Review: Small Town, Big Magic

It’s almost Spooky Season which, for me, means cursing the cooler weather (I’m sure I’m a Fall Girl at heart but I hate hate hate saying goodbye to warm weather and knowing snow is coming!), drinking pumpkin beer, and reading witchy books. I don’t particularly love Halloween (other than the tiny chocolate bars) and scary stuff is so not my jam. But novels featuring witches? Especially with a dash of romance? Oh yes. I’m into that. So, I was really interested in Hazel Beck’s novel Small Town, Big Magic which is the start of a new, contemporary magical series. It wasn't the best but it actually was fun to read!

Here's the book’s description:

Witches aren't real. Right?
No one has civic pride quite like Emerson Wilde. As a local indie bookstore owner and youngest-ever Chamber of Commerce president, she’d do anything for her hometown of St. Cyprian, Missouri. After all, Midwest is best! She may be descended from a witch who was hanged in 1692 during the Salem Witch Trials, but there’s no sorcery in doing your best for the town you love.
Or is there?
As she preps Main Street for an annual festival, Emerson notices strange things happening around St. Cyprian. Strange things that culminate in a showdown with her lifelong arch-rival, Mayor Skip Simon. He seems to have sent impossible, paranormal creatures after her. Creatures that Emerson dispatches with ease, though she has no idea how she’s done it. Is Skip Simon…a witch? Is Emerson?
It turns out witches are real, and Emerson is one of them. She failed a coming-of-age test at age eighteen—the only test she’s ever failed!—and now, as an adult, her powers have come roaring back.
But she has little time to explore those powers, or her blossoming relationship with her childhood friend, cranky-yet-gorgeous local farmer Jacob North: an ancient evil has awakened in St. Cyprian, and it’s up to Emerson and her friends—maybe even Emerson herself—to save everything she loves.

Emerson was…interesting. Truthfully? She drove me bonkers. But…I still cared about what she was up to? I think I just struggle with people who think they know best and try to manage everyone in their circle. I think what helped me enjoy reading about Emerson was that she wasn’t doing anything because she was cruel. She just figured she knew what was best. And I can’t imagine it would have been easy to find out that everything you thought was true was…not.

I also wasn’t totally sold on the romance in this one. Friends to lovers is one of my favourite tropes so you’d think I’d be All In when it came to Emerson and Jacob. But the fact that he was grumpy for no apparent reason (turns out there was a reason) and the whole magic amnesia thing…something didn’t quite work for me. Was I still rooting for them? Duh. I love me a Happily Ever After (or, in this case, a Happy For Now). But the tension just wasn’t quite…right.

I always enjoy seeing how different authors approach magic and what rules they put in place in their worlds. I also always appreciate a nod to the history of witches and Salem and so on. (Maybe that’s the historical fiction lover in me!) I liked that there were different types of witches in Beck’s world and they had different types of powers and they were stronger together with one of each type of witch.

In all honesty, looking back at Small Town, Big Magic has me wondering what, exactly, kept me turning the pages and why I’m looking forward to the second book. I think I enjoyed the broad strokes of the story – the why of the cursed town and what will happen – more than the narrow specifics – the personalities of the characters and so on. I will definitely read the next book in the series but it will be one I’ll borrow from my local library.

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

Review: The Winners

I was kind of late to the Beartown game. I knew about the book but wasn't entirely sure I'd enjoy it. My book club decided to read it in the summer of 2018 and then I finally understood what people were talking about. It was incredible and I immediately put the second book, Us Against You, on hold at the library (I loved it too). I was so grateful and excited to receive an ARC of book three, The Winners, (seriously - there was squealing when I opened the envelope). This book. Oh, my heart. It is everything.

Here's the book's description:

Two years have passed since the events that no one wants to think about. Everyone has tried to move on, but there’s something about this place that prevents it. The residents continue to grapple with life’s big questions: What is a family? What is a community? And what, if anything, are we willing to sacrifice in order to protect them?
As the locals of Beartown struggle to overcome the past, great change is on the horizon. Someone is coming home after a long time away. Someone will be laid to rest. Someone will fall in love, someone will try to fix their marriage, and someone will do anything to save their children. Someone will submit to hate, someone will fight, and someone will grab a gun and walk towards the ice rink.
So what are the residents of Beartown willing to sacrifice for their home?
Everything.

This book is massive. It’s a chunky, hefty tome that clocks in at roughly 680 pages. On the one hand, I’m not sure why it had to be that long. On the other, well, I’m so so so very glad it was. I didn’t want the story to be over so I was thankful to have so many pages of this book to read. This is a story that you don’t want to see the end of.

I’ve only read this series from Backman so I don’t know how he writes his other books. This series though? I can’t properly explain how perfectly he’s written this story. It’s not written like most other books I’ve read. There’s a third person omniscient narrator who knows everything that’s happening or has happened in the story. They even know what will happen even if they don’t always tell us (that first chapter though…). It’s the perfect way to tell a story with a bajillion characters who all need to be featured. And if that sounds confusing, it’s totally not. This series works because it’s telling the story of a community, not just one or two characters (even if there are a few who shine brighter than others).

I’m a pretty emotional person who cries more at books than movies or TV but doesn’t always cry at scenes you’d expect. And sometimes it seems like I have an empty space in place of a heart when gut-punch scenes don’t affect me at all. *shrugs* I went in prepared to have All The Feels with this book thought and, friends, it got me. It did take longer than I expected for the tears to come but I had to fight not to sob when I was getting to the end (maybe don’t read this book in the lunchroom at work?) EVEN THOUGH I knew what was going to happen. Backman dropped hints throughout but, my god, it still hurt when you were actually reading it.

If you haven’t yet experienced the magic that is Beartown, you absolutely must read this series. The Winners is a perfect conclusion to a series I never wanted to see end. As much as it broke my heart, it couldn’t have ended any other way. Fredrik Backman is a writing wizard and I’m so very glad I’ve been able to get lost in this series.

*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: Bet on It

I may have requested Jodie Slaughter’s novel Bet on It because I needed an audiobook to read but I thought it sounded like a really lovely romance. As a white woman who does not have diagnosed anxiety, I enjoyed the different perspective the novel gave me. As an avid romance reader? Well, I didn’t particularly care about the rest of the story.

Here’s the book’s description:

The first time Aja Owens encounters the man of her dreams, she’s having a panic attack in the frozen foods section of the Piggly Wiggly. The second time, he’s being introduced to her as her favorite bingo buddy’s semi-estranged grandson. From there, all it takes is one game for her to realize that he’s definitely going to be a problem. And if there’s anything she already has a surplus of, it’s problems.
In Walker Abbott’s mind, there are only two worthwhile things in Greenbelt, South Carolina. The peach cobbler at his old favorite diner and his ailing grandmother. Dragging himself back after more than a decade away, he’s counting down the days until Gram heals and he can get back to his real life. Far away from the trauma inside of those city limits. Just when he thinks his plan is solid, enter Aja to shake everything up.
A hastily made bingo-based sex pact is supposed to keep this…thing between them from getting out of hand. Especially when submitting to their feelings means disrupting their carefully balanced lives. But emotions are just like bingo callers—they refuse to be ignored.

I didn’t really understand the bingo bet Aja and Walker made. It seemed like they were children trying to use bribes to get what they wanted but also stop them from having too much of what they wanted (sex, I mean sex)? They’re adults and I found the whole “bet” thing immature (and confusing). Of course I knew they’d end up falling for each other and using the bet as an excuse to keep themselves from getting hurt but I also knew it wouldn’t help and they’d end up together in a Happily Ever After moment. Usually, I don’t mind knowing the way a romance is going to go but I have to care about the journey to that HEA. I didn’t care here and it was unfortunate.

I also just didn’t quite get the chemistry between the two of them. Maybe I missed something important, but it just sort of seemed like there was some physical attraction and that was that. There was an emotional-ish connection as they both had mental health challenges (I want to say anxiety and panic attacks, and maybe depression and also PTSD but I didn’t make notes and don’t have a copy to check). I appreciated that part of the story but it felt separate to everything else somehow. It kind of felt like I was reading about the diagnoses, not human characters.

Also, I’d love to never have a woman’s thighs be mentioned so much ever again in any novel I read. I got it the first time Slaughter mentioned Aja’s legs. She wasn’t a teeny thing (and I loved that). But there was no need to bring it up non-stop, especially by Walker.

The novel was narrated by Angel Pean and I felt she did a good job (but, honestly, I could be wrong - I've put this book out of my mind quite a bit). But from what I remember, she helped me be as immersed as I could be with this story and I’ll definitely keep my eyes out for other books she narrates.

Bet on It should have been a fun romance with great representation from under-written points of view. Jodie Slaughter nailed the rep but the rest of the story? Not so much. Maybe I’ll read another from her, maybe I won’t. Life’s too short for “fine” books!

*An advanced listening copy (ALC) was provided by the publisher, Macmillan Audio, via NetGalley in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.* 

Review: The Enigma of Room 622

Every once and awhile I think to myself, “Let’s spread our book reading wings a little bit, Kaley, and try something a little different.” Sometimes it works and I find a book I love. And sometimes…well…sometimes it leads me to hate reading a mystery that seemed like it should be a good fit for me and is just really, really not. That happened with The Enigma of Room 622 by Joël Dicker. I don’t even really know what I read, to be honest.

Here's the book’s description:

A writer named Joël, Switzerland’s most prominent novelist, flees to the Hôtel de Verbier, a luxury resort in the Swiss Alps. Disheartened over a recent breakup and his longtime publisher’s death, Joël hopes to rest. However, his plans quickly go awry. It all starts with a seemingly innocuous detail: at the Verbier, there is no room 622.
Before long, Joël and fellow guest Scarlett uncover a long-unsolved murder that transpired in the hotel's room 622. The attendant circumstances: the succession of Switzerland’s largest private bank, a mysterious counterintelligence operation called P-30, and a most disreputable sabotage of hotel hospitality. A European phenomenon, The Enigma of Room 622 is a matryoshka doll of intrigue–as precise as a Swiss watch–and Dicker’s most diabolically addictive thriller yet.

The book hit my radar at a HarperCollins Canada influencer event. I thought it sounded a little different and like a mystery I could really sink my teeth into. What I ended up getting was a convoluted mystery that the author inserted himself into. I think? Or maybe he was just writing the mystery and turning it into a novel? Or maybe he just made the whole thing up? Smarter readers than I may have it all figured out, but I still don’t know what was real and what was a novel within the novel. And that kind of drove me bananas.

I also didn’t like how the story was written. I don’t know if it was because it was a translation (from French and translated by Robert Bononno) but it felt so choppy and I couldn’t find a good rhythm. And it wasn’t just how the sentences were constructed that I had an issue with. I just didn’t find that the flow of it made any sense whatsoever. It jumped around in time and I couldn’t keep track of much of anything. Then there were a million reveals at the end of the book so I didn’t even get a satisfying conclusion.

I didn’t particularly care about the characters either. I doubt I was supposed to like them but I’m a reader who likes to at least find the characters intriguing even if I don’t particular like them. I don’t think I would have cared if any of them had gone to jail for the murder. As it is, I’ve totally forgotten who committed the crime.

No, The Enigma of Room 622 was not a winner for me. I’m sure there’s an audience for Joël Dicker’s novel but I, unfortunately, was not it.

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

Review: One Good Thing

I stumbled upon Alexandra Potter’s Confessions of a Forty-Something F**k Up back in 2020 and absolutely loved it (review here). When I saw she had a new release coming this year, I knew I had to read it. One Good Thing was full of good things and I really, really enjoyed reading it.

Here’s the book’s description:

In life, nothing is certain. Just when you think you have it all figured out, something can happen to change the course of everything . . .
Liv Brooks is still in shock. Newly-divorced and facing an uncertain future, she impulsively swaps her London Life for the sweeping hills of the Yorkshire Dales, determined to make a fresh start. But fresh starts are harder than they look and feeling lost and lonely she decides to adopt Harry, an old dog from the local shelter, to keep her company.
But Liv soon discovers she isn’t the only one in need of a new beginning. On their daily walks around the village, they meet Valentine, an old man who suffers from loneliness who sits by the window and Stanley, a little boy who is scared of everyone, hides behind the garden gate and Maya, a teenager who is angry at everyone and everything. But slowly things start to change…

At 35, I’m still sort of the right age for most rom coms, but I have to come to grips with the fact that I am getting older and, with that, comes the appreciation of reading about older heroines. While I can’t recall if we ever learn exactly how old Liv is, I do know Liv has lived a good chunk of life and life has not been the most kind to her lately. We’re meeting her at pretty much the lowest point of that life as she’s buying a total fixer upper in the middle of nowhere after her divorce. But you just know that reading as she figures out this newly single life is going to be so rewarding. And it really was.

I was initially wary of all the different characters mentioned in the book’s description. I kind of just wanted Liv’s story and didn’t want all the confusion of other characters muddying the waters. However. The stories of Valentine, Stanley, and Maya are so important to Liv’s own story that it wouldn’t be the same novel without them. And, really, it still is Liv’s book. The other characters only have the odd chapter dedicated to them but it helps make the overall story stronger.

Another reviewer on Goodreads said that this book is a like a “snuggly blanket”, and I couldn’t agree more. Potter has written a book with all the feels that leaves the reader feeling warm and happy and so very comfortable. That’s not to say there aren’t hard moments in the book, because there definitely are. She runs into her ex at a party, her home renovations aren’t running smoothly, Valentine’s wife’s dementia is getting worse, and there are tricky family secrets that come to light. But Potter makes everything alright in the end, just as life should be. It’s lovely.

Alexandra Potter has become a must-read author for me. I really enjoyed One Good Thing and highly recommend it for anyone looking for a great read.

*An ARC 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: As Seen On TV

I was so so so SO excited when I learned Meredith Schorr would be publishing a new book and with Forever, no less, one of my favourite publishers. I’ve known Meredith for years and have loved her work so to have her traditionally published rom com, As Seen on TV, in my hot little hands was a thrill. And it was such a enjoyable read, too!

Here's the book’s description:

Emerging journalist Adina Gellar is done with dating in New York City. If she’s learned anything from made-for-TV romance movies, it’s that she’ll find love in a small town—the kind with harvest festivals, delightful but quirky characters, and scores of delectable single dudes. So when a big-city real estate magnate targets tiny Pleasant Hollow for development, Adi knows she’s found the perfect story—one that will earn her a position at a coveted online magazine, so she can finally start adulting for real . . . and maybe even find her dream man in the process.
Only Pleasant Hollow isn’t exactly “pleasant.” There’s no charming bakery, no quaint seasonal festivals, and the residents are more ambivalent than welcoming. The only upside is Finn Adams, who’s more mouthwatering than the homemade cherry pie Adi can’t seem to find—even if he does work for the company she’d hoped to bring down. Suddenly Adi has to wonder if maybe TV got it all wrong after all. But will following her heart mean losing her chance to break into the big time?

OK – tough things out of the way first. I have to say that I wanted to love this one more than I did. Does it mean it was bad? NO. It just means my expectations were SKY HIGH. It was tough to swallow when Adi drove me nuts with her incredibly naïve views on small towns, as I grew up in a small-ish town. That said…I did really like that the story was a twist on the Hallmark movies we’ve all watched. The small town isn’t always the place to find a Happily Ever After!

There was a bit of a nostalgic feel to this book, even though it’s very much a contemporary set rom com with a young heroine. It felt like the rom coms of many years ago, you know the classic ones that we all rewatch over and over again. There was a lot of heart and a lot of cringeworthy moments with laughs along the way and all wrapped up with a Happily Ever After bow. It was delightful.

Schorr created an amazing cast of characters with this book. Even with Adi’s questionable thoughts about small towns and how to be a journalist (my partner is a reporter so I’ve had a front row seat on the profession for a long time), I still loved her. I wanted to hang out with her and really get to know her better, which is something I always look for in my rom coms. And Finn!? Yes, please. I shouldn’t be surprised that Schorr wrote such a fabulous hero because the love interest in her self-published Blogger Girl series is just as wonderful. Adi’s best friend, Kate, and Adi’s mom were amazing side characters and I loved how strong all the relationships were between the women. So good.

Meredith Schorr’s new novel is perfect for fans who love old school rom coms. As Seen on TV is full of love and laughs and will leave romance readers feeling satisfied.

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

Review: The Witches of Moonshyne Manor

I hadn’t yet read Bianca Marais before this year, but I had heard from a few trusted book friends that her books were just too good. So, when I had the chance to review The Witches of Moonshyne Manor, which was being described as Golden Girls meets Practical Magic, I hopped on it. And I’m really glad I did! Marais’ latest novel, which published on August 23, is a great, feminist, well-written addition to plethora of witchy books being released lately.

Here's the book’s description:

A coven of modern-day witches. A magical heist-gone-wrong. A looming threat.
Five octogenarian witches gather as an angry mob threatens to demolish Moonshyne Manor. All eyes turn to the witch in charge, Queenie, who confesses they’ve fallen far behind on their mortgage payments. Still, there’s hope, since the imminent return of Ruby—one of the sisterhood who’s been gone for thirty-three years—will surely be their salvation.
But the mob is only the start of their troubles. One man is hellbent on avenging his family for the theft of a legacy he claims was rightfully his. In an act of desperation, Queenie makes a bargain with an evil far more powerful than anything they’ve ever faced. Then things take a turn for the worse when Ruby’s homecoming reveals a seemingly insurmountable obstacle instead of the solution to all their problems.
The witches are determined to save their home and themselves, but their aging powers are no match for increasingly malicious threats. Thankfully, they get a bit of help from Persephone, a feisty TikToker eager to smash the patriarchy. As the deadline to save the manor approaches, fractures among the sisterhood are revealed, and long-held secrets are exposed, culminating in a fiery confrontation with their enemies.

It did take me awhile to get really into this story. It was hard to keep track of each of the witches. They had their own personalities, but I read someone else’s review that said their “voices” weren’t distinctive enough in writing and I think I must agree. There were also a lot of secrets and pieces of information that was being kept from the reader that I didn’t really think was adding to the story in any way. Give me all the details and move on with telling me the current story. Once pieces fell into place, I was able to enjoy the story more and was completely invested in the ride and was desperately hoping the women would be able to save their home and their town.

I love reading magical, witchy books and part of it is seeing how the magic is described and performed. Each of the witches in this book had slightly different types of magic that they excelled at, and I loved it so much. Nothing was overly complicated (other than the game the witches play that even the name escapes me because that scene dragged on for far too long) and it all made sense – as much as magic and witches can make sense.

This novel is intensely feminist without really beating you over the head with it. Kind of how I hope I live my own life, but I don’t think I’m as vocal in my beliefs as these gals were. And that includes Persephone. I hope more teenagers are like this fictional one because that will bode well for humanity.

The Witches of Moonshyne Manor won’t be a book for everyone but I really enjoyed the novel Bianca Marais wrote. It was smart, funny, and magical which is what I ask from every witchy read I pick up. I’ll definitely be checking out what Marais writes next – and probably her backlist too!

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

Review: Lizzie Blake’s Best Mistake

I hadn’t read Mazey Eddings’s A Brush With Love, which was released earlier in 2022, and didn’t even realize Lizzie Blake’s Best Mistake was part of the same world when I requested it to review. A trusted blogger had said she loved it and that was good enough for me! The novel was fun and sexy with some heavy undertones that gave the romance some depth.

Here’s the book’s description:

Lizzie has made endless mistakes. Kitchen fires, pyramid schemes, bangs (of the hair and human variety), you name it, she’s done it… and made a mess of it too. One mistake she’s never made is letting anyone get closer to her than a single hook-up. But after losing yet another bakery job due to her uncontrolled ADHD, she breaks her cardinal rule and has a two-night-stand that changes everything.
Once burned, twice shy, Rake has given up on relationships. And feelings. And any form of intimacy for that matter. Yet something about charming, chaotic Lizzie has him lowering his guard. For two nights, that is. Then it’s back home to Australia and far away from the pesky feelings Lizzie pulls from him. But when Lizzie tells him she’s got an unexpected bun in the oven, he’ll do whatever it takes to be a part of his child’s life… except be emotionally vulnerable, obviously. He’s never going to make that mistake again.
Through a series of mishaps, totally “platonic” single bed sharing, and an underground erotic baking scheme, Lizzie and Rake learn that even the biggest mistakes can have the most beautiful consequences.

So, here’s the thing. I had absolutely no idea that this was an accidental pregnancy story. I don’t know if I missed it in the description when I requested it, didn’t read the description, or had read a totally different and not yet finalized description (I requested the book way back in March or April). Whatever the reason, I did not know going in that Lizzie would end up pregnant. Was this a total dealbreaker? No. But I tend to avoid any books that are about pregnancies or include kids. It’s not my kind of read and there are too many other books out there. But by the time Lizzie realized she was pregnant (and, my god, sex ed really needs to be stepped up if (spoiler alert?) a 27-year-old woman who has lots of sex doesn’t realize that condoms expire and should not be kept crumpled at the bottom of a giant purse.), I was already pretty deep into the story. I am glad I continued because Eddings wrote a fun romance, but I still can’t help but be frustrated that I didn’t pay closer attention. *shrugs*

Eddings writes in her acknowledgements that she, like Lizzie, has ADHD. It hurt my heart that Lizzie’s family were so horrible to her and that her mom seemed to think that more medication and being “less” (lazy, loud, wild, etc.) would “cure” Lizzie (I was also thankful that Eddings’s mom was not like that, as also noted in the acknowledgments). I will also admit that things made a lot more sense when it was revealed (really early on) that Lizzie has ADHD. This is not really an admission I’m proud of because Eddings had a really great line later in the book where Lizzie was essentially saying that it’s hard to be a diagnosis and that her personality, what makes her HER, only makes sense to people once they realize she has ADHD. Ableist much, Kaley? In a perfect world we’d be accepting of all sorts of personalities and abilities, but our society is just not set up like that.

As for the actual romance in this romance novel? Oh, it was so fun. Rake and Lizzie are thrown together in circumstances that scare the ever-living shit out of me (if you haven’t figured out that I don’t have kids and don’t want them, you haven’t been paying attention) but they were able to work out a system through the chaos. And chaos it was. I loved that they were both, mostly, honest and were both really committed to making the co-parenting thing work. Of course, they were totally lying to themselves when they were trying to keep their hormones in check. Injuries would have been avoided if they had just given into their desires (seriously…there’s a bit of a mishap involving masturbation, a shower, and a pair of underwear). But both Rake and Lizzie had some commitment issues to work out and, to be totally fair, they hardly knew each other. It was so great to read, though, as they did get to know each other. You could tell that they were so well suited because Lizzie opened Rake up and he, in turn, understood her beautiful brain and they just worked so well together. If only they would realize it!

I had a good time reading Lizzie Blake’s Best Mistake by Mazey Eddings over the course of a summer long weekend. It kept me entertained and I think I’ll have to check out her backlist and whatever novel she comes out with next!

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