Review: A Favor for a Favor

Since I had quite enjoyed the first book in Helena Hunting's All In series (I reviewed A Lie for a Lie here), I was really looking forward to reading book two, A Favor for a Favor. What I wasn't expecting was to actually like this one more than the first!

Here's the synopsis:

When I joined Seattle’s NHL expansion team, I thought it was the start of something great. But nothing ever goes the way you expect. Take my introduction to my new neighbor. She came rolling in on the hot mess express at midnight, making a racket while she tried to get into my team captain’s apartment. Did I mention that he’s married to a woman who definitely was not her?
Imagine my surprise when I end up with an injury that has me out of the game for weeks, and she’s the one to offer to help me. I should probably add that she’s not the captain’s mistress. She’s his sexy, pastel-haired younger sister.
So we come up with an arrangement: she rehabs me so that I can get back on the ice sooner, and she can add a professional athlete that isn’t her brother to her client list. Seems simple enough. As long as I can keep my hands to myself and my hormones in check.

It's always tricky going into the second book of a series when each book features a new couple. Will you like them as much as the characters in the first book? What if you don't? What if you spend the whole book hoping just to get a glimpse of the first couple? Now, I don't want to say I didn't care if I didn't see RJ or Lainey in this book but...I was fine knowing they were a-ok in their HEA as I just needed to focus on Stevie (the aforementioned woman who's trying to sneak into the captain's apartment) and Bishop, RJ's teammate. I loved them. Especially Stevie. Bishop was a bit of a dick but Hunting managed to write him in such a way that you knew that wasn't really what he was like. It was kind of like that was just the persona he had to put on to survive his day to day.

I found myself really wanting to be Stevie's friend. She seemed like the type of woman I could really get along with. She was feisty, smart, funny, and had a big heart. I felt for her when she talked about having to deal with her brother's fame. I can't imagine what it would have been like to be the kid sister of a hockey superstar. I also liked that Hunting had a lot of great brother-sister scenes with Stevie and her brother, RJ, trying to sort out their complicated, but loving, sibling relationship (even though, yes, I wanted to get back to the sexy romance times with her and Bishop).

Stevie and Bishop's courtship was so much fun to read. They're flirting with each other in the most ridiculous way and don't even realize they're flirting until some kind friends and family point out that they can't stop thinking or talking about the other. Their whole relationship seems so unrealistic but I loved it. Because why couldn't the sister of the team's captain end up living next to a super hot and single player and they end up dating?

I could probably gush about this book a whole lot more but I'll hold off. Just know that Helena Hunting has written a great second book to her series and I think romance fans will love A Favor for a Favor as much as I did. I really cannot wait for the next book in the series!

Review: A Lie for a Lie

Helena Hunting has been a romance author I'd been meaning to read for a long while. I'd heard good things plus she's Canadian. I was happy and excited when I got the chance to read A Lie for a Lie, a new series she was starting. It was fun and sexy and dramatic and I enjoyed it a lot.

Here's the synopsis:

Sometimes I need an escape from the demands, the puck bunnies, and the notoriety that come with being an NHL team captain. I just want to be a normal guy for a few weeks. So when I leave Chicago for some peace and quiet, the last thing I expect is for a gorgeous woman to literally fall into my lap on a flight to Alaska. Even better, she has absolutely no idea who I am.
Lainey is the perfect escape from my life. My plan for seclusion becomes a monthlong sex fest punctuated with domestic bliss. But it ends just as abruptly as it began. When I’m called away on a family emergency, I realize too late that I have no way to contact Lainey.
A year later, a chance encounter throws Lainey and me together again. But I still have a lie hanging over my head, and Lainey’s keeping secrets of her own. With more than lust at stake, the truth may be our game changer.

Knowing that Hunting has written hockey romances in the past, I knew she would include the sport in the story in a meaningful and realistic way. I'm not really a hockey fan but being a general sports fan and a Canadian, it means I know a lot more about the sport than the average person. I'm also a romance fan so I'm always happy when sports and romance come together in a great story.

This is one of those romances that drives you nuts even while you're rooting for the couple. Both Lainey and RJ have a lot of stuff they need to sort out but they take advantage of being thrown together with someone they find extremely attractive and dive in to a bunch of sexy times. The last thing either of them expect is to start falling for each other. It's no surprise then when it totally crashes and burns. Until they're thrown back together a year later. You want to yell at them both to just be honest to each other because then they'd save a whole lot of heartbreak. Luckily, they listen, eventually, and everyone lives Happily Ever After. (If you consider that a spoiler, I don't know what kind of romances you've been reading.)

I don't know if I especially liked Lainey and RJ but I did really enjoy reading their story. They were so very good for each other and I just love reading stories when people find their person. Especially when it's in such a bananas way. On a plane to Alaska? How fun and random!

I was super into A Lie for a Lie by Helena Hunting. I read it in a day because I just didn't want to put down the super swoony and emotional story. I'm definitely invested in this series and look forward to more stories about the hockey team Hunting has created.

*A copy of this novel was provided by the Canadian distributor, Thomas Allen & Son, in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Review: The Honey-Don't List

I'm a relatively new Christina Lauren reader. While they've been published for several years, I only read my first book by them (Christina Lauren is a pen name for Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings) in 2018 (it was Roomies and I thoroughly enjoyed it). Since then I've read a number of their novels and The Honey-Don't List is their latest. It was fun with a little sexy and a lot of depth but it didn't wow me as much as I expected.

Here's the synopsis:

Carey Douglas has worked for home remodeling and design gurus Melissa and Rusty Tripp for nearly a decade. A country girl at heart, Carey started in their first store at sixteen, and—more than anyone would suspect—has helped them build an empire. With a new show and a book about to launch, the Tripps are on the verge of superstardom. There’s only one problem: America’s favorite couple can’t stand each other.
James McCann, MIT graduate and engineering genius, was originally hired as a structural engineer, but the job isn’t all he thought it’d be. The last straw? Both he and Carey must go on book tour with the Tripps and keep the wheels from falling off the proverbial bus.
Unfortunately, neither of them is in any position to quit. Carey needs health insurance, and James has been promised the role of a lifetime if he can just keep the couple on track for a few more weeks. While road-tripping with the Tripps up the West Coast, Carey and James vow to work together to keep their bosses’ secrets hidden, and their own jobs secure. But if they stop playing along—and start playing for keeps—they may have the chance to build something beautiful together…

I thought the design/TV show aspect was a lot of fun and really enjoyed that it also showed the less than glamorous side of things. I mean, this story was an extreme example of the ugly that show business can create but it's a good reminder that those HGTV shows (which I adore) are made for entertainment purposes. (Although, do you watch Home Town? I find that show to be delightfully uncontrived and unscripted. Ben and Erin are the cutest and I just love the show.) If you're also a fan of these types of HGTV-esque stories, I would highly suggest Playing House by Laura Chapman, one of my favourite authors.

I really liked Carey and James. The romance between them seemed so great and believable too. It moved fast but they spent a lot of time together and were able to get to know each other on levels that it sometimes takes other couples weeks or months to achieve. They really seemed like opposites but the more they got to know each other, the more they realized a lot of their core values were the same. I also really liked that the story was told by both of them. Chapters changed perspective with whoever's chapter it was telling the story in first person. Sounds like it could be confusing but it really worked for me.

What didn't work? The transcripts with the police officers and the social media comments that were interspersed between chapters. The transcripts hinted at the climax of the novel which I didn't mind but it seemed like a weird way to do it. That said, I didn't mind the excerpts from Russ and Melly's book (because they related to whatever drama was currently happening in the story) or the articles about their tour.

While there's a romance at the heart of this book, Carey's personal journey (ugh sorry for the cliched term) is what stood out for me the most. From an outsider, like James originally was, she seems like she's been stuck in an assistant role for a decade. She's incredible reliant on her bosses and their lives are hopelessly intertwined. The authors make sure the reader knows Carey has already begun to work on herself before James came along - she had been going to therapy to try to help work through her issues - but since he was in a similar position, he was able to help her see a way out of the situation she was in. I rooted for her throughout the entire book and wanted all of the good things for her.

Special shout out for the authors to write Carey with a disability and one that presents in a pretty invisible way. Carey has dystonia, which is a movement disorder that can cause muscles to spasm and contract uncontrollably. They explain in the acknowledgements that Billings' family has a variant of the disease and that's why they wanted to include it in the storyline and shed a little bit of light on the disease (which I had never heard of so I'm happy to have had the education).

Did I have high expectations for The Honey-Don't List? Maybe. Was I stressed about the global pandemic blowing up the world around me? Perhaps. Is it worth a read? Yes, I think so but don't worry too much if it gets pushed down your reading list. Christina Lauren will always entertain and if you want an escape, their latest book could be what you're looking for.

*An ARC of this novel was provided by the publisher, Simon & Schuster Canada, in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Review: The Runaway Daughter

I was on a historical kick when I read The Runaway Daughter by Joanna Rees so I was looking forward to it. It's the first book in a series buuut I'm not sure if I'm going to seek out the next when it publishes this summer. I didn't love this one, which was an unfortunate surprise.

Here's the synopsis:

The first novel in a dazzling and sweeping historical trilogy from bestselling author Joanna Rees.
It's 1926 and Anna Darton is on the run from a terrible crime. Alone and scared in London, salvation comes in the form of Nancy, a sassy American dancer at the notorious nightclub, The Zip. Re-inventing herself as Vita Casey, Anna becomes part of the line-up and is thrown into a hedonistic world of dancing, parties, flapper girls and fashion.
When she meets the dashing Archie Fenwick, Vita buries her guilty conscience and believes him when he says he will love her no matter what. But unbeknown to Vita, her secret past is fast catching up on her, and when the people closest to her start getting hurt, she is forced to confront her past or risk losing everything she holds dear.

I struggled with a lot of this story. The main thing was how it was written. There are chapters from one of Anna's family members interspersed with her viewpoint and it was a bit jarring. (That's vague but I don't want to say more because doing so would reveal one of the small twists Rees wrote.) One of the other things I didn't like was Anna herself. I know she had a very sheltered life and was a young woman from a wealthy family. Girls those days just didn't seem to have an education that would help them in the real world. And that translates to a very, very naive girl in a big city. Even knowing that, I was still frustrated at Anna and her choices.

I did like the time period Rees wrote. And because of the way she wrote it, I could even kind of feel like I was a flapper myself. Which, I admit, was lifestyle that was a lot more scandalous than I had really realized. But made it fun and added to the intrigue and tension in the overall story.

It's hard to write a review months after reading a book. But when you didn't really like it? It becomes almost impossible. I put off reviewing this one in part because life got in the way of timely reviews and also...I just wasn't really sure what to say about it. The Runaway Daughter was a major miss for me for many reasons. I've heard great things about Joanna Rees (aka Josie Lloyd and Jo Rees) so I might be tempted to pick up another of hers in the future but she'd have to work hard to make me really excited.

*An egalley of this novel was provided by the Canadian distributor, Publishers Group Canada, in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Review: Alone in the Wild

It's rare for me to knowingly jump into a series mid-way through but last year I did just that with Kelley Armstrong's Rockton series. The fourth book, Watcher in the Woods, was being published and I reviewed it for Niagara Life because I thought it sounded pretty interesting. I enjoyed it and looked forward to the next book, Alone in the Wild, which was published back in February.

Here's the synopsis:

In number one New York Times best seller Kelley Armstrong's latest thriller, the hidden town of Rockton is about to face a challenge none of them saw coming: a baby.
Every season in Rockton seems to bring a new challenge. At least that's what Detective Casey Duncan has felt since she decided to call this place home. Between all the secretive residents, the sometimes-hostile settlers outside, and the surrounding wilderness, there's always something to worry about.
While on a much needed camping vacation with her boyfriend, Sheriff Eric Dalton, Casey hears a baby crying in the woods. The sound leads them to a tragic scene: a woman buried under the snow, murdered, a baby still alive in her arms.
A town that doesn’t let anyone in under the age of 18, Rockton must take care of its youngest resident yet while solving another murder and finding out where the baby came from - and whether she's better off where she is.

When you don't read a series from the start you miss exactly how relationships are built and knowing what pieces from the past have been revealed and which are still hidden. Armstrong does a good job of recapping some information so a new reader can start to piece things together without, I imagine, boring readers who have been with the series since the beginning. 

What I've been liking about this series (one of the things anyway) is that it's a thriller that isn't falling into any of the usual tropes we're seeing right now. Yes, there's a woman who had to run from her past and may still have some issues to work out but she's living a pretty solid life and her past demons seem to be staying in the past. Of course, she's living in a town in the middle of nowhere in the Yukon and said town has a surprisingly high murder rate given there's not that many people living there. Kind of puts a damper on things.

I really like Casey. I like that she's a little bit flawed and knows it. She's in her early thirties, like me, and really seems to relish the challenge of trying to police Rockton (not a thing I would enjoy). She and Dalton, the town's sheriff, have a relationship that would make many people envious - they're settled and just recently got a new dog, Storm, who they've been training as a tracker. How a Newfoundland dog can become a tracker, I know not, but the scenes with Storm were a delight (except for the ones she was in danger...those were scary). 

I also liked how Casey's brain worked. She is well suited to being a detective because her mind is able to take the pieces of the puzzle and work them around until she has the solution. It's really interesting to read and Armstrong writes it well. Casey and Dalton had the mystery sorted out and I was still playing catch up as it was all revealed (I may blame my cold for dulling my brain...). I wasn't able to figure out the ending and I really enjoyed the puzzle as I read this story.

If you like mysteries - especially with a Canadian flavour - you should definitely check out Kelley Armstrong's Rockton series. Alone in the Wild was a lot of fun to read (well, I had as much fun as you can when you read about a murdered woman and a baby whose parents are missing) and I think I enjoyed it more than the last book in the series. I'm looking forward to the next installment.

*An ARC of this novel was provided by the publisher, Doubleday Canada, in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*