Review: Hold Your Breath by Katie Ruggle

Hold Your Breath (Search & Rescue #1)
Katie Ruggle
Sourcebooks Casablanca
2016, 365p
Read via my local library/Hoopla App

Blurb {from the publisher/Goodreads.com}: In the remote Rocky Mountains, lives depend on the Search & Rescue brotherhood. But in a place this far off the map, trust is hard to come by and secrets can be murder…

As the captain of Field County’s ice rescue dive team, Callum Cook is driven to perfection. But when he meets new diver Louise “Lou” Sparks, all that hard-won order is obliterated in an instant. Lou is a hurricane. A walking disaster. And with her, he’s never felt more alive… even if keeping her safe may just kill him.

Lou’s new to the Rockies, intent on escaping her controlling ex, and she’s determined to make it on her own terms… no matter how tempting Callum may be. But when a routine training exercise unearths a body, Lou and Callum find themselves thrust into a deadly game of cat and mouse with a killer who will stop at nothing to silence Lou — and prove that not even her new Search and Rescue family can keep her safe forever.

I saw the third book in this series recommended somewhere and I was going to read just that but then it was also noted that there was an overarching storyline throughout the entire series and it was best to read them in order. They were all available on one of the apps my library uses for eBooks so I decided why not and picked up this first book.

Lou is new to Colorado, working as a dive team search and rescue member. She’s lived a very different life prior to now and she’s living off grid in a small cabin, working days in a coffee shop and learning to do the search and rescue job. Her team is all men, led by the very organised, very particular Callum, whom Lou often feels doesn’t approve of her. During a practice rescue, the man playing the victim struggles too much and Lou accidentally kicks something whilst attempting to recover him. That ‘something’ turns out to be a dead body – a headless dead body, floating up to the surface way before it was probably supposed to, given it’s winter and the lake is mostly frozen.

Lou feels responsible for dead body man and she wants to investigate his death. She’s also having some weird things happen to her – slashed tyres, small other weird things that make a few people concerned. Callum takes it as his duty to protect her which definitely exposes the two of them to chemistry. He’s also ‘helping’ her with her investigation and Lou is a little bit of chaos in Callum’s very organised world. She seems to enjoy pushing his buttons and she also gives him extra things to do to make himself useful, especially when it seems like the danger surrounding Lou is definitely picking up.

I enjoyed this. I loved the search and rescue stuff, Lou and Callum’s jobs are so interesting. I don’t live in a place that snows. It does snow in parts of Australia but mostly on mountains and in more remote areas, so although I’m sure we have organisations like this in certain parts, I’ve never experienced any of them. I found Lou’s background really interesting as well, she’s left a very particular life behind to the chagrin of everyone there, for reasons that definitely get revealed late in the book. She’s basically on her own in this very challenging location. It’s cold, there’s a lot of snow, her cabin is very remote…..kind of a disaster when you have this potential stalker issue. It is off grid, so relies on a generator for certain things, which definitely makes you vulnerable. I love a forced proximity trope, so when Callum insists on staying with Lou to protect her, it’s very much a small cabin, but there’s only one bed type of thing!

The overarching mystery, which is only in its early stages here, is also definitely interesting with possible links to some intriguing connections in future books. This book also introduces us to the hero of book 2 as well as the general situation and how the overarching story might continue. The only thing that did annoy me about this is that the book said it was say, 350 pages, except it ended at literally something like 270 (for example, I can’t remember the exact numbers) and the next almost 80 pages was just an excerpt from book 2. And excerpts are fine but this was like….probably almost a third of the book? Which was a bit weird and definitely made the ending feel very abrupt because it felt like I still had almost 100 pages to go and it just ended…. Not relevant to the storyline really other than I was expecting more from this because of that.

All in all though, this was good. Very fun, looking forward to future books.

7/10

Book #118 of 2024

Review: For Real by Alexis Hall

For Real (Spires #3)
Alexis Hall
Self-published
2018, 442p
Read via my local library/Hoopla app

Blurb {from the publisher/Goodreads.com}: Laurence Dalziel is worn down and washed up, and for him, the BDSM scene is all played out. Six years on from his last relationship, he’s pushing forty and tired of going through the motions of submission. 

Then he meets Toby Finch. Nineteen years old. Fearless, fierce, and vulnerable. Everything Laurie can’t remember being. 

Toby doesn’t know who he wants to be or what he wants to do. But he knows, with all the certainty of youth, that he wants Laurie. He wants him on his knees. He wants to make him hurt, he wants to make him beg, he wants to make him fall in love. 

The problem is, while Laurie will surrender his body, he won’t surrender his heart. Because Toby is too young, too intense, too easy to hurt. And what they have—no matter how right it feels—can’t last. It can’t mean anything. 

It can’t be real.

I have had a lot of success with Alexis Hall books – only one hasn’t really worked for me. I did have a bit of hesitation in reading this one because I’m pretty jaded from all the BDSM books that came out in the late 00s and early 2010s but it was the dynamics of this one that convinced me to give it a try. It felt different from the others I’ve read and so I was curious to see how it was done.

Laurie is a doctor, he’s in his late 30s and a few years ago, his longtime relationship with his partner ended after a mishap. Laurie seems like he’s been really just going through the motions since that loss. He’s still a part of the ‘Scene’ but he’s not really present, if you know what I mean. He’s a man going through the motions. He’s a sub who doesn’t really seem or act like a sub, and when he spots Toby, a very new baby Dom exploring that side of himself for the first time, for some reason, Laurie goes over to him. What is supposed to be a one time encounter, before Laurie quietly moves on, ends up being anything but. Somehow, Toby keeps finding his way back into Laurie’s life – and Laurie keeps letting him.

What follows is an unusual pairing that somehow works for the both of them in ways they never expected. Despite being the sub, Laurie is the experienced one, guiding Toby through this journey and helping learn what he wants himself in someone submitting to him. Both of them have strong ideas about what that service is and although Laurie always fights the submission, it’s all part of how he chooses to submit.

This is an age gap romance, Toby is only 19. And it’s definitely something that comes up a lot and is explored a lot, from the perspective of both characters. Well, it’s mostly Laurie that agonises over it, that mulls it over, that seems to accept the fact that for Toby, this will probably be an introductory relationship, rather than a long term one. That when Toby grows and matures, he will realise that Laurie is in a different phase of life, and move on. For Toby, that’s insulting and a waste of time thinking about. People break up for all sorts of reasons, he points out. Just because there’s an age gap it doesn’t make them any more or any less vulnerable to a break up, in his mind. I found it interesting, because there’s definitely a view in society that all age gap relationships are predatory and the older partner can only have ill intentions. I feel Hall attempts to challenge this by making Laurie, the older of the two, the sub and giving the power in the relationship to Toby as the Dom, even though he’s inexperienced and learning, he still has the ability to choose what happens. Toby is a thoughtful Dom, he thinks hard about what it is that Laurie wants and needs in his desire to submit and part of that is Laurie arguing, even if it’s just internally, before doing it.

I quite enjoyed this. Like it’s not going to become an all time favourite, but I think it was done well. Like a lot of (all?) Alexis Hall’s books, it’s not just about the budding romance or relationship, there’s also a lot of personal exploration and trauma and grief. There are conflicts that come up in the relationship between Laurie and Toby that are external to themselves in a way, but are about other factors. There are insecurities, there are struggles with emotional intimacy, there is the ghost of a previous partner where Toby has insecurities. It’s very well written, I became invested in the characters and their journey. Not all of the scenes were for me, but they’re not really supposed to be. Despite the fact that they’re not my jam, they didn’t pull me out of the story – they felt like they fit. Which is often my biggest gripe with BDSM and ‘control’ scenes – they feel shoehorned in, or written because that’s what people think men in romance books have to/should be like. This didn’t feel like that. It felt like two people exploring these things about themselves that they both needed and enjoyed.

If I did have a criticism, it would be that I didn’t really feel the connection at the start. I don’t really know why Laurie went over there or why he knelt for Toby or why he took him home. It honestly didn’t really feel like it was something he was looking for from Toby at the time and it felt like it developed pretty rapidly. There’s a lot in the beginning that’s casual but there are these developing feelings, even though I never really felt like the two of them had many conversations in the beginning that showcased who they were as people. Even towards the end, there’s still so much that Laurie and Toby don’t really know about each other. So that aspect I feel wasn’t the strongest.

Still enjoyed the ride. I have read the first in the Spires series (they’re in the same world but are fully stand alone) but I still have book #2 to go and I’ll definitely be reading it.

7/10

Book #115

Review: The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston

The Seven Year Slip
Ashley Poston
Harlequin AUS
2023, 347p
Read via my local library/Hoopla app

Blurb {from the publisher/Goodreads.com}: An overworked book publicist with a perfectly planned future hits a snag when she falls in love with her temporary roommate…only to discover he lives seven years in the past, in this witty and wise new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Dead Romantics.

Sometimes, the worst day of your life happens, and you have to figure out how to live after it.

So Clementine forms a plan to keep her heart safe: work hard, find someone decent to love, and try to remember to chase the moon. The last one is silly and obviously metaphorical, but her aunt always told her that you needed at least one big dream to keep going. And for the last year, that plan has gone off without a hitch. Mostly. The love part is hard because she doesn’t want to get too close to anyone–she isn’t sure her heart can take it.

And then she finds a strange man standing in the kitchen of her late aunt’s apartment. A man with kind eyes and a Southern drawl and a taste for lemon pies. The kind of man that, before it all, she would’ve fallen head-over-heels for. And she might again.

Except, he exists in the past. Seven years ago, to be exact. And she, quite literally, lives seven years in his future.

Her aunt always said the apartment was a pinch in time, a place where moments blended together like watercolors. And Clementine knows that if she lets her heart fall, she’ll be doomed.

After all, love is never a matter of time–but a matter of timing.

I read another Ashley Poston book, The Dead Romantics and quite enjoyed it. I’m not sure why I dragged my heels on reading this one but on the 23rd of the month I came to the realisation that I definitely wasn’t going to be reading To Say Nothing Of The Dog by Connie Willis this month for my TBR jar time travel prompt. It was just too long and I knew I wasn’t in the mood for it. I needed something else for the prompt and this popped into my head. I didn’t know anything about it other than it involves an apartment that can, on occasion, transport its occupant 7 years either side of their current timeline.

Clementine, a book publicist, has inherited the apartment from her late aunt. Clementine is also grieving her aunt’s loss in a raw, open wound kind of way and although she knows about the apartment’s magic, she’s never experienced it – until now, when she wakes and finds a man in her apartment – but it’s 7 years prior for him, he’s subletting whilst Clementine and her aunt, in that timeline are overseas on holiday. The amount of time the apartment will keep you in the timeline will differ – but mostly as soon as you leave it, you’ll be returned to your current timeline. You can step in again and it’ll be a crap shoot – it might be the same timeline you just left or it it might not be. For Clementine, this little dip back into the past introduces her to a man named Iwan who is trying to make it as a chef in New York City. He’s going to be starting as a dishwasher. At first, Clementine is freaked out by his appearance and demands he leave…..but she has a change of heart and over the next little while, she pops back into his timeline off and on. And they…..bond.

Clementine is still in her current life when she dips back in time – so she’s the same age she is in the present day. But Iwan is 7 years younger. For Clementine, all their interactions are happening in the here and the now. For Iwan – it’s 7 years ago. Clementine doesn’t know if he’ll even remember her. She doesn’t know who he is in terms of his last name or what he’s doing now. She doesn’t know if there’s a time when she’ll close the door behind her and she’ll never get transported back to that timeline again.

I absolutely loved this. I loved the exploration of grief and Clementine’s struggle with not just her loss but also her job and what she wants to do. I loved Iwan and his youthful freshness – when he and Clementine “meet” in his apartment, he’s new to New York, full of ideas and dreams and enthusiasm. I loved the talk about food. They had great chemistry. I also liked the way in which they crossed paths again in what would also be the present for both of them. This was just very clever in a lot of ways. And the writing is lovely, I was so invested in everything.

This just does everything well – without labouring the point I understood Clementine’s life and her job, her friendship with her closest work colleagues, her lack of serious relationships and the sadness she’s feeling over the loss of her aunt. It just does an excellent of job of showing you all these things. I could picture not just the friendships shared but the places as well, even though I’ve never been to New York. Clementine’s office, the restaurant and cafes mentioned, the food truck.

But the romance. This was my favourite thing. The tension of not knowing when they were going to see each other again in the apartment during the time slip as well as the realities of trying to track down someone that you’ve only just met, but for them, the connection was seven years ago! And Clementine would have to try and explain as well, why she disappeared….when in her reality, she hadn’t even appeared. It was such a fun idea and the complexities of it were done really well. I loved the sometimes opposing personalities of Clementine and Iwan and how that….didn’t kind of transfer into the actual present.

Sometimes you just love a book – it just works for you. Every facet of this just worked for me.

9/10

Book #49 of 2024

Review: A Prayer For The Crown-Shy (Audiobook) by Becky Chambers

A Prayer For the Crown-Shy (Monk & Robot #2)
Becky Chambers
Narrated by Emmett Grossland
Pan Macmillan Audio
2022, 3hrs, 58m
Read via my local library/Hoopla

Blurb {from the publisher/Goodreads.com}: After touring the rural areas of Panga, Sibling Dex (a Tea Monk of some renown) and Mosscap (a robot sent on a quest to determine what humanity really needs) turn their attention to the villages and cities of the little moon they call home.

They hope to find the answers they seek, while making new friends, learning new concepts, and experiencing the entropic nature of the universe.

Becky Chambers’s new series continues to ask: in a world where people have what they want, does having more even matter?

They’re going to need to ask it a lot.

I really enjoy this series.

It’s so low key/stakes and is just an enjoyable, soothing listen even though it does delve into a little bit of existential angst. The audiobooks are both only approximately 4hrs long, so just very short, quick listens.

In the first book, A Psalm For The Wild-Built, Sibling Dex, a tea monk, met Mosscap, a robot when Mosscap fulfilled a promise the robots made years ago after they downed tools and went into the wilderness. Sibling Dex wanted to explore some of the wilderness and Mosscap accompanied them in their quest to do so. In return now in this book, Sibling Dex is taking Mosscap on a tour of the human populated areas of Panga so that Mosscap might seek to gain the answers to its question of What do humans need?

Mosscap is basically a celebrity everywhere they go. They are greeted by entire towns. This is the first time humans have seen a robot as they all disappeared centuries ago. A lot of what happened or was agreed upon, has probably been forgotten to history. Mosscap enjoys learning about human society although at first, the answers to its question of what do humans need get him more immediate pressing concerns rather than what do they need for health, happiness, security, etc. There are some genuinely funny moments in this, particularly when Mosscap helps several humans with small problems and they pay it with the Pangan currency. Mosscap doesn’t have a personal computer so they give it IOUs of a sort and Sibling Dex has to explain how the transactions work and assures Mosscap that it can indeed get its own personal computer. Mosscap possesses a lot of general knowledge but is genuinely childlike in wonder at some things, like getting its own computer. There’s also a rather hilarious interaction after Sibling Dex finds a….companion….in one of the towns and Mosscap congratulates them the next day.

I really enjoy the interactions between Sibling Dex and Mosscap, even though their conversations are challenging at times. I feel like most of the time it is Mosscap challenging Dex and their feelings about certain things. This book does ask some big questions and just because this is a sci-fi/fantasy novel set in a different world in different societies, it doesn’t mean that they aren’t relatable quesions or ones that you can apply to this world scenarios. In fact I think they are very applicable, I think on some way we are all asking what we need – to be happy, to be fulfilled. And can we provide those things? As well as what is our purpose? Do we have a purpose? I also liked that Mosscap came to the realisation of that it couldn’t really expect humans to be able to answer its question if it itself, also had no answer. It wasn’t quite as simple or straightforward as Mosscap originally thought when it stumbled out of the wild and into Sibling Dex and that there may be no easy answer to take back to the other robots. In fact, there probably isn’t. Human needs are both simple and complex and different.

I don’t know if this is the end of the series. I do hope there’s another book about Dex and Mosscap in future but if there isn’t, then I think this is such a great duology. I really enjoyed my time with it and the audiobooks are really good. I’m always a bit of a fussy audiobook person but these were very enjoyable.

8/10

Book #37 of 2024

Review: A Psalm For The Wild-Built (Audiobook) by Becky Chambers

A Psalm For The Wild-Built (Monk & Robot #1)
Becky Chambers
Narrated by Emmett Grossland
Pan Macmillan Audio
2021, 4hrs
Read via my local library/Hoopla

Blurb {from the publisher/Goodreads.com}: It’s been centuries since the robots of Panga gained self-awareness and laid down their tools. Centuries since they wandered, en masse, into the wilderness, never to be seen again. Centuries since they faded into myth and urban legend.

One day, the life of a tea monk is upended by the arrival of a robot, there to honor the old promise of checking in. The robot cannot go back until the question of “what do people need?” is answered.

But the answer to that question depends on who you ask, and how.

They’re going to need to ask it a lot.

Becky Chambers’ new series asks: in a world where people have what they want, does having more matter?

I have heard so many good things about all of Becky Chambers’ books. I have to admit, I did try A Long Way To A Small Angry Planet but I couldn’t really get into it. I didn’t get very far though and it was probably just me and the mood I was in at the time, rather than the book itself. However I thought I’d give this one a go as I’ve seen both it and the sequel, A Prayer For The Crown Shy getting a lot of love around and abouts recently. I also haven’t listened to an audiobook yet this year and this is only short – clocking in at just 4hrs. That suits me for an audio as I find listening to a 12hr audiobook I could read in 3, a bit of a struggle. But this is something that I can put on whilst doing something else.

This book features Dex, a monk who decides to retrain as a tea monk. A tea monk is basically like a kind of travelling agony aunt? Who listens to people’s problems and brews a specific tea using specific herbs and ingredients that they think might help. A tea monk can undertake an apprenticeship or be self taught and Dex opts for the second option, obtaining a wagon, buying ingredients and getting ready to travel to all the cities in towns in this world in order to hear the citizens problems and offer to help. It’s a bit of a rough start but after a couple of years, Dex finds a rhythm although they still long for more. Deciding to explore a long forgotten area, Dex is startled when a robot materialises and asks the question What do people need? Mosscap, the robot, has decided to undertake the task of checking in with the humans, an agreement the robots made when they gained self-awareness and their freedom for working for humans a few hundred years ago.

I really enjoyed this. Look, a story that centres tea is always going to be a winner for me. Dex is a non-binary monk, using they/them pronouns and referred to as Sibling Dex, rather than Brother or Sister depending on what gender they identify as. Dex has I think, been working as a garden monk but decides to retrain as a tea monk. I loved the idea of a tea monk, someone who travels from town to town, just being a person who listens and then makes them a specific tea that they can sit and sip in peace. Sometimes they create a bundle of tea to take away and use over a certain period of time. It’s an important part of the society, tea monks arrivals are celebrated in towns and cities and Dex will often find themselves on the receiving end of dinner invitations and small gifts of gratitude. But despite the success Dex has found within the role, they often find themselves a bit frustrated and disillusioned, leading to a desire to explore off the beaten path.

With the arrival of Mosscap, the robot, the story really takes off. Robots name themselves after the first thing they see when they ‘wake up’, so Mosscap is named after a grove of Splendid Speckled Mosscaps. At first Dex is not particularly happy to see the robot and isn’t interested in company. But Mosscap is helpful and interesting and eventually there is an agreement: Mosscap will help Dex navigate the wilderness and see what they want to see and Dex will invite Mosscap on their travels to the various cities and towns so that Mosscap can learn what people want and report back to the other robots.

Dex and Mosscap have a lot of interesting conversations. Dex was born well after the robots left the service of humans and it seems like they basically went into the wilderness and were never seen again. On this planet, half the land is for the humans, it seems like the other half is untouched wilderness and that’s where the robots are. Robots are sentient and self-aware and Mosscap has like….inherited knowledge or assumed knowledge but there’s also a lot they don’t know. Dex was born so long after the robots left that it seems like they don’t really know much about them either and both of them have things to learn.

This was such a cozy, low stakes, just generally pleasant kind of read but it also deals with depression and ennui and what is one’s purpose? Does one even have a purpose? I’m really looking forward to reading (well, listening to actually) the next one. I’ve already downloaded it from the app.

8/10

Book #31 of 2024

Review: 10 Things That Never Happened by Alexis Hall

10 Things That Never Happened (Material World #1)
Alexis Hall
Sourcebooks Casablanca
2023, 432p
Read via my local library via Hoopla

Blurb {from the publisher/Goodreads.com}: Fake amnesia. Real feelings? Real problems.

Sam Becker loves―or, okay, likes―his job. Sure, managing a bed and bath retailer isn’t exactly glamorous, but it’s good work and he gets on well with the band of misfits who keep the store running. He could see himself being content here for the long haul. Too bad, then, that the owner is an infuriating git.

Jonathan Forest should never have hired Sam. It was a sentimental decision, and Jonathan didn’t get where he is by following his heart. Determined to set things right, Jonathan orders Sam down to London for a difficult talk…only for a panicking Sam to trip, bump his head, and maybe accidentally imply he doesn’t remember anything?

Faking amnesia seemed like a good idea when Sam was afraid he was getting sacked, but now he has to deal with the reality of Jonathan’s guilt―as well as the unsettling fact that his surly boss might have a softer side to him. There’s an unexpected freedom in getting a second shot at a first impression…but as Sam and Jonathan grow closer, can Sam really bring himself to tell the truth, or will their future be built entirely on one impulsive lie?

This was so much fun! I have mostly really liked what I’ve read from Alexis Hall and from the description, I thought I would really enjoy this. It has a lot of the things I really enjoy in romance – amnesia (although this is a fake amnesia), grumpy/sunshine and lots of angst.

Sam manages a bed and bath store in Sheffield. His staff are a source of constant frustration to him in many ways but he’s also fiercely protective of them, especially when the big Boss Jonathan Forest, threatens the store with cutting costs, mostly by firing people. Sam is summoned to the head office to speak to Jonathan and an accident has him hitting his head on a shower display and getting a nasty concussion. A misunderstanding leads Jonathan to assume Sam has amnesia, which suits Sam because just prior to the shower incident, Jonathan basically fired Sam and all of Sam’s staff. Sam decides to use the amnesia as a way to buy time to show Jonathan he’s making a mistake. Especially as the doctor orders Sam to stay with someone and well, he can’t remember anyone can he? So he has to stay with Jonathan, something that proves to bring up a lot of complications. As well as many disagreements and downright arguments, there’s also an unexpected attraction between the two which cannot go anywhere, given Jonathan is Sam’s boss….and Sam is lying to him about having amnesia.

I loved the interactions between Jonathan and Sam. Jonathan is definitely very grumpy. He’s referred to by each of the 3 branches of the store that he owns/runs/etc by a different offensive nickname (Sam’s store uses His Royal Dickishness) and at home even, Jonathan is an uncompromising hardass who spends all of the hours in the day working. The more time Sam spends there the more time he finds himself butting into various aspects of Jonathan’s life, including his relationships with various members of his loud and messy extended family. Sam uncovers a lot of the reason that Jonathan works so hard and so determinedly, the factors in his life that have led him to this place in this time.

Sam is an agent of chaos. He means well but there’s no denying that he’s not really a good manager. He’s too kind, too willing to support people not doing their jobs and costing the company money. There’s a balance needed and Sam definitely tips too far one way (and Jonathan probably too far the other way). Sam learns a lot about why Jonathan is the way he is regarding certain things when he agrees to take over the planning of the company Christmas party. Sam was too quick to assume Jonathan was being tight despite being rich for having the strict budget and that he has a lot to learn about the ins and outs of running a business. Deep down Sam’s job really isn’t for him, it was a stopgap he applied for on a whim after something happened. You get little hints about Sam but you don’t really find out the truth of his life until the end and it’s literally quite devastating. There’s a scene in this that made me basically sob.

I loved the slow burn between Jonathan and Sam, each of them learning to negotiate their misconceptions and preconceived ideas about the other and trying to come to terms with their new reality of sharing a space and being very attracted to each other. Jonathan is very much aware of being Sam’s boss and also being sort of responsible for the accident that caused Sam’s concussion and being a little concerned that Sam might sue him when he ‘remembers’ the cause of the accident. Sam of course, does not really have amnesia but keeps having to pretend that he does in order to try and convince Jonathan not to fire everyone in his team. Sam feels incredibly guilty about lying to Jonathan and knows the chances of keeping it secret are very slim but….he has dug himself into a spot now and it’s going to be very hard to get himself out.

There’s a lot of sweetness in this and a lot of angst – low key to non-existent on the spice but if you enjoy a bit of mutual pining and a feeling of impending doom and want a book that rips your heart out before piecing it back together, this one might be for you! I really enjoyed it – it’s loosely linked to the Boyfriend Material books in that Jonathan and Luc went to college together and Luc is referenced once or twice in a vague offhand way but one that is obvious if you’ve read those books. I’m looking forward to more from this world.

8/10

Book #246 of 2023

Review: The Perils Of Pleasure by Julie Anne Long

The Perils Of Pleasure (Pennyroyal Green #1)
Julie Anne Long
Harper Collins
2008, 383p
Read via my local library/Hoopla app

Blurb {from the publisher/Goodreads.com}: A rescued rogue . . .

Scandal has rocked the city of London. Colin Eversea, a handsome, reckless unapologetic rogue is sentenced to hang for murder and, inconveniently for him, the only witness to the crime disappears. Then again, throughout history, the Everseas have always managed to cheat fate in Colin is snatched from the gallows by a beautiful, clever mercenary.

A captivating captor. . .

Cool-headed, daring Madeleine Greenway is immune to Colin’s vaunted charm. Her mission is not to rescue Colin but to kidnap him, and to be paid handsomely for it. But when it becomes clear that whoever wants Colin alive wants Madeline dead, the two become uneasy allies in a deadly race for truth. Together, they’ll face great danger—and a passion neither can resist.

I recently started another Julie Anne Long series and have been enjoying it so I thought I’d check out her backlist. Turns out I’ve actually read one of the books in this series (#5, about 10 years ago) so I thought this time I’d actually start at the beginning. I’m not sure if it’s just how long ago these were written (they’re not exactly ancient but a lot has changed in writing romance, especially historical romance, since 2008). I sometimes like spacing out a series and I thought maybe it’d be good to alternate between two of her series’.

Unfortunately, I found this quite disappointing. I don’t know if it’s her first book ever but I found it convoluted but also vague in that things never seemed to be adequately addressed or explained. I felt like a lot of the plot felt like it hinged on a wing and a prayer and a lot of the time things felt cobbled together. I also didn’t particularly believe in their love story either.

The book opens with Colin Eversea about to hang ironically, for a murder he did not commit. There’s a lot of vague backstory about the Eversea family vs the Redmond family and how they’re destined for one to break another’s heart once in a generation. This feels mostly irrelevant for a large part of the book but just as Colin is about to swing, there’s a commotion and he is spirited away.

His rescuer is Madeleine Greenaway, a widow who accomplishes things for money. Things go awry though when Madeline is almost murdered by the person who was supposed to pay her and Colin proposes an alliance – they’ll watch each other’s back whilst they get to the bottom of exactly who hired her and why she was wanted dead. Because Colin is a wanted man (he needs to find the witness to the crime he was arrested for, who has vanished because someone wants Colin to hang) they need to hide and sneak around whilst gathering information.

I think that honestly it just took so long to get answers that I stopped caring. And when we did finally get answers, they weren’t really at all satisfying? The person who arranged for the hiring of Madeleine reveals why and it raises so many questions and Colin is just like ‘well I guess I might think about that one day but that day is definitely not today or any time in the near future and it might be never, who knows’. I don’t know if it’ll ever be addressed in future books but each book focuses on a new couple and this is not the sort of thing that will really impact on others as such, so I cannot see it being extensively addressed in the future. I think it just took so long that I stopped caring about getting any answers as they kept haring around London and surrounds trying to track down the missing witness and get to the bottom of who hired Madeleine and then why someone tried to kill her.

As I mentioned, I also just didn’t really buy the romance either. Colin spends most of the book talking about Louisa, whom he loves although she’s about to marry his brother because his brother has the money and Colin was you know, on death row. Despite loving Louisa, Colin is definitely also the type that would’ve kept a mistress or two as well and I just didn’t really find him all that palatable as a male lead. Madeleine was more interesting, she had a good backstory too but again, it’s mostly just alluded to and we never get to fully explore the impact it would’ve had upon her.

Unfortunately didn’t really enjoy this and I’m unsure if I’ll continue or if I’ll just stick to the series I am enjoying.

4/10

Book #181 of 2023

Review: The Nanny by Lana Ferguson

The Nanny
Lana Ferguson
Berkley
2023, 432p
Read via my local library/Hoopla app

Blurb {from the publisher/Goodreads.com}: A woman discovers the father of the child she is nannying may be her biggest (Only)Fan in this steamy contemporary romance by Lana Ferguson.

After losing her job and being on the brink of eviction, Cassie Evans finds herself with two choices: get a new job (and fast) or fire up her long-untouched OnlyFans account. But there are no jobs to be found, and as for OnlyFans. . . . Well, there are reasons she can’t go back. Just when all hope seems lost, an ad for a live-in nanny position seems the solution to all her problems. It’s almost too perfect—until she meets her would-be employer.

Aiden Reid, executive chef and DILF extraordinaire is far from the stuffy single dad Cassie was imagining. She is shocked when he tells her she’s the most qualified applicant he’s met in weeks, practically begging her to take the job. With hands that make her hindbrain howl and eyes that scream sex, the idea of living under the same roof as Aiden feels dangerous, but with no other option, she decides to stay with him and his adorably tenacious daughter, Sophie.

Cassie soon discovers that Aiden is not a stranger at all, but instead someone who is very familiar with her—or at least, her body. She finds herself at a loss for what to do, given that he doesn’t remember her. As their relationship heats to temperatures hotter than any kitchen Aiden has ever worked in, Cassie struggles with telling Aiden the truth, and the more terrifying possibility—losing the best chance at happiness she’s ever had.

As soon as I heard about this, I knew I wanted to read it. I didn’t expect to see it pop up available on one of my library’s apps for borrowing ebooks so soon, so I snatched it up and ended up reading it right away. I’d been reading a few books with more serious themes and I thought this would be perfect for a palate cleanser.

I really enjoyed it – I thought it was a lot of fun. Cassie loses her job in a children’s hospital and she has to scramble around pretty quickly to find something. She’s still in graduate school, her parent’s have always been the disinterested sort so she’s on her own. She applies for a nanny position for a single father who works as a chef in a prestigious restaurant.

Aiden is impressed by Cassie’s resume and he’s been through several nannies already. His young daughter Sophie isn’t a big fan of anyone he’s hired so far but he’s desperate to snatch up someone with Cassie’s credentials. Aiden has only had care of Sophie for a short amount of time, although he’s always been in her life…it was just as a non-custodial parent. It’s a learning curve and he and Sophie are going through some things as they negotiate their new normal. Cassie is a breath of fresh air for both of them, expertly seeing Sophie’s insecurities and concerns and figuring out a way to connect with her.

After a short amount of time, Cassie realises that Aiden is A, a man who used to subscribe to her Only Fans account a little while ago. He also paid her for some exclusive content and the lines had begun to blur for her, thinking that he might like her for more than just what she did on the screen. Then he disappeared and Cassie closed her account and sought other employment. It complicates things – she and Aiden were already attracted to each other, now she knows who he is and that they have a history. For now, Aiden doesn’t know that she’s the woman he watched and Cassie knows she has to tell him, before things get to the next level.

I liked Cassie and Aiden and thought they had great chemistry together. The author did a lot to showcase the pressure Aiden was feeling as a new full-time dad as well as Sophie’s struggles with the fact that her dad wasn’t around much due to his long working hours. Aiden isn’t a bad father, although he very much does struggle with guilt and not having expected to be the custodial parent of Sophie and working through her grief as well. Cassie is a good buffer between them and she’s someone who can provide some stability for Sophie as well. Cassie is understanding of both their positions and can provide some perspective but she can’t fix it. I liked Sophie as well – kids are hit and miss in books for me, but I enjoyed Sophie as a character.

We do get some snapshots of the interactions between Cassie and Aiden on her Only Fans (or their alter egos, Cici and A) and it’s a little bit to showcase how they went from him being a regular subscriber to wanting more and them eventually starting to talk. But I thought there’d be a bit more of that, it was mostly quite brief and not too many spicy bits. I think I would’ve liked some more, although Cassie and Aiden are still attracted to each other upon meeting, before Cassie realises who he is and we get a lot of those types of interactions in person. Aiden is definitely conflicted about feeling so interested in Cassie because this is the first nanny Sophie hasn’t tried to run off and he knows that Sophie needs that. But he also really, really wants Cassie.

Things are also further complicated by Sophie’s aunt Iris, who is upset that Aiden now has Sophie full time and seems to believe that she should. She’s unhappy about a lot of things, including Aiden’s working and Sophie’s wellbeing and she definitely resents Cassie as well. Cassie does her best to build some bridges with Iris, and it works….until it very much doesn’t.

Sometimes I really struggle with the third act conflict but this one I felt like it kind of made sense. I actually found myself really invested in it, even though I have read like, thousands of romance books in my life and I know how it goes, I was still…anxious that they work it out! So I guess that is a good indicator of how well I thought the story was constructed.

Also at the end of this was the first chapter for Lana Ferguson’s next book, which is due out in December of this year I think. And I need that story! It sounded SO good and I loved the first chapter. Inject it into my veins. I might’ve found a new favourite author.

8/10

Book #88 of 2023

Review: Meet Me In The Margins by Melissa Ferguson

Meet Me In The Margins
Melissa Ferguson
Thomas Nelson
2022, 320p
Read via my library/Hoopla

Blurb {from the publisher/Goodreads.com}: Savannah Cade is a low-level editor at Pennington Publishing, a prestigious publisher producing only the highest of highbrow titles. And while editing the latest edition of The Anthology of Medieval Didactic Poetry may be her day job, she has two secrets she’s hiding.

One: She’s writing a romance novel.

Two: She’s discovered the Book Nook—a secret room in the publishing house where she finds inspiration for her “lowbrow” hobby.

After leaving her manuscript behind one afternoon, she returns to the nook only to discover someone has written notes in the margins. Savannah’s first response to the criticism is defensive, but events transpire that force her to admit that she needs the help of this shadowy editor after all. As the notes take a turn for the romantic, and as Savannah’s madcap life gets more complicated than ever, she uses the process of elimination to identify her mysterious editor—only to discover that what she truly wants and what she should want just might not be the same. Melissa Ferguson’s latest—a love letter to books, readers, and romance—will leave fans laughing out loud and swooning in the same breath.

I enjoyed this – I thought it was very cute without being incredible. The sort of book that kept me really entertained and I’m glad I read it but not one I’d ever see myself reaching for in terms of a favourite to re-read.

Savannah works for a very highbrow nonfiction publisher that is struggling. Her boss is terrifying and has very firm ideas and none of those ideas involve fiction, especially commercial fiction. Savannah is in secret, writing a romance novel, which her boss can never find out about. Unfortunately she accidentally leaves the manuscript in a secret room at work and when she returns to it, she finds that someone has taken it upon themselves to edit it. Quite savagely. Savannah leaves feedback to this feedback but after the novel is rejected with much the same comments that her mystery editor made, she begs them for help to get it into something that a publisher might offer on.

Whilst trying to whip her novel into shape, Savannah is also dealing with the unstable situation at work, including the arrival of the scary boss’ equally formidable son and a volatile situation at home, with her sister and her sister’s new fiancé. It’s a lot and you can sometimes forgive Savannah for being, well…. not the easiest character to understand her actions. If it were me, I wouldn’t put up with the sister and the sister’s fiancé (for reasons I do not want to spoil) but Savannah seems to have been given no choice by way of circumstance and family pressure.

So. I enjoyed this for what it was – a lighthearted and very sweet romance but honestly, it could’ve been so much more as well. The banter is fun, I loved the editing stuff and Savannah’s work friend provided some moments of amusement. However, the author laid groundwork with Savannah’s home life that doesn’t go as deep as it should and then when it all implodes, there’s unsatisfactory moments in the evolution of Savannah’s relationship with her sister. I wanted more because there was so much potential for it. It was actually this really quite intriguing situation and Savannah is so dimly blind to it (even hot Boss’ Son sees what’s happening in like, one 2 minute interaction) but it doesn’t go anywhere in a way that felt to me, like it did the set up justice.

I also really quite liked the developing romance and the complications that Savannah experiences through wondering about her mystery editor. Look, it’s painfully obvious who the editor is and Savannah after what seems like way too long, does seem to eventually assume who it is but then she gets thrown a curveball so she completely discounts her actual legitimate theory and goes with something else. It adds some mental conflict for her, as she feels torn between her witty mystery editor, whom she finds herself confiding in and also, someone else.

I wanted more spice but I didn’t realise until after I read this that it’s published by a Christian fiction imprint and that apparently, isn’t really a part of this imprint. There’s only one kiss in this book, basically right at the end and so if you’re the sort of reader who likes your romance with the sort of sizzling chemistry that makes the page smoke and the occasional spicy scene – this is definitely not going to satisfy you in that regard. I don’t necessarily need sexy scenes but I do want to know that the couple are going into their happy ever after having enjoyed more than just one single kiss with each other!

So. This was fun. It did exactly what I needed it to do at the time, which was give me a fun little read that had a few laughs and some fun interactions. But it was very much a surface level read for me, it didn’t delve deeper into the issues and situations it created, when it really could have. And the ending felt a little rushed as well, in terms of what was happening with the publishing company.

6/10

Book #85 of 2022

Review: A Bookshop Christmas by Rachel Burton

A Bookshop Christmas
Rachel Burton
Aria Books
2021, 416p
Read via my local library/Hoopla

Blurb {from the publisher/Goodreads.com}: A snowstorm. A stranger. A spark. And it’s Christmas! It should be the perfect start to the perfect love story.

But real life is far messier and more complicated than in the pages of the books in Megan Taylor’s family bookshop – the last few years have left this young widow in no doubt of that. Moving back home to York should have been a fresh start, but all it did was allow her to retreat from the world.

When prize-winning author Xander Stone rams his supermarket trolley into her ankles and then trashes her taste in books, Megan is abruptly awoken from her self-imposed hibernation. It’s time to start living again, and she’s going to start by putting this arrogant, superior – admittedly sexy – stranger in his place.

Just as she is beginning to enjoy life again, the worst happens and Megan begins to wonder if she should have stayed hidden away. Because it turns out that falling in love again is about more than just meeting under the mistletoe… 

After reading a previous Rachel Burton book, The Tea Room On The Bay and really enjoying it, I was keen to read more, especially this one which is centred around a bookshop! After reading a pretty heavy book, this was my first option for the next read. I did enjoy this – but I didn’t enjoy it as much as I did the previous book I read by this author.

I loved the setting and I felt like the story did a great job of highlighting the problems that come with running an independent, family owned bookstore. It’s been in Megan’s family for generations – her grandparents owned it and then her father took it over. He didn’t show much interest in it and left, and since then Megan’s mother has mostly run it with some paid staff. Three years ago Megan suffered a devastating loss, sold her London flat and moved home and has been working in the bookstore ever since, taking over the bulk of the day to day running, leaving her mother to write her popular historical fiction serial. Somehow the bookshop has managed to secure the launch of a new book for a very popular author and it could just revitalise it.

Unfortunately the author is the reason I didn’t love this one much. Xander is a really abrasive person who definitely gets off on the wrong foot with Megan. I get that he is nervous and anxious about the launch but he constantly takes it out on her and then denigrates her reading tastes as well. Megan enjoys romance novels and she and several of her friends have a bookclub where they only read and discuss romances. It’s the sort of typical highbrow literary opinion of romance that’s tedious to read.

And look – the author was doing a thing here and I get it. Xander was very much ‘the dude does protest too much’ and you find out later in the book (it’s pretty easy to guess actually) why he does that. But it honestly doesn’t make it any less tedious to read. Xander is very abrupt and quite prickly and I didn’t warm to him at all, even after we get to know him a bit better. I didn’t see Megan’s attraction to him after their first few interactions and throughout the book, I never ‘got it’. Especially after Megan inadvertently discovers his secret (due to Xander’s own actions) and the ways in which he reacts definitely gave me the feeling of red flags. And then I think there’s an attempt at a grand romantic gesture, because Megan loves Persuasion by Jane Austen (who doesn’t?) but for me, it 100% did not come off. I also found the situation with the bookshop employee quite poorly handled (both by Megan and in the book in general).

So for me, this was a mixed bag. I really liked Megan and I loved the portrayal of the bookshop, especially that it wasn’t sunshine and roses and that it was struggling and that they were going to have to make hard decisions. I enjoyed Megan’s friends for the most part and the situation with her parents was quite interesting and definitely threw up some unexpected twists. I thought the exploration of Megan’s grief was also really well done and for me, took up just the right amount of time in the story. And I loved the devotion to romance books (many are name checked in this, including ones that Megan gets Xander to read in an attempt to change his mind about them).

So it’s unfortunate that Xander as a character just didn’t work for me at all. I usually like a grumpy meet cute but I found that the more I got to know Xander the worse he became. I found a lot of his behaviour quite problematic and just didn’t understand why Megan was so interested in him when he’d been quite rude and abrupt to her and basically insulted her taste in books. He was good looking and supposedly an excellent writer but for me, that’s not enough, especially when he seems quite deliberately antagonistic about things she cares about. It’s in a “I am hiding a secret so of course I must immediately shit all over something lest anyone suspect”. Dude. No one would’ve suspected, except for all of that posturing. And then when his secret is out, he blames Megan in horrible ways and then bottles out of a proper apology. Big no.

Disappointing in that regard. However I did love a glimpse of Ellie and Ben!

6/10

Book #83 of 2022