The Devil of Downtown (Uptown Girls, #3) by Joanna Shupe

4*

This is the 3rd book in The Uptown Girls trilogy about three Upper Manhattan socialites who fall in love with men who skirt the law but give up all criminal behavior for their women. It can be read as a standalone. Jack Mulligan, raised in a brothel, fought his way up the ranks of Lower East Side gangs, eventually consolidating power and bringing a tenuous peace. He used muscle, threats and blackmail to build his empire, but he also has a kind heart, helping the people of his neighborhood to improve their lives. Along the way, he also became booksmart, learned several languages, and developed a cultured persona. When he meets Justine Greene, who comes to him to track down a deadbeat husband in his employ, he’s impressed with her spirit, independence and goodness. As they continue to work together, whether it be raising funds for her brother-in-law’s Legal Aid Society, improving working conditions in factories, or serving food in a soup kitchen, they begin to fall in love. Will they be able to build a life together away from the corruption and criminality that has defined his life up to this point or will Jack force her to walk away?

Joanna Shupe’s Gilded Age romances are always riveting and paint a clear picture of the vast divide between the haves and have-nots in major cities like NY and Chicago, deftly describing the misery faced by the lower classes and the excesses of the industrial barons around the turn of the 20th century. There are definitely parallels that can be drawn between those times and American oligarchic society and the corruption in politics and law enforcement today, sadly reminding readers that the imbalance is still very real. Despite this, her stories are hopeful and heartwarming. Highly recommended.


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

Three Little Truths by Eithne Shortall

3.5*

It was disappointing, having loved Grace After Henry, to find that I had so much trouble getting into this book. I put it down twice, forgetting about it, until I finally decided to commit to finishing it. I’m glad I did because it became a surprising and mostly satisfying whodunit as well as a compelling multi-character study. One problem were the confusing dialogue structures. There was the use of the WhatsApp texting format with a vast array of underdeveloped characters feeding each other gossip under the guise of concern, as well as the one-sided conversations (e.g., Martha’s answers to what we can assume are unrevealed questions from her therapist). Although gossip drove the story, it was really off-putting, and many of the neighbors were hard to stomach (a possibly demented hoarder, a couple of vindictive, power-hungry, controlling shrews, and two incredibly insecure young women). There were only a couple of the women I’d ever want to befriend. As for the criminal reveal, my feelings are mixed. It was a great twist but, although the resolutions were mostly satisfying and character motives were clear, it was still hard to accept that justice wouldn’t be served on the vile men who committed the crime. I’d also love to know what the Three Little Truths are! Due to the problems I mention, it’s a 3.5* that I’ve rounded up to a 4.

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.

Maybe One Day by Debbie Johnson

5*

Possible spoilers

Wow...what a beautiful book! Reminiscent of The Light We Lost, Adriana Trigiani’s Valentine Trilogy, and even P.S I Love You, Maybe One Day is a story of loss, grief, trauma, hope, acceptance, and enduring love. When Jess’s mother dies, she starts cleaning out her house and comes upon a cache of letters, cards, and notes from the love of her life, Joe Ryan. Following an unspeakable tragedy and the temporary loss of her sanity due to grief and PTSD, Jess is told that Joe has abandoned her. Her snobbish parents, who never approved of him, kept the letters and cards from her, justifying it by assuming that Joe’s presence will prevent her from recovering and living a full, happy life. After she reads them and realizes how badly her parents betrayed her, she begins a multinational quest, with the help of her cousin Michael, a recent law school grad and gay man who’s afraid to come out to his cold, rigid parents, and Belinda, a high school friend of Joe’s, using the postmarks and postcards to guide them. It’s a way for her to learn about Joe’s life in the 17 years since he left and meet all of the people along the way who came to love the kind, compassionate man who briefly passed through their lives. At the times when Jess feels less than brave, sad, lonely, ready to give up, or in need of a laugh, she opens one of the notes Joe left, letting his thoughts and words of support strengthen her.

Written in Jess’s voice, readers become intimately aware of her grief and bravery in pushing past her fears to find the truth about the only man she’s ever loved, causing a visceral reaction to her pain and sharing the tenuous hope that she’ll find Joe alive, happy, and perhaps still unattached. Johnson has written a masterful account of how profoundly grief affects us and how love can make us react in myriad ways, sometimes bringing joy and, other times, despite best intentions, causing irreparable harm and heartbreak. Don’t let the ill-chosen, cartoonish cover fool you. This is not a light-hearted love story, but one that will tangle with your emotions, leaving you guessing until the very last page. Must-read!

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

The Heiress Hunt (The Fifth Avenue Rebels #1) by Joanna Shupe

2*

There’s virtually no plot to this. In a nutshell, it’s about immature love between Maddie, a self-absorbed and selfish female protagonist, and Harrison, the male protagonist, who is plotting revenge on the family that treated him like dirt, and who has been hanging on to a childhood love, thinking he can disrupt her life and coerce her into marriage based on past friendship and scorching chemistry. For a book that has no real plot, it’s amazing how much happens too quickly: Maddie’s forgiveness of Harrison’s abandonment 3 years prior without a word to her before, during or after his absence; Harrison amassing a fortune in just a few years after leaving for France with nothing; the lightning speed of his courtship and proposal; her acceptance of the Duke’s offer of marriage, knowing she had growing feelings for Harrison; and then, just one day later, being found in a compromising position that forces a broken engagement and hasty marriage. Harrison’s plan for revenge is totally anticlimactic, and even the threats towards Maddie have no heat behind them, a storyline that could have introduced tension that this book is sorely lacking. Shupe usually writes engaging, sexy historical fiction that is totally engrossing, usually with some tragedy or threat that propels the story. This one is weak.

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

The Dating Plan by Sara Desai

5*


Trigger warning: Child and spousal abuse

Don’t be fooled into thinking this is a run-of-the-mill enemies-to-lovers romance. This one throws an emotional punch and then some. Yes, the set-up is that Liam Murphy broke Daisy Patel’s heart when he stood her up for her senior prom and then left town without a word. He was her brother’s best friend and a part of her family, so the devastation was worse because he not only rejected her, but her father and brother as well. When she accidentally runs into him 10 years later, she soundly rejects his friendly overture; that is, until he proposes a fake engagement. For him, it’s a way to save his family’s distillery and, for her, it means getting her well-meaning matchmaking aunties off her back and finding a way to save the start-up organic feminine products company she’s come to care about. However, as so often happens, the emotions become real and someone’s going to get hurt.

Where this diverges from the normal trope is in the story of their childhood traumas. Desai spares nothing in her descriptions of the damage caused by Liam’s abusive father and Daisy’s casually cruel mother who abandoned her at age 7. They’re both suffering under the mistaken belief that they’re not worthy of love, and it’ll take a near-tragedy and some painful confessions before they can have a chance of absolving themselves and each other.

Ultimately, this is a story of redemption, forgiveness, and the power of love and family to right the wrongs of the past. It’s also a steamy romance between a sexy math nerd who doesn’t see how powerful she can be and a broken man who has achieved professional success, in large part to spite the father who made it his life’s mission to pound any self-worth out of him. The juxtaposition of Daisy’s meddling, but loving Indian-American family against Liam’s emotionally-distant, alcohol-abusing Irish one feeds into negative stereotypes, but it’s integral to the story and not gratuitous or ill-intended. Desai does a commendable job of defining her characters and readers can’t help but root for these damaged souls to find love and contentment with each other. Highly recommended.

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

Wilde Child (The Wildes of Lindow Castle #6) by Eloisa James

4*

(possible spoilers)


It’s always fun to visit the Wilde family. Thaddeus, the oh-so-proper heir-apparent to the Duke of Eversley, failed in his courting of Joan Wilde’s sisters Betsy and Viola, but her apparent illegitimacy prevents him from pursuing her because he must marry well. His lunatic father, who abandoned him and his mother shortly after his birth, wants him to revoke his birthright and will use any scandal to expedite it. However, what starts as a lark, helping Joan fulfill her desire to act on stage, becomes so much more as he’s taken in by her beauty, laughter, and general joie de vivre. That she is part of the loving, eccentric and accepting Wilde family seals the deal. He loves Joan, but also sees the rest of them as the family of his heart. Over time, he starts to drop the rigid, arrogant, aristocratic facade he’s perfected, and with her genuineness and trusting soul, he begins to shed the “disguise” he’s worn his entire life to reveal the fun, mischievous man he is at his core.

This enemies-to-lovers historical romance is the 6th book in the Wildes of Lindow Castle series, and is as delightful as all the rest. The story mirrors Shakespeare’s Hamlet, with Joan taking a gender-bending turn as the Prince of Denmark, with Thaddeus unwittingly personifying Ophelia...without the tragic ending. It’s always a treat to visit with the large, boisterous and scandalous family of the Duke of Lindow. Plot-wise, there isn’t much to distinguish this book from others of the genre, but Eloisa James does a marvelous job of bringing her characters to life and allowing readers to share in the joy this family evokes. There are still two young Wildes in the nursery, so let’s hope we’ll be gifted with their stories in the near future.

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

People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry

5*

If you’re a fan of When Harry Met Sally and Love, Rosie, you’ll fall hard for this endearing, funny, and, at times, heartbreaking friends-to-lovers romance. 

When Poppy and Alex meet their first day at university, they quickly realize that they have nothing in common other than coming from a small town in Ohio and will likely never see each other again. However, fate and her roommate have other plans, and they end up sharing a ride home for the summer. From that initial journey, the idea of making the summer trip an annual occurrence is born. Although they’re complete opposites, they just seem to get each other and feel comfortable sharing their genuine selves. So, it’s devastating when, after a trip to Croatia where something mysterious happened, their friendship abruptly ends. It isn’t until a female friend of Poppy’s asks her what would make her happy that she realizes that she needs to take one last chance to revive their relationship. So, under false pretenses, she gets Alex to agree to a trip to Palm Springs, both to spend time alone together and to attend his brother’s wedding.  Will they be able get back to where they were or have they both changed too much and lost that comforting, familiar rhythm they once had?

Henry has chosen to tell their story from Poppy’s POV, alternating between the current trip and 10 years worth of summers. Although it gets somewhat confusing to keep the timelines straight (the only criticism of the book), it’s necessary to see how their relationship grew and when their feelings for each other veered into non-platonic thoughts. Over the decade that passes, they become the most important people in each other’s lives despite them each having boyfriends and girlfriends, and, in Alex’s need to make sure that the people he cares about are happy, his sacrifices upset the balance. Henry’s use of dialogue is stellar, giving readers an intimate look at the dynamic between the two and inducing both laughter and messy tears. Highly recommend this as one of the best romances this year!

 

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

Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert

5*

Youngest sister Eve Brown, in this final book of the Brown sisters trilogy, is a failure...at school, at jobs, at friendships, and at romantic relationships. When her wildly successful, loving, and supportive parents threaten to cut her off until she can prove that she can support herself for a year and grow up, her hurt and anger propel her to drive aimlessly until she stumbles upon a quaint B&B in the Lake District. When she spontaneously requests an impromptu interview for a chef position, rude, glacial owner Jacob’s disdain and dismissal have her fleeing...until he comes to his senses, follows her to her car, and gets promptly run over. With his concussion and broken wrist, he has no choice but to put her in charge while he recovers. What ensues is a funny, awkward, enemies-to-lovers romance that proves that “normal” is a social construct which sets up those on the autism spectrum to fail. As Jacob thought, “the world would be a much better place if they stopped congratulating themselves on being normal and started to accept that there were countless different normals, and Jacob’s kind was just as fine as everyone else’s.” 

 

Jacob’s childhood experience has conditioned him to believe that anyone he cares for will ultimately leave, and Eve is unable to believe that what she sees as failures are, in fact, fragments of a broken dream. As Jacob said, in one of the most beautiful lines I’ve ever read, “It sounds like your dream broke, and you’ve been picking up shattered pieces and blaming yourself when your hands bleed.” I love how they just get each other and, in so doing, instill confidence and comfort.

 

It’s astonishing to realize that author Hibbert is only in her mid 20s, yet has the  maturity and insight to write novels with such depth and understanding of the human psyche. Although all 3 sisters are quirky, it isn’t until this final book of the trilogy that she matches one with a man who is unashamedly autistic and just “gets” Eve’s idiosyncrasies. It’s sad that neither of their parents recognize that their differences make them exceptional in a good way, instead seeing their behavior as something to be rejected, at worst, or managed, at best. As an autistic person herself, she gives her readers a clear view of the challenges and triumphs of those on the spectrum and treats her well-drawn main characters with dignity and respect. 

 

It’s also a profound pleasure to read about women who embrace their large bodies and who all find men who love all of their curves, rolls, and “brown velvet skin.” Like in Book 1, Get a Life, Chloe Brown, Hibbert blasts holes in fat phobia with positive, glowing comments from her male protagonists and body positivity embraced by her heroines. For these reasons and more, I highly recommend this sweet, cute romance in which neuro-divergent behavior is normalized and where Eve and Jacob find a home in each other. 

 

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