I was mildly annoyed the whole time I was reading Nora Goes Off Script but I also enjoyed the heck out of it. I’m not sure how to grade a book that’s simultaneously pleasurable and grating. Nora is a single mom and a Hallmark-esque screenwriter who just had her big break—her depressing script detailing her recent divorce from her self-absorbed husband sold for a bunch of money. The book opens just as the movie crew … Continue reading Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan →
Content warning: Emotional and physical abuse of a child (off-page but discussed by protagonists), alcoholism and resulting neglect of another child (off-page, but discussed by protagonist), character orphaned by the Bali Tsunami Much Ado About You is a contemporary romance in what I can only describe as the wish-fulfilment genre. Evie, fresh off an online dating disappointment, ups sticks and moves from Chicago to the tiny village of Alnster in Northumberland, responding to an ad … Continue reading Much Ado About You by Samantha Young →
Please note: this review is for both the plot and the audiobook performance. I mentioned on a recent podcast that I’ve been listening to the Evan Evans series by Rhys Bowen on audiobook while I cross stitch and cook (not at the same time – too many stains on the aida, I should think). I realized that listening to an audiobook is both very soothing and avidly addictive for my brain as long as two … Continue reading Evans Above by Rhys Bowen →
Family Jewels is a mystery that features two best friends who own a landscaping/ plant nursery business and also solve mysteries. It’s the first in a new series, an offshoot of the Rose Gardner mystery series, but you don’t have to have read the previous series to enjoy this book. There’s also a strong romantic subplot and lots and lots of unresolved sexual tension. The violence takes place off screen so it’s a non-scary, non-gory … Continue reading Family Jewels by Denise Grover Swank →
I picked up this book to read because one of my favorite strains of reading catnip is the tension between public selves and private selves. This is a tricky reading niche for me to fill, as I don’t often enjoy rock star romances, though that trope would be ideal for that particular tension. Since identifying and refining my reading catnip is an ever-evolving process, I keep looking for different settings in which that tension might … Continue reading Need You Now by Emma Douglas →
There’s been a trend in mystery fiction lately of deliciously twisty psychological thrillers featuring women in roles that mysteries don’t usually afford them. I’ve talked about it before, The Gone Girl effect, and how these thrillers that set up a traditional mystery scenario. A woman (usually respectable and middle class) is missing or dead. We presume she is the victim. Then the author takes all our usual assumptions shakes them up in a Yatzee cup, hits us in the … Continue reading All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda →
