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Review: Never Lasting by Angela Bourassa

Never Lasting by Angela Bourassa Blurb from Goodreads : A scorching-hot romance about what happens when you break a golden rule: Don’t get hooked on your hookup. When Lucy, a recent NYU law grad with plans to work abroad, and James, a caterer who dreams of opening a small-town restaurant, indulge in a summer fling, they know there’s an expiration date: They’ll be moving to opposite sides of the planet in six weeks. But is their fantasy sexcapade screwed when real feelings get in the way? Or do they let whatever is blossoming between them trump their career ambitions? I liked this from the first page. Fairly low drama, and the ending was perfect. Lucy and James were great together and the story unfolded organically. Will look for more from this author! If you still haven't picked up an 831 Stories novel, what are you w...

Review: This Much Is True by Katherine A. Sherbrooke

This Much Is True by Katherine A. Sherbrooke Blurb from Goodreads : A mother faces an impossible dilemma as her daughter’s future hangs in the balance On her fifty-eighth birthday, Veronica Harmon feels blessed—with a fulfilling veterinary career, a wonderful marriage and three grown children, her youngest newly engaged and celebrating her first solo art show that very night. But when Veronica meets her daughter’s future in-laws, Ted and Belinda, who’ve flown across the country for the show, she is shocked to recognize Ted from an incident during high school that changed the trajectory of her life. Having never told a soul about that night, Veronica’s past reemerges like a live grenade. Over the course of a pre-arranged weekend at the Harmon’s home intended to better acquaint the two families, Veronica unearths troubling memories, questions her own recollections and grapples with the impossible. If she quietly welcomes...

Review: How Can My Manager Be So Stupid? by Kazumasa Hayami, Translated by Haydn Trowell

How Can My Manager Be So Stupid? by Kazumasa Hayami, Translated by Haydn Trowell Blurb from Goodreads : A candid story of one woman's fight to find her way through her working life, while, against all odds, clinging to her passion for reading and for sharing books. Kyoko still loves books. Just about. But life at the Musashino Bookshop is starting to get her down. Above all, there's one question that keeps going round and round her How can my manager be so stupid? From his obsession with self-help books to his insistence on giving inspirational speeches at staff meetings, everything about Takeru Yamamoto seems designed to set Kyoko's teeth on edge. And, as the bookshop lurches from crisis to crisis, facing criticism from customers and authors alike, it's tough for her to keep her love of literature alive. Only the prospect of chang...

Review: Meet Me in the Garden by Nina LaCour

Meet Me in the Garden by Nina LaCour Blurb from Goodreads : New Orleans, 1944. Odette has always been one of the Honore sisters, glamorous and admired in their Creole community. But while Odette’s older sisters are content to be wives and mothers, Odette has always wanted something else. It is only with her beloved cousin, Delphine, that Odette can tell her secret: she is in love with a woman, and she longs to be an artist. Delphine has a secret lover, too, a white man. In the hidden garden they’ve discovered, Odette and Delphine can dream of futures full of passion and freedom. But five years later, Odette's life is nothing like what she'd planned. She's a widowed mother, living in Los Angeles, and she and Delphine, who is passing as white, have spiraled away from each other. When Delphine reaches a breaking point, Odette must make a shattering choice to try to hold her family together. Profound and expansive...

Review: The Treasure House by Amy Matthews

The Treasure House by Amy Matthews Blurb from Goodreads : Zoe Copeland and her daughter Florence need a new start. The only problem is, she can’t really afford one . . . Opportunity calls in the form of a listing for a charming cottage that may just be in their price range. The catch? It’s a treasure house – filled to the brim with junk. The place is a certified disaster zone in the middle of a tiny seaside town Zoe’s never heard of, but beggars can’t be choosers. Eleven-year-old Florence loves the old house full of knick-knacks and other people’s memories, but Zoe is daunted. It doesn’t help that her grouchy new neighbour, Jake, thinks she’s crazy for taking this on – though that doesn’t stop him from lending a hand, and it’s not long before Zoe can’t get the handsome man off her mind. As they clear out the house, Zoe becomes increasingly intrigued by the woman who lived there before them. Who was Marly, and how did ...

Review: The Rayburn Affair by Laurie Petrou

The Rayburn Affair by Laurie Petrou Blurb from Goodreads : Art, ambition and desire collide when a struggling academic becomes entangled in the life and marriage of her literary idol. By day, Dr Ruth Morgan lectures on ‘ the new frontier of storytelling’ at East Toronto University. By night, she toils away at a collection of short stories, fantasising about a literary career to rival that of the iconic Shelby Rayburn, internationally renowned and widely hailed as the voice of Ruth’s generation of women. When Shelby and her husband, Oscar, make an appearance at an annual faculty party, Ruth can’t believe her luck. The trio immediately hit it off, and an intoxicating intimacy develops between them, underwritten by a simmering sexual tension. Everything changes when Shelby makes Ruth an offer she can’t refuse—one that she can’t tell anyone about, incl...