Tag: cheating

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#BlogTour: Five Gold Rings by Kristen Bailey

For this blog tour, we’re looking at one of the funniest Christmas romcoms I’ve ever encountered. For this blog tour, we’re looking at Five Gold Rings by Kristen Bailey.

Here’s what I had to say about it on the review sites (Hardcover.app, TheStoryGraph.com, BookHype.com, Goodreads):

Solidly Silly Yet Hallmarkie Christmas RomCom. The opening of this tale is actually somewhat reminiscent of the opening of Luke Young’s Seriously Messed Up – another great romcom from several years ago now – though reversed (there it was the male main character, here it is the female main character). Which admittedly set the bar quite high for me, as that particular book is one I routinely list as among the funniest I’ve ever read.

But y’all…. Bailey delivers here. Seriously, this is comedy gold in some of the best possible ways, while still having enough serious aspects to ground the tale and give it at least a touch of gravitas. All centered around Christmas and in particular a very specific Christmas carol, but with a unique spin on it I’d never encountered before.

If you need some laughs this holiday season, for any reason, and you don’t mind staring maybe uncomfortably long at a naked dude going full frontal in the opening scene… you’re probably going to like this one. Even if you *don’t* like staring at naked dudes uncomfortably long… you’ll probably still like this one… once the opening scene moves on from that particular moment. 🙂 Told with a great amount of comedy but also enough heart to make Captain Planet proud, this really is one of those feel good Christmas tales with lots of holiday cheer and maybe a few holiday tears. Very much recommended.

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#BookReview: Blame It On Emerald Isle by Luke Young

Strong Continuity And Also Strong Growth. This book is Luke Young’s first in several years – I believe his last new release before this one was 2017’s Seriously Messed Up, which *still* holds up as one of the funniest, most truly laugh out loud books I’ve ever read. This book actually opens with a scene that will readily bring to mind that book for any who have read it, and the overall tale actually has a lot of similarities to Young’s formerly long running Friends With … Benefits series, including a fair amount of quite explicit, damn near erotica level sex that brings to mind the “Ian Dalton” “sexier” versions of Friends With… Benefits series.

And yet, Young also shows quite a bit of growth in writing almost a women’s fiction level romantic tale of self discovery, as well as in creating some genuinely heartbreaking moments not usually seen in his prior works. Clearly, the time away from new releases has allowed Young to grow and develop as a storyteller – and while that is never a bad thing, this in particular is also a case of a great comedic storyteller learning to show true depth, while staying true to his comedic roots, which overall makes him an even *stronger* storyteller.

So read this book. I can almost guarantee you’ll never find anything quite like it, as despite my extensive and wide ranging reading (particularly since Young released his last book), even *I* have never encountered one quite like this one – and yet it is perfectly in line with the romance/ women’s fiction spaces, and thus familiar *enough* to not be alienating in any real way (barring personal hangups about any number of topics).

Very much recommended.

This review of Blame It On Emerald Isle by Luke Young was originally written on July 15, 2023.

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#BookReview: The Hook by Victoria Helen Stone

Feminist Horrible Bosses. If you’re familiar with the 2011 movie Horrible Bosses starring Jason Sudeikis, Jason Bateman, and Charlie Day… you’ve got a good idea of what you’re getting into here. Though that movie was played for comedy, and this is much closer to suspense/ thriller here, and from a much more feminist perspective. These three ladies have been *wronged*, and the bastard that did it must *pay*. Except that there are those things that are illegal, and then there are those things that are wrong… and then there are those things that are prosecutable. And rarely do those three things intersect – and nothing any of these guys has done is technically all three. Indeed, one could argue that one of the guys was actually a moral, outstanding citizen who simply sought to have the laws enforced. Yeah, right. 😉 Still, the tale ultimately becomes a cautionary one, as things begin to spiral out of control… as these things tend to do. In the end, this was a solid bit of escapism for a few hours, and really that is all that I really expect in any entertainment medium. As others have noted, Stone’s Jane Doe series is genuinely superior to this particular tale, but where I disagree with some of them is that this one wasn’t *bad* – it just wasn’t as good as the Jane Doe series. Still, if you need some escapism and perhaps some catharsis… this book may just provide a touch of both. Recommended.

This review of The Hook by Victoria Helen Stone was originally written on May 10, 2023.