Book Review: "The Deal of a Lifetime" by Fredrik Backman

This novella is an inspirational story about love and sacrifice.

“Hi. It’s your dad. You’ll be waking up soon, it’s Christmas Eve morning in Helsingborg, and I’ve killed a person. That’s not how fairy tales usually begin, I know. But I took a life. Does it make a difference if you know whose it was?”

With that, Fredrik Backman draws you into a story about ambition, regret, love, fear, life, and death. I’m totally late to the party on reading this although I love his books.

There’s not much to say without giving the plot away, but essentially, the story is narrated by a father for his son. It has a bit of a holiday feel, and it’s definitely a poignant story. I wish it were a little longer, but it is what it is.

Book Review: "Best Served Hot" by Amanda Elliot

In Amanda Elliot's follow-up to Sadie on a Plate, the heat gets turned up when two restaurant critics team up.⁣

⁣ Julie loves being a restaurant reviewer on social media. She works as an executive assistant in order to support her side gig as @JulieZeeEatsNYC, and her more than 50,000 followers love her food photos and videos.

⁣ ⁣ What Julie wants more than anything is an actual job as a restaurant reviewer for a newspaper, and her dream job is to work at the New York Scroll. But when the Scroll doesn’t even contact her after receiving her application, and they hire Bennett Wright (whose mom is friends with the paper’s CEO) instead, she’s angry and hurt.⁣

⁣ While at a food festival in Central Park, Julie runs into Bennett, and their encounter devolves into Julie confronting him for his snobby attitude toward social media and those who use it for restaurant/food reviews. Her video footage of their confrontation sees her follower count jump dramatically—and it brings more traffic to Scroll's social media, too.⁣

⁣ Seeing benefit for both of them, Bennett proposes that they collaborate. They’ll both visit the same restaurants at the same time and contrast their approaches and opinions. And after some initial hijinks, they start to enjoy each other’s company, and they learn from each other.⁣ Of course, the more they collaborate, the more the chemistry intensifies. Is this a reservation for love or disaster?⁣

⁣ I love books about food and restaurants, so this was right up my alley. I loved Sadie on a Plate (and Sadie makes a cameo in this book), and this is fun, steamy, and romantic. I enjoyed the discussion about social media and the battle of print vs. internet, too.

⁣ Thanks so much to NetGalley and Berkley for the advance copy! The book publishes 2/21/2023!⁣

Book Review: "Even Though I Knew the End" by C.L. Polk

This is a novella that’s a little creepy, a little mysterious, a little fantastical, even a little poignant and romantic.

⁣ ⁣ Helen is a talented magical detective in Chicago in the early 1940s. But instead of being recruited into the shadowy Brotherhood, promising her soul in exchange for her brother’s life leaves her shunned and without the Brotherhood's support. She knows she only has a few days left to live before the devil comes calling.⁣

⁣ But Helen’s mysterious client offers her a job too good to resist: find out the identity of the brutal murderer being called the “White City Vampire” and her debt will be considered paid. That means she’ll be able to spend the rest of her life with Edith, the woman she loves.⁣

⁣ Figuring out the identity of the killer is far more complicated than Helen bargained for. She finds herself in the middle of a gigantic web full of unspeakable evil. Will she be able to survive to enjoy her freedom, or will the job prove too dangerous?⁣

⁣ This was fairly outside my comfort zone but I absolutely loved it! It has a lot of different elements—magic, angels and demons, and a sapphic love story. At its core this is a story of how far we’re willing to go for those we love. I would love if C.L. Polk wrote a sequel someday!!⁣

Book Review: "Christmas in Peachtree Bluff" by Kristy Woodson Harvey

In Christmas in Peachtree Bluff, the holiday season comes along with romance, family drama, and a hurricane.

I received this book last year after the holidays had ended, so I decided to add it to my stack of holiday reads for this year. Once again, I’m reminded just how much I love the way Kristy Woodson Harvey writes, how she pulls you into her stories immediately.

Ansley is excited to have all three of her daughters, Caroline, Sloane, and Emerson, home for Thanksgiving with their families. The peace and joy of the holidays is slightly marred by the antics of Caroline’s 15-year-old daughter Vivi, who keeps lashing out at Caroline because of her impending divorce. At the end of her rope, she asks Ansley and her husband, Jack, if Vivi can stay with them through Christmas.

Before that, however, Ansley and Jack have a cruise to Australia planned. But the hurricane of the century is headed for Peachtree Bluff, and she’s worried about leaving the town that means so much to her. When Vivi acts out again, little does she realize how many people she’ll put in harm’s way.

Will the hurricane hit Peachtree Bluff, and if so, will the town survive? Will each of Ansley’s daughters deal with the problems they’re facing? This is technically the fourth book in the Peachtree Bluff series, but I haven’t read the other two, and that didn’t matter at all.

This is such a charming story of family, home, and the holiday spirit. I definitely want to go back and read the rest of the series now!!

Book Review: "Mabry's Minor Mistake" by Sam E. Kraemer

If you're looking for a sweet, steamy, enemies-to-lovers/second-chance holiday romance, look no further!

Mabry was a star basketball player going into his senior year of college when he met Jimmy, a young and naive incoming freshman and IT whiz. Over the course of an evening, Mabry and Jimmy visited a bunch of frat parties together and Mabry made sure Jimmy didn’t get taken advantage of.

They felt a connection, but Jimmy was drunk and Mabry didn’t want to take advantage of him. But Jimmy felt rejected, so he enacted his revenge—an action that nearly wrecked the end of Mabry’s college career.

Ten years later, Mabry has retired after a number of years as a successful professional basketball player, and now owns a car dealership in a Chicago suburb. The last person he’s expecting to walk into his dealership is Jimmy.

Jimmy (now JJ) is a tremendously successful businessman who owns a video game company. He wants to make a basketball video with Mabry, but his offers have been rejected in the past. He’s willing to do—and give—anything to work with Mabry on this game, and of course, he also hopes he might have a second chance at a relationship with the former athlete.

Jimmy has never been far from Mabry’s mind—mostly for negative reasons—but it is good to see his nemesis after so long. And he’d be lying if he said he didn’t still feel some kind of connection with Jimmy. But can he trust someone who made his life a living hell?

This was a sexy, sweet, emotional romance about two people finding their way back to each other, and a fun holiday read!

Book Review: "Only When It's Us" by Chloe Liese

Loved it, loved it, loved it!

A few months ago I fell completely in love with Everything for You, technically the 5th book in Chloe Liese’s Bergman Brothers series. I’ve been meaning to get back to the start of the series, and now that I’ve read the first book, I’m utterly hooked.

Willa is an amazing soccer player who hopes to turn pro after college. She’s fiercely competitive and has a tremendously short fuse; she’s definitely the type to get angry first and ask questions later.

Ryder is handsome, brooding, and dresses in flannel every day like a lumberjack. He’s not sure what he did to become the target of Willa’s wrath, but they start to enjoy needling each other in class. And then Willa makes a startling discovery: she thinks Ryder is just an egotistical idiot who’s ignoring her, but he’s actually deaf.

Thrown together by their professor, their connection is immediate and intense. But both are hiding secrets, vulnerabilities, and fears, and every time they get close to giving into their feelings, something happens. Can they trust another enough to let their guards down? Can they both give each other what they need and want, or will fear and stubbornness keep them away?

What I love about Chloe Liese is that her books combine humor, chemistry, banter, serious steam, and also serious emotion. All of the supporting characters—from Ryder’s family to his and Willa’s friends, even the manipulative professor who threw them together—are fantastic, too. I just got hooked on this world and can’t wait to go back!!

Book Review: "Lark Ascending" by Silas House

Silas House's new book is an evocative, powerful story of survival and connection.

In a perhaps not-too-distant future, the U.S. has been destroyed by fires across the country. Lark and his family had left their Maryland home for sanctuary in Maine, but that proves to be fleeting, as religious radicals turn to violence and persecution.

With nowhere else to go, Lark and his parents are able to get on a crowded ship to Ireland, which is apparently the only place where Americans are still welcome. The trip is treacherous and even their arrival is filled with chaos and violence, and ultimately, Lark is the only survivor left from the ship.

Alone in an unfamiliar country, Lark must find his way. Ultimately he finds two companions—Helen, a woman desperate to find her son, and Seamus, a dog who has seen quite a bit in his life. They want to make it to what they believe is a safe haven, but it will take all their strength and courage.

This is a bleak but gorgeously written book. I love the way House writes, and Seamus joins the list of my absolute favorite non-human characters this year. There is so much amazing imagery, I could see it in my mind’s eye.

Definitely not an easy, carefree read, but an important and beautiful one nonetheless!!