Book Review: "You'll Love It Here" by Natalie Sue

This book snuck up on me with its charm and humor. I didn’t realize how much fun I was having until I was finished!

Mona is a workaholic, climbing the corporate ladder at her marketing firm. She’s hoping that once the big piece of business she’s been working on gets finalized, she’ll get promoted. Then she can move out of her apartment building, a place she never intended to be for long.

But in a split second, she nearly ruins her career by angering a big client. Her boss puts her on disciplinary leave, which leaves Mona with nothing to do except have staring contests with her goldfish and deal with the guilt she feels about not reconciling with her father before he died.

When Irene, her landlady, winds up in the hospital, she asks Mona if she could fill in for a few weeks. Irene’s niece is a realtor who thinks her aunt needs to sell the building, so she enlists Mona’s help in getting the building into better shape. In return, she promises Mona a fancy new apartment.

She barely knows her neighbors, but definitely has opinions about many of them. Yet as she starts to bring order to the building’s chaos, she realizes that she’s started to care about her fellow tenants. She even starts to fall for Sami, the handsome owner of the diner next door. But what will happen when the building sells and everyone has to find a new place to live?

I love the found family trope, and the characters all turned out to be more multidimensional than I thought. The book is funny, but it’s also poignant, and I love the way Natalie Sue embraced the Persian heritage of Mona and Sami. This was quirky and heartwarming.

Book Review: "Feeding the Grump" by Jax Calder

“I’m fairly sure that when I’m on my deathbed, I’ll still be cursing Benji Gange’s name.”

This rom-com was all kinds of adorable, fun, and steamy. I’m a huge fan of Jax Calder; she’s become an auto-buy author for me, so I was already sold on this—and then she threw in a little mischievous lamb.

David is a farmer in New Zealand. He’s very by-the-books, a stickler for traditional farming practices. Which is why Benji, who inherited the neighboring farm is such a nuisance to him. Benji isn’t interested in blithely following the way things always are done; he does research and tries new methods.

If there’s one place where David colors outside the lines, it’s his garden. He’s constantly experimenting with new varieties of fruits and vegetables, and given that he always has an overabundance of his crops, he usually shares them with Benji. It’s amazing how Benji can get under his skin so easily but David still wants to share his crops with him. And Benji usually uses the food to cook for David.

One day, the smallest of David’s lambs gets loose. He starts frantically searching for it, and Benji pitches in to help. When Benji gets tangled up in a bush, David has to help free him. And at that moment, he realizes that his feelings for Benji are far stronger than simply neighborly ones. Is it possible that Benji feels the same way? (Spoiler alert: he does.)

I couldn’t stop smiling when I was reading this. The chemistry between the characters was terrific, there was some hot steam, and their banter was so sweet. I know I can’t go wrong with a Jax Calder romance!

Book Review: "Cheesecake" by Mark Kurlansky

Interestingly enough, this book (a rare foray into fiction by the award-winning author) is both about and not about cheesecake. It is more social commentary, about the changing nature of NYC neighborhoods, apartments and landlords, gentrification, and art.

Art Katsikas, along with his brother Niki and sister-in-law Adara, were part of a cheese making family in Greece. The three decide to move to NYC in the 1970s and open a diner (a business sure to succeed, they are told by friends). They open Katz Brothers on the Upper West Side, and it becomes a popular spot for the neighborhood.

But while Niki and Adara are happy with their humble (yet successful) diner, Art has larger ambitions. He sees the changes coming to the neighborhood as landlords raise rents to drive their tenants out, and he wants a part of this. So he convinces Niki and Adara that the diner should be changed into a fancy restaurant, Mykonos, which will serve “modern classical cuisine.”

The centerpiece of the menu is cheesecake, but an adaptation of the earliest-known recipe by Cato the Elder, a Roman born in 234 BCE. This cheesecake is very different, both sweet and savory, and its introduction at Mykonos is met with fantastic reviews. Of course, imitation is said to be the sincerest form of flattery, so it’s not long before everyone is trying to replicate Cato’s cheesecake—in very different ways.

While the restaurant and cheesecake are core to the story, much of the book focuses on various neighborhood residents and their encounter with Cato’s cheesecake, as well as what variation they become involved with. At the same time, it follows Art’s transformation into a ruthless landlord and how the neighborhood where Mykonos is changed through the years.

Mark Kurlansky is an excellent writer, and the book is tremendously informative about cheesecake’s history, variations, etc. I felt like the book was a little overstuffed with characters and subplots that didn’t quite come to fruition, when the story of the Katsikases would have been enough.

Book Review: "Hungry Eyes" by Anthony McFly, translated by Nicola Clitheroe

“I don’t know anything about this guy, except that he lives in my street and in my mind.”

Thanks so much to Anthony McFly for sending me a copy of his novel, which was recently translated from the French by a friend of his. It was definitely a wild ride, and I wondered where he was going to take the story!

Amaury is a young man who lives a solitary life. He works hard on his studies and is anxious about the fact that he’s losing his hair at a young age. But what gets most of his attention is the handsome man who lives in the apartment directly across the street from his.

“…his inability to live in an enclosed space gives me full access to see deep inside the interior of his home.”

Amaury watches the man every day, and in fact, every night he turns off his lights so he can watch without the possibility of being noticed. He dreams of a life with his neighbor and hopes that one day he’ll notice him. One night, after watching the man getting closer to a date, Amaury decides to follow them, and winds up having an awkward yet eye-opening evening.

This was well-written and certainly a bit creepy. You don’t know whether to feel sorry for Amaury or worry about what he’s capable of. I definitely needed to read this in one sitting!

Book Review: "You Killed Me First" by John Marrs

John Marrs has been on my list of authors I’ve been wanting to read for a while now. Intrigued by the description of his newest book, I thought it was time to give him a try. This was an utterly wild, twisty book that kept me shaking my head, so I know I’ll be diving into Marrs’ backlist!

This is the story of three women: Margot, Anna, and Liv. Margot and Anna are neighbors and friends. The arrival of Liv and her family shake things up for the two women. Liv is gorgeous and wealthy, and becomes the envy—and irritation—of her neighbors.

While three women appear to become close friends, each is preying on the other’s weaknesses. Each woman has secrets they’ve kept hidden; what the others know and what they’re willing to do with that knowledge makes everything a bit more interesting.

Eleven months later, a woman awakens to find herself in the middle of a bonfire—and she’s trapped. Will she be able to escape, or will someone save her before she dies in the fire?

Shifting back and forth between the months prior to the bonfire and then the months after, this is one crazy ride. A definite suspension of disbelief is required, that’s for sure!!

It’s hard to write a review without giving too much away. But I couldn’t stop reading this. I didn’t want to put the book down at all, and devoured it pretty quickly. All I can say is, wow!

Book Review: "PS: I Hate You" by Lauren Connolly

“Arguably, hiding myself in a closet is in everyone’s best interest. These strangers want to watch me cry prettily. (But is that even physically possible? Who can have saltwater leaking out of their eyes and not look like a flushed, snotty mess?)”

Maddie’s older brother Josh died of cancer before he turned 30. He was the adventurous one, always trying to get Maddie to try new things and have fun. And this didn’t stop with his death: in his will he requested that she spread a portion of his ashes in each of the 8 states he never visited.

But Josh had one more trick up his sleeve, in that he assigned her a partner for her trips—Dom, his best friend. Maddie was in love with him for as long as she can remember, until one thing sent her running across the country to get away from him. Dom has always been a stickler for rules, so he’s not letting Maddie handle the ash-spreading herself, no matter how much vitriol she sends his way.

As they make each trip, there are awkward moments and emotional ones, as well as times when all Maddie wants is to be as far from Dom as possible. Along the way, they discover things about one another and each of their relationships with Josh, and Maddie realizes she must come to terms with her other fears and issues. She also must realize that her feelings for Dom have never dissipated; they’ve just grown stronger.

I’m a sucker for the found family trope, and I loved Maddie’s relationship with Dom’s family. Her mother and grandmother were written as one-dimensional monsters, and it broke my heart to see the way they treated her.

I wanted to love this book but it felt so schizophrenic to me. At times it was so moving and powerful; other times, Maddie was difficult to sympathize with and the miscommunication between her and Dom drove me crazy. It also got sooo steamy and it felt odd to me. But even with all that, I still cried, so…

Book Review: "One Night, Two Holidays" by Ali Brady

While Christmas is held on the same day every year, Hanukkah moves around based on the Hebrew calendar. Some years it happens in late November or early December, some years it’s much later. But this year both Christmas and the first night of Hanukkah were celebrated on the same day.

Given the “Chrismukkah” celebrations, discovering Ali Brady’s novella was perfect timing.

It’s Christmas Eve. Jack is a medical resident, ready to release some of his stress by spending a few days with his family in Denver. The last thing he was counting on was an epic snowstorm that cancels all flights out of Chicago. He is sad, frustrated, and lonely.

Nessa is alone for Hanukkah, since her roommates both had other plans and her parents are traveling. When she witnesses Jack’s frustration, she tries to coax a smile out of him. After all, she and her roommates have been intrigued by him for a while.

When the power goes out in their building, Jack is caught completely unaware. He finds Nessa’s apartment and the two plan to wait the storm out together. They talk about each other’s holiday traditions, their hopes and fears, and of course, start to draw closer. (The game of strip dreidel didn’t hurt.)

I love how Ali Brady gave equal weight to both holidays and both characters. They had terrific banter and sizzling chemistry, but I loved how they took their time before anything heated up physically. This was really a sweet story.

Book Review: "The Coldest Case" by Tessa Wegert

One of the things I love about reading a long-running series is how attached you become to the characters. This book is the sixth installment in Tessa Wegert’s series featuring Senior Investigator Shana Merchant, and the series gets better and better.

It’s winter in New York’s Thousand Islands, which means brutally cold temperatures and driving snow, which could strand people for days, even months weeks. One island, Running Pine, is so remote and isolated that only a few people spend the winter there.

When Shana and the police learn that a social media influencer has disappeared from Running Pine, they snap into action. It turns out that Cary and Sylvie have moved to the island for a year and are documenting the experience for their thousands of followers, and have landed some significant endorsement deals on top of that. And then one morning, when Cary goes ice fishing with two of their neighbors, he disappeared.

The police put themselves in harm’s way getting to the island, as there is a storm coming. The more they dig into what happened, the more questions arise for them. What happened to Cary? Did he disappear of his own free will or is one of their neighbors responsible?

Time is running out. As Shana and her colleagues rush to find answers, she also is reminded of another unsolved murder from her days with the NYPD. And both cases have the potential for danger.

Wegert is definitely one of my favorite thriller writers out there right now. With every book in this series I worry it’ll be the last, but I’ll still read anything she writes!

Book Review: "The Answer is No" by Fredrik Backman

Fredrik Backman is one of my favorite authors. The Beartown series just blew me away and I’ve loved so many of his books where the curmudgeon just needs to be loved and appreciated.

That being said, I tend to like Backman’s books when they’re more emotional and dramatic. The one book of his I struggled with was Normal People, because it felt very silly to me, almost farcical.

I had the same challenges with The Answer is No, Backman’s upcoming story. I appreciate the message he was trying to convey, but it just got too wacky for me.

Lucas is one of those people who keeps to himself. He would much rather spend time alone than have to deal with others. He doesn’t seek out relationships because they would force him to compromise or not get what he wants.

And then one day, his peace is shattered when three board members come to his door. Apparently someone in his building has left a frying pan next to the recycling room. That’s against the rules. But Lucas innocuously suggests how to solve the problem—and he doesn’t realize the wheels he has set in motion.

The story quickly slides into satire. It’s cute and I’m sure it may be a home run for others, but it wasn’t my thing. It will publish 12/1.

Book Review: "Wish I Were Here" by Melissa Wiesner

Growing up with a father who was happiest when juggling or making people laugh, Catherine was the serious, focused one. She made sure the rent got paid on time (or packed up their things when they got evicted) and she always took care of her dad. But it gets exhausting being the one who always keeps it together.

She’s about to start work as a tenure-track mathematics professor. But all of her careful preparations go awry when the university says they have no record of Catherine existing. Even though she has all of her documentation, no one seems to think it’s real. Her job, her future, her identity are all in jeopardy.

With the assistance of Luca, the handsome doorman of her apartment building, she digs deeper into the whole situation. She discovers she never had her original birth certificate, which apparently her mother has. But she never met her mother, and her father refuses to tell Catherine anything about her.

Luca tries to help Catherine focus on the lighter side of life. As he helps her track her mother down, he also introduces her to a motley crew of the building’s residents, mostly elderly people. And it’s no secret their feelings for one another are much more than tenant-doorman.

This is a sweet love story, with a surprising touch of magical realism thrown in. I really enjoyed many of the characters, and the way the book handled both the lighter and more emotional moments.

I’ve read one of Melissa Wiesner’s previous books, and she’s the type of writer whose stories find their way into your heart and your mind. Definitely a feel-good book!

Book Review: "The Love of My Afterlife" by Kirsty Greenwood

All the stars for this incredible book. It had that perfect combination of romance, emotion, banter, steam, and magical realism, and it made me both laugh and cry.

Even when she realized she was choking on a microwaved hamburger, Delphie never thought she’d actually DIE. But even worse, she can’t believe she’s in the afterlife wearing a nightshirt. And wouldn’t it figure that she meets the handsomest man at that moment…and he seems smitten with her?

Apparently the man, Jonah, isn’t supposed to be dead yet and is sent back to life, leaving Delphie bereft. Could she have already lost her soulmate? But the romance-loving afterlife counselor wants to see Delphie get her happily ever after, so she makes her a deal. Delphie will get sent back, but she has 10 days to find Jonah (whose memory will be wiped) and get him to kiss her. If she can, she can have her life back.

Ten days isn’t a lot of time when you don’t know someone’s last name or how to find him. But as she starts asking for help, suddenly she realizes how empty her life has been, and how being kind to people leads to possibilities she never would have imagined.

Along the way, Delphie must deal with some unresolved issues from her childhood and keep caring for her elderly neighbor. At the same time, she makes friends in unexpected places and realizes all she was missing before she died. Can she find her soulmate before her time runs out again?

This was such an amazing story, with a really terrific cast of supporting characters. I’ll definitely be thinking of this for a while! Thanks so much to Berkley and NetGalley for the free copy!

Book Review: "The Block Party" by Jamie Day

So. Much. Drama.

Those who live on an exclusive cul-de-sac on Alton Road definitely think they’re better than everyone else. The neighbors come together often, most notably for the annual block party over Memorial Day weekend.

While there’s always a scandal to be had at the block party, this year tops it all. Gunshots are fired. Someone is dead. But who died? And who is the murderer?

From those tense moments, the book takes us back one year. We watch secrets be hidden, suspicions grow, tensions heighten. There’s no shortage of possibilities as far as who might be hurt or angry enough to kill, and whom the victim is. You’re definitely kept guessing.

I do love the melodrama of neighbors behaving badly. At times it seemed like there were so many scandals and so many people in crisis that it was hard to keep track of it all. The book is narrated by Alex, organizer of the block party, and her daughter, Lettie. Neither are completely sympathetic characters.

I found the pacing strangely slow given the fact that so much was going on. (Two separate epilogues didn’t help.) But still, I couldn’t look away from these people and I needed to know how the story would be resolved.

Thanks so much to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the complimentary copy!

Book Review: "Fourteen Days" by The Authors Guild

Shortly after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the residents of a rundown apartment building on NYC’s Lower East Side begin gathering on the rooftop terrace for fresh air. They participate in the cheering for the health care workers, which occurs each evening at 7:00 pm.

Little by little, they start to linger on the roof after the cheering subsides. At first they keep to themselves, reading, playing with their phones, pondering the pandemic, but then they start to tell each other stories—stories that happened to them, stories passed down from their families, even fables or ghost stories. All can’t be true, but the shared time proves therapeutic.

The narrator is the building’s female superintendent, a virtual stranger to the tenants, as she took the job and moved in just before the lockdown began. Armed with her predecessor’s “bible,” a binder profiling each tenant and the nickname he bestowed upon them, she takes it upon herself to record and transcribe the stories they are told. And she has stories of her own as well.

As soon as I heard about this book, I wanted to read it. Each chapter contains multiple stories, and each story is written by another author, everyone from Margaret Atwood, John Grisham, Angie Cruz, to Diana Gabaldon, Erica Jong, and Tess Gerritsen. (Interestingly enough, the stories don't identify the authors; you won't know who wrote which chapter until the end. Unless you cheat.)

Sadly, the concept didn’t work as well as I had hoped—essentially, it’s a group of short stories, some of which are excellent, some of which are not, and some of which have too much detail to actually be a story someone would tell. (And don’t get me started on the ending.)

Book Review: "Dinosaurs" by Lydia Millet

The latest novel by Lydia Millet is one of those excellent character-driven books that surprises you with how much you love it.

I’d never read anything by Millet before, although she’s quite prolific. But a few friends really enjoyed this, so I decided to give it a shot. Boy, am I glad I did. I thought this was fantastic.

When Gil’s relationship ends, he is hurt and angry and feels rudderless. He decides to leave his home in NYC and move to Arizona—but he doesn’t just move there, he WALKS there. The whole way. It takes him five months, and the scenery was quite repetitive at times, but at times it was beautiful.

He buys a house sight unseen, one that looks like a castle. Then one day, a family moves into the glass-walled house next door. Gil can’t help but be drawn to the family as he witnesses the everyday occurrences in their lives, and it’s not long before his life becomes enmeshed with theirs. He becomes a mentor/friend to young Tom, a confidante to both Ardis and her husband Ted, and he even makes Clem, their teenaged daughter, smile on occasion.

This is a story about connection, how enhanced our lives become through our relationships, and how much life they bring to a solitary person. It’s also a story about nature, as Gil’s house attracts many different kinds of birds, and he becomes attached to them. And it’s also about regret, grief, and allowing yourself to let others in.

Not a lot happens in this book, but I hung on every word. There were so many places in which the plot could have veered into melodrama, and I was so glad it didn’t. Millet tells a beautiful, poignant story that I really connected with.

Book Review: "The Secret Next Door" by Rebecca Taylor

You haven’t seen neighborhood drama until you’ve come to The Enclave, the heart of Rebecca Taylor's novel, The Secret Next Door.

The Enclave is your typical exclusive neighborhood, full of the haves and those struggling to pretend they’re haves. Everyone tries to make their lives look enviable from the outside even as they deal with marital, financial, and/or parenting challenges.

The neighborhood is roiled by the proposed building of a golfing entertainment facility on adjacent land. Neighbors take sides and accusations are thrown that one family might actually benefit from the development.

But when the body of a 13-year-old boy is found by the neighborhood lake, it touches off a powder keg of fear, suspicion, guilt, and, of course, gossip. It also causes two families to evaluate everything they hold dear and determine just what they want.

The Secret Next Door is a soapy, twisty book. If you’re a fan of this type of neighborhood drama book you’ve seen some of the story before, but it’s still pretty addictive. And Taylor really threw in some twists I didn’t see coming.

Thanks to Suzy Approved Book Tours, Rebecca Taylor, and Sourcebooks Landmark for inviting me on the tour and providing a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review!!

Book Review: "The Sinful Lives of Trophy Wives" by Kristin Miller

What a fun, soapy read Kristin Miller's new mystery, The Sinful Lives of Trophy Wives, was!!

When Brooke and her much-older, tech-magnate husband look at a mansion in a prestigious Bay Area neighborhood, they think they’ve found a home where Brooke can write her mystery novels and there won’t be a lot of interference from their neighbors. (Although the HOA rules are rather ridiculous.)

But what they didn’t realize is that one of their neighbors is Georgia, the so-called “Black Widow,” whose first two husbands died mysteriously. Many people think she’s behind their deaths even though the law has found otherwise. But now she claims to have found true love with another wealthy man, and everyone’s wondering whether she’ll strike again.

Meanwhile, Georgia’s best friend Erin, a news anchor and the HOA president, has her own issues. Jealous of Brooke’s youth and freshness, she walks off her newscaster job in a snit, hoping her husband will make her a trophy wife, too. But he’s less than enthused with her stunt, and she starts to wonder whether there’s something he’s hiding from her.

When an incident occurs after Georgia’s engagement party, Brooke starts to realize that her neighbors and friends might be the inspiration she needs to break out of her writing slump. But it’s not long before she finds herself drawn into their web, which gets crazier and crazier by the second.

No one is quite what they seem in this neighborhood…and not knowing whom to trust could be dangerous!

I had such a great time reading The Sinful Lives of Trophy Wives. It reminded me of a great nighttime soap opera and I was hooked on the story, which was twisty enough to keep me guessing but not ridiculous. I love reading about the fabulously, dastardly rich. Heck, I’d even love a sequel!

Book Review: "The Cul-de-Sac" by BJ Irons

Steamy sex and drama on Calumny Court! Who says the suburbs are boring? Not BJ Irons, in his new book, The Cul-de-Sac.

Like many married couples, Lucas and Bennett have decided it’s time to abandon their wild city life for a fancy house in the suburbs. And the house on Calumny Court, a well-appointed cul-de-sac, seems perfect.

What they don’t count on are Zach and Skyler. Both of their families live on the cul-de-sac, and both are used to playing mind games and getting exactly what they want. Zach and Skyler are both gay, and love to compete with each other, so they set their sights on Lucas and Bennett. Who can seduce one half of the new neighbor couple first? But does this rivalry mask real feelings?

The Cul-de-Sac is deliciously soapy and it was a great change of pace for me. The sex scenes (all M/M) are pretty hot and steamy.

I’m glad I don’t live on Calumny Court but I sure enjoyed reading about it! Book 2 is forthcoming...

The author provided me a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making it available!!

Book Review: "A Good Neighborhood" by Therese Anne Fowler

After reading Therese Anne Fowler's new novel, A Good Neighborhood, all I can say, in the words of Keanu Reeves in many of his early movies is, “whoa.”

I don’t belong to a book club, but I wish I did after reading this book. It made me sad, it made me angry, it made me think about our world today, and it made me wonder whether or not certain characters’ actions were justified.

In the comfortable North Carolina suburb of Oak Hill, Valerie and her biracial son Xavier have lived since he was a baby. An ecology and forestry professor, Valerie feels more at home among the plants and trees than with people, especially the majestic, historic oak tree at the back of their property. Xavier, studious, friendly, and charming, is just about ready to head across the country for college, where he’ll study classical guitar.

The Whitmans move into the lot behind Valerie and Xavier, building a McMansion, razing all of the trees on their property and infringing upon Valerie’s oak. Brad Whitman, the self-made man with the HVAC empire, who fancies himself a minor celebrity because he appears in his company’s commercials, lives there with his wife, his teenage stepdaughter Juniper, and his daughter Lily.

When Valerie’s tree starts dying, she pursues some legal remedies which anger Brad. And then Juniper and Xavier begin seeing each other secretly, and the discovery of the relationship sets an indelible chain of events into motion.

This book shook me. I wasn’t surprised by anything that happened but I was so irritated/upset by the fact that stuff like this actually happens. Therese Anne Fowler did an excellent job creating a veritable car crash of a novel I couldn’t look away from. I've seen mixed things but I can't help but wonder if some who didn't like the book were put off by the behavior of the characters.

I won’t forget about this one for a long time.