Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from February, 2025

Audiobook Review: Six Weeks in Reno by Lucy H. Hedrick, Narrated by Sarah Naughton

Six Weeks in Reno by Lucy H. Hedrick, Narrated by Sarah Naughton Blurb from Goodreads : September 27, 1931. Today my new life begins. After twenty years in a loveless marriage, Evelyn Henderson will do anything to escape her stifling suburban life. She boards a train for Reno, Nevada, a former frontier town that’s booming thanks to “six-weekers”: women from all walks of life who take up residence there just long enough to secure an uncontested divorce—a right they don’t yet have in their home states. Evelyn settles into the Flying N Ranch and soon bonds with her housemates, most of whom have never ventured this far from home—or from societal conventions. The Biggest Little City in the World offers a heady taste of freedom for the horseback riding in denim and fringe by day and being courted by dance-hall cowboys by night. But underneath the glamour are...

Review: Creep: A Love Story by Emma van Straaten

Creep: A Love Story by Emma van Straaten Blurb from Goodreads : From a blistering new voice in dark literary fiction, an unsettling portrait of loneliness, obsession, and identity which if a stranger was left alone in your house, how well could they truly get to know you—enough to fall in love with you? Alice and Tom are made for each other. Deeply connected, they share a flat in London, go to galleries together, enjoy the same books and wine. They even share a toothbrush. It’s all picture perfect. Except Alice and Tom have never met. Alice has been cleaning Tom’s apartment every Wednesday for a year. With every smudge wiped from his coffee cup, every multivitamin counted in the jar, Alice spirals deeper into infatuation, imagining a love so powerful it might erase a lifetime of self-hatred and loneliness. But as Alice prepares for the moment when she ...

Review: Cold as Hell (Haven's Rock #3) by Kelley Armstrong, narrated by Thérèse Plummer

Cold as Hell (Haven's Rock #3) by Kelley Armstrong, narrated by Thérèse Plummer Blurb from Goodreads : New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong returns to Haven’s Rock in Cold as Hell as Casey Butler hunts down a dangerous killer during a deadly blizzard. Haven’s Rock is a sanctuary town hidden deep in the Yukon for those who need to disappear from the regular world. Detective Casey Duncan and her husband, Sheriff Eric Dalton, are starting a family now that they’ve settled into their life here. As Casey nears the end of her pregnancy, she lets nothing, including her worried husband, stop her from investigating what happens in the forbidden forest outside the town of Haven’s Rock. When one of the town's residents is drugged and wanders too close to the edge of town, she’s dragged into the woods kicking and screaming. She’s saved in the nick of time, but the women of the town are alarmed. Casey and Eri...

Review: The First Girl by Claire McGowan

The First Girl by Claire McGowan Blurb from Goodreads : She believed her serial-killer ex was innocent, but now history is repeating itself. What does she really remember? Writer Karen Walker knows more than most about murderers. Her first love went on to become The Bagman, a notorious serial killer now locked away for life in a maximum-security prison. Karen has spent her life running from the weight of having loved him, defended him and, ultimately, leading the police to his door. But now, ten years later, just as she’s about to publish her account of his crimes, a young woman is abducted in horribly familiar circumstances. It can’t be The Bagman…can it? He’s safely behind bars, thanks to her. But she has to know for sure. Returning to the hometown she thought she’d left for good, Karen is drawn into a deadly game of cat and mouse with the man she’s never escaped. If there’s any chance of saving the kidnapped girl, s...

Review: Nothing Serious by Emily J. Smith

Nothing Serious by Emily J. Smith Blurb from Goodreads : A disillusioned tech executive goes into an obsessive spiral when her best friend—and longtime crush—is implicated in a woman’s death. Edie Walker’s life is not going as planned. At thirty-five she feels stuck: in her career, in her love life, and in her tiny San Francisco studio apartment. It doesn’t help that her best friend, Peter Masterson, is basically the über successful male version of her—and she’s hopelessly, unrequitedly in love with him. But when Peter breaks up with his girlfriend of seven years, Edie thinks her life might finally be turning around. He’ll discover how toxic dating-app culture is and realize Edie has been right for him all along. Except Peter almost immediately lands a date with Anaya Thomas, a gorgeous, whip-smart professor and writer of feminist literature whom even...

Audiobook Review: Celebrity Crush by Christy Swift, Narrated by Andrew Eiden and Stephanie Willing

Celebrity Crush by Christy Swift,  Narrated by Andrew Eiden and Stephanie Willing Blurb from Goodreads : A romance writer’s wildest dreams—the bestseller list, a movie deal, and a date with the real-life inspiration for her Hollywood hero—are all within her grasp if only she can hold it all together. Author Emmy Ellison is a sucker for a page-turning happy ending, but she’s no longer counting on one for herself. If she stays focused on her career goals instead of her love life, she just might find success. And now that her latest novel is about to become a movie, she’s determined to become the latest social media sensation. Enter her plan for her secret celebrity crush, the real-life inspiration for her romantic hero. When he accepts the starring role in the big-screen adaptation of her book, she’s determined to team up with a fake dating scheme—no...

Review: 37 Questions by June Kaye

37 Questions by June Kaye Blurb from Goodreads : A tornado warning and a magazine quiz bring an unlikely pair together in this meet-cute romance debut perfect for fans of Notting Hill and Before Sunrise. Nora is struggling with a corporate job that leaves her no time for family and the aftermath of an ill-advised hookup with a colleague who she's discovered had a girlfriend. And now there's a tornado warning on the news... of all things. Nora's prepared to hunker down alone for the storm with wine and a good book, until a beguiling (and admittedly handsome) British man shows up at her door. Aiden tries to stay under the radar, but after starring in a string of popular movies it's become nearly impossible. So when Nora doesn't recognize him, begrudgingly letting him inside her home to shelter in place only after confirming he's an old friend of her landlord, he's relieved by the chance to be ...

Review: Can't Help Faking in Love by Swati Hegde

Can't Help Faking in Love by Swati Hegde Blurb from Goodreads : A young woman with Bollywood roots hires a barista to act as her boyfriend for her cousin’s wedding—only to learn you can’t fake chemistry like theirs—in this desi romance from the author of Match Me If You Can Harsha Godbole has never felt love from her family, but she’s always been surrounded by their Bollywood business mogul wealth. Now back in Bangalore after studying in America, Harsha is ready to start her adult life without their money. But that becomes impossible when everything she’s worked so hard for comes crumbling down. Fearful of showing up to her cousin’s upcoming wedding as a failure—and worse, a single failure—Harsha decides to put her trust fund to good use . . .  Veer Kannan does everything for his family. He even gave up his dreams of becoming a Bollywood star to get a more consistent gig . . . although working as a barista wasn’t r...

Review: The Perfect Rom-Com by Melissa Ferguson

The Perfect Rom-Com by Melissa Ferguson Blurb from Goodreads : She’s written dozens of smash-hit romance novels. Too bad no one knows it. Aspiring author Bryony Page attends her first writers conference bursting with optimism and ready to sell her manuscript with long-shot dreams of raising awareness for The Bridge, her grandmother’s financially struggling organization where she teaches ESL full-time. But after a disastrous pitch session, she stumbles into correcting another author’s work in a last-ditch attempt to make a good impression with the agent. And she, as it turns out, is spot on. No one is more surprised than Bryony when the agent offers her the opportunity to be a ghostwriter for Amelia Benedict, popular rom-com novelist. Bryony agrees on one she’ll write books for this vain, demanding woman just as long as Jack Sterling, literary agent of the legendary Foundry Literary Ag...