRChallenge Review 2022: Abby and the Bachelor Cop

The Book: Abby and the Bachelor Cop by Marion Lennox

The Particulars: Harlequin Romance #4241, Book 1 in series, 2011, Out of print, Available digitally.

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: Lennox is an autobuy. As simple and as uncomplicated as that.

The Review: I am not a reader who gravitates towards books with cute doggies on the cover but I generally enjoy Marion Lennox and something about the back cover copy of this book must have tickled me at the time I bought it.  The final verdict? The dog was really the best part of the story for me.

Abigail "Abby" Callahan is weeks away from her wedding to Banksia Bay golden boy, Philip. Philip is a defense attorney currently representing a guy who swindled half the town out of their life savings, but somehow Philip's sh*t doesn't stink.  Anyway, Abby is also a defense attorney and Philip's partner.  On paper it should be perfect. Philip is decent and steady, so what if his kisses don't light her world on fire. So what if he painted the living room in the house they're going to share after the wedding beige?  Philip is decent and steady and her parents love him.

Unlike Rafferty "Raff" Finn, former town bad boy now one of two small town cops in Banksia Bay. The "good townsfolk" thought he was trash before and then there was a car accident that left his younger sister, Sarah, with permanent disabilities.  She needs care, stability, and familiarity. Leaving Banksia Bay is not an option. Anyway, that car accident also seriously injured Raff (he has some memory loss from the night of the accident) and killed his best friend Ben.  Ben Callahan, Abby's older brother.  Raff was Abby's first love and while they had broken up over a tiff prior to the accident, that accident severed any hope they may find their way back to each other.  Also there the night of the accident? Philip. Yep, they were all friends.  Messy. The relationships here are messy.

Anyway, Abby and Raff are due in court what with Raff being the cop on record and Abby helping to defend the swindler. A car accident involving a vehicle containing animal shelter dogs has slowed them down and snarled traffic (as snarled as traffic gets in a small town - sorry I live SoCal, I laugh in the face of traffic).  Anyway, Raff dumps a dog named Kleppy into Abby's lap. Take the dog to the vet, his owner died and the dog is scheduled to be put down.  We all know what happens next - Abby can't do it. She rescues Kleppy, even though Philip doesn't like dogs, and before she finds out why he's named "Kleppy."  Yep, this dog is a known kleptomaniac, a thief, and generally a loveable menace.

Lennox is going for romantic comedy with this story and for the most part she succeeds when the focus is on Kleppy's antics. This dog is a charmer.  He'd probably drive me to the brink of insanity but in romance novel form he's a delight.  The romance though....

Here's the issue: I didn't like Raff. He rubbed me the wrong way from the jump and I had a hard time putting my finger on why.  It eventually hit me though, he railroads Abby.  Here's the thing, everyone is railroading Abby in this book.  Philip and his beige life. Her parents who want her to have a sensible career (lawyer) and a sensible husband (Philip) and Abby just drifts along accepting all of it because Ben's death has left her that shattered.  Raff's genius idea is to badger her over her engagement, snipe at her in the early chapters, kiss her senseless a couple of times, and continue to badger her over her engagement, showing up at her house with lights flashing when Kleppy steals something, her career, her defending a criminal yada yada yada.  

Eventually Abby gets there on her own. She realizes she can't marry Philip for various and sundry reasons but I felt like that was in spite of Raff's "help" in opening her eyes.  

Does Raff start to grow on me a bit by the end?  Yeah, kind of? I mean he's taking care of his sister whose personality turned child-like after the accident. He's living in a town that has tarred and feathered him with the bad-boy-no-good-family-brush for his sister. But his personality in the early chapters really grated.  I liked Abby. Yes she's drifting through a life she doesn't want and hasn't fully realized that yet, but I liked her. I kind of wanted her to tell Banksia Bay to go to the devil and run away to Sydney and live with Kleppy in some swanky condo where he can pilfer jewelry from the neighbors, but whatever.

So, yeah. I didn't love this but I also didn't hate it. It's a quick read and Lennox does nail the light, romantic comedy feel while delivering a foundation of Angst-O-Rama-Jama.  A nice enough heroine, a hero I never warmed to, and a pretty great dog.

Final Grade = C

#TBRChallenge 2022: Stranded With The Sergeant

The Book: Stranded with the Sergeant by Cathie Linz

The Particulars: Contemporary romance, Silhouette Romance # 1534, 2001, Book 2 in series, Out of Print, Available Digitally

Why Was This Book In Wendy's TBR?: Linz was responsible for starting RWA's outreach to librarians and spearheaded those efforts for many years. This book was published several years before I started regularly attending conferences and I have an autographed copy. My guess is I either won this in a contest or Linz sent it to me as part of a congratulations package she sent to me in honor of my RWA Librarian of the Year award in 2011.  I suspect it's the former though...

The Review: The book I was reading prior to starting this ended up being a DNF because of pacing issues and my general disinterest, so I'm happy to report that I wasn't disinterested in this book, I kept reading it, and I zipped through it rather quickly. All signs that Linz knew her way around the category format (the misconception being that category is "easy" to write). Unfortunately I ended up having a few issues with the story, making this one a mixed bag for me.

First things first, it's got the sort of preposterous plot that could only exist in a category romance novel. Sergeant Joe Wilder (of course his surname is Wilder - it's how we know he's the hero!) is a fairly new arrival at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina and has been called into his CO's office. Joe has been tasked with giving a class of pre-teens a tour of the base with instructions to watch out for the Commanding Officer's daughter, his "little princess."  Oh, and after the tour, Joe will be escorting a smaller group of the students with their teacher into the mountains for a weekend in the wilderness.  Joe is not excited by this detail but when he enters the conference room things start to look up because the teacher is very pretty.  He, of course, starts flirting with her, only to realize his error.  The CO's daughter, the "little princess," isn't a student - she's the teacher.

Prudence Martin grew up a military brat and has no patience for Marines. Her father's over-protective nature, a prior bad relationship with a Navy man - well she's not interested in dipping back into the military dating pool. Sure, code, honor, loyalty, blah, blah, blah.  She's past done with insufferable men who always think they're right. And here comes Joe Wilder, all slick talk and flirtation. No thank you ma'am.

These two get off on the wrong foot and start rubbing each other the wrong way from the jump, which of course is really hiding a sizzling attraction. Eventually what happens is that a freak spring snowstorm finds the wilderness party taking shelter in a cabin and the simmering pot starts to boil over.

If you can get past the plot of some random Marine being tasked with taking charge of a school field trip without any prior authorization from the school (Joe is a last minute replacement for this assignment), what will await you?  Well it's pretty much as advertised with some niggling issues that are partly to blame on the book being published in 2001 and partly on the need for a keener editorial eye.

Mel Gibson's name is dropped a few times, in relation to Joe's piercing blue eyes and good looks. Yes, 2001 - five years prior to Gibson's infamous traffic stop - but this is yet another example of why authors really, truly, need to avoid celebrity comparisons and keep pop culture references to a minimum.  Best case scenario? It dates your book exponentially as the years tick by. Worse case scenario? Mel Gibson.  Mel isn't the only such example in this story though - the book features some pre-teen secondary characters so what they're interested in, what they think is "cool," definitely has a 2001 feel to it. The first Matrix movie for example. Also, one of the students has a Palm Pilot.  Oh, those were the days!

A lot of this stuff though rolls off my back. No, the bigger issue is the fact that there's a throw-away sentence about the heroine seeing somebody who happens to be out of town for a family wedding.  The guy is mentioned once (in the heroine's internal musings) and never mentioned again. Like, she's getting warm for Joe's form and there's not even a single thought bubble about this poor schmoe that's out of town at a family wedding. I mean, even if it was still in the casual stage, you're hooking up with some dude while he's gone - like, I'd pause for half a second. And given that this is a Silhouette Romance Joe ends up proposing marriage at the end of the book and still - no mention of this poor schlep who the heroine was dating who happens to be out of town?!?  It felt like something that should have been left on the cutting room floor entirely. Instead here I am obsessing over what ends up being a throw-away sentence that doesn't go anywhere.

One of the things Joe and Prudence have in common is that they both have Survivor's Guilt lurking from incidents in their pasts, which was a nice touch.  Unfortunately Linz doubles-down on Joe's baggage and throws another piece of luggage to the pile towards the end to explain his reticence around kids. It felt a bit out of left field for me, almost like a piling on. Like truly - the helicopter crash was honestly enough yo.

Then there's the heroine's over-protective father being all paternalistic and some "not like other girls" nonsense that creeps in towards the end (the heroine is, of course, a natural beauty and doesn't need a bunch of make-up or red lipstick to look pretty which just makes me want someone with long acrylics to show up on the page and claw the hero's eyes out...) - but these are issues that aren't exactly uncommon in category romances of a certain age, or even of a more current vintage unfortunately.  It boils down to how much stuff like this irritates you. 

So what am I left with?  Well, it was an easy read, Linz hit her beats, and it kept me turning the pages.  But I didn't love it and it was about half a step down from "OK" given my niggles.  Would I read another Linz category romance? Yes. I didn't love this, but I also didn't hate it - and Linz handled the format well, which in a category romance is half the battle.

Final Grade = C-

Postscript: Linz passed away in 2015.

#TBRChallenge 2022: Beyond Innocence

The Book: Beyond Innocence by Emma Holly

The Particulars: Historical romance, First book in duet, Berkley, 2001, Out of print, available in digital

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: A billion years ago when I was reviewing for The Romance Reader, I was randomly assigned the second book in this duet, Beyond Seduction - which totally blew up my skirt. Emma Holly became an autobuy after that.

The Review: History lesson time. What we now classify as "erotic romance" was launched in 1999 when legendary editor Kate Duffy ushered in the Kensington Brava line. That line's success and reader demand for steamier romance books lead to other publishers scrambling to find authors that wrote "hot" - and in the case of Berkley they knocked on Emma Holly's door.  

Holly started her career writing erotica for Black Lace, an imprint of Virgin Publishing. While marketed as erotica her stories tended to have a strong romance flavor. Still, this was a departure for her, being that it was (I'm fairly certain...) her first stab at a historical romance.

So why did I take so long to read this book if I enjoyed the second book?  Two words: Virgin. Heroine. Look, y'all gotta understand. Back in 2001 virgin heroines were still the default and not to put too fine a point on it - I don't read Emma Holly for virgin heroines. So this one languished in my TBR until Holly's untimely death last month and this month's Vintage prompt seemed as good as any to finally stop neglecting it.

Freddie Burbrooke has been caught in a compromising position with a footman. His older brother, Edward Burbrooke, the Earl, is determined to save him from ruin. He adores Freddie. He's been looking out for him and protecting him his whole life. This is a scandal of epic proportions. What he needs is to get Freddie settled. Freddie needs a wife. And luckily his father's former solicitor has a solution.

Miss Florence Fairleigh is the only child of a country vicar. Her father is now deceased and she's in dire straights. Daddy was loving and doting but terrible with money. So Florence decides to go to London and try to find a respectable man to marry. If that fails she'll end up having to hire herself out as a governess. She's not hoping for much - kindness, friendship, a chance to build a life. Really, that's it. And then providence smiles down on her and soon she's being woo'ed by Freddie Burbrooke, second son to an earl! Honestly, it's a better match than a country mouse like her could hope for.

The fly in the ointment? I mean other than Freddie being gay? Edward takes one look at Florence and is hopelessly smitten. Borderline obsessed. And yet he recognizes she's the perfect match for Freddie. With Florence on his arm Freddie would be protected.  And yet? Edward can't stay away from her and Florence is also drawn to him.  Then there's the small matter that everybody in the Burbrooke family (Freddie, Edward, their dear aged aunt who is sponsoring Florence's Season...) are all in the ruse.  Florence knows nothing about nothing. No clue Freddie is gay. No idea that she's the sacrificial lamb delivered from above to save him from scandal.  Yeah, let's just say it hits the fan when that Big Secret comes home to roost.

If I'm making this sound unsavory that's because it kind of is. In the hands of a lesser skilled writer I would have likely DNF'ed this in hot minute.  Edward is of the cold, stoic school of formidable romance heroes and is kind of an ass for a good portion of this story.  Florence is sheltered and rather naïve - honestly the sort of heroine that tends to set my teeth on edge even though I totally understood and "got" her as a character.  So, what makes this work?  Well, everything else.

Holly handles the Victorian time period amiably, although while I wouldn't say it's wallpaper it's also not terrible specific. She gets the tone and feel right though.  The story is also still downright revolutionary even 20+ years after it was first published. Let's count the ways:

Edward bangs his mistress, on page, in a very early chapter. SHOCKING!

When Edward and Florence start to succumb they do everything but Insert Tab A Into Slot B - because at this point he's still wanting to protect her virtue because dagnabit he's obsessed but Must. Protect. Freddie. Very spicy stuff for 2001 although some readers would likely label this merely "hot" now. 

But the most marvelous thing about this book? Freddie. How Freddie is portrayed and how the matter of him being gay is addressed. Edward doesn't shame Freddie. Freddie isn't berated or treated like an embarrassment. Edward's concern for Freddie is born out of his love for his brother, his desire to protect him - because Edward knows that Freddie being gay is going to make Freddie's life very difficult.  So yes, the desire to hush up a scandal and to protect him, but also this underlying acceptance that this IS Freddie.  For you younger folks - this portrayal of a gay character in 2001 was revolutionary! Freddie isn't written as a villain or a deviant. He's a fully realized, fully fleshed-out, lovely and sympathetic character who also gets a happy ending in the final chapters.  From personal experience, the idea of LGBTQ+ characters being protagonists in romance didn't enter my consciousness until around 2004 (that's when I started hearing chatter at writer's conferences) - so Holly writing this character in 2001 is just...wow. Like amazingly wow.

The pacing is a little slow in spots and honestly the whole thing has a Sword of Damocles feel to it with the Big Secret.  Florence is a bit of a mouse and almost written like a Disney princess (she's adored by cats and babies alike) and while she's not offensive per se, I just wasn't captivated by her like some of Holly's edgier female protagonists.  But, patience - because it does all pay off once Florence learns the truth and we get an epic descent into Hero Grovel Land for several chapters.  We also have to put up a bit with an Evil Other Woman (yes, the mistress...) but this aspect of the story didn't annoy me as much as other Evil Other Women that have come before her. 

It's not perfect. As mentioned it's a rather unsavory plot but Holly spins a good tale and it kept me invested. I'm glad I finally read it even if it doesn't land in my Emma Holly Top Five and it's definitely worth a read for those interested in the history of the romance genre. It's breath-taking in that respect.

Final Grade = B-

#TBRChallenge 2022: In the Arms of the Heiress

The Book: In the Arms of the Heiress by Maggie Robinson

The Particulars: Historical romance, 2013, Berkley, In Print, Book one in series

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: I had an autographed print copy in my TBR and a post-it note still attached to the cover makes me think the author might have sent it to me? Maybe? Or else I picked it up at a conference.

The Review: This month's optional Challenge theme was "After the War" which certainly implies dark, angsty reads. Well, here's a story that is the exact opposite.  Ladies and gents, we have ourselves a romp!

Banking heiress Louisa Stratton ran away from home a year ago. Tired of being a prisoner under her aunt's flinty dragon-like gaze, the moment she came into her inheritance she grabbed her personal maid and started traveling around the Continent in an automobile she bought in France. But her family just won't stop pestering her - so she does what any sensible Edwardian-era heiress would do...

She invents a husband.  Maximillian Norwich is positively perfect and dashing in every way. But still, the family makes noise and worse yet - Aunt Grace's health has been poorly.  There's no avoiding it any longer - Louisa must return home to England and the dreadful Rosemont Manor.  Well, bugger. She's just going to have to find someone to play her husband for 30 days. I mean, it's really the only option!

Charles Cooper is a former captain having served during the Boer War. He's living in a squalid rooming house and pickling his liver with gin when Mrs. Evensong finds him.  Louisa hired her agency to find a fake husband and she thinks Charles is the man for the job.  Charles thinks both women are cracked.  Then he finds out how much Louisa is willing to pay him for a little 30-day farce and we're off to the races.

Of course it all starts to go spectacularly topsy-turvy once they land at Rosemont. A series of "accidents" start befalling Charles/Max and Louisa's family is a venerable nest of vipers.  They're essentially living off her largess and yet think she's a bubble-headed ninny who cannot control her scandalous impulses.  Charles takes one look at the lot of them and his White Knight Complex kicks into hyperdrive - not to mention his sex drive. He's been dead below the waist since returning from war and Louisa with her non-stop prattling, quick wit and hour-glass figure have his Mr. Happy standing up to salute once again.

I absolutely love the Edwardian period - the dawn of the 20th century, women pushing back on the confines of the dying Victorian era, yes we have World War I around the corner, but it's all grand stuff and Robinson handles the time period really well.  We need more romances in this era!

If you know anything about the Boer War at all, you know that it was horrific - and Charles waning time there found him ordered to a concentration camp as part of a damage control campaign. Finding women and children dead and near death hasn't done wonders for his peace of mind. This has naturally given Charles a fair bit of PTSD and hence the drinking. 

Yes, there's dark underpinnings but it's still a romp. A bit of a farce. It's very My Gal Friday in dialogue and sparring. Louisa and Charles rub each other in all the right and wrong ways and it makes for some sparkling, quick-witted reading.  There's even the light mystery bubbling along to keep the reader flipping the pages.  And yet...

It all feels way too long.  The sex scenes are fun and lively but there's frankly too many of them (they felt like word count padding after a while...).  My print copy clocks in at 316 pages and I feel like these mad-cap shenanigans would have been perfect at the length of a Traditional Regency or a Harlequin Historical.  It just seems to go on for a very long time.

Then there's the matter of Louisa's family who are toxic and yet at the end I'm supposed to buy some clap-trap about how they really do care about her it's just they're really, really bad at showing it.  Y'all Wendy did not just fall off the turnip truck. I would have lit Rosemont ablaze while they were all sleeping in their beds.  I mean, if the Boer War can't quell the bubbly tone why should a little mass murder by arson?

As a general rule I have a checkered history with light historicals but this one falls on the less annoying side of the street for me.  Yes, it's a romp but it avoids cutesy and twee (shudder).  I did appreciate several things about the story, but it didn't captivate me to the point where I want to gobble up the rest of the series.  However it has made me curious about Robinson's historical mystery series - of which I'm glad I have book one laying about somewhere...

Final Grade = B-

#TBRChallenge 2022: The Italian's Deal for I Do

The Book: The Italian's Deal for I Do by Jennifer Hayward

The Particulars: Contemporary romance, Harlequin Presents #3323, 2015, Book 1 in Society Weddings series, Out of print, Available in eBook

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: I have a signed copy, which means I picked this up at a conference - and it is a truth universally acknowledged that Wendy will grab any category romance not tied down when she's at conferences.

The Review: There are two types of romance readers - those of who fall for Presents like drunks on 3-day benders and those who think the drunks need an intervention.  Look, can Presents be problematic and feature characters you want to run over with a truck...uh, several times?  Yes. But man oh man, when you find a good Presents - one that sucks you in from the word go?  It's a heady experience that I can't really explain.  This book starts off with a requisite Alphahole hero who is a thundering jackass but once the heroine has a lightbulb moment?  I couldn't inhale this story fast enough.

Rocco Mondelli's beloved grandfather has just died - the creative force behind fashion's venerable House of Mondelli. Unfortunately when he should be focusing on grieving and comforting his bereft younger sister, Rocco instead has to accept the fact that even though he was the one who pulled the family business back from financial ruin his grandfather did not leave him controlling interest in the company.  Rocco has to answer to the board.  A board who thinks he's a hot-headed, unstable playboy.  As if that weren't enough - Rocco finds out his grandfather bought an expensive apartment in the heart of Milan for former supermodel Olivia Fitzgerald - a woman young enough to have been his granddaughter! Olivia disappeared from the spotlight some years ago after a meltdown at New York's Fashion Week - and she's been on the down-low ever since.  Now here she is, in Milan, in a grand apartment Rocco's grandfather paid for and the old man paid her regular nightly visits.  That can only mean one thing as far as Rocco is concerned.

Olivia had her reasons for leaving behind a thriving modeling career, a beyond messy family situation and breaking a $3M contract with a cosmetics firm. She's trying to rebuild her life in Milan with the dream of one day becoming a designer. This would be where Giovanni Mondelli comes into the picture.  He sees Olivia's talent and years ago had a torrid affair with her mother (rest assured, there is zero question of Olivia's parentage).  There's nothing between them romantically, but in walks Rocco (who blindsides her at her favorite café) hurling all sorts of accusations.  She tells him the truth - there was no affair, Rocco is off his nut.  Rocco, being a Presents hero, naturally doesn't believe her - but he also cannot deny that he needs her.  The Board wants to see stability and they want to see the company thriving. What better way to drum up excitement for Mondelli's new line than to sign reclusive model Olivia and oh, by the way, they're engaged!  Except, of course, none of it goes according to plan.

You have to love a heroine who despite carrying around a mess of problems (panic attacks, a mother who should be shot into the sun, and what was behind the Fashion Week meltdown) not faffing about and telling the hero upfront that no, she wasn't doing the mattress mambo with his elderly grandfather. And Rocco is so cruel, so blind with rage and single-mindedness, he doesn't believe her.  As the reader I wanted to shoot him into the sun after the fall-out from the café scene but I was so sucked in at that point I had to see what happened next.  And what happens next?  Magic.

There's a point in the story, right before a fake celebratory engagement dinner with one of Rocco's BFFs that Olivia realizes that the attraction between them isn't one-sided.  That Rocco, for all his bluster, is just as attracted to her as she is to him. That the Alphahole doth protest too much and that, gentle readers, is when the tables are turned.  Because Olivia comes at him with both barrels making for one sexually charged, frustrating dinner date.  From then on I didn't come up for air.

What follows is Olivia working past her fears and her trauma to return to the runway and fulfill her dream of becoming a designer.  Workaholic Rocco needs to get past his own family baggage, his fear of commitment and learn that falling in love does not mean absolute and total destruction of you as your own person.

Rocco has three best friends he went to school with at Columbia University, plus a younger sister, that show up just enough on page to spark interest in the other three books in the series (written by different authors).  While Stefan seems like an even bigger jackass than Rocco, I'll admit that I'm now curious to glom my way through the rest of the series.  

While my audiobook consumption has been on point so far in 2022, my actual eyeball reading has been in the doghouse. Everything has been a struggle and only a couple of books have held my attention.  This is by far the book I've torn through the fastest this year.  Say what you want about Presents, when the author hits their marks there really is nothing quite like 'em.

Final Grade = B

#TBRChallenge 2022: Grumpy Fake Boyfriend

The Book: Grumpy Fake Boyfriend by Jackie Lau

The Particulars: Contemporary romance, Book one in the Kwan Sisters series, 2018, In print, available digitally

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: I'm pretty sure I received an ARC of this. Back in 2018. Yes, I'm aware. Don't hate the player, hate the game.

The Review: I call books like Grumpy Fake Boyfriend "chocolate chip cookie" or "popcorn" reads. Tasty while you're stuffing your pie-hole, but not something that necessarily constitutes a filling meal.  That probably sounds "damning with faint praise," but it's really not. There is a call and a need for such books. Everybody, I don't care who you are, can benefit from a brain-candy read every now and then, and this story comfortably fits in that niche.

Will Stafford is a successful science fiction writer (he's making a living).  He's also a wee bit introverted and not much of a "people person." He's happy on his own. He likes his life - but it can be difficult navigating said life when his family is always trying to get him to break out of his shell, and his girlfriends keep trying to change him.  Hence, he's single.  Then he gets a call from one of his very few friends and Will can't really say no to him. Which is how he ends up playing fake boyfriend for a holiday weekend to bubbly and sweet Naomi Kwan.

Will was her older brother's college roommate, and Naomi would be lying if she didn't say she asked for her brother's help in the hopes he'd suggest Will.  Naomi has had kind of a thing for him since she was a teen (she's a few years younger).  Anyway, she has an invite to a fantastic cabin on the lake for Canada Day Weekend with friends. Friends who are parts of couples. The same friends she met when she was part of a couple with Jordan.  Jordan, who has also been invited for the weekend and who will be bringing his new Miss Thang along.  Naomi is over him but flying solo is just not an option.  Hence the need for a fake boyfriend.

We're all romance readers here, we know what happens next.  Our grumpy bear introverted hero falls for our sunshiney bubbly heroine and the fake relationship starts to become all too real.  In the meantime Will has to accept the fact that not everyone he meets will want to change him and Naomi comes to realize why her relationship with Jordan was doomed nearly from the start.  Toss into the mix that the friend asking Will to play Naomi's fake boyfriend is her protective older brother, and that adds another wrinkle.

I'm not a fan of the Older Brother's Best Friend trope mostly because 99% of the time it comes off as paternalistic and gross as hell - but I will say Lau at least keeps this aspect of the story very light and minimal. Jeremey has his requisite Neanderthal moment near the end, but his wife is on page to rein him in quickly (thank you sweet baby Jesus).  I could relate to Will's introverted nature although there were times his "I want to be alone!" schtick had me thinking he was going to flounce off page like a Romancelandia hero version of Norma Desmond.  Sometimes he doth protest too much, especially at the end when the third act separation comes into play.  That said, it does lead to a very good ending - which morphs into a grand gesture even though Will didn't set out for it be one.

I could have used a little more oomph to the building of the romance. I got that Will and Naomi were attracted to each other but I'm not necessarily sure how they got from there to true love.  Also, while this is a dueling first person point-of-view story (alternating chapters), Will's voice is a little bit stronger than Naomi's - which is to say that I found this to be a little bit more of a hero-centric story than a heroine-centric one (and I usually prefer the latter).

Still, it was a quick, breezy read.  It very much fits the category romance mold, with a page count roughly as long as a Harlequin Presents but with the tone of a lighter Harlequin Blaze or the very short-lived Harlequin Flipside line.  I've been in a dreadful romance slump, but this story was a quick read and it kept me invested.  I'm glad I downloaded the second book in the series the last time it was on sale.

Final Grade = B-

#TBRChallenge 2022: My Wicked Prince

The Book: My Wicked Prince by Molly O'Keefe

The Particulars: Contemporary romance, 2019, In Print, Available in digital

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: O'Keefe is an autobuy dating back to her days writing for Harlequin SuperRomance. 

The Review: I'm so old that I remember the days when 99% of romance readers would have a fit of apoplexy if you had the nerve to suggest that very good romances could be capably written in first-person point of view. Point of fact, I might have been the only resident of Romancelandia at that time willing to admit I LOVED first person - having started out life as a mystery reader where it's much more common.  Then a funny thing happened. Self-publishing.  And suddenly everyone and their dead grandmother was self-publishing romances in first-person, often with shifting head-hopping chapters (hero and heroine point of view).  And you know what?  A lot of them suck...and not in a good way.  Because trust me gentle readers, there is such a thing as terribly written first person and we're neck deep in it here in the waters of Romancelandia.  

I'm not sure why this is exactly (other than me being cranky and old) but I think it's a diluting of authorial voices. There's just a lot of blah, interchangeable first person out there.  I'll read one and a couple days later I struggle to recall anything. Characters, plot, title, maybe I'll remember the author? - the book I just read is like a black hole in my memory.

Then there's Molly O'Keefe. I'll walk off a cliff to read her first person, and I suspect it's because she has certain writing tics (and plot bunnies) that feed into the id part of my brain.  Her heroines always seem determined to save the world (or at least their little corner of it), her heroes positively wallow in angst, and the tension!  The sweet, glorious, delicious tension!

My Wicked Prince reminded me of a longer Harlequin Presents, but with hotter sex. Brenna's mother is a bartender in their tiny Nordic country of Vasgar when she agrees to marry the King. It's basically a marriage of convenience. Mom wants to be Queen and the King wants to distract everyone from the fact his country is broke. Brenna can barely be bothered, attending college in Scotland and with dreams of one day working for the United Nations. But with Mom negotiating her the title of princess, it is expected that Brenna will attend the wedding - which immediately sets her in the crosshairs of her soon-to-be stepbrother, Gunnar Falk.

Gunnar is the poor little rich boy prince with Daddy Issues. He's a manwhore who parties his life away and likes to make things as embarrassing as possible for the old man via the press. Now there's this marriage and a new stepsister, and it's all just so bothersome.  Then he locks eyes on Brenna and everything changes.  Oh sure, there's sparing and he says some awful things - but she dishes it right back even as she does a terrible job of hiding her vulnerabilities. She also challenges Gunnar at every turn, which makes him want to be a better man, even if he won't quite admit that to himself.  The attraction is very much there and very much not a good thing. They're now siblings (yes, they're grown-ass adults but still...) under the glare of a royal spotlight, trying to help a country on the verge of bankruptcy as the King continues to be a terrible leader and Gunnar's uncle pulling strings behind the scenes to claim the throne for himself.  Oh, and did I mention that it's expected that Gunnar marry an heiress to bolster the country's coffers? Then, as inevitably happens in a romance novel, they succumb to their attraction and it all blows up in their faces.

This is the first romance I've read this year that kept me fully and actively engaged to the point where I wanted to keep reading. That being said, I didn't love it and most of that is due to authorial choices O'Keefe made.  The first chapter opens in present day, with Brenna confronting Gunnar at his posh nightclub in New York City.  It's a great opening chapter. Angst and sparring and lots of sizzling tension.  Then we get to Chapter 2 which immediately dumps us in flashback mode, a couple weeks prior to the royal wedding.  90% of this story is in flashbacks - which...not a fan. Especially since the first chapter sets up the reader for the present-day experience. I still liked the story, but the execution wasn't necessarily what I wanted.

It's also one of those stories where there is just SO much angst and SO many roadblocks centered around "obligations" - that it does get exhausting after a while.  Both Brenna and Gunnar hiding behind their defense mechanisms, Gunnar flat-out lying to Brenna to push her away which necessitates the third act separation. What I did like about this portion of the story however is that O'Keefe removes Brenna's tendency for rose-colored glasses.  The gloves are off and if Gunnar is going to be a dickhead, well she's going to save their country without him.

I have an interesting history with royalty books (I don't actively dislike them, but neither are they favorites) and I mostly liked this one.  There were times I wanted to slap Gunnar into next Tuesday and there were times I wanted to shake Brenna for wearing her foolish heart so prominently on her sleeve - but there's great tension, the anger and attraction between the two electrically leaping off the page.  It's trademark O'Keefe with a royalty candy-coated shell.

Final Grade = B-

#TBRChallenge 2022: Millie Marries a Marshal

The Book: Millie Marries a Marshal by Linda Hubalek

The Particulars: Historical western romance, Novella, 2014, In print, Available in digital, Book 2 in series.

Why Was It In Wendy's TBR?: I love historical westerns and I picked up a print copy of this at the only RT Book Reviews convention I attended.  Also, at some point this must have been a freebie because I also had an eBook copy languishing on my Kindle.

The Review: This is not a good book. Oh sure, there's a kernel of a good story here but everything about the execution is terrible. How do these people fall in love? Why do they fall in love?  Who the heck knows!  Because the author is much more concerned with burying her 120 page romance novella under a mountain of series-itis set-up and secondary characters instead of, oh I don't know, spending time developing her two main characters and the romance I'm supposed to care about.

Millie Donovan travels to Clear Creek, Kansas to become Sam Larson's mail-order bride.  Born and raised in Chicago, she had to hastily leave her pit-stop in St. Louis with her toddler "son," Tate, in tow.  Now she's on the railroad platform and has already, to her horror, attracted the notice of the town marshal.  Then he tells her Sam is dead and she, promptly, faints. As you do.

Adam Wilerson has vowed to stay a bachelor, mostly because of his job.  He and his brother had no idea their neighbor Sam was hooking up with a mail-order bride, but they discovered her letters when they were cleaning out his place after his death.  He deposits the too-thin woman and her son at the hotel and heads off to the family dinner he's already late for, only to get a severe dressing down from his mother and sister.  What do you mean you just dumped the shocking news on this poor woman and left her at the hotel?  A hotel that very likely doesn't have any rooms available because the town is bursting at the seams with folks passing through thanks to a cattle drive.

Adam tracks down Millie (her and Tate just got kicked out of squatting in the livery and trash-can diving for food) and Adam's mother steps in and decides that her bachelor son needs a housekeeper.  In exchange for cooking and cleaning, Millie gets room and board until she decides what to do next.  Eventually what happens is that somehow these two fall in love after spending zero time together and Millie's secrets come home to roost.

Why don't Millie and Adam spend time together?  Well, because he's actively avoiding her and the author instead chooses to fill a 120-page novella full to brimming with secondary characters.  Millie spends more time with Adam's mother than Adam - and that woman is a saint. It would have been more believable for her to fall in love with Cate!  This series is 12 books long and the reader is introduced to characters that show up in book one and books three through seven!  THIS IS A NOVELLA AND IS ONLY 120 PAGES LONG! WHY DEAR LORD, WHY?!?!?!?!

Ahem, anywho - it's no wonder I didn't believe in the romance.  With all these secondary characters floating around, when exactly does the author have time to develop the romance between Adam and Millie?  The answer is, she doesn't.  Compounding this problem is that when these two do manage to spend a few sentences on page together they lack any sort of chemistry or tension.  This is a just-kisses romance, but just because there's no sex in it does not mean romances can't or shouldn't have tension.  You can believe the characters are attracted to each other without them doing the mattress mambo, but they also have to spend time together to develop that tension, that chemistry.  And these two don't.  Instead I'm reading about Hilda's sod house and Cora running a ranch and Adam's widowed mother Cate and his sister Sarah and his brother Jacob getting married to Raina (see book one) and yada yada yada.

It's a shame because I do think there's a story here - uh, somewhere.  Namely when Millie's past shows up in town and all her secrets come tumbling out. It's a compelling plot idea and could make a good story.  It just didn't here.  Oh well.  Moving on.  And on a brighter note, since I had two copies of this in my TBR I'm weeding out two books this month!  That has a certain amount of logic to it, right?

Final Grade = D-

It's Heeeeere! Sign-Up for the 2022 #TBRChallenge!

 

Thank you everyone who recently took the time to fill out my Google Form soliciting theme suggestions for the 2022 TBR Challenge.  There were some really interesting suggestions this year and while some of these might seem "limiting" on the surface - well, they really aren't.  Tales of Old for example could cover anything from historicals, to retellings (so many Austen options!), to time travel.  After the War could be, quite literally, after a war or it could mean a heroine recovering from a terrible divorce and/or break-up.  I'm all about bending and shaping the themes to your whims.

But we're getting ahead of ourselves.  What is the #TBRChallenge?

Your mission, should you choose to accept it: once a month pull a dormant book out of your TBR pile and read it.  On the 3rd Wednesday of the month, talk about that book.

Participation is as easy as being on social media!

• If you're on social media all you need to do is use the #TBRChallenge hashtag - there's no need to sign-up and your participation can vary throughout the year.
• You can use this hashtag on any day, at any time - but we're still going to concentrate on the 3rd Wednesday of every month to kick our commentary into high gear.  
• The idea is to have at least one day a month where we can always count on there being book chatter.

Want to let your blogging freak flag fly?  If you have a blog and want to post TBR commentary there, drop me a comment on this post with a link to your blog or hit me up on Twitter.  I like to post links to the various blogs on my TBR Challenge page so those who follow along can start following you.

Sound good?  Of course it does!  So what are the themes for 2022?  So glad you asked!

January 19 - Quickie
February 16 - Fairy Tale
March 16 - Grumpy
April 20 - Location, Location, Location
May 18 - Tales of Old
June 15 - After the War
July 20 - Vintage
August 17 - Blue Collar
September 21 - Animals
October 19 - Flirting with Danger
November 16 - Lies
December 21 - Festive

All of the themes were suggestions culled from the survey, with a couple minor tweaks on my part.  I know some of these are going to require a bit of planning on my part, but remember - if it all seems like too much bother - the themes are always optional. The goal of this challenge isn't so much what you read, so long as you're reading something (anything!) out of your TBR.

My hope is always for this Challenge to be low-key, stress-free and fun!  So I hope you'll consider joining this year. Be like me - use this Challenge to delude yourself into thinking you're actually making some progress on your book hording 😉.