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 51: "In a Jam" by Kate Canterbary

Page count: 474 pages

Audio book length: 15 hrs 53 minutes

Rating: 3.5 stars

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

Official plot summary:

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

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

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

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

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

Until Shay returns to their hometown.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Crossposted on Cannonball Read

CBR17 Book 30: "Along Came Amor" by Alexis Daria

Page count: 512 pages

Rating: 4.5 stars

CBR17 Pie Chart Challenge: Diversity

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

Ava is nursing her hurt feelings over the dissolution of her marriage in a hotel bar, when a handsome man approaches and offers to make her a better drink than the one she currently has (she made a face when sipping it). The man clearly has bartending experience, and after a brief conversation, Ava discovers that the charming man in fact owns the hotel she's currently in (not to mention a whole chain of them). Ava decides to do something entirely out of character for her, and agrees to a one night stand with Roman, which turns out to be a lot more memorable than either of them expected.

Roman Vasquez barely ever takes time off; he lives and breathes for his business empire, always striving for more and better. Yet the chance meeting with the downcast, but lovely Ava at the bar makes him uncharacteristically order his assistant to clear his entire schedule, and while they agreed it was to be a one-time thing, the two continue to meet up every few months or so, when Ava is feeling especially upset and dejected. At first, Roman doesn't mind being this beautiful woman's comfort hookup, but with every new meeting, he begins to fall more and more, and wants to pursue a proper relationship with Ava. He's always been hard-working and goal-oriented, and now his goal is to win Ava.

Ava has a very meddling family with a lot of strong opinions, and was basically made to feel like it was her fault that her husband cheated and that their marriage dissolved. She therefore wants none of her friends and family to find out about Roman, to avoid endless speculation and mean-spirited gossip about a relationship she doesn't see leading to a long-term future anyway. So it complicates matters rather a lot when she discovers that Roman is the best man at her cousin Jasmine's upcoming wedding (where Ava is the Maid of Honour). How is she going to keep their hook-ups secret when she can barely keep her eyes and hands off him every time he is near, and now they have to spend a lot of time together wedding planning?

This is only the second Alexis Daria novel that I've read, the first one being Take the Lead, a reworking of her debut novel. That was a perfectly good read (although I remember very little about the plot a year later), but it took me much longer to get through than many romances, since the plot and characterisation weren't really grabbing me. That is certainly not the case in this book. Eva is a really interesting protagonist, Roman is an excellent foil for her, and from their first meeting, I just wanted to keep reading to see what would happen next. 

Some of the supporting characters in this story are the couples from the previous two books in the Primas of Power trilogy (both of which I own, but haven't gotten round to reading yet). While Ava's cousins Jasmine and Michelle are ride or die for her and would support her through anything, it's quite obvious that most of Ava's family are really toxic and constantly make her feel like a failure. In contrast, Roman's mother and sister (who both live with him in his swanky apartment, at his insistence) are extremely supportive of him - they just want him to find a better work-life balance (in fact, get any sort of life outside of work) and do so much for them. 

I read this book after having finished some books that were either frustrating and rather boring or merely fine. So it's possible that my very high rating of this is because it was just so delightful to find an entertaining and well-written book as a palate cleanser to those other ones. I'm pretty sure that if I re-read it, I'll stand by my rating, though. It's not a full five stars (Ava takes a bit too long to wake up and realise that Roman is perfect for her), but this book balances some heavy themes and a lot of emotional topics in a good way. It's rare to find an author who can skillfully balance genuine emotion and romance, with cringeworthy embarrassment, cathartic long-overdue emotional confrontations with overbearing family, and still manage to include more than one laugh-out-loud moment. Yet in the final chapters of this book, Daria manages to do just that. 

That excellent balance also makes it possible for me to ignore the "baby in the epilogue" of it all (much easier to do now that I'm no longer involuntarily childless). This book seems to have more endings than the movie version of Return of the King, but I guess that might be natural, since this book finishes up Daria's entire Primas of Power trilogy, and it doesn't just show us Ava and Roman's continued happiness, but what happens to the other two couples, as well. Now that I've read and thoroughly enjoyed this, I'm absolutely going to add the previous two books in the series to my reading list over the summer. 

Judging a book by its cover: I really like the style of the covers for this trilogy, making the covers look like old-time movie posters. They're all distinct and suitable for the book in question, but eye-catching with bold colours, and the couple front and centre in a passionate embrace. I'm so very ready for the drawn covers to move on to something else, but these are better than a lot of other romances out there right now. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read

CBR17 Book 9: "In a Rush" by Kate Canterbary

Page count: 480 pages

Rating: 5 stars

This was an ARC sent to me by the author. My opinions are my own, and I loved the book so much that I pre-ordered a copy as soon as I'd finished reading it. 

 

Emmeline "Emme" Ahlborg catches her boyfriend, the man she was hoping was going to propose to her, in the act, sleeping with another woman (when Emme shows up on his doorstep with home-cooked food). She's devastated, and what's worse, he's a groomsman in the wedding of her best friend (to whom she's the maid of honour) so it's not like she's going to be able to avoid seeing him. Not one to cause trouble or mess with her friend's wedding plans, Emme swallows down her discomfort and hopes to find a suitable revenge date to bring to the wedding.

During a dinner with her best friend from high school, Ryan Ralston, now a hot shot professional quarterback, he listens in both horror and sympathy to her recounting the events of her break-up and makes an unusual suggestion. He reminds her of the pact they made back in high school, that if they were still single when they turned thirty, they would marry each other. Ryan just turned thirty, and Emme will be thirty in a few months. She needs a revenge date, he has an image problem and needs a wife to reassure society at large that he's a reliable and stable guy who's worth doing business with. He claims that their long friendship and history together will make the story believable, not just to the press and his business partners, but to her friends and family. What Ryan isn't telling Emme is that she's the only woman he'd ever consider marrying because he's loved her since high school, he just never had the guts to tell her. 

After some deliberation, Emme agrees to the plan, on the condition that Ryan helps find her stepsister/roommate an internship. They agree to fake date for a few months before actually marrying, to make the story more convincing. Emme has had a series of dreadful relationships and clearly isn't used to being taken care of or appreciated. Ryan, on the other hand, who finally sees his chance to win her heart (and has also listened to all her sob stories over the years) pulls out all the stops to pamper and spoil his "fake" girlfriend, at least as much as she'll let him. She refuses to move out of her cramped and ramshackle apartment and won't really accept all the gifts he tries to shower her with.

As is always the case with the fake dating/marriage of convenience trope, the lines between platonic and romantic fade gradually. In this case, the only one in Ryan's life who doesn't know that he's head over heels for her seems to be Emme herself, so one part of the couple is already hopelessly in love and just waiting for the other to reciprocate. 

I absolutely loved this book. It worked for me on every level. Emme is a great heroine who clearly deserves the world, and Ryan is just the man to give it to her. Her parents had an acrimonious divorce and both of her parents have had a series of unsuccessful relationships. Now Emme has a very supportive stepmother, but because of her mother's bitterness and vitriol, it's difficult for Emme to accept this woman's love and affection. She's estranged from her father and doesn't seem to ever have had a decent boyfriend. She works as a teacher (so of course I would love her), and is so loyal to her friends that she's willing to put up with the awkwardness of seeing her ex (and his new fiancee, the woman he cheated on her with) at a number of pre-wedding events. 

If Ryan has any flaws at all, it must be his refusal to confess his real feelings towards Emme. In every other respect, he seems to be perfect. He's a talented athlete, a good friend, a loving son and brother, and great with kids. He worships the ground Emme walks on, and wants to use all his wealth and resources to make her life better. 

This book features characters that apparently first appeared in In a Jam, and mentions characters and places from Shucked. If I'm brutally honest, this book could probably have been a bit shorter, but on the other hand, I am hard-pressed to see which bits should have been left out. This is only my third Canterbary novel ever, but I really like her writing style and am glad she has a big back catalogue I can choose from while I wait for her next book to come out. 

Judging a book by its cover: Not exactly the most exciting cover for this one. Also not entirely sure why it's showing what I'm assuming is part of a football field, since Ryan's career as a football player mostly takes place off-page, so to speak. 

Crossposted by Cannonball Read. 

CBR16 Book 44: (Trust) Falling for You by Charish Reid

Page count: 145 pages

Rating: 4 stars

Nowhere Book Bingo: A novella

Smart Bitches Summer Bingo: The Great Outdoors   

Yolanda Watson tries her best to be an engaging and motivating English professor, she is well-liked by both her colleagues and her students. However, writing grant applications are not her strongest suit and she is upset that she lost out on a generous grant that could have helped a lot of her disadvantaged students.

Samuel Morris knows he's not popular, and doesn't particularly try to be either. He believes in working hard, following rules and taking things seriously. He's aware that Yolanda seems to dislike him, but doesn't really know it's because he was awared the grant she had also applied for, which he also needed the grant to help many of his own disadvantaged students. On his part, he finds Yolanda both exasperating and confounding, and wishes she'd be on time for committee meetings and show signs of taking issues seriously occasionally.  

Now the two of them are forced to share a cabin while on a team-building retreat in the woods of Wisconsin. Not only that, the people who share a cabin are Team-Building Buddies for the whole retreat and are supposed to do a lot of different bonding activities together. Samuel is a neat freak, Yolanda is chaotic and messy. Can they endure a week together? How long before their dislike turns to like, and possibly lust? And will Yolanda, very much a city girl, survive challenges like grasshoppers, spiders and even bears?

It can be tricky to write a satisfying romance in a novella, since you have a lot less space and time to get the characters together. Since Yolanda and Samuel are already coworkers and know each other, to a certain extent, they already have an established connection. Then there's the forced proximity, and various challenging situations where one of them has to help or assist the other, and since this is a small scale story without too much drama, it's not like there needs to be a third act breakup or some sort of grand gesture for them to get together. It's very quickly established that their dislike of each other comes mostly from them being very different people, and once they get a chance to talk and get to know each other better, those differences don't really matter. Over the course of the novella, Yolanda helps Samuel relax and let go a bit, while he helps her get more focused and organised (and promises to help her improve her grant applications in the future). 

This novella has been on my TBR list for a while, and seemed like the perfect choice when the Smart Bitches Summer Bingo had a square for "The Great Outdoors". Since the Nowhere Book Bingo had a square for "Novella" this worked as a two-fer, which is great.  The only other Charish Reid I've read is The Write Escape (also for the Nowhere Book Bingo, clearly Reid just writes books that fit that challenge well) and I like both stories, although the one set in Ireland is probably more to my taste than this one (like Yolanda, I'm not very comfortable outside in nature). Based on the two stories I have now read, I'll probably be moving some of my other Charish Reid books higher on my TBR. 

Judging a book by its cover: This is a pretty cute cartoony cover, although I'm pretty sure the woods described in the novella are nothing like the weird tall and strangely spaced beech trees on here. I especially like the bear peeking out from behind the bush in the background (IYKYK). 

Crossposted by Cannonball Read