Almost Like Being in Love by Sariah Wilson

4*

One of my favorite old Hollywood musicals is Brigadoon, so it’s no surprise that I really enjoyed this adaptation set at Christmas. Unlike the film, in which the quaint Scottish village appears out of the mist once every hundred years, this book’s Highglen appears during a week-long snowstorm at infrequent intervals in response to an unsuspecting visitor in need of some Christmas spirit. Four hundred years in the real world is a mere 7 years in Highglen, where it’s still 1647.

Maren and her friend Penny have left America in search of her uncle who disappeared about 30 years prior while on a research trip. She reluctantly leaves behind her mother, who has cancer, to fulfill her dying wish of finding her long lost brother. So imagine Maren’s surprise when, after her rental car breaks down, she’s rescued by a handsome Scottish laird, Duncan Campbell. It’s love at first sight, with a vague sense that they’ve met before, but can they ever have a future if she has to return to be with her mom and he has to remain with his large family and the villagers who depend on him? Is there a chance for a Christmas miracle?

Unlike most time travel books, this one doesn’t worry about changing the future by incorporating modern conveniences into 17th-century Scotland because the Campbells are able to benefit from the knowledge and resources shared by their visitors, whether it’s the culinary skills of a chef who appeared in the 1800s or Maren’s veterinary skills. Duncan has six sisters, and there’s definitely something in the air when it comes to them finding love with hapless visitors, including Maren’s Uncle Bobby. 

If you’re looking for a quick read full of Christmas spirit and a hunky, poetic, Scottish book boyfriend, this one fits the bill. It’s a love at first sight, sweet, clean romance with unchallenging dialogue, low angst, and the perfect chosen family.

I received a complimentary ARC of this book from Montlake through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

Only and Forever (Bergman Brothers #7) by Chloe Liese

 

5*

In this 7th and final installment of the Bergman Brothers series by Chloe Liese, we finally get Viggo’s story and it doesn’t disappoint. As dedicated readers know, Viggo is the romantic of the family who wears his heart on his sleeve and is often the one who calls the Bergman Brothers Summits where they help and encourage each other (or their siblings’ love interests) to work through the problems they’re having on the path toward love. It’s the absolute opposite of toxic masculinity and such a refreshing change to see men embracing their emotions and each other. 

 

It turns out that all the time Viggo was spending in Escondido in previous books was to learn the bookselling business with the ultimate goal of opening a (mostly) romance bookstore. (Shout out to the real one in Culver City, The Ripped Bodice!) However, despite his dedication to the romance genre, he had never been in love and seeing his siblings pair up one by one has been difficult. In his first week of college, he noticed Tallulah Clarke in one of his classes. His crush was instantaneous, which made her outright rejection of him devastating. So when he met her again several years later and she still did her best to ignore him, the last thing either of them expected was that they’d soon be helping each other meet their professional goals and making themselves vulnerable to each other by sharing their baggage and their disabilities (his ADHD and fear of failure and rejection and her Type 1 diabetes, dysfunctional family, and belief that love is nothing more than a social construct that has the ability to destroy you if you let yourself forget that). Yet, when he invites her to be his temporary roommate so that he can help her with the romantic relationship in her next book and she can help him get his store up and running, what’s the chance that a hopeless romantic and a jaded cynic can find common ground and a happily-ever-after?

 

Liese, who is neurodivergent and deals with chronic illness herself, began self-publishing this series and, with the help of TikTok, eventually found a publisher and an audience of avid readers that appreciates her honest portrayal of people with disabilities who deserve to be loved without having to compromise who they are. In all her books, she explores the vulnerability her characters face in light of childhood trauma, physical and mental challenges, and more. At the center of this series is the big (both in number and physical size) Bergman family who adopt their children’s and siblings’ romantic partners, providing all the love and support that these misfits have been missing. In Only and Forever, readers get plenty of time with all of the couples from previous books and, as bittersweet as it is to know this beloved series is at an end, it’s heartwarming that penultimate book boyfriend Viggo (who bakes, adopts rescue dogs and kittens, coaches kids’ soccer, names his plants after real romance novelists and his car for one of Tessa Dare’s fictional dukes, has a way with babies, makes pottery, and is the human equivalent of serotonin according to his brother) finally has his shot at a forever love. My only slight criticism of this enemies-to-lovers, grumpy/sunshine, slow-burn but steamy romance is that it gets REALLY sappy at the end. I highly recommend the entire series and hope that Liese someday gives us a bonus epilogue, a parents’ prequel or, better yet, a next-generation series.

 

I received a complimentary ARC of this book from Berkley through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed are completely my own. 

Publication date: April 2, 2024

The Book Club Hotel by Sarah Morgan

4*

The Book Club Hotel is, at its heart, a story of enduring friendship between three college roommates approaching their forties, but it’s also about the power of love in all its forms: romantic, platonic, maternal, and familial. As a bibliophile, I also appreciate that it’s about sharing books and how an annual tradition that Anna, Claudia, and Erica share began twenty years before when they decided to swap books of their preferred genres and then discuss them.

For the first time, after postponing their summer gathering due to the devastating break-up of Claudia’s 10-year relationship, they decide to meet close to Christmas. The surprise is that take-charge Erica has chosen a quaint Vermont Inn run by the young widow and single mom Hattie rather than the typical urban boutique hotel, and this uncharacteristic move has her friends worried. Claudia has just lost her job as a chef in CA and Anna is feeling anticipatory grief about her twins leaving for college, so it’s inevitable that their week will be full of some hard conversations, surprising revelations, and much soul-searching. Morgan deftly juggles all four women’s stories and the emotions they struggle with while navigating the unpredictable path of love.

Morgan is always dependable for gifting readers with a Christmas story with warmth and heart. In The Book Club Hotel, she’s offers up three different romances including friends-to-lovers and a long-term marriage that affirms that enduring love does exist while also acknowledging, through Claudia’s story, that there is power in loving yourself and focusing your attention on your passion rather than on a person. Treat yourself and pick this one up.

I received this ARC from Canary Street Press through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions are strictly my own.

Mom Com by Adriana Mather

4.5* 

 

Despite the ill-chosen title, this is NOT a romantic comedy. There is no humor to be found in this painful second-chance romance. In fact, reading about the teenage friends-to-lovers relationship between Maddi and Wilder and the lengths his mother went to separate them is incredibly triggering and anxiety-inducing for anyone who has had a toxic relationship with a parent. It’s a tribute to author Mather’s skill that she is able to elicit such a reaction from readers.

 

Set in a small town in MA at Christmastime, the misnamed Mom Com opens with Maddi and her 9-year-old son Spence traveling cross country after she humiliated herself on TV upon losing a baking competition and then was summoned by her estranged mother to discuss an issue with her late father’s will. In a surprising twist one year after his death, she learns that he actually left his bakery to her and Wilder with no explanation and with stipulations that will require her to run it with him for a year or lose her share. Given how devastated she was by Wilder’s rejection of her at age 17, she feels betrayed by her father’s decision. How can she possibly give up Spence’s and her life in LA (one she struggled to build on her own as a teenage single mother) to live with her cold, judgmental mother and work side-by-side with a man who she can’t trust but is still drawn to? 

 

Over the course of two weeks, poor Maddi not only has to deal with the grief over her dad and the stress of being with her mother and Wilder, but she also has to face the judgment of the town’s citizens, the unwelcome attention and jealousy of her sperm donor Jake, and the viciousness of Wilder’s mother and on-again, off-again girlfriend. The bright spots are her precocious son Spence and her renewed friendship with Wilder’s older sister Liv, both of whom provide much-needed levity to this oft-times heavy narrative.

 

This is a worthwhile read, but don’t let the extremely poorly-illustrated, off-putting cover and title fool you into thinking that this is a fluffy holiday offering. It’s not tragic, but this clean, slow burn romance isn’t the least bit lighthearted. 

 

I received a complimentary ARC of this book from Blackstone Publishing through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

The Good Part by Sophie Cousens

 

4.5 *

Possible spoilers

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One of the things I like about the time travel trope is the various ways authors manipulate it. Will choices the character makes rewrite history? Will travel back and forth through time land you in the same place and time when you return? Will you remember your past or future life after you move between times? In The Good Part, Cousen’s female lead, Lucy Young, is a 26-year-old living in a cramped and damp flatshare in south London who has been struggling to gain a foothold in the competitive television industry all while watching her 3 best friends find success. In addition to her frustrating employment, she’s fed up with the dreadful dating scene and dealing with thoughtless roommates. So, after one especially difficult day when she wakes up to water dripping from the upstairs flat, is relegated to gopher duty by her boss despite her new promotion, gets into an argument with her best friend, and then encounters a flasher, she enters a shop to escape the rain and finds a vintage wishing machine. Her wish? To skip over all the messy, dissatisfying bits of her life so she can just get to the “good part.” Of course, it’s another case of being careful what you wish for.

When she wakes up the next morning in an unfamiliar bed with a gorgeous man who seems to know her, she has no idea how she got there. All of a sudden, she’s 16 years older with two kids and no memories of the time she’s missed. Her precocious son, 7-year-old Felix, thinks she’s an alien and encourages her to find the portal so she can leave and he can get his real mummy back. Her wonderful, loving husband Sam thinks she had temporary amnesia and makes it his mission to fill in her lost memories (both good and bad) and, in the process, she easily understands what made her fall in love with him in the first place. She also realizes that she’s become a very successful producer, but without her memory, doesn’t feel equipped to navigate the demands of the job.

So, if there is a chance to find the portal that will transport her back in time, will she take it and risk losing the family she’s come to love or will she give up trying to get those sixteen lost years back?

Cousens writes lovely stories with likable, fallible characters. This is one of her best. I found this story totally captivating and fell a little bit in love with Sam and the kids. I was going to give it 5* but I didn’t like the choice the FMC made in the end. Like her, as a reader, I’m hopeful it will all work out in the end, but I guess I’m just more risk-averse. Highly recommended.

I received a complimentary ARC of this book from G.P. Putnam’s Sons through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

The Predictable Heartbreaks of Imogen Finch by Jacqueline Firkins

4*

Ever since age six, when Imogen’s mother (who can predict the future) tells her she’ll never be first in anything, she has set out to prove her wrong and break the curse. In childhood, it was everything from sports contests to academic pursuits, and from art school onward, it was trying to find a man who wouldn’t eventually leave her for someone better. However, overshadowing it all, is her lifelong friend and high school crush Eliot who took their mutual best friend Franny to the prom and then left town permanently after graduation, eventually ghosting her despite his promise to keep in touch and leaving her heartbroken.


Just after her 17th boyfriend tells her he’s leaving her for his co-worker, Imogen’s mother has a premonition and Eliot’s father dies. In the ten years he’s been gone, quiet, sweet, kind but tortured Eliot has wandered the globe, amassed four million followers on his YouTube channel, and kept his vow to never return to the home where he was raised and neglected by his cold parents. When he’s called back for the funeral, he isn’t just confronting his mother and the pain of his childhood, he’s also having to come clean with Imogen. Once he share his fears with her, he commits to helping her win at something, knowing that this curse has held her back from living her fullest life and following her dreams. In the process of competing in everything from corn-shucking to cupcake baking contests, is there a chance that Eliot will decide to stop running away and, instead, run towards life with Imogen?


Although this has all the elements of a second-chance, friends-to-lovers, small town romance, it fits more in the women’s lit genre with complex family situations, an enduring friendship between three friends that isn’t the love triangle it appears to be at first glance, a small town citizenry that is predictably all up in Imogen’s business, and two lovely, kind people who are great at helping each other face hard truths but whose baggage might keep them from ever forgiving themselves and the people who wronged them so that they can be together. Firkin keeps readers in suspense up until the final moments. Fans of Kristan Higgins, Katherine Center and Abby Jimenez will want to check this one out.


I received a complimentary ARC of this book from St. Martin’s Griffin through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.