Prime Time Romance

By: Katie Robb
Published Year: 2024
Publisher: 336
Pages: Dial Press Trade Paperback

Amazon Barnes & Noble

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This in no way shape or form influenced my opinion of this book.

Summary (Provided by Goodreads): Newly divorced on the eve of her thirtieth birthday, Brynn is sick of heartbreak. She thought she had found her happy ending, but now she’s living with a roommate, Josh, to afford her mortgage, and she’s trying to adjust to her new single life. At least she’s got Carson’s Cove to binge, her beloved 2000s teenage soap. The show ended unexpectantly on a cliffhanger after five seasons, and the two main characters, Sloan and Spencer, never got to declare their love for each other. The show is still perfect in Brynn’s eyes; despite all the drama that goes down, things always have a way of working out in Carson’s Cove . . . unlike her own life.

So when a birthday cake surprisingly shows up on her and Josh’s doorstep, Brynn makes a wish for the one thing she’s always wanted (but has failed to achieve herself): a happily-ever-after.

The next morning, she doesn’t wake up in her apartment. She’s in Carson’s Cove . . . and Josh is there too. Everyone seems to know them, except they’re not Brynn and Josh; they’re Sloan, the sweetheart of Carson’s Cove, and Fletch, the town’s bad boy. And to get home, they have to make Brynn’s wish come true by ensuring Sloan and Spencer, the hometown heartthrob, end up together at last. But as they spend more time together, Brynn and Josh realize that Carson’s Cove might not be as perfect as seen on television . . . especially when they start developing feelings for each other in a plot twist no one has expected. Will they stick to the script, or will real love change the story forever?

First Impressions

This cover is so cute. Add in the fact that the summary says she gets trapped in her favorite 2000s soap opera and I was in. This book made a very strong first impression.

What I thought

This book was really cute, but I did end up having some issues with the magic element.

Brynn makes a wish on her birthday after being given a mysterious cake from an Uber Eats driver. When she wakes up the next morning, she and her hot bartender roommate Josh are in the fictitious town of Carson’s Cove.  Brynn watched Carson’s Cover as a teenager and then comfort binged it in her adulthood multiple times. When the show ended, the main character, Sloan, wasn’t given the ending she deserved since the show didn’t get renewed. Sheldon has brought Brynn and Josh back and told them they can’t leave until she gives Sloan the proper ending.

This book felt very much like what would happen if you ended up in Gilmore Girls. Small town, lots of festivals, girl the town sees as picture perfect. It was cute and I enjoyed that part of it a lot. What I didn’t love was that there wasn’t any explanation for the magic. I didn’t understand if this town was real and the show had been filmed in this real town or if this town was created with magic? I was also confused by the other people in the town. How did they not realize Sloan had been replaced? And if they were able to be magiked into not recognizing Sloan, why wouldn’t they be able to be manipulated into making the ending Sheldon wants?

On top of that, Sheldon is seemingly a real person/actor and it is never explained how he finds the magic to make this Carson’s Cove and what he thinks will happen once Brynn acts out the ending as Sloan.

Regardless of the magical plot holes, I loved the romance. Josh and Brynn had really good chemistry and I thought tthey were very cute. I also liked how Josh had his own storyline and issues, but that they never got in the way of him and Brynn being together. This book doesn’t have the miscommunication that makes you want to throw the book against the wall which I appreciated.

If you are a fan of the 2000s teen dramas, you will enjoy this book. I read a review that said this book feels a bit YA, and I wouldn’t fully agree, but I can see that and I enjoyed it. If you can put aside not getting the magic explanation, I would recommend checking this one out.

The Black Bird Oracle

By: Deborah Harkness
Published Year: 2024
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Pages: 464

Amazon Barnes & Noble

Summary (Provided by Goodreads): Deborah Harkness first introduced the world to Diana Bishop, Oxford scholar and witch, and vampire geneticist Matthew de Clairmont in A Discovery of Witches. Drawn to each other despite long-standing taboos, these two otherworldly beings found themselves at the center of a battle for a lost, enchanted manuscript known as Ashmole 782. Since then, they have fallen in love, traveled to Elizabethan England, dissolved the Covenant between the three species, and awoken the dark powers within Diana’s family line.

Now, Diana and Matthew receive a formal demand from the Congregation: They must test the magic of their seven-year-old twins, Pip and Rebecca. Concerned with their safety and desperate to avoid the same fate that led her parents to spellbind her, Diana decides to forge a different path for her family’s future and answers a message from a great-aunt she never knew existed, Gwyneth Proctor, whose invitation simply reads: It’s time you came home, Diana.

On the hallowed ground of Ravenswood, the Proctor family home, and under the tutelage of Gwyneth, a talented witch grounded in higher magic, a new era begins for Diana: a confrontation with her family’s dark past, and a reckoning for her own desire for even greater power—if she can let go, finally, of her fear of wielding it.

First Impressions

I was so excited to see that there was a 5th book coming out in the Book of Life Series. Once I found out, I re-read the first 3 and read the 4th one for the first time. Re-reading the books got me hyped for this one and I love the cover.

What I thought

This book was definitely different than the first 3, which were also different than the 4th. I think it held the magic the original 3 books do (no pun intended) but a different vibe. I will warn, if you haven’t read the original trilogy and you intend to, don’t read this review.

Diana freaks out when she learns that her and Matthew’s twin, Pip and Becca are to be tested by the Congregation. Shortly after she receives the letter, she also receives a letter inviting her to come home from an aunt she didn’t know existed. She goes to meet her aunt who turns out to be her dad’s aunt and learns about her father’s side of the family as well as a new side of magic.

While this book did move slowly, I found myself invested the entire time. I loved getting to see Diana come into her own with magic. In books 1 and 3 she denies a lot of her magic and only uses it when necessary. In book 2 and now in book 5, she learns from her elders and it’s a fascinating thing to read and learn about.

I also really liked getting to know Becca and Pip. I do wish they had been in the book more since the beginning of the story made it seem like they were going to be a larger part. I sort of felt the same way about Matthew as well. While this has always been Diana’s story, he felt like more of a side character in this book than in the others. Conveniently brought into a scene just for Diana’s usage.

This was a great addition to the series. It does seem like it ends in a way that implies Harkness is going to be writing ore in these characters. I’m intrigued to see where it goes! I will say, you can just read the original 3 books and be good, but if you are a fan of these characters and don’t want to let them go, I would recommend continuing the series with book 5.

The Christmas Tree Farm

By: Melody Carlson
Published Year: 2024
Publisher: Revell
Pages: 176

Amazon Barnes & Noble

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This in no way shape or form influenced my opinion of this novel.

Summary (Provided by Goodreads): When Madison McDowell returns from several years teaching overseas, she has high hopes of picking up where she left off at her family's Christmas tree farm in Oregon. But between damage from a recent wildfire and the neglect due to her sister Addie's unwillingness to invest, the farm is in sad shape. In fact, Addie is intent on selling the property. And to top it off, her former high school flame, the now-widowed Gavin Thompson, has plans to break Madison's heart again by turning his neighboring property into a dusty, noisy dirt bike track for his daughter.With the odds stacked against her, Madison decides there's only one thing to double down on her dreams. It will take a ton of hard work--and some help from an unlikely ally--to save the farm she so dearly loves. But it may take a miracle to restore her relationship with her sister.Bestselling and award-winning author Melody Carlson charms and delights with this uplifting Christmas story full of old memories and new beginnings.

First Impressions

I saw this book on Netgalley and was immediately taken in by the cover. I’m a sucker for a good Christmas romance so I requested it and was excited when I got approved. I haven’t read any of Carlson’s other books but she writes a lot of Christmas novels.

What I thought

I didn’t like this book at all.

Maddie has moved back to her grandparents’ Christmas Tree Farm after years in Mongolia. She has been teaching abroad while her sister Addie has been taking care of the farm as well as her grandparents when they were sick and dying. When Maddie moves back, she’s surprised to not be welcomed back by her sister and is also surprised her childhood crush is back at the farm next door. She decides that it’s her job to save the Christmas tree farm even if she has to do it herself.

I hated all of these characters. I also disliked the writing. I found it cliché and lazy. At one point Gavin, the neighbor, even pulls out the “the fact you don’t know you’re beautiful makes you even more beautiful” line. Gross. Maddie and Gavin had zero chemistry. She had more chemistry with his 11 year old daughter Lily, who essentially becomes her best friend and laborer. Weird.

Addie is also a major bitch. These women are in their mid to late 20s and she claims dibs on Gavin on the basis that she had a crush on him when she was like 13? And then she starts being territorial towards him. Like legit starts throwing a fit when Maddie even talks to Gavin even though Maddie isn’t flirting. Then when his older daughter comes home for break, she starts harassing Maddie about potentially like Gavin too. It all makes zero sense.

In terms of the romance, not only do they have zero chemistry, but they don’ get together until the novel is almost over. Then after one date, he proposes to her at Christmas. This made zero sense.

I will not be adding Carlson to my list of authors. I found this book to be poorly written and not entertaining at all. I didn’t feel any of the Christmas spirit. In fact, most of this book took place before Thanksgiving. A lot of people seemingly enjoy this book, unfortunately I am just not one of them.

Book Club September 2024- My Brilliant Friend

By: Elena Ferrante
Published Year: 2012
Publisher: Penguin Random House
Pages: 331

Amazon Barnes & Noble

Summary (Provided by Goodreads): A modern masterpiece from one of Italy’s most acclaimed authors, My Brilliant Friend is a rich, intense and generous-hearted story about two friends, Elena and Lila. Ferrante’s inimitable style lends itself perfectly to a meticulous portrait of these two women that is also the story of a nation and a touching meditation on the nature of friendship. Through the lives of these two women, Ferrante tells the story of a neighbourhood, a city and a country as it is transformed in ways that, in turn, also transform the relationship between her two protagonists.

What I thought

This book was chosen this month because it was recently names as New York Times’ number one book best book of the 21st century. The cover honestly didn’t appeal to me at all though the summary was interesting.

Lila and Lenu/Elena grew up in the same neighborhood in Naples, Italy. Lenu decides to tell the story of her and Lila’s friendship as they grew up in elementary school up until they were 16.

This story takes place in the 1960s. I sort of understand why this book was named as number one, but it wouldn’t be my first choice. The writing is strong and makes you feel like you’re really living in Italy in the 50s and 60s. However, the characters are horrible. Every single one of them. And I couldn’t understand or relate to Lila and Lenu’s friendship at all.

Elena is a smart girl and is more privileged than Lila. They both live in a poor neighborhood where violence is rampant. In my opinion, this book was too long and it moved very slowly. I never felt like Elena was likable because she was only motivated in life by Lila and Lila was mean and manipulative. Elena hated her mom because she had a bad leg and a lazy eye. She was worried she would turn into her but took everything her parents gave her for granted.

I kind of can’t believe that there are 3 more books about these two. I also hated the ending. I get that it ended to make you want to read the next books and learn about these two so called friends as they grow into adulthood, but it was so weird and so abrupt. I think this book is fine overall. It’s not one I’m going to remember and not one I would pick off of my list to recommend. I wouldn’t discourage people from reading it, but not my favorite.

What Book Club Thought

Well, it seems like we all felt about the same. This book was boring with extremely annoying main characters and we don’t quite understand how it made it to best book of the 20th century. We did have a lot to discuss though, so it did make a good book club book. And not just because we were ranting about the characters, but it was interesting to talk about why we thought other people enjoyed this book so much, what we thought would happen to the characters, and the dimension of Lenu and Lila’s relationship. As we were about to take our monthly picture, I did realize that I have no clue who the people on the cover are supposed to be as there is never 3 young girls running after a couple getting married. Weird.

Past, Present< Future

By: Rachel Lynn Solomon
Published Year: 2004
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Pages: 382

Amazon Barnes & Noble

Summary (Provided by Goodreads): They fell for each other in just twenty-four hours. Now Rowan and Neil embark on a long-distance relationship during their first year of college in this romantic, dual points of view sequel to Today Tonight Tomorrow .

When longtime rivals Rowan Roth and Neil McNair confessed their feelings on the last day of senior year, they knew they’d only have a couple months together before they left for college. Now summer is over, and they’re determined to make their relationship work as they begin school in different states.

In Boston, Rowan is eager to be among other aspiring novelists, learning from a creative writing professor she adores. She’s just not sure why she suddenly can’t seem to find her voice.

In New York, Neil embraces the chaos of the city, clicking with a new friend group more easily than he anticipated. But when his past refuses to leave him alone, he doesn’t know how to handle his rapidly changing mental health—or how to talk about it with the girl he loves.

Over a year of late-night phone calls, weekend visits, and East Coast adventures, Rowan and Neil fall for each other again and again as they grapple with the uncertainty of their new lives. They’ve spent so many years at odds with each other—now that they’re finally on the same team, what does the future hold for them?

First Impressions

I read Today, Tonight, Tomorrow when it first came out in 2020 and fell in love with Solomon and the characters in this story. I was excited to see she wrote a sequel so we could see where Rowan and Neil were now.

What I thought

This book was so unique. I really enjoyed it and wish that it had existed when I was in college.

Rowan and Neil fell in love at the end of Senior Year during their school’s scavenger hunt. They’ve now spent the whole summer together continuing to fall in love but it’s time for them to go off to college. They will be going to school a couple of hours apart with Rowan in Boston and Neil in New York City. Can their romance live up to all the romance novels that Rowan has known and loved?

Years ago the book world attempted to create a genre called New Adult what was focused more on college age. It never fully took off, but this book is exactly why that genre was needed. I’ve never read a romance that followed a couple navigating their first year of college as well as a long distance romance. Freshman year of college is hard, especially when you’re far away from your family. I feel like Solomon did a fantastic job writing about those feelings and comparing yourself to your friends who are having different college experiences.

Of course, I loved Rowan and Neil. They are a dynamic couple who you can tell truly love and care for each other. I appreciated how Solomon made their difficulties not cliché long distance misunderstandings. The way that Solomon wrote about mental health was fantastic and I wish I could’ve read this in college. Reading about someone dealing with depression and anxiety would’ve been eye opening and I think it’s something every 18-22 year old should read about.

Honestly, I don’t have any criticism of this book. I enjoyed it all and I find it to be rare to find a book that’s so unique. Even though it’s romancey there was so much of it with settings and additional characters that I have not read before. I highly enjoyed this and it continues to cement Solomon as one of my favorite authors.

The Seven Year Slip

By: Ashely Poston
Published Year: 2023
Publisher: Berkley
Pages: 352

Amazon Barnes & Noble

Summary (Provided by Goodreads): Sometimes, the worst day of your life happens, and you have to figure out how to live after it.

So Clementine forms a plan to keep her heart safe: work hard, find someone decent to love, and try to remember to chase the moon. The last one is silly and obviously metaphorical, but her aunt always told her that you needed at least one big dream to keep going. And for the last year, that plan has gone off without a hitch. Mostly. The love part is hard because she doesn’t want to get too close to anyone—she isn’t sure her heart can take it.

And then she finds a strange man standing in the kitchen of her late aunt’s apartment. A man with kind eyes and a Southern drawl and a taste for lemon pies. The kind of man that, before it all, she would’ve fallen head-over-heels for. And she might again.

Except, he exists in the past. Seven years ago, to be exact. And she, quite literally, lives seven years in his future.

Her aunt always said the apartment was a pinch in time, a place where moments blended together like watercolors. And Clementine knows that if she lets her heart fall, she’ll be doomed.

After all, love is never a matter of time—but a matter of timing.

First Impressions

Honestly, I hadn’t heard much about this book and the cover didn’t catch my eye. I did see it on TikTok a few times, but people were frequently putting it under “most overrated” as opposed to highly recommends. This made me a little hesitant to pick it up.

What I thought

My work decided to do a book club, and this was one of the books picked. I didn’t even vote for it since TikTok had made me so hesitant. However, once I read the summary, I knew it would be my kind of book and I looked forward to reading it. I’m so glad that my work forced this across my path because it was so enjoyable.

Clementine inherits her Aunt’s apartment after she passes. She grew up being told the apartment was magic. At any time, it could take you back seven years. Her aunt always told her that she would get sent back when her life was at a crossroads and that there was one rule. Don’t fall in love. 6 months after her aunt passed away, Clementine gets sent back and finds a handsome stranger in her apartment from 7 years ago.

I love alternate timelines so I loved the concept of this book. Clementine/Lemon and Iwan/James were so freaking cute. I think some people might dislike this book because it’s a bit predictable but it also makes it easily accessible to a lot of readers. I think there were about 3 “twists” that I caught beforehand and two that I didn’t get until right before they happened.

I loved the growth of Clementine as the story moves forward. She is struggling with the loss of her aunt, who was basically her best friend and who she wanted to be when she grows up. Now she’s lost and unsure if she’s on the right path. When she gets sent and meets Iwan, she starts to find who she was seven years ago which helps her rediscover who she is now.

My one issue I did have was with her friend characters. She had two best friends/coworkers who were married. I think they were good friends to Clementine, but there was like a weird underlying annoyance with each other? Nothing ever really came of it but it seemed like one of them didn’t really like the other very much. They also had another friend/coworker that it seemed like the three of them hung out with just because they felt sorry for her, yet she seemed to think they were all friends. But honestly, this didn’t detract from the sory very much.

I couldn’t put this book down. It’s an easy read and I think it’s a book that will get a lot of people reading again if they haven’t read for a while. I think this would also be a good book to get people out of a reading slump. The chemistry between Clementine and Iwan is great. I highly recommend checking this one out if you want a sweet, fast paced romance.

Book Club July 2024- Romantic Comedy

By: Curtis Sittenfeld
Published Year: 2023
Publisher: Harper Collins
Pages: 309

Amazon Barnes & Noble

Summary (Provided by Goodreads): Sally Milz is a sketch writer for "The Night Owls," the late-night live comedy show that airs each Saturday. With a couple of heartbreaks under her belt, she’s long abandoned the search for love, settling instead for the occasional hook-up, career success, and a close relationship with her stepfather to round out a satisfying life.

But when Sally’s friend and fellow writer Danny Horst begins dating Annabel, a glamorous actor who guest-hosted the show, he joins the not-so-exclusive group of talented but average-looking and even dorky men at the show—and in society at large—who’ve gotten romantically involved with incredibly beautiful and accomplished women. Sally channels her annoyance into a sketch called the "Danny Horst Rule," poking fun at this phenomenon while underscoring how unlikely it is that the reverse would ever happen for a woman.

Enter Noah Brewster, a pop music sensation with a reputation for dating models, who signed on as both host and musical guest for this week’s show. Dazzled by his charms, Sally hits it off with Noah instantly, and as they collaborate on one sketch after another, she begins to wonder whether there might actually be sparks flying. But this isn’t a romantic comedy; it’s real life. And in real life, someone like him would never date someone like her...right?

With her keen observations and trademark ability to bring complex women to life on the page, Sittenfeld explores the neurosis-inducing and heart-fluttering wonder of love, while slyly dissecting the social rituals of romance and gender relations in the modern age.

What I thought

I have had this book on my to-read list for a very long time so I was excited to finally have an excuse to read it.

Sally is a comedy writer for a show called “The Night Owls”. She writes a sketch about how attractive female celebrities tend to fall for mediocre looking men, but never the other way around. Then when famous musician Noah Brewster hosts the how and she starts to feel chemistry, she tarts to question everything she ever knew.

This book was a lot of fun but it is very much taken from Saturday Night Live. I think it’s supposed to be like a fan tribute, but it kind of came off a little lazy. The show is referred to as “TNO” just like “SNL”, has a news section, musical guests and celebrity hosts, as well as a Lorne Michael’s character who controls it all. I just wish that Sittenfeld had been a little bit more creative rather than taking directly from reality.

I liked Sally at the beginning, but she had a lot of moments where she was annoyingly insecure. I understand it’s hard to believe that someone famous/extremely attractive can be into someone who is average, but she is very self-destructive. She also doesn’t come off as though she’s a homely person, even if she does come off like a jerk sometimes.

The story is told in 3 parts which I thought was interesting. The first part is the week that Noah hosts. The second part is told in emails during lockdown COVID 2020, and the third part is told in the moment in 2020 with Noah and Sally reconnecting.

I did love the romance side of this story. Noah is amazing and I absolutely fell a little in love with him. Sally does have her moments. Overall, I thought this was a fun, lighthearted book, and I enjoyed it more once we got out of the SNL phase.

What Book Club Thought

Unfortunately, I was sick for book club so I never got to discuss this book as a group. I did ask what people thought about it because I was curious and it seems like everyone overall enjoyed the book. They agreed that the similarities to SNL in the first part were a bit distracting, but not so much that it ruined the book for us.

Until Next Summer

By: Ali Brady
Published Year: 2024
Publisher: Berkley
Pages: 448

Amazon Barnes & Noble

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This in no way shape or form influenced my opinion of this book.

Summary (Provided by Goodreads): Two former best friends each find love at an adults-only summer camp in this romantic and nostalgic novel that proves “once a camp person, always a camp person.”

Growing up, Jessie and Hillary lived for summer, when they’d be reunited at Camp Chickawah. The best friends vowed to become counselors together someday, but they drifted apart after Hillary broke her promise and only Jessie stuck to their plan, working her way up to become the camp director. 

When Jessie learns that the camp will be sold, she decides to plan one last hurrah, inviting past campers—including Hillary—to a nostalgic “adult summer camp” before closing for good. Jessie and Hillary rebuild their friendship as they relive the best time of their lives—only now there are adult beverages, skinny dipping, and romantic entanglements. Straitlaced Hillary agrees to a “no strings attached” summer fling with the camp chef, while outgoing Jessie is drawn to a moody, reclusive writer who’s rented a cabin to work on his novel.

The friends soon realize this doesn’t have to be the last summer. They’ll team up and work together, just like the old days. But if they can’t save their beloved camp, will they be able to take the happiness of this summer away with them?

First Impressions

I went to summer camp for two years growing up and I absolutely loved it. I understand that desire to chase that feeling of the summer camp high and always found the idea of an adult summer camp to be so cool. I reach one of Ali Brady’s previous books, The Beach Trap, and found it to be an enjoyable for a summer read.

What I thought

Jessie and Hillary were best friends at summer camp until Hillary backed out on their promise to become camp counselors together. Then they never talked again. 10 years later, Jessie is running the overnight camp the last summer before it shuts down. For the final summer, Jessie had the idea to make it an adult overnight camp, with each week being for past campers who had come to Camp Chickawah as kids. Hillary applies to work as the Arts and Crafts director, making this the first time they have seen each other since their last summer at camp. Now they have to see if they can rebuild their friendship and possibly save the camp that means so much to them.

In theory, this book was super cute. In actuality, it was a little bit long and a lot bit cheesy. I liked the characters but I felt like the authors focused on the wrong things sometimes. I felt like their friendship resolved so quickly. I also didn’t love how immature Jessie ad Hillary both were. For example, Luke (a cranky writer who becomes a love interest for Jessie) pulls away from Jessie and says “I can’t get into a relationship right now”. Which, yeah, totally sucks, but also felt completely honest and not like it has anything to do with Jessie. Yet Jessie takes it personally and proceeds to get back at him by dumping an entire bucket of syrup on his head.

Hillary seems a little bit more mature, but she is also just dense. In the first few chapters, her boyfriend asks for them to take a break so that he can sleep around while she’s gone all summer and it takes her until she’s been at camp for a few weeks to realize that was a shitty thing for this dude to do. They were dating for 2 years! Of course it’s a shitty thing to do!

I liked the chemistry between Hillary and Cooper but I felt like I wanted more from Luke and Jessie. They had some decent banter but sometimes it felt a little forced. I think maybe I felt a little torn between the story about trying to save the camp and having an adult summer camp with building friendship and then the romances. It can be tricky juggling 3 separate relationships while also writing a save the camp plot.

It also was much too long in my opinion. This book was well over 400 pages and I think it could’ve been accomplished in about 100 less. It felt like it moved so slowly to me while they also frequently talked about how quickly life at camp seems to move.

Parts of this book were very cute, but it just never seemed to hook me fully. I found it to be long and slow and I just never connected with the characters. I did love the setting, so I think if you’re a summer camp person you might enjoy this. I also think if I had been a little younger when I read it I would’ve enjoyed it more. I’d be open to reading more by Ali Brady in the future, but this one was not my favorite.