5*
As always, writing duo Christina Lauren have written a multi-faceted romance I couldn’t put down. If I’m recollecting correctly, this is the first time they’ve delved into science fiction (I don’t count The Soulmate Equation) and I found the premise fascinating. Workaholic Emery meets landscaper (and perfect book boyfriend) Luca at her cousin’s wedding, and it’s love at first sight despite them being polar opposites. Two months later they’re married and the story picks up on their third anniversary. It’s not until tragedy strikes that Emery realizes how out of whack her work-life balance has become, but they’re given a second chance (thanks to the invention Emery has spent her entire adult life developing), if only Luca could remember her.
For the most part, this is a relatively light-hearted romance, but there is the challenge of reconnecting & repairing their marriage, the top-secret medical research, and a compelling mystery thriller involving corporate espionage and murder. The authors have struck a perfect balance between a marriage in trouble, steamy romance, nosy neighbors, unforgettable friends (who I hope get their own book), and the villains who will stop at nothing to get their hands on Emery’s discovery. Luca is an absolutely swoonworthy cinnamon roll and Emery is a dedicated scientist and former child prodigy who chose (motivated by the grief over losing her parents) to put her work ahead of the husband she loves with a passion. My favorite parts of the book are the scenes where they realize how much they love each other and the tenderness between them. Highly recommended!
I received a complimentary ARC of this book from Gallery Books through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.
A delightful, heartwarming romance that’s both an homage to the genre featuring plenty of tropes and a ghost story with a liberal serving of magical realism.
After an adolescence full of bullying by her peers (including her former best friend) and neglect and abandonment by both of her parents post-divorce, Delphie (age 27) purposely made her life small, avoiding any relationships (platonic or otherwise) for fear of letting in love which would further harm her. So, when she dies after choking on a hamburger, there’s little she regrets leaving behind. When she is awakened by Merritt, her quirky Afterlife Therapist, she finds herself in a launderette, a version of heaven called Evermore. When a handsome new arrival appears, there’s an instant attraction, but realizing that he’s just sedated not dead, Merritt zaps him back to Earth, leaving Delphie feeling like she’s lost a potential soulmate. Due to a clause in the Evermore Handbook, which hopeless romantic Merritt makes unsanctioned use of to satisfy her craving for a real-time epic love story, she allows Delphine to return home for 10 days to find him and get a kiss so she can stay.
What follows is a series of missed opportunities, zany adventures that pull Delphie far out of her comfort zone, and startling revelations concerning her colleagues and neighbors (especially the grumpy, handsome womanizer Cooper and the elderly, mute Mr. Yoon). Although it’s mostly lighthearted, there are some tearful moments related to grieving the death of a loved one, but it’s ultimately a redemptive story of Delphie’s breaking the chains of the trauma that left her in a joyless, loveless, self-imposed prison. The pacing is perfect, the angst is minimal, the characters are all fully formed, and it’s set in my favorite city, London. I highly recommend this hidden gem, and hope it finds a large readership in the U.S. market. Highly recommend to fans of Ashley Poston, Katherine Center, and Sarah Ready.
I received a complimentary ARC of this book from Berkley through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.
This was a tough book for me to read for personal reasons. I found myself sobbing more than once. So, I’ll start by warning that there are several triggers: death of a child, neglect and abandonment, involuntary eviction, and grief.
Like Sampson’s first book, The Last Chance Library, this story centers around a group of unlikely collaborators who come together to save a place that is special to all of them. In the process of working on a common cause, they not only get to know each other, but also learn more about themselves. In the former, the female protagonist is a shy, reclusive, 30-year-old librarian who emerges from her grief over losing her mother when she realizes that the mission to save the library is worth the risk. In the process, she finds community and love with a former classmate who comes to their aid.
In Nosy Neighbors, there are two female protagonists who are initially at odds. Seventy-four-year-old Dorothy has spent the past thirty years noting the comings and goings of her neighbors at Shelley House, but only speaking to them when she wants to complain and lecture them about what she’s observed. The comfort and familiarity of her home is rocked when 25-year-old, pink-haired and tatted Kat becomes the latest of her neighbor Joseph’s illegal tenants, her arrival quickly followed by the shocking news that they’re going to be evicted from their home by their negligent landlord and developer.
Over the next several weeks, as Dorothy, Joseph, Kat and Will, a local newspaper reporter who has caught Kat’s eye, work to save Shelley House, they find themselves opening up about their past traumas and the way their experiences have influenced their behavior and life choices. One glaringly clear theme is that we can’t begin to know what causes people to act the way they do, and that rudeness, diffidence, and even affability can be masks they wear to hide their pain. It’s also about forgiveness. Even when people’s words and actions have caused immeasurable pain, the act of forgiving them or even forgiving yourself is the only way to move forward.
Sampson writes with sensitivity and compassion. Her characters are complex, and represent the best and worst of us but, except for the villain, there is goodness in all of them. If you like women’s fiction with depth, small English village settings, rooting for the underdog, and authors like Jill Mansell, Jenny Colgan, and Debbie Johnson, you’re sure to enjoy Nosy Neighbors.
I received a complimentary ARC of this book from Berkley through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.
5*
Wes is the boy-next-door who has taken pleasure in annoying Liz since they were children. It’s pretty obvious from the start that he’s using the tried and true method of all little boys who want to get a girl’s attention. However, it isn’t until Michael (her girlhood crush) moves back to town and Liz bribes Wes to help her get Michael to ask her to prom that she begins to see Wes in a new light. When they decide to fake a relationship to get Michael to notice her, it’s inevitable that real feelings will surface. Is it possible that Wes was the right one all along?
This is a sweet, sweet enemies-to-lovers YA romance that deals with Liz’s prolonged grief over losing her mother at a young age and the unconscious way she dresses like her mom and imagines life and love to be like the rom-coms they enjoyed together. (This same relationship mirrors the adult one in Waiting for Tom Hanks.) It’s also about friendship and the pleasure of discovering someone who sees and admires the real you. There’s so much to recommend this debut novel, and Painter’s sophomore effort will be hotly anticipated by teens who love romances. Highly recommended.
I received a complimentary ARC of this book from Simon & Schuster BYR through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.
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.
5*
When Will first visits the Chicago apartment building he inherited from his uncle, his only thought is to sell it as soon as the year his uncle required he keep it expires. He refuses to live there due to the bad memories associated with it, except for one shining exception: the young girl he saw on a balcony tossing cherry tomatoes at the squirrels who strikes his very heart and soul, a feeling he’ll never forget. Although he never got the chance to speak with her, Nora is the one bright spot in a day when Will lost everything. When he finds her 16 years later, living in her late grandmother’s apartment and looking out for the older tenants who are like family, he realizes that his plans to rent the apartment short-term will make him the enemy. Despite Nora and the others’ attempts to sabotage his efforts, the two are drawn to each other.
Clayborn has such a way with words. Describing their first pseudo-date on a Lake Michigan beach and discovering the comfort and joy they find in each other’s company, she writes, ”Between them, the jacket-tablecloth had wrinkled up, a dozing chaperone.” So much of their relationship is conveyed with looks, limited words, and intense feelings that can’t be hidden. However, the path to happily-ever-after is strewn with the baggage of childhood neglect and abandonment for both of them, and Will is determined to avoid falling into the “rash, reckless, selfish” love he witnessed between his parents (as described by his uncle on that fateful day). Out of fear that he might follow in his parents’ footsteps, he spent his adult life proving that he could be stable, measured, and in control, going on to become an ER doctor. It will take a great deal of persuasion on the part of friends who care for him to get him to accept that there isn’t just one way to love.
There’s so much packed into this beautiful, enemies-to-lovers story: genuine emotion, a subtle romance with mild sex scenes, selfish parenting, and a colorful cast of secondary characters who offer a platonic, at times parental, kind of love. This is a very worthy follow-up to Love Lettering, and you won’t be able to help being charmed by the well-meaning extended family. Highly recommend!
I received a complimentary ARC of this book from Kensington Books through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.
