Cover Reveal: Escaping Christmas

It shouldn't be a secret that I've loved Marie Landry's novels for a long time. They always make me so happy! So I'm really excited to share the cover for her upcoming novel, Escaping Christmas! Yes, she has another book coming out this year! Yay! 

Here's the book's description:

What happens when the so-called Queen of Christmas feels more like Scrooge? In actress Josslyn Hazelwood’s case, she decides to escape it all: the heartache and mess of her very public divorce, the press, and, most of all, the holidays and everything that comes with them. Spending a few weeks in the small town of Honeywell Hollow as “just Joss” is exactly what she needs.
Liam Doherty is happy to help Joss test her BFF’s theory that the best way to get over someone is to get under someone else. Her no-strings-attached holiday fling soon becomes more entangled than a string of Christmas lights, and she finds herself not only caught up in a whirlwind romance with Liam, but also getting sucked into the festive fun of Honeywell.
Joss knows she’s falling for both Liam and Honeywell, but the ghost of Christmas Past is determined to visit this Scrooge after all. No matter how much she tries to escape her past and Christmas, she’s forced to confront them both before she can appreciate the gifts of Christmas Present.

It sounds like just the kind of magical and romantic Christmas tale I love.

Ready for the cover?

I AM IN LOVE. Just absolutely swooning over here.

Escaping Christmas is releasing on November 22 so get those preorders in. Especially because it will cost a little bit less for you if you do! The ebook is available for pre-order on Kindle (for just $2.99!), Kobo, Apple Books, and Nook. Paperbacks will be available during release week (if not sooner).

And for those who love to know just what you're getting into when it comes to you romances, here are your tropes: contemporary romance, holiday fling, Christmas romance, small town romance, celebrity romance, Canadian romance, steamy romance.

I cannot wait to dive into this one!

Review: Secrets at Bletchley Park

I don't know about you but I find the work that was done at Bletchley Park during World War II to be absolutely fascinating. There's still a lot of mystery around it but after reading The Rose Code by Kate Quinn earlier this year, I wanted to know everything. So, when I was offered the chance to review Secrets at Bletchley Park by Margaret Dickinson I jumped at it. Turns out it wasn't exactly the kind of novel I was expecting. It wasn't bad but I wish I had realized beforehand what I was getting into.

Here's the book's description:

In Secrets at Bletchley Park by Margaret Dickinson, two young women from very different backgrounds meet in the Second World War and are plunged into a life where security and discretion are paramount. But both have secrets of their own to hide . . .
In 1929, life for 10-year-old Mattie Price, born and raised in the back streets of Sheffield, is tough. With a petty thief for a father and a mother, who turns to the bottle to cope with her husband’s brutish ways, it is left to the young girl and her brother, Joe, to feed and care for their three younger siblings. But Mattie has others rooting for her too. The Spencer family, who live at the top of the same street, and Mattie’s teachers recognize that the girl is clever beyond her years and they, and Joe, are determined that she shall have the opportunity in life she deserves.
Victoria Hamilton, living in the opulence of London’s Kensington, has all the material possessions that a young girl could want. But her mother, Grace, a widow from the Great War, is cold and distant, making no secret of the fact that she never wanted a child. Grace lives her life in the social whirl of upper-class society, leaving Victoria in the care of her governess and the servants. At 11 years old, Victoria is sent to boarding school where for the first time in her young life she is able to make friends of her own age.
Mattie and Victoria are both set on a path that will bring them together at Bletchley Park in May 1940. An unlikely friendship between the two young women is born and together they will face the rest of the war keeping the nation’s secrets and helping to win the war. They can tell no one, not even their families, about their work or even where they are. But keeping the secrets is second nature to both of them . . .

Considering the length of that description, you'd think I'd know what was what when I went into reading this book. Um. Nope. Not so much. The story is divided into three equal parts. Part one follows Mattie from 1929 through to 1940 when she arrives at Bletchley Park. Part two goes back in time and tells the story of what Victoria was up to during the same time period. And then part three is the pair's story together from 1940 until just past the end of the war in 1945. Considering the title, I was kind of expecting more than just a third of the novel to take place at, you know, Bletchley Park. So that was a disappointment. 

It shouldn't be a surprise to longtime readers of the blog that I love historical fiction and very much enjoy WWII novels. Because of that, I feel like I've learned a lot of facts about the war that have made those school history lessons from way back when come to life and stick in my mind a little bit more. I consider a historical fiction novel good, in part, when it doesn't feel like a textbook. This novel was kinda like that. The details about the war that were shared were pretty basic - at least in my opinion. There wasn't a single unknown event or incident in the entire novel for me. Not that I know everything or even a ton about the mentioned events but it was all surface level information. Is this a bad thing? No. What I think this means is that I was not the target demographic for this novel. I think if there's a reader who enjoys history but doesn't necessarily want the nitty gritty or wants to be reminded of the big events and how they impacted people, this is the kind of story for them. Not necessarily one like me who reads a ton of WWII set novels every year.

What made this novel more enjoyable for me was the way Dickinson told her characters' stories. I couldn't quite figure out how to describe the way she wrote the novel. There were a lot of characters. It was all told in third person so the perspective jumped around from character to character even though Mattie and Victoria were the main threads of the story. Anyway. I didn't know how to explain what this was like until I noticed a Daily Express review on the back of the book where they called Dickinson, "The Queen of Saga." Saga! That was it. This was a sweeping story that impacted a lot of characters and you were immersed in their lives. That's where Dickinson shines.

So, Secrets at Bletchley Park wasn't a winner for me but I'm still glad I read Margaret Dickinson's novel. She introduced me to some wonderful characters who I really felt for as I read their stories over the course of the novel. 

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

Review: The Ex Hex

I know a lot of people loooove *spooky szn* but I'm not really one of them. The fall aesthetic I love? Witches and spells and all sorts of hocus pocus magic. So when I heard about The Ex Hex, just published today, I was all in. I really enjoyed Erin Sterling's witchy rom com and I think a lot of others will too!

Here's the book's description:

Nine years ago, Vivienne Jones nursed her broken heart like any young witch would: vodka, weepy music, bubble baths…and a curse on the horrible boyfriend. Sure, Vivi knows she shouldn’t use her magic this way, but with only an “orchard hayride” scented candle on hand, she isn’t worried it will cause him anything more than a bad hair day or two.
That is until Rhys Penhallow, descendent of the town’s ancestors, breaker of hearts, and annoyingly just as gorgeous as he always was, returns to Graves Glen, Georgia. What should be a quick trip to recharge the town’s ley lines and make an appearance at the annual fall festival turns disastrously wrong. With one calamity after another striking Rhys, Vivi realizes her silly little Ex Hex may not have been so harmless after all.
Suddenly, Graves Glen is under attack from murderous wind-up toys, a pissed off ghost, and a talking cat with some interesting things to say. Vivi and Rhys have to ignore their off the charts chemistry to work together to save the town and find a way to break the break-up curse before it’s too late.

I wasn't expecting open door and steamy sex scenes with this book but I got them and I was here for it! Rhys and Vivi haven't, exactly, confronted all the issues they had back when they were younger, but there's one thing they know for sure: sexy times are necessary. The only thing that annoyed me was they got so wrapped up in each other that they didn't focus on the curse. HELLO. The town is CURSED. Keep it in your pants for a bit and let's get that hex lifted, shall we? But also the chemistry between them was top notch and I was totally rooting for a Happily Ever After!

Speaking of the curse, the magic in this book was really fun (er, apart from the whole "the town is cursed" thing). I like contemporary witch stories when they're in a town surrounded by humans but still have their covens and ability to do their magic (I don't really love that they have to hide their magic from others though...). I especially liked that there was a college that had both magic and non-magic classes. I think Vivi's hesitation to using magic made some sense - she could only remember her mom hating magic before she died - but I don't think it was explored as much as it should have been. It was a trauma that she wasn't addressing and was avoiding magic so much (even teaching "normal" history classes) but no one seemed too concerned by it. I also wish there hadn't been any references to Harry Potter. I get it, I love the books and Vivi and Rhys are millennials who would have grown up with the books. It's just always so odd to have another magical story get referenced in a magical story. And that doesn't even get into the issues surrounding JKR. But! Magic! Fun! I got a kick out of Vivi's aunt and cousin running a witchy shop that catered to those "normals" who fancied themselves witches. Truthfully, I'd love to find a town just like this and wander around! Though I would hope the toy skulls wouldn't come to life...

I liked that there was a twist with the history of the town and the founding family. That's one aspect of fictional witchcraft that I really like - how there's so much importance with ancestry and heritage, and making sure magic and information is being passed down through the generations. Anyone else love that too? Plus, family is so important and I loved the relationship between Vivi, her aunt, and her cousin.

I think anyone who loves rom coms and witchy stories will love The Ex Hex. Erin Sterling has written a really great novel that gave me just the right Halloween vibes. I'm hoping this will be a series because I'd love to return to Graves Glen next fall! And remember, friends, NEVER mix vodka and witchcraft!

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

Review: First Love, Take Two

Second chance romances are my kryptonite. I'll pretty much always say yes to reviewing them because there's something about that romance trope that I absolutely love. But sometimes, I don't read enough about the book so I don't realize it's part of a series and then a whole bunch of other things let me down and then I don't like a book. *heaves large sigh* It's a sad, sad day when that happens but, unfortunately, it does occur. That was the case with First Love, Take Two by Sajni Patel, which just released last week. I wanted to love it. I really did. Alas, it was a struggle to get through.

Here's the book's description:

On the verge of realizing her dream of being a doctor, Preeti Patel should be ecstatic. But between the stress of her residency, trying to find a job, and managing her traditional, no-boundaries family, Preeti's anxiety is through the roof. Relationships and love aren't even an option. Fortunately, Preeti's finally found a new place to stay . . . only to discover that her new roommate is her ex.

Preeti never quite got over Daniel Thompson. Super-hot, plenty of swagger, amazing cook—the guy is practically perfect. And if it weren't for their families, there might have been a happily ever after. But it's hard to keep her sanity and libido in check when the man of her dreams is sleeping mere feet away. Can Preeti and Daniel find a way to stand up and fight for each other one last time . . . before they lose their second chance?

First off, this is the second book in Patel's The Trouble with Hating You series (side note: anyone notice that a lot of rom com series just get named after the first book?). Normally, it's not a huge deal to have not read the previous book in a series like this. They're (supposed to be) more of a companion novel where each book is about a different friend/family member and there are small references to the previous story but nothing that would confuse the reader. I didn't get that with this book. Something MAJOR happened with Liya in the first book and I couldn't really get a good sense of it - it was like it was just alluded to and I was expected to know and Patel wasn't giving any extra info to those who hadn't read the first book. Because of this, I couldn't understand some of the feelings and motivations the characters had in the second book. 

Because I was annoyed at this being a second book and feeling like I wasn't getting all the information I should have, it took longer than I'd like to admit to get used to reading about a culture outside of my own. Normally, this isn't much of an issue for me. I always have to shift my mindset but I'm never outright annoyed like I almost was this time. It can be hard for me, a white, non-religious person, to understand a culture that is based around prayer and respecting elders no matter how terrible they may be. And some of the elders in Preeti's life were horrendous and were acting like catty high school girls. Not a good look. But again, they were being atrocious, in part, because of whatever had happened to Liya so I was a bit lost (but no less furious on Preeti's behalf, I'll say that). 

As for the romance...Preeti spent so much time fighting her feelings and avoiding even talking to Daniel that I wasn't really sure why they had been together in the first place. Did they actually love each other? Does she even like him or just feel like jumping into bed with him? Can they actually talk to each other for crying out loud and discuss why Preeti left? There were SO MANY things they were both keeping hidden and it was infuriating as they just ignored the elephant in the room and didn't address the why of their break up and tried to move past it. Spoiler alert: you have to address all issues before you can have your Happily Ever After.

So...no. First Love, Take Two was not a winner for me. There was too much that just didn't work for me in Sajni Patel's latest novel that meant I couldn't enjoy reading it. I don't think I'll be picking up anything she writes next but I know many others love her books. To each their own, I say!

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

Review: When Sparks Fly

Friends to lovers is one of my favourite romance tropes so it's no wonder I was so excited about reading When Sparks Fly, the latest novel from Canadian romance author Helena Hunting. I've been reading her books for years now and they're always enjoyable. Some more than others but that's par for the course when an author has a bazillion books published! This latest one, just published today, kept me entertained throughout and I had a good time reading it.

Here's the book's description:

Running the Spark House, a hotel/event space that has been in her family for years, has been Avery Spark’s lifelong dream. After years of working hard and making personal sacrifices, Avery and her two younger sisters have turned the Spark House into the premier destination in Colorado Springs. Avery is living her best life—she works with her sisters and loves every minute of it, she has a great group of friends, and she lives in a fantastic condo with her best friend Declan. She might not have any love in her life, but she's happy.
But everything comes to a screeching halt when Avery is in a car accident, leaving her immobile for weeks. After nearly losing Avery, Declan insists that he will be the one to take care of her while she recovers. However, as Declan becomes Avery’s caretaker, lines begin to blur.
Avery and Declan have been best friends since college and always had an attraction to one another, but when she ended up dating his best friend, Sam, they successfully stamped down any feelings they may have ever had for one another. Now, as Declan and Avery spend more time together, they each begin to wonder what would’ve happened if she'd dated him instead of Sam. What starts as a friend helping out another friend turns into foreplay and, before they realize it, they recognize how deeply they care for one another. But when things get serious their past threatens to destroy everything they have built.

As I said at the top, I love reading romances where the main characters are friends who eventually realize they have romantic feelings for each other. And Hunting worked this trope really well. I don't like it so much when the feelings are unbalanced or have been unrequited for too long. In the case of Avery and Declan, they settled into the friend zone first, never bothered to explore the little spark they had in college, and then Avery started dating someone else and they moved on. There were no pining moments from either of them until the feelings hit them at the same time when they were put into such an intense situation after Avery's accident. The romance was so natural and I absolutely loved reading it.

What I didn't really love was how boneheaded Declan was about his "relationship issues." I think that just kind of stems from the fact that I can't personally understand someone using their parents' relationship as an excuse - and I say this as someone whose parents divorced when I was really young. It just seemed like a cowardly decision for him to use that as a crutch and an excuse and I was proud of Avery for having those hard conversations and doing what was right for her, even though it hurt. 

I really liked how close Avery and her sisters were (I also loved the friendship dynamic with Avery, Declan, and "the guys"). I do wish that we had had more time with the three of them together and really getting to know the other women but I'm pretty sure the reason we didn't is 1. that would have made the book enormous and 2. this is the start of a new series from Hunting. Which I'm OK with! Even though I wasn't WOW-ed by this book, I still liked it enough that I'd like to check back in on the characters. Anyway. Back to the sisters. I have a younger sister and we're really close (though not physically - she's always off working in far flung places!) so I like reading about characters who have great relationships with their sister(s) too.

Some important trigger warnings to note: a car accident (with deaths of other people in the crash but no characters we "meet"), toxic parental relationship, and death of parents in the past.

When Sparks Fly was a good read, not a great one. But I think if you're a fan of contemporary romance with some heat and heart, you might want to consider picking up Helena Hunting's latest novel. I'm looking forward to Starry-Eyed Love, which is about Avery's sister London and will be out next spring!

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

Review: Denial

I first came across Beverley McLachlin not because she was the first female Chief Justice of Canada but because she wrote her first novel. Politics and law are important things but I'm a bookworm - what can I say? Full Disclosure came out back in the spring of 2018 and I reviewed the legal mystery for the magazine Niagara Life. I really enjoyed it and was lucky enough to hear McLachlin speak months later at a library event (remember those??). She was magnificent. When I heard she would be writing a sequel to Full Disclosure I was thrilled. Denial, published September 14, follows lawyer Jilly Truitt in another complicated legal case with an ending that is incredibly shocking.

Here's the book's description:

When everyone is in denial, how do you find the truth?
Jilly Truitt has made a name for herself as one of the top criminal defense lawyers in the city. Where once she had to take just about any case to keep her firm afloat, now she has her pick—and she picks winners.
So when Joseph Quentin asks her to defend his wife, who has been charged with murdering her own mother in what the media are calling a mercy killing, every instinct tells Jilly to say no. Word on the street is that Vera Quentin is in denial, refusing to admit to the crime and take a lenient plea deal. Quentin is a lawyer’s lawyer, known as the Fixer in legal circles, and if he can’t help his wife, who can
Against her better judgment, Jilly meets with Vera and reluctantly agrees to take on her case. Call it intuition, call it sympathy, but something about Vera makes Jilly believe she’s telling the truth. Now, she has to prove that in the courtroom against her former mentor turned opponent, prosecutor Cy Kenge—a man who has no qualms about bending the rules.
As the trial approaches, Jilly scrambles to find a crack in the case and stumbles across a dark truth hanging over the Quentin family. But is it enough to prove Vera’s innocence? Or is Jilly in denial herself?

While you could, technically, read Denial without having read Full Disclosure, I think it would be really difficult for readers to get a good handle on Jilly and her motivations without the backstory of the previous book. As it was, I couldn't really remember particulars so I sometimes found myself wondering why on earth I should care about Jilly and her problems. I was more focused on the court case than any of the characters. Is that a bad thing? I'm not sure. I always want to have a reason for reading a story that's more than the plot. I need to know the characters too.

Now as for the case Jilly was working on? Holy hell. There were lots of layers to it and I was totally invested. I thought I had a feeling I knew what happened but then I wasn't sure and then something happened and I was like AH HA and then something ELSE happened and I was like HOLY SHIT. I was shocked at how it all turned out and I think crime lovers will enjoy trying to puzzle out what really happened as the case progresses. 

Something else happens in Jilly's personal life and, I gotta say, I was kind of pissed at how it all went down. Maybe I read too many romances these days but I want certain things to happen and what ended up happening (there are two things, actually) made me super upset. I may have actually yelled, "WHAT?!?" at my ereader because I couldn't believe McLachlin went there. It's likely that this was a personal thing and a mood thing at the time I read the book SO I don't necessarily consider it a negative overall.

McLachlin knows her stuff so the novel is heavy on the legalese. Most of the time it's totally fine. The reader is expected to keep up and know what's happening and it's usually not too difficult. But there were other times where the word choices made me scratch my head. Not necessarily because I didn't understand what they meant. In fact, I was wondered more why she chose certain words or phrases when she was writing about anything other than the particulars of the course case storyline. And there were weird nitpicky things that drove me nuts - what 35+ year old woman talks about wearing Lycra so much? And Lycra specifically. Not just workout gear, which is how I (at 34) talk about the clothing I would wear for a gym session (I don't remember those at all...been so long...) Again, I don't think I'd really call this a downside but my mood at the time noted all this and it may have impacted things just a wee bit. 

I think I'd be happier with Denial if I knew there was going to be a third book. I feel like Jilly's story still isn't wrapped up and I need some closure. Beverley McLachlin is a talented legal mystery writer and I think fans of the genre would enjoy this one. 

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

Review: The Charm Offensive

I had heard of The Charm Offensive, Alison Cochrun's debut novel, well before it published on September 7. I thought it looked like fun but then I heard a lot of fellow bloggers and bookstagrammers absolutely buzzing about it. I wanted in! And, good news, I enjoyed it just as much as everyone else has. It had everything I look for in a rom com!

Here's the book's description:

Dev Deshpande has always believed in fairy tales. So it’s no wonder then that he’s spent his career crafting them on the long-running reality dating show Ever After. As the most successful producer in the franchise’s history, Dev always scripts the perfect love story for his contestants, even as his own love life crashes and burns. But then the show casts disgraced tech wunderkind Charlie Winshaw as its star.
Charlie is far from the romantic Prince Charming Ever After expects. He doesn’t believe in true love, and only agreed to the show as a last-ditch effort to rehabilitate his image. In front of the cameras, he’s a stiff, anxious mess with no idea how to date twenty women on national television. Behind the scenes, he’s cold, awkward, and emotionally closed-off.
As Dev fights to get Charlie to connect with the contestants on a whirlwind, worldwide tour, they begin to open up to each other, and Charlie realizes he has better chemistry with Dev than with any of his female co-stars. But even reality TV has a script, and in order to find to happily ever after, they’ll have to reconsider whose love story gets told. 

I think my happiness with this book was helped by the fact that I was in the mood for this kind of story when I read it. I needed something that was funny but also had a romance at the centre. Plus, this had a lot of depth to it that made for a really well balanced rom com read. 

This is the second rom com I've read in the last few months that has played on The Bachelor(ette) TV show and created their own dating reality show. Both novels (the other was If the Shoe Fits which I also adored. Review here.) treat the shows in a similar way. It's not really about finding true love. It's now about making a name for yourself and promoting your own brand or furthering a business agenda. There are some people, like Dev, who want to fall for the over the top romance of it all - the elaborate dates and so on - and it's hard for them to realize that the show is not real life and no one is as invested in the love story as they are. The book pokes a bit of fun at the people who watch the show but also acknowledges that shows like that are an entertaining escape for some people and there's not really anything too wrong with that. (Full disclosure: I used to watch The Bachelor and The Bachelorette but I gave it up many years ago for all the reasons you'd assume but if people still want to watch it, it doesn't bother me any.)

Reading as Charlie opened up to Dev was wonderful. You can tell that it is extremely difficult for him and also that there's A Reason Charlie decides to do so with Dev. He's closed off from so many people but there's something about Dev that he trusts. He doesn't realize it at first but we, the reader of the rom com (emphasis on rom) knows that it's more than a friendship connection there. And it's not just Charlie who's opening up and discovering some Major Things about himself. Dev is forced to realize some hard truths as well - things that he's been avoiding thinking about or doing anything about because it was too hard. So, yes, I suppose you could say that Charlie and Dev made each other better. But I think a more accurate way to put it is they were able to be more honest and more of their true selves with each other. And isn't that the best thing to ask for in a partner?

This book is funny, too! There were so many laugh out loud moments and I thought Cochrun started the book perfectly by setting up the reality TV dating scene and giving the reader a number of hilarious moments right off the bat. I loved how clever and quirky both Dev and Charlie were and their banter - when Charlie allowed himself to let loose - was great.

The Charm Offensive is a book to read for all rom com lovers. Especially if you like reading about couples that we haven't seen nearly enough of in mainstream fiction. Alison Cochrun's novel is an absolute delight and I hope many, many others discover that for themselves soon!

*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.*