CBR18 Book 58: "How to Kill Your Rival" by Effie Campbell

Page count: 272 pages

Rating: 3.5 stars

Thank you to Boldwood Books and NetGalley for this ARC. This has not influenced my review in any way. This book is on sale now.

Eliza Hamilton (yup, that is her name; not sure if the author is a fan of the musical or if the name is a coincidence) is the heir apparent to the Death Council, a secret organisation full of hired killers. While her father is battling cancer, she is to lead in his place, but most of the other members of the Council are sexist old men (or their equally sexist sons), so she's fighting an uphill battle.

In addition to having to fight with the bullheaded Council Members, someone is sabotaging her missions and stealing her kills. She briefly suspects her stepbrother James (her father is married to his mother), but he so vehemently denies it and is so determined to kill whoever's doing it on her behalf that she quickly rules him out. 

James has clearly been madly in love with Eliza for years. Since there are a bunch of references to things that happened in the first book in the series, and I don't know how much of their backstory was established there, the opening of the book was rather abrupt and confusing to me. Trying to impress her and make her notice him has made James compete professionally with Eliza for about as long, and it seems like Eliza's feelings towards him are finally changing. 

As part of an underworld crime syndicate, it's not like Eliza has a lot of people she can trust. It becomes clear that Eliza isn't going to figure out who is targeting her by herself, and James is fiercely protective of her and insists on using all of his computer skills to help her track down whoever is plotting against her. 

The plot summary for this book makes it seem like a rather different story from what we actually get. It makes it seem like there isn't already a very potent attraction between Eliza and James, and that the rivalry between them is a lot more hostile than the playful one-upmanship they have clearly been engaged in for several years. It makes it seem as if they are forced to work together, which is also not the case. Eliza doesn't want to confide in her father, who is ill. Her elder sister isn't in the family business (nevertheless, they have a lovely and very supportive relationship), and she feels too protective of her younger brother to want to involve him. So James is pretty much the only person she can turn to for help, and he would cut his own throat before he in any way betrayed her. 

For the first 15% or so, I wasn't sure if I was going to keep reading. I genuinely don't know if the weird opening chapters would have made more sense if I'd read the first book, but in a series like this, the stories need to be able to be read in any order and make sense to the reader, even if they've not started at the beginning. It probably doesn't help that I was expecting a slightly different story, based on the plot description. 

The book is in dual POVs, with some chapters from Eliza's POV and some from James. At first, I didn't like Eliza at all; she seemed abrasive and too arrogant for me, but thankfully the chapters from James were easier to read, and before I knew it, I wanted to keep reading just to see how the story played out.

Just in case it wasn't obvious from the review so far, this book is a dark romance, with protagonists who are extremely skilled at doing very bad things to people, and seem to get off on it too. It is explained that the Hamiltons (and James, who is married into the family) only take contracts on really despicable people; they don't just off anyone for money, but they still literally murder people for a living, and both James and Eliza torture several people over the course of the book to get answers when they are trying to figure out who is trying to sabotage Eliza. So if you don't like graphic violence mixed in with your romance, this is probably not the book for you.

Not sure if I want to read more from this author or not. Once I got past the clunky beginning, it was a quick read. I just don't know if I'm interested in reading about the other two Hamilton siblings. 

CBR18 Book 54: "Revenge of the Sunshine" by Jackie Lau

Page count: 250 pages

Rating: 3.5 stars

CBR18 Bingo: One (This is book one in a new series; it's also a romance - "You're the One")

Thank you to Jackie Lau for this ARC. My opinions are my own. This book is on sale now. 

Zoe Shen's plans for the evening get cancelled, and as a result, she walks in on her boyfriend and roommate having sex in the kitchen. Naturally, she wants nothing to do with either of them, but as she's camping out on her brother's couch, she decides that she wants revenge.

Bennett Chung lives a fairly quiet life, managing a successful Asian grocery chain. He hasn't dated in years and lives alone with his elderly cat. Imagine his surprise when a pretty stranger shows up on his doorstep with a crazy scheme. Zoe explains that his younger brother, who he doesn't exactly have a high opinion of in the first place, cheated on her, and now she wants to pretend to date him to get revenge. 

Because Zoe is basically homeless, Bennett invites her to stay in his spare room. At first, he is annoyed at having to share his space with anyone, especially someone as chatty and whimsical as Zoe, but he soon gets not only used to having her there, but comes to appreciate it. Of course, as is always the case with fake dating stories, Zoe and Bennett start falling for each other for real. According to their agreement, they will go their separate ways once Zoe's revenge plot is complete. But do they really have to, if the feelings they have for each other are no longer pretend?

Zoe is sweet and clearly wants to believe the best in everyone. So she is shocked when she comes home to discover that her boyfriend and roommate (whom she also considered her best friend) are betraying her, and that the affair has been going on for at least a month. Because her roommate's parents are the ones who own the apartment, Zoe's only option is to move out. She stays on her recently-wed brother's couch until she concocts the plan of contacting Bennett. The fact that he offers to let her stay in his guest room free of charge is a definite bonus to her plan. 

If I were to list some prominent tropes found in this novel, I would have to name fake dating, opposites attract, and grumpy and sunshine (even referenced in the title). Bennett is eight years older than Zoe, but hasn't dated in a very long time. Because of events in his romantic past, he is very wary of falling for anyone. This is also what leads to the third-act breakup and one of the reasons I didn't really feel I could give the book four stars. For a rational man like Bennett, his reasons for breaking up with Zoe seemed very irrational.

My favourite parts of the book were probably Zoe forcing whimsy and delight into Bennett's rather stern and predictable routine. She loves decorations and has a llamacorn mug he considers hideous, but nevertheless accepts, because it's hers. He is persuaded to take part in a couples' Halloween costume, without complaining. 

At the end of the book, the next book in the series is set up. It involves one of Zoe's friends and what appears to be one of Bennett's only friends, who clearly have some kind of romantic history. It's out early next year, and I'm already looking forward to it. 

Judging a book by its cover: I don't have a lot to say about this cover, except to say that it's very cute, and I'm glad Mittens makes an appearance front and centre. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read

Book 48: "Pride Comes Before a Fall" by Virginia Heath

Page count: 320 pages

Rating: 3.5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and St.Martin's Press for this ARC. My opinions are my own. This book is on sale now.

Leopold "Leo" Sloane, the Duke of Debden, has dragged his two younger sisters to Bath in an attempt to keep them out of trouble. The youngest is crazy for any man in uniform, and the eldest snuck out of the house and got injured during a protest march. After saying some less-than-complimentary things to his mother about her ability to keep them in hand, she promptly goes on strike (good for her), returns to London and leaves Leo to handle them himself. Obviously, he cannot.

Portia Kendall discovered Mary Wollstonecraft's writing when she was sixteen, and has burned for reform and a better life for the downtrodden masses ever since. When she is given the job as assistant editor of Equitas, one of the foremost papers that champions reform, she rather impulsively quits her position as a governess in London to travel to Bath, only to discover that none of the people working for the paper actually get paid. They also have to keep their work secret, since the local constabulary and most of the magistrates consider their writing seditious and would like nothing more than to arrest everyone involved in running it. 

Portia despises the aristocracy, but she also needs a paying job, so when she sees the Duke of Debden is looking for a chaperone and social secretary for his sisters, she goes to the interview, but is kept waiting for so long that by the time it's her turn, she has given up any chance of actually getting the job, and is sharp and snarky and very honest during her conversation with the (far too handsome) duke, and is therefore shocked when he actually hires her. As it turns out, his younger sisters are both determined to give her hell, and she certainly earns her salary trying to keep them in line.

Once Portia discovers that Leo is one of the local magistrates, and that the constable most determined to bring Equitas down reports directly to him, she is tempted to resign her position. She can tell that for a nobleman, Leo is a lot more progressive than most of his peers, but he is very much at the top of the social class she is violently opposed to, which makes it all the more difficult that she finds herself increasingly more attracted to him, and her feelings seem to be reciprocated. 

This is the first novel I've read by Virginia Heath, but it's unlikely to be my last. There was a lot to like here, but also some things that annoyed me. 

Things I liked:

- Portia is a great heroine. She's intelligent, hard-working, principled and loyal to her cause, but also pragmatic enough to realise that you can't survive on political ideals alone. She is not deterred from her duties, even when Leo's sisters are being difficult little shrews.

- Portia writing essays to debate with herself on various things. 

- Leo's Mum is a delight. Good for her that she refused to stay and be criticised by her overly protective son.

- The dogs and cat were a fun addition.

- The plot took quite a few unexpected turns. 

Things I didn't like as much:

- Leo's extreme protectiveness and frankly unreasonable demands towards his female relatives and later, Portia. It's like Anthony Bridgerton in The Viscount Who Loved Me, but less charming (and Anthony behaves like a d*ck in a lot of that book, so that should tell you something). For a lot of the book, Leo is a total golden retriever, except when he's suddenly a very unreasonable, almost crazy dictator

- Leo's extreme dislike of his eldest sister's suitor, in particular

- While the goofy dogs and the psychotic cat were mostly a fun touch, they also contributed to some farcical elements that went a bit too far.

- Leo reading Portia's private writing.

- Much of the final bit, including the whole incident at Parliament. 

On the whole, this was an enjoyable read, and a blue-stocking heroine is always going to appeal to me. I may go back and read the previous two novels in the series next.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

CBR18 Book 43: "Prince of Storms" by Kit Rocha

Page count: 400 pages

Rating: 3.5 stars

Thank you to Montlake and NetGalley for this ARC. This book is on sale now.

Naia, Einar and Aleksi return to the ice queen's island to figure out who tried to kidnap them and are soon joined by all the other deities of the High Court of the Sheltered Lands, concerned about them and wondering exactly who is behind this most recent plot. As Naia's powers keep growing and she needs to use them to protect the innocent residents of the island from dangers, it becomes clear that she is, in fact, the ancient goddess of Rahvekya reborn. She can remember an entirely different lifetime, as well as her relationship with the first Kraken.

However, Einar doesn't seem to remember his former life, and Aleksi sees the closeness between the other two and grows concerned about a future where he must let his lovers go, for their own good. Because of dangers from old foes arriving on the island, bent on revenge, Aleksi may not have long to worry about the future of himself or his lovers. The Betrayer wants the power of Rahvekya for himself and to kill Aleksi and now he may have the chance to achieve both. 

I tried to read this so I could finish and review it before the release date, but since NetGalley would only allow me to read the ARC in their own app, which doesn't save your progress, as well as forces me to read on my phone (something I only do in utmost emergencies, if I am stuck without one of my two e-readers or a physical book. It doesn't happen often). So in the end, I waited to start it until after release day, when my pre-ordered digital copy was available to download on my Kindle. Based on how uncomfortable it was to read in the NetGalley app, I may reject any future ARCs that are only available to read in that format. 

I read for pleasure, and for escapism, and I don't like when books feel like homework. Unfortunately, since I really do try to read all the ARCs I am granted and leave honest reviews for them, I had to get through this, but it took me far longer than it should have for a book this length. While I pretty much devoured books in the Bound to Fire and Steel duology in no time at all, this felt like a slog for the first two thirds of the book, and I for a lot of it, I was pretty much reading it out of obligation, not because I was particularly enjoying it.

The action does pick up in the last third, because that's when it basically becomes one very long action sequence, with SOO many different battles and near death-experiences for our heroes. Before that, the plot is very slow, and can't seem to move away from Aleksi worrying that the other two are better off without him, while they keep trying to reassure him that no, they aren't and they don't want him to nobly slink off somewhere to nurse his heartbreak for centuries. There's also the whole Naia and Einar are the reincarnated versions of Rahveyka's goddess and her lover, the god of Storms. I found it very hard to care about any of it. Things did get cooler when both Naia and Einar were fully able to embrace their new powers and truly kick the asses of their supernatural enemies. But with the first two thirds of the book being so boring, I cannot in good conscience rate this higher than 3.5 stars. 

Under the circumstances, though, considering the dystopian hellscape the authors who make up Kit Rocha live under, and the strides they've made to fundraise for democracy and help Americans offer resistance, it's laudable that they were able to finish this novel at all. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

CBR18 Book 34: "Shrunkation" by Janine Amesta

Page count: 235 pages

Rating: 3.5 stars

This was an ARC I received from the author, Janine Amesta. My opinions are my own. 

Catalina and Trey's marriage is in trouble. Catalina is exhausted from her demanding work, nearing burnout, and incapable of forgetting some foolish and hurtful things Trey said to her months ago. She's feeling unappreciated and ignored, not to mention misunderstood. Trey knows that he screwed up, but he thinks all they need is some quality time together. He won a weekend stay at a luxury resort in Cancun, and hopes that in this new and exciting place, he will be able to persuade Catalina to fall in love with him again.

Things take a turn when the arguing couple find themselves shrunk to a quarter-inch size by the whims of an arrogant tech billionaire. Now, as well as trying to figure out a way to reconcile, the couple need to dodge enormous obstacles like crabs, sand fleas, and hungry gulls, as well. They have very little food and water, and have to make their way back to the hotel, hoping they can attract the attention of someone who might be able to help.

As well as Catalina and Trey's POVs, we also get to follow Sasha, a minion of the evil tech billionaire. Even when she's had misgivings about the company, she still stayed in the job to make enough to help pay for her dad's hospital bills. She's the only one who figures out what happened to Catalina and Trey, and she goes against the advice of the company to stay behind at the resort to look for the teeny-tiny missing couple.

This is a fun book, clearly inspired by Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. However, that was not a movie that made much of an impact on me. I know I watched it a very long time ago, when I was little, and while I know many have fond memories about it, it never made much of an impact on me. On the other hand, if there was such a thing as shrinking technology, I find it terrifyingly plausible, in today's political and financial landscape, that some moronic tech bro would callously use it for fun, never bothering to think about the dangers or wider consequences.

When they get to the resort, the rift between Catalina and Trey is getting wider, made worse by their failure to communicate clearly with one another. Catalina is overworked and exhausted, and Trey, for all that he clearly adores his wife, has not been shouldering as much emotional labour as she. Once they end up in an unusual and perilous situation, they are forced to work together to survive, but even that starts out as fraught because of the tensions between them. After being exposed to repeated danger and starting to communicate more honestly with one another, it turns out that a lot of their problems have been made worse by their own unspoken insecurities that they've been projecting onto the other person.

This book was entertaining, and the concept is very novel. I liked it well enough, and Amesta writes engaging characters. I just don't see myself wanting to pick it up for repeated re-reads, which is what characterises my favourite romances. 

Judging a book by its cover: Apparently, when Ms. Amesta tried to post images of this cover on Threads, her posts were flagged as inappropriate, and she was in danger of having her account shut down. I genuinely don't see why. There is no more nudity than you see on a lot of romance covers, and this one is cute and clever and funny as well. Go home, algorithm, you're drunk!

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

CBR18 Book 30: "Black Water Sister" by Zen Cho

Page count: 384 pages

Rating: 3.5 stars

Monthly Keyword Challenge 26: Sister

Jessamyn "Jess" Teoh is feeling aimless and adrift. Born and raised in the USA, she has just moved to Malaysia with her parents, and they're staying with one of Jess' aunts while her parents are looking for their own place to stay. Jess is unemployed, broke and hiding the fact that she has a girlfriend in Singapore. Her girlfriend wants her to get a job in Singapore, so they can be together, but Jess keeps lying to her about her job searches. 

So when she starts hearing a strange voice in her head, Jess puts it down to stress. It takes a while for her to realise that the voice belongs to her dead grandmother, who used to be a spirit medium. Being mediums apparently runs in Jess' family, having skipped Jess' mother for some reason. Jess' Ah Ma was the avatar of a mysterious spirit goddess known as the Black Water Sister, and now a local businessman is threatening the park where the Black Water Sister's shrine lies. Ah Ma needs Jess' body to stop this, and settle a personal score against the magnate as well. Soon, Jess discovers that Ah Ma takes over her body at night, so she wakes up exhausted. She needs to figure out how to make a deal with her dead gran's ghost, before she ends up permanently possessed.

Black Water Sister is a rather unusual urban fantasy. Most urban fantasies are set in the USA or the UK, and the protagonists, often supernatural themselves, tend to solve paranormal mysteries involving all manner of creatures, like vampires, werewolves (or other shapeshifters), demons, angels, druids, witches, fae and the like. Our protagonist here is an aimless twenty-something who has no idea what she wants to do with her life, and the supernatural elements are ghosts and various spirit deities. The setting is Malaysia, a place I know very little about, in a culture I am also mostly unfamiliar with. 

While this was an interesting book, I found Jess a difficult protagonist to engage with. She's confused and depressed, and clearly has no idea what she wants with her life. While I understand why she needed to hide her queerness from her family, I also felt Jess was rather mean to her girlfriend, who only seemed to want the best for her. I'm frankly not sure what her girlfriend sees in her.

Obviously, having to share a body with the ghost of your estranged grandmother isn't exactly easy, especially when you're living with relatives you barely know and are struggling to understand the language. One perk of the whole experience is that while her Ah Ma is sharing her head, Jess becomes fluent in Malay very quickly. 

I read this back in March, and by now, I don't remember that much about it. The plot went in unexpected directions more than once, and there were both funny and some really rather gory bits. The only other Zen Cho novel I've ever read is Sorcerer to the Crown, a Regency-set story about magic, so if nothing else, this book proves that the author is able to write in different settings and time periods.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

CBR18 Book 17: "While You Were Seething" by Charlotte Stein

Page count: 320 pages

Rating: 3.5 stars

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this ARC. My opinions are my own. This book will be out on April 14th.

Daisy Emmett is an excellent PR manager and has successfully managed a number of difficult clients, but trying to repair the image of famous romance author Caleb Miller, after he very publicly declared to the world that "happy endings are for fools", might be her most difficult job yet. Their mutual dislike of one another started when they were both in college a decade ago, and despite their many shared interests, they seemed to constantly argue and provoke one another. Now Daisy has to get Caleb to agree to go on a multi-stop book tour, to make sure he can convince his readers that his books are still worth reading, and he doesn't hate the genre he's so successfully written in for years. He also refuses to fly anywhere and insists on driving to all the various locations in his beat-up old truck, so they will be forced to spend hours and days together in a very cramped space.

One of the things that avid fans love about Caleb's books is the dedications he writes to his long-lost love, but Daisy is pretty sure this woman never existed (mainly because she cannot imagine anyone putting up with him for any amount of time, let alone loving him). Nevertheless, since it is her job to make him seem charming, romantic and attractive, she has hired an actress to appear with him on some of the stops of the tour, to fuel the rumours of a possible reunion. Unfortunately, during the first stop, a misunderstanding leads to everyone believing that Daisy is the mystery woman of Caleb's dreams, and because Daisy needs the book tour to be a success, she is forced to agree to play her nemesis's romantic interest. What is even more unnerving to her is how easy she finds it to pretend to be his long-lost love, and how every new day makes her reevaluate their time together in college, and see things both of them said and did in a new light. Maybe Caleb didn't always disapprove of everything she said and did, and maybe she no longer hates him? 

This is my first novel by Charlotte Stein, and I gather from both her author's note and previous reviews I've read of her earlier books that several of Daisy's friends who are mentioned in this book have been the protagonists of at least two of her earlier books. I know my friend Ashley/Narfna mentioned in her review of My Big Fat Fake Marriage that the insecurity of the characters was an issue for her, and I think that is my sticking point with this book, as well. The reason I can't rate this book more than 3.5 stars (and that is me generously rounding up) is that both Daisy and Caleb (or Emmett and Miller, as they refer to each other for most of the book) are both so insecure and have so much self-loathing that it goes beyond being something sympathetic, and just gets annoying.

Daisy is from the UK, but attended university in the US on a scholarship. She grew up in a small English town where she always felt like an outsider, and comments from her family about how she "must have been switched at birth" probably didn't make her feel any better. At 24, she feels desperately out of place at college, and the only one she seems to have anything in common with is Caleb Miller, who, unfortunately, is so standoffish and rude, and seems to always criticise or scoff at everything she says, that she grows to loathe him. She considers herself too loud, too enthusiastic, too peculiar, and to fit in, she becomes the ultimate people-pleaser. She uses her sharp powers of observation to assess what people around her want and need, and learns to tone down every possibly problematic aspect of her own personality so she will be seen as invaluable and indispensable. 

Her ability to assess what other people want, sometimes before they themselves know it, is what makes her so good at her job. Of course, even though she has several loyal employees and friends, she doesn't really believe that any of them really like her, because she has had so many negative experiences in the past, with both acquaintances and lovers.

Caleb Miller lives like a recluse in a house surrounded by a massive fence, and many posters about how he has vicious guard dogs. He eats his very plain and flavourless meals at the same diner every day, and has, despite his deep misanthropy, managed to write multiple extremely successful romance novels (at least two of them turned into TV adaptations starring Nicole Kidman - loved that little detail). However, after a disastrous TV appearance, his fans are now turning on him, and his publisher has begged Daisy to help. Caleb hates flying and anything that forces him out of his routine. He insists on driving his own pickup truck to the various tour locations and seems appalled that Daisy refuses to leave his side (she's convinced he'll make a run for it the first chance he gets). 

While Daisy seems to think he hates everything about her, he seems to know exactly what her food and drink preferences are every time they stop to eat, and once he discovers that some of the things he said to her back in college have stayed with her and haunted her, he is genuinely appalled. When it becomes clear that the world now believes them to have been secret lovers at some point, and improving Caleb's image demands that they keep up the charade, he decides he's going to become the best fake boyfriend there is, despite his obvious social awkwardness.

I'm not a huge fan of "enemies to lovers" where it's obvious that they are really only enemies because of some dumb misunderstanding, where one or both of them said something insensitive at some point, and a conversation or two could have cleared it all up. In this book, that trope is further complicated by the fact that both Daisy and Caleb are so full of insecurities and self-loathing that they cannot believe anyone would actually voluntarily spend time with them, let alone see past their perceived massive flaws to learn to love them. It took them both FAR too long to get over this and move towards a happy ending. I also never understood why Caleb decided that he must forego absolutely anything that could bring a smidgen of joy to his life (he literally eats the saddest food and doesn't seem to allow himself anything that could be construed as comfortable). 

I should have felt a kinship with Daisy, because thanks to decades of anxiety and a family situation that wasn't exactly ideal, I, too, have spent so much of my life people-pleasing and trying to make myself indispensable, both in my personal and professional life. Yet even at my worst, at least one tiny voice in my head told me that I was being irrational, and I never ended up being as bad as Daisy or Caleb. 

It could just be that I've read a lot of romance novels, but I also felt that a lot of the "twists" of this story were very heavily telegraphed, and I was therefore never really surprised by the plot. I know that my friend Rochelle has been very enthusiastic about some of Stein's previous novels, so this is probably more a "me" problem, than something that will apply to all romance readers. I will probably check out at least one more of her novels to see if my misgivings are confined to just this book, or if Stein's writing just isn't for me. 

Judging a book by its cover: Leni Kauffman draws excellent romance covers, where the people portrayed look the way they are described in the books. If I was going to nitpick, Caleb is described mostly wearing worn-out jeans, rather than brown trousers, and I think Daisy's hair is described as a bit darker than this, but considering how many bad romance covers there are out there, that is negligible. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

CBR18 Book 15: "The Proposal" by Jasmine Guillory

Page count: 325 pages

Rating: 3.5 stars

Nowhere Book Bingo 26: BIPOC rep by a BIPOC author

Reading Rainbow - Orange cover

Nikole "Nik" Paterson is bored and uncomfortable at a baseball game with her handsome, if rather self-centred, actor boyfriend, and his bros. She is absolutely blindsided when he surprises her with a public proposal, via the scoreboard, and to add insult to injury, he didn't even spell her name correctly. Nik is mortified, her boyfriend is insulted by her rejection, and things are about to take a nasty turn when a couple of strangers come to Nik's rescue.

Carlos Ibarra and his sister witness the proposal first-hand from a few rows behind her and when Nik's scorned boyfriends storms off, and a camera crew appears to be on their way to interview Nik, his sister insists that they step in and pretend to be close friends of Nik's, so they can lead her off to safety and away from the public eye and further embarrassment. They take Nik to a bar where her supportive friends are waiting, and share some drinks to decompress after the humiliating event.

Nik is certainly not ready for anything serious again any time soon, but her friends keep encouraging her to keep in touch with the handsome and kind Carlos, and it doesn't take long before they embark on a rebound relationship. Carlos takes his responsibility to his family members extremely seriously and doesn't want to be tied down to a long-term girlfriend. Nik just wants some uncomplicated sex and fun. Surely they can keep things casual and not catch feelings, right?

Jasmine Guillory seems to be a big favourite among some romance readers online, and while her books are fine, they just never seem to be all that memorable to me, and I only read about one a year. As is so often the case with me, I'm yet again way behind on my reviews, and having finished this book in the middle of February, I'm having a lot of trouble remembering specifics of the plot.

What I do remember:

- Carlos has this idea that he needs to be free to drop everything at a moment's notice in case any member of his family, close or extended, needs anything. Since he already works as a paediatrician, a job that demands a lot of his time, he has convinced himself that he can't have a girlfriend who will also make demands on his time. 

- Nik's ex-boyfriend is a real tool, and after being rejected (in front of a huge crowd of people, in an event he orchestrated), he starts sending her threatening messages. As a result, she drags her two best friends along for a self-defence class that they all end up loving. When he finally tries to confront her towards the end of the book, the lessons prove to have been very useful.

- One of Nik's friends runs a cupcake bakery and seems to need a lot of help, which keeps putting Nik and Carlos in close proximity to one another. 

- Carlos' cousin is pregnant, and her pregnancy is a complicated one. This means that he worries even more about her than any of his other relatives. 

- Both Carlos and Nik have many justifications to themselves about why they're not ready or able to commit to anyone in a long-term relationship, which means it takes a frustratingly long time for both of them to admit that they have feelings for each other. 

I don't regret having spent money on this (chances are, I got it in an e-book sale) or spending time reading it, but I doubt it will become a comfort re-read in the future for me. 

Judging a book by its cover: I like this new cover design a lot better than the original, which had a very nice blue background, but just faces in profile, seemingly floating on the edges of the cover. Not very appealing. This sunset view is much prettier. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read

CBR18 Book 1: "Only on Gameday" by Kristen Callihan

Page count: 416 pages

Rating: 3.5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin for this ARC. My opinions are my own. 

Introverted and shy Penelope Morrow grew up an only child, but was more or less enveloped by the five children of the Luck family (all named, rather implausibly, for months - the boys, January, March and August, with the twin girls being called May and June), since their mothers were best friends. Outgoing, charming and overachieving, all three Luck boys are handsome and very talented American football players, like their father before them, but the only one who ever really interested Penelope was August. Not that she would ever going to admit this to any of his siblings, and certainly not to the man himself. Her shyness and awkwardness were perceived as disdain and coldness, so not even her best friends, August's sisters, suspect that she secretly always had a crush on him.

August Luck is the top draft in the NHL, and struggles with the pressures of living up to the legacy of his father and older brother. As a result, he goes a bit off the deep end with partying, and after yet another party video of him, this one falling off a table while doing the chicken dance, he needs a bit of an image clean-up. When he opens the front door of his parents' house to see Penelope again after several years, he is stunned by how beautiful she has become, and starts making a rather foolish plan. Like Penelope, August has also had an unrequited crush, but his awkwardness was seen as arrogance, so Penelope has never realised how strongly he felt for her. August's brothers, January and March, however, seem to have some idea of the extent of his feelings. 

Both of Penelope's grandparents worked in Hollywood, and when they bought their house, it wasn't especially expensive. By the time Penelope inherits it, it's worth about ten million dollars, and she has no idea where she's going to get the money to pay the property taxes. Her mother refuses to lend her the money, and can't understand why Penelope won't even consider selling the house. Penelope, on the other hand, doesn't really care about the property value, the house is just the only place she's ever really felt at home, and she can't bring herself to part with the house. So when August (who she believes is at best indifferent to her, at worst kind of hates her) approaches her with a rather far-fetched scheme that can help both of them, she is tempted against her better judgment.

August has decided that the perfect image overhaul would be for him to present Penelope as his long-time secret sweetheart, whom he has now proposed to. The fact that they grew up together will only help sell the story to the press. In return, he wants to pay the property taxes for Penelope, although she only grudgingly accepts a loan, and promises she will find the money to pay her own taxes, not wanting to be beholden to a man she's been crushing on her entire life. 

Any secret engagement story in romance has to end with the couple catching feelings for one another. In this case, both of the protagonists already have the feelings; they've just both bottled them so deeply that only a very few people even suspect they are anything but almost antagonistic towards each other. Once August and Penelope actually start loosening up and spending some time together, they are obviously completely gone for each other almost instantly (while still denying this to themselves for far longer than the plot needed). 

There was a lot to like in this story, even though the pining gets to the point of ridiculousness, and I just wanted them to have an actual, honest conversation so we could get to the part of the book where they get to be an actual couple. The author uses a lot of pop culture references throughout, which I'm not sure are going to age well, and might be off-putting to some readers who don't catch all of them. This is partly because Penelope is obsessed with movies, and there are so many movie references throughout. 

On the other hand, the supporting cast, mainly consisting of the large and loving Luck family are great. I'm wondering if Callihan is planning on writing a romance for each of the remaining siblings. There's January, whose career as a football player ended after a car accident (shortly after which he and his fiancée split up). There's March, the younger brother who seems to be quite resistant to any thoughts of settling down, not to mention the twin sisters who seem vastly different, but both quite quirky. 

It's been a long time since I read any of Callihan's books. Some of the previous Game On books were five-star reads for me; it would be fun to revisit them. 

Judging a book by its cover: I was sort of hoping that the cover of this was a placeholder, since I was reading an ARC. But no, it appears that this rather bland and badly computer-illustrated cover is what the publishers have chosen to market this book with. I think the only thing worse than little faceless, cartoony characters on a cover is uninspired computer renditions of the main characters. At least they look as described in the story, which is not always a given. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

CBR17 Book 60: "Can't Escape Love" by Alyssa Cole

Page count: 192 pages

Rating: 3.5 stars

CBR17 Pie Challenge: Inclusion

CBR17 Bingo: Borrow (read through Libby, since I don't actually own the book)

Regina "Reggie" Hobbs is working hard to make her nerdy website, Girls with Glasses, a success, and prove to her over-protective parents that she's perfectly capable of taking care of herself, even if she's in a wheelchair. She loves the work, she loves her very capable team, but lately, she's been struggling with insomnia, and the only thing that seems to soothe her to sleep is the voice of a puzzle podcaster, Gustave Nguyen, she used to follow, but he no longer podcasts, and the archive of his episodes has been deleted. So Reggie goes to the unusual step of contacting him, asking if he could make some recordings for her, to help her sleep.

Gustave "Gus" Nguyen is autistic and often has trouble with social interactions, especially with women. He remembers Reggie from chats they used to have on his live streams, but doesn't want to give a virtual stranger voice recordings that he would no longer have any control over. He sympathises with her plight, however, and offers to call her if she has trouble sleeping, to talk to her until she falls asleep. Thus begins their friendship, and soon it becomes clear that while Gus can help Reggie with her insomnia, Reggie can help Gus succeed in completing an escape room he's working on. He's been contracted to design an escape room based on a very popular romance anime for Anime Con, and he knows absolutely nothing about the anime, nor does he see what is so fascinating to others about it. 

Reggie, on the other hand, is a superfan and offers to help him understand the show and the characters in return for his nighttime phone calls. Once they discover that they both live fairly close to each other in Queens, they can meet up in person, and it doesn't take long for their friendship to develop into something more. 

Both Reggie and Gus have some personal issues to resolve before they can fully commit to a relationship, but since both feel more comfortable with each other than apart, and help complement each other's skills beautifully, there is never any doubt that they will find a HEA, without too much conflict.

While I've read all the full novels in the Reluctant Royals series, I have yet to complete all the novellas, and with this fitting into a number of my reading challenges this summer, it felt like a good quick read to choose. There are several mentions of Reggie's twin sister Portia in this, the heroine of A Duke by Default, a book that still makes me annoyed every time I think of it. Naledi, the heroine of A Princess in Theory also has a cameo. Even though it's part of an ongoing series, this novella would mostly work fine on its own. There are some issues with Reggie's parents and her sister that are not entirely resolved (that happens in Portia's book). But it's not anything that would ruin anyone's reading experience if this was the first book of Cole's they picked up.

The inclusion of neurodiverse characters has become quite common in romance now, but back in 2019, when this book came out, I think it was more unusual. Considering this also has a heroine who is mostly wheelchair-bound (she can stand for short periods of time, but lost the use of her legs after viral meningitis when she was younger), this book crosses off a lot of squares on a diversity bingo board. It therefore felt like a good choice for the "Inclusion" pie slice of the CBR Pie Challenge. It also works as "borrowed" as I got it through my library app Libby, and don't actually own the book. 

Judging a book by its cover: Cole usually has really good covers for her books, with cover models that actually look close to how they're described in the story. It's not often you see people in wheelchairs on romance covers. 

Crossposted by Cannonball Read

CBR17 Book 51: "In a Jam" by Kate Canterbary

Page count: 474 pages

Audio book length: 15 hrs 53 minutes

Rating: 3.5 stars

CBR17 Bingo: I (A book title beginning with I)

Official plot summary:

When Shay Zucconi’s step-grandmother died, she left Shay a tulip farm—under two conditions.

First, Shay has to move home to the small town of Friendship, Rhode Island. Second—and most problematic, since her fiancé just called off the wedding—Shay must be married within one year.

Marriage is the last thing in the world Shay wants but she’ll do anything to save the only real home she’s ever known.

Noah Barden loved Shay Zucconi back in high school. Not that he ever told her. He was too shy, too awkward, too painfully uncool to ask out the beautiful, popular girl.

A lifetime later, Noah is a single dad to his niece and has his hands full running the family business. That old crush is the farthest thing from his mind.

Until Shay returns to their hometown.

So, I had pretty much decided that I wasn't going to review this book, because my review backlog was massive in the first place, and while it was a perfectly fine book, it wasn't one of the most memorable or squee-inducing Canterbary romances I've read. But then the CBR17 Bingo came around, and this was the only book I had left unreviewed that started with an I. So back onto the review list it went.

Shay is literally putting on her wedding dress and getting ready to say her vows, when her fiancé calls her from his car and breaks up with her (he doesn't even have the decency to do it face to face). Naturally, she's pretty devastated, but after a few weeks of wallowing, seems to realise that she's better off without him. 

Then unexpectedly, she inherits a farm from one of the only adults who were really there for her during what was clearly a turbulent adolescence and back to Friendship, Rhode Island, she goes, because she can't keep crashing with her friends forever. 

Shortly after her return, she reconnects with Noah Barden, probably her only real friend when she stayed with her step-grandmother for a while and attended high school in Friendship. Noah used to be an outcast, overweight and occasionally bullied, but the best times of his week were always driving Shay to school and the many private conversations they had, away from everyone else. Now he's tall, handsome and seems rather angry with Shay. He also seems to own pretty much all the farmland surrounding Shay's newly inherited property, with dairy farming, jam and preserve production, as well as baking facilities (his rather gruff way of flirting with her involves a lot of feeding her, and leaving her delicious bread - sign me up). 

As well as running a very extensive farming enterprise, Noah has his hands full with his niece, Gennie (pronounced Jennie, which I wouldn't have known if I hadn't listened to the audio,) whom he has sole custody of, because his sister is in prison and the baby daddy is dead. Because of years of very unstable living conditions, the girl has massive trust issues, wants to be a pirate, and certainly swears like one. She needs to improve her manners and catch up on most areas of schooling, or she'll be held back in school after the summer. Luckily, Shay is a teacher and the plot moppet loves her pretty much at first sight. 

This book did not need to be 474 pages long; a standard 384 would have been just fine. While the central romance between Shay and Noah is fine, and Shay establishes herself as the ideal step-aunt to the little girl within days of meeting her, there were just too many pages of Shay being extremely down on herself and self-pitying to the point of ridiculousness. It didn't get as bad as in The Love Haters, where the heroine's extreme body issues almost made me quit reading the book. While Shay hasn't had the easiest life and has been disappointed a few times, the obvious love of her fierce and loyal friend group back in Boston, as well as Noah and Gennie's clearly both being mad about her, long before she figuratively wakes up and sees the hot farmer for who he truly is, should have made it abundantly clear to her that she isn't all alone in the world, and she is plenty lovable if she would just let people in.

If this had been a bit shorter, and Shay had been a bit less frustrating, it could probably have been one of my favourite of Canterbary's. books.  As it is, it's merely fine. Having heard a bunch about Shay and her jam farmer in Emme's book, In a Rush, it was fun to read this and see their romance developing, though. 

Judging a book by its cover: While I love the lovely turquoisey teal background, basically just spreading out some raspberries and taking a photo of it isn't exactly great art. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read

CBR17 Book 48: "The Goose Girl" by Shannon Hale

Page count: 383 pages

Rating: 3.5 stars

StoryGraph Easy Read Challenge: A book with flowers, plants or leaves on the cover

Buzzword Title Challenge 25: Animals (Birds are animals, right?)

Nowhere Book Bingo 2025: A YA book

CBR17 Bingo: TBR (I bought this back in 2009, it's been on my TBR for 16 years)

Anidora-Kiladra, the Crown Princess of Kildenree is taught the language of animals by her aunt while she is still a girl, but she has to hide this from people around her. Unfortunately, she's unconventional enough that as she gets older, her younger brother proves to be a more suitable royal heir and her mother the Queen announces that she's being sent to the neighbouring kingdom of Bayern to be married off to their Crown Prince. Ani, having been brought up believing she would be Queen of Kildenree at some point, doesn't really have any other choice but to obey her mother.

She is sent with a large retinue, including her beautiful and dangerously ambitious attendant Selia. About halfway through the journey, Selia has charmed enough of the guards to enact a coup, and Ani is shocked and devastated to see many loyal soldiers slaughtered around her. She manages to escape into the woods and finds refuge on a secluded farm in Bayern, where her wounds are treated and she's nursed back to health. She discovers that Selia has assumed her identity and is pretending to be the real princess. Once Ani is healthy enough, she makes her way to the capital and gets a job as a goose herder in the king's stables. She hopes to be able to make enough money to eventually make it home to her mother, to warn her of the dastardly deeds of Celia and the rogue guards.

Thanks to her secret skills, Ani is able to charm the geese enough that they will listen to her. She works hard and makes several friends among the other labourers, tending the king's livestock. She befriends the handsome and charming Geric and is, in general, quite happy to have avoided having to marry the prince, whom she's seen from a distance. He appears to be about thirteen, much younger than her. But then Ani discovers that Celia isn't just content to lie herself into a royal marriage; she is also trying to get the king of Bayern to declare war on Kildenree. Ani has to enlist the help of her friends to get to the king before the wedding is finalised.

This is a YA fantasy retelling of Grimm's The Goose Girl, and some pretty bleak stuff happens to Ani over the course of the story. For people who don't like harm to come to animals, be warned that Ani's beloved horse Falada meets a very unpleasant end. I also kept thinking of Anakin Skywalker because of Ani's shortened name, which isn't necessarily the best connotation to have to a protagonist. 

This was a nice young adult book with a plucky heroine and a more faithful retelling of the original fairy tale than T. Kingfisher's A Sorceress Comes to Call, which I read last year. Nevertheless, I much preferred that one, I think the darker, more grown-up themes were better done in that one. 

Judging a book by its cover: Cover design was different back in the early 2000s. I seem to recall that by the later books in this series, they did a complete redesign, leading anyone who owned the series to the cruel fate of owning mismatched books (we hates it). This book is remarkably cutesy-looking, considering the rather dark subject matter. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read

CBR17 Book 42: "Mickey7" by Edward Ashton

Page count: 317 pages

Rating: 3.5 stars

Nowhere Books Bingo 25: Book adapted into a movie or TV show

CBR17 Bingo: Diaspora (Mickey7 and the others on his crew are colonists on a hostile planet far from their original home)

Mickey Barnes has, through some truly idiotic decisions, ended up acquiring so much gambling debt that he now has to leave the planet. Literally the only way he can do that is to go with the space expedition, which is setting off to colonise the far-off planet of Niflheim. Unfortunately, there aren't all that many spaces available, and unlike most of the geniuses and top of their fields representatives who are going, Mickey doesn't have all that many marketable skills. So he signs on as an Expendable (without even reading the paperwork all too carefully before he signs - definitely not a genius). 

Being Expendable means that whenever anything gets too dangerous for the rest of the crew, Mickey is sent to do the job. If he dies, they upload his memory to a hard drive and print him out a brand new body. So when he wakes up, he's a new person, with all the memories of the previous Mickeys (including, mostly, how all the others died - some of them REALLY horribly). 

The Mickey we first meet is, unsurprisingly, considering the title of the novel, Mickey7. Since joining the expedition, he has died and woken up in a new body seven whole times. When the reader first meets Mickey7, he is stuck at the bottom of a very deep ice cavern, and his best friend (pick better friends, Mickey) is leaving him down there to die, because it's dangerous  (and said friend isn't going to risk his own neck for the Expendable). It turns out that, existentially speaking, dying and waking up in a new body a whole bunch of times does a number on you. Because it's a fairly unique experience, he doesn't really have anyone else he can talk it over with, but suffice it to say, Mickey doesn't really enjoy dying and waking up in a new body.

Therefore, Mickey7 decides he's going to try to make it out of the ice caves and back to the colony base on his own. While doing so, he encounters one of the giant space bugs that seem to be indigenous to the world, and is briefly concerned he's going to be eaten alive. Instead, he is shocked to realise the giant bug gently carries him through the underground tunnels and deposits him outside, not too far from the base he's trying to get to. 

When Mickey7 gets back to base and goes to lie down in his bunk, he discovers that his buddy has already reported him as lost and dead, and a new copy, Mickey8 is already there, ready for duty. Due to some horrific exploitation of the cloning technique in earlier times, multiples of any person are incredibly forbidden, and if discovered, the Mickeys risk complete termination - not only will their bodies be killed and recycled, but their genetic imprint and memories will be wiped, so there will be no new ones, ever. Nevertheless, neither Mickey can determine who should be killed so the other can live, so they try to survive on the meagre rations of one person, while hiding their duplicate existence from everyone else in the colony. They also need to figure out whether the so-called monsters they're supposed to exterminate to successfully colonise Niflheim are actually sapient beings, who should be negotiated with, rather than just killed as aggressive local fauna. 

My IRL book club, the Dark Corner, had this as their book of the month in January of 2024, when we still thought the movie adaptation was going to come out in March that year. I only ever got about a quarter of the way through the book at this point before losing interest, but when the Bong Joon Ho movie was finally actually being released in early 2025, I figured it was about time I actually read the book. Even the second time, it took me a while to really get into the story, and I never really warmed up to the characters all that much.

Because of the many prejudices towards clones, religious for some, philosophical for others, most of the colonists on Niflheim avoid Mickey7, and he pretty much only has two friends. One is the idiot who left him to die down an icy crevasse (and we find out later, probably abandoned him to die on at least one other occasion), and the other is Mickey's girlfriend (who pretty much considers having two boyfriends a win-win situation when she discovers the unfortunate duplication). The colony commander is a deeply religious man who hates Mickey7 because he believes him to be an abomination; he's clearly not going to react well to the prospect of having two Mickeys running around, draining the colony's meagre resources. 

I finished this in March (yes, I am stupidly behind on my reviews again, especially because I had all those ARCs that took priority in my review queue - why do you ask?) and then never managed to get to the cinema in time to see the movie. So I can't really say how faithful the adaptation is. Since the movie is Mickey17, it seems obvious that they kill Mickey many more times in that one. I suppose I'll get round to watching it on streaming at some point, even if reviews claim it's not one of Joon Ho's best films. 

I know there's also a sequel to this, but I'm not sure I liked this enough to continue the series. 

Judging a book by its cover: I'm very glad to have the original, non-movie-tie-in cover (I hate those), although the cover image has very little to do with anything that happens in the story. I'm not sure any of the Mickeys are left alone to drift through space like that. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read

CBR17 Book 31:"It's a Love Story" by Annabel Monaghan

Page count: 368 pages

Rating: 3.5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley and G.B. Putnam for this ARC. My opinion is my own.

Jane Jackson spent her adolescence as the comic relief character "Janey Jakes" on a popular teen sitcom. Now she's a creative executive at a movie studio, and really trying to get a script she loves turned into a movie. Frequently crippled with anxiety and self esteem issues, Jane has learned to "fake it till you make it", but she may have faked it too far this time. Desperate to get the movie script approved by her boss, she lied and claimed that Jack Quinlan, one of the hottest pop stars around, promised to write a song for the soundtrack. 

Except Jane hasn't seen or spoken to Jack for twenty years, since they recorded a hit song for her sitcom. His agent refuses to pass on her messages to him, and her only way to possibly get a chance to talk to him is to track him down at a music festival in Long Island. To accomplish this, she will need to ally herself with the man she briefly crushed on and now loathes, artsy cinematographer Dan Finnegan. His family lives in the town in Long Island where Jack will be playing, and he offers to take Jane, since he needs to go to a family reunion there anyway. 

Jane, having assumed that Dan is from some rich and elitist family, is surprised to discover that his family are all farmers and construction workers, and he's the odd one out, an introverted artist in a family full of outgoing and gregarious labourers. While it's obvious that Dan loves his parents and brothers, he's also not entirely comfortable among them, and that everyone automatically assumes that Dan and Jane are dating further complicates matters. 

Jane is forced to realise that her second impression of Dan (after finding him very appealing at their first meeting) as pretentious and judgmental is quite incorrect, and that her first impression, that he's a charming and interesting person whom she could possibly fall for, is much closer to the truth. Unfortunately, Jane has never been lucky in love before, and doubts that there could be anything serious between her and Dan, even if they do succeed in their wild quest to track down Jack Quinlan. 

As is far too often the case with me, I'm really behind on my reviews and trying desperately to remember the plots of books I read months ago. Honesty forces me to admit that despite my having finished this book a mere month ago, I'm having real trouble remembering a lot of details of the story. I had to read both the official synopsis and glance at several reviews on Goodreads to remind myself of what actually happens.

I remember that Jane has self-esteem issues, not helped by her father abandoning her and her mother when she was younger. She became a teen TV star to help pay the bills, and her crush ended in a rather humiliating experience. She keeps following her co-stars from the sitcom on social media, and they all seem to have vastly more successful lives than her. 

Dan is a cinematographer who made a very critically acclaimed, but otherwise mostly overlooked, movie. He also takes a lot of photos, and that's how he and Jane first met. They had undeniable chemistry, but before they had a chance to get to know each other, Dan shot down a script idea in a meeting with Jane's boss, and now she resents him. 

While they're in Long Island they stay in bunk beds in Dan's old room (the whole house is full of his brothers and in-laws there for his parents' wedding anniversary) and chat a lot, and they take bike rides and go to the beach and do all sorts of adorable things, and yet it all blends together in my head, and I can't remember what episodes happened in The Love Haters (a vastly less entertaining book, which nevertheless had a heroine with anxiety and self-esteem issues, and was set by the sea, so had scenes involving bathing) and what happened in this one. There were quite a few nice, heart-warming scenes with Dan's family, I think?

I don't really feel like I can rate a book I have such a hazy memory of any higher than 3.5 stars, but I am absolutely open to reading more of Monaghan's books in the future. 

Judging a book by its cover: A lot of times, these covers have absolutely nothing to do with anything that happens in this story. But the curly-haired woman, with the blue polka-dotted bathing suit, is exactly like Jane is described in the book. So while it's yet another animated cover (le sigh), it at least fits the content of the story.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read

CBR17 Book 21: "A Duke Never Tells" by Suzanne Enoch

Page count: 352 pages

Rating: 3.5 stars

Thank you to Netgalley and Bramble for this ARC. My opinions are my own. 

Lady Margaret "Meg" Pinwell is about to start her first season when her father announces that he's spoken to his old friend, the Duke of Earnhurst, and secured her a coveted match with said duke's son and heir. Before Meg has a chance to even go to London and have any fun during the Season, the Duke promptly dies, and forces Meg into a year of mourning, since she is now affianced with the new duke. 

A year later, with absolutely no contact from the man she is contracted to marry, Meg is unsurprisingly a bit fed up. A missive to her parents assures them that the new Duke still intends to honour the agreement and Meg will become a duchess without ever even having been to London. The new Duke is rumoured to be quite the rake, with a reputation for gambling, carousing and womanising before his father's death. He didn't even show up to his own father's funeral. Meg asks her aunt Clara (her mother's younger sister) for advice, and they think up a scheme, where they will go to the ducal country estate, pretending to be ladies on the way to London, touring country estates. With Meg disguised as Clara's impoverished companion, they will hopefully get the chance to ask the duke's staff about him, so Meg can get a clearer idea of whether she wants to marry this man at all.

Unbeknownst to Meg and Clara, James Clay, the current Duke of Earnhurst is in fact residing at his country estate, arguing with Elliot Riniken, his father's former (now his) estate management about how his irresponsible behaviour has led to the estate being an overgrown mess, with a manor house that's falling apart. Water leaks have led to several holes in the ceiling, the library is partially covered in mould, and most of the staff have run off to get new positions, with the former butler having stolen a lot of the more valuable silver. The reason the estate is in such a dreadful state is that the former Duke wanted his son to return home, and face his responsibilities for a few years before his death. Both men were incredibly stubborn, James refused, while his father just gave up on any and all upkeep of the house or surroundings, because he decided it was up to his son to fix things. Now they're about to host a wedding in six weeks, and Rinikin can't authorise any repairs until the new duke signs off on them. James seems mostly happy to drink himself into a stupor. 

Since there are barely any servants left on the premises, the duke himself opens the door when Clara, not actually a noblewoman but the younger sister of a woman who has married an earl, arrives, disguised as a highborn lady, Lady Sophronia, accompanied by her paid companion, Mabel (Meg). Having recently raided the wine cellar, James thinks it will be a great idea to claim he is the butler of the estate, and he takes the two ladies into the duke's office, claiming that Mr Riniken is the duke. Riniken, a former army officer, is a good ten years older than James, so the two ladies are quite shocked by his appearance, not to mention the ramshackle state of the building, and the fact one of the only servants they can see appears to be drunk in the middle of the day. 

Since the ladies are pretending to tour country houses, they agree to go on a tour of the premises (in some of the rooms that aren't actively dangerous to enter), but they've not been there long before Meg tumbles down half a staircase, due to a rotten bannister, and injures her foot badly. The doctor proclaims that she needs complete rest for at least one week, probably two, and suddenly James' practical joke will need to be maintained for the duration of the ladies' stay, lest gossip spread to London that the new Duke of Earnhurst is a drunken madman who pretends to be a butler to visitors. 

Four people, lying about their true identities, two of them also about the reason they're even at the estate in the first place, are stuck in a house that's falling apart, forced into close proximity while maintaining an increasingly more elaborate deception. Since Meg/Mabel is forced to stay bedridden for a lot of the stay, Clara/Sophronia spends a lot of time trying to get to know the "Duke" better, so they can find evidence to present to Meg's parents for why the match must be broken. Finding herself gradually falling for the man she believes is her beloved niece's intended isn't exactly ideal. Rinikin, on his part, is fighting his attraction to what he believes to be a woman of a much higher status than himself. James, seemingly the world's worst butler, would also be a deeply inappropriate match for Lady Margaret Pinwell, or even Mabel the ladies' companion - but they also can't seem to stop being drawn to one another, kissing whenever the opportunity arises.

In your standard romance novel, you sometimes get romances featuring the mistaken identity trope. Well, in this book, not only do you get two romances for the price of one, but you get mistaken identity times four. Not only that, but you get multiple POVs. Not only do the readers get to see the story through Meg, Clara, James and Elliot's eyes, but there are a few chapters from the POV of James' very supercilious and long-suffering valet. 

It's been years since I read a romance by Suzanne Enoch, and this was quite different from any historical romance I've read before. Sometimes you have secondary romances taking place in the background while our protagonists find their HEAs, but in this book, there are four protagonists and both romances come with a number of complications, getting more and more farcical as the story progresses. 

While we are given reasons for why James Clay has been completely ignoring his responsibilities for years, causing his country estate to deteriorate so badly, they just seemed rather insignificant in the grand scheme of things. His father was too hard on him, he seemed to always prefer the opinions of Rinikin and treated him as a replacement son (at least in the eyes of James). Because of the weird power struggle between the former duke and his son, most of the staff went without wages and were forced to find jobs elsewhere. Rinikin is at his wits' end trying to keep the business side of the dukedom afloat. It's not until a beautiful woman is badly hurt falling down the stairs that James seems to see that the house is a wreck and he needs to do something to fix it. Not only does he authorise Rinikin to handle craftsmen to come to repair it, but he does a lot of the physical labour himself, especially when it comes to restoring the gardens (this also seemed rather out of character for a privileged nobleman). 

Obviously, everything works out fine in the end, with everyone's true identities being revealed in plenty of time for a double wedding and HEAs all over the place. This was a fun enough book, but I think four people running around lying about their identities was a bit too much for me. I don't mind a light-hearted romp, but there were a bit too many complications for me to be likely to want to reread this in the future. 

Judging a book by its cover: While I'm delighted to see something other than yet another cartoony cover on a romance novel, I'm not sure that this is a great improvement. The hot pink, the lurid green, the teal of the cover model's cravat. It's all a bit of an eyesore. The guy's smirk isn't exactly helping, either. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read

CBR17 Book 3: "Bookshops & Bonedust" by Travis Baldree

Page count: 356 pages

Audiobook length: 8 hrs, 1 min

Rating: 3.5 stars

Buzzwords 2025 Title Challenge: Contains punctuation

Twenty years before the events in Legends & Lattes, Viv is a young and relatively inexperienced mercenary, who gets badly injured fighting undead monsters while hunting for a powerful necromancer. Her mercenary band leave her in the quiet and mostly empty seaside town of Murk to heal up and recuperate. She worries that the group are going to leave her there, but thankfully, to take her mind off her fears, she encounters the local bookshop owner, who manages to persuade her (Viv has never exactly been a big reader) to buy a book, which she is surprised that she can barely put down. 

Soon a beautiful friendship is born. Viv spends most of her days hanging out in Fern the Ratkin's rather run-down store, trying to help her come up with ways to make the place a bit less dilapidated and more inviting to customers. Fern keeps giving Viv new books, and after having eagerly completed a few, Viv stops trying to pretend that reading isn't for her. There are some added complications involving a fierce gnome fishing for an invitation to Rackham, Viv's employer; a suspicious city guard captain, and the discovery of the corpse of the sinister fellow who Viv got into a very public fight with after he was rude to Fern's pet. 

Viv also befriends the local bakery owner, a cheerful dwarf who keeps bribing Viv with delicious baked goods. They develop the chastest of romances, which basically amounts to them talking walks, feeding the fish and holding hands occasionally. Both know that Viv isn't going to be staying in Murk for very long, so their flirtation has a definite end date. 

While Viv is worried that her time in Murk is going to be too uneventful and boring, some strange artefacts left behind by the dead fellow on the beach, turn out to be rather exciting and may have links to the necromancer that Viv's mercenary band were hunting. 

This was the December pick for my IRL book club, and we met in early January to discuss it. While most people liked it, a few people disliked it because they felt it was just too bland and uneventful to really hold their attention. Most of the readers agreed that the book was not without its flaws, but you don't read a book like this when you want to be overly critical and therefore they weren't too bothered. This, like Legends & Lattes is like candy for your brain, and the occasional plot inconsistency or lack of consistent world-building shouldn't distract from the silly cosiness of the read. The majority of us were in agreement that we liked Legends & Lattes more, and a few of the flaws with this book came from the fact that it was a prequel and therefore hampered by a few things already established in Baldree's first book. 

One of the readers pointed out that the way the book depicts what a great experience reading can be, and the way it opens Viv's eyes to adventures and new perspectives through reading is very pedagogical, and that a book where so much of the plot centres around books, how great hanging out in a bookshop, and reading can be, it will hopefully get more reluctant readers to try more books. Which can only be a good thing. 

Judging a book by its cover: The cover of my paperback copy of this is in the same style as that of the first book, with more seaside elements and the mysterious book Viv finds very much the focal point. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

CBR16 Book 66: "Fourth Wing" by Rebecca Yarros

Page count: 561 pages

Rating: 3.5 stars

CBR16 Bingo: Smash (romantasy - I want it on record that I hate this term, by the way)

Since this has been a huge success and had lots of attention on the TikToks and the like, I'm not even sure if I need to give much of a plot summary, but here goes:

All her life, Violet Sorrengail has wanted to become a Scribe, like her father. However, her mother, a commanding general of the army of Navarre (the fictional country this is set in) will not accept that any child of hers become anything but a dragon rider. Violet's older sister is a dragon rider, Violet's older brother was a dragon rider (until he tragically died), and so Violet also has to join the most insanely dangerous quadrant of the Basgiath war college, even though she's only had about six months since her mother ordered her to change her mind, and she's disabled to boot, so weaker and much more breakable than most of the ruthless candidates surrounding her. 

Violet survives the perilous first task (apparently more than sixty people died before even getting into the college - is that really a good way to run a school?) and now has to stay alive in a literally lethally competitive environment. The lucky first years who survive, may be lucky enough to bond with a dragon and be granted exciting magical powers as a result. Violet has to use all her cunning and guile to survive among her more vicious peers, and there are a lot of people who want her dead, including the imposing Xaden Riorson, son of the man her mother personally executed after a failed rebellion. He and a number of other young family members of rebels are at the school because enrolling (and most likely being killed) was the only option given to them to ensure their survival. 

Violet does make friends, and surprising everyone, survives long enough to get a chance at bonding a dragon. Once that ordeal is over (and she's once again nearly killed), it becomes impossible for her to avoid Xaden any longer, since their dragons are mated, and that means that if something happens to either of them, the other one dies because of the bond bestowed by their dragons. So that's fun. Of course, Xaden might hate her mum, but he is undeniably very hot. Despite having every reason for wanting her dead and having lots of opportunities to get her killed, Xaden instead seems amused by Violet, even sparring with her and challenging her - it's all very confusing.

There is danger facing the borders of Navarre, and fewer dragon riders every year to deal with it. It becomes clear during Violet's first year at Basgiath that the country's leadership are hiding things and downplaying the seriousness of the attacks on border villages. Will Violet survive her first year at war college only to find herself thrust into an actual war?

For quite a while, I was usure about reading Fourth Wing because of all the hype on TikTok. Colleen Hoover is beloved on BookTok, and what little I tried of one of her books quickly made it clear that those books are not for me. So I was a bit sceptical. Then my friend Ashley read it last year and made this fun video about the experience. Generally, if Ashley likes a book, I will too (there are exceptions, but they are usually hard sci-fi or horror books).

While I don't think Rebecca Yarros and her dragon romantasy has gotten lots of readers hooked, even the ones who don't tend to read speculative fiction, I don't think she's anywhere near Twilight-levels of popularity and obsession. Because I myself was deeply hooked on the Twilight saga back in the day, and you still can't entirely convince me that the pages of those books weren't laced with crack, removing all critical faculties of the reader and making them impossible to put down. 

Did Fourth Wing hook me as powerfully? No, but I can absolutely see why it's become so popular. I also see why it's been widely criticised, because there are aspects of the world building that just do not make a lick of sense. Violet is a better heroine than Bella Swan, mainly because she has some agency, and the plot doesn't just happen to her. But she's also clearly extra super speshul and manages things no one seems to have done before - for why? Who knows? The plot requires it to be that way. Of course there is a love triangle, because these books seem to always have to have one. There's Violet, our plucky heroine, there's Dain, her childhood best friend, who has pretty thoroughly friend-zoned her their entire life, but now seems convinced (despite repeated proof of the opposite) that Violet is too fragile and weak to survive to become a dragon rider, and keeps wanting to smuggle her into the Scribe's quarter. No points for guessing who candidate number three is - if there is a dark, brooding, probably dangerous dude, who your entire surviving family has warned you to stay away from, that's clearly going to be the one guy who's bones you really want to jump. Xaden also gets major points for never underestimating Violet, and instead of coddling her, encourages her to get better, stronger and sneakier. 

While Twilight is YA and Stephanie Meyer is a Mormon who's all about no hanky-panky before marriage  (and let's not forget, if you do have sex, you'll get immediately pregnant with a lifeforce-sucking parasite and literally die giving birth to it), Fourth Wing is aimed at a somewhat older audience, and by the time Violet makes up her mind about which third of the love triangle she prefers (I'm sure you couldn't possibly guess who she picks), there are some pretty graphic sex scenes. Encindiary, one might say. As someone who read a whole lot of smut as a teenager, I don't see a problem with YA readers reading these (or Sarah J Maas or a bunch of other books that seem to be shelved in the YA sections of bookstores despite dealing with much heavier themes). But some people might be shocked, so fair warning. 

As well as having a central premise that just does not make sense Seriously, why kill off most of your promising young people - some of them before they've even made it INTO the school? If your country is fighting a decades-long war, you are going to want as many able-bodied fighters as possible. So only the best can become dragon riders? Fair enough, but why do pretty much all challenges have to be succeed or die? Why not have the ones who fail challenges moved to one of the other three sections of the war college, possibly to start at the bottom, but at least given a chance to be a valuable member of the fighting force. It's quite clear that once the first-years bond with a dragon and start trying to ride on them, a whole bunch of them die anyway. Why kill off  the majority of them before they get to that point and natural selection apparently kicks in? It's maddening, people!

This is my real life bookclub's pick for November, and I'm very much looking forward to the discussion. I hope a whole bunch of people show up, and I suspect there will be many spirited opinions. I'm also glad I waited long enough to read this that third and final book in the series is just around the corner. It's being released in January, so I think I'll wait for December to read book 2 (which I have heard is extremely slow-going in the first half, but gets better towards the end). I'm also glad I liked it because my friend Des took my book to a convention and got it signed and personalised by Rebecca Yarros, so it would suck if I hated it. 

Judging a book by its cover: Despite this book only coming out in 2023, it already seems to have a huge amount of alternate covers, most of them in black and gold. While the hardback is golden with black patterns, I prefer my paperback in matte black, with the pattern in gold and white. Much prettier. 

Crossposted on Cannonballl Read