#BookReview: Well Actually by Mazey Eddings

Some Will Love It, Some Will Hate It, Nothing Objectively Wrong. This is one of those hyper-“progressive” Gen Z TikTok obsessed romances where how you identify with the characterization of the book itself earlier in this sentence largely tells you how much you’re going to enjoy this book, at a very broad, general level at least. Obviously everyone is different and even those generally inclined to love this book may actually hate it or vice versa, but at a review level to give you, the reader of my review, an idea of what you’re considering getting yourself into… I think it is a completely fair generalization here.

The author has “content warning” spoilers at the beginning of the book – always a mistake to my mind, as to me, they should be available on the author’s website with a message in that spot to look there. This is at least in part because these spoilers are impossible to avoid on eReaders in this location in particular, and I and at least some other readers prefer to go into books unspoiled. Now, even if one wants to try to argue back at me “but aren’t you doing exactly that in this very review”… 1) It isn’t at the front of the book at hand. No matter where you are reading this review, you actively came here away from the book. You’re not reading it immediately before reading the actual text of the story. 2) I’m also not being anywhere near as specific in my warnings as the author did, intentionally to avoid spoilers while also allowing readers of this review a chance to better determine if this book may or may not be something they are interested in spending their money and time (but I repeat myself) on.

For what it is, it works reasonably well. There’s lots of (progressive/ Gen Z/ TikTok style) banter, there’s habanero level “spice”, there’s a fair amount of “coarse language” yet also a metric shit ton of “therapy speak”, there’s some literal laugh out loud level comedy, and there is ostensibly a romance in here that will hit harder for some than for others – same as pretty well any romance book out there. In short, if you can withstand the biases and worldview of the story itself (or even actively agree with them), you’re probably going to like this romcom as much as you do a “generic romcom”. There’s nothing wrong here – but the only things that make it stick out from the pack at all are also the divisive elements that will attract some readers and repulse others, so those elements come out as a wash to my mind as an overall judgement.

Because my “subtractive method” of rating, wherein every book starts at five stars and I need specific, describable, and *preferably objective-ish* reasons to remove stars explicitly states that star removals need to be based on something resembling objective criteria, I have nothing to hang a star removal on here. Again, all flaws here are incredibly subjective and utterly dependent on the reader’s worldviews and even moods at the time of reading this book. Some will see no flaws at all, others will want to defenestrate the book almost from page 1. I hope I’ve done enough here to give you an idea which you may be, and if so I think I’ve done my job as a reviewer.

If you do choose to read this review, please do also leave a review of it in the same place you’re reading this one. I’d love to see what you thought of it, and all reviews help the author sell books – and help the author *not* sell books to those who might not enjoy the book, thus helping the author to avoid further negative reviews where possible. No matter what you think of the book and no matter how you write your review, *someone* will think you’re an idiot and buy the book to spite you and your review, and *someone* will think the author is an idiot and choose not to pick the book up to begin with. Yes, that even includes people reading this review and concluding that *I* am the idiot in question. 😉

So hey, if you’re all about the progressive/ Gen Z / Tiktok / therapy talk vibe… absolutely pick this book up, I really do think you’ll enjoy it. If you’re not completely opposed to those things, pick this book up and give it a try. I think it is at least plausible that you’ll like it. If you’re more solidly/ completely opposed to those things… maybe just skip this one and avoid the headache. There are other books out there more your style, and I can help you find some of those too. 🙂

Recommended.

This review of Well Actually by Mazey Eddings was originally written on August 3, 2025.

#BookReview: The Ripple Effect by Maggie North

Solid Sophomore Effort. This book picks up shortly after Rules For Second Chances, the author’s debut, ends – even though even two weeks after release it isn’t listed or marketed (that I’ve seen) as a sequel or series. Which is critical information, because both of our leads here actually debuted there, with one of them (the male) having a decent sized role in that book that helps explain some of his actions in this book.

Here, North shows growth as a storyteller in that she is breaking away from what she knows as an Autistic and is exploring things from neurotypical perspectives… yet still in manners that are all too real for just how messy things can get. From physically messy – mud in a river camp – to emotionally messy (most everything going on with both of our leads and their relationship prior to the beginning of this book, explained briefly in the book’s opening sequences).

Overall this is a solid romance/ women’s fiction tale of healing from various traumas and maybe finding love along the way… with a fair amount of laughs and a touch of spice – let’s call it jalapeno level – along the way. Read the first book first, but then you’ll absolutely be ready for this one, and while it won’t be “I MUST HAVE THE SEQUEL RIGHT THIS SECOND”, I do believe you’ll both enjoy having this book on hand ready to read immediately after and that this book will make more sense for more readers who have read the two books in close succession. I personally read the books a year nearly to the day apart, with 201 books between them, but fortunately I was still able to follow along reasonably well. This may not be a talent/ ability all readers enjoy though as like North, I too am Autistic, so I’m confident that my recommendation to read them closer together than I did will hold more true for more readers than not.

Very much recommended.

This review of The Ripple Effect by Maggie North was originally written on June 30, 2025. (With apologies for the tardiness on this Advance Review Copy. Some major life events happened just before the release of this book that unfortunately delayed me reading it.)

#BookReview: Rules For Second Chances by Maggie North

Aspiring Autistic Author Accomplishes Astounding Act of Adoration. Ok, so that was a very painful and forced alliteration by an Autistic reviewer that actually gives an idea of what this book may be like for at least some non-Autistic readers.

Personally, I found that most of this book worked quite well – it does in fact have the far-too-common tacked on baby-in-epilogue that always leaves a sour “aftertaste” for me when the book never really mentioned even wanting kids in its overall story, but other than this quibble the book actually does work well as a story of both finding oneself and rediscovering the love one had for one’s partner along the way. But part of what made it work so well – if perhaps a *touch* stereotypically – is that North worked in so many real-world examples of what life as an Autistic in the corporate world can truly be like at times, particularly as it relates to understanding others and working to be understood by them.

The emphasis on improv comedy and its “Yes, and” philosophy is a driving force in the overall narrative here and yes, perhaps is very nearly a crutch/ preachy at times about the philosophy and its purported benefits, but again, within the overall structure of the story as told… eh, *every* such story has some overarching narrative device, this one simply happens to be improv.

Overall this was a solid debut effort in the romance space, and absolutely leaves me wanting to see more from this author – which is the number one (or maybe two, after sales of this book itself) goal of any debut book. So in that regard, it did its job quite well indeed. And for those looking for “diverse reads”, again, here’s a neurodiverse author for you to give a shot!

Very much recommended.

This review of Rules For Second Chances by Maggie North was originally written on June 26, 2024.

#TwelveDaysOfRomance #BlogTour: His Road To Redemption by Lisa Jordan

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.

Conclusion Of Modern Day Waltons Saga. If you’re a fan of the old-school Waltons or Little House on the Prairie or the newer shows like Heartland, this book is absolutely right up your alley. These IPs show that the market for this kind of tale is strong, so it is actually great to find a book that fits in fairly perfectly with them. Just be warned that although this isn’t (currently?) marked as Book 4 of a series, it actually *is* Book 4, following Season of Hope (Book 1), A Love Redeemed (Book 2), and The Father He Deserves (Book 3), and seems to serve as a finale for this series. Thus, all three brothers from the first three books show up, as Micah (our hero here) seems to have been at least introduced in Book 1 and is now being brought forth to claim his destiny as a romance hero in his own right here. Having not read the other three books, it clearly seems as though there are significant payoffs for potentially series-running plot threads here – I just don’t know. So the long and short of this review is that while this book is a strong Waltons-type romance in its own right, featuring newer, more modern plotlines (including animals-as-therapy and group homes for homeless veterans)… I actually do recommend reading the first three books of this series before reading this one, which isn’t something I usually say about such tales but truly is fairly critical here. And I’m sure that by the time you’ve finished those other three, you’re going to want this one anyway. Very much recommended.

After the jump, an excerpt followed by the “publisher details” – book description, author bio, and social media and buy links.
Continue reading “#TwelveDaysOfRomance #BlogTour: His Road To Redemption by Lisa Jordan”