Tag: womensfiction

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#BlogTour: Second Chance Romance by Carol Mason

For this blog tour, we’re looking at . For this blog tour, we’re looking at Second Chance Romance by Carol Mason.

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

Nothing Technically Wrong, Yet Much Many Won’t Like. In my review of Mason’s earlier book, Between You And Me, three years ago last month, I noted that Mason managed to craft a tale “with particulars that Iā€™d never seen done quite this way before, and that is always something I seek out and love to find”. That remains true in this tale, seemingly her first attempt at a more lighthearted romcom after several books more in the domestic thriller/ women’s fiction space.

And while the particulars are at least somewhat new – while also being a hodgepodge of other ideas and characterizations well known in the romance space in varying forms – it also becomes quite clear that Mason is new to writing within this particular space, as she has the basic formula down quite well… and yet, there is much here that those looking for a truly mindless and hilarious “beach reach” romcom won’t find here at all.

To be clear, this book absolutely has its moments of hilarity. It also has at least habanero level spiciness… in a form that many will consider potentially offputting (but is also well known in *ahem* “certain video circles” *ahem* to be quite popular therein). And the book’s locations, in coastal California, Santorini, and even the historic areas of Athens (Greece, to be clear, vs Athens, GA, home of my beloved University of Georgia Bulldogs) are shown well… yet don’t seem to “hit” quite as well as others within the space. It also has moments of stone-cold seriousness, including when we find out our male lead’s “deep dark secret” – and here is yet another point that will be divisive for some, but which I felt was handled in a very realistic manner.

Indeed, perhaps one of the more difficult aspects of this tale is that throughout, it can never really decide if it wants to be a romcom or a “serious women’s fiction” type tale… and sadly, the combination of both comes across as disjointed enough to detract from each, rather than enhance each.

This is a book with no actual objective-ish reasons to deduct stars or not recommend, and yet it is still a difficult book to classify and really find an audience that will clearly love it – which is a shame, because Mason has shown herself to be a talented storyteller in prior efforts, and even here shows quite a bit of that talent… in fits and spurts.

So read the book for yourself and see if you can help me sort it out.

Recommended.

After the jump, the “publisher details” – book info, description, author bio, social links, and buy links.
Continue reading “#BlogTour: Second Chance Romance by Carol Mason”

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#BookReview: Husbands & Lovers by Beatriz Williams

Story Tries Hard But *Just* Misses + Story/ Cover Mismatch. This is one of those reviews where the review and rating may not seem to align, because for the vast majority of this book, I thought it was pretty damn good. It does a LOT – even more than similar Soraya M. Lane books usually do – and *for the most part*, it does those things quite well. We’ve got a romance tale in the 2000s era New England that alternates between 2022 (current) and 2008 (the halcyon summer where the couple first fell in love). We’ve got a historical fiction tale that alternates between the 1952 Great Cairo Fire/ Black Saturday period and early WWII period. Either one of those tales could be an entire book in and of itself, and yet we’ve also got a 23 And Me type DNA mystery that links the two (and which admittedly is a spoiler mentioning, sorry). I’ve read many entire books that would use any one of those three elements to tell an entire tale, and yet we get all three tales in one book here. And *for the most part*, it all works.

Where it fails, and the cause of the first star deduction, is that the climax of the Cairo tale is rushed and its fallout effectively buried in service of the New England romance and 23 And Me mystery. This book could have been *so much more* with maybe as little as 10 extra pages flushing out the Cairo tale in 1952 rather than the 2022 manner in which we get that information, and I think this is a close enough to objective opinion to merit a star deduction here.

The other star deduction is one I don’t encounter often, but *have* done a time or two before, and is warranted here for the same reasons I’ve used it before – the stories told here and the cover as it exists at publication (June 25, 2024) do not match. At all. The 1952 tale in Cairo -the era this cover screams to me – doesn’t really have even a pool scene at all, much less one involving a diving board. Even the 2000s era tales don’t actually involve any real pool activity, again particularly with a diving board. There are some ocean/ beach scenes that play key roles, but that isn’t what this cover evokes. Even in tone, this cover leads the reader to believe that this will be some 1950s era glam tale of some form… and it isn’t, not really. Yes, the Cairo tale is played as “exotic”… but that isn’t the tone I get from this cover.

So a lot of words, maybe too many words, to say that you really do need – as one 2* reviewer also noted – to read the description of the book to really know what you’re getting into here, and judging this book by its (admittedly great looking, in and of itself) cover may get you into a bit of a letdown situation with this particular book.

Overall, I actually really, really enjoyed this book. I thought it did a lot, and for the most part did well on damn near all of it. It simply lacked execution in a final detail and needed a cover that ties to the story more than the current one does.

Very much recommended.

This review of Husbands & Lovers by Beatriz Williams was originally written on June 28, 2024.

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#BookReview: You’ll Never Find Me by Allison Brennan

Solid Series Starter. This has pretty much everything one would want in a family based PI / police procedural type drama series starter. Complicated family dynamics, a compelling case – where in this particular instance (series?) family members find themselves on different sides of the case -, an interesting mystery, and the storytelling to put it all together quite well indeed.

As is typical of such a series, this is clearly going to be a “freak of the week” type with an overall lore and mythos, and both look to be compelling going forward.

Fans of the genre generally will find a lot to like here, and those who haven’t really dabbled in this kind of tale before will also find a lot to like that could potentially bring in new fans.

Ultimately, this is one of those series starter books that does everything it needs to do and does it all quite well.

Very much recommended.

This review of You’ll Never Find Me by Allison Brennan was originally written on June 26, 2024.

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#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.

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#BookReview: The Next Mrs Parrish by Liv Constantine

Sociopathy vs Psychopathy vs Revenge. If the first “Mrs Parrish” book was a study in psycopathy vs sociopathy with a “normal” person caught in the middle – and it was -, this one is in some ways more of the same, but with the added twist of adding a new character who is just as cunning as both the sociopath and the psychopath, but a more ‘normal’ person with the added motivation of pure revenge.

Thus, the action tends to be just as despicable here as in the first book, and for that reason many who did not like the first one may in fact not like this one either – so if that is you, seriously, just spare the author the 1* review and skip this one.

But for those who are willing to endure the despicable acts knowing that this book *is* more revenge focused and *does* have some significant (and seeming conclusive, for at least some of the players involved) payoffs… this book is actually quite delicious. Where the first one was more slow and methodical, this one almost seems like a director who has only now learned about quick scene cutting, particularly relative to just how slow the first book was. Almost like an old school, plodding, hours long chess match… and then the next match is over in a brilliant storm of lightning. Not one that will necessarily leave you breathless, but absolutely one where you begin to wonder just how much you’ve seen and how fast you’ve seen it. Particularly, again, after the utterly glacial pace of the first book.

Whereas the first book had almost no redeemable qualities about almost none of the characters, here we do get to have a bit more sympathy for at least some of the characters, and that alone will make this book better than the first one for some readers – but you absolutely have to read the first book to be able to fully understand this book.

Ultimately, this was truly well done, and some parts of the ending were truly delicious indeed given all that had happened to that point.

Very much recommended.

This review of The Next Mrs Parrish by Liv Constantine was originally written on June 26, 2024.

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#BookReview: The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine

Slow Burn Examination Of Sociopathy vs Psychopathy. Have you ever wanted to read a fairly slow, in depth, rather brutal look at what happens when a psychopath and a sociopath cross paths… and someone else is caught in the middle?

Well, then I have the book for you!

I’d owned this book for quite some time before finally reading it as its sequel, The Next Mrs. Parrish, was released – directly in preparation to read *that* book as an Advance Review Copy. While normally I do recommend that people go ahead and start series books early…. in my defense, I thought I *had* read this one a while back before realizing I hadn’t. šŸ™‚

This noted, any readers new to this series will be glad that the sequel is out now, as with the particular manner that this one ends… having the next one readily at hand was actually a great thing indeed.

Just, again, be warned that this is a S L O W book, where even the twists can seemingly take a few dozen pages to reveal themselves. And in the end, virtually *no one* looks overly great *and* there is quite a bit of abuse and other injustices discussed and actively shown. So if darker books aren’t your thing… may want to rethink this one.

In the end though, this really was a fun book that I’m glad I finally read.

Recommended.

This review of The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine was originally written on June 25, 2024.

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#BookReview: The Wild Road Home by Melissa Payne

All The Feels – Including A Few Very Dusty Rooms. Payne is very much making a career out of intricate character stories that pack a lot of emotional depth and complexity in with a fair amount of drama and action, and this book is exactly in that vein. Here, we get truly visceral looks at the emotions surrounding death and abandonment, emotions which will be difficult for some and will cause the aforementioned dusty rooms for more. The way Payne can bring these things to life via her words is truly remarkable, and that she can do so in such a story without ever appearing preachy – if anything, pretty much the exact opposite – is even more remarkable.

If you’re looking for a light and breezy “beach read”, this isn’t that. If you’re looking for a “beach read” in that you can read this book while on a beach… and bawl your eyes out in the process… yeah, this is that kind of book.

Very much recommended.

This review of The Wild Road Home by Melissa Payne was originally written on June 25, 2024.

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#BookReview: Find Me In California by Kerry Lonsdale

Cathartic Trippiness. Imagine a Stanley Kubric type acid trip – and now imagine it in full virtual reality 8K. That is what reading one particular pivotal scene of this book is like, and it is in this sequence in particular that Lonsdale pulls out storytelling elements that even after having read literally every book she’s written to date, I didn’t know she had. Which is one of the reasons I love checking in every year for her annual release and seeing what she has come up with now – she is a master of evolving and expanding her skillset while still remaining true to the emotional depth and complexities of characters that she has crafted in every book, no matter the particulars or particular mechanics of the book at hand.

This is one of those books where the current fad of “magical realism” is done particularly well, even competing with one of my favorite scifi based such scenes in any medium ever, where in the movie Frequency (2000), the ending sequence features things happening in two timelines at once at a pivotal moment and the past being shown to directly impact the present in a key way. What Lonsdale manages to do is almost the opposite yet also quite the the same in a sense, and eventually we get to where we can almost *see* the character at hand’s neurons re-wiring as all that has happened becomes known.

And then there is the catharsis on so many levels. As noted above, Lonsdale excels in creating particularly complex characters, and this tale is no exception. That she manages to create *so many* characters that are each equally complex shows true skill – I’ve read quite a few books even just when counting as starting around the same time I read my first book from Lonsdale, and rare indeed does a book have quite this level of depth and “flavor”.

Overall truly an intriguing book that will likely be remembered for many years by at least some.

Very much recommended.

This review of Find Me In California by Kerry Lonsdale was originally written on July 11, 2024.

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#BookReview: For The Love Of Summer by Susan Mallery

Solid Susan Mallery Tale Of Finding Friends Even In Difficult Situations. I admit, I’m a bit weird here due to how my own family was as I was growing up, and even how my wife’s family is to this day. You see, my grandparents divorced well before I was ever born. I never knew them married. And yet, my grandmother and step-grandfather lived on my grandfather’s property, at times even inside his own house, at a few different points of my childhood. Similarly, my wife’s mom’s best friend… is the ex-wife of her husband (my wife’s stepdad).

Thus, when I find myself reading a tale such as the one here, where a new wife suddenly finds that her only real chance at moving forward is the generosity of her husband’s ex-wife (prodded on by their daughter)… it actually isn’t that far out of the realm of “normal” for me. šŸ˜€

So maybe I had an easier time accepting this plotline than some, but for me it absolutely worked quite well. Yes, it could get a touch repetitive at times as Mallery was driving home her major thematic elements, but… that is kinda part of Mallery’s style, at least of late. Yes, her books – including this one – could easily be 20 or more pages shorter without all of the repetition, but I honestly think that many of Mallery’s bigger fans appreciate this to some level.

Ultimately, this is a tale of hope and found family/ found friendship and how these can make life bearable even under difficult and somewhat unusual circumstances. This is a tale of women bonding even in situations that would likely tear many female bonds apart, and it is a tale of the power of friendship. I for one thoroughly enjoyed it, even if, yes, it did run perhaps a touch too long. But again, that is just something one comes to expect from Mallery, who I’m beginning to think has some kind of deep seated aversion to publishing a book with less than 400 pages in it.

Very much recommended.

This review of For The Love Of Summer by Susan Mallery was originally written on June 5, 2024.

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#BookReview: The Lighthouse Cafe by Bebe Reed

Short Cozy Family Drama Sets Up Series Well. This is one of those barely 200 page books that packs quite a bit in it – but is also one of those books where everyone is lying to someone about something, which is where much of the drama comes in. Meant to be more of a cozy coastal foodie vibe primarily, it actually does work as that down the stretch… it just takes a bit to get there. The titular Lighthouse Cafe really comes into its own eventually – kinda sorta ala settlement building in Fallout 4. Yes, the pieces are there and broken when you first encounter them, but this is where a lot of the beauty for a lot of people comes in, seeing just how these people mend themselves as they mend the building and business.

Overall a breezy book with perhaps more drama than many would want on a “beach read”, but also great for those cold winter nights when you need to be transported to a more tropical location in your mind.

Very much recommended.

This review of The Lighthouse Cafe by Bebe Reed was originally written on June 5, 2024.