Category: Book Review

The Layover by Lacie Waldon | DNF Book Thoughts

Posted February 17, 2022 by Jana in Adult Fiction, Book Review / 1 Comment

The Layover by Lacie Waldon
Published by Putnam on June 15, 2021
Genres: Contemporary Fiction
Pages: 320
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher (Netgalley)
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After ten years as a flight attendant, Ava Greene is poised to hang up her wings and finally put down roots. She's got one trip left before she bids her old life farewell, and she plans to enjoy every second of it. But then she discovers that former pilot Jack Stone -- the absurdly gorgeous, ridiculously cocky man she's held a secret grudge against for years -- is on her flight. And he has the nerve to flirt with her, as if he doesn't remember the role he played in the most humiliating night of her life. Good thing she never has to see him again after they land....

But when their plane encounters mechanical problems, what should have been a quick stop at the Belize airport suddenly becomes a weekend layover. Getting stuck on a three-hour flight with her nemesis was bad enough. Being stranded with him at a luxury resort in paradise? Even with the sultry breeze and white sand to distract her, it will take all the rum punch in the country to drown out his larger-than-life presence.

Yet the more time Ava spends with him under the hot Caribbean sun, the more she begins to second-guess everything she thought she knew about him... and everything she thought she wanted from her life. And all too soon, she might have to choose between keeping her feet on the ground and her head in the clouds....

An unexpected tropical layover with her nemesis turns a flight attendant's life upside down in this witty, breezy debut romantic comedy about life -- and love -- 30,000 feet above the ground.

I was so, so excited to read The Layover by Lacie Waldon. I love anything that involves travel (especially right now when traveling isn’t very safe), so reading about a flight attendant’s adventures was extremely appealing to me. And I really liked parts of it! The writing is very well done, and I loved the descriptions of the views from the cockpit of the plans and of. the scenery in Belize. The discussions about Ava’s passion for her career were also very nice to read. I made it about halfway through, though, and looked at how far I had come and realized I still had so much left to read. Essentially, I felt as though I had been reading forEVER. The book was seriously dragging for me. For the most part, Ava is extremely rude and judgmental and I decided I was done with her once I realized how much left I had to read. The things she says to Jack and the way she treats him were horrible. I’m assuming there will eventually be some kind of reveal that will try to justify her behavior and her attitude, but I already know it won’t work for me. Ava is an adult, and by this point in her life I’m sure she has learned how to fake being civil to people. I felt really bad for Jack. Plus, at the halfway point there had been no romance and had also only been mildly funny a couple times. So a romantic comedy this is not, just fair warning. The focus is really on the changes in Ava‘s life and her journey to figure out who and what she wants to be. There’s nothing wrong with that, but when I don’t even like her I don’t care to read about her journey. And once the romance begins all I’m going to think is that Jack doesn’t deserve having to put up with someone like Ava. I’m so disappointed.

DNF

One Night Only by Catherine Walsh | Book Review

Posted February 3, 2022 by Jana in Adult Fiction, Book Review / 4 Comments

One Night Only by Catherine Walsh
Narrator: Jessica Regan
Published by Bookouture on July 30, 2021
Genres: Contemporary Romance, Romance, Romantic Comedy
Pages: 311
Length: 9 hours 17 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Source: Gift
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Who could have predicted this? Being at the same wedding. In Ireland. There’s a reason one-night stands are one-night stands. You’re not supposed to see each other again, especially not when you’re the maid of honor, and he’s the groom’s brother…

Sarah Anderson has never been more excited about anything in her life. She’s going to her best friend’s wedding. And not just any wedding. An Irish wedding. Goodbye New York, hello rolling green hills and men with beautiful accents and twinkling eyes.

But Sarah should have known that not all guests are fairy-tale princes…

There’s the chinless Uncle Trevor, whose idea of small talk is to claim climate change is a conspiracy.

Then there’s Great Aunt Eileen, who doesn’t talk at all (she’s too busy replacing the hotel cutlery with her own set).

Worst of all, there’s Declan Murphy. Best man. Brother of the groom. And the man Sarah last saw naked.

Is there anything more mortifying than bumping into a one-night stand halfway across the world? Especially as Declan seems determined to embarrass Sarah at every turn. At least when the wedding’s over she’ll never have to see him again.

But, back in New York, Sarah finds the more she tries to forget Declan, the more she can’t shake the thought of that infuriatingly charming smile and the way he wears a tux…

Was he really just for one night only, or might Declan Murphy be The One?

Prepare to laugh until you cry with this perfect feel-good romantic comedy about taking a chance on love. Fans of Sophie Ranald, Sophie Kinsella and Marian Keyes won’t be able to put this down!

The travel bug in me is rearing its ugly head these days! I can’t stop reading books set in other countries, so of course I had to read this rom-com that takes place, at least for some of the book, in Ireland! Sarah, an architect living in New York, is off to a small town in Ireland for her best friend’s wedding at a fancy resort. I really enjoyed this vacation to the Emerald Isle right along with her! As always, my main points are bolded.

1. Let’s start off with Sarah. I liked her a lot, even though I also wanted to smack her sometimes. She knows what she wants and is perfectly capable of standing up for herself. She also has great self-esteem, knows her worth, and isn’t afraid to put herself first. She’s a really good friend. She’s been hurt by a former love, and is very protective of her heart (I can relate to that). Because she’s not a relationship person anymore, she tends just have one night (see where the title comes from?) with a man and then that’s the end. At the beginning of the book, we see her kicking a sexy Irishman out of her house so she can rush off to work. My biggest problem with Sarah is how she treated this man. He was so nice and wanted to spend more time with her, and he seemed so confused and hurt that she kicked him out in such a rude way. When he tried to talk to her she slammed the door in his face. I could never be that way towards a person.

2. Luckily we see this Irishman again very quickly! His name is Declan, and he’s the brother of the groom in this Ireland wedding! When Sarah sees him, she goes into a panic and begins avoiding him immediately. Awkward! This guy is swoony, so I don’t even understand Sarah. He’s got the Irish accent and sounds like he’s very handsome. He’s funny and charming and sarcastic. He sees something he likes in Sarah and will not give up. She continues to be rude to him, and he keeps finding ways to be around her and talk to her. Finally he starts to wear her down little by little, but she’s put up guards of steel. I love his determination to tear them down. He and Sarah have a long conversation over drinks in the bar one night, and even though they both get plastered he remembers the important things she tells him. He’s empathetic and understanding, and I love how he tries to ground her when he can see that she’s about to flee in a panic. He creates a safe space for her and allows her time to realize she’s falling for him.

3. The secondary characters are all great! Sarah’s best friend, Annie, was really sweet. She doesn’t play a huge part in the story, but I loved her wedding and her big family (well, most of them). I really liked Sarah’s roommate, too (she gets a tiny romance herself). Oh, and then there’s Sarah’s fun co-worker, Will, who I loved!

4. We end up back in New York much sooner than I was expecting, which was a bit of a disappointment. I loved the wedding and the sightseeing the characters did in Ireland, and I wanted more of that.

5. Once Sarah gets back home to normal life and tries to forget about Declan, there’s a period of her trying to date someone else and dealing with workplace drama. This part of the book didn’t work for me as well. I wanted more romance!

6. But… I suppose that this romance was pretty realistic. There’s push and pull, back and forth, time away to process, etc. So I get it. I understood. There were some very romantic moments, but I felt like there was also a lot of focus on Sarah’s personal growth. I loved seeing her come to the realization that not every love story ends in heartbreak, but it was a process getting there. It was very relatable, and will resonate with so many readers (it definitely resonated with me)… but I wanted more of that magical, sparkling romance I crave from romance novels.

7. The writing was very well done. I loved the bits of humor here and there, and the characters are very well-rounded and developed. The book’s synopsis tells us to “prepare to laugh until you cry”. This… didn’t happen. I didn’t find the book that funny. It had its moments, but there were more serious moments than funny ones for me. Not a problem, but that’s a bold statement to make and this book did not deliver that.

8. I listened to the audiobook, and Jessica Regan did a good job. I enjoyed listening to her, and would gladly listen to more books she’s narrated. She has a nice, soothing voice. My only real criticism is that Sarah is an American, but sounded like an Irish woman trying to sound like an American. It was a bit distracting to hear Sarah pronounce words in a way that no American would in an accent that was trying to sound American but had a hint of that Irish lilt to it. That being said, Jessica did keep Sarah’s voice relatively consistent and she did a great job switching back and forth from Declan to Sarah. It would be so hard to switch accents that quickly.

All in all, One Night Only was a very fun read! I enjoyed the parts that took place in Ireland a lot, and I loved Declan so much. The romance was a little underdeveloped for me, but the ending was very sweet and gave me the swoons I wanted. I’m definitely interested in reading more from Catherine Walsh.

On a Night Like This by Lindsey Kelk | Book Review

Posted January 27, 2022 by Jana in Adult Fiction, Book Review / 6 Comments

On a Night Like This by Lindsey Kelk
Published by HarperCollins on January 18, 2022
Genres: Contemporary Romance, Romance, Romantic Comedy
Pages: 352
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher (Netgalley)
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It only takes one night to fall in love…

Within days of wishing she could change her life, Fran Cooper is acting assistant to a celebrity, on a yacht in the Mediterranean, and en route to a tiny Italian island and the glittering Crystal Ball, along with the world’s rich and famous.

When she – quite literally – bumps into a handsome American called Evan, a man able to keep his cool in the face of chaos, the magic really begins.

Evan makes her a promise: no last names, no life stories, just one unforgettable night. Yet Evan belongs at the Crystal Ball and Fran is a gatecrasher. They may be soulmates, but their homes are an ocean apart, and their lives a world apart. They’ll never meet again – unless, on a night like this, everything can change forever…

On a Night Like This is my first book by Lindsey Kelk, yet she’s been on my radar for years now! I’ve been intrigued by her Heart series for quite some time, and some of her other titles look really cute as well. When the opportunity arose for me to review On a Night Like This, which I quickly learned is a modern-day Cinderella retelling, I jumped at the chance and came away with a new favorite! On a Night Like This is magical and sweet, funny in places, filled with friendship and romance, and center around a woman who chooses to believe in magic. As always, my main points are bolded.

1. Fran Cooper is such a relatable character. I immediately empathized with her and, to some extent, understood what she was going through. She’s a bit self-deprecating and she’s stuck in a life she doesn’t really want to be living. She sacrificed her dreams and her career to move where her fiancé, Stew, wanted to live and has been out of work for a long time because of it. The fact that it wasn’t even worth it because Stew majorly sucks doesn’t make it any better, but she’s with him because she doesn’t know who she is without him. Christmas is coming, and Fran is willing to take nearly any job, even a temporary one, so she calls up her employment agency contact to see if they have anything available since they last spoke. Things move quickly, and before she knows it she’s signed an NDA and is swept off to London for an interview and an immediate job offer. A quick hop, skip, and a jump later and she’s aboard a yacht in the Mediterranean as the assistant to a pop star named Juliette. She can’t believe the crazy changes that have happened in her life. Before, she was living with her cheating, deadbeat fiancé and now she’s wearing designer clothes, and traveling in style to the Crystal Ball, which is the event of the year.

2. This yacht sounds pretty amazing, and I love it when books include travel. Especially if the journey is by water. Fran’s room sound stunning, the outdoor decks are heated so you don’t even need a coat outside in November, and the food sounds pretty delicious. It’s a dream!

3. Juliette appears to be your typical spoiled celebrity who has the world handed to her and it’s still not enough, but she’s not. She and Fran spend a night drinking and having fun on the yacht, and you see a very vulnerable side of Juliette. Fran has always prided herself on remaining professional, but she lets that slip and I enjoyed the friendship that blooms from this. I really liked Juliette. She’s misunderstood, lonely, and so very human. She also has this zest for life and very playful personality. She wiggled her way into my heart, even though I did want to smack her a couple times.

4. For reasons I won’t spoil, Fran finds herself stranded on Panarea (the Italian island where the Crystal Ball takes place) alone without her personal phone, identification, or even a change of clothes. She finds an ally in a woman named Rachel, who helps her choose a designer gown, get ready, and sneak into the Crystal Ball for a once in a lifetime opportunity. This ball is opulent and mysterious and extravagant. It takes up the bottom two floors and outdoor space of the exclusive resort there. It has a ballroom, stage, jewelry boutique, cinema, outdoor carnival, live entertainment, and a charity auction among other things. I loved reading the descriptions of the ball itself, but also the clothes the guests were wearing, the outdoor gardens, and the other scenery around Panarea.

5. While at the ball Fran stumbles across Evan for the second time (their first meeting earlier on was hilarious). He’s a total sexy dreamboat, with a successful livelihood and the sweetest, most caring personality. He’s straight out a fairytale! Their attraction is more than magnetic, but since Fran is engaged they decide to share no personal information with each other and just hang out together as friends. This is not even close to Evan’s first ball, so he shows her around and tries to make sure she has the most fun possible. I had so much fun reading about everything they did!

6. All the supporting characters are amazing! I mentioned Rachel already, but Fran’s best friend, Jess, is wonderful too. She’s very supportive and subtly nudges Fran to do what’s best for herself. There’s also Sarah, the person who hired Fran as Juliette’s assistant. I really liked her a lot, even though she’s a bit firm and cold sometimes.

7. I know cheating stories are often dealbreakers for readers, so I think it’s important that I mention this. I am not kidding when I say that Evan and Fran hang out together as friends. There is no infidelity.

8. Fran’s personal journey of changing her life and crafting the life she wants is center stage, whereas the romantic elements are more understated. And I loved it. As Fran talks to Juliette, Evan, Jess, and even Rachel about her life they all, in separate conversations, say things that make her realize she wants more. They help her realize she deserves more. The life she always thought she would live begins to fall apart at the seams. This journey to happiness filled me with hope and optimism for my own future.

9. The romance that is there is intoxicating. Every Cinderella story needs a happily ever after, and this one gets a beautiful one that had me swooning.

I wholeheartedly recommend On a Night Like This. It was everything I needed from a book. It felt like a warm, magical hig and it made me smile so many times. I will definitely not be waiting any longer before diving into Lindsey Kelk’s other books!

An Accidental Odyssey by K.C. Dyer | DNF Book Thoughts

Posted January 24, 2022 by Jana in Adult Fiction, Book Review / 2 Comments

An Accidental Odyssey by K.C. Dyer
Series: ExLibris Adventure #2
Also in this series: Eighty Days to Elsewhere
Published by Berkley on December 14, 2021
Genres: Contemporary Fiction, Women's Fiction
Pages: 400
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher (Netgalley)
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When an unexpected phone call derails a young woman's wedding plans, it sparks an epic adventure around the modern-day Mediterranean.

Gianna Kostas is on the cusp of a fairy-tale life. Sure, she's just lost her job, but she's about to marry one of New York's most eligible bachelors. On her way to taste wedding cakes, though, things go sideways. Shocking news sends Gia off on a wild journey halfway around the world in pursuit of her ailing--and nearly estranged--father.

In Athens, she learns Dr. Kostas, a classics professor, is determined to retrace Odysseus's famous voyage. This is a journey her father is in no condition to take alone, so Gia faces a tough decision. When an unexpected job offer helps seal the deal and quash the guilt Gia feels from her disapproving groom-to-be, the journey is on. But as Gia adventures--and eats--her way around the Mediterranean, she discovers that confronting epic storms and ripped surfer dudes might be the easy part.

Along the way, as she uncovers family secrets, finds heartbreak, and learns more about a certain archaeologist with a mysterious past of his own, Gia discovers that fairy-tale endings might be messy and complicated, but they can happen anywhere.

This pains me to write. I just read and LOVED Eighty Days to Elsewhere (click here to see my review), the first book in this series. I was hungover and mourning the end of that amazing journey around the world with two characters I fell head over heals for, so I immediately started this second book in the series in the hopes of jumping right back into another adventure. It felt completely different and I ended up DNFing at 39%.

First of all, I did not love being reminded of the pandemic every other page. In this book, the pandemic is mostly over but not quite. I kept hearing about masks and social distancing (or lack thereof). The main character, Gianna (Gia), kept referring to the “Before Times”. I read for an escape, and since we’re still so fully entrenched in the covid-19 pandemic (hi, omicron!) I’m just not ready to have it in my books yet. I’d like my books to pretend this virus doesn’t exist right now.

I also found Gia to be a very unlikeable character. Mere hours after an argument with her fiancé, she goes out and cheats on him. I mean yes, I hated the fiancé. He’s horrible. But the argument ends with him saying, “we’re done, we’ll sort it out when you get home”. To me, sorting it out doesn’t mean they’re done. I know I would want some clarity on that before becoming involved with another man. Her fiancé apologizes and everything is fine between them the next day. I’m all for vacation flings (and love vacation fling romances), but this really sounds like cheating to me. And the fact that she feels so guilty and decides to pretend it never happened means she also thinks it is. I should have just quit right there.

But I kept going and then I started to hate Gia even more. The way she speaks to her dad, her voice dripping in condescension and judgment regarding his trip following in Odysseus’s footsteps grated on me. He’s a grown man. He’s happy and vibrant and excited about this and she’s being a total helicopter daughter, running along behind him picking apart his every choice and sharing way too many unsolicited negative opinions about everything he’s excited about. I wanted to throw her into the ocean, quite truthfully. She’s in beautiful Greece, for crying out loud. Either enjoy it or go home.

I can see tiny hints of a romance forming (with the guy she cheated on her fiancé with, no less, so that does not look promising to me), so I went and read some reviews and the focus of this story is definitely her babysitting her dad and nothing else. This is definitely not a romance novel.

Content Warning: Death of a parent. Highlight the text between the brackets below for more information.
[

I read another reviewer state that Gia’s father dies at the end of this book. I don’t know how he dies, or the circumstances surrounding his death, but the reviewer said it was upsetting and they didn’t see it coming.

]

DNF

Eighty Days to Elsewhere by K.C. Dyer | Book Review

Posted January 20, 2022 by Jana in Adult Fiction, Book Review / 5 Comments

Eighty Days to Elsewhere by K.C. Dyer
Series: ExLibris Adventure #1
Also in this series: An Accidental Odyssey
Published by Berkley on August 11, 2020
Genres: Contemporary Romance, Romance
Pages: 480
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher (Netgalley)
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"The Amazing Race" meets Around the World in 80 Days as a woman desperate to save her family bookstore falls for her competition.

Born and raised in New York City, Ramona Keene dreams of attending photography school and traveling to Paris, but her reality never quite catches up with her imagination. Instead, she works at her uncles' quaint bookstore, where the tea is plentiful and all the adventures are between the covers of secondhand books. But when the new landlord arrives with his Evil Nephew in tow, Romy's quiet life comes crashing down. He plans to triple the rent, something her uncles can't afford.

In order to earn the money to help save the bookstore, Romy applies for a job at ExLibris Expeditions, a company that re-creates literary journeys. Romy snags the oddest internship ever: retrace Phileas Fogg's journey from Jules Verne's Around the World in 80 Days and plan a suitable, contemporary adventure for a client. The task is close to impossible; sticking to the original route means no commercial aircraft permitted, and she's got a lot less than eighty days to work with. Shaking off her fear of leaving home, Romy takes on the challenge, only to discover she's got competition. Worse, Dominic Madison turns out to be the - unfortunately hot - nephew of her family's worst enemy.

Can Romy win the race and circle the globe in time to save the bookstore? And what happens when she starts to fall for the very person who may just be the death of her dreams?

Ok. If a book’s synopsis mentions one of my favorite reality TV shows, The Amazing Race, it’s pretty safe to assume that I need that book. Really, I need any book that involves travel and this one also includes a heroine with a love of books who goes on a trip that retraces the steps of Around the World In 80 Days by Jules Verne. The only thing that annoyed me about this book is that I didn’t read it sooner. I. Loved. It.

This book is very very long, and it needs to be because a journey around the world deserves some time to flesh it all out in great detail. K.C. Dyer does just that. Every location and experience is told in such vivid detail that I felt like I was there. I could smell the mustiness of the Paris Catacombs, feel the ships bobbing over waves, and see the bright lights of Hong Kong. It was such a wonderful adventure, filled with characters that were so memorable and endearing.

Romy has a lot of fear and anxiety surrounding travel, and it’s held her back in her life before. But she’s doing this for something larger than her fear. Her sweet, sweet uncles (I honestly loved them) have run a bookstore for ages, and the new landlord is raising the rent exponentially in order to try and force them out. While out moping about an unknown future, Romy spots an ad for a company that plans extravagant literary journeys inspired by books. They’re looking to hire someone, and Romy wants to do this to make enough money to save the bookstore. After a lackluster interview, the job is given to someone else. Romy won’t take no for an answer and decides to fight back. She runs into that office and begs for the opportunity (it reminded me of when Andy fights against Miranda Priestley’s brush-off in The Devil Wears Prada). So the competition is born! The boss lady, Teresa, decides to give Romy a shot and allows her to race against the other job candidate. Whoever makes it back to the ExLibris office first gets the job.

The journey starts out with Romy on her own, not having any idea who this other mysterious job candidate is. As the synopsis mentions, travel methods cannot include commercial airlines. I loved Romy’s creativity. She books passage on things like container ships, shipping vessels, a funicular, a helicopter, trains, rickshaws, a party bus, and even a raft at one point. I loved reading about her experiences and the people she met. During her journey she stumbles across Dominic and it’s revealed that he’s her competition. He’s also the “evil Nephew” of her uncles’ new landlord. They’re forced to join forces when travel options become limited. Their journey also becomes more than simply winning a job when they both become invested in helping an orphaned 14-year-old Somali refugee named Sumaya find her family in another country. I grew very attached to Sumaya. She’s been through so much pain and fear, yet she’s a bundle of pure joy. Everything makes her so happy. Her dream is to be a stand-up comedian, and she spends a lot of her journey with Romy and Dom testing her comedy routines out on fellow travelers, crew members, local people, and others helping them on their way. The addition of Sumaya to their travel plans makes things complicated and scary at times because she had no papers, but she was worth it to them to take that risk and I loved that. Throughout their journey (haha I sound like a writer for The Bachelor), Romy and Dom start to feel things for one another. The romance is there, but very understated. If travel is involved, I don’t mind at all sacrificing some of the romance for travel so I loved it. It’s worth mentioning, though, that there is a very romantic ending and I was completely satisfied.

Both Dom and Romy learn so much about themselves and the world, which is one of my favorite things about traveling. I absolutely loved reading about the places they saw, the people they met, and how this experience changed them for the better. I loved reading about the kindness of complete strangers they met as they traveled. These people made sacrifices and put themselves in danger to help them, oftentimes not asking for anything in return. This book reminded me that most humans are good people, and that life is made better when you help others and allow others to help you.

All in all, Eighty Days to Elsewhere is touching, eye opening, heartwarming, funny, and subtly romantic. It also sheds light on some important issues around the world. I had the hardest time putting this book down, and found so much joy in returning to it each evening to continue my adventure around the world. I can’t wait to read the next book in this series, An Accidental Odyssey, which came out last month!