Tag: drama

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#BookReview: Prime Time Romance by Kate Robb

For The Xennials. Yes, we are a tighter demographic than most others, but we – those born roughly 1978 to 1983 – are still mighty, and this book hits us pretty directly. While directly pulling from a hidden-just-enough-to-prevent-copyright-claims version of Dawson’s Creek, there are also *several* other TV shows and movies of our teen generation (specifically that late 90s/ early 2000s period) referenced here. Pleasantville being not even that arguably the second most obvious, but also The Notebook and Miss Congeniality, among others. So for us + those just older or younger than us who grew up/ became “new adults” watching these things, this was a great nostalgic trip into an interesting romcom premise that I, despite reading roughly 200 books per year, had never come across something *quite* like this.

And yes, it also “draws inspiration from” others of the same period of different forms, such as The Family Man in particular, and it is truly this combination of The Family Man + Pleasantville where the romance side of this truly comes home and works quite well.

As a side note for those who clearly feel opposite from how I do, please stop rating a book 1* if you DNF’d it. I understand Goodreads and their corporate overlords at Amazon don’t allow you to have a direct DNF option, but other alternatives such as Hardcover.app *do* allow you to explicitly note a DNF without giving a star rating – and you can still review the book. It just doesn’t plummet the ratings average the way a 1* is when you didn’t even finish the book, and at least to me, rating a book you didn’t finish feels dishonest – though clearly, you do you.

With that aside out of the way, again, I truly enjoyed this book and its premise really hit home as exactly that age group that it was very clearly targeting, but clearly there are a wide variety of views on this particular book. You, dear reader of this review, should absolutely read it for yourself and make your own call there. (And, remember, if you DNF it, please review it on Goodreads alternatives like Hardcover.app and use their explicit “DNF” option. :D)

Very much recommended.

This review of Prime Time Romance by Kate Robb was originally written on September 7, 2024.

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#BookReview: The Twin by Steena Holmes

‘Deliciously Dark’ Sounds Apt But Becomes Problematic. Without going into spoiler territory, I can’t find a better title for this review than “Deliciously Dark”, and yet… well, read the damn book to find out why I have problems using that title. 😀

But seriously, this is one *dark* book – and while I just can’t bring myself to spoil anything… think whatever you feel would be the darkest a book could possibly go. Then go darker. Darker. Darker again. And again. Ok, now add a dying candle into that. Because that’s about as light as this book gets. (Though I *will* note some things that you may imagine that *don’t* happen here: no dog dies. No kids are sexually assaulted. And yet… the rest of this paragraph applies. Better to be prepared and have it be lighter than you expect, with this kind of tale.)

Holmes manages almost a Poe level of storytelling, where it isn’t necessarily what is on the page, but what is clearly just *off* the page that is so intense… and, eventually, those things come onto the page in stunning fashion.

If you like dark yet not necessarily “heavy” books, you’re going to love this one. If you’re looking for something lighter… come back to this when you’re ready for *dark*. 🙂

Very much recommended.

This review of The Twin by Steena Holmes was originally written on August 30, 2024.

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#BookReview: Polite Calamities by Jennifer Gold

Atmospheric But Long. This book almost feels like a Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid, but an East Coast variant. It has the same 60s era setting, the same type of fire-based setup and ending, but then tells a more “East Coast” feeling tale of the era, in some ways dealing with some of the same kinds of relational topics… but from that “Old Money” / “High Society” kind of East Coast / New England vibe.

That noted, this is far from a clone of the other, and it does what it does in showing the various relationship dynamics of its ladies – each in different societal strata – remarkably well. Gold clearly put in a lot of effort to make each of these women as real and relatable as possible, and she truly did a good job there – we begin to sympathize to a degree even with our ostensible villain of the tale… even as she continues to show *why* she is the villain. Along the way, we encounter so much of that admittedly lily white social scene and period the tale is set in, in interesting ways that show both the warts and the beauty of each of our characters.

The one real criticism I have here is that the book *does* go perhaps 30-50 pages long. Not a “Return Of The King After The Coronation” slog, but certainly a “this could’ve been trimmed a bit” feeling, at least after completing it. Now, where, exactly, could the cuts have been made… becomes perhaps less clear. Which would perhaps indicate that the book is exactly as long as it needed to be. I’ll leave it to the reader of this review to read the book for yourself and make your own calls there. (Also, please leave a review when you do. They don’t have to be anywhere near as wordy as mine tend to be – 24 words will be accepted on any review site I know of, including the big corporate ones.)

Ultimately this was a solid book of its kind, one that *should* be seen as an equal or perhaps even superior of Malibu Rising… but which clearly hasn’t had Reid’s marketing people behind it. 😉

Very much recommended.

This review of Polite Calamities by Jennifer Gold was originally written on August 1, 2024.

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#BookReview: One Big Happy Family by Jamie Day

Lots Of Moving Pieces, Yet Feels Slow Somehow. I think a growing peeve of mine- maybe not yet a pet peeve, but certainly a major annoyance – is using a “hurricane” bearing down on a location and yet using it poorly… which is what happens here. Why a hurricane when a normal storm system would have worked just as well for plot purposes??? Hell, here in *Florida* (much less Maine, where this is set and where they get far fewer hurricanes), our daily thunderstorms (particularly in the summer) are generally worse than many of the hurricanes I’ve lived through here in North Florida (including Irma, just a few weeks after I moved here).

Beyond my irritation with the misuse of the hurricane though, which is admittedly a personal thing, the story works reasonably well, if seeming a bit slow and perhaps a touch unrealistic/ idiotic with some of the moves some of the characters make. But hey, we’re all idiots at some point, right? It just seems like our supposed “heroes” in this particular tale are particularly stupid at times… which grates some people more than others. (Indeed, reading over the other reviews, it seems like many have a hangup on this similar to my hurricane one above.) And yet the stupidity ultimately works to make this novel work, and perhaps that is the reason it is here – this near 400 page book may have been reduced by at least a third and perhaps as much as a half had one or two characters made even a single better decision, perhaps a couple of better decisions. And maybe Day had a word or page count to meet.

Still, there’s nothing objectively wrong about this book, and it *is* an enjoyable read that is *certainly* better than other books and is a solid way to lose a day or a few afternoons in a fictional world… which is becoming so much more important as election season ramps up in the US again. So forget the politics for a bit and pick up this book. You may be disappointed a bit in it, but it will still be better than spending that time watching the news. 🙂

Recommended.

This review of One Big Happy Family by Jamie Day was originally written on August 1, 2024.

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#BookReview: Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder by Kerryn Mayne

Like Great Gatsby: SLOW Start, Explosive Ending, *NOT* Neurodivergent. I tell the story often of my experience with The Great Gatbsy. Back in sophomore year of HS, it was actually assigned as summer reading before the school year. I didn’t read it. Every time I tried to open it, the first chapters were just SO UTTERLY BORING that I literally couldn’t keep my eyes open. Managed to bullshit through the discussion of it during my International Baccalaureate level English class that fall. Switched to a school without an IB program in Spring Semester, where now I had one of those old school even then (late 90s) slap-the-knuckles-with-a-ruler type English teachers. This lady *forced* me to read the book via making it a point to call on me to read out loud during class. She knew I HATED it, I wasn’t subtle about my disdain at all, and I had a superiority complex at this new school to boot.

But god DAMN if she didn’t wind up getting me through those first boring chapters, where the tale then woke up and became truly one of the great American books, particularly of its period and truly quite possibly ever.

I tell that story here because it directly applies to this book. This book is S L O W at first and utterly, completely, mind bogglingly BORING. There simply is no way around that. Even at 20% in, I was commenting on social media (without naming that I was reading this book) that it was horrible.

And then…

And then you get to the point – roughly halfway in – where you find out WHY the front half was so utterly boring.

And like Gatsby, this point turns the novel on its head and makes it a truly great book. No, it still isn’t Gatbsy’s level, but this is where it is going to make you *feel*. It is going to make the room so dusty you’ll be verifying that the walls around you haven’t suddenly collapsed, because you’re going to be crying so hard during some of this next section that you’re going to be snotting all over the place and finding it very difficult to breathe. Mayne manages to utterly bore your mind before absolutely DESTROYING your heart worse than a direct hit from a G2 Research RIP round would.

This back half is truly what makes the book, so fight through the boredom of the front half – it really does get so very much better.

Oh, and the neurodivergent thing; A lot of reviewers (I’m somewhere right around the 1,000th review on at least one review site) have mentioned that this book features a neurodivergent protagonist. It does not. The words “neurodivergent”, “spectrum”, “Autism”, or even “Asberger’s” are nowhere in the text of this tale, and while the front part of the book in particular (and to a slightly lesser extent the back part as well) characterize our protagonist as *stereotypically* neurodivergent, just because someone acts according to a stereotype does not mean they actually *are* whatever the stereotype is supposed to be of. Indeed, we actually get an explanation in that back half of the book that is *not* any form of actual neurodivergence so much as … something else that is directly explained and explored (part of what makes the heart shatter so much), but which would be a spoiler to reveal here.

Overall truly a tale of two halves as far as the reader experience goes, but absolutely one you should read.

Very much recommended.

This review of Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder by Kerryn Mayne was originally written on July 8, 2024.

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#BookReview: Ten Kids Two Lovebirds And A Singing Mermaid by Cathy Lamb

Hilarious And Heartwarming. This is one of those tales that is very adult, yet told primarily through the eyes of children. Thus, when certain things happen – always behind closed doors, in these cases – the actual manner of storytelling gets particularly creative, no matter what adult situation the “certain things” may be. And yet we get a complete tale of wonder and heartache and healing into something even better than before, told with a skill and care that shows true talent and empathy.

In a way, yes, this is reminiscent of The Brady Bunch in that two families each with several kids ultimately come together. But the actual manner this is done in and the actual story told to get us to that point, even from its earliest stages, is also dramatically different than that old show – and yet, this tale does take place in a somewhat idealized late 1970s California, one where cheating, abuse, the Vietnam War, and drug abuse happen, but one where the Vietnam protests, gas crises, and other larger issues largely have not.

Truly an excellent tale with a rare twist in storytelling mechanism, and for that alone this is easily worth reading.

Very much recommended.

This review of Ten Kids, Two Lovebirds, And A Singing Mermaid by Cathy Lamb was originally written on May 8, 2024.

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#BookReview: For Roger by Laura Drake

If You Only Read One 2023 Release, Make It This One. Wow. Phenomenal. I’m writing this review roughly 12 hrs after finishing the book, and I am still in awe of what Drake was able to do here. When I first encountered her books, Drake was writing cowboy romances. She’s extended into women’s fiction more recently and done a great job with it, and this one I would assume would mostly classify within that space as well.

But let me be clear: This book has a LOT going on, a lot that places Drake writing about very serious issues and very different spaces. We get medical discussions and specifically discussions around terminal illness, suicide, assisted suicide, and related issues. We get a legal courtroom thriller that dives deep into questions of justice vs mercy vs the letter of the law and even into what are laws and why do we have them. We get open discussions of how to make different spaces better and more responsive, and in these areas Drake shows several practical ideas that could genuinely work – even though this is a fictional tale. Throughout all of this. Drake proves herself capable of at minimum holding her own with even the masters of these spaces who only write explicitly within them, such as John Grisham’s legal thrillers.

And then there are the more traditional women’s fiction aspects, the relationships that make this book truly sing throughout all the heaviness of the above discussions. The loving wife who is barely older than her stepdaughter, despite being in absolute love with her husband. The stepdaughter who resents the stepmother being so very close to her own age. The brilliant husband who dearly loves his wife *and* daughter. The best friend who happens to be the Governor of Texas, with all the behind the scenes politicking that entails. The mother who loves her daughter no matter what. The misunderstood older sister. And yes, in a nod to Drake’s real life (as anyone who follows her socials will know), a mischievous and nearly scene-stealing cat named Boomer.

In telling such a moving story, Drake truly masters bringing in such difficult discussions that *need* to be held at every level and in every corner of this great land.

Issues of how to handle terminal illness within a marriage – how far is each willing to go? What is the loving thing to do? Do the local statutes matter when it comes to trying to make the right decision? What *is* the right decision?

Issues of criminal justice as it relates to terminal illness, echoing at a societal level the same types of questions every relationship needs to answer within itself.

Issues of what we expect from our penal system – can people be rehabilitated, or should they be exclusively punished? Is there a difference between someone committing suicide, their spouse helping them, their doctor helping them, another person outside of a legally protected relationship helping them? Does the situation itself matter, and if it does, what do we condemn and what do we excuse?

All of this and so much more, Drake crafts into a moving and poignant tale of one particular family struggling to navigate these very complicated and delicate issues.

Read this book. Think about how *you* would handle these things. Think about how *we* should handle these things…

Or not. Maybe you jus need to cry, or even bawl your eyes out. Maybe these issues aren’t theoretical for you – maybe they’re as real for you as they are for the characters in this book. Maybe you’re just trying to find answers yourself.

Read this book too. And may you find comfort within its words even in the midst of your own storm.

But read this book, regardless. Very much recommended.

This review of For Roger by Laura Drake was originally written on November 20, 2023.

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#BookReview: Forever Hold Your Peace by Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke

New Spin On Wedding Wars. Fenton and Steinke manage to craft a new, much more dramatic yet still hilarious, spin on the Wedding Wars trope, this time by introducing quite a bit of explosive drama between three of the four parents involved. Yes, the drama itself takes up more of the pages than those who prefer a less dramatic romcom will probably like, but overall it works here to elevate the trope and provide a good bit of “meat” for those who are looking for something a bit sturdier than yet another vapid romcom whose details will be forgotten seconds after finishing it. Instead, this one will challenge you without putting *too* much pressure and will show you things you might not have otherwise considered – particularly if you’re one of the not-small population that can readily identify with much of the drama herein. And yet, ultimately this is more Lifetime meets Hallmark than anything *truly* dark and foreboding – it *is*, still, at its heart, a romantic comedy. Just one with a bit more bite than usual, which helps elevate it over so many of its genre siblings. Very much recommended.

This review of Forever Hold Your Peace by Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke was originally written on December 23, 2022.

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#BookReview: The Boys From Biloxi by John Grisham

Needs More Showing And Less Telling. This is almost “Novel Writing 101” these days, but a classic and oft repeated bit of advice for new writers is that they should *show* the actions of their characters rather than *tell* the readers about it. Here, Grisham – a normally masterful storyteller and legend in the business – somehow manages to miss that, to the detriment of the overall tale here. The tale itself, a multi-generational saga tracing two families through 60 or so years of Coastal Mississippi history, is actually quite good. I was 15% into the tale before I even realized it, and not much had happened at that point. The back quarter to third or so could *really* have been quite legendary in its own right with more showing and less telling, but even in this format it was still a compelling tale. The ending is a bit abrupt and perhaps too open-ended for some readers, but other than the abruptness I thought it actually worked reasonably well. But getting there, across nearly 500 pages that other readers have compared to investigative nonfiction rather than an legal fictional thriller, can in fact be a bit of a slog. Still, other than the “show don’t tell” aspect, there really isn’t anything here to actually say “this is particularly bad” about. Thus, only the single star reduction. Still, this really is a great tale for those who can bear with it, and for that reason it is very much recommended.

This review of The Boys From Biloxi by John Grisham was originally written on October 17, 2022.

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#BlogTour: Here For The Drama by Kate Bromley

For this blog tour, we’re looking at a fun and witty romantic comedy with heart – where the author seemingly read my review of her last book and corrected the issue in this one. For this blog tour, we’re looking at Here For The Drama by Kate Bromley.

Here’s what I had to say on Goodreads:

The One Where The Author Seemingly Read My Review Of Her Last Book. I’ve now had the pleasure of working both of Bromley’s books as blog tours, and this book shows her progression as a writer and storyteller – she is able to make a book that is just as fun and witty as her debut, but add in some serious angst and drama to boot, and in turn morph this romantic comedy into a blend of romantic comedy and women’s fiction. But the most interesting facet of this book, for this reader looking back at his review of her last one, is my commentary on an unnecessary feature in that first book’s epilogue… which gets mirrored (to a degree) in this book’s epilogue. It seems that at minimum, Bromley was aware that this issue existed, and actively chose to go a different (and refreshing) route in the epilogue here. Oh, and this is one of those romantic comedies where the dog dang near steals every scene he is in, if not the entire dang show. Truly a fun and witty tale with heart, and very much recommended.

Below the jump, an excerpt followed by the “publisher details” – description, author bio, and social media and buy links.
Continue reading “#BlogTour: Here For The Drama by Kate Bromley”