Year-End Review: With Some Personal Stuff

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I’ve arrived at the near-end of one of the most difficult years of my life. As a missbatesian spinster caring for a declining elderly person, the “caring” part was near-unsurvivable. My mother’s Alzheimer’s worsened and precipitated my near-collapse from lack of sleep, support, and respite. Then, suddenly, after five years of struggling, arguing, threatening, and cajoling for help from the Quebec government (I won’t detail-describe the labyrinthine, kafka-esque state of Quebec’s no-health-care system), she was finally called to a nursing home placement. A terrible period of adjustment followed. She is safe and well and I am slowly recovering from years of care-giving. My heart goes out to the care-givers, their solitude and loyalty. If you know of someone in this predicament, bring a casserole, pay a visit, offer respite time.

ImageThroughout five intense care-giving years, though focus was weak, I could open a book, watch a film, listen to an audiobook or podcast to take me out of the daily crises. This year was no different, though my ability to write about what I read and listened to diminished. I hope to do better in 2026. The past weeks have been work-filled, visiting-my-mother-filled, and setting-my-house-in-order-filled, but I listened to Anthony Hopkins’s memoir, We Did Ok, Kid (narrated by marvellous Kenneth Branagh) and watched The Father. I didn’t think I would like Hopkins’s memoir, but there’s a surprising humility present and many delightful references to one of my favourite things, live theatre, because Hopkins knew and worked with the greats. I crowed gleefully when Hopkins recounted his viewing of a brilliant young actor playing Jimmy Porter in Osborne’s Look Back In Anger – Peter O’Toole – or his exchanges with the then-RSC-director – Sir Laurence Olivier.   (more…)

Contemporary Romance Review: Jennifer Hayward’s THE DAVIS DEAL

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ImageI miss unabashed romance, without the genre-blurring we often read in the genre today. (And because I dislike romantasy, I read so much less of it.) That’s why it was a pleasure to welcome some “unabashed romance” with Jennifer Hayward’s latest release, The Davis Deal. If you were a fan of Hayward’s HPs (and I was), The Davis Deal, self-published in this case, is HP-More, a longer, more developed, “unabashed” romance with two engaging leads, glamour galore, and the HP’s over-the-top, intense love scenes. To the blurb for further details:

Scarlett Davis loathes the limelight. Long labeled the least compelling sister of a popular reality show family, the talented fashion designer has invested everything in a company that’s hemorrhaging clients to a mean girl rival. And worried losing another red carpet client will wreck her up-and-coming brand, the sassy businesswoman scrambles to generate positive buzz…until she blurts out a fake engagement to her majorly famous best friend.

Rafael Sánchez is disciplined to a fault. Yet when the one woman he’s declared off-limits impulsively proclaims he’s her fiancé, the retired soccer star turned team owner helps her save face in front of the cameras. And as he balances the very public ruse while trying to land his title sponsor, he worries their simmering chemistry will send their reputations up in flames.

As Scarlett’s insecurities flare up under scrutiny from her glitterati peers, she can’t resist the temptation of a red-hot kiss. And when their pent-up attraction explodes into a scorching summer fling, Rafael can’t shake the fear he’s about to get burned.

Will obliterating long-held boundaries ruin their best-friend status, or can they turn their embraces into a Hollywood-style happy ending?  (more…)

Meanwhile in other reading…Margaret Atwood’s BOOK OF LIVES and Rose Macaulay’s THE TOWERS OF TREBIZOND

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When I wake up in the wee hours (the plight of the chronic insomniac), I don’t want to turn the light on and read on my e-reader; hence, why I do romance reading during sleeping hours and any other kind of reading in the waking hours. Or, to the spinster who needs make a living, taking a half hour in the evening in the reading chair. Early last week I scored Atwood’s memoir on audio from the library and listened to it non-stop through a hellacious work week. 

I read a review in Quill and Quire which called it meandering and not giving enough page time, though “bloated,” to Atwood’s writing. Frankly, this neither bothered me, nor did I even think Atwood had to give more page time to the books and if she didn’t that it was some kind of failing. QandQ said it “meandered”. Why shouldn’t it meander? Isn’t that the nature of memory? I loved the meandering, the silly details: the image of Atwood cooking one scallop because that was what she could afford. (Even I who am by no means wealthy have always given myself TWO scallops.) (more…)

Contemporary Romance Review: Jodi McAlister’s AN ACADEMIC AFFAIR (Literary Lovers #1)

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ImageAs someone who endured a soul-destroying grad school experience and its subsequent cut-throat world of snagging work in your field, one that sees more of annihilation than growth, I’ve read too many romances with “professor” heroines whose authors know diddly-squat about academia. I am, therefore, leery to read one. But McAlister is an English prof and I hoped finally someone would get it right? What I wasn’t prepared for was how she’d get a lot right. To start, it’s difficult to pull off a marriage-of-convenience in a contemporary romance, but this was perfectly set up to support the trope. The blurb’s details will explain why:

Sadie Shaw and Jonah Fisher have been academic rivals since they first crossed paths as undergraduates in the literature department thirteen years ago. Now that a highly coveted teaching opportunity has come up, their rivalry hits epic proportions. Jonah needs the job to move closer to his recently divorced sister and her children, while Sadie needs the financial security and freedom of a full-time teaching position.

When Sadie notices that the job offers partner hire, however, she hatches a plot to get them both the job. All they must do is get legally married. It’s a simple win-win solution but when sparks begin to fly, it becomes clear that despite their education, these two may not have thought this whole thing through. (more…)

HP Romance Audiobook Review: Lynne Graham’s SHOCK GREEK HEIR

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ImageIt’s been a long time since I read an HP romance and it’ll be a long while yet before I do so again. Not because I didn’t enjoy Shock Greek Heir (what a ridiculous title: I loved it), but because I did. I shall now bemoan the days of category-yore when every month, we looked forward to great reads by beloved authors. Even if they weren’t perfect, their meh-ness would tide us over. Category romance has flattened out, moved with the times, lost its cachet. When I see new titles, I’m leery to try any, having been disappointed time and again. What we can say about category romance, we can say about the genre as a whole. If you’re not a fan of romantasy, and I’m not, there’s not much bringing me to new titles and authors. Shock Greek Heir, at least for a little while, offered days of yore pleasures. To the blurb to clarify the goings-on: 

Shock Greek Heir is a stranded and seduced, one night to pregnant, Greek billionaire romance…

He lost his memory…and gained an heir!

Running the family empire means Sebastian Pagonis must quit his playboy lifestyle. Cue the perfect detox: a week at sea, far from temptation. The hitch? Alluring crew member Bunny! Fortunately, she’s equally set on ignoring their chemistry… Until an accident strips away Sebastian’s memory—and ice-cold persona!

Suddenly Bunny’s employer barely resembles the arrogant Greek she first met, obliterating her last defense against their desire… Yet passion indulged in paradise has real-world consequences—Bunny’s pregnant! When Sebastian overcomes his amnesia, will their connection be as binding as their baby? (more…)

Audiobook Historical Romance Reviews: Carla Kelly’s “Christmas Promise,” “Captain Grey’s Christmas Proposal,” and “The Captain’s Christmas Journey”

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To enter Carla Kelly’s world is soul-soothing. Her characters are what brings me to her over and over again. I love how they’re reverent, yet earthy, with rueful senses of humour and a warm, understated kindness. This Kellian ethos makes for a perfect match to a Christmas setting. And the three Christmas novellas I listened to were lovely, the weakest being “Proposal” and most enjoyable, “Promise”. The tiny blurbs provide details:

“Promise”: Image Image ImageNow that peace has broken out, Captain Jeremiah Faulk is at odds over what to do this Christmas, let alone with his life. Until a simple act of charity reunites him with his lost love—the unattainable Ianthe Mears …

“Proposal”: Captain Grey had been fighting malarial fever in Savannah when he met Theodora Winnings. He proposed by letter—but it’s taken ten years to receive her reply. The answer was “yes!”—but is she still free to become his Christmas bride?

“Journey”: Captain Everard is escorting Verity to her governess job—and for propriety’s sake that means a convenient engagement! (more…)

Historical Murder Mystery Review: Sarah Stewart Taylor’s HUNTER’S HEART RIDGE (Frank Warren #2)

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ImageI was content to return to fictional Bethany, Vermont, and Stewart Taylor’s Detective Franklin Warren and former sort-of-spy, Alice Bellows, and a 1960s changing America with its anti-Vietnam-War youths and still-present WWII veterans. Stewart Taylor’s latest in the series is peopled by both, making for a richer mystery, thanks to historical context. However, while I thought Agony Hill masterful, I didn’t enjoy Hunter’s Heart Ridge as much. It had the elements I enjoyed in the previous volume, but they didn’t come together as well. This mystery, hoping it’s a series sophomore effort, felt diffuse, without the narrative tightness I thought Agony Hill possessed. To the blurbish details to set us up:

It’s November of 1965 and the second weekend of Vermont’s regular deer season when Vermont State Police detective Franklin Warren is called out to what looks like an accidental shooting at The Ridge Club, an exclusive men’s hunting and fishing club for congressmen, diplomats, judges, and titans of industry: a former ambassador has been shot while out hunting. With the war in Vietnam picking up speed on the other side of the world, Warren quickly realizes that many of the club’s members are powerful men who may have ulterior motives and connections in high places.

While Warren’s suspicions about the club members build, his neighbor Alice Bellows is throwing a dinner party, preparing for Thanksgiving, and worrying about her pregnant friend and fellow widow, Sylvie Weber, whose due date is coming up. When Alice’s old handler and friend, Arthur Crannock, unexpectedly shows up in Bethany, Alice begins to wonder whether his presence has anything to do with the death at the hunting club.

As an early season snowstorm bears down on Bethany, knocking out power and phone lines and blocking the roads, Warren and his assistant, Trooper Pinky Goodrich, are trapped at the Ridge Club, likely along with a killer, and Alice, increasingly fearful that her past in the intelligence world is no longer in the past, will have to act fast to save Sylvie and her baby.
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Audiobook Thriller Review: Mick Herron’s DOWN CEMETERY ROAD (Oxford #1)

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ImageGiven how much I enjoy and admire Herron’s Slough House series, it was interesting to see where he started with Down Cemetery Road. And where he started was in a more conventional thriller place than the genius, quirkiness, and depth of Slough House. And if this wasn’t being read to me, I don’t know that I’d not have DNF-ed the print. If Slough House is a master at work, Oxford #1 is a writer wobbling to make his way. There are flashes of brilliance, but a narrative veering in many directions. To the blurbish details:

Mick Herron’s debut novel introduces Sarah Tucker, whose search for a missing child unravels a murderous conspiracy.

It’s an evening like any other when an explosion rips through the leafy Oxford suburb Sarah Tucker calls home. In the aftermath, a house now stands devastated, with two adults dead and a young girl missing.

With the police more interested in keeping the neighbors from rubbernecking than in searching for the missing child, Sarah becomes obsessed with finding her, and enlists the help of Oxford private investigator Zoë Boehm. But Sarah’s and Zoë’s search reveals more secrets than answers. As Zoë and Sarah draw closer to the truth, they are caught in a web of conspiracy and come up against government forces, cold-blooded mercenaries and vengeful loners. (more…)

Inspirational Category Romance: Allie Pleiter’s A MONTANA-SIZED SECRET

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Though I don’t read much category romance anymore, I’d still argue, especially given my recent Virginia Heath meh-experience, it’s the ideal romance length. Otherwise, unless the writer is an absolute master who spends years honing her novel, we get a lot of page-count filler…boring. But the category, with its neat 200-page limit, is a thing of succinct beauty when done well. But it also isn’t what it used to be, with its best practitioners and lines gone. But nostalgia, she is a powerful force and I turned to a recent category romance, one I enjoyed in the past.

ImageEons ago, I read Pleiter’s Homefront Hero (2012) and enjoyed it. Though I don’t read inspie romance with regularity, nostalgia led me to Pleiter’s latest category, A Montana-Sized Secret (because, duh, it’s set in Montana) and is a wounded-souls, second-chance romance. The blurb:

Returning to High Mountain pregnant is not the fresh start Carly Davis imagined—nor is telling Jack Peters he’s the father. And with Jack in the early stages of addiction recovery, she questions if he can handle being a parent. But Jack is determined to show that he’s changed, and a chance to prove himself arises when they must care for a litter of rescued baby bunnies. Trust slowly builds between them again, but as unexpected news threatens their fragile bond, can they overcome the uncertainties to be the family they both need? (more…)

Historical Romance Review: Virginia Heath’s LOOK BEFORE YOU LEAP (Miss Prentice’s Protegées #2)

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ImageI enjoyed Heath’s first “Protegée” and looked forward to the second. Whether it was the heavy work days and family cares biting my reading butt, or plain old lethargy, it took me way too long to finish Look Before You Leap. Or could it be a writer as funny and adept was starting to repeat herself, or were there narrative elements I tired of? Maybe both, maybe life, either/or or either way, I can’t say I embraced Look Before You Leap the same way I enjoyed All’s Fair in Love and War. To the publisher’s blurb to orient us before I explore this further:

Nine years ago, Lord Guy Harrowby, Viscount Wennington, was publicly humiliated by a failed and reckless romantic gesture. Despite this, his mother clings to the promise he made her then: that she would have a house full of grandchildren by his thirtieth birthday. Still single, embittered, and swiftly approaching thirty, Guy’s work is his life. In desperation, his mother blindsides Guy with a weeklong house party at his estate filled with annoying debutantes, all competing to be his wife.

After failing as a governess, Lottie Travers is struggling as a lady’s companion. Raised in an all-male household, she’s developed habits that get her dismissed. Even after years of Miss Prentice’s teachings of how to be a lady, she climbs trees better than she embroiders and can’t resist riding horses astride, in breeches. But with the family farm in trouble, and her father now in dire need of her wages, she’s determined to conquer her wildness once and for all.

Even with his home full of eligible women, there is only one who catches Guy’s eye—though he tries to deny it. For Lottie, succeeding in her new role proves difficult when the Wennington estate is filled with horses, and a spark ignites between her and the grumpy lord. Will they remain stuck in their ways, or learn that they may just be the perfect match? (more…)