Review: Hearts on Hold

The subtitle of Charish Reid’s latest book, Hearts on Hold, is A Librarian Romance. Is it any wonder I needed to read it? Happily, the content lived up to the title and I had so much fun reading this novel.

Here’s the synopsis:

What happens in the stacks stays in the stacks… 

Professor Victoria Reese knows an uphill battle when she sees one. Convincing her narrow-minded colleagues at the elite Pembroke University to back a partnership with the local library is a fight she saw coming and already has a plan for. What she didn’t see coming? The wildly hot librarian who makes it clear books aren’t the only thing he’d like to handle. 

When a tightly wound, sexy-as-hell professor proposes a partnership between his library and her university, children’s department head John Donovan is all for it. He knows his tattoos and easygoing attitude aren’t quite what she expected, but the unmistakable heat between them is difficult to resist. 

And then there’s the intriguing late fee on her record. For the Duke’s Convenience… A late fee and a sexy romance novel? There’s more to Dr. Reese than she’s letting on. 

John might like to tease her about her late fee, but when he teases her in other ways, Victoria is helpless to resist. Mixing business with pleasure—and oh, it is pleasure—always comes with risks, but maybe a little casual fun between the sheets is just what Victoria needs.

I love that Reid flipped the script in her novel. Victoria, the heroine, is the professor whereas John, the hero, is the librarian. This shouldn’t be such a big thing but it honestly was. Even I initially assumed, based on the title and before I read the synopsis, that the librarian referenced in the title would be the heroine. Plus, he’s a children’s librarian. Not an area of the library you’d typically find men and that was also refreshing.

Not only is John the librarian, he’s not at all threatened by Victoria’s successes and her demanding job as a professor. Personally I haven’t dealt with any men who would be threatened by a woman like that (so either I’m surrounded by very, very good men, which is true, or some of the more casual acquaintances I have are very good at hiding their idiotic feelings). (That’s not to say I haven’t dealt with men who cannot seem to comprehend that a little woman, such as myself, would have thoughts and expertise on anything.) ANYWAY. The point is, I see men like John in my own life and it was nice to see that reflected in a romance novel.

Victoria, on the other hand, is quite the prickly character. She’s dealing with a ton of stress at work (her work environment is infuriating with an old, white, male boss who can’t handle her competence) and now she has this good-natured librarian teasing her about a romance novel that he says is overdue. I don’t think she’s used to men like John so she gets her back up a little bit which makes her even pricklier. I’m sure some people have said they didn’t like Victoria but that would only be because she wasn’t seen as…soft enough, I guess? I don’t know. I don’t get that because I adored her. She was intelligent and an incredibly caring friend and someone I would love to get to know.

You (should) all know that I love me a good romance. I like that I’m going to have a Happily Ever After and knowing everyone will be in a happy place by the end of the novel doesn’t bother me one bit. So, it pleases me to no end that Carina Press (an imprint of Harlequin) has a Carina Press Romance Promise, which they say is all the romance you’re looking for with an HEA/HFN. We’ve all read books where we’ve expected one outcome only to have the rug pulled from under us and all of a sudden there is Much Sadness. Not what I want in a romance! I don’t care if the end is for all time or just for the moment, the emphasis is on happy.

Hearts on Hold was the first Charish Reid book I’ve read but it won’t be the last. I loved the characters she created – especially the smart, sassy, wonderful females – and the way she wrote this story. It was sweet and sexy and a whole lot of fun. If you’re like me and falling down a romance rabbit hole during this pandemic, I definitely recommend picking this one up!

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

Review: Twice in a Blue Moon

I think a few blue moons have passed since I read Christina Lauren's novel Twice in a Blue Moon. I read it back in October, just before it was published, and have even read (and reviewed!) their latest novel, The Honey-Don't List, since then. Somehow, I just missed talking about this novel that I devoured in one day.

Here's the synopsis:

Sam Brandis was Tate Jones’s first: Her first love. Her first everything. Including her first heartbreak.
During a whirlwind two-week vacation abroad, Sam and Tate fell for each other in only the way that first loves do: sharing all of their hopes, dreams, and deepest secrets along the way. Sam was the first, and only, person that Tate—the long-lost daughter of one of the world’s biggest film stars—ever revealed her identity to. So when it became clear her trust was misplaced, her world shattered for good.
Fourteen years later, Tate, now an up-and-coming actress, only thinks about her first love every once in a blue moon. When she steps onto the set of her first big break, he’s the last person she expects to see. Yet here Sam is, the same charming, confident man she knew, but even more alluring than she remembered. Forced to confront the man who betrayed her, Tate must ask herself if it’s possible to do the wrong thing for the right reason… and whether “once in a lifetime” can come around twice.

Now, a lot of people have said they didn't enjoy this one. There are various reasons, as there always are, but I really liked it. Maybe it was simply because I needed this kind of story at the time I was reading it.

One reason it could have appealed to me more is because I love a good second chance story. It's one of my favourite tropes and I enjoyed that this novel had the second chance happening way out in the middle of nowhere so they were kind of trapped with each other (but not totally alone, given they were on a film set).

I don't think I necessarily fell for the characters as hard as they fell for each other. Neither Tate nor Sam particularly stood out to me, especially when they were adults. I may have enjoyed their teenage love a bit more than their adult one. Perhaps because they were both so much...harder by the time they met again. I think I also just couldn't quite get over what Sam did to Tate.

I could, however, see that they still cared a lot for each other. There was a lot of hurt to get over on Tate's side but she was stubborn and didn't want to hear Sam's side of the story. Plus, she's a big star now and it was hard for her to look past that and focus on the movie they were making. Through all of that the reader can tell they belong together if they could just have an honest conversation about how scared they are and how much the other means to them.

While Twice in a Blue Moon won't stick with me forever, it was a delightful read. I'm still a big fan of Christina Lauren and am already looking forward to their next book.

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

Review: Winning Chance

Who out there enjoys short stories? I don't read nearly enough of them and I'm not entirely sure why. Last fall I read Katherine Koller's collection Winning Chance and I enjoyed the various journeys I got to go on and characters I got to meet.

Here's the collection's description:

In the stories in Winning Chance, Katherine Koller explores second chances, how we find them, and how we find the courage to take them. Whether they are contractors running into an ex while on the job, a busy mother pursuing community theatre, or a family building an illegal ice rink after an environmental collapse, Katherine Koller has created empathetic portraits of characters searching to connect.

I wasn't quite sure what to expect with Koller's stories. Would they fall into the super literary Can Lit type category where nothing makes sense and everyone has a terrible life? (If you know me, you know I'm a big fan of the Happily Ever After in whatever I'm reading.) Honestly, I don't know how to categorize Koller's stories. What I do know is every single one of them made me think and I enjoyed the hell out of that.

The fifteen stories in the collection are varied but they all feature characters who are dealing with Something (purposefully capitalized) at that moment. The stories are like little snapshots into the lives of everyday people which was really nice to read.

That said, they're nice to read even though most of the stories showcase lives that are far from perfect. There are miscarriages, deaths, car accidents, and strict laws in a post-apocalyptic world that keep people from building hockey rinks. There is heartbreak and sadness but there's also hope and, yes, second chances.

I also liked that a few of the characters popped up in a couple of different stories. It made the connection between the stories stronger. Even when there wasn't an overlap of characters you could feel that most of the stories were taking place in the same universe and time which added a consistency, I guess you could call it, to the stories which I appreciated.

Winning Chance will give you an insight into many lives. Katherine Koller's short story collection may leave you hurting for some of the characters but appreciative of the hope so many more of them are able to find in their circumstances.

*A copy of this book was provided by the publisher, Great Plains Publication, in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Review: Frankly in Love

If you're a long time reader of the blog (thank you!) or notice what books I'm posting about on social media, you may know that I don't often read YA books these days. So, when I was sent a copy of David Yoon's debut novel Frankly in Love, I didn't immediately read it. But when I did start it? Oh. Oh, I loved it.

Here's the synopsis:

High school senior Frank Li is a Limbo--his term for Korean-American kids who find themselves caught between their parents’ traditional expectations and their own Southern California upbringing. His parents have one rule when it comes to romance--“Date Korean”--which proves complicated when Frank falls for Brit Means, who is smart, beautiful--and white. Fellow Limbo Joy Song is in a similar predicament, and so they make a pact: they’ll pretend to date each other in order to gain their freedom. Frank thinks it’s the perfect plan, but in the end, Frank and Joy’s fake-dating maneuver leaves him wondering if he ever really understood love--or himself--at all.

When I do make an exception with my reading and pick up a YA novel, I want it to be contemporary. I've done the fantasy and post-apocalyptic but, for me, reading contemporary (with heavy romantic undertones) is where I'm happiest. (Honestly, that's true for adult titles as well.) Yoon's novel delivered just the kind of teenage story I love reading. It was smart and exasperating (I'm in my early 30s, so, yes, there's a bit of frustration to be expected, and kind of welcome, when reading about teenagers.) It was sweet and real. There was swooning and there was heartbreak. It was glorious.

The other thing that I appreciate so much about Yoon's novel is it's something I never saw as a teenager myself. If books like this were being published back in the late 1990s/early 2000s, I wasn't seeing them. I was a white, straight teenage girl living in a very white small town. I wouldn't really have known to seek out stories like this even if my small library (where I worked and I read almost every single teen book in that place) carried them. Adult me is so pleased to have read this story now and is also thrilled that teenagers today have so many more options available to them and can see themselves reflected in the books they're reading.

OK, I feel like I've talked more about me than the book. Which is fine for a blog but not so great for, you know, a book review blog. So. The story. Is wonderful. I loved the fake dating (even though my heart hurt a bit for the reason behind the lying to the parents) because there were so many ways it could go wrong but also so very right. I loved the friendships in the story too. Frank with the other Limbos, particularly Joy, with his best friend Q (I hope Q features heavily in the next Frankly in Love book), and with his sister. And just the whole story and the direction it took at the end. It's a bit unexpected but also completely expected and perfect.

I felt that Yoon was able to capture Frank's teenagerness really well. I don't know if he pulled a lot of it from his own teenage experience but Frank was so real and so...Teenage Boy. I mean, I've never been one and it's been a long time since I've spent any time with one (though my nephew is turning 13 this year so...) but it felt genuine - which I always appreciate.

I said I didn't immediately read this one but holy man did I ever fall head over heels in love with the cover right away. It's stunning. And the hardcover has blue edged pages. Ugh. Gorgeous.

I'll say the same thing I always do when I read a great contemporary YA novel: Frankly in Love is a book for all ages. Put whatever misconceptions you have about reading a book about teenagers out of your head and embrace the beauty that is David Yoon's novel. It'll be good for you in so many ways.

*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.*

Blog Tour: The Summer Set

I wasn't a theatre kid in school - way too shy and introverted for that. Nor am I huge on watching live theatre - though I try to watch them when I can. Other than this year, I've been to the Shaw Festival, the well-known theatre in the next town over, once a summer for seven or eight years with multiple visits in the past two years. All that to say, the world Aimee Agresti created in her latest novel The Summer Set was pretty foreign to me. But I think that worked really well but I imagine it would be even better for those who are or have been in the theatre world. I didn't fall head over heels with this book but it entertained me all the way through and it's one I'll probably keep thinking about for awhile.

Here's the synopsis:

The real drama happens backstage in this juicy novel about an idyllic summer theater where hot stars, has-beens and hopefuls chase roles—and each other.
Charlie Savoy was once Hollywood’s hottest A-lister. Now, ten years later, she's pushing forty, exiled from the film world and back at the summer Shakespeare theater that launched her career—and where her old flame, Nick, is the artistic director.
It’s not exactly her first choice. But as parts are cast and rehearsals begin, Charlie is surprised to find herself getting her groove back, bonding with celebrity actors, forging unexpected new friendships and even reigniting her spark with Nick, who still seems to bring out the best in her despite their complicated history.
Until Charlie’s old rival, Hollywood’s current it girl, is brought in to attract theater donors, threatening to undo everything she’s built. As the drama amps up both on the stage and behind the curtains, Charlie must put on the show of a lifetime to fight for the second chance she deserves in career and in love.

I had some issues with the way the story was actually written. It was kind of choppy and there were a lot of teeny offshoots that went absolutely nowhere or didn't have enough explanation or resolution. The one that comes to mind first were the videos the four main characters make at the end of the novel. Maybe I missed something, but it was suggested, they were filmed, and then the impact of them was just sort of...lost. The personal impact I got, sort of and only for one single character, but the reason they were made was more professional and I didn't really get that. The novel also ended a lot more abruptly than I would have liked. I don't need every single little detail wrapped up (though I much prefer it, I'll be honest) but it felt a bit unfinished to me and that I missed out on how things would go for all the characters. There were a few other little things that kind of gave me whiplash and kept me from rating this one higher but they were more technical than emotional, if that makes sense. I still liked reading this one.

I also think the book description is misleading. The arrival of Charlie's rival is a blip in the overall storyline. I also think it's important to note that the novel is told from four different perspectives, all in third person. Nick and Charlie are the veterans, the director and actor who have been around the block and are at the theatre to mentor the apprentices for the summer. Then there are Sierra and Ethan, both acting apprentices at the Chamberlain. I really liked that there were four of them telling their versions of the summer from their own perspective. And it was neat to see who Agresti chose to tell which part of the story, because there were no overlaps. Each perspective moves the story forward in time. You'd think it could get confusing but I loved it.

You may also think this story might veer too far off into gossip-y kind of fluff but Agresti kept all of the drama and all of the depth. Sure, there are divas and actors storming off set, and one amusing scene where someone's gorgeous face gets ever so slightly maimed from an errant sword, but even through all of that, you see the characters as real people who are all just trying to do the best they can. Sierra and Ethan are in college and their whole lives are before them and they're trying to do what makes their hearts happiest, which is acting. They're taking a leap of faith and hope that, by the end of the summer, they'll get noticed. (By agents and others in the theatre world but also, subconsciously, they want the other to notice them romantically...it's very sweet.) Whereas Nick and Charlie have not been able to have success, professionally or romantically, since they split so many years before and this summer should, ideally,  be a way for them to wake up and realize what makes them great is the other.

The setting was an absolute delight. A small town in the summer with a gorgeous mountain range as a backdrop, plus a lake, and all the theatre shenanigans. Just...oh, I loved it. And I love the cover too! So gorgeous.

The Summer Set was a really lovely novel, even with the issues I had with the writing. Aimee Agresti has published a story that is full of heart - and drama - and I enjoyed the time I spent reading it.

Where to buy The Summer Set: 

Harlequin * Barnes & Noble * Amazon * Books-A-Million * Powell’s * Indigo * Kobo

Connect with Aimee:

Website * Twitter * Instagram * Facebook * Goodreads

About Aimee

Aimee Agresti is the author of Campaign Widows and The Gilded Wings trilogy for young adults. A former staff writer for Us Weekly, she penned the magazine's coffee table book Inside Hollywood. Aimee's work has also appeared in People, Premiere, DC magazine, Capitol File, the Washington Post, Washingtonian, the Washington City Paper, Boston magazine, Women’s Health and the New York Observer, and she has made countless TV and radio appearances, dishing about celebrities on the likes of Access Hollywood, Entertainment Tonight, E!, The Insider, Extra, VH1, MSNBC, Fox News Channel and HLN. Aimee graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in journalism and lives with her husband and two sons in the Washington, DC, area.

*An e-galley of this novel was provided by the publisher, Graydon House/HarperCollins Canada, in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Review: The Arrangement

Robyn Harding's The Arrangement is another of those books I read an embarrassingly long time ago. It was the first of Harding's that I had read and I finished it waaaaayyy back in July. Oops. Sometimes when it takes me that long to get to a book it's just because I'm insanely busy. Others it's because the book under or overwhelmed me and I just wasn't sure what to write. In the case of this one, I didn't like it quite as much as I expected - but didn't dislike it! - so I just wasn't sure what to say about it.

Here's the synopsis:

Natalie, a young art student in New York City, is struggling to pay her bills when a friend makes a suggestion: Why not go online and find a sugar daddy—a wealthy, older man who will pay her for dates, and even give her a monthly allowance? Lots of girls do it, Nat learns. All that’s required is to look pretty and hang on his every word. Sexual favours are optional.
Though more than thirty years her senior, Gabe, a handsome corporate finance attorney, seems like the perfect candidate, and within a month, they are madly in love. At least, Nat is…Gabe already has a family, whom he has no intention of leaving.
So when he abruptly ends things, Nat can’t let go. She begins drinking heavily and stalking him: watching him at work, spying on his wife, even befriending his daughter, who is not much younger than she is. But Gabe’s not about to let his sugar baby destroy his perfect life. What was supposed to be a mutually beneficial arrangement devolves into a nightmare of deception, obsession, and, when a body is found near Gabe’s posh Upper East Side apartment, murder.

I'm not sure what it was that I didn't like about this book. Maybe it's not even that I didn't like it. It could honestly just be that I had really high expectations for it going in. I think, after all these months, I'm finally having an epiphany about this one! *rolls eyes at self* People had raved about Harding's novel The Party or Her Pretty Face so I think I expected this thriller to blow my socks off.

I was surprised by the ending, though, so I guess the socks were a bit blown off. It was also kind of a quick double surprise once a few details came to light and then wham another few details made it so much more twisted.

I think it was a wise choice to start the book with a prologue and have Natalie calling her (estranged) father and admitting that she killed someone. I wasn't totally sure I believed her but throughout the book you kind of start to think...well...maybe she did kill someone. Harding keeps the reader on their toes as the story starts four months prior to the prologue and moves forward through time. The story is told in third person and from both Natalie and Gabe's perspectives, which creates a ton of tension throughout the book.

Speaking of blown off socks (sorry...that image and cliche is just working for a great number of things right now)...it turns out I have actually read a Robyn Harding book before. She's another former chick lit turned thriller author and I had no idea. I even reviewed it way back in 2011 after getting it from the library because it had a "Canadian author" sticker on it.

I especially liked that, in the acknowledgments, Harding wrote about how she talked with sugar babies, ones like Natalie. Really talked to them to find out their motivations and experience in the "sugar bowl" and having sugar daddies. I felt this showed that she respected that these women were making conscious choices and wanted to acknowledge what she had learned from them.

I can't say I loved The Arrangement but I think thriller lovers should think about checking out Robyn Harding's novel. And then maybe read her new one, The Swap, which comes out next month!

*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: Big Summer

It's been awhile since I've read a Jennifer Weiner novel. I used to read everything but in the last few years, there have been so many other books to read that I somehow missed a couple. I decided this year that I just had to read Big Summer. I am patting myself on the back for that decision. It was an amazing read and one I think all of you should pick up this year.

Here's the synopsis:

Six years after the fight that ended their friendship, Daphne Berg is shocked when Drue Cavanaugh walks back into her life, looking as lovely and successful as ever, with a massive favor to ask. Daphne hasn’t spoken one word to Drue in all this time—she doesn’t even hate-follow her ex-best friend on social media—so when Drue asks if she will be her maid-of-honor at the society wedding of the summer, Daphne is rightfully speechless.
Drue was always the one who had everything—except the ability to hold onto friends. Meanwhile, Daphne’s no longer the same self-effacing sidekick she was back in high school. She’s built a life that she loves, including a growing career as a plus-size Instagram influencer. Letting glamorous, seductive Drue back into her life is risky, but it comes with an invitation to spend a weekend in a waterfront Cape Cod mansion. When Drue begs and pleads and dangles the prospect of cute single guys, Daphne finds herself powerless as ever to resist her friend’s siren song.
A sparkling novel about the complexities of female friendship, the pitfalls of living out loud and online, and the resilience of the human heart, Big Summer is a witty, moving story about family, friendship, and figuring out what matters most.

I'll say right off the bat that there's a twist to this novel that I did NOT see coming. I will say nothing more because I think it's important that you're also blind to it so be warned if you come across other reviews where they start going in depth into certain aspects of the story.

You may have noticed that I've already been flailing about this book on social media but only rated it four stars on Goodreads. I don't have a great answer for why I couldn't give this wonderful book five stars. If I was allowed a half star on the site, you better believe I'd give it. There were a couple of small things that ultimately don't matter but threw off the flow of the story for me and when the flow is wrong, well, it's hard for me to love it. Most of these things dealt with timelines and social media. I had a really hard time figuring out how old the characters were supposed to be (usually not important but in a story like this a character who is 25 is very different to one who is 20 or 35). What didn't help was references to social media in the flashbacks. In one instance, Daphne mentions how on her first day at a new school in grade six her mom was probably posting pictures to her Facebook page. Except...that could not have happened. Yes, Facebook was around then but not for the average user. I don't know why this bothered me so much but it did. Also, the prologue really, really threw me off for a good chunk of the book.

The majority of Part One (there are multiple parts to the novel), was told in flashbacks and it was used to help get the story story set up. You had to understand all of the players before you could really get their motivations. And even then there were some surprises.

Weiner doesn't shy away from the complexities of friendships and how high school can have a lasting impact on some people. The relationship Daphne, Drue, and Darshi (Daphne's roommate and best friend) had at school was one I am sure many females can relate to. Daphne felt privileged that someone like her was being noticed by the popular girls. Drue knew the power she had over people and sometimes played with them, yet could also realize how important her friendship with Daphne was (but that didn't stop her from being a total witch). Darshi, for her part, was the loyal friend who was there for Daphne but was unwilling to put up with Drue's bullshit when she came back around - which was fair but also hard for Daphne to deal with. No one is perfect. That's the reminder that Weiner gives us and it makes me so, so thankful that high school was a relative breeze for me compared to those girls.

I liked Daphne. Really, really liked her. I loved that she was going after what she really wanted - being a plus-size influencer - and was having a great time doing it. She seemed like a fantastic woman that I would love to have drinks with and get to know even more. Personally, I don't know what it's like to be overweight. I mention this because Weiner created a character that everyone can identify with. And, you kind of learn a lesson from it too. She challenges your perspectives and, for me, puts a very real voice that I normally would never hear into my head. It's so necessary and so well done.

Jennifer Weiner has delivered yet another must-read with her latest novel, Big Summer. It's well written, relevant, and full of characters who are real and complicated. Daphne's story will keep you hooked - and surprised - the entire time you're reading it and I think it's one everyone should add to their reading list this summer.

*An e-galley 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.*