Review: The Riviera House

After falling in love with Natasha Lester's The Paris Secret last year, I was going to read her next novel no matter what (as well as wanting to check out her backlist). Then I learned what The Riviera House was actually going to be about and I was bouncing off the walls with excitement. And good news, my friends. It lived up to my very high expectations. I absolutely loved it.

Here's the book's description:

Paris, 1939: The Nazis think Éliane can't understand German. They’re wrong. They think she’s merely cataloging art in a Louvre museum and unaware they’re stealing national treasures for their private collections. They have no idea she’s carefully decoding their notes and smuggling information to the Resistance. But Éliane is playing a dangerous game. Does she dare trust the man she once loved with her secrets, or will he only betray her once again? She has no way to know for certain . . . until a trip to a stunning home on the French Riviera brings a whole new level of peril.
Present Day: Wanting to forget the tragedy that has left her life in shambles, Remy Lang heads to a home she’s mysteriously inherited on the Riviera. While working on her vintage fashion business, she discovers a catalog of the artworks stolen during World War II and is shocked to see a painting that hung on her childhood bedroom wall. Who is her family, really? And does the Riviera house hold more secrets than Remy is ready to face?

There are certain topics I will read about no matter what. The theft of art from museums and Jewish families during World War II is one of those topics. It is fascinating and heartbreaking in equal measures and I don't think I had read a novel that treated it so well until The Riviera House. I love art but I don't live and breathe it like Éliane and Xavier (and others in the novel) did. But between my appreciation for art and the way Lester writes, I was on edge just like all the characters as pieces were coded and moved from the Louvre and then, later, as other pieces were picked over by Hermann Göring. I get so sad and frustrated when I think about all the art and artists Hitler decided were "degenerate." (Though, let's be honest, I get furious every time I think about what Hitler was up to.) Given I'm more of a fan of Impressionism and some modern art, that's not surprising. Those pieces are the ones that make my heart sing and he decided that there was something wrong with them. I just can't understand. And then there's the fact that he wanted all the best pieces for himself and would stop at nothing to get them. That meant pillaging museums and claiming art owned by Jewish families as his own. To this day, there are still so many pieces of art that have not been recovered or returned to their rightful owners. Part of that is because certain codes couldn't be broken and the Allies can't figure out where those artworks went. Some stolen pieces were hidden by Nazis and either never found or their families are hiding them (knowingly or unknowingly). And some pieces would have been destroyed - there's a scene in the book where a pile of paintings considered unsuitable by the Nazis were burned. Yes. You could say this is a topic I love and I am so appreciative of how Lester approached it.

Occupied France would have been a terrible place to be. Paris was overrun by Germans and the Nazis as they claimed the city as their own. They were ruthless if any Parisian retaliated - Éliane mentions at one point that the French had killed one German so the Germans turned around and killed many more Parisians, just to put them in their place. Éliane and her friends and family, all fighting for the Resistance in various ways, which meant risking their lives every single day. But what else could you do? I'd like to think I'd do the same - fight in whatever way I could, even if that meant "just" copying codes to determine where valuable pieces of art were being hidden (versus the active fighting we're groomed to think is more heroic). Éliane was a fictional character but she did work with a real war hero, Rose Valland. Valland was forced to work for the Nazis and she used that to her advantage and recorded where art was being moved to and helped save thousands of pieces of art. 

There's a modern timeline in this story as well which takes place in 2015. Remy was a hard character to really get a read on as she is so overtaken by her grief. But the pacing was well done and every time Lester switched timelines there was a purpose and I was ready to discover the next puzzle piece she was ready to offer me. The reader should be able to figure out a few things before Remy, which meant I was a bit annoyed with her behaviour - though I completely understood why the revelations she was met with would have been unsettling. I could feel everything, which is a testament to Lester's writing.

Readers may pick up The Riviera House for a number of reasons but the end result will be the same: falling absolutely and totally in love with Natasha Lester's latest novel. It's well written and well researched (without reading like a dry history textbook), with rich descriptions and a multitude of emotions. Read it. You won't be disappointed.

Review of The Paris Secret is here.

*An egalley was provided by the Canadian distributor, HBG Canada, via NetGalley in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Review: The Highland Fling

Grab your kilts, it's time for some armchair traveling to the Scottish Highlands. I recently read Meghan Quinn's The Highland Fling and enjoyed it so very much! I loved the setting and the flawed yet relatable characters Quinn created. This is a rom com with a lot of heart that many readers would enjoy.

Here's the book's description:

Freshly fired from her third job in a row, Bonnie St. James has lost her way. So when she and her best friend stumble upon a “help wanted” post to run a coffee shop in the Scottish Highlands, they apply on a whim. Who knows? Maybe traveling to a new place is just what she needs to figure out her next move.
When the friends arrive in the tiny idyllic town of Corsekelly, they instantly fall for the gorgeous Highland landscape and friendly townspeople. But Bonnie finds a less-than-warm welcome in Rowan MacGregor, the rugged local handyman. Busy wrestling his own demons, Rowan’s in no mood to deal with the quirky American—even if she is a bonny lass.
As Bonnie and Rowan’s paths inevitably cross, insults—and sparks—fly. Can the pair build on their similarities to help each other find purpose and direction…and maybe romance too? Or will their passionate tempers fling them apart?

This isn't going to be a rom com for everyone. First of all, a lot of people hate when there's some serious issues in their rom coms (not me...I don't understand why there's so much anger about it but that's a topic for another day). The heavy storylines don't take over the plot but they're important and they're trigger warnings. The three I noted are: cancer, death of a parent, and toxic relationships. Second of all, Quinn's humour, which comes through the most with Bonnie, is clever but also on the dirty side. If you know that's not the kind of humour for you, do not attempt to read this book. If you like your penis jokes with a side of "what's under the kilt?" comments, read on, Macduff. 

I absolutely loved spending some time in the Highlands while reading this novel. It turns out Quinn has not been to Scotland herself and I really hope she has the chance to someday. I've only been to Edinburgh myself and I can't wait until I can get back and explore the Highlands. The teeny town the women land in, Corsekelly, doesn't really exist but there is Corsekelly Place in Fraserburg that is kind of where I imagined the town might be. There are times you'll cringe at how clueless Bonnie and Dakota are but you'll also appreciate how open the townspeople were (apart from Rowan) and how they welcomed the women into their town with no judgment. 

This is a Grump and Sunshine kind of romance as Rowan (referred to by Bonnie as Kilty McGrumpyshire) is not at all amused by Bonnie and her chatterbox nature. I didn't blame him, at some points. She's ridiculously self-absorbed but I could kind of understand that. She's still fairly young and is so wrapped up in trying to find The Thing that she's good at. She doesn't feel like she has any worth and it's hard to worry about anyone else when you don't know who you are. Since it's such a small town and the women are running Rowan's parents' coffee shop, they're thrown together often so it's not long before you realize the bickering is hiding major attraction. They balanced each other so well and I was worried about the bumps the couple would deal with before they got their Happily Ever After.

I pretty much felt all of the feelings while reading this novel. I laughed at Bonnie's antics and Rowan's quieter sense of humour. My heart broke numerous times for various reasons - Rowan is suspicious of his parents' sudden vacation and Dakota is still recovering from a toxic relationship (which also happened to be her first relationship with a woman so it messed her up in all kinds of ways). I felt for Bonnie as she floundered and felt like she wasn't worthy enough for anything. And I swooned over the romances that occur during the course of the novel (get ready for some steamy open door scenes with Rowan and Bonnie). I love when romances and rom coms give me a wide range of feelings and Quinn did it really well.

I'd definitely recommend reading The Highland Fling if you love laugh out loud romances that will also make you swoon and maybe even tear up. This was my first Meghan Quinn novel and I don't think it's going to be my last!

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

Review: Sweet as Pie

It's always a delight when the inside of a novel is as sweet as the cover. That was the case with Alicia Hunter Pace's latest novel, Sweet as Pie. The cover made me want to devour it and I was happy to find a romance story that was just as delectable. I really enjoyed it and am so excited that this is the first in a series - so I know there are more lovely novels to come!

Here's the book's description:

Evans Pemberton has always had a problem saying no. To her overbearing Mississippi Delta family, to her business mentor’s push to expand her thriving pie shop and to her lifelong crush, Jake Champagne. But Jake chose her beauty queen cousin three years ago and ghosted on their close friendship. When he comes to her small town in Alabama with a new pro hockey franchise, Evie fears she’ll lose her heart all over again. Of course, she'll forgive him like the good Southern woman she is, but anything more than that is off the table.
So why can’t she stop baking for him?
Jake is looking forward to a new team, a new town and a clean slate in Laurel Springs. After a disastrous year, the hockey hotshot is leaving his past behind—even betting his best friend that he can stay away from women. But he’s happy to reconnect with a piece of home when he visits Evie. Between slices of Mississippi mud pie and chicken potpie, he’s starting to remember all the good times they had and the man he always intended to be. Not to mention what a fool he was to let Evie get away…
How will they find a future together when she can’t say no and he can’t say yes? The path to true love isn’t quite easy as pie, but it sure is sweet in the end.

There are all sorts of my favourite tropes in this novel - small town, sports, and friends to lovers. Plus, there was a bakery! Yum! Though - can it really be a small town when an NHL franchise is playing there? I feel like there's some sort of contradiction happening but that's far too much analysis for this sweet little book.

Evie and Jake are both lovely but they have a lot of issues to work through. Jake is acting like an idiotic twentysomething year old divorced hockey player (I had to constantly remind myself that the pair were really young, I think 21 because they sometimes acted a lot older, even when they were being dumb) and Evie is a Yes Girl which causes all sorts of trouble. Even though I love friends to lovers, it's a tad bit harder when it's obvious that one of the friends has wanted to be lovers for a long, long time and the other is totally unobservant and had no idea (cough Jake cough). But the friendship base is still there and makes for a really great relationship.

After not reading a sports romance in a long while, I finished two this month! The Dating Playbook (review here) had a football player, whereas Sweet as Pie featured a hockey player. I know a lot more about hockey than football (I live in Canada and like sports so it's no surprise I've picked up a lot about the sport) which can help when reading a hockey romance. Of course, it's not really about the hockey so if you're an avid hockey fan, you'll likely find yourself wanting more. But, I liked the balance in this novel and enjoyed the hockey, baking, and small town romance vibes that all worked together. I don't really know how salaries work in the NHL but I know hockey players make a ton of money. That said, I don't know if Jake really made enough to be able to throw money around on all that he did. Maybe my frugal nature just couldn't help but judge his spendy ways! I'm glad that Evie made fun of his "bug car" because it drove me nuts too!

The next book in the Good Southern Women series will be Smooth as Silk and will release in February 2022. There was an excerpt in the back of Sweet as Pie that has me super excited to read Hyacinth and Robbie's story. And not just because I'm hopeful for a "trip" to Scotland in that book as Robbie is a hockey player from Scotland. It should be an absolute delight as well.

Sweet as Pie is just as sweet as you'd expect. Alicia Hunter Pace's novel doesn't lend itself well to picking it apart for a review, as I've realized, but I would definitely recommend this if you want a fun and cute story to get lost in for a little while.

*A copy of this novel was provided by the publisher, Harlequin, in exchange for a post on Instagram. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Review: The Dating Playbook

I hadn't read the first book in Farrah Rochon's The Boyfriend Project Series, which was, unsurprisingly, titled The Boyfriend Project, but given each book follows a different female friend after they find out they were dating the same guy, I figured I'd be OK diving into the second book. Each woman chose a project to work on after being fooled by the guy they were dating and, given this is a romance series, they each find another (better) man along the way. The Dating Playbook is book two and it was a lot of fun to read!

Here's the book's description:

When it comes to personal training, Taylor Powell kicks serious butt. Unfortunately, her bills are piling up, rent is due, and the money situation is dire. Taylor needs more than the support of her new best friends, Samiah and London. She needs a miracle.
And Jamar Dixon might just be it. The oh-so-fine former footballer wants back into the NFL, and he wants Taylor to train him. There's just one catch -- no one can know what they're doing. But when they're accidentally outed as a couple, Taylor's game plan is turned completely upside down. Is Jamar just playing to win . . . or is he playing for keeps? 

This was an easy to read, fun and sexy book. I think I had it finished in about two sittings over two days because I didn't want to stop reading. It was exactly the kind of book I needed at the time. 

Taylor and Jamar were both really great characters to read. There was a lot more to each than you'd think at first and I enjoyed as Rochon revealed bits and pieces to the reader as the pair learned to trust each other. I knew there had to be more to Taylor's reluctance to go to school as well as the reason Jamar felt so incredibly compelled to get back into shape so he could play football again. The pay off for both was satisfying and I didn't feel like anything was dragged out.

I don't know a ton about football but, as a general sports fan, I know enough to love sports romances. I also really appreciated how Rochon made sure to mention all the dangers that come along with playing football at a high level, particularly when it comes to concussions, as that is an incredibly important topic. On the flip side, it's always kinda fun when the hero of the romance is a pro athlete because money is no object and there are lots of pretty things and extravagant houses to check out along the way! (An aside...anyone know of any romances where it's the heroine who is the pro athlete? I know women athletes don't make nearly as much as men but why am I always reading about the dudes who are amazing at sports?) Plus, what made this novel better is that Jamar has been very careful with his money and isn't into anything flashy (so I really, really couldn't understand why he had such a huge house). 

I'd call this an open door romance but, well, the first time the couple has sex they don't so much make it to a room with a door! It's a sexy book without being overly detailed and the tension leading up to the pair finally deciding to sleep together is super hot too. I liked that there was a physical attraction but both Taylor and Jamar were drawn to each other for more than just their looks. There was a mutual respect there and they each thought the other was just an incredible human. And that is super hot too.

The Dating Playbook was a lot of fun to read and I would definitely recommend Farrah Rochon's novel to other romance and rom com lovers. It has heart and laughs and sexy times. What more can you ask for?

*An egalley was provided by the Canadian distributor, HBG Canada, via NetGalley in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Review: Ghosts

I love to read romances, rom coms, historical fiction, and the odd mystery. But sometimes, I want a real just... life kind of novel. Ghosts delivered. Dolly Alderton's debut novel has a healthy dose of relationships but that's not all it was and the Happily Ever After we get isn't typical but it was so real and refreshing. All those elements made for a really good read.

Here's the book's description:

Nina Dean is not especially bothered that she's single. She owns her own apartment, she's about to publish her second book, she has a great relationship with her ex-boyfriend and enough friends to keep her social calendar full and her hangovers plentiful. And when she downloads a dating app, she does the seemingly impossible: she meets a great guy on her first date. Max is handsome and built like a lumberjack, he has floppy blond hair and is a financially successful accountant. But more surprising than anything else, Nina and Max have chemistry. Their conversations are witty and ironic, they both hate sports, they dance together like fools, they happily dig deep into the nuances of crappy music, and they create an entire universe of private jokes and chemical bliss.
But when Max ghosts her, Nina is forced to deal with everything she's been trying so hard to ignore: her father's Alzheimer's is getting worse, and so is her mother's denial of it; her editor hates her new book idea; and her best friend from childhood is icing her out. Funny, tender and eminently, movingly relatable, Ghosts is a whip-smart tale of relationships and modern life.

I have to admit that I think I read this book at the wrong time. I wanted to love it but I couldn't quite get there and I think that's all on me. So if you think this review is a little, meh, but you're still intrigued? Read the book. Then come back and tell me what my recent crummy mood made me miss! 

As I said at the top, I love rom coms. I've heard Ghosts described as such (even the back cover copy calls it one). Uh. It's not. I allow rom coms to have a lot of leeway and don't mind in the least that some of the recent offerings in the genre are a bit heavier than people expect. However. I require my rom com to have romance, comedy/cleverness, and a romantic Happily Ever After. There are relationships in this book, as much as you would expect in the life of a 32 year old female. Nina wants to date, like most of your friends would, and therefore she does. But, my friends, (and this is a slight spoiler, I guess), she doesn't end up in a relationship at the end of this novel. And that means, to me, that this is not a rom com. This is simply a funny and clever contemporary fiction novel that speaks about the modern world of a thirtysomething woman. If this was a man and written by a man, we would not be having this discussion. It would be fiction, end of story. (Why, yes, you have found a soapbox I love to get on - how could you tell?) I mention all of this because it (rom com just because it's by a woman, etc.) frustrates me and I know it frustrates others when they go into a book expecting one kind of story and they get something else. I don't want you to be disappointed in this novel because it is really good!

I was literally laughing out loud at so many parts in this novel. It was fucking funny. Part of my enjoyment came from the fact that it's British humour, which I absolutely adore. It's not for everyone but it's part of what drew me to the novel to begin with. There were a couple of pages I had to snap pictures of because I was so amused. One being when Nina says that all tall people (including her best friend Katherine) are smug about their height. I don't know if that's true of all tall people but I know that I, at 6' tall, definitely have moments when I am quite proud to be a giantess. 

Nina is a year older than I am but the book was set in the Before Times (August 3, 2018-August 3, 2019) so she's 32 through the course of the novel, which is younger than I am right now. (Got all that?) My point: I was thrilled that she was my age as I totally related to so much of what she was going through. I have friends who have kids of all ages and, yeah, that changes things. I completely identified with how she was feeling with Katherine - that just because Nina didn't have kids didn't make her life any less difficult (to my close friends with kiddos reading this: you don't do this. It's acquaintances or strangers who do this). No, Nina doesn't have a toddler to raise while being pregnant with another kid. But she does have a father with Alzheimer's and that is difficult too and I wanted her friends to realize that. I also laughed when she talked about how much she had learned about pregnancy, birth, and babies just from being friends with women who have had kids. So much truth.

Ghosts is about so much more than being ghosted in a relationship (though that does happen). It's about facing the ghosts of who you were, who your friends were, who your parents were, and how you've all changed - whether you want to or not. Dolly Alderton's novel is clever, observant, and funny with maybe a touch of...melancholy? It has a little bit of everything and I can't wait to read what she writes next.

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

Blog Tour: The Bookseller's Secret

The Bookseller's Secret, Michelle Gable's latest novel, immediately intrigued me. A writer who's lost her mojo? London in present day and during World War II? A missing manuscript? A bookshop? Oh, yes. I was intrigued. The novel didn't quite live up to what I was expecting but it was interesting and entertaining enough to keep me turning the pages until the end when I finally learned the bookseller's secret.

Here's the book's description:

In 1942, London, Nancy Mitford is worried about more than air raids and German spies. Still recovering from a devastating loss, the once sparkling Bright Young Thing is estranged from her husband, her allowance has been cut, and she’s given up her writing career. On top of this, her five beautiful but infamous sisters continue making headlines with their controversial politics.
Eager for distraction and desperate for income, Nancy jumps at the chance to manage the Heywood Hill bookshop while the owner is away at war. Between the shop’s brisk business and the literary salons she hosts for her eccentric friends, Nancy’s life seems on the upswing. But when a mysterious French officer insists that she has a story to tell, Nancy must decide if picking up the pen again and revealing all is worth the price she might be forced to pay.
Eighty years later, Heywood Hill is abuzz with the hunt for a lost wartime manuscript written by Nancy Mitford. For one woman desperately in need of a change, the search will reveal not only a new side to Nancy, but an even more surprising link between the past and present…

I have to admit I didn't know who Nancy Mitford was before I read the description of this book and that small tidbit was all I knew when I dove into Gable's novel. I think that might have been a detriment to my reading enjoyment and I can't quite put my finger on why. Perhaps because I didn't know a thing so I didn't know how many liberties the author was taking (I don't mind a few but I know that real people are really hard to write about in historical fiction so I tend to shy away from those types of novels) nor did I have any details or info that I feel like the author might have assumed the reader would have. She does a good job of explaining who Nancy was and all her various family members but the "why I should care"-ness just wasn't there. It wasn't even until partway through the book that I realized Mitford is the author if The Pursuit of Love, which has recently been released on Prime and is on my watchlist! She was an interesting woman, to be sure, but I think some of the context was a bit lost.

There's a dual timeline in this novel, like many other historical fiction titles these days. It functions just about as you'd expect but with one notable exception: the "present day" very clearly references the pandemic on multiple occasions. You know, the one that is currently still much a thing? It was a thing of the past in the "present" timeline and, I gotta say, it really weirded me out. It was the first time I encountered it in fiction and I honestly wasn't expecting to for another year at least. I laughed when, in about the middle of the book, Nancy and her friends were discussing a new novel (Grand Canyon) and Nancy says, "We're a stitch too in-the-middle-of-things to comfortably picture a world in which Germany has defeated us." Was this Gables making reference to the fact that she's referencing something we're still going through or did she not even realize the parallels? The parallels are there, of course, and it is something I've noticed myself when I've been reading war fiction over the last however long this madness has been going on. I just didn't expect it to be in my hands for another long while.

I liked that Nancy seemed to buck all traditions and she wasn't what I would normally expect from a woman in the 1940s (which, I think, is a bit sexist and backwards thinking of me) and I really liked reading as she went about her business of having affairs and hosting blackout salons in the bookshop. She was wicked smart but not always the kindest person. I don't know if she was intentionally cruel or just too focused on herself that she never really thought about the feelings of others. Definitely an intriguing woman!

Katie, on the other hand, was going through a hellish time and I felt like that made for a more flat character. She was like a shell of herself which makes it hard to want to read about her - if that makes any sort of sense. I didn't dislike her by any means but I didn't necessarily feel engaged when reading her story. I did really love that she's an author, as is her best friend, as it's always fun to read about writers and readers. I also appreciated that her storyline was able to satisfy the wanderlust I've been feeling as she wandered around London.

The Bookseller's Secret wasn't, really, much of a secret but I enjoyed Michelle Gable's novel well enough. I think it was a case of the story and characters not being for me, not necessarily the way she wrote them. I'm definitely going to make sure to check out more of her work.

About the Author
MICHELLE GABLE is the New York Times bestselling author of A Paris Apartment, I'll See You in Paris, The Book of Summer, and The Summer I Met Jack. She attended The College of William & Mary, where she majored in accounting, and spent twenty years working in finance before becoming a full-time writer. She grew up in San Diego and lives in Cardiff-by-the-Sea, California, with her husband and two daughters. Find her at michellegable.com or on Instagram, Twitter, or Pinterest, @MGableWriter.

Connect with the Author
Website * Twitter * Instagram

Buy The Bookseller's Secret
Bookshop.org * Barnes & Noble * Google Books 
Amazon * Kobo * Apple Books

*An egalley of this novel was provided by the publisher, Graydon House, in exchange for a review for the purpose of a blog tour. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Cover Reveal: A Very Perry Wedding

Do you remember last Christmas when I was telling everyone and their sister that they should buy and read Marie Landry's novella, A Very Perry Christmas? I absolutely loved it and many, many others did too. Landry is back with a full novel about another Perry sibling and, my friends, you are going to adore it. I was lucky enough to beta read a manuscript last month and I devoured the story and cannot wait for all of you to read it! Today, I'm sharing the cover of the upcoming A Very Perry Wedding (publishing on September 22, 2021) and I'm so excited!

Here's the book's description:

Willow Stewart’s lifelong dreams are coming true. She’s opened a café in her hometown, and it’s thriving. Sure, maybe she doesn’t have much of a life outside of work and she’s almost completely broke, but she’s taking off weekends—plural—to celebrate her best friend’s upcoming wedding and that’s progress, right
She’s also flirting with Jasper Perry, the brother of the groom, whenever he’s within ten feet. And, even though Jasper is a bit stiff and overly formal, she’s pretty sure he’s flirting with her too. He’s also showing her a side of himself he doesn’t seem to show many other people. The only problem is, Jasper's life and job are in Toronto, and that’s a place and a lifestyle Willow gave up and has never looked back. Will she have to give up Jasper too?

The fall vibes are strong in this one which I totally appreciated (even though I'm a bit of a grump when it comes to fall because it means a gross and cold Canadian winter is approaching). Books like these are helpful when trying to reform a grump like me! It's just so much fun and really romantic and lovely. 

Ready for the cover? *drum roll*

Isn't it adorable? It totally suits the mood of the book and matches A Very Perry Christmas. All you fall lovers are feeling so warm and cozy right now, aren't you?

You can pre-order the book right now on Kindle, Kobo, Apple Books, and Nook, and the paperback will be available during release week.

If you're not ready to pre-order, make sure you add A Very Perry Wedding to your Goodreads!