Tag: teacher

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#BookReview: Our Perfect Family by Nicola Marsh

Lots Of Moving Parts Combine For One Explosive Thriller. This is one of those books where you know from Page 1 that little is going to actually be as it seems… and yet Marsh is going to keep you guessing and keep the reveals coming all the way until almost literally the very last words of this just-shy-of-300 page tale.

This is one where pretty well every character has some dark secret they are trying to protect, which is where most of the tension throughout the text comes to bear. Everyone thinks they know everyone and everyone thinks this is a titular “perfect family”, except we know as readers that this is far from what is actually going on.

This does all happen in Australia, and apparently the narrators thus use Australian accents in their reading. I actually explicitly chose an Australian voice on my Text To Speech reader for this book because of the setting and Marsh herself being Australian, and it absolutely worked well for me.

There is also quite a bit of teen/ new adult drama to be had here, including one scene in particular that while some may find distasteful also is and has been far too common. Marsh actually plays the scene well both in what she chooses to actively show – and not – and in how she shows its impact throughout our “perfect” family, which drives a large portion of the narrative here.

Overall truly a fun, twisty family suspense/ thriller with oh so much going on on so many different levels, this really is a great end of summer/ start of the new school year read, and is thus fairly well positioned for its print release on the day after US Labor Day, when even Yankee schools start back. Southern US schools have generally been back for at least a few weeks already by this point, and indeed all of my nephew and nieces started school nearly a full month before the Kindle edition release of this book.)

Very much recommended.

This review of Our Perfect Family by Nicola Marsh was originally written on August 25, 2025.

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#BlogTour: All The Ways You Save Me by Melissa Wiesner

For this blog tour, we’re looking at a strong, emotional romance that packs quite a punch. For this blog tour, we’re looking at All The Ways You Save Me by Melissa Wiesner.

First, the review I posted to the book sites (BookHype.com / Goodreads.com / PageBound.co / TheStoryGraph) and YouTube:

Strong Tale Packs A Punch – And Leaves Enough Left For An Exciting Followup. This is one of those books that packs *such* an emotional weight that I think the best comparison I can make goes back nearly a decade now – to Laurie Breton’s Coming Home, which I read circa 2017 or so and was the first book I ever used the term “tour de force” to describe.

This one doesn’t hit *quite* as hard as that one, but it’ll still land a few haymakers. Maybe Mike Tyson vs George Foreman when both were in their primes. In other words, “mere mortal”, prepare for an emotional beatdown with this book… in the best possible ways.

Seriously, this has “summer romance that can go so much further” written *all* over it, and thus its release window – just before Labor Day in the US, after at least some kids (including my nieces and nephew) have started back to school already but right there as college Fall Semester is starting up and summer is coming to a close – is damn near perfect for exactly this story. Even now literally 20 yrs post college and having been married for the vast majority of that time (18 yrs this Fall vs graduating 20 yrs ago this past May), I don’t know, for some reason this season of the year just evokes those kinds of emotions for me, and always has.

There isn’t really any comedy here, so the levity is more in the fact that we’re not in the middle of an emotional scene and are thus riding the swell to the next one (ha! a surfing metaphor, in a book that *does* include some surfing!). And yet the book works perfectly well *because* of this, rather than in spite of the lack of comedy. Not all tales need to be romcoms, and this one in particular is well served by keeping the comedy out. It allows the emotions to have the heft and also the breathing room they need to really work well.

Some may argue that in at least one somewhere between jalapeno and habanero scene that “they’re only 17!!!!”. A valid point, in that exact scene. But it also reflects *reality* going back essentially as long as humanity itself, and that scene helps give the overall tale the weight it needs for what happens later in the timeline. (I don’t remember where this exact scene is in the actual storytelling.) If you’re going to 1 or 2 star this book over that scene, it really says more about you than Wiesner, her storytelling abilities, or this tale in particular, and now that I’ve told you the scene is there, it really is on you, the reader of my review, to just avoid this book if that truly is a dealbreaker for you. I’ll tell you right now you’re depriving yourself of one of the more emotional romance tales I’ve read in my life – maybe even beating out Nicholas Sparks on the emotional side – but that is completely on you, and you do what you need to do. Just don’t be unfair to this book when I specifically made you aware of the existence of this issue here. 😀

Overall, again, truly one of the more emotional and thus stronger overall romances I’ve read in quite some time, and even though it leaves a few threads unanswered, it does so in ways that make it clear that they will be explored in Book 2… which I am very excited to get in my hands ASAP. Per Wiesner herself on social media gearing up for the release of this book, that one is titled All The Ways You Break Me and releases in February 2026 – roughly six months from now. I tell you now that unless Bookouture (the publisher) or Wiesner prevent me from doing so, I will be reviewing that book and on its blog tour as well. I *wish* it were already in my hands. And you’re very likely going to say that last sentence yourself if you read this book near release date, as hopefully you see this review in time to do. 🙂

Very much recommended.

After the jump, the “publisher details” – book info, description, author bio, social links, and buy links.
Continue reading “#BlogTour: All The Ways You Save Me by Melissa Wiesner”

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#BookReview: Hot To Go by Kristen Bailey

Hilarious And Spicy Beach Read Romance. I don’t normally proclaim a book to be a “beach read” as by definition, *any* book you bring to read on a beach is a “beach read”, and I don’t know what books every reader is bringing to every beach for all of known humanity, thus I can’t possibly proclaim what a “beach read” is.

That noted, this is *absolutely* a book I could personally envision myself or many others enjoying at a warm beach (again, not all beaches are warm – anywhere sufficiently north or south on the globe yet along a large body of water will have a beach that will be cold) or perhaps poolside on a warm day or perhaps even on a cruise in some warm location. The reason being the two parts (of 5) of the book that travel specifically to warm Spanish locations – Mallorca and Seville, where the warmer-than-the-British-Isles location actually plays a role in how some of the events come to be.

Now, for those wanting a *quick* read… this aint that. This book clocks in at nearly 400 pages, and it takes nearly 100 of them to get to Part II – after Mallorca. For those less interested – for whatever reason – in the day to day banalities of being a K12 classroom teacher… know that this book deals fairly significantly with these in the back 2/3 of the book, as that is one of the drivers of the rest of the tale – the couple from Mallorca find themselves working down the hall from each other in a school, in the same department. (In the description so not a spoiler, btw. :D)

For those readers who can barely tolerate a warm glass of milk spice wise, know that this tale is somewhere between a Habanero and a Ghost chili – you’re *going* to see and feel it, and you might come to regret all that you saw and felt. Which is actually where some (much?) of the comedy comes in, particularly in Mallorca and to a lesser extent back in Seville. The London and Paris sections were seemingly relatively less “spicy” and it was within these sections that we get a lot more of the non-physical drama and romance.

Overall I thought this was particularly well done, even at its length. The romance was enough to be both playful and heartfelt. The spice was enough that you may want either your partner or a towel – no shaming here – nearby. The comedy was everywhere from chuckles to damn near literally “I can’t read right now because I’m literally rolling on the floor laughing so hard my gut may well explode and my ass may literally fall off”. And for those reading this because the title is apparently a Chappell Roan song? No idea there. The most recent music I regularly listen to is now seemingly at least 15 yrs old, with newer stuff from John Williams, Hans Zimmer, Alan Silvestri, and a few other film composers thrown in along with the *occasional* random find on Spotify. Let’s face it, you’re coming to me for *book* recommendations, not music recommendations. 😉

Very much recommended.

This review of Hot To Go by Kristen Bailey was originally written on July 28, 2025.

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#BookReview: Teacher’s Pet by David Johnson

Best In Series For Making You Want To Explore The Author’s Other Works. With some of the other books in this series, the authors do a great job of referencing their other books, maybe even bringing in a character or two – or at least someone connected to them who can reference them in-story – to entice the reader of this series to explore their other books. It is very well done within the stories they are telling and doesn’t feel forced at all, just a casual “hey, there’s other stuff out there that may warrant exploration, if you’re into these characters” type of vibe.

Yeah… Johnson doesn’t go that route. He’s far more in your face about it – without being in your face about it at all. Instead, he brings in one of his major characters from some of his other work and gets you invested in this character’s story even within the context of the story he is telling here as part of Dragonfly Cove… and then tells you in the author’s note at the end “Oh yeah, if you want to see what actually happens with that character, well, this character just so happens to be the titular character in these other books I wrote”.

And yet the story here itself is at least as powerful as the one with that other character, here using a retiree set in her ways as our main character and telling a compelling story of an old “get off my lawn” curmudgeon (literally, in a couple of cases, telling people to leave her yard) who has very distinct thoughts about how things should be done learning to live again in a new situation. And, maybe, through the love and dedication of her puppy… maybe she just might fall in love again?

There are several subplots to this story that all show the complexities of elder life in various forms, which I know many readers are desperate for these days as seeming so few books deal in main characters of this particular age bracket – despite it being among the larger sets of the American population at the moment.

By far the longest book of this series at nearly 300 pages, this is also one of the most complex-yet-easy-to-read stories in the series as well.

Very much recommended.

This review of Teacher’s Pet by David Johnson was originally written on January 1, 2024.

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#BookReview: Textbook Romance by Kristen Bailey

Solid RomCom in Shared World With Other Books From Author. This is one of those books where characters other than our main couple play crucial roles and while it isn’t *completely* obvious that they are pre-existing characters from other books… it also kinda is, or at least was for me. In part because I *did* read Sex Ed, Mia and Ed’s story, and remembered them so distinctly. As it turns out, the other couple that plays crucial roles here, Beth and Will, had their story told in one of Bailey’s other works in another series, Did My Love Life Shrink In The Wash? – book 3 of 5 in the Callaghan Sisters series.

But don’t get me wrong, this book can completely be read as a standalone with no knowledge of the other two books, and the only blatant spoilers aren’t really spoilers… gee, the main couple in a romance novel wound up together… hmmm… *BREAKING NEWS!!!!!* (/sarcasm :D).

As to this tale itself, I thought it worked quite well in showing the difficulties of an age gap romance, if in a slightly more socially acceptable way than the somewhat more common older man- younger woman, instead we get here a bit of a cougar, with an older woman – younger man dynamic… except that it isn’t really cougar so much as friend to lover. The opening prologue sets the scene, with our eventual couple meeting right as our female lead learns devastating news, and the tall proceeds in an almost Gilmore Girls – meets – 2020s manner, with a lot of banter and texting (and sexting, and confusion/ hilarity around the confusion regarding both forms), and, since this *is* set in the UK… soccer. (*NOT* football, no matter what those crazy Brits claim. There are *reasons* we in the US were the first of many to kick them out of our country, and this is just another (more modern) reason they continue to be wrong. :D) (To be clear, 99% of the prior parenthetical statement was a joke. Though they *are* wrong in calling soccer “football”. :D)

If you prefer “clean” / “sweet” romances with the spice level of a warm bowl of oatmeal… this ain’t your thing, as this is closer to jalapeno at least, *maybe* habanero. As in, at 41 years old myself, there are things in this book that I’ve both never done and have lost the flexibility to do. So kudos to our female main character for being so nimble. 😀

Overall a fun, solid romcom with the usual expectations and perhaps a bit more heart than most that manages to take some typical tropes in at least slightly different directions.

Very much recommended.

This review of Textbook Romance by Kristen Bailey was originally written on August 1, 2024.

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#BookReview: The Stars Don’t Lie by Boo Walker

All Too Real. This book is all about a guy who hasn’t been back to his hometown in 20 yrs due to some massive trauma while he was in school who finally goes back home… and has his world and entire life and history rocked by shocking revelations about what *actually* happened back then. As someone who read this book, then went back to visit my parents near my hometown (they now live in the next County up, rather than the house I spent grades 7+ and college in), and had his dad just casually mention a previously forgotten if not outright unknown fact about his own high school history… yeah, this book is truly all too real. Add in the fact that I have my own version of “Mrs. Cartright”, a teacher who stepped in and stepped up at exactly the right moment in my life – in my case, Tommy Harris of Kingston, GA, who absolutely always deserves every accolade I can possibly give him… and yeah, like I said in the title… this book is all *too* real. And yet, that is exactly what made it so relevant and cathartic, even years after I like to think I’ve “fully” dealt with all my own real-world crap from that era. (Though in defining both who Carter, in the book, and myself, in my “real” life, became… perhaps one never *truly* moves on from that era and that pain… which is actually something Walker actively looks into even into the closing words of the text here.)

For anyone who has ever had one of those teachers worthy of a “Mr. Holland’s Opus Finale”, you’re gonna want to read this book. If you haven’t seen that movie, seriously, go back and watch it. Then come back and read this book. 😀

Overall truly a particularly well written and well told story, one that some will clearly relate to more than others – but which has enough universal truth to be truly transcendent, no matter the particulars of your own life. Very much recommended.

This review of The Stars Don’t Lie by Boo Walker was originally written on August 21, 2023.

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#BookReview: Uncharted Waters by Tammy L. Grace

Alaskan Gold. This is a tale of a teacher dealing with the first few months of retirement after a 30+ yr career who goes on the cruise she was gifted by her former colleagues and who meets a man dealing with his own issues as well. Other than the age issue specifically, I’ve actually witnessed similar “relation-*ships*” develop over my 15 years of cruising. Even in this novella, Grace manages to pack in a great deal of both drama and Alaskan Cruise details – even including the seemingly ubiquitous photographers. And yes, because this *is* a tale from Grace… there are dogs. 🙂

On a series structure side, know that each of these Sail Away novellas are a “series” only in that they all share a general common theme – in this case, that they mostly take place on cruises. Thus, any book in this “series” can be read in any order, and in fact I’ve now already read a couple of them “out of order” with no harm.

Ultimately yet again a tale with more drama than I’ve ever personally experienced on a cruise, but which has elements that I *have* observed with friends on cruises. Very much recommended.

This review of Uncharted Waters by Tammy L. Grace was originally written on January 2, 2023.

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#BookReview: A Homestead Holiday by Elizabeth Bromke

Complex And Short Tale. Bromke manages to show that if a storyteller is truly great, they can manage to pack quite a bit of complexity into a still short-ish (seemingly less than 200 page) book. Here, Bromke manages to show a teacher’s passion for her particular craft, a son’s devastation over losing his father, and how the two can come together in some very unexpected ways. Heck, she even manages to toss in elements reminiscent of Mr. Holland’s Opus (without the actual concert). And again, all in a short-ish book and *while still telling a compelling romance tale* to boot! Truly excellent work. Very much recommended.

This review of A Homestead Holiday by Elizabeth Bromke was originally written on November 1, 2022.

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#BookReview: Pretend To Be My Cowboy by Sophia Quinn

Solid Series Starter. This is the beginning of a new series by two authors combining under a single pen name, and while I had only read one of the two before… this is truly a solid sweet romance that her fans will enjoy, but also shows where she is not the only voice in the room. And yet, there is never a *blatant* change of perspective or anything that overtly gives away that two different people were writing this – which actually speaks to just how well they work together both as storytellers and through the editing process. Absolutely one for the sweet/ clean crowd – there is barely any kissing, much less anything else. (Sorry, steamier fans.) Also one for the Hallmark Movie type crowd, as this is absolutely one of their infamous general plots – big city girl comes to the wide open country, falls in love with the charming small town and one of its resident cowboys. While this book had *some* minor (Hallmarkie) level drama, there is a fair amount of foreshadowing here that there is at least the potential for meatier drama down the road in the series, and that could actually be a welcome change of pace for the one author I’m familiar with here. (For those that read this book and enjoy it, you’re absolutely going to love that author’s work as well.) Excellent work, and I’m looking forward to seeing how this progresses and how many books are ultimately in the series. Very much recommended.

This review of Pretend To Be My Cowboy by Sophia Quinn was originally written on December 1, 2021.

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#BookReview: Her Renegade Cowboy by Lora Leigh

Strong Romance – With A Couple Of Issues. As a romance book, this one works. It has the all the requisite parts and even a couple of the optional ones – clean/ sweet crowd, you’re not going to like all the XXX sex in this one, and there is more of it here than many romance novels, even those that include such scenes. As a bit of a psychological drama, it still kind of works, with the female lead clearly having issues she needs to work through. As a suspense… well, the only actual action here occurs in the last few chapters, the rest of the suspense here is more of the “looming threat” variety. Which works well enough here, but never really makes the pulse pound.

No, there really are two primary issues, one of which has been mentioned by at least one other reviewer and the other of which no existing review on Goodreads mentions: First, this is a female who it is made quite clear fairly early on (to the reader) has been assaulted. While there is indeed a fair amount of studies and even anecdotes of this turning the woman a bit promiscuous – for a variety of reasons – the more general feel seems to be that women become much more closed off to sex after this, particularly when still struggling with dealing with the events – as our female lead here is. And yet, the sex scenes here start pretty damn rapidly once she and our male lead connect. Again, in-story, it works well enough. This is mostly a “wait a second” level observation after the story, at least for this reader. (For others, it may well be a true game-stopper.)

The other issue, that hasn’t been mentioned in a Goodreads review yet, is the constant mention of a gun’s “clip”. NO! It is a “magazine” or “mag”. It is NOT a “clip”, and a former Army Ranger and current US Marshall would *damn* well know this! Still, even with this rather glaring example of complete unfamiliarity with the subject, it is one that readers similarly unfamiliar with the subject would think works reasonably well within the story.

And then there is the whole thing about this being titled as a cowboy story… and yet there is very little cowboy’ing happening here. Other than a ride inspecting fence posts, the rest of the “ranch” scenes could pretty well have any other location as their base of operations and the book would both read and work the same, almost without any even word changes.

Still, these are mostly more observational level issues that didn’t really detract from the book – other than the “clip” / “magazine thing – and the story itself, even with the magazine issue, is pretty solid with an action packed ending. And despite being marked as “Book 3” here, it actually works quite well as a standalone, which is how I read it.

Very much recommended.

This review of Her Renegade Cowboy by Lora Leigh was originally written on August 23, 2021.