Review: Fake It Till You Bake It

It appears I’ve become a big fan of the fake dating trope. I don’t know what’s taken me so long to realize that but here we are. I recently read Fake It Till You Bake It by Jamie Wesley and I was tickled with the way the main characters were thrown together and had to pretend to be in a romantic relationship. Add in some cupcakes and I was a happy reader!

Here’s the book’s description:

Jada Townsend-Matthews is the most reviled woman in America after turning down a proposal on a reality dating show. When she comes home to lick her wounds, Jada finds herself working at San Diego's newest cupcake bakery, Sugar Blitz, alongside the uptight owner and professional football player Donovan Dell.
When a reporter mistakenly believes Jada and Donovan are an item, they realize they can use the misunderstanding to their advantage to help the struggling bakery and rehabilitate Jada's image. Faking a relationship should be simple, but sometimes love is the most unexpected ingredient.

I’ll be honest – this book isn’t exactly what I’d call great BUT I couldn’t stop reading. I was delighted by the chemistry between Jada and Donovan even while I wondered how their romance could ever remotely happen in real life. It’s a far-fetched kind of story so you have to roll with it and accept the ridiculous hijinks and cringeworthy moments. It’s a romance, after all, what did I expect? All that said, I was so pleased to have sweet and sexy moments keeping me entertained throughout the entire novel.

I felt like I got to know Jada far more than I did Donovan, which I don’t think was the author’s intention. She just seemed more…real – even though her penchant for clothes and make-up are the complete opposite of me. I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to get behind her as a heroine at the start but, like Donovan, I saw the real person underneath the shiny surface by the end of the novel. It helped that Jada finally saw herself too. She was so lost at the start of the book and so incredibly defeatist. I was honestly super frustrated with her but I can’t know exactly what it would have been like to have scientist parents like hers who always compared me to a book-smart sister while struggling through school because of dyslexia. That has got to damage a girl. I get it. But it was hard to read as she was throwing everything away because of some ridiculous misguided notion that she wasn’t good enough. And she wouldn’t listen to those who really did know her. I’m glad both her grandmother and Donovan got through to her and she realized how much she had to offer the world.

I thought it was too cute that the cupcake shop, Sugar Blitz, was owned by three professional football players. It totally destroys stereotypes and I absolutely loved it. I wasn’t entirely sure of the logistics and I’m not positive the timeline could have worked for the guys being in the off-season. They didn’t seem to ever be even working out or practicing and I don’t think teams get that much time off. That nit-picking aside, seeing a different side of pro athletes was refreshing when it seems like every other day we’re hearing about a dirtbag player doing something atrocious. Even if I didn’t get to know Donovan as much as I’d have liked, I did like him and I definitely hope Wesley has set up a series so we can follow along with his business partners and teammates as they find love, too.

It might not seem like I was super happy with Fake It Till You Bake It but Jamie Wesley’s novel was fun to read. I was really invested and was really satisfied with the Happily Ever After. I’ll for sure check out whatever Wesley writes next.

*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: 24 Hours in Paris

Full disclosure before we get rolling: I’ve known Romi Moondi/her work for over a decade, having read her indie books and helped plan an event that she was a featured author at back in 2013. I was so thrilled that she was finally being traditionally published because I knew she deserved it. Therefore, I was pretty pumped to read 24 Hours in Paris. I say this to explain there was a bit of bias and a whole lot of really high expectations going into reading this new rom com. While I can’t say that I loooved 24 Hours in Paris, I can say that it was funny, entertaining, and enjoyable.

Here’s the book’s description:

All bets are off in the City of Light . . . where life and love can change in less than a day
After calling off her engagement, Mira escapes on an all-expense paid business trip to Paris. Despite the delicious food and flowing wine, she can’t forget the ache of leaving her fiancé behind or the fact that she’s just blown up her personal life. And messing up simply isn’t Mira.
She’s used to being in control. Meticulously planning. But now she’s at the mercy of the travel gods, and they are not acting in her favor. Subways are missed. Trains don’t run. Flights are overbooked. And by the time she arrives at the airport to go home, there are no new flights to NYC until the next day. The worst part? She’s now stuck in Paris for twenty-four hours with her arrogant and insufferable co-worker Jake whose constant flirting and annoying optimism is more than she can handle.
But as they spend the next twenty-four hours in Paris, exploring the city in all its beauty, Mira realizes that she and Jake have more in common than they thought, and he may turn out to be the best thing she discovers in the City of Love.

One thing you must know about Moondi is that she is funny. I found myself laughing throughout this story and I just love how clever Moondi is and that, by extension, her characters are whip smart too. That was probably my favourite thing about both Mira and this book. Too many rom coms these days are light on the “com” – but not Moondi’s novel. (In fact, you might even argue it’s light on the “rom”.) I wish I had noted some of the particularly humorous quotes but, alas, I was enjoying my reading experience too much to stop and write anything down or take pictures! You’ll just have to read it to see what I mean!

A few other reviewers have noted something that I think bothered me but I wasn’t able to put my finger on exactly what it was. Mira had never been to Paris and yet moved around the city extremely effectively. Would it really have been that easy for her? It’s not a small city but I can’t recall a single moment where she was even remotely lost or struggling with the city. Other than, of course, the initial hullaballoo that led her to being “stuck” in the city for an extra day. And I know a lot of people in Paris speak English but Mira didn’t seem to have many language barrier issues at all either. It just didn’t ring very true to me and must have stuck with me more than I realized.

What 24 Hours in Paris does really well is inspire strong wanderlust. My goodness, I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to travel to Paris more than when I was reading Moondi’s novel. There were a few places I recognized as I read the book (recognized based almost entirely on other books and a few movies that I’ve watched based in the city) as well as several new spots that I’d love to visit someday. This part of the story was a balm during a time where travel has been really limited.

24 Hours in Paris isn’t just a romantic comedy. Romi Moondi’s novel is also a love letter to Paris. This is a book to read if you enjoy armchair traveling and characters who are funny and smart and may or may not fall in love by the time you get to the last page.

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

Review: The Murder of Mr. Wickham

It is a truth universally acknowledged that I will read pretty much any Jane Austen related novel. (And, subsequently, will use a bastardized version of the opening line of Pride and Prejudice in my review.) I was delighted by the description of The Murder of Mr. Wickham and was really looking forward to Claudia Gray’s novel. A locked room murder mystery featuring characters from all of Austen’s novels in one book? Count me in! And, happily, I absolutely adored this book. It was too much fun!

Here's the book’s description:

The happily married Mr. Knightley and Emma are throwing a house party, bringing together distant relatives and new acquaintances—characters beloved by Jane Austen fans. Definitely not invited is Mr. Wickham, whose latest financial scheme has netted him an even broader array of enemies. As tempers flare and secrets are revealed, it’s clear that everyone would be happier if Mr. Wickham got his comeuppance. Yet they’re all shocked when Wickham turns up murdered—except, of course, for the killer hidden in their midst.
Nearly everyone at the house party is a suspect, so it falls to the party’s two youngest guests to solve the mystery: Juliet Tilney, the smart and resourceful daughter of Catherine and Henry, eager for adventure beyond Northanger Abbey; and Jonathan Darcy, the Darcys’ eldest son, whose adherence to propriety makes his father seem almost relaxed. The unlikely pair must put aside their own poor first impressions and uncover the guilty party—before an innocent person is sentenced to hang.

I will say that I think you need to have an understanding of all six of Austen’s major novels to fully enjoy Gray’s novel. I don’t think I would have loved it as much had I not recently reread (or read for the first time) Austen’s books. Of course, I do think you can read it even if, say, you’ve only ever read (or seen) Pride and Prejudice, but there’s an extra layer of enjoyment you can get if you know the full story behind each of the characters.

Related to knowing the characters – I really didn’t know who was going to the be culprit. As Juliet and Jonathan realize, the murderer had to have been one of the members of the house party which meant that one of Austen’s beloved characters had blood on their hands. It was a strange sensation! I had my suspicions of who may have done it, but Gray kept me guessing and I honestly could not have predicted the end. Which I consider a win for a mystery!

I appreciate that Gray used two of her own creations as main characters. Instead of centring the book on the perspective of one of Austen’s well-known characters, Gray chose to use the children of two characters to help propel the storyline. I had a lot of fun following along with Juliet and Jonathan as they pair tried to solve the murder to help their new friends and prevent the police from bungling the case or looking in the wrong direction.

I’ve focused a lot on the characters in this review because to say too much about the mystery itself could inadvertently spoil it for anyone who wishes to read this book. I don’t consider myself a mystery aficionado, but I do enjoy them, as I enjoyed this one. I couldn’t guess who the murderer would be, and I felt that Gray dropped clues in such a way that was smart and not heavy-handed. I’d be interested to know if avid mystery readers could have figured it out before Juliet and Jonathan!

I highly recommend The Murder of Mr. Wickham to anyone who enjoys Jane Austen and mystery novels. Claudia Gray did a wonderful job of respecting Austen’s characters while also putting her own spin on them. it made for a thoroughly enjoyable whodunit that kept me guessing until the very end. And, at the end, left me wanting more from all the characters. A mark of a great novel if you ask me!

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

Review: Love on the Lake

I’ve lost count the number of Helena Hunting books I’ve read over the last couple years (after I finally started reading her books). She has so many! I’m always here for supporting Canadian romance authors so I started Hunting’s Lakeside series last year. My full review of book one, Love Next Door, is here), but the short version is: I enjoyed it but didn’t love it. I thought I should give Love on the Lake a chance just in case it hit the spot better than the first. And, well, it didn’t. Not really. It was a fine romance but left me feeling…meh. Which is never a feeling I want to have!

Here's the book’s description:

Teagan Firestone has always been the dutiful daughter, especially since her mom died. But as her father finally begins to move on, it’s her turn to do the same. Her destination: Pearl Lake, a close-knit community with an entrepreneurial spirit and secrets of its own.
One of them is Aaron Saunders, who dropped out of college to work construction for Pearl Lake’s upper class. He’s a mystery and has a playboy reputation—that is, until he meets Teagan. Neither of them is looking for love, but in a town this small, it’s hard not to let your heart get involved.
As their romance heats up, Aaron’s elusive past comes to light and Teagan is there for him, bringing them even closer together. But when Teagan is forced to face her own demons, her inability to accept the support of friends and family threatens the life she’s worked so hard to build.
Can Aaron love her, even when she can’t love herself?

I do love Pearl Lake and the setting Hunting has created for this series. I think that’s what I was originally drawn to and what convinced me to go back to the series again for book two. The small town was incredibly realistic, and I really appreciated that as I was reading the novel. People cared about their neighbours which sometimes bordered on nosiness. There’s both good and bad that comes with living in a small town like Pearl Lake and Hunting does a great job of showing off both, while managing to focus on the good more than the bad!

The rest of the story though? I’ll repeat what I said before: meh. Aaron and Teagan were fine. They were supposed to be multi-layered, complex individuals and I suppose they were but for some reason their complexity just seemed really forced. Aaron had a family secret that he was hiding from everyone which, fine, secrets are allowed but keeping it a secret and the trauma that came from it was just…I don’t know. It didn’t make sense. (Trauma can make people do things that don’t make “sense” to others, I get that, but I wasn’t feeling that in this case.) Then there was Teagan who was on all sorts of medication and did not AT ALL have healthy coping methods, so she started to spiral. I appreciate that mental health and all that goes with it is being explored more and more in contemporary novels, especially romances, but, again, something just didn’t work for me. Is it because I can’t fully understand what Teagan was going through? I don’t know…maybe? Or was it just that the writing was lacking something? It’s hard to say and has been bothering me since I read the book back in April.

I couldn’t remember how much I was supposed to have known about Aaron from the first book. I feel like perhaps I should have had a better idea of him and his backstory, but it definitely didn’t stick – if it was ever there to begin with. Because of that, I could not for the life of me understand the animosity he seemed to feel for Teagan. But even though they didn’t like each other, they were still hot for each other? I have a really hard time with enemies to lovers stories and it was unfortunate that this one included some of the elements from that trope. It didn’t help my initial enjoyment of the story.

All in all, Love on the Lake was not a winner for me. I didn’t love the characters, even though there was nothing really wrong with them. Something about them and the plot of this book just didn’t click and I, personally, need that when it comes to reading romances. I’m not sure if Helena Hunting is writing another in this series but I likely won’t be checking it out.

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

Review: The Last Summer

I’ve been reading Karen Swan’s novels for *checks files* er, a long, long time. I’ve always enjoyed them, some more than others, as they provide a lovely escape from reality and some solid armchair travel. When I heard she was writing a new historical fiction series I was intrigued but cautious. I was determined to give it a try, though, and wouldn’t you know it. I absolutely loved it. The Last Summer is the first in the series of five and I did not want to put it down.

Here's the book’s description:

When the residents of St Kilda ask to be evacuated from their remote island home in the summer of 1930, it’s in search of a better life on the mainland rather than the scratch existence on their mountain in the sea.
For 18-year old tomboy Effie Gillies, it’s a bittersweet departure. She’s the best young climber on the island, as skilled and brave as any of the men. But it is Effie’s expansive knowledge of local bird life that leads her to taking up a position as curator of Dumfries House’s ornithological collection - and back into the arms of Lord Dumfries’ son and heir, Sholto.
During her last summer on St Kilda, Effie had been Sholto’s guide, and their attraction had seemed irresistible but, in the glamorous polite society of Ayrshire, it is clear they are worlds apart. When a body is discovered on the island, soon after the evacuation, a scandal erupts as she is implicated. Sholto knows she’s keeping secrets – but are they even her own?

I can’t remember ever hearing about the island of St. Kilda which is sometimes the best kind of historical fiction to read. I was immediately intrigued and plan on learning more about it before the next book in the series is published. It was such an interesting time period to read about for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the story takes place in the years between two wars. The characters, of course, have no idea but the reader does. Second, the residents of St. Kilda weren’t living as their contemporaries who lived on the mainland of Scotland (can you call a country that’s part of an island “mainland”?).

There was also the interesting division between the island people, like Effie, and the people who lived at Lord Dumfries’ estate. Not only the class division but even the lifestyle division between Effie and the servants of the house. I was surprised at how frustrated I ended up being on Effie’s behalf because of how little the servants understood her position. They had never experienced St. Kilda and didn’t bother to try and look at things from Effie’s perspective and how difficult it would have been to leave everything she knew behind and start somewhere new that was entirely foreign to her. She was the one who had to adapt and adjust her behaviours, not them. And that bothered me! It definitely shows how talented Swan is when it comes to creating characters you really care about.

The Last Summer is a long book, clocking in at 400 pages, and I’m not entirely sure it needed to be quite that long. There was a lot of set up so I’ll be interested to see if book two is just as long or if Swan will be able to skip some parts. I’ll be a bit annoyed if I end up reading the exact same scenes, just from someone else’s perspective, over and over and over again. I want to see how other character experienced the evacuation, of course, but I sense there will be some unnecessary repetition. There were also some gaps left in this story that I understand would be intentional because that character’s story is coming but it was frustrating to only get part of the information I feel like I should have gotten in certain scenes.

I wouldn’t necessarily say this book compares to some of the great historical fiction stories out there (I’m thinking of the ones written by Genevieve Graham and Kate Quinn), but I was completely invested in the story. I would kind of describe it like…as if Swan wrote a story that just happened to take place in another time. Of course, the evacuation of the residents of St. Kilda is what set off this entire series and that most definitely took place in years past but this is, essentially, a fish out of water story with a dash of romance and murder.

The Last Summer will be a great read to pick up, well, this summer! Karen Swan’s latest is an intriguing start to a new historical fiction series that will keep you turning the pages. And hopefully you’ll be just as shocked as I was when you get to the last of those pages!

*A copy 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: Book Boyfriend

Book Boyfriend was my second read from Kris Ripper and it was just as enjoyable as the first one I read. It was fun and heartwarming! And, bonus, fabulously bookish.

Here’s the book’s description:

There are three things you need to know about Preston “PK” Kingsley:
1) He’s a writer, toiling in obscurity as an editorial assistant at a New York City publishing house.
2) He is not a cliché. No, really.
3) He’s been secretly in love with his best friend, Art, since they once drunkenly kissed in college.
When Art moves in with PK following a bad breakup, PK hopes this will be the moment when Art finally sees him as more than a friend. But Art seems to laugh off the very idea of them in a relationship, so PK returns to his writing roots—in fiction, he can say all the things he can’t say out loud.
In his book, PK can be the perfect boyfriend.
Before long, it seems like the whole world has a crush on the fictionalized version of him, including Art, who has no idea that the hot new book everyone's talking about is PK’s story. But when his brilliant plan to win Art over backfires, PK might lose not just his fantasy book boyfriend, but his best friend.

This friends-to-lovers romance has a lot of miscommunication in it which, normally, would drive me up the wall. But, for some reason, PK’s inability to say what he really feels to the object of his affection was…well, I won’t call it delightful but it was understandable. Of course he and Art should have discussed their drunken kiss years ago (it would have saved so much heartbreak) but they each had their reasons for not wanting to talk about it. Namely, they were both scared that the other didn’t share their romantic feelings. Who out there can’t understand that?

The miscommunication was kind of also part of PK’s charm, shall we say. He’s awkward AF, which his friends embrace. But they don’t really seem to understand that some of their comments about his lack of emotions are hurting him. Just because he has trouble expressing his feelings doesn’t mean he doesn’t have any. I was so happy to read as he stood up for himself and explained why he acted as he did. His charm and somewhat squirrelly nature makes this first person story seem to be a bit all over the place to read as he’s very stream of consciousness (not unlike my book reviews tend to be!) but it just meant that the story was very much PK’s and really helped me understand him as a character.

I was very firmly Team PK even when he was acting like a bit of a dink and didn’t understand how his actions would or could hurt Art. That was the very last thing he wants and it was hard for him to see how misguided some of his attempts were. Art was lovely and they were a fabulous character to get to know and see on the page. But PK was the star and it meant some side stories, like the issues with Art’s brother, were a bit…out of place. Even if they did help PK understand Art and the world around him a bit better.

Book Boyfriend was an incredible joy to read. Kris Ripper’s latest novel is fun and swoony and laugh out loud ridiculous. It’s full of characters who haven’t been seen in nearly enough romance novels. And, fellow book nerds, you’re going to love all the writing and publishing bits of the story!

*A copy of this novel was provided by the publisher, Harlequin, for the purposes of a bookstagram tour and an egalley was provided via NetGalley in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Review: Framed in Fire

I was a latecomer to the Lane Winslow series having only started reading Iona Whishaw’s mysteries last year. It started with A Killer in King’s Cove, published in 2015, and Framed in Fire, the ninth book in the bestselling series, is about to be published. I absolutely devoured it over the Easter long weekend – both wanting to finish the story so I would know how it ended and wanting to savour every last page of this great installment.

Here’s the book’s description:

It’s early spring 1948 and Lane arrives in New Denver to find that her friend, Peter Barisoff, is not at home. Instead, in a nearby meadow, she encounters Tom, an Indigenous man in search of his ancestral lands. Lane is intrigued. Unfortunately, once Peter returns home, the day takes a gloomy turn when the trio uncovers human remains next to Peter’s garden, and Lane must tell her husband, Inspector Darling, that she’s inadvertently stumbled into his professional domain—again.
Back in Nelson, the Vitalis, Lane and Darling’s favourite restaurateurs, are victims of arson. Constable Terrell’s investigation suggests prejudice as a motive, and the case quickly escalates, as the Vitalis receive increasingly threatening notes of warning. Meanwhile, Sergeant Ames works a robbery while alienating Tina Van Eyck in his personal time, and a swirling rumour sets the entire station on edge and prompts an RCMP investigation into Darling’s integrity.
Amid the local bustle series readers have come to love, Framed in Fire is bound up in difficult questions of community and belonging, and the knowledge that trusted neighbours can sometimes be as sinister as a stranger in the dark.

There are a lot of things I love about this series. One of them is the historical facts Whishaw weaves into her mysteries. We had already met Barisoff and learned of the struggles his people, the Doukhobors, had endured when they fled Russia for Canada. In this book, Whishaw honours the First Nations people who would have lived in the area where Lane and her friends now reside. The Sinixt lived in what is now the West Kootenay region and, though there are still a few who reside in Canada (most are in Washington state), the Canadian government declared the Sinixt extinct in 1956 (not long after Lane’s story took place). Whishaw treated the Sinixt story with, what I believe is, respect and explains in her acknowledgements who she spoke to and the information she relied on from her sources to make sure she was respectful. She noted that she had had no idea about the Indigenous people who would have lived in her area and I’m glad she learned about them and could weave their story into Lane’s.

Another thing I love about these books is Lane herself. She is, as one of the characters in this book says, a warrior. She’s absolutely magnificent and I don’t blame her husband’s Sergeant, the affable Ames, for being so (platonically) infatuated with her. I am too! Given I love me some World War II historical fiction stories, I’d love to know exactly what Lane got up to during the war but then this series wouldn’t be what it is – a story of a woman who went through hell during a war and is trying (and succeeding) to rebuild her life in the peace and quiet of another country. Well, it would be peaceful if she didn’t go around finding dead bodies all the time! She’s incredibly intelligent (she’d have to be, given what she had to do during the war) and I love that the men in this series (including the aforementioned Ames as well as her husband, Inspector Darling) have nothing but the utmost respect for her. They don’t find her a nuisance when she has a thought about a case and they only get growly because they want her to be safe. What I wouldn’t give to pull up a chair on Lane’s back porch and settle in with a restorative drink to hear some of her stories.

Now, the actual mystery in this mystery novel involved, as per usual, a few different cases. I wasn’t sure if they would end up being related or not and I loved reading along and trying to connect the dots alongside Lane and Darling. I can’t say I saw the ending coming, which is always a delight when reading a mystery novel. Sure, I like feeling like I’m smart and could figure out the end but I kind of like having no idea right up until the final reveal.

I cannot recommend the Lane Winslow mystery series enough. Iona Whishaw is an immensely talented writer and she has created a heroine and a series that is so incredibly delightful to read. Framed in Fire was so, so very good and I highly encourage everyone to read it – and the rest of the books in the series!

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