207 Book Talk

  Emma Merrill has had an incredibly challenging life. She has been living in a fog since her late teen years, and is feeling hopeless about her future. Sophia Mason, her childhood best friend, comes back into her life at an opportune time and the two set off together on a journey of self discovery. The two rekindle their once deep bond while staying in a trailer on the vast plains of south Texas, reconnecting over their shared love of art. While it seems at first a one way street, with Emma nedding Sophia to help her begin to finally heal, it becomes clear that these two need each other in equal measure. Both are weighed down by secrets, and rediscovering their friendship helps both finally speak their truths and look forward to the future. Told from multiple points of view, I found the premise of Carolyn Brown’s latest story interesting, but this book did not draw me in. The descriptions of the surroundings and people were well written and provided colorful imagery, but I found t...

I discovered author Rachel Lynn Solomon when voting for the 2020 Goodreads Choice Awards. Her novel  Today Tonight Tomorrow   was a nominee for Young Adult Fiction. I read it and loved it, and was pleased to see she had an adult romance coming out this year called  The Ex Talk .  I ordered it a signed copy from Seattle bookstore Third Place Books , and got right to it when it arrived. The Ex Talk  introduces us to Shay Goldstein, 29, single, and in love with public radio. She works as a producer for a local Seattle station, and is not impressed with recent Northwestern grad, new hire, and rising star Dominic Yun. Of course, being a romance novel, the two are paired up to host a new show. The problem with this relationship show, The Ex Talk, is the premise that Shay and Dom are exes, when they have never dated and barely know each other. Neither is comfortable with the lie they will be telling listeners, but both are eager to have the opportunity.  As the bo...

I read  One True Loves  by Taylor Jenkins Reid because she had written one of my favorite books of 2020,  Daisy Jones and the Six . I didn't realize it at first, but she also authored one of the best audiobooks I have ever listened to, The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo .  If I did not know the same person had written all three, I never would have guessed. The storylines are incredibly different, but her writing is superb in all of them. One True Loves  opens with teenage Emma Blair questioning her relationships, with her sister, her parents, with books, with her big butt. She is surprised to discover it is possible for her to have a wicked crush when she sees Jesse Lerner for the first time during her freshman year of high school. They don't end up together then, but by senior year they are a couple, and move across the country together to live the life they've both felt unable to live in Massachusetts. Their love is real and true and all-encompassing, and come...

I am not much of a TV watcher, but occasionally I will decide to try out a show on Netflix, which is how I came across Virgin River. I certainly didn't love it, but it was something mindless to do for a few days while I wasn't feeling so great. Because I am much more interested in books than TV, I was interested when I learned it was based on a book series and bought the ebook of the first in the series, Virgin River . Yikes. First, I am glad I had credits and didn't actually pay for this book. Second, the writing was, to me, a perfect example of why some people refuse to read anything tagged as a "romance" novel. The writing was atrocious. The characters had no depth. The conversations were ridiculous. Who talks like this in the modern world that the novel is supposedly set in? I could not believe how gross some of the lines where, like Rick saying it "wasn't statutory until he was 18," with a shrug. The way Jack spoke to Mel when he wanted more tha...

  I read Things You Save in a Fire  to kick off the new year. I posted about it on Twitter, and the author shared the link to a bridge chapter between that story and this one. I read the bridge last night, and ended up wanting to start How to Walk Away  immediately afterward, so I did. Margaret Jacobsen is on the verge of getting everything she has ever wanted... a great job, the ideal fiancé, and all the other hallmarks of a perfect life. Then, after being talked into doing something she most certainly does not want to do, everything changes.  Katherine Center writes her characters to perfection, because it is evident Maggie's fiancé Chip is a jerk from the very start. Who forces someone to do something they are terrified of doing, just to show off? Ugh. He was just so smarmy and self-centered. (Side note - why wasn't he charged with some sort of crime for "borrowing" and flying a plane without a license?!)  Maggie has to rework her whole life, while those arou...

  We all know the saying "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all." With that in mind, this review will be brief. All This Time   is coauthored by Mikki Daughtry and Rachael Lippincott, the writes behind Five Feet Apart  (which I did enjoy). The best thing I can say about All This Time  is that, at 238 pages, I only wasted a few hours of my day reading it.  Kyle has had the same girlfriend since middle school. The night of their high school graduation, he has a gift ready that he is sure will fix whatever is going wrong, because something is definitely bothering his girlfriend Kimberly. Unfortunately, before the night is over, they will be in a horrific car crash and Kyle will emerge with a traumatic brain injury and Kimberly will not survive.  SPOILERS AHEAD..... stop here if you don't want to read them. Let me rewrite that last sentence.... Unfortunately, before the night is over, they will be in a horrific car crash and Kyle wil...

 Oof... I finally forced myself to finish reading Layla  by Colleen Hoover today. Before I say what I think (although I am sure that first sentence is a giveaway), I want to mention that I really liked her books Verity and It Ends With Us and I loved  Regretting You. I wasn't sure what to expect from Layla, because  Verity  was so different than her other two novels that I had already read. This one felt like she tried to take what worked in Verity  a step further and it just fell flat.  Layla  is the story of a couple, Leeds and Layla, and the circumstances of their initial meeting, their whirlwind romance, and a terrifying encounter that leaves them both irrevocably changed. Just how changed they are is slowly revealed during the trip they take back to the Kansas bed and breakfast where they first met.  I'll be the first to freely admit that paranormal is not my typical genre, but I have read and loved books that fall under this category se...

I started, and finished, this one today, and it was a good kick off for this year's reading. Things You Save in a Fire  by Katherine Center is the story of Cassie, a young woman working in the male dominated firefighting profession. She is in Austin at the start of the story, but gets a request from her long gone mother to move to Massachusetts for a year. She says no, but circumstances soon change, and she finds herself in a home with a woman she has tried hard to ignore for over a decade and in a new fire station with a crew that has never worked with a woman on their shift.  The book is billed under the romance genre, and there is some romance, but the heart of this story is a kick ass woman learning the art of forgiveness and vulnerability. Is the ending wrapped up with a pretty little bow? It is a "romance," so you can probably figure that out for yourself, but let me tell you, there is a lot of interesting stuff going on in between.  As the long time partner of a fi...

About to start Things You Save in a Fire   by Katherine Center. She is a new to me author. I came across this title on a GoodReads list. The cover colors caught my eye, and I am down to try any stories centering on firefighters, since I live with one. That might be a weird reason to try a book, but... 🤷🏻‍♀️. Romance is also a genre I have always shied away from in the past, until I realized there were several authors and stories I was reading and enjoying that are considered "romance." I don't read the bodice rippers, but if a story has a romance as a side angle on a life story or mystery, I will give it a whirl.