Tag: romance

fiction · romance

Book Review: Only When It’s Us by Chloe Liese

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For one of my final selections for the 2023 Pop Sugar Reading Challenge, I had to read something that was self-published. I had to dig a bit to figure out what I wanted to read, but eventually I stumbled upon Only When It’s Us by Chloe Liese (self-published, 2020), and I figured I could use a good romance novel to lighten things up. 

College soccer star Willa Sutter is struggling with her business math (I think it was) course. Instead of helping her like a normal person, her professor demands that she get the notes from Ryder, the lumberjack-looking dude who sits next to her and who has been steadily ignoring her all semester. Willa’s not thrilled about this, but she knows that in order to keep her place on the team and become the next big women’s soccer star, she’s going to have to suck it up and ask Ryder for help. Also, her mom is in the process of dying, so life is just an all-around shitshow right now.

Ryder is sick and tired of his professor brother-in-law meddling in his life. A bout with meningitis freshman year has left him mostly deaf, and since he’s still figuring out hearing aids, things are a little complicated. His family is extremely accommodating, however, texting with him constantly, even when in person, in order to make sure he’s included. Ryder hasn’t spoken since his illness, though, and now that he’s supposed to be working with Willa, life has gotten a lot more complicated. The two of them have chemistry, sure, but they can’t seem to channel it into anything functional. Just arguments.

But over time, Willa and Ryder grow closer, the two of them realizing they’re a good match for each other, but old habits die hard, and it’s difficult for both of them to let the other in. But slowly, slowly, in the slowest of slow burns possible, they get to where we all knew they’d end up in the first place.

This was a bit of a slog for me, to be honest. I felt like it stretched on way longer than it needed to be, and Willa and Ryder’s banter didn’t do anything for me. I felt like it was trying really hard to be sexy and cute and for me it was just kind of annoying. Willa had issues with her dad walking out, and her mom was dying but she just never spoke about it? (And this was another one of those stories where the main character is a college student and needs to study, has a job, is the team’s star player and thus needs to be going to practice and games and working out all the time, and her mom is actively dying in the hospital, and, like…none of this stuff happens with the frequency that you’d expect? There are games and an occasional practice, and some study sessions with Ryder here and there, but Willa’s schedule doesn’t seem to be nearly as crammed full as one might suspect for a working student athlete who has a dying parent. And I realize this verges on the territory of, “No one on TV ever uses the bathroom!”, but it didn’t seem realistic to me how often Willa had down time.)

I wasn’t much feeling the chemistry between Willa and Ryder either. Ryder was just a little too perfect, and Willa could be so prickly that it got annoying (and despite their budding relationship, Ryder didn’t learn about Willa’s dying mother until really far into the story, which felt odd and not super realistic). To be honest, I was kinda glad when this was done. A lot of people really liked this, though, and it wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t for me, and that’s fine. Some books are like that. : )

Visit Chloe Liese’s website here.

Follow her on Twitter here. 

fiction · romance · romantic comedy

Book Review: Unorthodox Love by Heidi Shertok

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My heart always does a flip whenever I see Jewish books on NetGalley. It’s even better when I have time in my reading schedule for them. I requested Unorthodox Love by Heidi Shertok (Alcove Press, 2023) as soon as I spotted it, and then waited. And waited. And waited. And when I was finally approved, of course I already had a stack of books I needed to get to first! Such is the way of a reader’s life. But when I was finally able to dive in, I discovered a read that had been worth the wait. 

At twenty-nine and unmarried in a community where young women most often get married by their early twenties, Penina Kalish is practically geriatric in the Orthodox world. A medical condition ensures that she’ll never have children, and as this is something extremely important to Orthodox Jews, Penina knows she’s damaged goods and unlikely to find a husband. The dates she does go on, set up by a feisty but out-of-touch matchmaker, never go well. So Penina focuses on her family, her volunteer work holding babies at the local NICU, and her job at a local jewelry store. She’s doing her best to make her life as fulfilling as possible, no matter how much she wants what she can’t have.

But everything changes the day a handsome stranger walks through the NICU. This man, Sam Kleinfeld, ends up being Penina’s new boss, the son of the jewelry store’s owner. He’s filthy rich, incredibly handsome, Jewish (though not Orthodox), single (or is he?), and more than a little grumpy. As Penina gets to know him, she realizes how easy it would be to love him, but she’s damaged, he’s not Orthodox, and there’s that super gorgeous, bikini-sporting doctor who keeps tagging him in Facebook photos. So many reasons he’s off-limits.

But as Penina struggles to keep her heart in check and help save her sister’s house, she’ll learn a thing or two about how not damaged she is, what makes a person whole, and maybe she’ll fall in love along the way.

Super cute romance. It’s set in an Orthodox Jewish community, but as Sam is a secular (non-religious) Jew, he needs certain things explained to him and thus he serves well as a point of education for readers who may not be familiar with terms and traditions common among the Orthodox. Penina truly is Every Woman, dealing with not just health challenges that have set the course for her life, but with everyday bouts of awkwardness, like coffee spills, wardrobe malfunctions (a very minor plot point is Penina’s role as a modest fashion influencer on Instagram, which was fun), and constantly managing to say the wrong thing, especially while nervously babbling to fill the silence. Same, girl.

Sam is gruff, a little rough around the edges, but with a good heart. His status as a bit of an outsider, as non-Orthodox, is what allows him to more fully see Penina; to him, she’s not broken or missing something essential like she’s learned to think of herself. Their relationship, always following the strict rules of comportment laid out by Orthodox Judaism, grows, twisting and turning as Penina begins to accept that despite her lack of ability to have children, there’s nothing wrong with her. While at times I felt Sam was maybe a little too gruff (or at least too gruff for my liking, but that’s a personal preference), the two make a good pair.

The ending was exactly what I expected – not just the usual romance HEA, but…I won’t give any spoilers, but in that context, it’s the only acceptable solution. How realistic it is, I don’t know; it’s one I’ve seen before in other outsider-falls-in-love-with-insider type romances, and it always pulls me out of the story just a little bit because I’m wondering about the practicality of it, and how it would work out long-term. But overall, Orthodox Love is a cute, fun romance that gives you a peek inside a world most people aren’t familiar with, and I love that.

Unorthodox Love will be available at your favorite retailers July 11, 2023. Huge thanks to NetGalley, Alcove Press, and Heidi Shertok for allowing me to read and review an advance copy. Support your local bookstores!

Visit Heidi Shertok’s website here.

Follow her on Twitter here.

fiction

Book Review: The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle by Jennifer Ryan

Stephanie1 Comment

I love books set during World War II, especially books set in England (I fully blame my childhood love for Back Home by Michelle Magorian), so after reading The Kitchen Front by Jennifer Ryan last summer, I immediately put her next book, The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle (Ballantine Books, 2022) on my TBR. While her last book centered around food rationing in Britain during the Second World War, this latest one focused on clothing. While that also interests me, I was a little unsure about this going in, but all my uncertainty was allayed within the first few pages. Jennifer Ryan is amazing.

The Wedding Dress Sewing Circle is a multiple narrative of three women struggling to survive the changes of 1940’s small town England. Cressida Westcott has had to leave her fashion designer life behind in London after her home and business were bombed to rubble; she’s now staying at the estate of her deceased brother and getting to know the niece and nephew she’s never met and trying to figure out her future. Violet Westcott is snobby and looks down on everyone in a lower class than she; everything changes for her when she’s called up for service. And Grace, pastor’s daughter, engaged to a man she feels no passion for, is dutifully serving her community and never once thinking of herself…but she should.

While Violet struggles, then flourishes in uniform, Cressida and Grace take charge of the community at the local sewing circle, repairing Grace’s mother’s moth-eaten wedding dress and then revitalizing other dresses for the many war brides in need of them. Through clothing repair and design, both women discover themselves and what they want for their futures as the war rages on around them.

Loved, loved, LOVED this. Jennifer Ryan paints such a full, fascinating picture of the constraints of British rationing and she absolutely nails the tough, can-do attitudes and spirits that made it all possible to survive. Women sewed, mended, stretched, repaired, made do, and they inspired each other to keep at it and keep going even under great strain. Ms. Ryan also examines the changes in attitudes about class during this time of upheaval, which I thought was extremely interesting. Violet goes from snobby and Regina George-esque to a Rosie-the-Riveter type, but it’s done in a way that’s entirely believable, and it’s not long before you’re cheering her on. And Grace, naïve yet determined, learns to take charge of her own life. And everyone has a love story, each of them perfect for the time, and sweet and magical in their own ways.

I really enjoyed this book. It made me want to be part of their sewing circle or start my own (not sure where I’d do that, or who would be interested in darning socks with me…). I wish we could have a mass revival of the attitude of ‘make do and mend;’ it’s money-saving, resource-saving, and earth-friendly, everything so many of us are concerned about these days. Maybe that’s why books set during this time period appeal to me so much…

Anyway, this was an absolutely lovely read, and I highly recommend it. 

Visit Jennifer Ryan’s website here.

Follow her on Twitter here.

fiction · romance

Book Review: Mr. Perfect on Paper by Jean Meltzer

Stephanie1 Comment

I really enjoyed Jean Meltzer’s The Matzah Ball; lighthearted Jewish fiction is right up my alley! I put Mr. Perfect on Paper (MIRA, 2022) on my want-to-read list, and finally, finally I got to it! (What with my participation in the Pop Sugar Reading Challenge, it’s taken me a bit to get to some things!). And not a bit too soon, because I’ve been needing some lighter reads.

Dara has a successful life – she’s the creator of the wildly popular J-Mate, a Jewish dating app, a continuation of her mother’s and grandmother’s Jewish matchmaking. She owns a lovely place, she’s set financially for life, she’s got a staff of people who cater to her every whim…and she’s got anxiety. Massive anxiety. Part of the draw of learning to code when she was younger was that it was a job she could do alone, at home, and it spoke to her perfectionist tendencies. But for all her Jewish matchmaking, Dara’s alone, and as much as she loves her beloved almost 90-year-old bubbe, Miriam, Dara’s coming to the realization that soon, she’s going to be more alone than ever.

Chris is struggling. After the death of his wife, he became a single father to a tween daughter, and as if that weren’t tough enough, his job as a newscaster on a lighthearted show about good news is in danger. If ratings don’t pick up, he and his daughter will have to move out of New York, and like they need more upheaval. When Dara and her bubbe appear on his show and become an instant hit, Chris figures out a way to save everyone: his show will follow Dara trying to find the perfect Jewish husband. It takes Dara some convincing, but she’s in.

But sometimes what’s perfect on paper doesn’t work in the real world, and as Dara and the very not-Jewish Chris spend more time together, they grow closer. Can the two of them find a way to make it work?

Such a cute book!!! Dara is headstrong and committed to her Judaism, which I of course loved. She loves everything about Judaism (SAME, GIRL), and is an enthusiastic participant in its rituals and her community. She takes care of her grandmother, Bubbe Miriam (content warning here; Bubbe is 90 years old and dying of brain cancer, but she’s still getting around pretty well), and she deals really well with her own anxiety, which sometimes stops her in her tracks (yet she knows what she needs to do until it passes). She’s driven, smart, and always thinking about her people, and I really liked that.

Chris is doing his best, but he’s still struggling after the sudden death of his wife. He was thrown into single fatherhood of a tween daughter who’s right at that age where tweens go from being a charming kid to an absolute pill and then right back to charming again. Work struggles abound; he misses hard news and isn’t so thrilled with this low-ratings good news show he’s on, but he’s doing his best to handle it all. Dara and her commitment to Judaism throws him for a loop; he’s willing to learn more for her, and that’s admirable. Not everyone is.

There were quite a few times I laughed out loud during this book; Dara is shockingly accident-prone and her reality-show-style dates are an anxiety sufferer’s nightmare. Jean Meltzer truly created a character with a lot of grit here; for Dara to continue on with the search for Mr. Perfect on Paper in a believable way is a testament to her skill as a writer. As someone with anxiety, I would have crawled in a hole and absolutely died, but Ms. Meltzer had me believing in Dara’s return to televised dates. (And can we get a picture or a video of Bucky, the bow-tie-wearing vegan golden retriever???)

Super fun book with a lovely, realistic ending. I enjoyed this, and I’m looking forward to reading Ms. Meltzer’s next book, Kissing Kosher. 

Visit Jean Meltzer’s website here.

fiction

Book Review: Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez

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I’ve loved everything I’ve read by Abby Jimenez (See: here, here, and here), so when I needed to read a book published in the spring of 2023 for the Pop Sugar Reading Challenge, I leapt at the chance to put Yours Truly (Forever, 2023) on my list. Somehow, I managed to miss the first book in the series, but all of Ms. Jimenez’s books work as standalones, so I knew I’d be okay (although I’ll definitely go back and read Part of Your World at some point!). 

Dr. Briana Ortiz isn’t having the best time in life. Her divorce is about to be finalized, her brother is in kidney failure and horrifically depressed, and she’s just found out she’s not the shoo-in for a promotion that she thought she was. That last one is probably going to the new doctor in her ER, whom Briana dislikes immediately. But first impressions aren’t always spot-on, and when Jacob sends her a letter, apologizing for their disastrous first meeting, Briana is charmed. 

Jacob has suffered from severe anxiety his entire life, and his new job isn’t making this any easier. He’s already off to a rough start there, and adding to his stress, his brother is getting married…to Jacob’s ex-girlfriend. Life’s on a bit of a downward spiral, but after apologizing to Briana, the gorgeous ER doctor who immediately understands his anxiety and what it requires, Jacob falls, hard. 

When Jacob needs a fake girlfriend to accompany him to his brother’s wedding-related events in order to not look quite so pathetic, Briana readily agrees, but the situation and the slowly developing feelings between the two are complicated when she finds out that Jacob is also her brother’s soon-to-be kidney donor. Communication is key, but she’s maybe not quite there yet, not after her ex burned her so badly. Briana will have to learn to let go of the past and accept all that Jacob is offering her.

GAWD, this was SO GOOD. Abby Jimenez can write chemistry between characters like no other. I swear, I spent half this book sobbing over the deep emotions that she absolutely nailed, and the other half sighing and swooning over the connection between Briana and Jacob. As someone who has dealt with anxiety her entire life, I really appreciated how Jacob’s severe anxiety was portrayed, and how Briana just got it, accepted Jacob for who he was, and didn’t try to blow him off or dismiss his feelings. I wish everyone were that accepting and understanding (instead of just acting like I’m not trying hard enough or that I’m just lazy and don’t want to do something, instead of simple things like making a phone call being as frightening as a pit of slithering vipers). She absolutely nails how overwhelming social situations can be, and how insurmountable things can seem. Briana’s acceptance and reactions are every anxiety sufferer’s dream.

As is Jacob’s unconditional love. He’s just so there every moment for Briana, even when she freaks out (likely because he already knows how that feels). He’s so steady, putting himself out there despite his anxiety, and it’s all just so swwwwwwwwoooooooooooooooooooooon. Total book boyfriend right here. I could not have loved his character more.

One of the best novels I’ve read this year, and definitely the best romance I’ve read so far!

Visit Abby Jimenez’s website here.

Follow her on Twitter here.

fiction · YA

Book Review: A Pho Love Story by Loan Le

Stephanie1 Comment

The 2023 Pop Sugar Reading Challenge directed me to read a book with a forbidden romance, so I browsed through some lists and came up with A Pho Love Story by Loan Le (Simon Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2021), a YA novel about two teenagers from families who own competing Vietnamese restaurants. Super cute cover. I thought I was in for a sweet, relaxing YA love story and settled in.

Not so much. 

(My apologies for not being able to do the diacritics in Vietnamese words; I’m not familiar with the language, nor am I confident I would get them correct even if I were to copy and paste from a character map. Accuracy is important, especially in terms of names, and not being able to do this really bothers me, so please accept my apologies.)

Bao Nguyen and Linh Mai are two Vietnamese teenagers from families who own competing restaurants across the street from each other. From their early childhood, their parents haven’t allowed them to have any contact, and the families have done nothing but speak badly about each other. Though the two attend school together, they know little about each other. Linh is an accomplished artist, struggling to make her parents understand what painting means to her; Bao is content to go through life not really drawn in by anything and is uncertain what his future will hold. Both teens struggle with the reality of living with parents burdened by their refugee pasts, loss and pain and secrets a part of their families’ everyday lives.

When Linh’s best friend recruits both her and Bao to write and illustrate restaurant reviews for the school newspaper, the two get to know each other in a way that has never been allowed before, but they must keep their newfound friendship and attraction hidden from their families. Digging into the past brings long-buried secrets to light, but maybe Bao and Linh can change things for good…

So.

Up until about two-thirds of the way through this, I was struggling. Something felt…off. Not right. Slow. A little draggy. Heavy. Which isn’t necessarily unexpected, as these teenagers are first generation Americans of refugee parents. There are going to be some tough topics here. But after thinking about it a little bit, I realized that the cover had led me to expect something of a different story.

The cover is WAY more lighthearted-looking than this story is. There are deaths mentioned; neither family left Viet Nam intact, and they carry their pain and scars with them. Their struggles to build a successful life in the US continue on into the present day; running a restaurant is tough even for people who don’t struggle with PTSD and are native English speakers, so it’s doubly tough for folks who come here with trauma and have to rebuild everything, and are at constant risk of financial failure and their entire lives falling apart again. Linh and Bao live with the pressure of this every day, and Linh has the added stress of knowing her parents don’t approve of her passion and talent for art, which she has to do behind their backs. 

This is not at all a lighthearted love story. This is a story of two teenagers living in not just the shadows of but under the strain of their parents’ trauma. They’re trying to build their lives in the dual cultures they’re raised in, but the strain and pressure are incredible and intense, and the stress of this is evident on every page.

While the romance was cute, it didn’t quite have enough intensity or chemistry for me, but that wasn’t my real issue. The book is billed as a romantic comedy, which led me to expect something very different. I think it works well more as a drama, but intergenerational family trauma, financial pressure, and heavy familial expectations don’t mesh well with my idea of comedy. What this book does well is show what life is like for kids of refugees who are working almost beyond capacity in order to rebuild their lives from nothing. It shows their stress, their fatigue, their sorrows, their confusion, their struggles to meet their families’ expectations while still being true to themselves. It’s difficult growing up in a country and culture that your parents don’t fully understand, and that’s something I think this book portrays exceptionally well.

If you pick up A Pho Love Story, don’t go in expecting a lighthearted love story. Read it to understand a little more about Vietnamese refugee culture, and what family life of Vietnamese refugees might look like. Don’t let the cover or the description as a romantic comedy fool you; this book is a lot heavier than it looks, but I think it’ll speak to kids who recognize themselves in Bao and Linh and the weight of the expectations placed upon them.

Visit Loan Le’s website here.

Follow her on Twitter here.

fiction · romance

Book Review: How to Marry Keanu Reeves in 90 Days by K.M. Jackson

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I needed a book about or set in Hollywood for the 2023 Pop Sugar Reading Challenge, so in digging through my TBR, I found How to Marry Keanu Reeves in 90 Days by K.M. Jackson (Forever, 2021), a book that I’ve wanted to get to ever since it first came out. I love a good romance, even better if it involves a celebrity, and I do enjoy books about people’s obsessions, because they’re so relatable (I even find other people talking about their obsessions online – even when I don’t share them – charming! I love enthusiasm). Through no fault of its own, the book wasn’t quite the book for me, but it definitely has its charm.

Bethany Lu Carlisle is an artist who just can’t seem to settle down. She’s over 40 now and though her art is at least successful enough to support her (along with help from her wealthy family), she’s still flitting from thing to thing, spending a lot of time obsessing over her favorite actor, Keanu Reeves. Learning he’s about to be married is her record-scratch moment: what is she doing with her life? She should stop him, shouldn’t she, and maybe convince him to marry her?

With her lifelong best friend Truman, Lu goes on a series of adventures designed to put her in Keanu’s path, but somehow always missing the mark. Along the way, she and True have some parts of their relationship that they’ve been avoiding discussing for years to iron out, including their shared grief over the death of Lu’s brother long ago. With a string of celebrity cameos, How to Marry Keanu Reeves in 90 Days will bring together two soulmates – just not the ones you might expect.

I’m not sure exactly what didn’t work for me here. Despite her flaws, I liked Lu. She’s funny, dedicated to her art, aware of where she could be doing better in life, and goal-oriented, and I enjoyed her Keanu obsession. I liked True (despite his being an economist, haha). He’s so dedicated to Lu, setting up her Keanu search and helping her with every step. I liked the setting, I liked the plot, I loved the celebrity cameos (meeting Captain America in a bathroom, meeting Lisa Bonet and Jason Momoa at a New Mexican campground, etc). But for whatever reason, reading this just felt more like a chore than it did a fun experience. I don’t know if I didn’t connect well with the writing style – there’s nothing wrong with it, it just didn’t reach out and grab me – or what, but this wasn’t the book for me.

I’m forever grateful to Anne Bogel of the What Should I Read Next? podcast, who taught me that not every book is for every reader, that we’re not going to form strong connections to every book, and that’s fine. The relief I felt upon learning this, upon hearing her put this out into the world, was enough to make me weep when I first heard it years ago. It doesn’t mean the book is bad or that you’re a lesser person for not enjoying it, it just means that wasn’t the book for you. And that’s fine. And this wasn’t the book for me, and that’s fine, too. Live and learn. : )

Visit K.M. Jackson’s website here.

Follow her on Twitter here.

fiction · romance · romantic comedy

Book Review: Getting Rid of Bradley by Jennifer Crusie

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A book about divorce? Sure! Next on the 2023 Pop Sugar Reading Challenge comes an older book from a favorite of mine: Getting Rid of Bradley by Jennifer Crusie (MIRA, 1994). I’ve loved everything I’ve ever read from Ms. Cruise, and this was no different. She has a knack for humor, intrigue, mystery, quirky characters who aren’t overdone, and turning tense situations into something a little funny, a little sexy, and a little ridiculous without being over-the-top. And dogs. Her books always have the best dogs.

Lucy Savage’s divorce from her husband Bradley has finally gone through, and she’s vowed to become a new person: independent, more spontaneous, more fun. Beating up what turns out to be a cop isn’t exactly her definition of those words, but as it turns, Officer Zack Warren was trying to save her from someone who’s trying to kill her. What does her boring banker ex-husband have to do with this? Lucy’s not sure, plus there’s another Bradley involved in this, but sparks start to fly when Zack moves into her house to provide 24-hour protection.

When her car blows up (how Jennifer Crusie made me laugh during this scene is a testament to her ability as a writer!), followed by her bed, things get serious…and things heat up between Lucy and Zack. It’s a warp-speed romance and a mystery all in one, but Zack and his partner will take down both Bradleys, and Lucy will get what she wants in the end.

This was SO much fun. Dated just a little, as it was originally published in 1994 and I think there are a few lines that wouldn’t fly in today’s romance, but it’s still a really solid romance. (And while I wouldn’t necessarily pick up a romance with a police officer these days – just not my thing – I made an exception for this one, since it was older and I enjoy the author.) Lucy is fun, determined, and just the right amount of dismissive of Zack at first. Zack is a little world-weary at first, but he’s absolutely smitten with Lucy from the start, going from a committed bachelor to ready to propose in days. It makes for a fun pairing, and Ms. Crusie is a master of chemistry between her characters.

And the dogs. Dogs who do jokes. Dogs who fully understand their humans. New dogs who join the pack and fit right in. I love Jennifer Crusie’s dogs. 

This was a really enjoyable read and I really should make it my business to get to all those Jennifer Crusie novels I haven’t tackled yet.

Visit Jennifer Crusie’s website here.

fiction

Book Review: Love your Life by Sophie Kinsella

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Next up for the 2023 Pop Sugar Reading Challenge: a book with a pet character. So many books I read could fit in here, but I chose Love Your Life by Sophie Kinsella (Dial Press, 2020). It’s been a while since I read one of Ms. Kinsella’s books, so I figured I was past due to get lost in one of her books again. 

Ava’s dating life is not going well, but that doesn’t mean she’s going to succumb to the cold, clinical grasp of the algorithm of dating apps like her friend – she believes in follow her heart, finding love and chemistry the regular way. She’s more of a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of gal, which doesn’t always translate well into accomplishing all the many goals she’s set for herself. On a writer’s retreat to Italy (leaving her beloved-but-mischievous dog Harold in the care of her friends), Ava meets ‘Dutch’ (everyone is asked to choose an alias; Ava goes by ‘Aria’), a handsome straggler from a canceled martial arts retreat. The two quickly fall for each other, all the while adhering to the retreat rules: no names, no personal information. Ava knows she’s got it right: she and Dutch are perfect. No baggage, just chemistry.

But when the retreat ends and real life comes slamming back, things aren’t *quite* so perfect. Dutch is actually Matt, the overworked heir to his family’s internationally successful dollhouse company. His parents are stodgy and dislike Ava, Matt has creepy taste in art, Ava’s quirkiness winds him in the ER, and Harold’s mischievousness? YIKES. That chemistry is still there, but what does it matter when the rest of their lives don’t exactly line up? Ava and Matt will have to figure out how to compromise if they want things to be like they were in Italy.

Ava’s way more fly-by-the-seat-of-her-pants than I would ever be comfortable with, and I think that’s why I had a bit of a tough time getting into this at first. She’s flighty, can’t commit fully to the zillions of projects she takes on, and is way more about feelings (and making excuses, and lying to herself) than I feel comfortable with. I wasn’t super into her hooking up with Dutch at the writer’s retreat (GIRL, YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW HIM. HE COULD BE A SERIAL KILLER), but I kept going to see where the book would go. Sophie Kinsella is a solid writer and I’ve enjoyed her in the past, so that helped.

What I really loved were the friend groups. Both Ava and Matt have amazingly supportive friend groups who were a lot of fun to read, and they truly pulled me into the novel. The ending is pretty perfect – no spoilers – but man, I wish I had a friend group like these. 

Fun read. Not my favorite of the year, but a solid choice if you’re looking for a little romance with a healthy dose of reality and compromise.

Visit Sophie Kinsella’s website here.

Follow her on Twitter here.

fiction · romance

Book Review: Funny You Should Ask by Elissa Sussmann

Stephanie1 Comment

Moving along in the 2023 Pop Sugar Reading Challenge! I needed a #BookTok recommendation, and as I’m not on TikTok, I had to rely on lists others made. Which worked out well, because Funny You Should Ask by Elissa Sussman (Dell, 2022) was one of the books recommended on there, and it was also a book from my own TBR. Now, I’ve been trying to get a copy of this book from the library since it came out, but every time I looked, it was checked out. I love that so many people in my town read and have similar tastes as me! But this time, it was finally in, so into my bag it went.

Funny You Should Ask tells the story of writer Chani Horowitz and actor Gabe Parker. Ten years ago, Chani and Greg spent a weekend together so she could write an article about Gabe. That article went viral, and questions have lingered ever since about what really went on between the two of them. It was also the article that launched Chani’s more successful career as a writer, so she’s always had that tie to him. Ten years later, Gabe is back in Chani’s life, because now she’s doing a follow-up article.

And things between them are the same, and different. They’ve aged, matured, moved on in their careers, changed as people. Gabe is now two years sober. Chani’s angry that the rumors about what they did won’t die. But the chemistry between them is still the same, and Gabe is determined to set things right. 

Despite all my wait for this book, it was just…kind of okay for me. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with it. It contains one of my favorite tropes, celebrity-falls-in-love-with-normal-person. There’s an awesome dog. Although I was uncomfortable with Gabe’s obvious alcoholism in the ten-years-ago parts, I still liked him as a hero. Chani’s determination to make it as a writer struck a chord with me, and I enjoyed the various settings of the book (I’ve never once read a book before this one that actually made me want to visit Montana, so that’s something.). There wasn’t anything distinct that I could put my finger on, but something just didn’t completely work for me, and I think this is just a case of ‘not every book is meant for every reader.’ And that’s fine. This is also happening in the book I’m reading now. Nothing wrong with it; just not for me.

It happens! 

But even if it wasn’t quite the book for me, it might be the one for you. : )

Visit Elissa Sussman’s website here.