Tag: beer

Posted on

#BlogTour: The Backtrack by Erin La Rosa

For this blog tour, we’re looking at an atypical tale in a lot of ways that still works quite well. For this blog tour, we’re looking at The Backtrack by Erin La Rosa.

First, the review I posted to the book sites (Hardcover.app / BookHype.com / BookBub.com / TheStoryGraph.com / Goodreads.com):

Atypical Tale In So Many Ways Yet Everything Works Well. I’m actually listening to the playlist that plays such heavy role in this book as I sit down to write this review, and while not *everything* is to my own tastes, either back in 2005 or 20 yrs later in 2024 as I write this, the songs are not *so far* out there as to not be enjoyable, particularly given the characters in this story and where they are from. (Says the fellow native Georgian who is less than a decade older than the characters here. :D) As an example, Fall Out Boy and The Offspring? Yes please. 🙂

But that actually does get into parts of what La Rosa does so well with this tale – the interesting spin she puts on the now-classic “flashback” sequences absolutely work, and work to allow effectively a romance version of a “Frequency” type story. Meaning, for those unfamiliar with that particular movie (to be clear, I never saw the TV show reboot), this storytelling device basically allows La Rosa to tell a dual timeline romance… where *both* timelines are the same couple *yet*… multiverse theory. (Which, to be clear, La Rosa never mentions.)

While we do get some dramatics in the third act, they actually serve more of a women’s fiction purpose that also helps to flesh out both our female lead and some of those around her a bit, and even with limited “screentime” in some instances, La Rosa manages to pack quite a bit in here in a short space. Indeed, given the book’s overall just-over-300-page length, it is actually rather remarkable just how much story La Rosa manages to pack in here, particularly given how other authors even within the romance space can spend seemingly 100 pages describing the landscape around the characters.

Ultimately this was a fun book that had a lot of nostalgia and several interesting spins on now-classic concepts and it used all of this well in service of the story it was trying to tell. In the end, using the elements you bring in well in service of the story you’re trying to tell is really all I ask of *any* book.

Very much recommended.

After the jump, an excerpt from the book followed by the “publisher details” – book info, description, author bio, social links, and buy links.
Continue reading “#BlogTour: The Backtrack by Erin La Rosa”

Posted on

#BookReview: The Last Supper Club by Matthew Batt

Moving Memoir Of A Memorable Moment. This is a memoir of one of those moments in one man’s life where he was just looking to make a buck and make sure his family was ok… that turned into something he found he loved doing. After it ended, this book has become his love song to that period in his life, that place, and those people. And yes, Batt discusses his entire life, including touching on what he is doing outside the restaurant quite a bit. But even when the tale leaves the restaurant, it never strays too far… and it always comes back fairly quickly. Overall a poignant tale that will leave you looking back on the similar periods of your own life. Very much recommended.

This review of The Last Supper Club by Matthew Batt was originally written on October 4, 2023.

Posted on

#BookReview: Cask Strength by Mike Gerrard

Solid Look At History, Current Uses, and Future Of The Barrel. At just 240 pages or so – and just 14% or so of that bibliography, which is where the single star deduction comes in – this is far from a truly in-depth look at the topic. But as kind of a “Barrel 101”, this book really works. The majority of the text focuses on the various current uses of barrels, mostly dealing with the various forms of alcohol stored in them – everything from liquors to wines to even beers – but also delving into even, surprisingly, hot sauce. Shorter sections deal with the millenia-old history of the barrel and with its most modern incarnations and looking to what the future might hold for the technology.

Indeed, for what it is, the only truly glaring weakness here is in fact the dearth of a bibliography, clocking in at just about 14% of the overall text, when 20-30% is more typical in my extensive experience with nonfiction Advance Reviewer Copies.

Overall a quick, fun, and informative read that will give you yet more esoteric knowledge and trivia and thus expand your horizons just that much more. Very much recommended.

This review of Cask Strength by Mike Gerrard was originally written on June 18, 2023.