01-03-2022
For this entry in the Twelve Days Of Romance blog tour series, we're looking at a tale that is, at its core, essentially a Black Sex And The City. For this blot tour, we're looking at The Shoe Diaries by debut author Darby Baham.
Essentially A Black Sex And The City. This story is essentially Sex And The City, but replacing the mostly white cast with a mostly black one and replacing the "city" in question with DC. Same shoe fetish (though possibly amplified here?), used remarkably well as a plot device in this particular case. Same big oops moment with a for[Continue Reading]
01-02-2022
For this entry in the Twelve Days of Romance blog tour series, we're looking at a grounded yet funny fake marriage romance... during a traditional Indian wedding week! For this blog tour entry, we're looking at The Five-Day Reunion by Mona Shroff.
Solid Second Chance Romance. This is one of those second chance / forced proximity / fake dating types of romance tales, all combined during a five day traditional Indian wedd[Continue Reading]
01-01-2022
For this next entry in the Twelve Days of Romance blog tour series we're looking at a romance tale that still provides a solidly realistic look at the lives of combat veterans - and specifically, Marines - as they come back from our modern wars broken in more ways than one. For this blog tour, we're looking at Her Hometown Hero by Jacquelin Thomas.
Solidly Realistic Jarhead Romance. This is a very grounded, very realistic romance novel featuring two 30s ish adults who grew up toget[Continue Reading]
12-31-2021
For this New Year's Eve entry into the Twelve Days of Romance blog tour series, we're looking at book I specifically chose to run on this day due to its setting at New Year's Eve and which is actually much better than the description indicates. For this entry, we're looking at New Year Kiss With His Cinderella by Annie O'Neil.
Better Than Described. The actual second meeting of our lead couple is actually much better than described here - they meet on New Year's Eve night randomly at a mechanical bull ride, share a magical moment there as the clock winds down o[Continue Reading]
12-30-2021
For this next entry in the Twelve Days of Romance blog tour series, we're looking at a solid romance in its own right that seems to be the conclusion, and likely significant payoff in various ways, of a four book The Waltons type saga where each book focuses on a different brother. For this blog tour, we're looking at His Road To Redemption by Lisa Jordan
[Continue Reading]12-29-2021
For this blog tour we're looking at an interesting story of love, forgiveness, repentance, restorative justice, prison reform, and penance that could perhaps have used a better storytelling approach. For this blog tour, we're looking at The Good Son by Jacquelyn Mitchard.
Interesting Story, Perhaps Better Served By A Different Storytelling Technique. This is an interesting story of what happens after a person who has been accused of a heinous crime is released from prison and the toll wrought on the person and their family and friends - particularly in the face of continued harassment from the community. Readers who hate multi-perspective stories will enjoy the fact that we only really get one perspective here, but this is actually the weakest thing about the book to my own mind. For me, having a multi-perspective book with the prisoner's mother (the perspective we get here), the prisoner, and maybe even the stranger and the victim's mother, would have made this story quite a bit tighter and potentially, assuming it was done right, that much more interesting. The issues that the book does explore well - restorative justice, repentance, forgiveness, mother's love, etc - could have been further strengthened by this other technique as well. Still, for what we do get here, it is fairly solid but not "edge of your seat" reading. If you go into this expec[Continue Reading]
12-29-2021
Blatant Racism Deeply Mars Otherwise Universal Story. This is, without a shred of a doubt, the most racist book I've seen published this Millenium, at minimum
[Continue Reading]12-29-2021
For this entry in the Twelve Days of Romance blog tour series we're looking at a solid Christian Fiction romantic suspense novel ala Dee Henderson. For this entry, we're looking at Buried Cold Case Secrets by debut author Sami A Abrams.
Solid Tale Of Its Type. So apparently "Inspired" / "Inspirational" is code for "Christian" in American marketing parlance (I guess similar to how "family friendly" is code for "kids"?). Did not know this going in (or, more likely, had known it long ago and forgotten over the years since I left that world behind). Thus, I was quite surprised to see a Christian Fiction book on the same blog tour schedule (well, emails sent[Continue Reading]
12-28-2021
This week we're looking at the perfect book to end your 2021 with a bang reading. This week we're looking at My Darling Husband by Kimberly Belle.
Hole E Sheet! Belle tosses us into the fire from the get-go... and only turns up the gas. All the way until the closing moments. If you're a fan of Panic Room / The Purge type thrillers, you're going to *love* this one, where roughly half of the action takes place as a stranger holds a family inside their house - with the other half being the husband/ father of the family racing to try to save them. An interesting story mechanic is also thrown in for good measure, and between the heavy foreshadowing with this and the frequent (usually chapter heading) timestamps driving just how quickly the clock is turning to the pivotal moment... you really are in for a wild ride with this one. There *is* some minor commentary late that is more YMMV, and while it does speak to motivations (as close as I'll get to mentioning anything remotely specific), it isn[Continue Reading]
12-28-2021
For this next entry in the Twelve Days Of Romance blog tour series, we're looking at a *very* slow burn romance that serves as a solid series starter. For this entry, we're looking at Little Girl Gone by Amanda Stevens.
Solid Series Starter. Ok, so I use that same title a fair amount. But it applies so often! Here, Stevens focuses primarily on the investigation, as police procedurals tend to do, whi[Continue Reading]