*4

Adler has written another winning romance (actually two romances) using a dual timeline featuring a relationship in 1908 between a female ornithologist who fights hard to be taken seriously in a field where women aren’t welcome and a newspaper publisher and wildlife illustrator who helps her discover a rare goose. Cal’s and Annie’s romance picks up over 100 years later when his ex finds the goose in the attic of her new home and asks for his help in discovering its provenance. The lighthearted mystery is the wild goose chase they find themselves in, and the solution is a hoot (or should I say honk).

One of the highlights of the story are the funny and rather poetic analogies Cal uses to compare love to furniture. Annie is quirky and believes in repurposing antiques in disrepair for use by her modern clientele whereas Cal believes that antiques should be restored to their former glory. Their relationship is a combination of the two viewpoints and reflects their personalities.

Readers can always depend on Adler’s romances to have a unique premise (the opposite of formulaic). In Wild Goose Chase, she’s written yet another witty, engaging story that stands out in a field of contemporaries. Highly recommended.

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

Most Ardently Yours by Freya Sampson

4*

They say that you should never meet your heroes….and it appears that extends to book boyfriends as well. Aspiring romance writer Zoe Knight has given up on love, but still believes in happily ever afters, only with book boyfriends who can’t disappoint her. Who better than Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy from Pride and Prejudice, the perfect man she fell in love with while sharing the story with her late mother. Sound impossible? Guess again, because after berating a handsome London bookstore owner, Nick Baskerville, for refusing to sell romance books, she finds and absconds with a marked up copy of Jane Austen’s classic novel. To her surprise, she somehow wishes Darcy into existence. and what ensues is a hilarious fish out of water scenario that somehow seems to humanize the erudite, taciturn Darcy. (Yes, I’m using multisyllabic words in his honor.) As he experiences everything from underground trains to Ru Paul’s Drag Race, Zoe begins to realize that book boyfriends are best left on the page and that she may have misjudged bookseller Nick.

This unique enemies to lovers romance requires a suspension of disbelief because the premise is so improbable. However, it’s so much fun reading about Darcy’s experiences in modern-day London that it was easy to put my reservations about the plot aside. I loved how Darcy helped Zoe realize that she is the hero of her own story, and that she shouldn’t compare her writing to anyone else’s (especially the nasty ex who made her lose confidence in her abilities). Ardent Jane Austen fans will probably have strong feelings about this book, but readers who love book boyfriends mixed with a huge helping of magical realism will be happy for the experience. Recommended.

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

Rewrite the Stars by Lindsay Hameroff

 

5*

In a genre that sometimes seems overpopulated with teens to 20-somethings, it’s so refreshing to have a romance with main characters in their late 30s who have the maturity to know what they want, even as their baggage tries to weigh them down. Marissa is a famous actor who has become irrelevant after making the choice to sideline her career to raise her children, one of whom has autism. In order to escape the tabloid frenzy after her unfaithful ex-husband gets engaged just six months post-divorce, she decides to take the kids to the Poconos lake home she’s inherited from her grandmother, a place with positive memories and, as it turns out, handsome contractor Jesse who has had quite the glow-up from when they knew each other as pre-teens. Marissa has been used to putting the needs of everyone before her own, so Jesse is a breath of fresh air who supports her and encourages her to fight for what she wants, both personally and professionally.

Although this steamy romance satisfies in that regard, there’s much more depth to this story of childhood friends to lovers. Hameroff, an autism mom herself, does a wonderful job of portraying the challenges Marissa faces raising her neurodivergent child Levi while also demonstrating how capable, loving, and healthy he is. There’s even a particular bit of dialogue that highlights how misinformed people can be about children on the spectrum. In a nod to Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine Productions and Book Club, Marissa fights to feature female authors’ novels and to give women in the notoriously misogynistic film industry the opportunity to shine. Between this focus and the willingness to make sacrifices to make Jesse’s and her relationship work, she rewrites the stars by forging her own path. Highly recommended.

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.

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Every Summer After by Carley Fortune

 

5*

Knowing that the TV adaptation of Every Summer After had premiered and that most book readers felt it strayed too far from the original, I decided to read the book instead of watching, and I’m so glad I did. Seeing as Christina Lauren’s Love and Other Words is one of my top five romances, it makes sense that I absolutely adored this book that many reviewers have compared it to. My favorite tropes are childhood friends to lovers and second chance romance, so it’s no surprise that I couldn’t put this one down.

As teens, it’s so easy to misinterpret texts and emails and expect the worst, but in hindsight, as adults, realize that decisions were made with incomplete knowledge due to poor communication skills. There were some doozies in this story that further complicated Sam and Percy’s relationship, but after more than a decade’s separation, these two beautiful people finally reunite for his mother’s funeral. They have a lot of baggage, but the hope is that they can find resolution and forgiveness and work their way back to each other.

Fortune has drawn beautiful, flawed characters and uses the setting of the Canadian lake to full effect. The chemistry is palpable, the dialogue flows, and the dual timeline in Percy’s voice works seamlessly. Now I can’t wait to read her other books. Highly recommended.

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

Tropesick by Lauren Okie

3*

I don’t know what to think about this story, especially since I’m not a fan of heavy topics in my romances. It’s a dark romance with an MMC, Tyler, who has major baggage and the girl next door/best friend’s sister, Katie, who, despite her own grief and estrangement from her parents, still manages to be positive and bright. Initially, I thought this would be like a few other popular books on the market that feature dueling ghostwriters, but the depth of grief and guilt in Tropesick tended to overshadow the romance. I was surprised by the plot twist at the end, and couldn’t figure out what the point of it was. There are no trigger warnings, but I think there should be for addiction and accidental death. If you like romances in which a main character has a huge redemption arc, you’ll probably enjoy this story, but if you prefer less angst and a faster pace, this may not be the right choice for you.

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

Road Trip by Mary Kay Andrews

5*

Road Trip is so much more than I expected, and I loved it. It’s about estranged sisters who fulfill their mother’s dying wish to travel together through Ireland in the hopes they’ll reconcile. It’s also a mystery thriller centered on a painting that has been in the family for generations and determining its provenance. Was it stolen? Is it authentic? The actual story behind it is told in a series of letters between their great-grandmother who fled to America at age 18 and the younger brother she had to leave behind. It’s also a delightful romance between younger sister Maeve and a sexy Irish whiskey distiller named Liam. Who doesn’t dream of discovering love while tracing their roots?

Andrews strikes the perfect balance between the romance, the healing of Therese and Maeve’s relationship, and the sordid and tragic story behind the painting. Her characters are richly-drawn and the various locations perfectly set the stage. This would be a wonderful book to take on your summer vacation. Highly recommended.

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

An Ocean of Time by Kennedy Kerr

4*

I would have given this book 5 stars for the compelling, suspenseful, romantic story. However, without warning, it ended on a cliffhanger. If I’d known, I would have waited until the 2nd (and perhaps successive) book had come out because I’m just not patient enough to wait.

If, however, you don’t mind cliffhangers, I definitely recommend this intriguing time slip novel set in Cornwall, UK in 1755. There’s forbidden romance, villainous treachery, and deep, dark secrets that keep you at the edge of your seat. Recommended. 

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

Mrs. Nash’s Ashes by Sarah Adler

 

4*

Sarah Adler’s debut is such a delight. It’s not just a road trip romance between grumpy, handsome writer Hollis and sunshiny former child star Millicent, but also the queer romance (flashing back to 1944) between Millie’s late neighbor Rose Nash and the Army nurse, Elsie, she fell in love with only to lose her, first to Elsie’s urging her to marry the boy back home, and then to Elsie’s supposed death in the Korean War. Millie is on a mission to bring Mrs. Nash’s ashes to Elsie before it’s too late. It’s her way to reunite them in the best way she knows how and prove that love can last a lifetime. Unfortunately, cancelled flights are only the first of many mishaps that she and her nasty ex’s frenemy encounter when they run into each other at the airport and then choose to drive from DC to Florida together.

Along the way, downright rude Hollis shows glimpses of the softie underneath as he responds to Millie’s unique brand of weirdness, charm, and optimism. They both have their share of baggage, but it doesn’t bog the story down thanks to a heaping serving of witty banter and ridiculously silly encounters with everything from suicidal deer to dozens of paint-by-number Jesus’s. If you’re looking for a feel good, steamy romance, I highly recommend checking this one out.

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

The Co-Op by Tarah DeWitt

 

3*

This is the second book by DeWitt I’ve read (the first being Savor It which I rated highly), and I’m disappointed that I struggled to get through it. I’m giving it the benefit of a doubt because I’ve been distracted by life, but the story didn’t compel me enough to want to put everything else aside to focus on it. First and foremost, I just didn’t care for LaRynn, the FMC. Yes, she had major baggage after being abused and neglected by her father and abandoned by her mother, feeling like she was incapable of being loved. However, her behavior towards Deacon, the anger, the rudeness, and her inability to be vulnerable and to share important parts of herself and her history, really frustrated me.

The use of a dual timeline (present-day and when they were lovers for a summer prior to her first year of college) and alternating chapters from both points of view, gave a full picture of their love story and the mistakes they both made along the way. However, in a character-driven romance, I need to believe in both main characters, and I just couldn’t with LaRynn for about 75% of the story. So, I was actually really thankful for the insight provided by the epilogue ten years in the future.

It’s not a badly-written book, and, if I were in a different frame of mind, I might have enjoyed it more. Unfortunately, I was just bored.

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.

Husbands and Lovers by Beatriz Williams

5*

It’s been quite a while since I read a Beatriz Williams novel, and I’d forgotten how much I love her writing. She does such a phenomenal job of connecting stories in multiple timelines, never sacrificing characterization or plot to make the puzzle pieces fit.

In Husbands and Lovers, there is the story of Mallory Dunne, a single mother to young son, Sam (who eats a poisonous mushroom at summer camp, leaving him in need of a kidney transplant) and her sister Paige, both of whom are still grieving the accidental death of their mother less than two years prior. When Paige finds their mother’s adoption papers, it opens a new door in their search for a kidney donor. There’s also Mallory’s first love Monk Adams, a famous musician who has been kept in the dark about Sam but, through Paige’s machinations, re-enters their lives during a visit to the coastal community of Winthrop Island, MA where these former best friends fell in love.

A gold and jewel-encrusted Egyptian cobra bracelet that Mallory’s mother willed her is the artifact that ties this modern plotline to the story of Hungarian refugee Hannah Ainsworth, wife of a British diplomat more than twice her age, from World War II in Europe to post-war Egypt and the civil unrest caused by British colonization and the establishment of the Israeli state. She suffered unspeakable tragedy during the war, and when she began an affair with the mysterious hotel manager, Lucien Beck, who other wives suspected was a spy, it was her opportunity to regain some of what she’d lost.

This beautiful novel is full of heartbreak, love, and redemption. Williams’ female characters are flawed and make morally dubious decisions with the best of intentions, but you can’t help hoping that they get the second chance they both seek and fear.

Now I need to go back and read the two previous titles that are connected to this one. Highly recommended!

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

The Lost Dresses of Italy by M.A. McLaughlin

 

5*

All the best historical fiction seamlessly blends real events and people with fictional characters and, often, periods of historical figures’ lives from the author’s imagination. In this dual timeline story, McLaughlin introduces her readers to Marianne Baxter, a war widow and costume curator, who is invited to Verona, Italy in 1947 by a friend to research and restore three Victorian-era gowns for the reopening of a museum that was damaged during the war. When she finds a letter in a sleeve addressed to famed poet Christina Rossetti from her father, it begins a hunt for clues not only about the woman who wore the dresses, but also how they ended up in a walled-over room in the museum. In her postscript, McLaughlin mentions a cryptic quote from Christina Rossetti’s brother William, who accompanied her on her trip to Italy in 1865, which presumably was the inspiration for this fictionalized period of her life. “Had she [Christina] henceforth lived in Italy…she would, I believe, have been a much happier woman than she was.”

The story opens with a murder outside the museum, when a young man in the Italian Resistance is double-crossed by a compatriot who kills him for the emerald he was about to sell to raise money for their cause. In the letter, Christina’s father writes of a pendant that she would have found after his death, a probable connection to the murder. As Marianne begins to follow the clues as to what transpired during Christina’s visit to Italy, it angers the museum director, Alessandro Forni, whose cousin was the murder victim. As he tells her, “Wading into the unfamiliar waters of a foreign country, which has so recently endured a bitter war, can stir up nothing but ugly things lurking in the depths.” This foreshadows what becomes a suspenseful mystery that combines the restoration of various art forms with jewelry theft, the physical and emotional toll war’s death and destruction had on the people and the morally dubious choices they had to make to survive, and an epic love story that has faint echoes to the most famous star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet. So, it’s only fitting that most of the book is set in Verona.

McLaughlin chose a dual POV, featuring two creative women eighty years apart who went to Italy and found love when they weren’t looking. Their trajectories were different, but their time there profoundly changed them. Don’t be surprised if you end up going down a rabbit hole Googling information about the Rossetti family, especially after reading the conversations between Christina and her more famous brother, Dante, both of whom their mother referred to as the “storms” (versus their other siblings, William and Maria, who were the “calms”). The Lost Dresses of Italy is a compelling story with vibrant characters driven by greed, obsession, passion, and grief, one that you won’t quickly forget. Highly recommended.

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

The Bookstore at Rivers End by Phillipa Nefri Clark

 

5*

This lovely book set in the beautiful town of Rivers End on the coast of Australia defies definition. It’s women’s fiction with a dual timeline that combines a clean, mature romance with a mystery involving three teenage girls from 1961. It’s the story of a newly-divorced librarian, Harriet, who is struggling with her ex-husband’s decision to “find himself” by traveling the world alone, and her 20-year-old daughter, Olive, who has dropped out of law school after ending an abusive relationship, who decide to start over by opening a bookstore in a building Harriet received as part of her settlement. 

 

While looking for old books to fill a small section of their store, they find the diary of a 14-year-old girl who writes about a birthday treasure hunt she and her friends are designing for one of the girl’s younger sister. Since the owner doesn’t want it back, they make it their mission to figure out who the narrator and her friends are since they’re only mentioned by their first initial. Olive and Harriet, reading just one entry at a time, decide to follow the clues as a way to discover their new home and to learn the identities of the friends from the past. The shifting between the two timelines works well, combining each written passage in the diary with the narrator’s internal monologue that uses full names (that only the reader is privy to). As a result, the reader figures out the mystery well before Harriet and Olive do.

 

They also purchase a number of books from a handsome chef, Brock, which includes an antique Bible and inscribed book of poetry. These become part of the mystery surrounding the treasure hunt. The romance between Harriet and Brock is a slow burn although the attraction is evident from the beginning. However, Harriet is newly-divorced and not even ready to remove her wedding ring, so it takes months of her slowly building a new life with her daughter until she’s ready to let go and let a new love in. 

 

The character development of both the main and secondary characters is well done, the mother-daughter relationship is enviably loving, supportive, and respectful, and the townspeople, especially the elderly ladies trio, are humorous and welcoming. 

 

As a former librarian and lifelong book lover, I was so envious that Harriet was able to fulfill her dream of opening a bookstore. Author Clark paints such a vivid picture of the town with friendly neighbors, gorgeous beaches, and a good collection of businesses that support the community.  This heartwarming, redemptive story is definitely worth a read. Highly recommended.

 

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

With Love From London by Sarah Jio

5*

Where do I begin to explain how much I love this book? Is it in the colorful, quirky neighborhood of Primrose Hill in London, the city of my heart? As a passionate reader, is it in The Book Garden, a charming bookstore owned by Eloise and inherited by her daughter Valentina? Perhaps it’s in the dual timelines from Eloise’s and Valentina’s points of view, Eloise’s starting in 1968 when she meets two men, one the love of her life and the other who is responsible for both her greatest joy and the incomprehensible cruelty behind her unbearable pain, and Valentina’s in 2013 when, at age 35, she’s facing divorce and the news that her mother has died, the same mother she hasn’t seen or heard from in 23 years. Ultimately, it is in the colors of the rich tapestry Jio has created with her stellar ability to weave together the multiple threads of love: romantic, maternal, obsessive, platonic, eternal, unrequited, and bibliophilic.


Although, at times, it’s heartbreaking to read about Eloise’s lonely life in Los Angeles under the thumb of her controlling husband Frank, Jio’s choice of the split timelines enables readers to see the parallels between hers and Valentina’s lives: the seemingly insignificant use of scavenger hunts which actually bring the story full circle, the chance encounters at the Royal Automotive Club where men come to their rescue in different but life-altering ways, and, most importantly, the books that provide solace to both Eloise and Valentina. Eloise often spoke of the lifespan of books, meaning the number of people who would read them, and it’s in the rediscovery of these shared stories through Eloise’s final scavenger hunt that Valentina learns the truth about the mother who touched so many people’s hearts and, from handwritten notes in the book she and her mother both loved the most, that she finds a new love of her own. Recommend to fans of Susan Meissner, Tracy Garvis Graves, Kristin Harmel and anyone who enjoys dual timeline novels.


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

All the Flowers in Paris by Sarah Jio

5*

Like one of its final lines, Sarah Jio’s beautiful and haunting time-slip novel is “tragic and heart-breaking but also redemptive and triumphant.” Caroline Williams is an American woman in modern-day Paris who suffers from amnesia due to an accident. After she is released from the hospital, she meets Victor, the chef at Bistro Jeanty, and begins to fall in love with him as he helps guide her through her slowly-emerging, painful memories. She has random glimpses of a past that includes a child. This is also the story of Céline, a young widow during the Nazi occupation who works in her family’s florist shop and cares for her young daughter Cosi. She’s in love with her childhood friend, Luc Jeanty, but when he leaves for a few weeks, the Nazis take her half-Jewish father and daughter away and she is forced to live with a cruel and sadistic Nazi officer who continually rapes her. (Both her neighbors and Luc’s mother turned them in.) Her daughter escapes from the truck carrying her away, and is hidden under the floorboards for almost a year before Paris is liberated.

Caroline, who is living in the same apartment where Céline was imprisoned, finds a box containing letters written by Celine to Luc. With the help of a graduate student who is doing research on Celine and a Bistro Jeanty patron and the building’s doorman (both of whom suffered losses in the war), Celine’s full story emerges. Like all great time-slip novels, there are distinct parallels between the dual storylines. In this case, it’s about two ferocious moms who will do anything to protect their daughters. Both female protagonists suffer devastating losses, and it’s an artifact from Celine’s time during the war that enables Caroline to emerge from her amnesia and grief to rejoin the living and accept love. In the words of Celine’s daughter Cosi, written in her childhood journal, “I think that the most important things in life are thankfulness, forgiveness, and love.” Very highly recommended.

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