Review: Earls Trip

Jenny Holiday has written sweet romances and spicy romances and those books are always very enjoyable. So, I was intrigued when I heard she was writing a historical romance. And, friends, she can write the hell out of a historical romance, too! Earls Trip was too much fun and I enjoyed it so much. It’s out next week, April 23, so get those library holds and preorders in!

Here’s the book’s description:

Even an earl needs his ride-or-dies, and Archibald Fielding-Burton, the Earl of Harcourt, counts himself lucky to have two. Archie (the jock), Simon (the nerd), and Effie (the goth) have been BFFs since their school days, and their annual trip holds a sacred spot in their calendars. This year, Archie is especially eager to get away—until an urgent letter arrives from an old family friend, begging him to help prevent a ruinous scandal. Archie’s childhood pal Olive Morgan must be rescued from an ill-fated elopement—and her sister Clementine must be rescued from rescuing Olive. Suddenly the trip has become earls-plus-girls.
This . . . complicates matters. The fully grown Clementine, while as frank and refreshing as Archie remembers, is also different to the wild, windswept girl he knew. This Clem is complex and surprising—and adamantly opposed to marriage. Which, for reasons Archie dare not examine too closely, he finds increasingly vexing.
Then Clem makes him an indecent and quite delightful proposal, asking him to show her the pleasures of the marriage bed before she settles into spinsterhood. And what kind of gentleman would he be to refuse a lady?

I recognize that many books, TV shows, movies, etc are being created because of the “Bridgerton Effect” - that they (the powers that be who decide what to publish or create for screen) recognize there’s an appetite for stories that are as fun, frothy, and historical (ish) as the Bridgerton TV show. Earls Trip had a similar vibe as Bridgerton which I was totally into. Holiday paid attention to the historical elements she needed to but she wasn’t so strict about language or social norms. I find that authors sometimes force the language so much that it sounds…ridiculous. Holiday didn’t do that, thankfully!

I’m excited that this appears to be a series because I’m really looking forward to hanging out with all of these characters again. Holiday created a group of earls (well, two earls and a viscount) who were so delightful. I loved the ladies but the guys were the stars. Their friendship would be refreshing in a contemporary romance so to have it be the focus of a historical romance was a delight. They weren’t shy about their friendship and feelings for each other. Archie maybe mentioned that it wasn’t normal for them to be expressing those feelings a bit too often but it was nice to see how much they cared for each other, their found family. And they willingly embraced the ladies and brought them into the fold, too. Love!

Even though the main purpose of this novel was to be a fun romance, Holiday wove some more serious issues into the story as well. Some had to do with society of the time, such as how Clem (and all other women) were basically just things to be owned and ordered about by men, whether that was their father or their husband (because of course their life goal had to be marriage and marriage to a man - there was no other option). Others issues were more general and something contemporary readers can understand, such as Archie’s mother’s dementia. I felt everything was handled well and respectfully and added to the overall story in a really great way.

Earls Trip was such a fun read and I’m already missing the characters I met in Jenny Holiday’s latest novel. I can’t wait for the next book in the series and I think romance readers everywhere will also thoroughly enjoy this book!

*An egalley of this book was provided by the publisher, Kensington Books, via NetGalley in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Review: Here We Go Again

I didn’t think I’d get into a “rom com about death” but there was something about Alison Cochrun’s latest romance, Here We Go Again, that kept me intrigued. The emotional component of this one was off the charts but knowing I’d get a Happily Ever After at the end helped balance the negative feelings that came up while reading.

Here’s the book’s description:

A long time ago, Logan Maletis and Rosemary Hale used to be friends. They spent their childhood summers running through the woods, rebelling against their conservative small town, and dreaming of escaping. But then an incident the summer before high school turned them into bitter rivals. After graduation, they went ten years without speaking.
Now in their thirties, Logan and Rosemary find they aren’t quite living the lives of adventure they imagined for themselves. Still in their small town and working as teachers at their alma mater, they’re both stuck in old patterns. Uptight Rosemary chooses security and stability over all else, working constantly, and her most stable relationship is with her label maker. Chaotic and impulsive Logan has a long list of misguided ex-lovers and an apathetic shrug she uses to protect herself from anything real. And as hard as they try to avoid each other—and their complicated past—they keep crashing into each other. Including with their cars.
But when their beloved former English teacher and lifelong mentor tells them he has only a few months to live, they’re forced together once and for all to fulfill his last a cross-country road trip. Stuffed into the gayest van west of the Mississippi, the three embark on a life-changing summer trip—from Washington state to the Grand Canyon, from the Gulf Coast to coastal Maine—that will chart a new future and perhaps lead them back to one another.

I absolutely loved The Charm Offensive when I read it back in 2021 (review here). I somehow missed Kiss Her Once for Me but thought I’d give Cochrun’s latest book a try when I was gifted an egalley. The Charm Offensive still wins but Here We Go Again was still a good read.

I do have to say…it was a little tricky to really root for Logan and Rosemary. I’ve stopped reading romances before when the main love interests drive me bonkers. Why bother reading about a couple getting together for a HEA when I don’t care for either of their personalities? I, like many people, also struggle with miscommunication in romances (setting aside the fact that none of us are great communicators in real life). While this book doesn’t exactly have miscommunication in the traditional sense, I could tell right away that things would have been a LOT different for the two women if they had just been honest with each other, either when they were teens (which is a stretch, I know) or when Rosemary moved back to town a few years prior to the start of the novel. They both made huge assumptions of the other - not unlike Pride and Prejudice - and it grated at me ever so slightly. I got over it enough to keep reading the book, though, and I really think it had to do with the way Cochrun writes and the story she was telling.

While, at first, Logan and Rosemary didn’t make much sense, what did make sense was how much they cared about Joe, their former English teacher. The way Cochrun wrote the relationship between Joe and each of the women was…oh my word. I felt like I was grieving right alongside them. She wrote it so well and I could feel every moment of pain - and joy - that they were experiencing along their road trip.

Here We Go Again is a sapphic road trip rom com about death that will, not surprisingly, have you feeling all the feels. Alison Cochrun is a talented writer and I look forward to reading her next book - and going back into her backlist to catch up!

Content warnings: parental abandonment (before start of novel but addressed on the page), death, grief, cancer, hospice care, hospitals, reference to alcoholism

*An egalley was provided by the publisher, Simon & Schuster, via Edelweiss in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Review: Death on the Lusitania

For all the historical fiction I read, I didn’t know much about the RMS Lusitania. I vaguely recalled something from history class telling me it sank but that was about it - I didn’t know when, how, or why. Enter Death on the Lusitania by R.L. Graham, a husband and wife author team. (Sadly, Marilyn Livingstone was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and passed away while the book was being written.) This novel is the first in a historical mystery series and I was interested because the authors were born in Canada, I didn’t know much about the ship, I like historical mysteries, and, well, that cover! Isn’t it stunning? The story held between the gorgeous covers kept me interested and I really wasn’t sure whodunit until all was revealed!

Here’s the book’s description:

Welcome on board the Lusitania’s final voyage . . .
New York, 1915. RMS Lusitania, one of the world’s most luxurious trans-Atlantic liners, departs for Liverpool and war-torn Europe. Among those on board is Patrick Gallagher, a civil servant in Her Majesty’s government tasked with discreetly escorting a British diplomat back to England in relation to charges of suspected treason.
When a fellow passenger, Jimmy Dowrich, is found shot to death in his cabin, the captain asks Gallagher to investigate. Knowing something of the man’s past, Gallagher realizes that the problem will not be simple; and also, the body was discovered in a locked cabin with the key inside and no gun to be found.
Gallagher believes that one of his fellow passengers is a deadly killer. But many of those on board are harbouring secrets of their own, and his questioning reveals that several had a motive for ending Dowrich’s life. He fears that the killer could strike again to protect their true reasons for being on board and all the while, the ship sails on towards Europe, where deadly submarines patrol the war zone . . .

I liked that Graham chose to have a countdown to the sinking of the ship at the start of each chapter. A bit morbid, yes, but it amped up the tension that was already present in the novel in a really good way. You know the ship is doomed but, oh by the way, people are being murdered on board, too! As if the guests didn’t have enough to worry about, sailing into a warzone and all. That part did make me think about what I would have done in the guests’ position. Would I have still chosen to sail, knowing there was a very real chance a U-boat would torpedo the ship?

Since I didn’t remember much about the Lusitania other than it had sank at some point in history, I definitely didn’t know that there was a second explosion after the torpedo hit the ship and the reason for that second explosion has never been determined, at least not definitively. She was carrying ammunition, though she was not armed, so it’s possible that some of her cargo was the cause of the second explosion. Graham took that possibility and wondered, “what if this happened?” And this became Death on the Lusitania. They were clear from the outset that they were reimagining history, to an extent, and I appreciated both the note and their creativity.

The historical aspect may have charmed me ever so slightly more than the mystery in this novel, but that’s not to say I was unimpressed with the case. This is the set up to the start of a series starring Patrick Gallagher, who is, ostensibly, a civil servant for His Majesty’s government (something I realized while writing this review - the book's description says “Her” Majesty but there was a King on the throne in 1915, George V - grandson of Queen Victoria and grandfather of Queen Elizabeth II). With the Captain (the only real character in the book) slightly occupied with getting his ship through the war zone in one piece, he tasks Gallagher with figuring out who decided Dowrich wouldn’t live to see the ship’s destination. While I questioned some of Gallagher’s methods (sometimes it seemed like he was giving away too much, like, “Was it so-and-so who told you such-and-such?” and the suspect says, “Why, yes!” but…was it or did they just grab hold of a piece of information that’ll help them?), I still couldn’t put together who the murderer was. Part of me wonders if I couldn’t figure it out because it just wasn’t well done and was far too confusing. But I’m choosing to give Graham the benefit of the doubt since everything else was so well written.

Death on the Lusitania was a really solid start to a new historical mystery series. I don’t know if R.L. Graham will continue with the series now but I do hope to see another Patrick Gallagher mystery in the future.

*A copy of this novel was provided by the Canadian distributor, PGC Books, in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Review: How to End a Love Story

Oh my word, friends. I may have found your next favourite romance. I was so incredibly invested in How to End a Love Story by Yulin Kuang. I couldn’t stop thinking about this debut romance when I wasn’t reading it. It is so angsty and so real with a Happily Ever After that had a lot of roadblocks in its way. It was emotional and wonderful.

Here’s the book’s description:

Helen Zhang hasn’t seen Grant Shepard once in the thirteen years since the tragic accident that bound their lives together forever.
Now a bestselling author, Helen pours everything into her career. She’s even scored a coveted spot in the writers’ room of the TV adaptation of her popular young adult novels, and if she can hide her imposter syndrome and overcome her writer’s block, surely the rest of her life will fall into place too. LA is the fresh start she needs. After all, no one knows her there. Except…
Grant has done everything in his power to move on from the past, including building a life across the country. And while the panic attacks have never quite gone away, he’s well liked around town as a screenwriter. He knows he shouldn’t have taken the job on Helen’s show, but it will open doors to developing his own projects that he just can’t pass up.
Grant’s exactly as Helen remembers him—charming, funny, popular, and lovable in ways that she’s never been. And Helen’s exactly as Grant remembers too—brilliant, beautiful, closed off. But working together is messy, and electrifying, and Helen’s parents, who have never forgiven Grant, have no idea he’s in the picture at all.
When secrets come to light, they must reckon with the fact that theirs was never meant to be any kind of love story. And yet… the key to making peace with their past—and themselves—might just lie in holding on to each other in the present.

You should want to read this book just based on the description (and the fact that I’m telling you you should, ha!), but if you want some more encouragement: Kuang is the screenwriter who is bringing Emily Henry’s novels from page to screen. You like Henry’s books, right? Throw in some more emotional angst, and you get Kuang’s novel. You’re in for a treat. (And I’m also even more excited for Henry's novels' adaptations now!)

Knowing that Kuang is a screenwriter made the story feel even more real, given the plot revolved around Grant and Helen adapting Helen’s novel for TV. Funnily enough, though, I couldn’t picture this book as a movie or TV show. You know how sometimes you can clearly see how a book would translate to screen? I didn’t get that with this one. It’s perfect as a book. And I really liked the little peek into the world of screenwriting. It was fairly in depth without being overwhelming or boring.

Helen and Grant’s background is…a lot. It wasn’t insurmountable but a lot of therapy was going to need to be involved, which Kuang made sure to talk about in a positive light. Both of them had been going to therapy but clearly still needed some more help to get past the traumatic experience that tied them together so many years before. I don’t know what I would have done in their position but, let me tell you, I was feeling all the things while reading as they figured it out. Holy emotional. In the best way! Well, terribly difficult and awful emotions but done well in the book. Just…have tissues next to you and be kind to yourself when you read this one. (I’ll put the content warnings I personally noticed  down at the bottom of this review.)

I felt the characters of Helen and Grant were well-developed and I was fully invested in their lives. I needed them to work out their issues so they could be together but I didn’t know how they’d get there. Thanks to Kuang’s writing, I felt like I had a front row seat to their relationship but also to their careers. Figuring out their professional lives was more important to them, Helen especially, than whatever romantic feelings were being stirred up. It was the kind of balance I crave in romances and was so glad Kuang hit the right notes.

I absolutely loved How to End a Love Story by Yulin Kuang. This debut novel had me feeling all the feelings in the best way. I cannot wait to see what else Kuang writes.

Content warnings: grief, suicide, panic attacks, death of a family member, car accident

*An egalley was provided by the Canadian publisher, HarperCollins Canada, via NetGalley in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Review: Women of Good Fortune

I love a good heist story and I also loved Crazy Rich Asians so when I heard about Sophie Wan’s debut novel, Women of Good Fortune, I was immediately intrigued. A bride and her friends come up with a plan to steal all of the red envelopes of cash from what promises to be THE wedding of the season? I was in! The novel was so much fun to read and had more depth than I was expecting. It’s definitely one to check out!

Here’s the book’s description:

Lulu has always been taught that money is the ticket to a good life. So, when Shanghai’s most eligible bachelor surprises her with a proposal, the only acceptable answer is yes, even if the voice inside her head is saying no. His family’s fortune would solve all her parents’ financial woes, but Lulu isn’t in love or ready for marriage.
The only people she can confide in are her two best friends: career-minded Rina, who is tired of being passed over for promotion as her biological clock ticks away; and Jane, a sharp-tongued, luxury-chasing housewife desperate to divorce her husband and trade up. Each of them desires something different: freedom, time, beauty. None of them can get it without money.
Lulu’s wedding is their golden opportunity. The social event of the season, it means more than enough cash gifts to transform the women’s lives. To steal the money on the big day, all they’ll need is a trustworthy crew and a brilliant plan. But as the plot grows increasingly complicated and relationships are caught in the cross fire, the women are forced to face that having it all might come at a steep price…

The story is told over the year or so leading up to Lulu and Harv’s wedding and each chapter counts down so you know just how long the women have to plan their heist. The chapters also alternate so the reader has the chance to get to know each woman - Lulu, Jane, and Rina. I liked the format but didn’t love it because, though I felt it allowed the reader to understand the women a little better, I don’t know if we ever got the most fulsome picture of each character. But I did think the tension increased with the countdown, especially when the reader realizes there’s not much time left and it doesn’t seem like things are going to work out.

As is often the case in a multi-narrated novel, I felt myself drawn to one character more than the others. In this instance, it was Rina. Lulu felt too two-dimensional (which is kind of a point of the story, which is all I’ll say about that) and Jane was…well, I’m not sure. She was hyper-focused on wanting to change her face with plastic surgery but wasn’t realizing that she had a lot of mental work to do. Work that may actually allow her to avoid going under the knife. I’m not judging her - we can never know someone’s true feelings, not even a fictional someone - but I think I got too fixated on the fact that she needed help before she’d be truly happy. I think Rina was just a little bit more formed and that was part of why I looked forward to her chapters more than the other two.

I’m sure I’ve said before that I sometimes struggle with the family dynamics in stories, particularly when the characters are from a culture different than my own. I respect that all cultures are different and truly enjoy reading about all kinds of families. I can never know - and don’t expect to know - what it’s like to live in China and have elders that deserve a different kind of respect and care than I’m used to (being a White woman living in Canada). I always chafe at the idea that someone (especially women) have to follow certain rules and obey others instead of having the life they actually want. Marriage and children aren’t for everyone and I can’t help but feel pushing a woman towards those things is an extremely outdated way of looking at the world. I try hard to let go of my particular viewpoint when I read these books but sometimes it’s hard, as it was with this novel when I was so frustrated with how Lulu was being treated in the months leading up to the wedding.

I did not have high hopes for the heist, I gotta be honest. The women were doing a lot of planning, I’ll give them that, but the reason for stealing the money felt so personal that I worried their feelings would get in the way of a successful mission. I found myself flipping through the last few chapters faster than the others because I was on the edge of my seat wondering if they’d be able to pull it off.

Women of Good Fortune was a really great read. There were some parts that could have used more work but overall I felt Sophie Wan’s debut offering was a solid one that I think a lot of people will enjoy. I can’t wait to see what she writes next!

*An egalley of this novel was provided by HTP Books via NetGalley in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Review: Lady Charlotte Always Gets Her Man

I’m not sure which book started the historical rom com mystery craze but I’ve been having a lot of fun trying different books and authors that fit into this genre mishmash. Lady Charlotte Always Gets Her Man is the latest I’ve tried but Violet Marsh’s offering didn’t thrill me as I would have liked.

Here’s the book’s description:

Lady Charlotte Lovett should have never run away upon discovering her betrothal. But when one has been promised to a man who, rumor has it, killed his previous two wives, one does what one must. The only thing that can get her out of this engagement is proving that Viscount Hawley is as sinister as she thinks he is. And the person who would know best is his very own brother.
In many ways, Dr. Matthew Talbot is the exact opposite of his sibling—scholarly, shy, and shunned by society. But like his brother, he has secrets, and he doesn’t need Charlotte exposing them in her quest to take down the viscount. It only seems prudent to help her while keeping her from poking her nose in all the wrong places. But as they put their hearts at risk to grow closer to each other, they are also getting closer to a dangerous confrontation with Hawley.

One of the main issues I had with this book was Charlotte herself. She annoyed me. She may have thought she was learning the ways of the world but I felt the same as her cousins, Sophie and Hannah, and needed a lot of convincing before I could start to believe that she wasn’t just rebelling on a whim. Too often she came across as a poor little rich girl and that really grated on me. I could see she was a good person and had a less than ideal life but, at the end of the day, I didn’t really see her understanding how much her privilege afforded her. Plus, she kept putting herself in danger because she refused to hear that she didn't know how to live in the real world.

Hawley posed a very real threat - knowing but being unable to prove that he had two previous wives murdered is a terrifying prospect - but he came across as a cartoon villain. I could not take him seriously which was a problem since he was a serious problem to be dealt with.

There was some mystery and intrigue surrounding Matthew’s past that was hinted at (far too) often before it was finally revealed. By the time I learned the truth, though, I had stopped caring.

Lady Charlotte Always Gets Her Man may thrill others but Violet Marsh’s novel didn’t do much for me. It seems like there’s going to be another book in the series, with the way it ended, but I’m not sure yet if I’ll pick it up or not.

*An egalley of this novel was provided by the publisher, Forever, via NetGalley in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.* 

Review: This Could Be Us

Kennedy Ryan’s been on my radar for awhile but, like many authors, it’s taken some time to finally read her books. So many books, so little time, am I right? When Before I Let Go, the first in Ryan’s Skyland series, came out in 2022, I told myself I’d read it. Fast forward to the month before This Could Be Us is released and I finally got around to diving into Yasmen’s story. I loved it. I immediately picked up Soledad’s book - and I loved it too.

Here’s the book’s description:

Soledad Barnes has her life all planned out. Because, of course, she does. She plans everything. She designs everything. She fixes everything. She’s a domestic goddess who's never met a party she couldn't host or a charge she couldn't lead. The one with all the answers and the perfect vinaigrette for that summer salad. But none of her varied talents can save her when catastrophe strikes, and the life she built with the man who was supposed to be her forever, goes poof in a cloud of betrayal and disillusion.
But there is no time to pout or sulk, or even grieve the life she lost. She's too busy keeping a roof over her daughters' heads and food on the table. And in the process of saving them all, Soledad rediscovers herself. From the ashes of a life burned to the ground, something bold and new can rise.
But then an unlikely man enters the picture—the forbidden one, the one she shouldn't want but can't seem to resist. She's lost it all before and refuses to repeat her mistakes. Can she trust him? Can she trust herself?
After all she's lost . . .and found . . .can she be brave enough to make room for what could be?

I’m running a romance book club at the library I work at right now so I’m finding myself thinking about romances, why we love them, and what makes them romances vs any other kind of story, a whole lot more than I have before. After reading the first two Skyland books, I wondered, are these romance novels? There’s a Happily Ever After/For Now, absolutely, but that HEA doesn’t seem to be the main purpose of the story. Unless you’re thinking about the HEA the main characters have with themselves. I love the love stories in these books, but I was really there for the women and their process of learning to love themselves more than I was for them loving the men in their lives. Does it matter if I think it’s a romance or not? No. But we all know marketing matters and I’m always curious about how books are marketed.

I, like seemingly everyone in Soledad’s life, did not like her husband. But even I wouldn’t have guessed what went down. It was WILD and I could have felt like I was watching a movie (complete with a giant bowl of popcorn as I watched the chaos) but for the fact that I cared about Soledad and her girls so damn much. I hated what was happening to them which is partly due to the characters Ryan created and how she wrote them. (And partly because I'm not a monster and only monsters wouldn't feel moved by the situation they're in.)

I do, however, have some questions about some of Soledad’s choices but given I’m 1. Not a mother and 2. Haven’t been in her situation, I’m not here to judge. But I’m bringing it up because these thoughts pulled me out of the story Ryan created when I shouldn’t have been. I’ll continue being vague about what actually happened, but you can know that Soledad is left without (much) money so she has to try to land on her feet during a shitstorm while also earning money to look after her three daughters. While I can understand that she wanted to keep their lives as consistent as possible, I couldn’t understand why that meant she had to continue living in the same, giant, expensive house or pay for expensive gymnastic lessons and so on. Sorry, kids, sometimes life sucks and you don’t get to do all the things you used to. I just kept thinking that it would have been so much more financially responsible to sell the house instead of spending a ton of money on it when she was in such a precarious position.

I love the feeling of community I got with the first two Skyland books. I loved being a part of that group of friends and family. I enjoyed spending time with them and wanted only the best for every single person I met while reading (apart from Soledad’s no-good husband and his racist mother). That love I have makes it even harder that now I have to wait for Hendrix’s book after bingeing the first two!

This Could Be Us was a fantastic read and I loved being part of the world Kennedy Ryan has created with her Skyland series. You’ll have all the feelings while reading this one so keep the wine, and maybe the box of tissues, at hand while you read. I think you’re going to love it too!

*An egalley of this novel was provided by the Canadian distributor, HBG Canada, via NetGalley in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*