REVIEW: The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center

[I received a free electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]

Summary


Emma Wheeler has been given the opportunity of a lifetime – co-write/ghostwrite a screenplay with her idol, Charlie Yates. He’s written a rom-com, and it needs some serious help. But he has to get it written in order to get a pet project produced. Emma has to put her life on hold and go to LA for 6 weeks to work on the re-write. She’s been her father’s daily caregiver for years – it’s a lot to step away from.

But when she gets to LA, Charlie doesn’t know anything about this arrangement – and he’s not interested in anything Emma has to offer.  She’s embarrassed and tempted to flee back home where life is familiar even though it is also soul-crushing at times. Instead, she fights for this opportunity. Taking in some observations of Charlie and recognizing the power of being completely willing to walk away, she negotiates her way into a real chance to write this screenplay and see it get produced. And maybe prove to Charlie – and herself – that she’s not a “failed writer.”

Review


This was excellent! Everything the book describes as essential for a rom-com – the happily-ever-after, the banter, the slow burn, the “sparkle” – is on display here.

I loved Emma and Charlie, both alone and together. Their individual stories are fascinating. And the psychology of how those individual stories impact the relationship between the two writers was delightful. There were many beautifully written scenes that begged to be read out loud. And I laughed out loud often.

Katherine Center’s fans should not hesitate to grab her latest rom-com. It absolutely sparkles, both in the cozy relationship and in the writing. And if you are a rom-com fan in general, you do not want to miss this one! (Language)

Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥*

*♥♥♥♥♥ = Outstanding!

BOOK NEWS: September 17, 2024

This week I am celebrating the 8th anniversary of the launch of this website! It’s hard to believe. Thank you for being here and enjoying a lot of book love with me! Here are some of the books releasing this week:

Books for Kids


The Owlympic Games – Book 20 in the sweet Owl Diaries series from Scholastic Branches. The pressure of the Owlympic Games starts to get to Eva when she worries about letting her team down.

Books for Older Kids/ Teens/Young Adults


Banned Books, Crop Tops, and Other Bad Influences – A “good girl” teams up with a  new girl who likes to push boundaries to make a banned book club.
May the Best Player Win – A chess player faces a lot of pressure when some media attention makes her “friends” question if she’s really as good as everyone says.
Quagmire Tiarello Couldn’t Be Better – Quagmire ends up having to live with an uncle he doesn’t know when his mom’s mental health struggles leave him without a place to land. While sad, I love stories like this where kids find the support they need when they thought they were all alone to carry grown up troubles.
The Lies We Conjure – A standalone story from the author of The Princess Will Save You. Two sisters agree to pretend to be an elderly woman’s long-lost grandchildren but find themselves locked in a mansion with a group of witches, trying to solve a murder while keeping their ruse a secret.

Books for Adults


All Signs Point to Malibu (Trade Paperback) – A woman who gets glimpses of the future sees that her ex and his fiancée are headed toward an unhappy ending. But her efforts to help catch the attention of her nemesis, the best man. This sounds fun!
Can’t Help Falling in Love (Trade Paperback) – A fake engagement could lead to love. Yes, please!
Karaoke Queen (Trade Paperback, LGBTQ+) – Rex tries to help his ex save his karaoke bar by showing up as his drag alter ego – but he feels like he can never let anyone know it’s him.
My Vampire Plus-One (Trade Paperback) – A sequel to My Roommate Is a Vampire. A young woman needs a fake boyfriend to get her family off her case about her dating life, but she has no idea Reggie is a vampire.
Rewitched (Trade Paperback) – A stressed and burned out witch may lose her powers on her 30th birthday if she can’t prove her “worthiness.”
We Solve Murders (Hardcover) – First in a new series. A woman working private security for a famous author reaches out to her retired father-in-law for help when she gets in over her head. This could be fun!
An American Story (Hardcover) – An autobiography from actor Wilmer Valderrama.

 

REVIEW: Life in the Wild by Nicholas Oldland

[I received a free electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Kids Can Press in exchange for an honest review. (I also read 5 of the stories in single-story form from the library.) All opinions are my own.]

Summary and Review


Six stories from the Life in the Wild series are collected here in one volume. You can read my reviews of two of them at the links provided.

Big Bear Hug (♥♥♥♥)

Make the Moose Out of Life – A reserved moose learns to embrace adventure and try new things when he gets shipwrecked. This was cute. I liked that Moose was driven by his own desires to change rather than being cajoled or shamed into being someone he is not. He recognizes his nervousness but also tries things until he finds activities he likes. (♥♥♥♥)

The Busy Beaver (♥♥♥♥½)

Up the Creek  – Three best friends who disagree a lot try to go on a canoe trip together. This is another fun and funny tale of these three friends. This includes some great examples of ways to learn to get along for the good of the outing. (♥♥♥♥)

Walk on the Wild Side – Three friends climbing a mountain discover it can be more fun to enjoy the journey rather than race to be the first one done. This is another cute story with a nice lesson. I love that none of these stories include shaming. There are just experiences and learning from them along with friends who decide to work at being better friends. (♥♥♥♥)

Hockey in the Wild – This is the one story I only read because I received the ARC of the collection. And for me, this was the weakest story in the set. It just didn’t click for me.

REVIEW: The Body in the Backyard by Lucy Score

Summary


Riley and Nick are working their most obnoxious case yet. Riley’s horrible ex-husband thinks someone is out to kill him. Nick thinks he’s faking – and Griffin IS a total narcissist. But evidence starts to pile up that he really is on someone’s hit list.

The problem is that Griffin is so awful, there’s no shortage of people who want to see him dead. How can Nick and Riley weed through so many suspects to find the most dangerous one before someone actually succeeds at killing their client before they can get paid?

Review


What a hoot! Once again, Lucy Score delivers a laugh-riot of a paranormal mystery/romance. I’m noticing  how other stories billed as “rom-coms” are suffering in comparison to this series which makes me laugh out loud all the time. I need more Lucy Score books in my life!

Griffin has been “the worst” from the start of this series, but this book puts all of his worst on full display. And wow. This is the sort of character who can tank an otherwise terrific story because he is just so awful. But the author deftly shows all of Griffin’s deplorable choices while keeping the reader on Nick and Riley’s side, hoping they’ll get their fee in the end. I think Griffin is such a narcissistic buffoon that he’s almost too “cartoonish” to be believed.  And that makes him awful AND funny. I was thrilled with how it all worked out in the end. The sheer number of suspects here kept me from having any shot at figuring things out for myself. And I was fine with that. I loved the “not another one” ploy here.

All of the series regulars, including Nick and Riley’s families, are back for this book which is part of the series’ charm. Nieces’ Night is one of my favorite parts of this book. I hope future books include more of the girls because they are a total delight. Nick’s competition with Gabe over their affection is also hilarious and adorable.

This is another fantastic addition to this series which anchored my summer 2024 reading. Series fans should not miss this one. You can read the rest of my series reviews here – I recommend reading these in order for the development of the cast, but I think the stories stand well on their own. (Language, sex, psychic visions)

Rating: ♥♥♥♥*

*♥♥♥♥ = Great! Might re-read.

BOOK NEWS: September 10, 2024

Here are some of the new books out this week:

Books for Older Kids/ Teens/Young Adults


Library Girl – A girl found as a baby in the library and raised in secret by the four librarians who found her ventures out from her mothers’ love and her home of books where she meets a boy who looks enough like her to maybe be an actual relative. This. Sounds. Amazing!
Not Another Banned Book (Older Middle Grade) – A girl in danger of losing her beloved Book Club and her favorite teacher tries to find a way to fight for the things at school that have meant so much to her and her friends. This is on my list, too!

 

Books for Adults


Casket Case (Trade Paperback) – A casket sales person discovers the new, interesting guy in her life is a logistics manager – for Death.
The Royals Upstairs (Trade Paperback) – A prince’s bodyguard has to work with the woman whose heart he broke as she is the nanny to the prince’s children. This plot reminds me a bit of Codename Charming which is another bodyguard/royal staffer romance which I adored.
Somewhere Beyond the Sea (Hardcover, LGBTQ+) – Sequel to The House in the Cerulean Sea. Arthur is hoping to become the adoptive father to the magical orphans on the island, but his dream is in danger from a new addition to the island – and from his own past. I have book one on my TBR and can’t wait to dive into both of these.
Reconnected: How 7 Screen-Free Weeks with Monks and Amish Farmers Helped Me Recover the Lost Art of Being Human (Hardcover, Nonfiction) – A memoir from Carlos Whittaker.
The Widening of God’s Mercy: Sexuality Within the Biblical Story (Hardcover, Nonfiction) – Father and son, both biblical scholars, take a look at sexuality in the Bible.

REVIEW: The Busy Beaver by Nicholas Oldland

Summary and Review


A careless beaver finally sees the path of destruction he’s left in his wake and decides to make things right.

As I mentioned last week, I picked several of the Life is Wild books up at the library, including this one, before discovering they were going to be released in a single volume. My review for that will post next week, but for now I wanted to post about this story on its own because it is my favorite in the collection. The message here is fantastic! The illustrations are excellent and really help tell the story so there’s minimal text for young readers. This was delightful!

Rating: ♥♥♥♥½*

*♥♥♥♥½ = I loved it! Would re-read

REVIEW: Witches Get Stuff Done by Molly Harper

Summary


Riley Everett has arrived in Starfall Point, MI to meet the aunt she hadn’t known existed before her mother died and Aunt Nora reached out. In fact, Riley had been going through such a string of bad luck, she wrote the woman off as a scammer at first. And now that Riley has finally arrived, she gets word that Aunt Nora has died.

Edison Hold is the head of the library at Starfall Point. And he’s been eager to get a look at Nora’s home, Shadow House. But Nora’s death – and an unfortunate first encounter with Riley – will not help his quest to get in the door.

Once in Starfall, Riley discovers the family legacy her mother never mentioned. They have been the keepers of a house full of ghosts and haunted objects. And Riley is now the new “keeper.”

Riley begins to settle into a routine – with the house, with the ghosts, with some friends who can help her with her magical responsibilities – and even with Edison. But there’s someone who wants the house’s secrets for themselves – and they don’t care what happens to anyone who gets in their way.

Review


This was captivating! I loved the premise and the characters. The magic system is more instinctual than learned, so I’m not as clear on what all Riley and her friends can do as I would like. But watching them do their thing – together – was highly entertaining.

This is funny, with an enjoyable found family core that really touched me. I’m eager to see how things develop for Riley and Edison as well as for the “coven,” although that term seems too formal and witchy for this fun, breezy, ghost-filled paranormal story.

Fans of this author as well as fans of humorous paranormal romance should absolutely check this out. It was a hoot! Book 2 is Big Witch Energy, and it’s on my library list! (Language, sex, paranormal elements include ghosts and magical powers)

Rating: ♥♥♥♥*

*♥♥♥♥ – Great!

BOOK NEWS: September 3, 2024

Happy Labor Day! Here are some of the new books out this week.

Books for Kids


The 13 Days of Swiftness: A Christmas Celebration for Fans – A Taylor Swift-focused count down to Christmas.
Is This a Tiger? – Follow up to the delightful Have You Seen an Elephant?  I’ll be reviewing this one soon.
Life in the Wild – A collection of stories including Big Bear Hug which I reviewed last week. I’ll have a review of this soon, too.
The Princess in Black and the Kitty Catastrophe – Every time Princess Magnolia goes on a mission, her new kitten destroys something.

Books for Older Kids/ Teens/Young Adults


The Festival of Lights (September 5) – This collection of Hanukkah stories includes something from my friend Gini Koch, so you know I want to check this one out!
Out of My Dreams – Melody gets to go to an international symposium in England as a spokesperson for kids with different abilities.
Fairy Godmother – Something new from Jen Calonita. A young governess has the chance to become a fairy godmother.

Books for Adults


The Games Gods Play (Hardcover) – For the first time, Hades enters the gods’ contest for a chance to take the throne, but they use mortals to fight their battles. I am so interested in this one!
Hot Hex Boyfriend (Trade Paperback) – Delia breaks a hex that has bound her family’s magic for years. Now her neighbor, Max, has to keep them from outing witches everywhere.
No One Does It Like You (Trade Paperback) – Thinking he’s about to die, an actor reaches out to his ex to say he still loves her and he wishes he could make things right. When he survives his dramatic rescue, his ex challenges him to make good on his promise to make things right by helping her fix up her family B&B.
Prime Time Romance (Trade Paperback) – Brynn and her post-divorce roommate, Josh, find themselves in her favorite teen soap opera after Brynn makes a birthday wish for a happily-ever-after.
Lovely One (Hardcover, Nonfiction) – A memoir from Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.