The Kardashians meets Pride and Prejudice in this charming comical follow-up to Birds of California, in which an A-list movie star moves to Los Angeles—and next door to a family of five eligible sisters.
Every family is complicated, and the Benedettos are no exception. A few years after a reality show skyrocketed them to pop culture fame, the five twenty-something sisters are living together in their parent’s crumbling McMansion, almost broke and teetering towards rock bottom. Their fortunes brighten when Charlie Bingley, the dashing star of Captain Fantastic, moves into the neighborhood with Will Darcy, his best friend from Julliard, in tow.
Charlie immediately falls for warm and lovely June, the oldest Benedetto sister. While the Benedetto’s flighty matriarch, Cinta, brashly encourages the potential match, there are plenty of others determined to steer Charlie away from this ridiculous family of reality show has-beens.
Lilly Benedetto, the sensible second oldest sister, is all too aware that her family is viewed as a spectacle. She usually doesn’t care what the world thinks because she faces deeper sorrows. And she most certainly does not have the patience for the likes of Will Darcy, a man plagued by his own private demons. Lilly finds Will to be stuck-up, arrogant, and judgmental. Will thinks Lilly is loud, brash, and defensive. And while the two clash at every turn, they can’t seem to stay away from each other . . .
Katie Cotugno brings a big, boisterous cast of characters to life in this deliciously sprawling Los Angeles story—a thoroughly fresh and modern tale about a family that’s “famous for being famous,” the ways that preconceived notions make fools of us all, and how unexpected romance can bloom despite the odds.
Katie Cotugno (Birds of California) brings us the latest modern-day retelling of Pride & Prejudice. The Benedetto family is at the heart of the story; think of them as a failed Kardashian clan with five sisters. They had a reality show for a couple of years and are now struggling to further their careers while the bills pile up. June, the eldest, falls for their new neighbor, action film star Charlie Bingley, while the next oldest, Lilly, keeps squabbling with Charlie’s best friend, Will Darcy. Then Lilly meets Nick, and he tells her an awful story about Will. Will tries to warn Lilly about Nick but doesn’t give her any details, so it’s just a matter of time before Nick shows his true colors and everything comes to a head. If you are familiar with any of the iterations of the Austen masterpiece, all the players will be recognizable. It is also a commentary on reality television programming and the Hollywood lifestyle, all wrapped up in a lighthearted read with a rather abrupt ending.
Verdict: Jane Austen fans will enjoy this new spin on what has become a franchise; think Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld, Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors by Sonali Dev, or Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding.
When Jeanie’s aunt gifts her the beloved Pumpkin Spice Café in the small town of Dream Harbor, Jeanie jumps at the chance for a fresh start away from her very dull desk job.
Logan is a local farmer who avoids Dream Harbor’s gossip at all costs. But Jeanie’s arrival disrupts Logan’s routine and he wants nothing to do with the irritatingly upbeat new girl, except that he finds himself inexplicably drawn to her.
Will Jeanie’s happy-go-lucky attitude win over the grumpy-but-gorgeous Logan, or has this city girl found the one person in town who won’t fall for her charm, or her pumpkin spice lattes…
The Pumpkin Spice Cafe is a cozy romantic novel for fans of Gilmore Girls, with a grumpy x sunshine dynamic, a small-town setting and a HEA guaranteed!
My friend Caitlin recommended this book to me, and since it wasn’t available through my usual sources or the library, I purchased the Kindle edition and it was money well spent! Caitlin never steers me wrong, plus she said it was reminiscent of the small town in the Gilmore Girls, one of my favorite TV shows (that I constantly rewatch), and then when I saw the author’s name is Laurie Gilmore (is that name for real???) Well, I definitely had to read it, and I’m very glad I did.
Dream Harbor is a small New England town filled with quirky residents, much like Stars Hollow. Our heroine, Jeanie, inherits the Pumpkin Spice Cafe and jumps at the chance to start over. She moves in and finds a small town full of people who rely on the cafe and want her to succeed. Then she meets Logan, a grumpy but gorgeous farmer who can’t help but be drawn to the always cheerful Jeanie. Theirs is a match made in this small town, and watching them fall in love was so much fun that this turned into a one-night read for me. I loved these characters and this town, and I can’t wait for the next book in this new series!
12/2023 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch
THE PUMPKIN SPICE CAFE by Laurie Gilmore.One More Chapter (August 31, 2023). ISBN: 978-0008610678. 384p.
“A murder mystery locked inside a Great American Novel . . . Charming, smart, heart-blistering, and heart-healing.” —Danez Smith, The New York Times Book Review
“We all need—we all deserve—this vibrant, love-affirming novel that bounds over any difference that claims to separate us.” —Ron Charles, The Washington Post
From James McBride, author of the bestselling Oprah’s Book Club pick Deacon King Kong and the National Book Award–winning The Good Lord Bird, a novel about small-town secrets and the people who keep them
In 1972, when workers in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, were digging the foundations for a new development, the last thing they expected to find was a skeleton at the bottom of a well. Who the skeleton was and how it got there were two of the long-held secrets kept by the residents of Chicken Hill, the dilapidated neighborhood where immigrant Jews and African Americans lived side by side and shared ambitions and sorrows. Chicken Hill was where Moshe and Chona Ludlow lived when Moshe integrated his theater and where Chona ran the Heaven & Earth Grocery Store. When the state came looking for a deaf boy to institutionalize him, it was Chona and Nate Timblin, the Black janitor at Moshe’s theater and the unofficial leader of the Black community on Chicken Hill, who worked together to keep the boy safe.
As these characters’ stories overlap and deepen, it becomes clear how much the people who live on the margins of white, Christian America struggle and what they must do to survive. When the truth is finally revealed about what happened on Chicken Hill and the part the town’s white establishment played in it, McBride shows us that even in dark times, it is love and community—heaven and earth—that sustain us.
Bringing his masterly storytelling skills and his deep faith in humanity to The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, James McBride has written a novel as compassionate as Deacon King Kong and as inventive as The Good Lord Bird.
“With this story, McBride brilliantly captures a rapidly changing country, as seen through the eyes of the recently arrived and the formerly enslaved . . . And through this evocation, McBride offers us a thorough reminder: Against seemingly impossible odds, even in the midst of humanity’s most wicked designs, love, community and action can save us.” —The New York Times Book Review
“The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store is one of the best novels I’ve read this year. It pulls off the singular magic trick of being simultaneously flattening and uplifting.” —NPR
My friend Judy recommended this book to me, and I put it off for a while – my mistake. This was a totally immersive read into a world of incredible characters wrapped in a mystery, and I loved it.
The book opens in the 1970s, with a skeleton found in an old well, along with a couple of trinkets. Almost immediately, it moves back to the Depression era in the small town of Pottstown, Pennsylvania, where European immigrants, Blacks, and Jews are all living together in near poverty on Chicken Hill, while the white folks live in town. Except for Moshe and Chona, a young Jewish couple who own the Heaven and Earth Grocery Store. It was Chona’s father’s store, and she takes over running it while her husband Moshe, owns a music theater where he brings in all kinds of music, from Klezmer to jazz. The grocery loses money on the regular, as Chona is too kindhearted to make any of her poor customers pay, but the theater makes money. Moshe wants to move off of Chicken Hill, but Chona won’t budge. He is so in love with her, he’ll do anything she says.
Chona had polio and wears a special shoe to help her walk. She is sensitive to others with disabilities, so when Nate, a young Black man who is married to Chona’s best friend, Addie, asks her to help hide Dodo, his nephew, she immediately agrees. Dodo was orphaned when their stove blew up, killing his mother and leaving him blind and deaf. Eventually, he gets his sight back but not his hearing. He is an intelligent pre-teen boy and reads lips remarkably well, but the state wants to institutionalize him at their hospital of horrors, hence the reason he needs to be hidden.
The town doctor leads the Ku Klux Klan parade every year, so it is understandable why none of the people on Chicken Hill will go to him. He has lusted after Chona since they were in high school together, but she rejected him then and he has held a grudge ever since. All these characters and more are introduced in the first section of the book, so it would be slow going except they are all so interesting, and I couldn’t wait to see how they would all come together in this story.
By the time the mystery of the skeleton was solved at the end of the book, I had almost forgotten that was how it started. I was so drawn into this world that I didn’t want to leave it at the end. This was one of those books that will stay with me for years, and had a little bit of everything – mystery, romance, history, humor, pathos, drama – all rolled up into one terrific novel. Book groups will love it, and everyone should read it. Look for this book to top my best books of the year list!
12/2023 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch
THE HEAVEN AND EARTH GROCERY STORE by James McBride.Riverhead Books (August 8, 2023). ISBN: 978-0593422946. 400p.
MY EXPERIENCE WITH BOSS & PLANET AUDIO & SOUND STORM LABS CAR AUDIO PRODUCTS
It’s not often that I use this space to complain about a product I purchased, but I am making an exception here because they sell such bad products. I spent almost $200 on a new car radio, and I’ve had too many years’ worth of aggravation with it. Boss Audio, Sound Storm Labs & Planet Audio are the same company. They make inexpensive car stereos. Inexpensive is a comparative term. For a librarian, that $200 is a lot of money. But inexpensive shouldn’t mean the product doesn’t work.
So here’s the story. A few years ago, I purchased this: BOSS Audio BVCP9685A Apple Carplay Android Auto Car Multimedia Player – Double Din Car Stereo, 6.75 Inch LCD Touchscreen Monitor, Bluetooth, MP3 Player, USB Port, A/V Input, Am/FM Car Radio. They no longer make this model as far as I can tell, but it had decent reviews and it didn’t cost a ton. It was installed, and everything worked pretty well except the radio. We were only able to get one FM station, but since I rarely listen to the radio, no big deal.
If you are not familiar, Apple Carplay means the radio basically uses your phone for everything. Siri is available to make phone calls, for instance. My apps, like Overcast, which I use for podcasts, and Spotify show up on the screen. Google Maps and Apple Maps are there. It’s a touchscreen, incredibly easy to use, especially while driving. I can stop at a light and switch from one to the other or ask Siri to do it. It read me my texts, and I could dictate a response. It seemed like a good thing.
The day after it was installed, there was no sound. No radio, no podcasts, no maps, no Spotify. Everything looked like it was working, but there was literally dead silence in the car. The next day it worked again. Then it didn’t. After two weeks of this insanity, I contacted Amazon, where it was purchased, and arranged for a warranty return and replacement. Easy peasy.
A few weeks later, the new radio was installed. It worked for a while, but the same problem kept happening. I would be listening to a podcast, and the sound would just cut out. Or the map would stop speaking, which certainly isn’t ideal as I have a terrible sense of direction. I put up with it for months, and finally, it just dropped dead altogether. That was in June, so I contacted the company directly since Amazon doesn’t care about anything 30 days past your purchase.
The radio came with a one year warranty, but they extend that to three years if you purchase through Amazon. So I wasn’t really worried about it other than it was super annoying to have the same problem happen on two different, albeit the same model, radios. It didn’t take a genius to realize that perhaps a different model would be better.
The customer support from Boss Audio, someone named Christian Hill, contacted me and asked for receipts and so forth. I explained that I didn’t want another obviously badly designed radio, and asked for another model. They suggested a radio made by SoundStorm, but the reviews all mentioned the same issues. He then sent me a list to choose from. I picked the model that didn’t mention those issues in the reviews, but they wanted another couple of hundred dollars for that one. Not sure why he offered it other than to upsell me? Finally, they told me which models I could actually choose from without having to pay anything more. One didn’t really have any reviews, so I figured no reviews are better than bad reviews, and I selected the Planet Audio model.
Christian stopped contacting me, but someone named Candice Peterson did. She’s wasn’t very nice, to say the least. They told me the warranty didn’t cover uninstalling or reinstalling, so it was on me. They also charged me $20 for shipping their POS back. A few weeks later, the new radio arrived. And guess what.
This was the worst one of the bunch. The sound worked, but only on the podcasts, Spotify, and the radio. The radio even got several stations, which would have been nice had I wanted to listen to the radio, but I did not. What didn’t work? The phone. The maps. Siri. Major, major issues for me. What is the point of offering Apple Carplay if most of the features don’t work?
So here was my dilemma. I’ve been putting up with it, but it’s super annoying. I have to unplug from the radio to use the phone or maps, completely defeating its purpose. If I can’t use the phone hands-free, I don’t need this. Do I want to pay someone to uninstall and reinstall another new radio from this company that is bound to be another piece of shit? Hell no.
I wanted my money back. I was done with the company and all the crap they sell under different names, like Boss Audio, Planet Audio, and Sound Storm Labs. They are all the same junk. I emailed their customer support and asked for a refund. I was not hopeful, especially as the immediate response was just a form letter asking for a copy of my receipt so they could replace it with another of their horrible radios. Their customer service is apparently run by a bot.
They have all these companies, and they keep changing the model numbers. The models I had are no longer available. The same crappy radios are available though, just with different numbers. You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but I ain’t no fool, and I’m done.
Follow up: As I suspected!
Hello Stacy,
We apologize for the inconvenience your new unit has given you. We would be happy to replace or upgrade your unit; however, refunds are only available via the original vendor from whom you made your purchase.
Thank you
Frank
I have long agreed that the very definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing over and over and expect a different result. I’m not insane, I’m angry. And they know full well that Amazon doesn’t get involved with refunds more than 30 days after purchase. So they replaced it yet again, with a different, updated model. Again, return shipping was on me, as was the removal of the unit and installation of the new one.
It’s been a couple of years now. This newer one works sometimes, and it’s the best I can expect at this point, so I just live with it. Sound still cuts out regularly. Sometimes the maps work, sometimes they don’t. Same with all the other features. If I had extra money, I’d just replace it, but at this point, it’s an old car, and I don’t want to invest any more money into it. When it works, great. When it doesn’t, I manage without it.
I should have waited and saved some more money to get a decent Apple Carplay radio. I’m putting this out here, hoping someone will learn from my mistake! My mother always told me that sometimes cheap is expensive, and expensive is cheap. As usual, she was right.
Consider yourself warned. You’re welcome.
Comments Off on Consumer Alert: Car Audio Systems | Ramblings | Permalink Posted by Stacy Alesi
How did we get to the end of 2023 so quickly??? I like to take this time to say thank you to all my readers. I post several times a month and sometimes it feels like I’m sending my thoughts out into the void – I don’t really know who is reading or if anyone really is. But I am too opinionated to keep thoughts about books to myself. Especially when I love a book, then I want everyone to read it!
Thank you to everyone who reads my thoughts, gets notified every time I post, and subscribes to my woefully neglected newsletter. Thank you for your comments, your emails, for reaching out in whatever way works best for you. I love hearing from you all!
Whatever you celebrate, I hope you have a wonderful holiday season filled with laughter, love, and of course, good books! See you in 2024!
Best Books of the Year!
I’m working on my list and hope to have it posted by mid-month. I think there may be some surprises – well, I’m surprised at some of the books I enjoyed most this year, so maybe you will be too. I’d love to hear about your favorites, so please feel free to leave a comment! Meanwhile, here are a few lists to get you started:
Regular readers will recognize the name Deb Perelman of Smitten Kitchen fame. I am a long time fan, and have introduced her to many of my friends, relatives, and readers. My friend Nora was one, and she became as big a fan as I am! When my daughter-in-law was pregnant a few years ago, I mentioned her blog to my son, specifically her recipe for Broccoli Slaw (which I’ve mentioned here before) because I remember reading her blog post about it in which she mentions how she was eating it every day while she was pregnant. He made it for his wife, she loved it, and they’ve both been fans ever since.
A couple of months ago, my son sent me a link to vote on which South Florida city Deb Perelman would visit on her upcoming book tour. The choices were Boca Raton (where I live) or Palm Beach Gardens, about an hour north of me. PBG was way ahead in the poll, and it stayed that way. Then I forgot about it. I do subscribe to Deb’s newsletter, but I don’t always read it the second it appears. Luckily for me, my friend Nora does. She texted and asked if I wanted to go to see her in PBG for a book signing and a Thanksgiving cooking class. We signed up immediately. It was $50 per person for the cooking class and that included a copy of her latest book, Smitten Kitchen Keepers.
I already had a copy of the cookbook, courtesy of her publisher, but I checked with my son to see if he thought my daughter-in-law would like a signed copy. He thought she’d be into it, so I was happy to do that for her (one Hanukkah gift down!) A day or two later, we found out that the cooking class was sold out – actually, all the cooking classes on this leg of her tour were sold out! Nora had already purchased several copies of the cookbook for herself and some family members, but none had been signed, so she was delighted to get a signed copy.
Deb partnered with Williams Sonoma for this Thanksgiving tour. Williams Sonoma served us some sort of pomegranate drink and a piece of pie while we waited for Deb, both of which I assume were made from the cookbook, and both were appreciated! I didn’t know Williams Sonoma did cooking classes, and it turns out they do not. It was more of a demo than a cooking class, as Deb was the only one cooking. She demoed turkey gravy and her pie crust, and best of all, she was as chatty and friendly as I always imagined she would be. She is just like she is in her videos. She encouraged questions and was kind and super friendly to everyone.
Nora and I had a blast until we were told we needed to get to the back of the line for the book signing. All the people who didn’t sign up for the cooking demo were already in line for the book signing by the time we were ready for that. Williams Sonoma is not a bookstore, but still, I would think they would have been savvy enough to know that the people who paid extra for the cooking demo should have been able to get their books signed without going to the end of the line. But we did it anyway – actually, Nora waited in line while I rested my knee (I’ve been having some knee issues since walking up a steep hill in NY a few weeks ago), and standing on it for more than an hour was about my limit. I rested for fifteen minutes or so and got back in line.
Deb signed the book for my daughter-in-law, and when I mentioned the broccoli slaw story and that she was pregnant again and having a lot of morning sickness, she recommended freshly made lemonade with seltzer. I think she was on to something – my daughter-in-law had mentioned that sour gummies were helpful, and she loves seltzer, so that lemonade sounded like a win to me. And Williams Sonoma was kind enough to mail the book for me! It was a really fun time and made this Thanksgiving special.
Other News
I spent a few days in New York last month visiting my kids. My daughter came with me, and we left my husband at home to take care of the cat. My beautiful Loki is 15 years old and is having some serious health issues. My daughter and I headed up north for her first autumn! We saw some gorgeous trees but surprisingly, a lot of the trees were still green. It was colder than I expected – it went down to 38 our last morning there.
I love spending time with my grandson. I don’t get to see him often enough – if it was up to me, I’d move next door to them! But that is an impossibility, so I do the best I can (a lot of tears are involved.) Even though airfare is manageable, NYC has recently banned all Airbnb, VRBO, etc.; shockingly, hotel prices have skyrocketed. We usually stay at the Sheraton in downtown Brooklyn, as it is a half-mile walk to my son’s apartment, so very convenient. Their rates have gone from the ridiculous, averaging about $350/night, to completely unaffordable at over $500/night. I don’t know how I’m going to manage that. If anyone has a spare bedroom or couch in the NYC or Brooklyn area and wouldn’t mind a couple of people crashing there, I’d be eternally grateful!
Fort Greene Park
As always, thanks for reading, and stay safe.
Thanks to The New York Times and The Washington Post for allowing me to “gift” my readers with free access to these articles, a lovely perk for subscribers.
Comments Off on BookBitch Diary: December 1, 2023 | Ramblings | Permalink Posted by Stacy Alesi
Posted by Stacy Alesi 
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