Book Review: "I'll Have What He's Having" by Adib Khorram

I was so excited to see that after writing several terrific YA novels, Adib Khorram is making his first foray into adult romance—and it was really good!⁣⁣

⁣⁣ Farzan may be the oldest of three children, but he’s not been the stellar success that his siblings have, either professionally or romantically. He’s a substitute teacher, which is exhausting, and he’s just had another relationship end really before it began.⁣⁣

⁣⁣ To drown his sorrows, Farzan goes to Aspire, one of Kansas City’s hottest wine bars. He gets fantastic personal attention from Aspire’s wine director, David, who is not only tremendously knowledgeable, but he’s the sexiest man Farzan has ever seen. They flirt over each pour, and both feel the intense attraction. David thinks Farzan is a restaurant critic—a hilarious misunderstanding that gets cleared up during post-meal passion.⁣⁣

⁣⁣ After an incredibly steamy night, David tells Farzan that he’s taking the master sommelier exam in a few months, and once he passes, he’s planning to leave Kansas City. Farzan doesn’t want just a casual fling, but when he decides to take over his parents’ restaurant, he needs David’s help—and David could use a study buddy—so they agree to be friends with benefits.⁣⁣

⁣⁣ Of course, the no-strings-attached thing rarely succeeds, and it’s not long before both have fallen for each other. But if David is going to leave, what’s the point in giving into their feelings? Are they running the risk of losing the best thing that has happened to both of them?⁣⁣

⁣⁣ This was a moving, romantic, fun, and incredibly steamy book. It’s a story of family, friendship, love, food, wine, and trusting your heart and your dreams. And boy, did it make me hungry!!

Thanks to NetGalley and Forever for the advance copy. The book will publish 8/27.⁣⁣ ⁣⁣

Book Review: "Sipsworth" by Simon Van Booy

We’ve previously established that I am a complete and utter sap. But this beautiful little book got me all choked up while on a plane, and the woman sitting next to me asked if I was okay. (That’s always an embarrassing conversation.)

After 60 years living abroad, Helen returns to the English village where she grew up. She’s at a point in her life where she “was old with her life broken in ways she could not have foreseen.” She’s just ready to die, and hopes to do so quickly.

Each day of her life is much like the one before. She enjoys watching old movies and listening to opera, but more often than not she finds herself sleeping longer and longer during the day. But then one night, her quiet existence is disrupted when she discovers a mouse has gotten into her cottage.

At first, all she wants to do is get the mouse out. But then she starts to worry that it might get eaten by the neighbor’s cat, or even freeze to death, so she decides to bring it back into the house. Little by little she finds herself caring for the mouse, feeding it treats and even talking to it as if it were a companion. She even gives him a name, Sipsworth, and he proves to be much more personable and smarter than your average mouse.

For the first time in years, Helen doesn’t feel entirely alone. And when a crisis occurs she realizes that there are people to whom she matters, people who notice her and want to help her. This woman who was prepared to live her final days alone has found her with numerous companions, especially Sipsworth.

This was such a beautiful, sweet story of second chances, realizing you’re more important than you think, and, of course, the power of hope. It definitely requires a little suspension of disbelief, but this felt like a gigantic hug.

Book Review: "Swiped" by L.M. Chilton

Every time I talk to a friend who is looking to start dating, I hear about another dating app. There’s always at least 2-3 I’ve never heard of before. (And for my friends just looking for, umm, fun, there are apps for that, too!)

Ever since she and her boyfriend broke up, Gwen has been trying to find the magic with someone new. And with her best friend and roommate getting ready to move out and get married, Gwen has become addicted to swiping on Connector, and enjoys the thrill when she is notified of a match.

Unfortunately, while many of the men she matches with seem terrific, in reality, they’re all just different degrees of awful. There’s the one who’s still hung up on his ex, the racist yet handsy woman-hater, the secretly married guy, etc. But still, she keeps hoping that she’ll luck out and find the right guy.

Then she finds out one of the guys she went out with was found dead, and all signs point to murder. As more men die, the only thing that connects them is they all went out on one disastrous date with Gwen. The police are starting to wonder if Gwen might be a dangerous killer, but she’s determined to figure out who’s really responsible, and why they’re targeting her.

This is a fun thriller that definitely does keep you guessing. Gwen is really a mess, but you feel for her as her life is imploding. Sure, you have to suspend your disbelief at times, but it didn’t bother me that much. I just enjoyed this look at how crazy the online dating world can be!!

Thanks to NetGalley and Gallery Books for the advance copy of this one. The book will publish 5/21.

Book Review: "Love, Literally" by J.T. Tierney

I read a lot of rom-coms and romances, and one of the things I like best about that genre is when there’s banter between the main characters. So when I heard about Love, Literally, about two people who connect over their shared love of wordplay, language, and literature, how could I resist?

It’s 2020, a few months into the COVID pandemic. Hallie has been laid off from her set design job, her boyfriend has disappeared, and her roommate has left town to care for a sick relative. Unable to make ends meet, her best friend Maria comes to her rescue, offering her the opportunity to move in with her and her husband.

Not long after, friends of Maria’s decide they’d like to escape to their second home, a mansion on Cape Cod, and they invite Maria and her husband, as well as Hallie. Also included is Quinn, a professor of literature whose own life has been chaotic as well.

It’s not long before Hallie and Quinn begin engaging in intellectual one-upmanship, stemming from their shared fondness for literature, language, musicals, and puns. Not just their minds are sparked, of course—their playful flirting soon gives way to stronger chemistry, both emotional and sexual.

Both Hallie and Quinn have had their share of turmoil, pain, and sadness. They want to see where this connection may lead, but they both have issues dealing with their feelings and hopes, not to mention their ability to express what they want from one another.

There’s much to enjoy about this story, but there is far too much drama and indecisiveness, which leads to lots of tears and handwringing. The author also threw in a bunch of other subplots and social issues that made brief ripples and then were forgotten. I wish the focus of the book had stayed on the romance.

Book Review: "Alternate Endings" by Ali Rosen

Beatrice is one of those people whose professional life is spectacular, yet her personal life is a mess. She loves her job and she’s great at what she does, and she loves her six-year-old son, Bash.

What she doesn’t love is being in the midst of a divorce with her ex, Lucas, who is living in the basement apartment of their townhouse so he can still be fully involved in Bash’s life. Every tweak to their custody schedule causes a fight with Lucas, and he threatens to rectify things when their divorce is finalized.

When Bea’s boss, Brigid, gets divorced, she decides to move to a castle in Ireland. (Half of the company is already based there.) Bea and the team are expected to fly to Ireland for a few days every two weeks, which causes significant tension with Lucas.

And if that’s not enough chaos, Brigid has hired a new chief technology officer for the company, and much to Bea’s surprise, it’s Jack Sander. As in the guy who utterly broke her heart in high school, and whom she’s not seen in 20 years. (And, of course, he has grown into an immensely sexy man.)

Jack’s presence upends Bea. She tries to juggle a potential promotion at work, fighting with Lucas, and alternately resenting and lusting after Jack. Their competitive banter is the same as it was in high school, and it turns out both of their lives are messy in different ways. When they finally give in to their sexual chemistry, they decide that what happens in Ireland stays in Ireland, and it’s purely a physical thing. (Yeah, ok.)

This was a fun second-chance romance with lots of steam and swoon-worthy moments, especially between Jack and Bash. It definitely sent the message that having it all—or trying to—doesn’t mean your life has to be perfect. I also really enjoyed the supporting characters, from Bea’s best friends to her colleagues, her sister-in-law, and even the manager of Brigid’s castle. Bash was simply adorable as well.

Book Review: "Long Island" by Colm Tóibín

I’m trying to decide which concept I like better: knowing a sequel to a book you enjoyed is coming out, or being completely surprised because it’s been a while since the first book was published. In the case of Long Island, Colm Tóibín’s latest book, I had no idea that he was writing a sequel to Brooklyn, a book I really enjoyed and a movie I loved even more.

It’s 1976, and Eilis Lacey is in her 40s and lives in Lindenhurst, Long Island, with her husband Tony and their two teenage children. Eilis and Tony live on a cul-de-sac along with Tony’s parents and two of his three brothers. Tony works with his brothers and his family dominates every aspect of Eilis’ life. She often thinks of her mother and brother back in Ireland.

One day, a man comes looking for Eilis. He tells her his wife is pregnant with Tony’s child, and he refuses to raise another man’s baby. He vows that when the baby is born, he will bring it to Tony and Eilis, even leaving it on their doorstep if he must.

Eilis feels betrayed and humiliated by this revelation. While Tony and his family try to figure out how they will deal with the impending arrival of a baby, Eilis wants no part of it. Instead, she travels home to Ireland for the first time in 20 years, ostensibly to celebrate her mother’s 80th birthday, and her children will follow soon after.

Enniscorthy, the Irish town where Eilis grew up, has both changed and stayed the same since she was last there. Her return does stir up gossip from her last trip, but as she tries to process the situation with her marriage, she wonders what her future holds.

I’ve always been a fan of Tóibín’s writing, and it was amazing to reconnect with Eilis and other characters from Brooklyn. This is a quietly powerful, thought-provoking, and moving book, which could be read as a standalone, but I’d recommend reading Brooklyn too, either before or after.

Book Review: "Cinema Love" by Jiaming Tang

“Theirs is the kind of love that can change the weather. A radio forecast predicting rain switches its tune the moment Old Second sees Shun-Er. Clouds part, a breeze picks up, and the sun becomes so yellow it looks delicious. Just peel the skin, remove the seeds, and bite. Not hard but soft, the way Shun-Er touches Old Second.”

Within just a few sentences, I knew that Cinema Love was a beautifully written book. Jiaming Tang’s word choices convey so much, creating a layered story full of emotion, pain, and hope.

To see Bao Mei and her husband, Old Second, walking through New York’s Chinatown, you’d assume they were a typical Chinese couple. But the two contain multitudes—before they came to America, they both frequented the Worker’s Cinema in Fuzhou. Bao Mei worked as the ticket seller, while Old Second, like many of the cinema’s patrons, was looking for illicit encounters with other men, as old movies played.

Bao Mei works at the cinema knowing who its patrons are, and she appoints herself as a protector of these men, chasing nagging wives and others away who might be looking for their husbands or sons. She herself has a relationship of sorts with the projectionist, who is the cinema owner’s son. But they all know this idyll cannot last, and when a series of events occurs that exposes the truth, it leads to tragedy, as well as some fleeing to America.

This is the story of Bao Mei and Old Second, as well as others who have come to America, and while the ways that these characters are interconnected might not be obvious at first, it all falls together nicely. The book shifts narration as well as timeframes, between the past in China and the present in New York.

While I felt that the pacing of the book was a bit slow and there are places where you are left to formulate your own answers, this is a moving story about how, even years later, we are indelibly affected by parts of our life.

Book Review: "The Return of Ellie Black" by Emiko Jean

I’ve definitely had FOMO seeing so many people rave about this book. But now that I’ve raced through it, I can unequivocally say: Believe. The. Hype.

More than two years ago, 17-year-old Ellie Black disappeared during a party. Her broken phone was found a short time later, but the clues stopped there. Her family never stopped hoping, but everyone knew the odds of a missing girl being found after so much time had passed.

Yet one evening, Ellie sees some hikers in a Washington forest. She is haggard, malnourished, afraid, overly sensitive to light, but she is able to remember her name.

Detective Chelsey Calhoun investigated Ellie’s disappearance, and she cannot believe that the young woman is still alive. As she tries to figure out what happened to Ellie, where she was held captive, and who was responsible, she starts to believe there’s so much more Ellie isn’t telling her. She’s determined to figure out what Ellie is hiding, no matter that her bosses, Ellie’s family, and Ellie herself try to convince her to stop digging.

For Chelsey, this case is so much more than the return of a missing girl. This is also about her older sister, Lydia, who vanished when they were teenagers. And this is about trying to protect other girls from being taken.

"She would ask the media, the world: When will it be enough? How society accepts women dying at the hands of men. Chelsey mourns girlhood."

Tension-filled and twisty, this is a fantastic book. The characters were really complex and will stick in my head. It’s quite dark, and it may be triggering for some, but Emiko Jean has written a thriller with a heart, a book which makes you think.

Book Review: "This Summer Will Be Different" by Carley Fortune

Even though I’ve read other “summer” books, for some reason I feel like the season has arrived now that I’ve read Carley Fortune’s new book, This Summer Will Be Different. And not just that, but I’ve officially added Prince Edward Island to my travel bucket list!

Lucy and Bridget are former roommates and inseparable best friends. When Lucy goes to visit Bridget’s childhood home on PEI, she arrives alone because Bridget was delayed. On a whim she goes to an oyster bar, where in addition to some fantastic food, she meets Felix, a sexy local. They spend an incredible night together, and then she realizes Felix is Bridget’s younger brother, so he is off-limits.

But every time Lucy and Bridget travel from Toronto to PEI, they take in the beauty of the island, spend time walking on the beach and drinking by the fire, and acting like tourists. And every time, Lucy winds up sleeping with Felix, and they both promise not to let it happen again, and to keep it a secret from Bridget.

A week before Bridget’s wedding, she mysteriously flees Toronto and goes home without telling anyone. Then she calls Lucy and asks her to come to PEI, but doesn’t explain why. Lucy is determined to help Bridget weather whatever crisis she is dealing with, but Bridget isn’t ready to share why she came home. And at the same time, Lucy still cannot resist Felix, but this summer it feels like more than just a fling. But will this hurt her friendship with Bridget?

This is a romance, complete with some serious steam and the push-and-pull of two people who want each other but are deathly afraid of truly letting their hearts go. Yet it’s also a story about true friendship. As Bridget says, “It’s how I learned that the greatest loves are not always romances.”

Fortune not only weaves beautiful stories, but she creates such vivid, evocative imagery that touches all of your senses. I have my passport ready and know all the words to “O Canada”!

Book Review: "Happy Medium" by Sarah Adler

Sarah Adler made me a fan with her spectacular debut, Mrs. Nash’s Ashes, and her new novel was equally fun and romantic.

Gretchen Acorn (not her real name) is a medium, helping people communicate with their dead loved ones. The truth is, her abilities are about as genuine as her name, and she comes from a long line of con artists. But Gretchen prides herself on not taking real advantage of her clients—she only helps those who truly would benefit from her “services.” (And if that helps pay her bills, so be it.)

When one of her clients asks Gretchen to help her bridge partner by investigating the phenomena that seem to interfere with his selling his family farm, she’s a tiny bit apprehensive. However, her client is going to pay her handsomely, so how can she pass up helping an old man?

She makes some quick discoveries when she arrives at the farm. First of all, her client’s bridge partner isn’t a little old man—Charlie is young, hunky, and doesn’t want anything to do with a fraud like Gretchen. And much to her surprise, Gretchen meets Everett, a distant family member of Charlie’s, who happens to be the ghost that’s been causing all the trouble on the farm. (So maybe there’s some truth to this whole medium thing after all?)

Everett, who has been haunting the farm since the 1920s, is a little annoying and quite a bit of a flirt. He asks Gretchen to convince Charlie not to sell the farm or he’ll face the same curse that killed Everett. But Charlie doesn’t believe Gretchen, so she vows to stay on the farm to make sure she wins him over. Of course, that entails actually working on the farm (physical labor is not her strong suit), and the more time she spends with Charlie, the more she realizes she needs to be honest—with him and with herself.

Everett is one of the best characters I’ve encountered in some time. The banter between him and Gretchen cracked me up. This was a sweet, steamy, and enjoyable romp that made me smile.

Book Review: "Bite by Bite" by Aimee Nezhukumatathil

As you might have figured out from previous posts, I love food. I went to culinary school a number of years ago and worked as a personal chef for a while. I’m a bit of a foodie (although not to the extreme), and definitely love reading food writing and books where cooking factors into the plot.

All of this to say, when I saw Aimee Nezhukumatathil’s new book, Bite by Bite, sitting on a bookstore shelf, I picked it up immediately. In this book of short essays, she looks at how food can be linked to memories and how our senses can be awakened and enhanced by the foods we encounter.

“For what is home if not the first place where you learn what does and does not nourish you? The first place you learn to sit still and slow down when someone offers you a bite to eat?”

In this beautifully illustrated book, Nezhukumatathil touches on foods both familiar (e.g., apples, butter, maple syrup) and more “exotic” (e.g., rambutan, jackfruit, mangosteen). She talks about her introduction to these flavors and the memories they convey. She discusses how these foods and tastes intersect with her heritage and she also shares her hopeful perspectives and memories raising her children.

“I wanted to be there when my boys first grab the berries from my hand and nibble on them with such abandonment, such a love and hunger and thirst that their mouths end up looking like those goofy bloody bunny pictures.”

This is such a lovely book, one you can open and read from any point. It would make a terrific gift for almost anyone—and Nezhukumatathil has given us quite a gift as well.

Book Review: "The Paradise Problem" by Christina Lauren

Whenever a new Christina Lauren book publishes, you can bet I snap it up pretty quickly. And while I love most of their books—and definitely have a few I cherish more than others—The Paradise Problem is a new favorite.

Anna was desperate for housing at UCLA, so when a friend suggested she marry his brother so they could live in family housing, it seemed like a no brainer to her. She and her “husband” West barely saw each other, and when they graduated, they filed divorce papers and went their separate ways.

Three years later, Anna is an artist who is barely making ends meet. Much to her surprise, West (whose real name is Liam) shows up, telling her that they never really got divorced. But he has another bombshell for her: he’s an heir to Weston Foods, one of the largest grocery chains.

But while Liam is a member of that family, he has no desire to work for the company. However, there’s the matter of his $100 million trust fund—which he can only access if he’s been married for five years. So, since he and Anna are technically married, he offers to pay her to be his wife at his sister’s wedding. But the wedding is at a private island in Singapore, so she’ll be on display in front of his entire family as well as the press.

With no real income, Anna agrees to attend the wedding with her “husband.” But she quickly realizes how toxic the relationships are in the Weston family—between Liam and his father, Liam and his older brother, and his father with, well, nearly everyone else. All the money in the world is just a tool to get what he wants from his family.

Fake dating and second-chance love? Sign me up. But this book has memorable characters, seriously steamy steam, terrific banter, and emotional richness—nothing like toxic families! And of course, I wouldn’t mind an overwater bungalow on an island!!

This book will publish 5/14.

Book Review: "Effie Olsen's Summer Special" by Rochelle Bilow

I’ve been reading a lot of thrillers and heavier books lately, so I was craving something a bit lighter. Boy, did this book fit the bill!

Effie grew up on a tiny Maine island and couldn’t wait to get out of there. She went to culinary school and then spent 16 years traveling all over the U.S. and the world, working in various restaurants. She finally got a gig as a head chef in San Francisco, but it turned out to be far less successful (and less enjoyable) than she had hoped.

In desperate need of money, she returns home to Alder Isle for the summer. Brown Butter, a Michelin-starred restaurant on the island, is in need of a sous chef. Effie plans to work there only for the summer, to get enough money to head to her next location, and she vows not to get attached to being back home.

Within a few hours of returning home, she runs into her childhood best friend, Ernie, whom she’s not seen since the night they graduated from high school. Ernie’s kindness and sense of humor makes Effie feel at home again, and it doesn’t hurt that Ernie has gotten seriously hot as he’s grown older. It turns out he’s working at Brown Butter, too.

She finds herself falling for Ernie but keeps pushing him away since she knows she’ll only be in Maine for the summer. As things at the restaurant become tougher, and a scandal is on the verge of blowing up, Effie wonders whether she’s found the place—and the person—she wants to stay with, or if she needs to leave again.

I love second-chance romances, and if you combine that with a story set in New England and at a restaurant, you bet I’m sold. I loved the banter between Effie and Ernie as well as all of the supporting characters, and I loved the way Rochelle Bilow combined romance, steam, humor, emotion, and heavier issues. So good!!

Book Review: "Darling Girls" by Sally Hepworth

When I’m looking for a book to grab me from the start and keep me turning pages until I’m finished (no matter how late it gets), Sally Hepworth is definitely an author I can count on. Her books are always filled with tension, mystery, and domestic drama.

Jessica, Norah, and Alicia were raised together in a foster home, and now, as adults, they remain as close as ever. But while they were lucky to have each other while growing up, that was the only fortunate thing about their childhood.

The girls were raised on an estate called Wild Meadows by their foster mother, Miss Fairchild. While she opened her home to the girls one by one, it wasn’t done out of the goodness of her heart, but rather out of selfishness and a need for control. Miss Fairchild had strict rules and an unpredictable temper that manifested itself in many cruel and damaging ways.

The girls were able to get away from Miss Fairchild, but years later, each still bears the scars of growing up. And when a skeleton is found under the remains of Wild Meadows, the investigation summons them back to the town where their nightmares occurred. Whose body was found, and how did it get under the house? Could Jessica, Norah, or Alicia have been responsible?

This is definitely one of Hepworth’s darkest books, and the scenes of physical and emotional abuse may be triggering. And while I think this book is being marketed as a thriller, it’s definitely more of a combination of mystery and domestic drama.

I really loved Jessica, Norah, and Alicia’s characters, as well as the intense bond they shared. It definitely helped lighten the heaviness of the book’s subject matter.

Book Review: "The Last Boyfriends Rules for Revenge" by Matthew Hubbard

I’ve said this before, but this book makes me want to say it again for anyone who hasn’t heard it: I wish that The Last Boyfriends Rules for Revenge existed when I was in high school. It would have given me courage, and the foresight to know that it was okay to be who I was.

Growing up in Harper Valley, Alabama is hard, especially if you’re queer. Ezra, Lucas, and Finley are best friends, trying to be comfortable with who they are. But navigating relationships, not to mention the superintendent’s “Watch What You Say” campaign, which cracks down on anything not deemed “family-friendly.”

When all three boys’ relationships end badly, a viewing of The First Wives Club inspires them to plot revenge on those who did them wrong. And when the anonymous TikTok account Ezra launched to record their revenge starts to go viral, it starts them on a collision course with the initiative that is essentially trying to censor queer students from being themselves.

As everything they do garners more views and more publicity, it further antagonizes the school district. But somewhere along the line, they realize that what they’re doing is so much more than getting revenge—it’s the start of a rebellion which demands equal treatment for everyone, and takes the boys out of the shadows and into the spotlight.

“People are gonna tell you what you can’t do in this life. But there is one thing they can’t ever stop you from doing, and that’s trying. The best revenge is believing in yourself. Don’t let them take that away from you.”

I loved this book for so many reasons. I loved it for the unapologetic way it allowed the characters to be who they are, for those who supported them, for the friendships and the sweet romance, but also for the message that you should never be afraid of being yourself and standing up for what you believe in. Congratulations, Matthew Hubbard, on an absolutely incredible debut.

Book Review: "Home Is Where the Bodies Are" by Jeneva Rose

Here’s a tip: if you think your family is dysfunctional or even totally crazy, read Jeneva Rose’s new book. Believe me, you’ll feel so much better about your own situation afterward!!

Beth has moved back into the house she grew up in, in the small town of Allen’s Grove, Wisconsin, to take care of her mother in the final months of her life. When the hospice nurse tells Beth the end is very near, she reaches out to her estranged siblings, Nicole and Michael, to see if they can make it home in time.

Their family has been in pieces since their father disappeared seven years ago. He left a note and was never heard from again, although his truck was found abandoned. Yet in the moments before Beth’s mother died, she said to Beth, “Your father. He didn’t disappear. Don’t trust…”

Needless to say, Beth doesn’t know what to make of this cryptic statement. But when Michael and Nicole get home, there are too many old resentments and hurts to hash over. Yet as they go through all of the things in the house, they find a box full of videotapes. Watching one fills all of them with nostalgia and grief—until they discover some disturbing footage tacked on at the end of one tape.

What they watch shakes them to their very core and leaves them wondering who their parents really were. Was everything after that night in 1999 all a lie? Did this have any connection to their father’s disappearance?

Jeneva Rose is such a fantastic storyteller. The narrative shifts between the siblings as well as their mother’s recollections from the past. At the same time, there are resentments to be dealt with: Michael’s being treated better than either of his sisters, Beth’s martyrdom, and Nicole’s addiction.

This kept me turning the pages furiously until I was done. I had my suspicions about what happened (and I was mostly right) but that didn’t dampen my enthusiasm for the book!