The Day Tripper by James Goodhand

The Day Tripper by James Goodhand

Published by MIRA ISBN 9780778367646

Hardcover, $28.99, 368 pages

From the publisher:

What if you lived your days out of order?

It’s 1995, and twenty-year-old Alex Dean has it all: a spot at Cambridge University next year, the love of an amazing woman named Holly and all the time in the world ahead of him. That is until a brutal encounter with a ghost from his past sees him beaten, battered and almost drowning in the Thames.

He wakes the next day to find he’s in a messy, derelict room he’s never seen before, in grimy clothes he doesn’t recognize, with no idea of how he got there. A glimpse in the mirror tells him he’s older—much older—and has been living a hard life, his features ravaged by time and poor decisions. He snatches a newspaper and finds it’s 2010—fifteen years since the fight.

After finally drifting off to sleep, Alex wakes the following morning to find it’s now 2019, another nine years later. But the next day, it’s 1999. Never knowing which day is coming, he begins to piece together what happens in his life after that fateful night by the river.

Why does his life look nothing like he thought it would? What about Cambridge, and Holly? In this page-turning adventure, Alex must navigate his way through the years to learn that small actions have untold impact, even in a life lived out of order. And that might be all he needs to save the people he loves and, equally importantly, himself.

My thoughts:

James Goodhand's time travel novel leaves the reader with much to ponder. The only person he knows who comprehends what he is going though is Dr. Defrates, a professor at a local school. While Alex goes back and forth in time, he finds that making different decisions while in the past can change his future.

Dr. Defrates tells him that if he can "make more good changes, you might reap more benefit. Commit to making real difference, those changes may begin to add up. Good decisions lead to good decisions, just as bad decisions beget more bad decisions."

Alex sees this live out as he wakes up in different time periods of his life. Goodhand does a terrific job placing the reader in Alex's shoes. Can you imagine waking up on your wedding day and not recognizing anyone at your wedding and not knowing who your bride is? 

The reader finds oneself rooting for Alex to make good decisions, and feeling empathy for him when he does not. He wants desperately to find out what went wrong with him and his true love Holly, why they are not together in some versions of his life. Can he correct his past wrongs and get back to her?

Ultimately, The Day Tripper is a rewarding and uplifting story and if this doesn''t encourage the reader to reflect on the decisions made in their own life, I'm not sure what would. I recommend The Day Tripper.

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

Kilt Trip by Alexandra Kiley

Kilt Trip by Alexandra Kiley

Published by Canary Street Press ISBN 9781335009296

Trade paperback, $18.99, 336 pages

I traveled to Edinburgh, Scotland a few years ago, and when the opportunity to review Alexandra Kiley's romance Kilt Trip popped up, I enthusiastically joined and I'm glad I did.

Addie Macrae has an interesting job- she is a travel consultant. She works for a small company that advises tour companies around the world, and helps them better utilize such things as social media to maximize profitability.

Her newest assignment takes her to Edinburgh to help a family-run tour guide business. She begins by taking a tour incognito with the company . The tour guide is Logan Sutherland, whose father hired Addie's company. Looking quite ruggedly handsome in his kilt, Logan has a great personality in his role as a guide, but Addie is dismayed to discover that the tour leaves out the usual highlights that most people associate with Edinburgh.

Logan is charming to Addie during the tour but when he discovers that she is the consultant that his father hired, he is not happy. He believes that his tours show people the more interesting sites in Scotland, not the ones that every other tour guide company visits. That makes their company unique, but unfortunately not profitable enough.

Logan and Addie make a deal- Logan will take Addie on his favorite tour and Addie will take Logan on a tour she designs that hits all the touristy highlights people want to see. The winner gets to choose which tours the company will focus their efforts on.

Addie confides in Logan that her mother's family is from Scotland. Since her mother passed away thirteen years ago, Addie has been adrift. Logan arranges for Addie to see all of the places that her mother loved in Scotland, and this moves Addie.

In this enemies-to-lovers story, Addie and Logan overcome their animosity and give into their passion- and there is a lot of passion in this novel. Kilt Trip is a spicy read (the castle scene!), and there are enough bumps in the road to romance to keep things intriguing. Addie is torn between her growing attraction to Logan and her duty to her company and Logan's father to make their company profitable.

Kilt Trip is a fast read, one that had me turning the pages to see if Addie and Logan can make their different lifestyles work together. The scenery may inspire readers to travel to Scotland to find their own kilt-clad tour guide and see all the sights. I recommend Kilt Trip, a terrific spring break beach read.

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

The Last Days of Lilah Goodluck by Kylie Scott

The Last Days of Lilah Goodluck by Kylie Scott

Published by Graydon House ISBN 978152804809

Trade paperback, $18.99, 304 pages

From the publisher:

Red White and Royal Blue meets The Last Holiday in this delight of a novel, about a woman who unexpectedly finds "fall in love with a prince" on her bucket list after a fortune teller tells her she only has a week to live. Ideal for fans of Sophie Cousens and Rebecca Serle.

Your boyfriend is cheating on you

You will be passed over for the promotion

5-8-12-24-39-43

Your soulmate is a royal prince

And your time is up a week from Monday

When Lilah Goodluck saves the life of Good Witch Willow as they’re crossing a busy LA street, the last thing she expects is five unwanted predictions as a reward. Who gives someone the lotto numbers then tells them they’ve only got a week to live? And who believes in that nonsense anyway?

But when the first three predictions come true within twenty-four hours, Lilah’s disbelief turns to mild panic. She’s further horrified when she nearly runs a car off the road that belongs to Alistair Lennox, the illegitimate son of the English king.

Alistair is intrigued by her preposterous story, but Lilah is adamant about resisting the heat between her and the playboy prince. If he’s not her soulmate, then the last prediction can’t come true. But as the days count down, they become maybe friends…and then maybe more. Between the relentless paparazzi and his disapproving family, dating a sort-of prince isn’t easy, especially when you have death on your doorstep.

My Thoughts:

 

Kylie Scott writes novels that have unique concepts, touched with a little bit of the unknown. Her last book, End of Story (my review here), told the story of Susie a young woman renovating a home she inherited from an aunt. She hires Lars, a handsome contractor who happens to be her ex-boyfriend's best friend. When they find a divorce decree hidden within a wall that has Lars and Susie's names on it and it is dated 10 years in the future- mayhem ensues.

The Last Days of Lilah Goodluck's concept is similarly unique, with a psychic giving Lilah five predictions, the craziest of which is that her soulmate is a royal prince, who Lilah then proceeds to meet when she almost runs his car off the road.

In order to avoid the last prediction- that her time is up a week from Monday, Lilah and the prince cannot fall in love. We all know what will happen, but the fun is in the journey. Alistair (the prince) intends to help Lilah with her own bucket list, which includes having the best sex of her life before her time here is done.

Lilah and Alistair are wonderful characters, but my favorite character is Alistair's mother. She is sassy and tough, but has a heart of gold when it comes to her son. 

If you're looking for a clever, fun, spicy romance novel for Valentine's Day, you can't go wrong with The Last Days of Lilah Goodluck. 

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

The Uncharted Flight of Olivia West by Sara Ackerman

The Uncharted Flight of Olivia West

Published by MIRA, ISBN9780778369516

Trade paperback, $18.99, 384 pages

From the publisher:

1927. Olivia ‘Livy’ Jones is a young and determined pilot with a love of adventure. She’s been bit by the flying bug and yearns to cross oceans and see the world, pioneering the way for other women pilots. When she learns of the Dole Air Race–organized immediately after Charles Lindbergh’s famous flight–a race to be the first to make the 2,400 mile Pacific crossing from the West coast to Hawaii, with a huge grand prize of $25,000–she sets her sights on qualifying. But it soon becomes clear that only men will make the cut. In a last ditch effort to take part, Livy manages to be picked as a navigator for one of the pilots, before setting out on a harrowing journey that will change her life forever.

 

1987. Wren Summers is down to her last dime when she learns she has inherited a remote piece of land on the Big Island with nothing on it but a dilapidated barn and an overgrown mac nut grove. She plans on selling it and using the money to live on, but she is drawn in by the mysterious objects kept in the barn by her late great-uncle—clues to a tragic piece of aviation history lost to time. Determined to find out what really happened all those years ago, Wren enlists the help of residents at a nearby retirement home to uncover Olivia’s story piece by piece. What she discovers is more earth-shattering, and closer to home, than she could have ever imagined.

My Thoughts:

Last week there was a news story about the possible discovery of a plane submerged in the Pacific Ocean and there was speculation that it was the plane of Amelia Earhart, who was lost at sea in 1937 during her attempt to be the first woman to fly around the world, so it's a great time to read Sara Ackerman's novel The Uncharted Flight of Olivia West.

Frequently in dual timeline novels, one storyline is stronger than the other, but in this one, I was equally invested in both stories and both women. Livy Jones is an intelligent young woman who figures out a way to make into the boys' club of aviation by working hard and taking advantage of every opportunity to be around pilots and eventually convincing one pilot to let her fly with him. 

In the 1987 timeline, when Wren's life appears to be falling apart, she leaves her home and when she sees the dilapidated barn, pulls herself together and works to make a new home for herself. Ackerman paints such a vivid portrait of the barn, I felt like if I closed my eyes I could see it.

Both characters are well-drawn and I enjoyed following the progress that Livy made during her flight to Hawaii and Wren made restoring her great-uncle's plane. There's history, romance, some interesting Hawaiian culture, and a nice twist at the end that careful readers may be able to guess. I recommend it for fans of historical fiction featuring strong women.

I reviewed Sara Ackerman's previous book Radar Girls here.

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

The Missing Witness by Allison Brennan

The Missing Witness by Allison Brennan

Published by MIRA ISBN 9780778369653

Hardcover, $30, 416 pages

I have always wanted to read one of Allison Brennan's novels so I jumped into the fifth book in her Quinn & Costa series, The Missing Witness. While it can be difficult to join an established series without having read the previous books, I was able to catch up, though it did take awhile to place all the characters relationships.

The book begins with LAPD Detective Kara Quinn returning to Los Angeles to testify against a dangerous human trafficker she went undercover to catch. Kara Quinn has been on loan to the FBI in Washington DC where she works closely with Agent Matt Costa, and with whom she has a more than collegial relationship.

Kara is eager to testify, and threats against her life by the trafficker's people have given her LAPD and FBI colleagues concerns about her safety. When the trafficker is shot and killed on his way into the courthouse, there is one witness to the killing- Amy, a civilian IT consultant who has been working undercover to get information on white collar financial crimes that may implicate people high up in the city government as well as the trafficker. 

Amy disappears following the killing, and there are questions as to whether she is a witness or the killer. Quinn and Costa and Quinn's former unit in the LAPD have to work together to find Amy and unravel the white crime syndicate that has now turned to murder to protect their secrets.

Brennan does a good job explaining the complicated scheme that involves nonprofit organizations that have contracts with the city to build housing for unhoused people, and the web of deceit that has created millionaires out of people high up in the government and their family members.

There are some truly tense scenes in this fast-paced novel, including a few shoot-outs, a rooftop chase, and Kara racing away on a motorcycle from killers on her trail. I was biting my nails on these scenes.

I found it interesting how Brennan built her story around a real world problem, the homeless issue, and dealt with it from the perspective of people living in the middle of it. She clearly did her research on it. (Here is a link to an essay Allison Brennan wrote about this.)

For people who have read the previous Quinn & Costa novels, they will no doubt enjoy seeing what their favorite characters have been up to in the interim, and there are a few surprises for them. After reading The Missing Witness, I will be looking the first four books in the series- Kara Quinn is a badass.

The Friendship Club by Robyn Carr

The Friendship Club by Robyn Carr

Published by MIRA ISBN 9780778311881

Hardcover, $28.99, 336 pages

Nobody writes about female friendships better than Robyn Carr and her latest novel, The Friendship Club,  is a perfect example.

Marni hosts a successful cooking show on television. Like Ina Garten ( The Barefoot Contessa), the show is filmed in her own home, where she is ably assisted by Ellen, who has been with her for twenty years. Ellen is creative with food but has no desire to appear on camera, she is happy to leave that to Marni.

Sophia is interning with Marni and hopes to have a career in broadcast journalism. Marni's daughter Bella  is anxiously awaiting the birth of her first child with her husband Jason.

Although Marni has very successful career, her love life could use some work. She was widowed at a young age and now is divorced from her second husband after she caught him cheating on her. Ellen was a longtime caregiver for her seriously ill husband and is wary about getting into a new relationship. 

Sophia is excited about a new man in her life, but soon discovers that he is possessive and potentially dangerous. Marni had experience with that with her first husband and begins to worry about Sophia. Bella has concerns about her own marriage as well.

As the story progresses, Marni finds herself unexpectedly attracted to a new man in her life and Ellen's retired firefighter neighbor would like to start a romance with her. Marni jumps in with both feet and encourages Ellen not to let her past get in the way of a possible happy future.

I liked that we see relationships at all stages and ages- young Sophia, Bella and her husband as they await the birth of a baby, and Marni and Ellen in the 60s opening up their hearts to new possibilities. 

Robyn Carr's characters are always so interesting, and seeing older women excited about new romance is enjoyable and refreshing to read. And no matter how long ago you went through a pregnancy, you can relate to Bella's situation. Carr's male characters are well drawn and realistic too.

I enjoy foodie books, and reading about Marni and Ellen's recipes and Ellen's volunteer work feeding people fleeing wildfires was fascinating. The Friendship Club is a wonderful book to gift to your girlfriends on Galentine's Day, I highly recommend it.

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