CBR18 Book 36: "Under Your Spell" by Laura Wood

Page count: 352 pages

Rating: 4.5 stars

Monthly Keyword 26: Spell

Buzzword Cover 26: Music

Clementine "Clemmie" Monroe has a lot of trust issues, and they're all because of the men in her life. Clemmie is one of three sisters, born within three months of one another, from three very different women who all got knocked up by her carefree rock star father, Rip Harris. Instead of being jealous or upset about the fact that her husband had been unfaithful, Clemmie's mother divorced her father, bought a large house and invited the two other women to live with her. So while Clemmie has been unlucky in the father department, she's basically had three mothers and two ride or die sisters supporting her while growing up. 

Unfortunately, even when her father proved time and time again that he couldn't really be trusted to remember things like visitations or special events in his daughters' lives, Clemmie kept hoping against hope that he would someday be better. Her trust issues with men did not get better after her first relationship ended with the guy, who had already been emotionally manipulating her for a long time, dumping her to go take a job as a drummer in her father's band. Clemmie has sworn to never have anything to do with musicians ever since.

Going in a vastly different direction with her next long-term relationship, Clemmie chose someone reliable and safe (and extremely boring, according to her sisters), but ended up heartbroken all the same. Her very boring boyfriend of several years not only dumped her to move in with another woman, but even had the audacity to take her cat when he left! Then she is fired, and has no idea how she's going to keep paying for her flat, since she now has to cover all the rent herself.

The first time Clemmie went through a bad breakup, her sisters supported her, and they had a witchy ceremony casting what they named "the Breakup spell", where they cursed the man who wronged her and each made wishes for what the future would bring for her. Now they get her drunk and resurrect the spell. It involves a lot of candles, Fleetwood Mac on a portable speaker, and then the women cast three wishes and a curse. The curse is for Clemmie's disappointing boyfriend to never satisfy anyone sexually ever again (and have a permanent itchy groin rash). Clem's record executive sister wishes her to have hot sex (both her sisters feel that some casual hook-ups would be exactly what the doctor ordered, mainly because Clem has never done casual in her life), Clem herself wishes for a job doing what she loves, while Clem's sensitive indie musician sister Lil wishes for "big love, the unconditional, wholehearted, soul mate kind."

After completing the ritual, the sisters get bad news. Their 'uncle Carl', their father's manager and the man who frequently stepped in when Rip once again completely forgot about important things in his daughters' lives, has passed away. After his funeral, Clem tries to hide away in her childhood bedroom, only to find that an extremely hot man has already hidden in there. After some flirty bantering and quite a bit of tequila, Serena's wish for Clem comes true. She has a one-night stand with the man she thinks is called Edward, and then sneaks away in the morning, leaving him a note.

Of course, this wouldn't be much of a romance novel if things didn't get complicated. Clem's wish was for a job, and her sister Serena has one for her, which will pay extremely well and allow her to hang out in their grandmother's house in Northumberland (which is being renovated for holiday rentals). All she has to do is babysit one of the world's most famous rock stars for six weeks, making sure he actually completes the album for the record company Serena works for. Despite one sister being a cutthroat record company exec and the other a darling on the indie music scene, Clem's dislike of all things music means she needs to be reminded who this Theo James even is. On the other hand, this is why Serena is convinced she will be perfect for the job. Theo James may be world-famous and extremely good-looking, but Clem's aversion to anything to do with the music business will ensure things will stay professional. 

It will surprise no one who has read more than a few books in their life that the man Clem is going to be paid to spend six weeks in a remote location is none other than her one-night-stand (who was never called Edward, but hadn't even realised that Clem got his name wrong until he saw the note she left the next morning).

So Clemmie and Theo, and their sizzling sexual chemistry, are living in forced proximity in a remote area of the north of England, and need to keep things entirely professional. At first, they barely speak, but then they gradually develop a friendship. Even when Clem is starting to reconsider her rule about never getting involved with musicians, Theo keeps things friendly but platonic. Whoever heard of a superstar musician who respects boundaries? 

This book started out slow, but even before the main romance (and its many complications) was introduced, Clemmie and her two sisters had me hooked. I would happily have read a non-romance book about their relationship. Since the majority of contemporary romance novels I read are set in the US, it's also always nice to read something set in the UK, and especially a part of it I'm actually quite familiar with.

Clem and Theo are very sweet together. This book has one of my favourite tropes, where one of the characters has to nurse the other one back to health. There are also some background subplots involving Clem's sisters, who, over the course of the book, get exactly what they wished for when casting the breakup spell, which is nicely done by the author. 

I had never even heard of Laura Wood when I bought this book in an e-book sale several years ago, and if it hadn't been for it fitting into several of my reading challenges, and I felt like reading a romance over some of the other options available, this may have stayed forgotten on my digital bookshelves for years. Instead, I put my entire reading list on hold after completing it, so I could purchase the sequel/companion book, about Theo's best friend and binge-read that too.

Judging a book by its cover: While I complain a lot about modern romance covers and the interchangeable pastel-coloured covers with little cartoon characters on it, I think this may just be a bit too plain and non-descript. One of the reasons I kept forgetting this book exists is that the cover just isn't very exciting. If it hadn't fit into one of my reading challenges, I would possibly never have gotten to it. 

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. 

CBR17 Book 24: "The True Love Experiment" by Christina Lauren

Page count: 416 pages

Rating: 5 stars

StoryGraph Easy Reading Challenge 25: A book with two authors

Felicity "Fizzy" Chen loves her life and career as a romance writer. The problem is that she's suffering from a bad case of writers' block, and when she's asked about her personal life in interviews or author panels, it's not like she can confess to never actually having been in love, right? A romance writer should surely have experienced romantic love at some point? With all of her friends happily coupled up, she's also getting pretty tired of her casual dating lifestyle. 

Connor Prince is a divorced documentary film maker whose boss orders him to create a successful reality TV dating show, or he'll get fired. Losing his job would force him to move, and that would mean not seeing his daughter very often, which is an unacceptable option, in his eyes. After a run-in with Fizzy, he's pretty sure he has the perfect pitch - one of the reigning queens of romance finding her own Prince Charming. Fizzy is fairly unimpressed when she first meets him (it's clear that he has very litte understanding or respect for romance novels as a genre, and he clearly hasn't read a single one of her books), and sends him an absolutely ludicrous list of demands. He agrees to pretty much all of them, and suddenly, Fizzy is about to become a reality TV star.

Before the show can start filming, they need to locate a suitable selection of dates for Fizzy, and she has insisted that the various "romance heroes" represent many of the tropes found in the genre. She also discovers that her first impression of Connor, as a money hungry media guy couldn't be further from the truth, and as she spends more time with him during pre-production of the show, it becomes clear that no matter how many charming men the production team manage to scrounge up - her ideal man may in fact be the one whose career depends on her finding happiness with another guy. 

Fizzy was an awesome supporting character in The Soulmate Equation and while I liked that book a lot, I absolutely loved this one. Fizzy and Connor are just such great characters, both seperately and apart. We obviously get cameos from Jess, River and Juno (who happens to be good friends with Connor's daughter - he coaches their soccer team) and it's lovely to see their continued HEA as a side story. Since Juno was never an annoying plot moppet, but felt like an actual human girl, I was relieved to see that Christina Lauren continued their streak of believable and likeable tween girls in this book. Connor's ex-wife and her new boyfriend were great additions to the supporting cast, as were several fun members of the reality TV production team. 

While this is probably not a perfect romance novel for some, it just worked really well for me, which might be a bit strange, considering I've never watched a single episode of any dating show, ever. That should tell you how great this is. I saw someone on Goodreads saying that Connor is clearly based on Brett Goldstein, and that's certainly not a bad mental image to have of him. If I have to mentally cast Fizzy, it would probably be someone like Sherry Cola from Nobody Wants This, she and Fizzy seem to have the same kind of energy to me. 

Judging a book by its cover: This is fine, I guess? I like purple and red, and who doesn't like fireworks? It also doesn't feature cartoon depictions of the main characters, so I guess I'm happy they did something different.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

CBR16 Book 15: "The Write Escape" by Charish Reid

Page count: 291 pages

Rating: 3.5 stars

Nowhere Book Bingo: A book with a BIPOC author and main character

CBR16 Sweet Books: Cozy

In very short order, Antonia Harper has lost her job and discovered that her fiancée was cheating on her, very shortly before the wedding. The honeymoon was supposed to be in Ireland, and Antonia decides to travel there by herself. Her spiteful ex has cancelled their original reservations, but she rents a cottage to stay in instead. With nothing else to distract her, Antonia decides to make a stab at writing more of the romance novel she's been dreaming of completing (but never had time for, what with her busy job as an editor and trying to plan a wedding). She isn't exactly happy with men in general at present, but the handsome professor in the cottage next door is making her reconsider her wish to be alone.

Aidan Byrnes is a literature professor who is finding his job difficult at the moment. He's rented a cottage in the little town of Tully Cross to get some peace and quiet and to finally have the time and focus to complete an important academic paper. He first runs into Antonia in the tiny supermarket nearby and is both surprised and delighted to discover that she is staying in the cottage next to his. Still slightly weary of romantic entanglements after his girlfriend dumped him a year previous, Aiden nevertheless can't stop thinking about Antonia, who he discovers is not only gorgeous but clever, educated, and funny as well.

What starts out as a bit of a holiday fling begins to turn serious pretty quickly. Neither Antonia nor Aidan were expecting to meet anyone, let alone start falling for them in the sleepy village of Tully Cross. Yet Aiden has a job at an Irish university, and Antonia's life is back in America. Can their fledgling romance turn into something more permanent, with an entire ocean between them?

This is my first novel by Charish Reid and it was fun, but not exactly a perfect read. I really liked Antonia and Aiden as characters, both apart and together. Both are hard-working and devoted to their jobs (but obviously Antonia is unemployed for much of the book since she loses her job early on). Antonia is also very close to her family, especially her sister, which made it difficult when they clearly weren't enthusiastic about her upcoming wedding. I would love to read a sequel novel about her sister.

The majority of the book is set in Ireland, and while I'm sure Irish villages are very quaint and welcoming, it seems like a slightly exaggerated ideal of the place. No one is unpleasant, racist, or rude. I understand that those aren't exactly things that you would want in a fluffy escapist romance, but from my experience, not all small-town folk anywhere are open-minded and whole-heartedly welcoming to any strangers, certainly not those with darker skin colours. 

This was a quick breezy read, and I liked it a lot. There were a few things that annoyed me a bit, but nothing serious enough for me not to want to read more of her books. Firstly, Antonia is obviously using her vacation in Ireland to work on her romance novel. At one point, Aiden uses her computer and can't help himself from reading what she's written. Considering how unsure she is of her writing and how personal a book manuscript can be, this felt like he was reading her journal. When she eventually discovers what he's done, she seems to forgive him very quickly. SPOILER! Antonia also seems able to relocate her entire life to Ireland on very little notice, to be with a guy whom she's known for less than two weeks. Good to know that it's that easy to make a major life change when you finally meet the hot guy you decide is Mr. Right.

Judging a book by its cover: I really like the visible joy on the faces of both of the cover models here. This is exactly the sort of novel that would have a jewel-toned cover with cute cartoony characters on it now, and I'm not sure that trend is as great as publishers think it is. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read

CBR15 Book 25: "Funny You Should Ask" by Elissa Sussman

Page count: 352 pages

Rating: 3 stars

#CBR15 Passport Challenge: Books I Already Own

15-word review: Chani reunites with actor Gabe, the man she wrote about ten years ago. Sparks fly.

Official book summary:

Then. Twentysomething writer Chani Horowitz is stuck. While her former MFA classmates are nabbing book deals, she's in the trenches writing puff pieces. Then she's hired to write a profile of movie star Gabe Parker. The Gabe Parker--her forever celebrity crush, the object of her fantasies, the background photo on her phone--who's also just been cast as the new James Bond. It's terrifying and thrilling all at once... yet if she can keep her cool and nail the piece, it could be a huge win. Gabe will get good press, and her career will skyrocket. But what comes next proves to be life-changing in ways Chani never saw coming, as the interview turns into a whirlwind weekend that has the tabloids buzzing.

Now. Ten years later, after a brutal divorce and a heavy dose of therapy, Chani is back in Los Angeles, laser-focused on one thing: her work. But she's still spent the better part of the last decade getting asked about her deeply personal Gabe Parker profile at every turn. No matter what new essay collection or viral editorial she's promoting, it always comes back to Gabe. So when his PR team requests that they reunite for a second interview, she wants to say no. She wants to pretend that she's forgotten about the time they spent together, years ago. But the truth is that those seventy-two hours are still crystal clear, etched in her memory. And so... he says yes.

Chani knows that facing Gabe again also means facing feelings she's tried so hard to push away. Alternating between their first meeting and their reunion a decade later, this deliciously irresistible novel will have you hanging on until the last word.

Ok, so first of all, this is not a "deliciously irresistible novel", it's a fairly forgettable run-of-the-mill contemporary romance. The only thing that makes it in any way different from a lot of books, is the dual timelines, where the past sections of the story are told in flashbacks, and even that isn't exactly unusual in the genre. Emily Henry has used it in two of her contemporary romances, for instance. This book is fine. Nothing is offensively bad, it's competently enough written, but it certainly didn't deserve to be on multiple 'Best of 2022' lists. That certainly gave me expectations for something more special than what I got.

Chani is not a particularly engaging heroine. She's insecure, and constantly questions her success as a writer. Based on the writing samples from her famous feature article and her blog (which are included in between the various chapters), I will admit that it seems unlikely that this woman got three different essay collections in the space of ten years. I also question whatever editor gave her the writing job that made her famous in the first place - why would you send a writer who hadn't ever seen a Bond movie to write about the new up-and-coming star who will be the next Bond? 

There's also the issue here that the romance is not very convincing to me. Chani spends three days with Gabe ten years ago, meets him a few times in the intervening years when her marriage is in trouble, before she's asked to write a follow-up article about him, and reluctantly agrees. She spends another three days with him or so, and then is apparently convinced that he is her one true love. I could maybe have believed how quickly Gabe persuades her that they are meant to be, if the two of them had had any kind of communication in the interim. If the interludes between chapters hadn't just been article and essay samples of Chani's work, but some letters, e-mails, or text messages exchanged between the two to show that they were actually getting to know one another better. 

I love a romance based on correspondence, there is something incredibly romantic to me about a person falling in love with someone else based on their letters - possibly because some of the most meaningful friendships in my life were strengthened by years of correspondence (yes, I'm old, I grew up in the years before mobile phones and the internet. We wrote actual multi-page letters to one another instead). But no, we are just told that Chani and Gabe have been thinking and pining about the other for the whole decade, making no attempt to contact the other. 

The book was a fairly fast and easy read, and the dual timelines made it a bit of a mystery what happened in the past that potentially caused a rift between them. Neither Gabe nor Chani were especially memorable characters. Now, three months after reading the book (yes, I'm super behind on my reviews), the character I remember best is Oliver Mathias, Gabe's best friend. He was charming and interesting and I would frankly have preferred to read a novel where he was the hero and eventually found his happily ever after.

I've heard that Elissa Sussman's follow-up to this is a bit of a disappointment to fans. Considering this didn't do much to stick in my mind, I doubt I'll be reading it. The book did make me want to watch The Philadelphia Story, though. So I guess there's that. 

Judging a Book by Its Cover: Not really fond of the combination of pepto-bismol pink and bright red on the cover, and the cartoony style of the cover art is less appealing to me than many contemporary romances. I guess it stands out on a shelf or on a bookstore display table, but in this case, the book actually could get judged by its cover. Bit disappointing all around. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

CBR15 Book 20: "Miss Buncle's Book" by D.E. Stevenson

Page count: 304 pages

Rating: 4 stars

15-word review: Anonymous spinster Barbara Buncle writes a book to pay the bills, her entire village rages.

This witty novel, originally published in 1934, features rather plain and unassuming village spinster Barbara Buncle falling on hard times and writing a novel to make enough money to be able to pay her bills. She briefly considered keeping chickens but doesn't like birds. As Miss Buncle hasn't really been anywhere or experienced much outside village life, she uses her own neighbours and the village of Copperfield where she lives as her inspiration. It's only when her novel, "Disturber of the Peace" comes out, under the assumed name of John Smith, that the shenanigans begin. 

Once a couple of the villagers read the novel, and recognise themselves and others around them in the thinly veiled caricatures, the rumour mill starts and soon everyone needs their own copy. Miss Buncle's London publisher, who wasn't entirely sure if the book he agreed to publish is a brilliant satire or just a strange little tale about a seemingly innocuous country village, visited one night by a mysterious piper, who sets in motion a lot of life-changing events for the inhabitants, is delighted. It's quite clear that the scandalised villagers have no idea that with every copy sold, the mysterious "John Smith" makes even more money so they're rather playing into "his" hands with their outrage.

Several prominent villagers become determined to uncover the true identity of the author, leading to some truly amusing conversations and meetings in sitting rooms. Then, several of the events in the novel in fact seem to start happening in reality as well. A confirmed bachelor proposes to his neighbour, and they elope. Two confirmed spinsters leave town together to visit warmer climates (as one is rather in need of somewhere less damp than an English village). As the weeks pass and more and more of the villagers read the novel, the search for the identity of the author gets a bit out of hand. Meanwhile, Miss Buncle has been tasked with writing a follow-up to her debut, as "The Disturber of the Peace" is selling like hotcakes all over the country. 

This book felt extremely British to me, and to anyone who's watched Agatha Christie adaptations, or other pleasant stories set in quaint English villages shouldn't have any problem imagining the various characters who populate Copperfield. Stevenson manages to flesh out and bring to life a large cast of characters, some very sympathetic, others rather loathsome. There are very few irredeemable individuals in the story, in fact, there is a refreshing amount of complexity in the sprawling cast. Miss Buncle is a very likable protagonist, and the reader can't help but be amused as she not only overcomes her initial financial difficulties but comes to realise that her little book has made her quite wealthy. With the advice of some new friends, she allows herself to splurge a bit and give herself a makeover. Even with her new expenditures, no one in the village seems to figure out that she's "John Smith".

I think I first saw this book recommended on Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, and bought it in an e-book sale ages ago. In March, it fit into a number of my reading challenges, and I'm glad I finally got around to reading it. Apparently, it's the first in a series. I'm not entirely sure I need to read the continuing adventures of authoress Barbara, however. This doesn't feel like it needed sequels. 

Judging a book by its cover: This cover is obviously not the original, and until I got to the latter half of the book, when Barbara finally gets to spend some money and gets a fashionable haircut and new clothes, the lady on the cover seemed stylish, but rather inappropriate in what was the story of a dowdy village spinster. I especially love the scarf blowing in the wind. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read