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Wednesday, November 13, 2024

Fall Book Highlights

Reprinted from auburnpub.com


Fall is a big season for publishers, a time when so many great books can be found in bookstores. This year is no exception, and I have three terrific books, something for all types of readers.


The first book is a mystery written by Team W as they are known- good friends Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White- titled The Author’s Guide To Murder. The authors met at a book conference, became friends, and decided to write a book together. 



In this fifth collaboration, three American authors are at a Scottish castle owned by a very famous and successful writer. They are supposed to be there for a writing conference with the famous writer, but they each have other reasons to be there.


When the writer ends up murdered, the women become suspects in the killing. The book alternates between the police interrogation of the women and the lead up to the murder. The police interviews are hilarious as we get to know each of the authors. 


Kat writes erotica and plays her part with innuendo and outrageous flirtatious behavior. Cassie is a mom of six who writes cozy mysteries and has a Mary Poppins bag filled with every item anyone would ever need. Emma writes historical fiction and is what would be called a history buff, always ready with a quick historical fact whether anyone wants to hear it or not.


Readers of Team W’s novels will get immense enjoyment as the authors have played around with own personalities and created characters that mix-and-match their own writing style and lives. I found myself laughing out loud several times.


Although it is humorous, there is a serious undertone as we learn why the women have come together to confront the famous writer. It is billed as “Murder, She Wrote” meets Agatha Christie, an accurate assessment. I highly recommend.


Lynda Cohen Loigman's new novel The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern tells the story of Augusta Stern, an eighty year-old pharmacist who has just (unwillingly) retired to a Florida community her niece found for her. 



On her first day there, she discovers that Irving Rivkin, who worked as delivery boy in her father’s pharmacy back in the 1920’s, also lives in the same retirement community. Irvin hurt her deeply many years ago and Augusta never got over it.


This is also a story told in two different time lines- the 1920’s and 1997. Frequently in two different timeline novels, one story is more interesting, but Cohen had me equally engaged in both stories.


Augusta is a fabulous character, she can be difficult and a tough nut to crack. Although she initially keeps to herself, she eventually makes friends. What she doesn’t understand is why Irvin is pursuing her romantically after he broke her heart years ago with no explanation.


It’s refreshing to see more older female characters in recent novels and Augusta is one of the more intriguing and well-drawn ones. We get the opportunity to see how she became the person she was, and her close attachment to her great aunt Esther, another intriguing older female character. The setting of 1920’s Brooklyn is so vividly created, I could picture Augusta’s father’s pharmacy clearly. I also highly recommend The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern.


There are many memoirs out this fall, and Connie Chung’s Connie is one of the more interesting ones. Chung, the daughter of Chinese immigrants, became one of the most prominent broadcast journalists in the 1970s. 



She was one of the few female television reporters covering the Nixon White House during the tumultuous Watergate years. Chung has to battle not only sexism but also anti-Asian attitudes during her tenure. She believed the best way to do that was to become one of “boys”- she could curse like a sailor, and she gave as good as she got.


Chung worked incredibly hard, and would take any opportunity to show that she was a team player. At one point she anchored a pre-Today Show news hour, reported on stories for the Nightly News, then did live news cut-aways at 9pm and 10pm. She worked nearly around the clock.


She is one of the few people to work on-air for all three broadcast networks- she co-anchored the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather (who undermined her), co-anchored 20/20 on ABC, and was an anchor on the local Los Angeles CBS station for years.


If you know of Chung’s career, you’ll want to read Connie, and if you don’t know her, you’ll want to read what it was like to be a woman in the news business at this time. It’s a fascinating read.



The Author’s Guide To Murder By Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig & Karen White-A

Published by William Morrow

Hardcover, $30, 416 pages


The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern by Lynda Cohen Loigman- A

Published by St. Martin’s Press

Hardcover, $29, 312 pages


Connie by Connie Chung- A

Published by Grand Central

Hardcover, $32.50, 323 pages




Sunday, November 3, 2024

Sleeping With the Frenemy by Natalie Caña

Sleeping With the Frenemy by Natalie Caña
Published by MIRA ISBN 9780778305460
Trade paperback, $18.99, 352 pages


I truly enjoyed getting to know the Vega family in Natalie Caña's first two novels- A Proposal They Can't Refuse and A Dish Best Served Hot- and I was so happy to discover that the third book in the trilogy, Sleeping With the Frenemy, is just as wonderful as the first two.


Leo Vega is recouperating from a gunshot wound from a year ago and is secretly trying to get strong enough to get his job back as a firefighter. In the meantime he is working at his soon-to-be brother-in-law Leo's whiskey distillery creating craft cocktails.


When his his sister Kamilah's best friend (and his secret on-again, off-again lover) Sofi returns to Chicago from Paris, Leo wants to pick up their affair and make it public. Leo wants Sofi to acknowledge them as a couple, something Sofi reluctant to do, fearing it will complicate her already rocky relationship with her best friend Kamilah.


While Sofi fights her growing attraction to Leo, he pulls out all the stops showing her what she is missing. When they end up living in the same apartment, sparks and more fly. Caña writes spicy scenes just about better than anyone. You may need to crank up the AC as you read these sexy scenes.


I love that once again, as in the first two novels, Leo's grandfather works overtime to get two people together, this time along with Sofi's grandmother.  I also liked that we circled back to Kamilah and Leo, the couple from the first Vega Family novel, as planning for their wedding plays a big part in the story.


I also get to brush up on my Spanish language skills reading these novels, and I like the feeling of community you get reading about this proud Puertominican neighborhood in Humboldt Park. I highly recommend Sleeping With the Frenemy and all of the Vega Family novels. I hope we get to see more of them in the future.


Vega Family Love Stories:

Book 1: A Proposal They Can't Refuse (my review here)

Book 2: A Dish Best Served Hot (my review here)


Thanks to Harlequin for putting me on the Fall 2024 Blog Tours.






Tuesday, October 1, 2024

One Big Happy Family by Susan Mallery

One Big Happy Family by Susan Mallery

Published by Canary Street Press ISBN 9781335006301

Trade paperback, $18.99, 320 pages


From the publisher:


Don’t come home for Christmas. . .


Julie Parker’s kids are her greatest gift. Still, she’s low-key joyful that they want to skip a big Christmas this year. Her son Nick is romancing his bride Blair with a belated honeymoon, while her daughter Dana plans to purge every reminder of the guy who dumped her. Again. Julie’s excited to hole up for the holiday with Heath, the (much) younger man she’s secretly dating.


Her plans go from cozy to chaotic when her kids change their minds and plead for Christmas at the family cabin in memory of their beloved father. Julie can’t refuse, despite being nervous about the over-the-top traditions her grown children still enjoy—and anxious about how they’ll feel when they meet Heath and realize she’s been lying to them for months. She has justified her deception by insisting to herself that they’re not serious, despite the spark she feels whenever he’s near.


As the guest list grows in surprising ways, from Blair’s estranged mom to Heath’s beautiful young ex, Julie’s secret is one of many to be unwrapped. Over this complicated and very funny Christmas, she’ll discover that more really is merrier, and that a big, happy family can become bigger and happier, if they all let go of old hurts and open their hearts to love.


My thoughts:

I have always enjoyed Susan Mallery's books, but One Big Happy Family may be my favorite yet. As a mom to two grown adults, Julie is so relatable. She owns a tow business that she hopes her son Nick is ready to take on more responsibility in the business, just as she did as she took over for her father.

Julie's ex-husband (and Nick and Dana's father) passed away in January and this will be the first Christmas without him. Nick's wife Blair knows that it will hard for him and she is willing to forgo their planned Maui trip to spend Christmas at the family cottage in the mountains as they have always done.

As any good mom would do, Julie sacrifices her time with her (hot and younger) new boyfriend Heath for a family Christmas. Anyone who has done a big family holiday vacation will smile at the organizational skills that Julie shows as she plans menus, decorating, chore charts, and gift-wrapping to make everything go smoothly. (We all have someone like that in our family, right?)

As the number of people who will be staying at the cabin begins to grow, from Heath and his two young children to his ex-wife, to Dana's once-and-for-all-ex-who-broke-her-heart-for-the-last-time, to Blair's unpleasant estranged mother, secrets begin to bubble to the surface that may cause problems for more than one person.

I truly enjoyed these characters, Mallery makes them so real. From Dana's heartbreak to Blair's dealing with her IBS, to Julie's unwillingness to let anyone help her when she is vulnerable - we all know these people (and maybe are some of them). The Christmas setting was wonderful, and One Big Happy Family is the book I will gifting to many people this holiday season. I give it my highest recommendation. I adored it and I'd love to get an invitation to stay at Julie's family cottage for the holidays.

Thanks to Harlequin for putting me on their Fall 2024 Blog Tours.








Sunday, September 29, 2024

Time To Fall In Love With Books

Reprinted from auburnpub.com

Time to Fall in Love With Books

Summer is officially over and now it’s the season to fall in love with books. This month’s Book Report takes us to three different eras from the past with books that have flown under the radar.

If you just can’t let go of summer, Suzanne Rindell’s sweet Summer Fridays will keep the summer vibe going. The novel takes place in 1999 New York City, when AOL was the hot thing. 



Sawyer works as an assistant at a publishing house and is planning a wedding to her live-in college boyfriend Charles who is beginning his career as a lawyer. She is not so much planning a wedding as allowing her future mother-in-law to completely take over the wedding planning.


Charles is working long hours with his attractive colleague Kendra. This doesn’t really bother Sawyer until Kendra’s boyfriend Nick sends her an email insinuating that Charles and Kendra are having an affair.


Nick and Sawyer strike up an online email friendship, which leads to Nick joining Sawyer on her summer Friday lunches in a local park. Sawyer and Nick have a platonic relationship, but could it be more? Does Sawyer have more in common with Nick than Charles? You’ll have to read Summer Fridays to find out. Fans of the movie You’ve Got Mail will be delighted.


I liked the New York City setting here, and the characters are interesting. I read Suzanne Rindell’s historical novel The Other Typist and loved it, and Summer Fridays is very different from that book but just as wonderful.


Madeline Martin takes the reader to WWII England in The Booklover’s Library. In Nottingham, England, Emma is a young widow with a seven year-old daughter Olivia. The war against Germany is just ramping up, and Emma is having a difficult time finding a job, as widows and married women are discouraged from working. 



While Emma is able to secure a position at the Booklover’s Library in a chemist shop, she must hide the fact that she has a child. They live in an apartment building, and we meet some of the other tenants, including a grumpy older man and an older widow who is willing to care for Olivia part-time.


As Germany begins to bomb England, a program begins where people are encouraged to send their children to the countryside becasue it is thought they will be safer from the bombing that is happening in the cities. 


Since Emma must work at her job to support herself and Olivia, she makes the difficult decision to send Olivia to the countryside to a family she doesn’t know. Olivia sends Emma letters begging to come home, and Emma struggles with the decision she made.


Martin does an incredible job putting readers in the shoes of Emma. As we read, we wonder what would we have done in Emma’s place. The author also paints such a vivid picture of life during war in England. 


The author did a great deal of research into the lending libraries found in chemists shops at this time. I was fascinated by Emma’s job and found myself wanting to learn even more about them than I found in the Author’s Notes at the end of the book. If you liked historical fiction, The Booklover’s Library is one you will definitely want to read.


For the Nonfiction fan, Scott G. Shea’s All the Leaves Are Brown shares the true story of the rise and fall of the 1960’s super group The Mamas and The Papas. 



Shea traces the beginnings of the group, starting with a detailed biography of the group’s leader and songwriter John Phillips. We follow John’s story from his childhood as the son of a military man, through his troubled teen years, and his love of music.


Along the way, John (who was already married) falls in love with a much younger Michelle Gilliam, and eventually they end up with Canadian folk singer Denny Doherty and the vivacious and amazing singer Cass Elliot to become the Mamas and the Papas.


Shea shares the ups and downs, the love triangles, the rampant drug use (that part just astonished me- so many drugs!), the talent, and the incredible music they made during the last part of the 1960s. The Monterey Pop Festival that John Phillips created with others is described in great detail and I found that very interesting. 


After reading All the Leaves Are Brown,  I immediately put on a Mamas and Papas playlist and wow, they were fantastic. This one is for fans of 1960’s music, Fleetwood Mac, and Taylor Jenkins Reid’s Daisy Jones & the Six.


Summer Fridays by Suzanne Rindell- A

Published by Dutton

Trade paperback, $18, 432 pages


The Booklover’s Library by Madeline Martin- A

Published by Hanover Square Press

Trade paperback, $18.99, 432 pages


All the Leaves Are Brown by Scott G. Shea- A-

Published by Backbeat

Hardcover, $32.95, 422 pages



Friday, September 13, 2024

The Booklover's Library by Madeline Martin


The Booklover's Library by Madeleine Martin

Published by Hanover Square Press ISBN 978 13350000392

Trade paperback, $18.99, 432 pages





From the publisher:


In Nottingham, England, widow Emma Taylor finds herself in desperate need of a job. She and her beloved daughter Olivia have always managed just fine on their own, but with the legal restrictions prohibiting widows with children from most employment opportunities, she’s left with only one option: persuading the manageress at Boots’ Booklover’s Library to take a chance on her with a job.

When the threat of war in England becomes a reality, Olivia must be evacuated to the countryside. In the wake of being separated from her daughter, Emma seeks solace in the unlikely friendships she forms with her neighbors and coworkers, and a renewed sense of purpose through the recommendations she provides to the library’s quirky regulars. But the job doesn’t come without its difficulties. Books are mysteriously misshelved and disappearing and the work at the lending library forces her to confront the memories of her late father and the bookstore they once owned together before a terrible accident.

As the Blitz intensifies in Nottingham and Emma fights to reunite with her daughter, she must learn to depend on her community and the power of literature more than ever to find hope in the darkest of times.


My thoughts:

I truly enjoyed Madeline Martin's Last Bookshop in London (my review here ) and so I was happy to hear that her newest novel  The Booklover's Library also has books at the heart of the story.

I had never heard of lending libraries located in a chemist shop in England. The system of A subscribers (who pay a higher subscription price and get first selection of the newest and better books) and B subscribers (who pay less and get the new books after the A subscribers have read them) intrigued me. I also found it fascinating that the library workers had to take a rigorous aptitude test. As I manage a used bookshop located in a branch of the New York Public Library, I was so involved in this part of the story.

As the story went on, I became very invested in Emma and her young daughter Olivia's story. As a widowed mother who had to work to support her child, Emma struggled with her decision to keep Olivia home with her in a city that may be targeted by German bombs or send her daughter off to the countryside with strangers and then with her estranged in-laws. I empathized with Emma and would not know what to do in that situation.

Fans of WWII historical fiction should definitely put The Booklover's Library on their To-Be-Read list. Martin clearly did her research (as she details in the Author's Note at the end) and she draws the reader in with her relatable characters and the situation they find themselves in. I highly recommend it.

Thanks to Harlequin for putting me on their Fall 2024 Blog Tours.


Wednesday, August 28, 2024

Some Great Reads For Labor Day Weekend

Reprinted from auburnpub.com 

We’re in the dog days of summer as they call it. What to read as we try to make it last as long as we possibly can? This month’s Book Report has some suggestions.


Summer is a time for weddings, and Alison Espach’s novel The Wedding People is set at a fancy Newport, Rhode Island resort. Phoebe has checked into the Cornwall Inn not realizing that she is the only person there not attending the wedding of Lila and Gary, two people she doesn't know. 



Phoebe has come to the Cornwall Inn intending to end her life. Her husband left her for another woman after several unsuccessful attempts to have a baby, her career as a literature adjunct professor at a St. Louis college is stalled, and her cat died.


As Phoebe is preparing to end her life, Lila, the bride, bursts into her hotel room. Lila is a whirlwind, talking a mile a minute about her wedding problems, demanding to know why Phoebe is at the hotel. When Phoebe explains her situation, Lila is furious that Phoebe’s plan would wreck Lila’s perfect wedding.


Lila has planned each and every detail of the week-long wedding celebration. She is a bridezilla, yet she opens up to Phoebe and they form an interesting bond that ends up with Phoebe becoming the maid of honor.


We meet the members of the wedding party and the family, and Phoebe even has a flirtation with a handsome man in the hot tub. The characters in The Wedding People are so well-drawn, especially Lila, who in lesser hands could have been a one-dimensional character, but the author gives her such depth.


The writing is filled with wit, and the subject of depression is dealt with sensitivity. I enjoyed The Wedding People immensely. Read With Jenna chose it as her August read and it was a Book of the Month option.


Read With Jenna’s July pick was Chris Whitaker’s All the Colors of the Dark. This one is a much darker story. Patch is a young boy with one eye, being raised by an alcoholic mom, and picked on by bullies.  



When he sees the girl he has a crush on being attacked by a man, he rushes in to save her and the man takes Patch instead. Patch’s best friend Saint, a young girl who is a bit of an outcast as well, is determined to find out what happened to her best friend no matter the cost.


Saint hounds the local police, who are stymied in their investigation into this and other missing girls in the area. The local police chief is devastated by Patch’s disappearance.


All The Colors of the Dark continues through the next 20 years, combining a missing person mystery with a serial killer thriller with a friendship and love story. Serial killer stories are not a genre I enjoy reading, but All the Colors of the Dark captured me with relationship between Patch and Saint, and the several twists and turns before the ultimate resolution. It was also a Book fo the Month selection.


If you can’t wait for the next installment of Bridgerton on Netflix, give Eloisa James’ new historical romance Viscount in Love a read. Dominic is a viscount engaged to a suitable young woman. When he finds himself guardian to his young niece and nephew after his brother and sister-in-law tragically die, his fiancee up and elopes with another man. 



Dominic finds himself attracted to his ex-fiancee’s sister Torie. Torie enjoys spending time with the children, but she fears that Dom wants a nanny and she is determined to marry someone who loves her.


Torie is illiterate, seemingly incapable of learning how to read, but she can remember everything she has heard. She is very intelligent and Dominic is impressed with her. Can he convince Torie that he loves her and that they should be together?


James writes spicy, witty, literate romance novels, and even though you know how things will turn out, the fun is in getting there. 


If thrillers are your favorite, Chris Bohjalian’s The Princess of Las Vegas is a good one. It tells the story of a Princess Diana impersonator in Las Vegas who finds herself in the middle of an organized crime conspiracy of murder involving cryptocurrency. 



When her estranged sister shows up with a new boyfriend and the teenage girl she adopted, things really get messy- and dangerous. You’ll race through this one, and Bohjalian manages to make each of his books unique, something you can’t say for many mystery/thriller writers. 












Happy Labor Day!

Magical Meet Cute by Jean Meltzer

Magical Meet Cute by Jean Meltzer

Published by MIRA ISBN 9780778334415

Trade paperback, $18.99, 400 pages


From the publisher:


From the author of the buzzy The Matzah Ball comes a romantic comedy for fans of Sally Thorne, about a lonely potter who drunkenly creates a golem doll of her perfect match—and meets the man of her dreams the next day.


Is he the real deal…or did she truly summon a golem?


Faye Kaplan used to be engaged. She also used to have a successful legal practice. But she much prefers her new life as a potter in Woodstock, New York. The only thing missing is the perfect guy.


Not that she needs one. She’s definitely happy alone.


That is, until she finds her town papered with anti-Semitic flyers after yet another failed singles event at the synagogue. Desperate for comfort, Faye drunkenly turns to the only thing guaranteed to soothe her—pottery. A golem protector is just what her town needs…and adding all the little details to make him her ideal man can’t hurt, right?


When a seriously hot stranger mysteriously turns up the next day, Greg seems too good to be true—if you ignore the fact that Faye hit him with her bike. And that he subsequently lost his memory…


But otherwise, the man checks Every. Single. Box. Causing Faye to wonder if Greg’s sudden and spicy appearance might be anything but a coincidence.


My thoughts:

I have enjoyed reading Jean Meltzer's romance novels for many reasons. Her characters are interesting and not the stock "perfect" romance protagonists, they have serious issues to deal with- Avital in Kissing Kosher has a chronic health issue (as does Meltzer herself), Dara in Mr. Perfect On Paper has General Anxiety Disorder, and Faye in Magical Meet Cute was subjected to trauma and abuse by her mother as a child.

Meltzer is Jewish and I am not so I find learning about Jewish cultures and traditions enlightening. In Magical Meet Cute Faye is artistic and has mystical beliefs, and the reader learns more about what that entails. 

I am familiar with the Woodstock area of upstate New York, which most people know as the place where the famous 1969 concert was held. The Woodstock of today is filled with artists, musicians, and a tight-knit community of caring people. In Magical Meet Cute, even that Woodstock is not immune to the problems of the world, where anti-Semitism has reared its ugly head.

The novel is a romantic comedy- Faye's sometimes comical efforts to discover if Greg is a golem she conjured and her elderly neighbor Nelly is a hoot- but the serious tones of anti-Semitism add gravity to the story. There are a few twists here (one which I guessed) but the big mystery is finding out who Greg really is, and I was totally invested in that.

Although I don't usually read romances with magical elements, I truly enjoyed Magical Meet Cute and I would recommend it to anyone who likes a good romance with intriguing characters and a small town setting.

Thanks to Harlequin for putting me on their Summer 2024 Blog Tours.