Review: While We Were Dating

I've been reading Jasmine Guillory for years now and will likely continue to read her for years to come. She has a way of creating really great stories that I always enjoy reading. While We Were Dating was no exception and I had this one finished in one day!

Here's the book's description:

Ben Stephens has never bothered with serious relationships. He has plenty of casual dates to keep him busy, family drama he's trying to ignore and his advertising job to focus on. When Ben lands a huge ad campaign featuring movie star Anna Gardiner, however, it's hard to keep it purely professional. Anna is not just gorgeous and sexy, she's also down to earth and considerate, and he can't help flirting a little...
Anna Gardiner is on a mission: to make herself a household name, and this ad campaign will be a great distraction while she waits to hear if she's booked her next movie. However, she didn't expect Ben Stephens to be her biggest distraction. She knows mixing business with pleasure never works out, but why not indulge in a harmless flirtation?
But their lighthearted banter takes a turn for the serious when Ben helps Anna in a family emergency, and they reveal truths about themselves to each other, truths they've barely shared with those closest to them.
When the opportunity comes to turn their real-life fling into something more for the Hollywood spotlight, will Ben be content to play the background role in Anna's life and leave when the cameras stop rolling? Or could he be the leading man she needs to craft their own Hollywood ending?

I finished this one before bed so I was thinking about what I might write for my review as I was drifting off to sleep. I realized that I had a really enjoyable time reading this book but...that doesn't necessarily mean it was the best it could have been. Anna and Ben were good characters. Not only that, they were good people. So that was fantastic. But...I don't know if I got to know them as much as I expected to. So much of their characteristics were based on their jobs, their race, and their mental health. Don't get me wrong - these are all Very Important Things and I am THRILLED to see all of these things in rom coms. I just felt like I didn't really know them by the end of the book. It's not a major thing but it was something that kind of niggled at me when I thought back on the book.

That said, I really did have a lot of fun reading this book. Guillory is great at finding the perfect balance of humour and depth and a sweet romance with sexy scenes. Her characters are always genuinely good people which is something I look for in my contemporary reads. And the attraction between Ben and Anna was so fun and electric - it was easy to see they were meant to stay together. 

I appreciated that each character was open about their mental health and the highs and lows that they've had. We're starting to see these kinds of discussions more and more in books and I love it. I think it's really important to pay as much attention to our mental health as our physical health - especially after the last year and a half. 

Overall, I liked While We Were Dating but I didn't love it. I expect more from Jasmine Guillory, which may or may not be fair. I know she's capable of writing rom coms I absolutely adore so when she doesn't quite hit that mark, it's kind of disappointing. This one is definitely still worth a read but I'd recommend it as a borrow, not buy. It's lots of fun but it's not necessary to keep it on your bookshelf.

*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 Heron's Cry

It was just about a year ago when I finally realized that I like mystery novels. I'm not sure why it took me so long, perhaps it was because of the bombardment of psychological/domestic thrillers that exploded in bookstores everywhere in recent years. Ann Cleeves' novel The Long Call was one that helped me have that lightbulb moment. It was the first in a new series and book two, The Heron's Cry, is out in the world today. 

Here's the book's description:

North Devon is enjoying a rare hot summer with tourists flocking to its coastline. Detective Matthew Venn is called out to a rural crime scene at the home of a group of artists. What he finds is an elaborately staged murder--Dr Nigel Yeo has been fatally stabbed with a shard of one of his glassblower daughter's broken vases.
Dr Yeo seems an unlikely murder victim. He's a good man, a public servant, beloved by his daughter. Matthew is unnerved, though, to find that she is a close friend of Jonathan, his husband.
Then another body is found--killed in a similar way. Matthew soon finds himself treading carefully through the lies that fester at the heart of his community and a case that is dangerously close to home.

From the start I found the writing to be a bit choppy with quick sentences and the like. There was something else niggling at me and I realized partway through what it was: it was reading more like a screenplay than a novel. And not in a good way. You know when you read a book and can perfectly picture it as a movie? That's fine. But with this one, it was like it was being written with the intention of becoming a show. And guess what? It is going to be a new series, just like Cleeves' other works (Shetland and Vera). I just went down a rabbit hole of searching the actors in the show and Venn actually looks pretty much exactly like I pictured - but isn't necessarily what was described (there's no grey hair, for example). Anyway. I feel like the hope was always for it to be a film or tv show and that's how it was written and that, apparently, is a bother to me. But will I watch it? Oh, 100%. 

But back to the second novel. It's told in third person with most of the story coming from Matthew's perspective. His officers, Jen and Ross, also have their own storylines, both within and outside of the case. Jen's made the most sense since she had seen the first victim at a party the night before he was killed. Ross's side storyline didn't seem to fit at all - it was just like Cleeves wanted to make sure the reader knew he had a life outside of work but it felt shoehorned into the story. Having them each work on the case gave the reader the chance to try to puzzle out the clues with each police officer. All three of them work in different ways, which is so interesting from both a character and a work ethic perspective.

Speaking of working out the clues - the reader isn't given the full insight into Jen's suspicions at the end. Which I kind of loved! I had absolutely no idea what she had connected and couldn't wait to see everything fall together at the end. The end was a little bit of an "evil villain wants to talk all about their accomplishments" scenario, which I don't find super realistic, but I was still reeling from finding out who the murderer was. 

The pace of the mystery was good. I never felt like things were being slowed down or that unnecessary details were thrown in. Even when seemingly unrelated information was brought up, I could see how, maybe, it might tie into the murder investigation. I definitely wanted to keep reading, and quickly, to see how it all ended.

I love the setting of this series too. It takes place in North Devon, somewhere I've never been and likely never will get to visit. But I love the English-ness of it. Perhaps even more so these days as I've been stuck in basically one region of my province for a year. Bring on the armchair travel! Even with a side of murder! (Not real murder, please and thank you.) 

The Heron's Cry didn't necessarily wow me but I was still super invested in Ann Cleeves' latest novel. Crime mysteries are so interesting to read, for me personally and in moderation, and I'll definitely be picking up the third book in the Two Rivers series as soon as it's released.

My review of The Long Call is here.

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

Review: Better than the Movies

Ah, nothing like a book about teenagers to remind you that it has been a long, long, long time since you were a teenager yourself. But I kind of enjoyed that feeling as I read Lynn Painter's Better than the Movies. I felt everything as deeply as if I was 18 again and I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book.

Here's the book's description:

Perpetual daydreamer Liz Buxbaum gave her heart to Michael a long time ago. But her cool, aloof forever crush never really saw her before he moved away. Now that he’s back in town, Liz will do whatever it takes to get on his radar—and maybe snag him as a prom date—even befriend Wes Bennet.
The annoyingly attractive next-door neighbor might seem like a prime candidate for romantic comedy fantasies, but Wes has only been a pain in Liz’s butt since they were kids. Pranks involving frogs and decapitated lawn gnomes do not a potential boyfriend make. Yet, somehow, Wes and Michael are hitting it off, which means Wes is Liz’s in.
But as Liz and Wes scheme to get Liz noticed by Michael so she can have her magical prom moment, she’s shocked to discover that she likes being around Wes. And as they continue to grow closer, she must reexamine everything she thought she knew about love—and rethink her own ideas of what Happily Ever After should look like.

This is the kind of novel Teenage Kaley would have devoured. As it was, Adult Kaley didn't want to put it down either. Painter hit all the right notes of cringey teenage drama, confusing feelings about relationships and growing up, and the sweetness of first loves. I don't know how we made it out of teenagerhood, to be honest. 

I don't love comparing novels but sometimes it's necessary. Liz gave me some Lara Jean (To All the Boys I've Loved Before) and Pippa (Leading Lines) vibes - which I was so here for. There's a bit of a sweetness and innocence to all three that I like for a couple of reasons. First, I was like that too as a teenager. Second, senior year of high school is the last time you really get to be a kid and that's super powerful and full of strong emotions, which is why we love these high school stories so much. So many of us wanted to grow up quickly but, now that we have, there's sometimes a wish that we could go back to when we just had to worry about school and who was crushing on us. As I said, I could see bits of myself in Liz but I was definitely in awe of how she embraced her personality. 

It was hard to read as Liz tried to navigate her senior year of high school without her mom. This is important and I wish the description had mentioned it: Liz's mom died in a car accident when she was in the fifth grade. She's having a really hard time with all of the "last" moments that high school has to offer and can't find a way to talk about it with her dad or best friend. (Side note: Liz is not innocent in the issues that come up with her BFF but I was not impressed with Joss as a best friend but I may have been expecting too much of a teenager.) I can't imagine how hard it would have been to have all these intense feelings as a teen and not know what to do with them.

I absolutely loved all the references to rom coms throughout the book. Did I think Liz was leaning too hard on these movies that her mom left for her? Yes. But grief works in different ways for different people. Each chapter begins with a quote from all sorts of romantic comedies which was too fun. I love the genre (quelle surprise) so understood why Liz was so obsessed but I also understood Wes and Liz's stepmom's feelings on the genre. Some are wildly unrealistic and you just can't suspend your beliefs to make it work. But others? They leave you with all the warm and fuzzies when the credits roll. And that's the kind of feeling Better than the Movies left me with as I closed the book. 

Better than the Movies is a must read for YA readers who love contemporary stories. It's funny and sweet and an absolute delight. Lynn Painter has created a heroine who readers will love and want to root for as she finds her way in the world and discovers that your first love might not be exactly what you expected.

*A copy 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 Great Godden

After not reading a YA title in over a year, I've read three within a couple of weeks! The Great Godden was first up. Meg Rosoff's novel was published in April but I held onto it, knowing it would be a great summer read. I was right. It was an intense summer for the characters in the novel and I was really invested in how it would all turn out.

Here's the book's description:

This is the story of one family, one dreamy summer. . . . In a holiday house by the sea, our watchful narrator sees everything, including many things they shouldn't, as their brother and sisters, parents and older cousins fill hot days with wine and games and planning a wedding. Enter two brothers: irresistible, charming, languidly sexy Kit and surly, silent Hugo. Suddenly there's a serpent in this paradise -- and the consequences will be devastating.

It's kind of difficult to explain this one - it's kind of like a literary YA. There's plot and characters but it reads at a different...level, maybe, than your average teen book set during the summer. For one, you don't know the narrator's name or exact age. I'm pretty sure they were female and likely about 17, going into their final year of high school. It didn't bother me, exactly, but the curious part of my brain really wanted to know those details! It was also a pretty short novel so the information that was given was important (even though sometimes I was wondering why certain memories were brought up).

There's a lot of change for the narrator and their family, as well as their neighbours. Their younger neighbours are like a super cool aunt and uncle to the four siblings and they're finally tying the knot. That in itself would make for a lot of drama but the Godden brothers showing up throws off their usual summer balance and no one knows how to act or how things will turn out. 

I loved the feeling of summer in this book. It hits all the highs and lows of summers, especially those that are spent at a cottage (I assume, based on the few visits to cottages I've had in my life). There's the long drive out of the city (in this case, the city being London) and the exhaustion and excitement that brings. Then there's the arrival with the whole summer spread out before you with so many possibilities. But summer ticks along as it always does and suddenly there are only a few weeks left before having to go back to normal life. The drama in the story follows that same meandering path with the climax happening just before the end of summer.

I really had no idea how things would turn out. I'm actually pretty sure my jaw dropped when everything came to light. I was proud of how the other characters reacted in the midst of a total upheaval of their lives. Some of them were a bit judgey of a certain character before but when The Thing happened and it all came to light, they realized how wrong they were and worked to make it right. 

The Great Godden was unique and kept me really interested throughout the whole novel. Meg Rosoff is a talented writer and I enjoyed her summer-set YA novel and think a lot of others would as well.

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

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.*