CBR18 Book 52: "Bright Young Women" by Jessica Knoll

Page count: 384 pages

Rating: 5 stars

Monthly Keyword 26: Bright

Reading the Rainbow: Yellow

CBR18 Bingo: Versus (The brave, tenacious and determined women vs the spineless and depraved serial killer

Official plot synopsis:

Tallahassee, 1978. Sorority president Pamela Schumacher wakes to a shocking scene of implausible violence and death, and is drawn into a mystifying crime that grips the nation for decades . . .

In Seattle, Tina Cannon connects her best friend's disappearance to the Tallahassee tragedy, and is convinced that a single man is responsible.

Determined to find justice, the two join forces as their search for answers leads to a final, shocking confrontation . . .

This is probably going to be my most surprising 5-star read of the year. If you had told me before I started it, that not only would I have trouble putting it down, finishing it in less than 48 hours, but that I would absolutely love it, I likely would have seriously side-eyed you. True Crime is not a genre that has ever really appealed to me. Serial killers creep me out. I find violence towards women and children incredibly distasteful and upsetting. So tremendous kudos to Jessica Knoll for writing so well that I not only devoured this book, but found myself regretting my compulsive need to check the Wikipedia entry on Ted Bundy (never named, referred to as «The Defendant» throughout the book). This book made me care deeply for the brave female protagonists, and at several points throughout, I cried. 

While I knew it was going to upset me and creep me the f*ck out, I couldn’t help myself from reading about the real events this book is based on. The fact that such a sick, sad, thoroughly mediocre man was able to keep abducting, terrorising, sexually assaulting and murdering women for so long – it didn’t seem possible. Sadly, truth is frequently a lot stranger than fiction, and most of the time, women still aren’t believed in cases like this. It was so much worse in the 1970s. 

This will very likely end up in my top 10 of the year. I tend to be very safe in my reading choices, and rarely read things that may force me out of my comfort zone. Thanks to the Monthly Keyword challenge, I decided to read this book, and I’m so glad I did. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

Book 49: "Bridget & Gabe Are Not Okay" by Lex Croucher

Page count: 432 pages

Rating: 4 stars

CBR18 Bingo: And (literally in the title)

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

I don't know if Croucher intends this to be an ongoing series, but readers should know that this is book two, and this review is probably going to contain some spoilers for book one, Gwen & Art Are Not in Love (which I read earlier this summer, but will not be reviewing because I'm already WAY too far behind on my non-NetGalley reviews. It's getting depressing how much I'm procrastinating on reviews). 

Anyway, on to the actual review. 

Gabriel is doing his best to be a good king after his father was killed in a botched rebellion, but keeps having to hide in cupboards to deal with his panic attacks. Princess Gwendoline (his twin sister) is doing her best to represent the royal family, picking up the slack for her struggling brother. She keeps writing letters to Bridget, the kingdom's only lady knight, who very pointedly is not responding. Bridget is not doing her best, or even well at all. After wielding a replica of Excalibur in battle while defending the royal family from the rebellion, she is no longer jeered, but celebrated at knight's tournaments, but can't seem to find the will to compete anymore. The sound of weapons clashing or the smell of blood makes her feel sick. Arthur, Gwen's former betrothed, has stopped using alcohol as a coping mechanism and is genuinely friends with Gwen now, so that's good. However, he keeps seeing Gabriel, mostly from a distance, and it's obvious that he's struggling, and Arthur can't do anything to comfort or help him. 

The only ones from the first book who aren't having a pretty miserable time of it at the start of the book are Arthur's squire, Sidney and Gwen's ladies' maid, Agnes, who are disgustingly in love with one another and refuse to let their friends' moping get in the way of their happiness. 

The rebellion was successfully squashed, but Gabriel's new and progressive policies are not being very well received by the populace at large. They don't really see why they should take their kids out of the fields to put them into schools; what good is reading anyway? Camelot's fiercely capable PR-woman, Lady Oakley, has decided that recreating the Round Table, with a series of loyal knights who will also travel around the country looking into all the strange occurrences that are being reported, will be just the thing to boost Gabriel's popularity. Gwen, Arthur, Bridget and Sidney, along with a selection of other knights, including Gabriel's cousin, whose father led the rebellion against HIS father and ended with Gabriel very reluctantly becoming king, are also along for the ride. The cousin doesn't seem to share his father's views, but is handsome and charming, and Gabriel doesn't like how friendly he and Arthur are getting. 

One of the reasons I'm choosing not to review Gwen & Art Are Not in Love is that it was fine, but not really all that memorable. It introduces the setting of an alternate history version of our world, with a cast of mostly queer characters (Sidney and Agnes are pretty much the token straights). I never cared all that much for the plot or the characters, but because all that establishing work was done in book one, they had a chance to become more interesting in book two, I guess. 

While going on a rather meandering quest throughout the land, Gabriel, Gwen, Brigdget, Arthur, Sidney and an assorted band of other knights (including another lady knight) investigate strange occurrences that may have ties to the old Arthurian myths, and along the way try to come to terms with grief, anxiety, panic attacks, PTSD, jealousy and insecurities. They meet some interesting individuals along the way, and without spoiling too much, all end the book in a much better place than they started it.

Based on this second book, I will read more about The Camelot Disasters if Croucher decides to write more in the series. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read

CBR18 Book 47: "Book Club Boyfriend" by Jenny Holiday

Page count: 352 pages

Rating: 4.5 stars

CBR18 Bingo: Craft (this book dwells a lot on writing as a craft - both novels and screenplays)

Thank you to Forever and NetGalley for this ARC. My opinions are my own. This book is on sale now.

Blair Kellermoon (former rom-com star, now powerful producer) has adapted several novels as movies and TV series and runs a book club, and the books she picks usually get huge sales boosts and are again likely to be optioned for adaptation. Suffice it to say, most authors are thrilled when being asked to be part of her book club.

Jack Branksome is not one of those authors. When receiving the offer from her via Zoom, he rather coldly rejects her, and while this was a private meeting, it is widely reported in the press. After Jack also says something that could be seen as rather unflattering about Blair in a magazine interview, he texts her to apologise, and this becomes the start of their friendship.

Blair is recently divorced, and both her children are away at college. She is finding the empty-nest situation more difficult than she was expecting, and it's clear to the reader that she has several mental health issues that need to be dealt with that she's clearly not ready to acknowledge within herself. Jack's debut novel was a huge success, but he's now struggling with writing anything for the second. He's already had to ask for an extension on his deadline once. Blair invites Jack to come stay in her pool house, anIntd the friendship they began via phone develops further.

Both Blair and Jack are very observant people who are very good about pushing away anything to do with themselves. Jack's father is also an acclaimed novelist, and his elitist views on literature and culture, which have clearly affected Jack, combined with the pressure of trying to write something as well received as his debut book, make it very hard for Jack to get out of his own head and get something new written. 

Blair has been trying to adapt a YA novel, but the lack of a good script means it's hard to find funding for the movie, and because she's heard too often from men in her life that she's a great actress, but not a writer, she scoffs at Jack's suggestions that she write the script herself. 

Jack can see that Blair is struggling with depression, anxiety and OCD. Blair can see that Jack has massive daddy issues. Neither of them is looking for romance, and they keep denying that their deepening friendship has any romantic undertones, yet they also become extremely adept at anticipating each other's needs. This book is extremely slow-burn, and a lot of the story concerns itself more with how Jack and Blair can become better at taking care of themselves than how they can build a lasting relationship.

If I had to list some tropes for this book, it would probably be antagonists to best friends to lovers, and also grumpy meets sunshine. Jack was an aloof and grumpy supporting character in Holiday's previous romance, Into the Woods. I remember wondering if Holiday was setting up Jack as a future hero when reading that one. Blair is clearly inspired by Reese Witherspoon, both looks- and career-wise. She's blond, beautiful and bubbly. She used to be a beloved rom-com actress who has reinvented herself as a Hollywood producer and champion of books and reading. 

This book turned out to be rather different from what I was expecting, and the romantic payoff comes rather late in the story, but it's such a well-written and enjoyable book that it didn't bother me. I am really glad I got an ARC of this one, and look forward to Holiday's next contemporary (I find I like her contemporaries more than her historicals, in general). 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

CBR18 Book 44: "Scandal of the Summer" by Alexandra Vasti

Page count: 352 pages

Rating: 4 stars

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

Lady Ruby Ballimore has tried her very best to be the perfect debutante, but no matter how hard she tries, she can't be quiet and biddable and seemingly empty-headed. After yet another disastrous dinner party, which has shown off her unladylike academic prowess to the Ton and enraged her father, she decides that she needs a change of setting.

Ruby's father is the ambassador to a small European principality, and Ruby happens to know that the Princess has a mansion in Cornwall that's just conveniently standing empty. She forges a letter of introduction from her father, claiming that she and her two best friends are ladies-in-waiting to the Princess and have been sent to prepare the house for her possible visit in the future. 

The ladies are not prepared to find a mostly derelict house full of an odd assortment of supposed staff. Malcolm Archer has, in fact, been hired as the steward of the estate, but none of his former crew, who are basically his family, have been officially hired. They are squatting in the house and running multiple smuggling schemes to make enough money to survive. None of them was expecting the arrival of Ruby and her friends, so they set a number of schemes in motion to try to scare away the ladies. Terrible food, an infestation of beetles, and a made-up sea monster. Nothing works. The ladies keep ignoring the discomforts and work diligently to make the mansion habitable again. Which turns out to be good, because it seems like the Princess may be making an unexpected visit, and her arrival will force the deceptions of both groups of occupants of the house out in the open.

I've been lucky enough to read several of Ms. Vasti's romances as ARCs. They are usually well-researched and very entertaining. In this, we get the unlikely pairing of a bluestocking wallflower and a disgraced naval captain turned smuggler. Both protagonists have found families of sorts. Ruby has her ride-or-die friends, both of whom I'm assuming will be getting books later in the series. Malcolm has a number of former crew members who left the navy when he was dismissed, and while he may be a former privateer and now a smuggler and occasional con man, all his lies and schemes and his considerable charm are used to support his people and create a safe haven for them. Unfortunately, he is so used to lying and tricking people that even when he may be hurting those close to him with his deceptions, he sometimes has trouble being truthful.

Ruby is the eldest daughter of an earl, and no matter what she says or does, she ends up making a mess of things. She has travelled through Europe with her father and younger sister (who is now a viscountess) and is very well-educated, but lacks the necessary social skills to be a hit on the Marriage Mart. One of her two best friends, Alice, is the daughter of a man who was accused of treason and therefore mostly shunned by polite society. She's rather shy and soft-spoken, but also a keen entomologist (and hence is delighted by the bugs, rather than scared off). Ruby's other BFF, Tamsin, is a self-proclaimed sapphist, has cut her hair into a pixie cut and prefers to wear trousers. The aunt she had been living with got married and conveniently moved to Cornwall, so Ruby lied to her father about spending the summer there. 

As well as being rather run-down when the ladies arrive, the manor house is also full of dogs, since Wall, one of Malcolm's former crew members, has begun to specialise in veterinary medicine, and keeps adopting stray litters of puppies. So there's a surprising number of dogs for a historical romance, some even prove central to the second half of the plot. 

If you haven't read any Alexandra Vasti before, this is a good place to start. If you have read any of her books and enjoyed them, this is another delightful read.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

CBR18 Book 29: "Dolly All the Time" by Annabel Monaghan

Page count: 368 pages

Rating: 4.5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and G.P. Putnam's Sons for this ARC. My opinions are my own. This book will be out on May 26th. 

Dolly Brick is a problem solver and has spent most of her life taking care of her family. When her mother left Dolly, her father and her siblings when Dolly was far too young to have to deal with it, she nevertheless ended up basically mothering her younger sister and mentally disabled younger brother. Now she's a 39-year-old single mother (the baby daddy gave her money to "take care of it", she took the money and bought a crib) with a teenage son, Gus. They mostly live in Boston, where Dolly is a kindergarten teacher (she also has two other part-time jobs), but return to her home town of Whitfield, Rhode Island, every few months so Dolly can take care of odds and ends around the house for her dad and brother. After the house catches fire (thankfully not too disastrous) one night, Dolly and Gus have to abandon their other summer plans to return to Whitfield and deal with the damage.

Dolly's father is extremely risk-averse, after spending much of his life paying off the debts of a business expansion that went wrong. He's finally more or less debt-free when the fire department informs them that the roof of the house is very close to falling apart, and the house will have to be condemned if the roof isn't replaced in its entirety. Dolly's already working three jobs (and helping out at her father's fish shop over the summer) - she's not going to find 50 000 dollars just lying around. 

Thankfully, a possible solution presents itself to Dolly after having helped Stewart Whitfield, the eldest son of the wealthy family the town is literally named after. She helps him change a flat tyre (because rich guys never know how to do anything practical), while he confesses his fiancée has been photographed canoodling with a baseball player. A few days later, it turns out Dolly and Stewart were photographed together, and the tabloids are speculating about her being his new love interest. Apparently, Stewart's family and the board of directors of the family company, who are looking to appoint a new CEO when Stewart's father is retiring at the end of the summer, all think that Stewart is a boring workaholic who doesn't have any kind of life outside of the company. He needs to seem like he's a well-rounded individual with some actual non-work interests, and having a girlfriend would help with that. So Stewart is willing to pay Dolly to be his girlfriend for the summer. Dolly can get the money to save her family home and establish a bit of a financial cushion, while Stewart gets to pretend he's not a total failure in the romance department because his fiancée cheated on him. 

While they begin with carefully arranged public dates, Dolly and Stewart are soon spending way more time together than their contract requires. While Stewart had trouble taking time out to spend with his former fiancée, he seems to happily take any chance to hang out with Dolly (and occasionally her entire family). Dolly knows that the relationship isn't real, and that it has an expiration date at the end of the summer, but is also shocked to realise how lovely it is to have someone who seems focused on what SHE wants and does his best to take care of her. She tries so very hard not to fall for Stewart, but may have finally found an impossible challenge.

Last summer, I got an ARC of Annabel Monaghan's It's a Love Story, and since it was perfectly fine (if not all that memorable), I requested an ARC for this when I saw it on NetGalley. It's basically a more realistic take on Pretty Woman, except Dolly Brick is a penniless single mother, rather than a leggy L.A call girl. While the start is a bit slow, it didn't take me long to be utterly charmed by Dolly and her family. The book is both romantic and funny, and a lot of the humour is at the expense of the tremendously wealthy, like the Whitfields (who to be fair, seem mostly very nice for super rich people). 

Dolly has had a hard life, while Stewart's has been one of immense privilege. Despite this, Dolly's mental health is a lot better than Stewart's, and her family are a lot more honest with one another about what troubles them. The exception is Dolly's younger sister, who keeps trying to help out but is often pushed away by Dolly. The sister (whose name I don't remember) correctly feels like Dolly carries resentment for having a lot of her adolescence ruined because she needed to step into their mother's role and still feels like she needs to shelter her sister. Stewart is a perfectionist, with occasionally crippling anxiety, and very few members of his family realise that he, every so often, suffers from panic attacks. Stewart is very aware of his family's legacy, and he desperately wants to do a perfect job and continue that legacy for a new generation. While he has a therapist, he hides his difficulties from his family.

While we encounter both Dolly and Stewart's families over the course of the book, Dolly's family are much more present as supporting characters. Dolly seems to form a genuine friendship with Stewart's sister, though, and towards the end of the book, she also forms a very nice bond with Stewart's mother, who is a paediatrician. 

Sadly, it is still the case with most romances that there has to be a third-act complication, and I was rather unhappy with the way Stewart behaved during this part. Thankfully, he comes to his senses and realises what an utter idiot he has been, eventually, and grovels most satisfactorily. 

This book was a funny, light-hearted, very romantic read. It was almost a five-star read (you know what you did, Stewart!). I'm very happy I asked for this ARC, and will absolutely be reading more of Monaghan's books in the future. 

Judging a book by its cover: The cover manages to be fairly specific (Dolly with her snazzy bob on board Stewart's sailboat), while also being rather vague. You can't really see any clear facial features on either person on the cover, but it nevertheless gives you a look into one scene of the book. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

CBR18 Book 25: "Change of Plans" by Sarah Dessen

Page count: 368 pages

Rating: 4 stars

Thank you to Simon and Schuster and Netgalley for this ARC. My opinions are my own. This book is out on May 5th, 2026.

Finley is graduating from high school, and is worried about several weeks away from her charismatic boyfriend, Colin, their friend group and her entire social circle. Most of all, she would have wanted to join Colin and his family on a Disney cruise, but her distant mother, Catherine (her father has custody and she only sees her Mum a few times a year), has declared that they are spending time together in New York City, and that the dates cannot be changed.

So imagine Finley's surprise when she is told on the morning of their departure that New York will have to wait. Instead, they are going to her mother's home town, Lakeview, to sell a house neither Finley nor her father knew existed. Catherine was estranged from her parents until they died, and has kept up the distance to her two sisters, but for reasons she refuses to go into, the old family home needs to be cleared out and sold as soon as possible. 

Once they arrive, Finley discovers that "Cat" has been in communication with her sisters but refused to make any decisions for months, and this sudden change is a surprise to absolutely everyone. 

Her aunts are very happy to see Finley again, though. She hasn't really seen anyone from her mother's family since her grandmother's funeral, and that is long enough ago that she barely remembers anyone, certainly not her cousins, who are all grown up now. 

Cell reception is pretty unreliable in the middle of the woods, and Finley worries that she can't get in touch with Colin. Although when she finally does, it's because he calls her, from the boat, to break up with her via video chat. Since Colin has been the centre of Finley's life for the past two years, and featured in all of her plans for the future (she deferred all her other college choices to go to the same place as him), she is absolutely devastated, and shortly after, throws her phone in the lake in a fit of drunken impulsiveness. 

One of Finley's aunts co-owns a diner, the Egg, where it seems most of the teens she's met during the last few days work. Heartbroken and without real purpose, Finley starts helping out during the breakfast rush, when most of the tourists come in to eat, and soon she's making money and has made new friends. There's Clark, who runs the grill, and whose now deceased father founded the Egg with Finley's aunt. There's Lana, who sneaks into the old house where Finlay and Cat are staying and sleeps on the couch, leaving before anyone else wakes up. She takes it upon herself to become Finley's BFF after Colin dumps her, since she has considerable experience with romantic disappointments in her past. And finally, there is Ben, the shy guitarist who helps Clark in the kitchen and claims that he's super awkward around new people, but seems to warm to Finley immediately. 

I've only read two Sarah Dessen books, The Truth About Forever and Just Listen, but as a many-year follower of Forever Young Adult, I am aware of how highly a lot of people rate her books. While it seems like she writes a lot of YA romances, the central plot of this story was more about family and estrangement, and long-buried truths that needed to come into the light. Catherine left Finley and her father when Finley was about four years old, and while she has seen her daughter a few times a year since, she has never been a stable part of Finley's life, and certainly not anyone she has felt able to properly talk to or confide in.

Rather shy and retiring, Finley was shocked when handsome and popular Colin noticed her on her first day in Junior year. They were teamed up for a school task, after which Finley acquired the nickname "Idaho", and not long after, was swept off her feet by Colin. His friends became her friends. His close-knit family, so very different from her own chaotic home life (distant mother, stressed father and stepmother, six-year-old twins and a toddler), became her safe haven. When he dumps her after a few days of no contact, her entire world implodes. She has no idea who she is without Colin, but thankfully, helping out at the Egg, making new friends in Lakeview and getting to know her mother's family are good distractions. Nevertheless, it takes her most of the summer to realise that Colin dumping her might have opened up opportunities she would otherwise not have had.

I liked this a lot, and having re-read my reviews for the other two Dessen books I read (many years ago now), it's clear that I should make an effort to read some more of the books of hers I have in my e-book collection. The world is a dark and scary place, and wholesome YA contemporaries are a slightly different brand of escapism from all the fantasy I tend to gravitate towards. 

Judging a book by its cover: This cover feels extremely generic, and could be put on pretty much any YA book with a female protagonist. There is nothing to really distinguish it from so many other books out there. It's perfectly fine, but nothing more than that, either

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

CBR18 Book 23: "Margo's Got Money Troubles" by Rufi Thorpe

Page count: 320 pages

Audio book length: 10 hrs 21 min

Rating: 4 stars

Nowhere Book Bingo 26: Adapted into movie or TV show (on Apple+ now)

19-year-old Margo Millet has an ill-advised affair with her English professor at college and gets pregnant. Against the advice of absolutely everyone, including her mother (a former Hooters waitress), she decides to keep it. Unfortunately, being pregnant and then a young single mother isn't especially attractive on the job market, and before she knows it, two of her roommates have also moved out, because they just can't handle the noise and the whole baby being there now of it all. She's at her wits' end, and while she loves her son, Bodie, she's also pretty sure she's made a huge mistake.

Then her estranged father, Jinx, a retired pro-wrestler, shows up on her doorstep and asks her if he can stay at hers, after yet another round in rehab. Since she needs both rent money and help with child care, she agrees to let him stay. She also decides to try making money through OnlyFans, where she uses advice from Jinx to craft her online persona. Soon she's making enough money to keep her head above water, but her English professor is threatening to sue her for sole custody of Bodie and her mother, who is getting married to a Christian pastor, threatens to disown her if she doesn't shut down her OnlyFans account immediately.

This book came highly recommended from many of my online friends, so when I saw it in an audiobook sale, I picked it up, despite being a bit dubious about the pastel-coloured cover and the unusual plot synopsis. Contemporary fiction with serious real-world problems?  Ill-advised affairs with your lecturer? Desperate young single mother? OnlyFans? Was this really a book I was going to enjoy? As so often happens, I then forgot I owned the book for quite a long time, until I read the announcement that the book was being turned into a TV series on Apple+, starring Elle Fanning, who also narrates the audiobook.

Apple+ has proven itself to be very good at adapting books I like in the past (I promise I am not being paid for this; I wish I were so lucky), and since I prefer reading the source material before seeing the adaptation, reading this in March seemed like a good idea. Since I listened to it in audio, it took me about a week to get through it, but I suspect that if I'd been reading it with my eyes, I would have got through it a lot faster. Despite its many serious issues, it is ultimately a very uplifting book. Margo may be young (and discovers fast that having a baby is for life, not just for Christmas), but she's very clever, and because of her unusual family situation (Jinx wasn't exactly a stable feature in her life growing up), she's learned to be independent and resourceful. She does the very best she can for her baby, even if that means coming up with creative ways to make people pay her for nudes on the internet. 

While two of Margo's roommates leave, one of them stays behind and even starts helping Margo in her new "working from home" career. Suzie is into fantasy cosplay and is able to lend Margo outfits and advise her on makeup and video ideas. She gets along well with Jinx, as well, which helps. Margo eventually meets and makes friends with other OnlyFans creators, and starts having actual fun when she comes up with a storyline involving a strange and horny space alien to attract more followers.

I wouldn't say that female empowerment is one of the main themes of the story, but it is absolutely a factor. Margo refuses to be dismissed by her baby daddy and his rich and condescending family just because she is young and does online sex work. She proves herself a fit and capable mother both to the custody lawyers and eventually to the CPS (who have had an anonymous tip that Margo's home life may not be safe for Bodie). 

Since I had seen the trailer for the show before I got around to reading the book, it was pretty difficult to create my own mental images for the characters. With Elle Fanning already voicing Margo in the audio, it would have been harder to picture her as someone else. Michelle Pfeiffer as her mother and Nick Offerman as her father also seem like spot-on casting, so I didn't mind them being my mental images for Shyanne and Jinx, either. Ironically, now that I have finally read the book, I'm too busy with correction work to actually watch the show until later this year. I'm glad I listened to the book when I did, though. 

Judging a book by its cover: Before I read the book, I always thought this was a really strange image to choose for the cover of the book. Now that I have read the book, I see how perfect it is, and how well it captures poor Margo's utter exhaustion.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

CBR18 Book 22: "Rules for Ruin" by Mimi Matthews

Page count: 400 pages

Rating: 4 stars

Monthly Keyword 26: Ruin

Official plot summary (because I read this in February):

On the outskirts of London sits a seemingly innocuous institution with a secretive aim—train young women to distract, disrupt, and discredit the patriarchy. Outraged by a powerful politician’s systematic attack on women’s rights, the Academy summons its brightest—and most bitter—pupil to infiltrate the odious man’s inner circle. A deal is bring down the viscount, and Miss Euphemia Flite will finally earn her freedom.

But betting shop owner Gabriel Royce has other plans. The viscount is the perfect pawn to insulate Gabriel’s underworld empire from government interference. He’s not about to let some crinoline-clad miss destroy his carefully constructed enterprise—no matter how captivating he finds her threats.

From the rookeries of St. Giles to the ballrooms of Mayfair, Euphemia and Gabriel engage in a battle of wits and wills that’s complicated by a blossoming desire. Soon Euphemia realizes it’s not the broken promises to her Academy sisters she should fear. . . . It’s the danger to her heart.

Euphemia "Effie" Flite doesn't have any grand plans for her life, but she wants her independence and enough money to settle down in the country, away from the intrigues and stresses of London. Yet Miss Corvus, the headmistress of the unorthodox school where Effie was raised, has one last mission for her before she will allow Effie her freedom. Miss Corvus needs Effie to pose as a debutante and befriend the daughter of a prominent viscount, so she can find incriminating evidence against him and ruin his reputation. 

However, Effie has to contend with the imposing Gabriel Royce, a betting shop owner from London's East End, who needs the viscount's wealth and contacts to help him source money to make improvements to the slums of St. Giles. He quickly realises that Miss Flite isn't the innocent miss she pretends to be, especially after she keeps shaking off the people he sends to tail her. However, he can't figure out what her motives are, and he can't let her meddling interfere with his plans.

Both Effie and Gabriel are stubborn and very independent, characters who believe they are perfectly content to be alone. Which, of course, makes it so much more satisfying when they fall for each other and discover that they may, in fact, want and need someone to share their life. 

I wish I could remember more specifics of the plot right now, but I've read 24 books (at least one of them, more than once) since finishing this, and my memory is getting a bit hazy. I remember enjoying the banter between the protagonists, and especially how Effie keeps frustrating Gabriel with her refusal to be easily spied on. I liked Effie's friendship with one of the other Crinoline Academy students, now a teacher there. I remember Effie being terrified of heights, and the rather heartbreaking reason for it, which is revealed towards the end of the novel. The villain is suitably dastardly, and it feels satisfying when they take him down. 

I already own the next book in the series (about Effie's friend) and am looking forward to getting to it, later this year. 

Judging a book by its cover: This cover is lovely, and I love that I see new things in it every time I look at it. I especially like that it is obviously an intricate garden gate, but also suggests the crinoline skirts of a lady's gown. The fact that the dominating colour is teal doesn't hurt either. I love teal. 

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 10: "The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook" by Matt Dinniman

Page count: 534 pages

Audio book length: 16 hrs 54 mins

Rating: 4 stars

Carl, Donut and Mongo have made it to the fourth level of the dungeon. This time, there are trains. So many trains. The game appears to have constructed a labyrinthine tangle of all of the world's underground railway systems, and there are new and strange rules to get used to. There are bounties awarded to anyone who kills any of the players in the top ten, which now include both Carl and Donut. 

There are all manner of strange monsters on the various trains and platforms, and while the stairways are apparently on clearly announced stations, most of the crawlers are on trains going to much higher stations, and no one seems to know how to get to the end stations and back to the start of the loop. Carl gets an unexpected advantage from a seemingly useless reward box, The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook, where countless previous crawlers have noted down their tips and tricks and useful modifications about the dungeons. He just can't let anyone know where he's suddenly getting all of his new and clever ideas.

Just as determined that he won't allow the system to break him as before, Carl manages to get more of the crawlers to cooperate and work together on this level. Of course, it also means pulling off some truly insane plans in an attempt to help as many crawlers as possible make it out alive and down to the next level. 

This book was long and dragged in places, but I still very much enjoyed it because by now I adore Carl, Donut, Mongo and poor Katia, who is really put through the wringer in this one. Let's just say her character ended up developing in all sorts of ways I was not expecting. I think she should put her foot down and refuse to wear a Mohawk, no matter what Donut suggests. 

I keep being amazed at the narration, and while I am still happy I have all the audios, I will probably be able to re-read the books on paper, since I now have the voices from the audio so completely internalised. With some books, that might be a problem. Here, it is not. 

Judging a book by its cover: I love the new cover design, and will quite possibly buy the whole series in hardback if it keeps being as good as it is now, partially because I like the design so much. However, it was also fun to see a depiction of the Mantaur that Carl and the others had to fight on the old cover, as well. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read

CBR18 Book 7: "The Galaxy, and the Ground Within" by Becky Chambers

Page count: 325 pages

Rating: 5 stars

Monthly Keyword Challenge 26: Ground

Nowhere Book Bingo 26: A book that came out more than 4 years ago

Defeating the Goblin TBR 26: The Gizmo Book (A Sci-fi or Dystopian book)

Reading Rainbow - Indigo cover

The planet of Gora doesn't have much to recommend itself to anyone, except as a stopover for travellers to other, more interesting parts of space. Travellers can rest, refuel, eat, restock their supplies and update any permits that might be required. It's like an interstellar truck stop between big wormholes. 

The Five-Hop One-Stop is run by Ouloo, a Laru (from the description of what the Laru looked like, I imagined a Golden Retriever with longer limbs and a long, bendable neck), and her child, Tupo. Ouloo clearly takes immense pride in catering to her guests, and has made an effort to make the Five-Hop One-Stop as comfortable for as many species who travel the galaxy as possible. She's courteous, but also curious about the various lives of the visitors who come and go. 

While Ouloo is hosting three very different guests, all there mainly to refuel and restock for a brief while, there is some sort of catastrophic event that leads a lot of the satellites around the planet to crash down, meaning all travel in and out of the planet is halted, and all communications are shut down. So for five days, Ouloo, Tupo and the three guests are stranded together at the Five-Hop One-Stop. There is Speaker, an Akarak, separated from her sickly twin sister for the first time ever. The Akarak can't breathe oxygen, so they wear space suits whenever they leave their ship. Based on the description of her species, I pictured the Akarak basically like big sloths. The second traveller, who is very distressed by not being able to travel further, is Roveg, a Quelin (seemed a bit like an armoured centipede), who has a very important appointment he needs to get to, and the delays on Gora could mean he misses his chance. The final guest is Pei, an Aeluon (they communicate in colours), who readers who have read the first book in the Wayfarers series will recognise as Captain Ashby's romantic partner. 

This book has very little plot to speak of, although there are some dramatic things that happen over the course of the five days. What the reader gets is five character studies, but that's not nothing, because Becky Chambers writes so beautifully that even five people stuck in the same place and trying their best to get along (and in the case of Speaker and Roveg, not panic about the delays) is fascinating to read, and I wouldn't have minded another hundred pages or so, especially since this is the final book in the series. While this is the fourth and final book, all the books can be read independently of each other, and work perfectly well as stand-alones.

It's difficult to pinpoint exactly what made me love this book so much. The only character who has appeared in any of Chambers' books before is Pei, and there she was a secondary character, whose point of view we were never able to share her point of view, like we do here. Yet Chambers makes you care for all of them, and become invested in their lives and futures. As is pretty much always the case, this book made me smile, and it made me cry, and I didn't really want it to end. 

Chambers doesn't appear to have published anything since the Monk & Robot novellas, which came out in 2021 and 2022. I do hope she hasn't stopped writing entirely, but whatever she is doing, I hope she is enjoying it. 

Judging a book by its cover: The UK covers for these books, with the vast views of starlit skies, are all so beautiful, and the US covers for these are so very clunky and (to me) ugly. The font, the way the images are positioned, I do not care for them. Which is why I've made sure I buy the UK editions when I have the chance. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

CBR18 Book 6: "The Empress of Salt and Fortune" by Nghi Vo

Page count: 121 pages

Rating: 4 stars

Nowhere Bingo 26: Novella

Dark Corner Selection: January 2026

Chih is a young cleric from the Singing Hills monastery who travels around the country searching for stories and history. At the shores of Lake Scarlet, Chih finds the abandoned dwelling where the former Empress In-Yo (the titular Empress of Salt and Fortune) spent her many years in exile. Chih encounters the elderly Rabbit, one of the Empress's former handmaidens, who tells Chih stories of her own past and how it intertwined with that of the Empress. 

Rabbit came to court, sold by her parents to cover up a shortfall of five baskets of dye, and while she was there, she met and became loyal to In-Yo, who came to the court from the North, uncultured and savage by the measures of the capital. Once she performed her wifely duties and had birthed the Emperor a son, she was forcefully sterilised and exiled to Lake Scarlet, where it was hoped she would die in obscurity. Rabbit accompanied her mistress, and while Chih is cataloguing the various items left behind in the house, Rabbit tells them how In-Yo slowly and meticulously, despite very few resources or allies to her name, plots her revenge and patiently, over the course of many years, plots her way back to power.

This was our January selection for the Dark Corner, my IRL book club. We usually meet on the last Wednesday of every month, but since that means that our December meeting would fall right between Christmas and New Year's, when most people are busy with family and holidays, we always do the meeting for that book in early January. As a consequence, we try to read a short book, or a novella as our January book, so everyone has time to read it before the second meeting, at the end of January. Nghi Vo has so far published six novellas about the cleric Chih from the Singing Hills, (with a seventh coming out later in 2026), many of which have won awards. The Empress of Salt and Fortune won the Hugo and Locus Awards for Best Novella in 2021, so it felt like a good choice. I keep picking them up in e-book sales, but this is my first time reading one, or anything from the author (despite owning six different things she's written). 

It feels as if the reader is deliberately kept at a remove from the story, since we read about Chih, being told the story by Rabbit, about several other people, of whom In-Yo is clearly the most important. It made it a bit difficult for me to engage with the story at first, because it's always a bit stange being two steps away from the main action, so to speak. The Empire that Chih, Rabbit and In-Yo inhabit is clearly modelled on ancient China, and there are clearly folklore and cultural references that I'm not sure I entirely grasped, but once I stuck with the story, I became very invested in the lives of Rabbit and In-Yo and hoped they would succeed in their rebellion against the Emperor. 

I liked this story enough that I will absolutely be reading more, although probably not in the next few months. I also own two of Vo's novels, that are supposed to be good, but one is a Great Gatsby retelling, so that one might not be entirely to my tastes. 

Judging a book by its cover: All the novellas in the series have this style of cover art, with rather rough drawings of animals and mythological beasts on the top, seemingly charging towards the bottom of the image, where the background is dark. I find this image rather sinister, and would worry more about the Rabbit, if it too didn't look rather unsavoury. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

CBR18 Book 5: "Kraft & Mod (Courage)" by Trine J. Cederlöf

Page count: 163 pages

Rating: 4.5 stars

Nowhere Book Bingo 26: A Middle Grade Book

Defeat the Goblin TBR: The Shiny book (added in December 2024)

Reading Rainbow - Green cover

Disclaimer! The author is a friend of mine, but my opinions are my own, and I bought the book with my own money (because friends make sure friends get royalties). 

As part of the peace agreement between the Green Shores and the Blue Mountains, Prince Mirounga (called Miro), nephew and heir to the king of the Green Shores, is sent into fosterage to the Blue Mountains. He is still grieving his father, an admiral who died in the war between the countries, but understands that spending a year working as a squire at the court will foster new diplomatic ties between the countries, as well as teach him important skills he will need when he becomes king in the future. 

The Red Sands was another country defeated by the Blue Mountains in the war, and it has also sent a young man to train with the royal guard. Tarek is the younger brother of the sultan, and he's clearly not intending to befriend any of the other recruits. He mostly keeps to the stables, more comfortable around the horses than people his own age. 

The two young men are pretty much exact opposites. Miro is almost as tall, wide and strong as an adult, but painfully shy, while Tarek is slender, agile and very flexible. During the second part of their training, the recruits are all supposed to be stationed in the snowy borderlands near the Black Mountains. There are multiple complications, which mean that all the recruits, even Miro and Tarek, need to learn to work together, or lives could be lost. 

In 2014, my friend Trine wrote a book, Crippled, retelling an old Danish fairy tale. Now she has written a sequel, set in the same fantasy universe, but focused on different characters. The boys who grew up over the course of Crippled are now the King and the General of The Blue Mountains, having fought and won a difficult war. King Vincent has a wife, a daughter and another child on the way. After the war, it is time for diplomacy, and the countries that lost both have to send a young man to apprentice in the Royal Guard for a year. 

This book doesn't retell any particular folk tale, but is a coming-of-age tale for the very different young men and how they find the friendship, belonging and well, the courage, to be who they were always meant to be. The story is in parts funny, adventurous, thrilling and moving. At more than one point in the story, especially towards the end of the book, I teared up and sniffled a little, because the writing hit me straight in my feels. I liked the first book, but I liked this one even better, probably because of the emotional beats. I just wish the stories were longer. 

Because I am lucky enough to have insider knowledge, I know for a fact that my friend is working on the third book in series, set in The Red Sands, involving the eldest princess of The Blue Mountains (who, it is hinted at having some unusual abilities) and the only princess of The Red Sands. So after two books where boys are the protagonists, we get to see the story of some young ladies, who build a friendship while solving mysteries together. I'm very excited. 

Judging a book by its cover: The first book in the series involved princes from the Blue Mountains, and the book cover was a lovely sky blue. One of the protagonists from this book is from the Green Coasts, and as a result, the cover is green. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

CBR18 Book 2: "The Swan's Daughter" by Roshani Chokshi

Page count: 400 pages

Rating: 4.5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC. My opinions are my own. 

Demelza is the seventh and youngest daughter of Araminta, a legendary veritas swan (extremely beautiful women who have the power to turn into swans, and whose voices compel anyone who hears it to tell the truth) and Prava, a centuries-old, very ambitious, and some would say, evil wizard. However, when veritas swans fall in love, the person they love gains control over them through a magical necklace with a winged key, which gives that person total control over them. The veritas swan can no longer choose when to transform and has to obey the wishes of their beloved. Only death can sever the bond, but if their beloved dies, so does the veritas swan. 

While Prava is quite monstrous, he does love his wife, and he clearly loves his seven daughters a lot. In fact, he raises them to be as cunning and ambitious as himself. As soon as they are old enough, he sends them off to advantageous marriage matches, so they can extend his sphere of influence and help him with his ultimate goal, to find the spell for eternal life. Demelza is different from her sisters. Unlike them, she doesn't have wings or the ability to fly, and while their songs are lovely, her singing voice is terrible. Because of this, Prava keeps her close to him in his castle. She grows up wanting to be as invaluable to him as her sisters, and reads and studies and tries to help him decipher all the clues as to how to complete the spell for immortality. 

Once she uncovers the final part, however, it turns out that what the wizard needs is a willing sacrifice, and the heart of a creature born of a beauty and a beast - namely, Demelza herself. He wants to carve out her heart, and the only safe place she can flee to is Rathe Castle, where the royal family of Malys live, and Prava is forbidden to enter. As it happens, this is just as the big competition to find Prince Arris' bride, so yet another young woman showing up on the castle grounds isn't exactly a problem. Araminta has told her daughter the truth: if she ever falls in love with someone, and surrenders her heart, she will be as trapped as her mother has been all these years. Demelza is therefore not intending to actually compete with the other young ladies to win the hand of the prince. She does propose an alliance with him, though, promising to use her truth-telling powers to help him discover which of the women competing may have genuine feelings for him, and which ones are there simply to murder him. 

King Enzo the Fool, ancestor to all the rulers of the Isle of Malys, managed to make the witch queen who once ruled there fall in love with him. He got her to grant him a magical boon. First of all, if one of his line died without an heir, the Isle would be ruined. Unfortunately, he worded the next bit badly. Only the male descendants of King Enzo, or whoever possessed their hand and heart in marriage, would be able to sit on the throne. Once the witch queen discovered King Enzo had manipulated her, she cut out his heart and, as a result, was the one with all the power. This continued down the centuries. The heir to the throne would marry and usually be murdered by their spouse within a day of the vows being spoken. Interestingly, Prince Arris' parents were an exception to this rule. His mother fully intended to murder his father, but fell so deeply in love before she had time to kill him, and hence Arris' father is the first king of the Isle of Malys in centuries who has been able to live to see his children reach adulthood.

In this world, everyone has two lives. When their first one ends, they are reborn as a tree or other plant, or occasionally a rock. Hence, all the previous rulers of Malys can be found as sentient trees in the grove of ancestors near the palace. They are happy to dispense advice to the current rulers, as needed. Prince Arris has chosen the spot he wants to grow and what tree he wants to turn into, but can't help but be romantic and hope he might find a semblance of the love his parents share (even if the queen keeps trying to murder her husband at least once a month, just to keep things interesting). 

When Demelza arrives at Rathe Castle, her mother has enchanted her so she looks covered in mud and grass and is dressed in an outfit made of reeds. Hence, the prince doesn't really consider her a potential bride, and most of the contestants are deeply dismissive of her. That works in her favour when she has to try to ferret out the truth from the various contestants, though they all underestimate her and her abilities. She meets in secret with the prince in the evenings, sharing her findings with him, while he normally brings her something he cooked or baked in the palace kitchens. But obviously, all these secret chats, involving food created specifically to cater to her likes and preferences (up to including pond weed, crunchy beetles or tadpoles), aren't going to lead to feels between the swan and the prince. Their friendship is totally platonic, yes indeed. 

In the first few rounds and basically the first half or so of the book, there are way too many contestants, and I couldn't really keep them apart. The two young women who share a room with Demelza are certainly no threat to Arris and seem to genuinely want to befriend Demelza. One turns into a giant bear and seems more interested in cooking the perfect recipes than marrying the prince, while the other seems to have more of an affinity with Arris' very fiercely protective twin sister. Then there's Edmea, the mean-girl beauty everyone expects to win the competition, who can magically create her own outfits, and who was described in such a way that it was impossible for me not to picture her as Ariana Grande's Glinda the Good from the Wicked movies. Couldn't tell you anything about any of the others.

Demelza, born different from all her other sisters, and mostly undervalued and treated with disdain by her mother (to make her seem insignificant and plain, so Prava wouldn't figure out that she was the missing link in his quest for immortality, has always felt like she needs to prove her worth and has a very low opinion of herself. Arris has pretty much known forever that since he is the crown prince, he is unlikely to survive his wedding day, and has therefore never dared make any hopes or dreams about the future, making every effort to live in the present and enjoy every aspect of life. Demelza fears falling in love because her mother has told her that it means giving her beloved total control of her life. Arris hopes to fall in love, even though he knows it's likely his future spouse will murder him to gain power and the right to rule the Isle of Malys. So they are slow to realise their feelings for one another, and both have very conflicted feelings about true love.

Arris has always been lucky enough to be loved by his parents and his very protective twin sister, while Demelza has always felt like the odd one out. Since her sisters all had beautiful singing voices and happily fit into Prava's plans for world domination (at least his little corner of the world), Demelza has lived a sheltered life, living the life of a scholar. She has a vast knowledge of all sorts of things acquired in books, but struggles in social settings. The two princesses she shares a room with are the first women she's known actual friendship with. So while this is a story with a romance in it, it's also about Demelza learning to appreciate herself as a person, and learning that she is worthy of friendship and affection, she doesn't just need to be useful to those around her. As the number of contestants is winnowed down with each new challenge, the remaining women, despite their many differences, all grow closer, as well. 

This is the first Roshani Chokshi book I have read (despite owning many of them). Based on this, it will not be the last one that I read. I am a sucker for good fairy tale retellings, or fantasy stories that feel like they could be fairy tales. As far as I can tell, this story isn't actually based on a previously existing fairy tale, but it has a lot of familiar elements for those who have read a lot of them. 

Judging a book by its cover: While I think it's a lovely cover, I still think it may be too ethereal and dreamy for the story this book tells. I think the story is darker than this image implies. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

CBR17 Book 70: "In a Second" by Kate Canterbary

Page count: 505 pages

Rating: 3.5 stars

This was an ARC from the author. I am very grateful, but my opinions are my own. 

Audrey Saunders has not seen her former boyfriend, Jude Bellessi, since he showed up at the church, only moments before she was due to get married, to ask her to run away with him instead. Because of a whole host of reasons, Audrey couldn't tell Jude why she was getting married, and why she broke up with him in the first place and moved across the country. About a decade later, she certainly didn't expect him to show up at their high school reunion, but there he is, larger than life and handsomer than ever.

While once he was the motorcycle-driving bad boy her parents disapproved of, now Jude is an aerospace engineer and single dad, trying to gain sole custody of his son (it's complicated). He is attending the reunion because he needs a pretty big favour from Audrey, and figures she owes him for the way their relationship crashed and burned all those years ago. Jude's mother was dying of cancer, and he may have lied a whole lot and claimed that he and Audrey were not only happily reunited, but were due to get married. Of course, now Jude's mum is fully recovered and delighted that she will get to plan her son's wedding to the woman he couldn't forget.

Matrimony did not work out for Audrey, and she has no intention of ever getting married again. She does feel like she has a debt to repay, however, so she agrees to play fake fiancée to Jude for a week. After that, she never needs to see Jude again, and she'll go celebrate one of her best friends' weddings. Jude plans to wait a couple of months, then he will tell his mother that they broke up, and that will be that. Neither of them had taken into account flight cancellations, a cross-country road trip, or being trapped in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere, in the most depressing motel room you could possibly imagine - which obviously only has one bed. 

This is the third book in the Friendship, Rhode Island series, which all have heroes and heroines who have to go through a fake engagement for complicated reasons. Jamie, who is both one of Audrey's best friends and also a fellow teacher, just laughs hysterically at how optimistic Audrey is about this being a brief transaction, after which she and Jude will never see each other again. By now, it's quite clear that fake engagement equals an eventual happy ever after for all of these women (who all became friends because they worked at the same school). 

All of the books in this series are long; it is very rare that a romance needs to be longer than 400 pages. I thought the plot dragged out for too long in In a Jam, and I thought the plot dragged out too long in this one, too. I understand that there is a whole lot of angst to get through on both Audrey and Jude's part. One of the reasons the book is clearly so long is that Canterbary seems to want the readers to not only get the main romance, but also time to reconnect with characters from previous books. Which is fine, but I'm not sure we needed as much of it as here, and I'm not sure I would care for it much if this was the first book in the series that I picked up. I also don't know if we needed as many complications and obstacles thrown in their way as Audrey and Jude have.

Going forward, I'm now very curious whether Canterbary intends to write a romance starring Jamie, who seems very attachment-averse and keeps taking part in polyamorous orgies. She doesn't seem like the sort of person who will want to settle down with one (or several) people, but I would love to be surprised. What I want most of all right now, and the author seems to be heavily setting up for, is a book about Ruth, one of the sisters of Ryan from In a Rush. She's a prominent supporting character in this one, and has clearly got up to some shenanigans which may lead to a HEA eventually. 

Judging a book by its cover: This is my favourite of the Friendship, Rhode Island covers so far. It doesn't hurt that it's pretty much all shades of purple. The violets are a lovely touch, once it becomes clear what the colour and flower mean to Audrey. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read

CBR17 Book 68: "One of Us is Lying" by Karen M. McManus

Page count: 368 pages

Rating: 4.5 stars

CBR17 Bingo: School (The Breakfast Club with murder. So much high school drama)

On a Monday afternoon, five high schoolers find themselves in detention after someone planted phones in their bags. They all claim the phones are not theirs, but the teacher is not listening. There is Cooper, the star athlete, with a promising career in baseball ahead of him. There is Addy, always perfectly put together and the homecoming princess. There is Nate, the school's bad boy, who is on probation for dealing drugs. There is Bronwyn, most likely to become valedictorian and hoping for a spot at Yale, where several generations of her family have studied. And finally, there is Simon, who runs the school's extremely accurate, and frequently cruel, gossip app. Everyone follows it, and while he may ruin reputations in the process, Simon never lies.

Less than an hour later, only four remain, after Simon is taken to the hospital after suffering severe anaphylactic shock. Strangely, while everyone was scrambling to try to save him, he didn't appear to have an EPIPen in his bag, and every single EPIPen in the school nurse's office was also found to be missing. By Monday evening, Simon is dead. The cause of death appears to have been peanut oil at the bottom of the paper cup he drank from, just before he collapsed. It was well known at school that he was deathly allergic to peanuts. The police don't think his death is accidental, and as the four remaining students from detention are questioned by the police, it becomes clear that Simon had planned to reveal a deep, dark secret about each of them the next day, so they all have motives for wanting him dead. He just hadn't had time to post the entry yet, but it's there on his computer for them all to see. 

Four teens, who previously barely spoke to one another, are now cast into the spotlight, all suspects in a murder investigation. Is one of them a ruthless murderer, or did someone else manage to sneak inside the classroom while everyone in there was distracted by a collision in the parking lot?

Mostly, I only read historical mysteries, set in the Victorian era, with lady sleuths. However, this year, not only have I read a lot more mysteries in general (24 so far), but the majority of them have been contemporaries. Thanks are due to Richard Osman and Karen M. McManus. This book was entertaining and twisty enough that I immediately ignored my planned TBR list for October to read the two sequels (which I won't be reviewing, because I don't need to). Book 1 is still the best, book 2 was a bit weaker and book 3 was pretty good again. 

McManus alternates chapters for each of the protagonists, the Bayview Four, as they come to be known in all the news reports. It allows us to share in their fears and insecurities, and makes us as readers understand why Simon revealing their secrets would be so devastating to them. One of them is likely an unreliable narrator, because it wouldn't be much fun if we found out who the killer was too early in the story. Very shortly after Simon dies, someone starts writing anonymous Tumblr posts claiming to be Simon's killer, revealing things that it seems only someone in the detention room would know. It also becomes obvious that Simon must have shared his password with someone, because all those secrets Simon didn't have time to reveal before his death are published, showing the world exactly what may have motivated one (or several) of the Bayview Four to want to poison Simon.

I've read quite a few mysteries, so there were a couple of twists in the story that I had predicted before they were revealed, but part of why this book is so entertaining isn't even the central mystery, it's getting to know Bronwyn, Nate, Addy and Cooper, and seeing these four very different people form an unlikely friendship because they are now murder suspects. It was also why I wanted to keep going with the series, I really liked all of them, and wanted to find out what more was in store for them.

I saw on the internet that this book was also turned into a TV series. It looks like they made big narrative changes to the story, though, which did not appeal to me. There are far too many good things out there that I don't have the energy or will to watch right now, I'm not going to watch a disappointing adaptation of a book I really enjoyed. 

If you're not put off by YA books and want a fun, slightly twisty read, this is worth picking up. 

Judging a book by its cover: I have the UK paperback cover, and I much prefer it to the American cover with the four faces in a grid (where the faces are all cut out, creepy much?) This is sparse and elegant, and while the tag lines are a bit hokey, they fit with the contents of the book. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

CBR17 Book 67: "Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow" by Jessica Townsend

Page count: 480 pages

Rating: 4.5 stars

Nowhere Bingo 25: A middle-grade book

CBR17 Bingo: N (a book starting with the letter N)

Morrigan Crow is a cursed child, born on Eventide (think New Year's Eve, but unlucky) and as such, is due to die at midnight on her 11th birthday. She keeps being blamed for everything bad that happens in her surroundings and spends a lot of time writing apology notes. 

However, before she can meet her doom, a mysterious stranger called Jupiter North appears and takes her away, chased by shadowy monsters hunting them, to a different world (or alternate dimension) and a city called Nevermoor. Now, Morrigan gets to live in the magical hotel that Jupiter runs, and starts making friends for the first time in her life. Jupiter intends for Morrigan to join the Wundrous Society, where he is also a prominent member. But to be accepted, she has to compete in four different and very challenging trials over the course of the year, and the final one consists of showing off one's extraordinary talent. Everyone keeps telling her that her talent will be revealed in due course, but Morrigan is pretty sure that being cursed is not what the leaders of the Society are looking for. 

To complicate matters further, it turns out that Jupiter has illegally smuggled Morrigan into Nevermoor, and if she doesn't pass the trials and get accepted into the Wundrous Society, she'll be returned to her own world, just in time for her previously scheduled midnight death. 

This is the sort of book that I'm pretty sure my son will really enjoy in a few years, when I either read it to him or he picks it up for himself (he currently loves reading comics, like the Dogman books or Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur). Morrigan, who is pale and constantly wears black, even when everyone else is in riotous colours around her, feels very inspired by Wednesday Addams, but she has a more cheerful disposition, and doesn't seem to actively resent making friends. 

Nevermoor is a very intriguing fantasy world, and there are lots of strange, magical things, including sentient talking animals and chandeliers that grow from the ceilings. For a child who has never really known any kind of warmth or affection, it's a big adjustment for Morrigan to live in a place where people seem to care about what her wants and wishes are and treat her with kindness and curiosity. Jupiter is very nice to her, but he is secretive, and also extremely busy, and has to be away a lot. He has a nephew, Jack, who stays at the hotel during the holidays, and he and Morrigan do not get along. There are hundreds of children taking part in the first trial for the Wundrous Society, but about half get eliminated with each new challenge. While Morrigan makes a very good friend, there are also some mean girls who would like nothing more than to see her fail and be forcibly evicted back to her own world. 

Since the series has been out for quite a few years now, I think I've acquired at least the first three in e-book sales, so they're just waiting for me on my TBR. I'm sure it will come as no surprise to anyone that by the end of the book, Morrigan discovers that there are good reasons why Jupiter decided to rescue her from certain death, and she has an interesting future ahead of her. I'm looking forward to seeing where the series goes next. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

CBR17 Book 64: "The Thursday Murder Club" by Richard Osman

Page count: 382 pages

Rating: 5 stars

CBR17 Bingo: White (a book with a white cover)

In a charming retirement village somewhere in the south of England, four elderly individuals solve cold cases for fun. Retired nurse, Joyce, is the last to be inducted into "The Thursday Murder Club", as they are in need of some of her medical expertise in trying to solve their most recent case. Led by the formidable Elizabeth, who used to be a spy, aided and abetted by Ibrahim, a retired psychologist and Ron, a former trade union leader, the club used to have a fourth member, who co-founded the group with Elizabeth. Penny, a former Detective Inspector, is now in a coma, but is watched over daily by her husband and visited frequently by Elizabeth with updates about all their investigations. Joyce, who wasn't really sure she was going to settle in at Coopers Chase, happily shares her medical knowledge, and while she is clearly a very different woman from Penny, her cheerful demeanour, her excellent baking skills, and her wits make her a valuable new member of the group. 

Investigating cold cases takes a back seat to investigating an actual murder when Tony Curran, one of the developers who built Coopers Chase, is found bludgeoned to death in his home, with a photograph of some pretty shady characters left next to him. Now that he's dead, the other developer, Ian Ventham, has no one to oppose his plans to sell the retirement village and turn everything into luxury flats. He also wants to dig up the local graveyard and move all the bodies, to the horror of many of the long-time residents, whose family and friends are buried there. 

Having previously befriended Police Constable Donna de Freitas, recently transferred from London and is clearly rather bored with the routine tasks she's being given in the quiet country town. Thanks to some trickery from Elizabeth and Joyce, Donna is invited to join the murder investigation, shadowing the head investigator, DCI Chris Hudson. 

As the case progresses, it turns out that there is more than one individual with a motive to kill Tony Curran, and as often happens in these sorts of stories, his is not the only murder in need of solving by the end. 

By now, The Thursday Murder Club, published in 2020, has become a series of five novels and was recently turned into a Netflix movie with a very stacked cast. Because I didn't start reading the book until after the movie was announced, and I'd seen several trailers, my mental images of a lot of the characters matched up with their movie counterparts. For the most part, I think they cast the characters really well, with the notable exception of Pierce Brosnan, who is a very handsome man, but not even a little bit convincing as a former working-class labour rights champion. As my BFF Lydia says, Sean Bean was right there! 

Having now seen the film, I would strongly advise anyone who has read and likes (or loves) the book to skip it, because they had to cut so many corners, including several engaging subplots and change a bunch of stuff to cram it into a family-friendly Netflix film, and while it was well-acted, I was disappointed at the choices the filmmakers made. However, I suspect it's going to result in even bigger sales for Richard Osman, something I can't be disappointed about; he seems like a very clever and delightful man. 

I don't know exactly why it took me so long to read this, but I guess I should be grateful for the adaptation to finally make me pick the book up. I was pretty sure I was going to like it once I got around to it. I even gifted this and several of the sequels to my Dad some Christmases ago, based on other people's reviews, because he likes a good mystery novel. For the record, he was also disappointed by the second half of the movie. 

Despite featuring several rather grisly murders and a bunch of interconnecting mysteries, some of which go decades back, it's a very funny book, and I absolutely adore the characters. Not just our central four protagonists, either; there are so many minor supporting characters who give the story life and make it so very entertaining to read. Once I started reading, I could barely put the book down, and I also proceeded to read all the sequels over the course of a week in late August. I can't remember the last time I binge-read four books that fast. I just love hanging out with the characters and got genuinely emotional several times while reading the books. I'm very happy Osman has said he has many more adventures in store for Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron (not to forget Donna, Chris, Bogdan and importing supporting players). 

Judging a book by its cover: By now, it feels like every third mystery novel you see looks like this book, but this was the book that started the trend. So many other books with simple covers and similar fonts, just because Osman's book is so awesome. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.