Review: To All the Dogs I've Loved Before

Recently I’ve found myself not being drawn to traditional romances. I love my rom coms and other stories (contemporary or otherwise) with heavy romance elements but something about the sweeter, Happily Ever After stories hasn’t been working for me lately. But To All the Dogs I’ve Loved Before? Oh. Oh, friends. I adored it. It’s the third book in Lizzie Shane’s Pine Hollow series and I have to say it’s my favourite.

Here’s the book’s description:

The last person librarian Elinor Rodriguez wants to spend time with is her first love, Levi Jackson, but it seems her mischievous rescue dog has other ideas. Without fail, Dory slips from the house whenever Elinor’s back is turned. And in Pine Hollow, calls about a dog herding cars on Main Street go straight to Levi. The quietly intense lawman broke Elinor’s heart once, and now she’s determined to move on, no matter how much she misses him.
As the kid who barely graduated—and still struggles to hide his dyslexia—Levi always believed that Elinor was way out of his league. Even though he ended their engagement all those years ago, Elinor still takes Levi’s breath away whenever he sees her. But with a little help from a four-legged friend, Levi and Elinor may just get the second chance they deserve.

I’ve been burned by second chance romances in the recent past so I admit I was a tad wary of this one and how the trope would play out. Happily, it totally worked for me. Elinor and Levi had had an on again-off again relationship for years and they had such a solid friendship foundation. Their romantic relationship ended only a few years ago so it wasn’t like they were wide-eyed high school kids when they broke up. They had some big issues to work through and I was almost worried that they wouldn’t be able to get past them. There wasn’t really miscommunication so much as no communication and Elinor didn’t really understand why Levi ended things. She was quite protective of her heart, and I couldn’t blame her, so I was firmly Team Elinor as Levi worked on his issues.

Speaking of Levi’s issues, it was sometimes difficult to get past his “woe is me, no one can love me because I’m not worth it” feelings. They’re totally valid feelings and I’m so SO glad that Shane had him work past his prejudices to therapy and realize how much it can help. It just seemed like that was the only thing holding him back from being with Elinor and he refused to discuss it. It got a bit repetitive by the time they figured everything out.

Some of the storyline was pretty heavy because Levi’s personal issues were tough for him and Elinor was still working through her grief after the death of her best friend. Shane made sure to have some light hearted moments throughout to keep this romance more sweet than sad. Dory’s antics provided some much needed levity and the couple-to-be’s friends were always welcome on page. It was nice to get caught up on what was happening with the crew from the previous books and planning for a wedding always makes for some good stories.

An aside: I loved that Elinor and her sisters were all named after Jane Austen characters. It was a delightful added bonus for this Austenite.

I just loved getting back to Pine Hollow and the world and characters Lizzie Shane created. I really, really enjoyed reading To All the Dogs I’ve Loved Before and was a bit sad when it was all over. I’m looking forward to book 4, about Elinor’s sister, but it will take some time before I can accept it’ll be a new story and won’t be focused on Elinor and Levi who I just adored.

Content warnings: grief (death of best friend and mother in the past and off-page), cancer (death by in the past and off-page and side character currently in remission), father-son strained relationship (some emotional abuse when growing up)

Read my review of The Twelve Dogs of Christmas
Read my review of Once Upon a Puppy

*An egalley of this novel was provided by the publisher, Forever, via NetGalley in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Review: Love, Chai, and Other Four Letter Words

There’s not much more that frustrates me as a reader and a reviewer as when I read a book that I’m expecting to enjoy but I don’t and I don’t know why. There was no reason that I could tell that I wouldn’t enjoy Annika Sharma’s novel Love, Chai, and Other Four Letter Words. Rom com with depth? I love those! But there was something that I struggled with and I haven’t been able to put my finger on it in the few months since I finished it.

Here’s the book’s description:

Kiran needs to fall in line. Instead, she falls in love.
Kiran was the good daughter. When her sister disobeyed her family’s plan and brought them shame, she was there to pick up the pieces. She vowed she wouldn’t make the same mistakes. She’d be twice the daughter her parents needed, to make up for the one they lost.
Nash never had a family. The parents who were supposed to raise him were completely absent. Now as a psychologist, he sees the same pattern happening to the kids he works with. So he turns away from love and family. After all, abandonment is in his genes, isn’t it?
If she follows the rules, Kiran will marry an Indian man. If he follows his fears, Nash will wind up alone. But what if they follow their hearts?

I am sure that part of my issues came from cultural differences. I’m white. Kiran is Indian. My family life is very, very different than hers. I am well aware that my experiences are not better than anyone else’s and welcome other viewpoints. But I think I really struggle when grown women aren’t able to live the lives they want because their elders wouldn’t allow it or if it could impact negatively on the family. I respect my elders, absolutely. I love my mom but if she tried to control my life by determining who I could or could not date (as in the case of this novel), I’d be furious. I tried really hard to put all that aside and tried to get into the mindset of Kiran, just like Nash tried to too. And it was hard. Nash struggled as well and I did appreciate how Sharma wrote some of the scenes where he blundered and had to unlearn and relearn what kind of cultural biases he had. Because I have to keep doing that same sort of work. Sharma is not writing this book to educate people like me but the beautiful thing about reading widely and diversely is that you end up learning things with every book, even novels.

I think I also just didn’t really like Kiran or Nash. I couldn’t fully understand either of their personalities nor how their relationship was really supposed to work. Not from a cultural standpoint but from a purely romantic standpoint. I saw some sparks but I was missing something. I usually want to be friends with the characters I read about and these two were ultimately forgettable. I’d enjoy chatting to them at a party (remember parties?) but I wouldn’t think about them again.

I might try reading the next books in the Chai Masala Club books because I’m interested to see if I connect more with those characters and if Sharma’s writing gets stronger.

Final random notes. If you describe the dude as being blond, PUT A BLOND DUDE ON THE COVER. And I know many Millennials, like myself, love Harry Potter but given all the shitstorm surrounding JKR, perhaps these references to the books need to...just not exist.

Love, Chai, and Other Four Letter Words wasn’t a winner for me and I definitely encourage you to read other reviews on Goodreads about Annika Sharma’s novel.

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

 

Review: The Last Dance of the Debutante

I first read Julia Kelly back in 2020 when I devoured her novel The Whispers of War. Her latest offering was The Last Dance of the Debutante which was released in Canada in November of last year. I didn’t have the chance to read it until earlier this year but it was a perfect book to read in a month that seemed like it lasted forever. It’s a slow paced historical fiction but it was a delight to read.

Here’s the book’s description:

When it’s announced that 1958 will be the last year debutantes are to be presented at court, thousands of eager mothers and hopeful daughters flood the palace with letters seeking the year’s most coveted invitation: a chance for their daughters to curtsy to the young Queen Elizabeth and officially come out into society.
In an effort to appease her traditional mother, aspiring university student Lily Nichols agrees to become a debutante and do the Season, a glittering and grueling string of countless balls and cocktail parties. In doing so, she befriends two very different women: the cool and aloof Leana Hartford whose apparent perfection hides a darker side and the ambitious Katherine Norman who dreams of a career once she helps her parents find their place among the elite. But the glorious effervescence of the Season evaporates once Lily learns a devastating secret that threatens to destroy her entire family.

I think this one will really appeal to fans of The Crown, especially the first couple of seasons. England has emerged from war and is rebuilding. Times are changing and the “way things have always been done” isn’t cutting it anymore. The way Lily and her friends view society is vastly different than how their parents look at the world and I enjoyed reading as the young women found each other and started to form (and vocalize) their own opinions.

I just know that some people will say that this book is boring and “nothing” happens. The story is a bit slower, to be sure, but this isn’t a historical fiction set in wartime. The tensions present in the plot are a bit different than fighting for your life. But that doesn’t make the story less important. Kelly provides an incredibly interesting and well researched look at what life was like at a very specific time and place in history.

The “devastating secret” that Lily learns was a bit…much, perhaps. I think this was Kelly trying to up the tension and I don’t know if it quite accomplished her goal. It allowed for Lily to get some answers which she desperately needed and there was a satisfying, “Oh!” moment as it all came together. It added to Lily’s growth, which I was really invested in. I loved her as a character and that really helped me enjoy the story overall.

If you want a historical fiction novel that offers a glimpse of a time in history that isn’t often explored, The Last Dance of the Debutante is for you. I enjoyed Julia Kelly’s novel and am so excited for what she writes next.

*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 Book of Magic

It’s been a long time since I’ve read Alice Hoffman’s final book in the Practical Magic series. The Book of Magic was one of my most anticipated reads of 2021 and I read it in the fall (you know, ~*spooky szn*~) and adored it. I didn’t want the magical story to end.

Here’s the book’s description:

The Owens family has been cursed in matters of love for over three-hundred years but all of that is about to change. The novel begins in a library, the best place for a story to be conjured, when beloved aunt Jet Owens hears the deathwatch beetle and knows she has only seven days to live. Jet is not the only one in danger—the curse is already at work.
A frantic attempt to save a young man’s life spurs three generations of the Owens women, and one long-lost brother, to use their unusual gifts to break the curse as they travel from Paris to London to the English countryside where their ancestor Maria Owens first practiced the Unnamed Art. The younger generation discovers secrets that have been hidden from them in matters of both magic and love by Sally, their fiercely protective mother. As Kylie Owens uncovers the truth about who she is and what her own dark powers are, her aunt Franny comes to understand that she is ready to sacrifice everything for her family, and Sally Owens realizes that she is willing to give up everything for love.

This last book in the series is technically the second book but, after writing Practical Magic in 1995, Hoffman returned to the world of the Owens family in 2017 with The Rules of Magic, the first prequel novel. Then, in 2020, she released Magic Lessons which explained how the curse began. The Book of Magic brings all the (still alive) characters from the books and the most important locations together in a conclusion that was really satisfying (but of course left me wanting more). For those who may not have read this series yet, I would recommend reading in the story’s chronological order: Magic Lessons, The Rules of Magic, Practical Magic, and finally The Book of Magic.

A new generation is introduced in this book with Sally’s (Nicole Kidman in the movie Practical Magic) daughters playing an important role right alongside their mom, aunt, and great aunt. Each woman has secrets that are finally coming to light and it really seems like the curse could ruin the family for good in this book. There are elements to the curse that I couldn’t have predicted and I wondered how the family’s magic was going to survive.

The magic in this book is not over the top. There’s no wand waving. The most overt shows of magic by one character in particular eventually lead to his downfall. The magic is subtle and sometimes seems like it could absolutely exist in the real world. I like that Hoffman doesn’t have overt magic and also that she explores all types of magic. There are some who are gifted with herbs and others that are finders. It’s so interesting.

I also loved that Hoffman pays homage to books, reading, and libraries. It was quite fitting that I started reading this not long after starting school for my library technician’s diploma and a new job at a local public library. The novel started off in such a way that gave me goosebumps and I have to share the first line with you (courtesy of Goodreads):

Some stories begin at the beginning and others begin at the end, but all the best stories begin in a library.

Swoon.

I think The Book of Magic is best enjoyed by those who have loved the Owens family from the start. Read the rest of the books in the series before diving into Alice Hoffman’s latest. You’ll get so much more out of it and will be far more satisfied if you do.

*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: I Kissed a Girl

There’s no easy to way to say this: I didn’t enjoy I Kissed a Girl. I finished it but I think I had some sort of hope that maybe, just maybe, it would get better. Alas, I just wasn’t a fan of Jennet Alexander’s debut novel.

Here’s the book’s description:

Lilah Silver’s a young actress who dreams of climbing out of B-list stardom. She’s been cast as the lead in what could be her breakout performance…but if she wants to prove herself to everyone who ever doubted her, she’s going to need major help along the way.
Noa Birnbaum may be a brilliant makeup artist and special effects whiz-kid, but cracking into the union is more difficult than she imagined. Keeping everyone happy is a full-time job, and she’s already run ragged. And yet when the beautiful star she’s been secretly crushing on admits to fears of her own, Noa vows to do everything in her power to help Lilah shine like never before.
Long hours? Exhausting work? No problem. Together they can take the world by storm…but can the connection forged over long hours in the makeup chair ever hope to survive the glare of the spotlight?

Over the last couple of years I have gotten way better at not finishing books I’m not enjoying. Life’s too short and there are far too many books out there to keep reading books that you don't like. I had received an egalley of this one but I ended up listening to it and that’s probably the only reason I kept reading – I didn’t have another audiobook lined up. Plus, nothing was really, completely, totally wrong with the book. It just wasn’t…great.

The romance was super insta-love and I really couldn’t see what the women saw in each other. Well, that’s not strictly true. On their own, both Lilah and Noa were pretty OK. They just so completely did not suit each other, in my opinion (you know, from the peanut gallery). Even though Noa had a celebrity crush on Lilah, she was really judgemental of everything Lilah liked and did. How is that ok? And I never felt like we got a decent enough apology for how much of a dick Noa had been. There are other women out there, Lilah. Your first bisexual relationship doesn’t have to be with someone super attractive who’s treated you like you’re from Legally Blonde.

And the whole stalker thing? Which, by the way, was not mentioned at all in that description but was a massive plot point. It was…cringey. Lilah was being gaslit. The people (cough men cough) in charge were pretty dismissive of her worries. Jokes on them, the guy who was stalking her was completely unhinged and it was Noa who had to swoop in and save the day (sort of…I had really stopped caring by this point so the nuances of how Lilah was saved might have been a bit lost). Just not an enjoyable plot point for me.

This novel did have a lot of diverse rep which is always nice to see. Noa’s gay, Lilah’s bi (a massive part of the story was her coming to terms with that and her pretending to be someone she wasn’t because that’s what she thought gay girls needed to be like) and they’re both Jewish.

I’d suggest giving I Kissed a Girl a miss but some people might enjoy Jennet Alexander’s novel. I might check out what she writes next – we’ll have to see if the description catches my interest!

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

Review: The Deepest of Secrets

I was late to the Rockton series party but I’ve been thoroughly enjoying my time in the secret town Kelley Armstrong created. The Deepest of Secrets (out today) is the last in the series (or is it?) and I absolutely devoured it.

Here’s the book’s description:

It’s not always easy to live in the hidden town of Rockton, something Detective Casey Duncan knows firsthand. Tucked away in the Yukon wilderness, the community survives—and thrives—because the residents' many secrets stay just that—secret.
But what happens when these secrets start to come out? Overnight, no one is safe. It’s not a question of if your secret will come out—but when.
Casey and her boyfriend, Sheriff Eric Dalton, need to find the culprit while protecting those who have been thrust into the spotlight. For a place built on privacy and new beginnings, Rockton isn’t handling these revelations very well. People are turning on one another, and when one of the loudest complainers turns up barely alive, it's clear that their trickster is actually a murderer.
The threat of exposure is reaching its breaking point, and no one knows what’s going to happen next.

Now, this is the last Rockton book. BUT Armstrong has teased on social media that this might not be the last book with these characters. I was excited before and am even more so after reading this one. I’m super attached to these characters and am definitely not ready to say goodbye so I’m really hoping she finds a way to bring them all back together.

Not only do I love the characters but I enjoy how Armstrong writes the mystery. It can get a tad annoying because the reader knows Casey knows something but not what and I for one can’t usually figure it out but it all comes together and it’s super satisfying and I forget that I was annoyed. The twists in this one were unexpected and I’m pretty sure I found myself saying “WHAT?!” at my ereader on more than one occasion. Is it the most ground-breaking crime thriller ever? No. But it’s hella entertaining and fast paced so I was all in from the start and couldn’t put it down. I actually read a good chunk of it while donating blood last week and I was able to totally tune out everything happening around me while reading it.

I mentioned this one was fast paced and I wonder if it was a bit too fast. Things were happening a mile a minute and I think I started to get whiplash. It wasn’t a negative, exactly, for my reading enjoyment. I really freaking liked this book. But it’s not necessarily a hallmark of a super well written and executed mystery. Does it matter in the long run? No. I’m still going to tell you to read this series. Just a consideration to keep in mind!

If the sound of this mystery series intrigues you, I definitely recommend starting back at the beginning with City of the Lost and reading all seven books. They’re quick and entertaining and I think you’ll get a lot more out of it if you know the entire history of Rockton as Casey experiences it.

I don’t want to say much more about The Deepest of Secrets because so much of what’s happened in the previous six books comes to a head in this one and it’s so much better if you go in without knowing too much of what’s going to happen. So I'll say again: this is a great series and you should read it. I’ve really enjoyed Kelley Armstrong’s Rockton series and I can’t wait to find out if we get to see these characters again!

*An egalley of this novel was provided by the publisher, St. Martin’s Press, via NetGalley in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Review: The Matzah Ball

What better way to celebrate Valentine’s Day than a long overdue review about a book set during Hanukkah! I read Jean Meltzer’s debut novel back in December and it was a really fun rom com that celebrated a holiday other than Christmas – something we don’t see a whole lot of. There are mixed reviews of The Matzah Ball but I fell into the “enjoyed it” camp.

Here’s the book’s description:

Oy! to the world
Rachel Rubenstein-Goldblatt is a nice Jewish girl with a shameful secret: she loves Christmas. For a decade she’s hidden her career as a Christmas romance novelist from her family. Her talent has made her a bestseller even as her chronic illness has always kept the kind of love she writes about out of reach.
But when her diversity-conscious publisher insists she write a Hanukkah romance, her well of inspiration suddenly runs dry. Hanukkah’s not magical. It’s not merry. It’s not Christmas. Desperate not to lose her contract, Rachel’s determined to find her muse at the Matzah Ball, a Jewish music celebration on the last night of Hanukkah, even if it means working with her summer camp archenemy—Jacob Greenberg.
Though Rachel and Jacob haven’t seen each other since they were kids, their grudge still glows brighter than a menorah. But as they spend more time together, Rachel finds herself drawn to Hanukkah—and Jacob—in a way she never expected. Maybe this holiday of lights will be the spark she needed to set her heart ablaze.

What this book excels at is diverse representation. Not only are readers being treated to a Hanukkah story but Rachel also has a chronic illness. Both of these things come from Meltzer’s own life so Rachel’s character was really authentic and that came through in the story. When are we going to get to a point where I’m not noting how great it was to be reading about character who aren’t represented enough in books? I think we’re getting closer but there’s a hell of a lot more work to be done.

Now. The actual romance of this one was…not as well executed as it could have been. I love a good second chance romance but the initial romance between Rachel and Jacob was so long ago and they were so young that the insta-attraction was confusing. Jacob acted like a complete ass and Rachel was so desperate to get to his big party that she just allowed it to happen. How is this a good foundation for a romance?

Speaking of desperate to get to the party – Meltzer didn’t quite manage to convince me that Jacob’s Matzah Ball was the ONLY way Rachel would be able to be inspired to write a Hanukkah novel. There had to have been another way. Say, realizing how biased she was and how much her personal upbringing, the daughter of a rabbi, didn’t allow her to see how Hanukkah could be just as special as Christmas. I could sort of understand it but, in the end, it was hard to buy.

I did really enjoy the “com” of this rom com. Meltzer is funny and I found myself smiling throughout the novel. I think that was part of why I did end up enjoying this book as much as I did. It was fun and amusing and I liked spending time in the world Meltzer created.

And this cover! How freaking CUTE is it?

The Matzah Ball was entertaining and I had fun reading Jean Meltzer’s debut novel. She has another book coming out later this year that I think I’ll have to check out. Hopefully she’s grown as an author and this one is even better than her first.

*An egalley of this novel was provided by the publisher, Harlequin, via NetGalley, in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.* 

Review: Miss Dior

I feel like Dior is one of those fashion names that I’ve always been aware of but never really knew much about. So I definitely didn’t know Christian’s sister, Catherine, was involved in the French Resistance until I read Natasha Lester’s novel The Paris Secret. I was fascinated with the work of the Resistance during WWII and the stories that were never told. So, when I had the chance to review Miss Dior: A Story of Courage and Couture, I jumped at it because I wanted to learn more about Catherine. A hefty book full oh photos, Justine Picardie’s latest work was interesting, if far lighter on Catherine’s life than I would have liked.

Here’s the book’s description:

When the French designer Christian Dior presented his first collection in Paris in 1947, he changed fashion forever. Dior's "New Look" created a striking, romantic vision of femininity, luxury, and grace, making him--and his last name--famous overnight. One woman informed Dior's vision more than any other: his sister, Catherine, a Resistance fighter, concentration camp survivor, and cultivator of rose gardens who inspired Dior's most beloved fragrance, Miss Dior. Yet the story of Catherine's remarkable life--so different from her famous brother's--has never been told, until now.
Drawing on the Dior archives and extensive research, Justine Picardie's Miss Dior is the long-overdue restoration of Catherine Dior's life. The siblings' stories are profoundly intertwined: in Occupied France, as Christian honed his couture skills, Catherine dedicated herself to the Resistance, ultimately being captured by the Gestapo and sent to Ravensbrück, the only Nazi camp solely for women. Seeking to trace Catherine's story as well as her influence on her brother, Picardie traveled to the significant places of Catherine's life, including Les Rhumbs, the Dior family villa with its magnificent gardens; the House of Dior in Paris; and La Colle Noire, Christian's chateau that he bequeathed to his sister.
Inventive and captivating, and shaped by Picardie's own journey, Miss Dior examines the legacy of Christian Dior, the secrets of postwar France, and the unbreakable bond between two remarkable siblings. Most important, it shines overdue recognition on a previously overlooked life, one that epitomized courage and also embodied the astonishing capacity of the human spirit to remain undimmed, even in the darkest circumstances.

After reading Lester’s novel, I did a bit of research myself to see what was out there about Catherine Dior. The answer is: not much. She was incredibly close-lipped about her time in the Resistance, her arrest, and her imprisonment and eventual release from a Nazi camp. Picardie gives life to a woman who stayed towards the shadows after the war – but there’s only so much she could do. I found the book was far more about Christian and his fashion house than it was about Catherine. Interesting? Sure. But not exactly what I signed up for.

Because there isn’t a lot of information from Catherine directly, Picardie used stories from other people who were experiencing similar things as Catherine during the war. In this, Picardie did very well and I could begin to have a sense of what Catherine would have gone through. She shares stories of other people who were also captured by French informants and tortured by the Gestapo, and women who were imprisoned at Ravensbrück at the same time as Catherine. Those stories, as you can imagine, were hard to read. Not only did it highlight that there were completely terrible people who had no qualms about sending people to die just because they were “different” but there were so many others who were complicit. Catherine was tortured because she was trying to help stop the war and the atrocities. She was tortured and injured so badly she was never able to have children. French citizens turned on each other and helped the Nazis. And the conditions at the camps were horrifying. There really is no other word for it.

Picardie visited a few of the places that were of significance to Catherine’s life, including Ravensbrück. She puts quite the personal spin on the visits, which I wasn’t expecting but isn’t surprising. I imagine one can’t help but reflect when visiting a place like a concentration camp. What was somewhat irksome was she referenced her own grief in such a way that I felt like I was supposed to know Picardie’s own background and history (from a brief search, I learned her sister died). It seems a bit…harsh, I guess, to remark on the author’s own grief but it took me out of the narrative I was expecting from this book.

The photographs and other images used throughout the book were great and added a lot to the overall narrative of the book. While I wasn’t expecting so much fashion talk, I was glad of the photos that accompanied those chapters. I did a listen/read combo with this one but I’m definitely glad I had a (hefty) physical copy as well so I got the full experience. The audiobook is narrated by Picardie herself and was well done.

Miss Dior: A Story of Courage and Couture was definitely more couture than courage. If you know what to expect going into Justine Picardie’s latest book, I think you’ll enjoy it more. Catherine Dior may have been the focus of the book but she still remains an elusive historical figure.

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

My review of The Paris Secret

Review: Eight Perfect Hours

Lia Louis’s novel Dear Emmie Blue completely blew me away in 2020 so I was very much looking forward to her 2021 release, Eight Perfect Hours. It took me awhile to get to it – only reading it earlier this year – but I quite enjoyed it. Perhaps not as much as the earlier novel but it was still a good story in its own right.

Here’s the book’s description:

On a snowy evening in March, 30-something Noelle Butterby is on her way back from an event at her old college when disaster strikes. With a blizzard closing off roads, she finds herself stranded, alone in her car, without food, drink, or a working charger for her phone. All seems lost until Sam Attwood, a handsome American stranger also trapped in a nearby car, knocks on her window and offers assistance. What follows is eight perfect hours together, until morning arrives and the roads finally clear.
The two strangers part, positive they’ll never see each other again, but fate, it seems, has a different plan. As the two keep serendipitously bumping into one another, they begin to realize that perhaps there truly is no such thing as coincidence.

First things first. This one was, for some reason, somewhat marketed as a Christmas/holiday novel. I don’t know if that was the intention of the publisher or if it wasn’t even them marketing it, it was early readers deciding that a book released in the late fall with a cute, wintery cover MUST be a Christmas book. It’s so not. The story opens in March. *checks calendar* Yeah, nowhere near Christmas. It’s not even really a wintery novel. Noelle and Sam get meet each other because of a freak snowstorm and the rest of the novel takes place over the following months. So, basically, you could read this one at any time of year and be delighted.

You really have to believe – or allow yourself to believe for the length of the novel – in the concept of fate to be able to fully enjoy this story. It was a sweet idea and something I had fun thinking about while reading. It was a nice little escape from *waves arms at world* The little coincidences that were revealed throughout the story were sometimes completely unexpected and kept things from getting too predictable.

Noelle’s ex-boyfriend was a complete asshat. She’s the caregiver to her mother, who had had a stroke a few years prior and really struggled with going out because she knew she wasn’t the person she used to be. So things fell to Noelle. All the things, basically. Earning money, paying bills, and so on. Her ex couldn’t understand why she kept looking after her mother and didn’t go after what she really wanted in life (to be a floral designer). No one can fully understand someone else’s life but he was such a…well, kind of a gaslighting jerk about it. She deserved so much better and I hated reading as she got sucked back into his orbit. I might be a bit harsh but I had such a “yuck” feeling when reading the scenes with him that that feeling has stuck with me way more than some of the other things about this book.

Sam, on the other hand, was lovely. That said, I don’t feel like I really got to know either character enough over the course of the story which may have kept me from enjoying it as much as I expected. I cared about them both, most definitely. I wanted to read their Happily Ever After. But there just seemed to be a little something missing from their development.

All in all, Eight Perfect Hours was a lovely read. It wasn’t, unfortunately, perfect but if you want a sweet, reflective read, Lia Louis’s latest might be the one for you.

Some content warnings: death of a friend/family member years prior, depression (including postpartum), suicide.

My review of Dear Emmie Blue

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

Review: The Maid

I love when a book meets my high expectations. I had been looking forward to Nita Prose’s debut novel since the second it was announced. She’s an amazing editor and I was excited to see how she fared as an author. Fast forward several months and I finally had a copy of The Maid in my hands. I chose it as my first read of 2022 and, friends, it set the bar really high for all the books after it. I enjoyed it immensely!

Here’s the book’s description:

Molly Gray is not like everyone else. She struggles with social skills and misreads the intentions of others. Her gran used to interpret the world for her, codifying it into simple rules that Molly could live by.
Since Gran died a few months ago, twenty-five-year-old Molly has been navigating life’s complexities all by herself. No matter—she throws herself with gusto into her work as a hotel maid. Her unique character, along with her obsessive love of cleaning and proper etiquette, make her an ideal fit for the job. She delights in donning her crisp uniform each morning, stocking her cart with miniature soaps and bottles, and returning guest rooms at the Regency Grand Hotel to a state of perfection.
But Molly’s orderly life is upended the day she enters the suite of the infamous and wealthy Charles Black, only to find it in a state of disarray and Mr. Black himself dead in his bed. Before she knows what’s happening, Molly’s unusual demeanor has the police targeting her as their lead suspect. She quickly finds herself caught in a web of deception, one she has no idea how to untangle. Fortunately for Molly, friends she never knew she had unite with her in a search for clues to what really happened to Mr. Black—but will they be able to find the real killer before it’s too late?

The mystery in this one kept me guessing the entire way through. The twists Prose weaves into the story were so good and I was constantly surprised and delighted. As delighted as one can be when reading a murder mystery, of course. This wasn’t a gruesome murder mystery – it was…well I hesitate to call it fun. I’ve seen it referred to as a Clue-like story and it kind of is (though not as madcap as the movie). It’s a well written puzzle. It just so happens that at the heart of the puzzle is a very dead man.

Molly was a gem of a main character. She struggles socially and it’s led a lot of my book blogging/bookstagram friends to talk about whether or not she’s on the Autism spectrum. It’s never explicitly stated and I wonder about that. Is it because she’s not and is just an awkward young woman? Or is it because Prose is not on the spectrum herself and she and her editors wanted to avoid any “own voices” debates? Is it that Molly was never tested and has no idea? Or is it just because labels shouldn’t matter? I think I was contemplating this more than necessary because Molly and her perception of the world played such a large part in how the crime was discovered and solved. Those who have read this one – I’d love to know your thoughts!

One of the things I liked about this mystery was that it didn’t descend into ridiculous amateur sleuth territory. Molly wasn’t going rogue and trying to solve the murder on her own (though there were some questionable decisions). She works with her lawyer and her friends to figure out the truth because the police weren’t listening to her. The lead detective clearly didn’t understand how to work with Molly and she was exasperated and didn’t try to understand how best to get to know how Molly’s brain worked. The comeuppance that the detective got was, perhaps, a bit heavy handed but it was a nice reminder to everyone to take a second to figure out why communication may be failing with someone and not assume that everyone’s brains work the same way.

The Maid was just the kind of mystery I have realized I love reading and I’m so thrilled with Nita Prose’s debut novel. The book has already been optioned for a movie and I’m really looking forward to seeing it on screen. I think it’ll be so enjoyable. I can’t wait to read what Prose writes next!

*A copy of this novel was provided by the publisher, Penguin Random House Canada, in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Review: The Inn on Sweetbriar Lane

Foiled again by my “Ooh, a small town romance! Yes, I’ll review it” impulse. The Inn on Sweetbriar Lane should have been really sweet and enjoyable. And I’m sure some people felt that way about Jeannie Chin’s novel. I just…didn’t. The story really didn’t work for me and the characters drove me up the wall.

Here’s the book’s description:

June Wu always has it all together—only now, she’s in over her head. Her family’s inn desperately needs guests, her mother’s medical debts are piling up, and the surly, if sexy, stranger next door is driving away the customers she has left! When he asks for June’s help, though, she can’t say no. After all, his new bar could be just what the upcoming Pumpkin Festival needs to bring in more tourists. But with the fierce attraction between them, will working together be playing with fire?
Ex-soldier Clay Hawthorne prefers being on his own. He’s moved to Blue Cedar Falls for one reason—to carry out his best friend’s dream of opening a bar in the hometown he’ll now never return to. But the town’s business association is trying to stop Clay’s progress. June soon becomes his biggest supporter, and while their partnership is supposed to be only temporary, for the first time Clay wants something permanent—with June. Can two total opposites really learn to meet each other in the middle?

I received an advanced audiobook copy of this novel to review and, personally, I felt like the narrators didn’t help me enjoy Chin’s novel. There were dual narrators, which I often really like especially when it’s a romance being told from two characters’ perspectives. This time it really grated me. Katy Tang and Zachary Webber were the narrators and Webber, especially, really didn’t work for me. His female voices were so, so bad. And the rest of his narration felt…flat. I've seen other reviews that praise his work but for my earballs? Hard no.

I know I sound like a broken record but I’m really particular with enemies to lover stories. And I don’t really appreciate it when a so-called “opposites attract” story ends up being more enemies to lovers. That’s what happened with this one. The pair get off on the wrong foot and they can’t move past that for awhile. June tries to be a nice neighbour but she goes in with certain expectations and doesn’t allow Clay, who’s grumpy and hates everyone and everything about the small town, to explain whatever he’s willing to explain (he’s such a closed book…also frustrating). But then! They kiss and fall into bed with each other and…all is well? I couldn’t buy into the relationship at all.

Not only did the relationship not work for me – zero chemistry – but the characters themselves did nothing for me. I wanted to like them. Truly. They had had hard pasts but neither were willing to communicate with anyone about anything and I’m so over stories where no one talks. There are other ways to create conflict! I appreciated that June was Chinese American, something that isn’t seen all too often in romance novels, but that was about the only high point for me.

I’m always bummed when I don’t like a book. I really did expect to enjoy The Inn on Sweetbriar Lane but it just didn’t work for me. Will I read more of Jeannie Chin? Maybe. Maybe not.

*An advanced audiobook copy of this novel was provided by Hachette Audio in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Review: Noble Ambitions

I’ve been trying to read more nonfiction for the last few years because I just don’t tend to gravitate towards them. There’s no real reason why. I just…don’t! With that in mind, I thought I would try the audiobook of Noble Ambitions: The Fall and Rise of the English Country House After World War II. I was pretty captivated with Adrian Tinniswood’s book and narrator Roger May was excellent.

Here’s the book’s description:

A rollicking tour of the English country home after World War II, when swinging London collided with aristocratic values
As the sun set slowly on the British Empire, its mansions fell and rose. Ancient families were reduced to demolishing the parts of their stately homes they could no longer afford, dukes and duchesses desperately clung to their ancestral seats, and a new class of homeowners bought their way into country life. A delicious romp, Noble Ambitions pulls us into these crumbling halls of power, leading us through the juiciest bits of postwar aristocratic history—from Mick Jagger dancing at deb balls to the scandals of Princess Margaret. Capturing the spirit of the age, historian Adrian Tinniswood proves that the country house is not only an iconic symbol, but a lens through which to understand the shifting fortunes of the British elite in an era of monumental social change.

Raise your hand if you watched Downton Abbey. *looks around* Yes, I thought there were a few of you. You know how Lord Grantham, Mary, and the rest had to find a way to save the house? And how the real life owners of the house it’s filmed at, Highclere Castle, also had to find a way to save their house and did so by opening it up for filming? This book essentially told the real life story of people just like the Crawleys. It shared how the houses fell into disrepair after years of glory and then started to become popular and established once again. Some of the stories were absolutely mindboggling and I can’t believe what some of the owners went through to try and keep their home.

May was a great narrator and I could have listened to him talk about just about anything for much longer than 13.5 hours of this audiobook. His tone was more conversational than lecturing, which I appreciated.

I have to say, though, as much as I loved the audiobook and narration, I couldn’t help but wish I could have seen all the photos of the houses (that I assume are in the print edition). Tinniswood talks about SO MANY houses that it was hard to keep straight and seeing it in writing and in photos may have helped a little bit.

It was interesting to read this one and feel so much sympathy for the owners of these massive houses. You can’t really help it because, for a lot of them, they were losing their family's homes because of taxes and death duties and the sheer expense of the upkeep of a crumbling stone house. But on the flip side…some of those families were at the tippy top of the elite and some of the Haves did nothing to help the Have Nots. Tinniswood doesn’t get into the social divide too much – other than to talk about the servants and how they left service because there were other options available to them. All of it gave me something to ponder as I listened to the descriptions of the opulence that was once seen – and then seen again – at these houses.

Those who enjoy history, and English history in particular, will like Adrian Tinniswood’s book. There are tons of interesting facts – and equally interesting gossip – in the pages of Noble Ambitions that made for an enjoyable read.

*An advanced audiobook copy of this novel was provided by Hachette Audio in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*