Stacy Alesi

SISTERS OF SUMMER’S END by Lori Foster

September 13, 2019

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Summer Resort Series, Book 2

From the publisher:

As the summer ends, friendship begins…

When single mom Joy Lee abandoned her old life to take a job at a lakeside resort, she found something that her family’s wealth and influence could never buy: peace of mind. Not easy to come by for the once-burned divorcée who keeps everyone at a distance. But when her new friend, Maris, dares her to take a chance with the drive-in’s charismatic new owner, everything changes for Joy and her young son.

A difficult childhood has left Maris Kennedy with definite priorities. Her job running Summer’s End, the camp store and café, comes first. Always. Nothing could ever make her risk that hard-won security—especially not her free-spirited colleague. But the more she encourages Joy to open herself up to new experiences, the more Maris begins to wonder what she, too, might be missing.

Learning how to trust will bring Joy and Maris together. And soon they form a friendship that leaves them as close as sisters—and open to love where they least expect it…in Summer’s End.

This is the sequel to Cooper’s Charm, which I read last year and loved. I remembered these characters and the setting and was very happy to be back with them.

Foster has given us another two-fer, two romances in one, and she does a really good job with it. I think this story worked so well because the women involved, Joy and Maris, become the best of friends. Even though they’ve been working together for years, they never really had much of a relationship. Maris is single minded in her pursuit of making her business a success. And Joy is just as single minded in making her son a priority.

Single motherhood is never easy, but Joy’s husband took off as soon as he learned she was pregnant. Her family disowned her, disapproving of the wastrel she married. Maris has buried both her parents, and has no family other than the people who work at the campground where her store is. As the women slowly knock down their barriers, a real friendship, a sisterhood in fact, is formed.

This is a wonderful story of the power of women’s friendships, and of love. It is heartwarming and at times, sexy, and occasionally even humorous. There is a lot to like here if you like contemporary romance as much as I do. Foster has become a favorite.

9/19 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

SISTERS OF SUMMER’S END by Lori Foster. Berkley (September 3, 2019). ISBN 978-1984805386. 336p.

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29 SECONDS by T. M. Logan

September 12, 2019

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Sarah is a young instructor at Queen Ann’s University located near London. We meet her at the point of several crossroads in her life.

First, her beloved husband has just taken a break from the marriage and gone away to have a fling with another woman. Second, her appointment as a tenured instructor at the university is coming up for review. Without this status her place at the university becomes very tenuous as well as her ability to get another position if the current job is declared redundant causing her to lose that position.

The head of her department, and the one man holding the key to her promotion, is Alan Hawthorne. Professor Hawthorne is renowned at the university, hosts a television show, and has managed to marry a wealthy woman that insures his job via her gifts to the school. Unfortunately, Alan has a history of behaving inappropriately to women working at the university and insuring their sexual favors by holding their jobs over their heads. He has decided that Sarah is to become his next conquest and starts to demand that she satisfy his demands. Between her errant husband and Hawthorne, Sarah has arrived at the end of her rope and does not know where to turn.

Fate suddenly lends a hand. Sarah finds herself in a position to fend off kidnappers from taking a young girl prisoner by her prompt action against them. The girl’s father insists upon expressing his gratitude to Sarah, and due to the coincidental fact that he is a crime boss, is able to make her an offer that is strange, criminal, but arriving at a very appropriate time in her life. She is told that all she has to do is give him a name and that person will be made to disappear. Sarah now has a husband that has taken a vacation to be with another woman, and a supervisor that has make it clear that her continuance at her work depends upon how well Sarah fulfills his demands.

The situation is not as easy as it would appear, and the novel creates the wonderful need to continue to devour the pages until completely read. The reader will change his or her mind several times as Sarah’s thoughts go back and forth over what to do, and of course, who to do it to. A very engrossing novel and certainly one that assures that we will continue to seek out future books by Logan.

9/19 Paul Lane

29 SECONDS by T. M. Logan. St. Martin’s Press (September 10, 2019). ISBN 978-1250182296. 368p.

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HOW TO HACK A HEARTBREAK by Kristin Rockaway

September 11, 2019

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Please welcome a new reviewer to the site! Caitlin was my “work daughter” when I was at the Palm Beach County Public Library. She’s still there and working hard in Youth System Services. I miss her every day!

Mel Strickland is an overqualified help desk employee at a start up incubator who spends her days putting up with a sexist boss and male co-workers who are constantly downloading viruses onto their laptops. After a series of bad dates, and being on the receiving end of one too many pictures of male genitalia through a dating app, Mel decides to put her coding skills to good use and creates her own app. JerkAlert allows women to document the harassers and ghosters they encounter in the world of online dating. Mel is unprepared, however, when JerkAlert goes viral overnight, bringing with it unexpected consequences for her career and personal relationships.

It is refreshing to read a book where the heroine is employed in a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) field. “How to Hack a Heartbreak” tackles sexism and how women must work twice as hard as men to gain respect in the tech field. I’ve seen this book classified as romance, and while Mel does have a love interest, (Alex is a programmer at the start up where Mel works,) I would consider it more along the lines of women’s fiction. Mel’s relationship with Alex is underdeveloped and I found it difficult to get invested in their romance. More important are Mel’s relationships with her group of girlfriends who offer never ending support and empowerment while she works at starting her own business. While the ending felt a bit rushed, “How to Hack a Heartbreak” is a fun read that takes an uplifting and feminist look at making it in the tech world, all with a side of romance.

9/19 Caitlin Brisson

HOW TO HACK A HEARTBREAK by Kristin Rockaway. Graydon House (July 30, 2019). ISBN 9781525834257. 352p.

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THE AUSSIE NEXT DOOR by Stephanie London

September 10, 2019

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From the publisher:

“A sweet, sexy read, featuring a couple that feels both true-to-life and aspirational.” Kirkus Review, Starred Review

American Angie Donovan has never wanted much. When you grow up getting bounced from foster home to foster home, you learn not to become attached to anything, anyone, or any place. But it only took her two days to fall in love with Australia. With her visa clock ticking, surely she can fall in love with an Australian―and get hitched―in two months. Especially if he’s as hot and funny as her next-door neighbor…

Jace Walters has never wanted much―except a bathroom he didn’t have to share. The last cookie all to himself. And solitude. But when you grow up in a family of seven, you can kiss those things goodbye. He’s finally living alone and working on his syndicated comic strip in privacy. Sure, his American neighbor is distractingly sexy and annoyingly nosy, but she’ll be gone in a few months…

Except now she’s determined to find her perfect match by checking out every eligible male in the town, and her choices are even more distracting. So why does it suddenly feel like he―and his obnoxious tight-knit family, and even these two wayward dogs―could be exactly what she needs?

An American girl moves to Australia to escape her notoriety and falls in love with the place. Angie is sweet and kind but has a lot of baggage. Growing up in the foster care system, she became the poster child for its horrors and just wanted to live her life in peace. She can’t find any in the US so moves halfway around the world to do so.

Jace is her landlord. While he doesn’t tell her for most of the book, it was fairly obvious that he is high functioning autistic, the hottest trend in diverse romance. If anything can “normalize” autism, reading about characters like Jace certainly will. He is not scary, he just has some personality quirks, and really, who doesn’t? Angie likes his quirks, they make her feel comfortable and their relationship works. Of course, it takes some time to get to that point!

There are some very funny scenes and some really sweet ones as well. Both of these characters have their challenges, but the way they complement each other makes the struggle to get to their happily ever after worth all the effort. Very well done and sure to appeal to fans of the Helen Hoang books, The Bride Test and The Kiss Quotient. Loved it!

9/19 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

THE AUSSIE NEXT DOOR by Stephanie London. Entangled: Amara (August 27, 2019). ISBN 978-1640636682. 350p.

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GHOST FIRE by Wilbur Smith

September 9, 2019

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Smith brings us another action adventure with this one featuring members of the Courtney family. Theo and Constance Courtney have grown up in India in the protective environment normally experienced by ex pats from England. The story opens as the area they live in is being attacked by enemies looking to conquer the city. The two are told by their parents to remain in their house in order not to be affected by the combat going on around them. Constance is determined to see what the war looks like and runs off to a section of the wall protecting the city, and Theo, looking to protect her goes after her. When their parents come home and see them gone, they dash to the wall to bring the two home. In an accident caused by a cannon ball hitting a section of wall, their parents are killed with Theo and Constance made orphans.

With the two siblings forced to take care of themselves, Smith moves them through world centers in which France and England are at war with each other. All events and areas in which these events take place have been researched by the author in order to present an accurate description of what is happening to both Theo and Constance. They become separated and Smith follows each as they interact with the events they find themselves involved in.

The story culminates in the New World of North America where the battles between England and the French and Indians continue. Theo, due to circumstances, arrives there and through his own brave actions becomes an officer in a ranger group that is attached to the British army sent to fight in the new world. The story ranges through the skirmishes and battles that took place during the period resulting in a British victory and a migration west into new lands. The Indians that sided with the French in the war are portrayed by the author quite well. He describes their life style and beliefs using Theo’s being forced to become a member of a tribe due to events he meets with.

Wilbur Smith usually paints his protagonists with a heroic brush making them larger than life. My own feeling is that this action enhances a good story making it better. His ability to fully paint a picture of a period and area involved in his books coupled with heroic people is a welcome trademark in his novels. He is a prodigious writer with his books welcomed by his readers with the faith that he will continue to produce fascinating novels for many more years.

9/19 Paul Lane

GHOST FIRE by Wilbur Smith. Zaffre (September 3, 2019). ISBN 978-1499862249. 432p.

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THINGS YOU SAVE IN A FIRE by Katherine Center

September 8, 2019

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From the publisher:

**INDIE NEXT PICK FOR AUGUST**

**AN AUGUST 2019 LIBRARYREADS SELECTION**

**BOOK OF THE MONTH PICK FOR JULY**

**AN AMAZON EDITOR’S PICK FOR AUGUST**

“Center gives readers a sharp and witty exploration of love and forgiveness that is at once insightful, entertaining, and thoroughly addictive.”
― KIRKUS, STARRED REVIEW

“An appealing heroine, a compelling love story, a tearjerking twist, and a thoroughly absorbing story. Another winner from Center.”
― BOOKLIST, STARRED REVIEW

“A spirited, independent heroine meets a smoking-hot fireman in Center’s smart romance… If you enjoyed ‘The Kiss Quotient,’ by Helen Hoang, read Things You Save in a Fire”’
– THE WASHINGTON POST

From the New York Times bestselling author of How to Walk Away comes a stunning new novel about courage, hope, and learning to love against all odds.

Cassie Hanwell was born for emergencies. As one of the only female firefighters in her Texas firehouse, she’s seen her fair share of them, and she’s a total pro at other people’s tragedies. But when her estranged and ailing mother asks her to give up her whole life and move to Boston, Cassie suddenly has an emergency of her own.

The tough, old-school Boston firehouse is as different from Cassie’s old job as it could possibly be. Hazing, a lack of funding, and poor facilities mean that the firemen aren’t exactly thrilled to have a “lady” on the crew―even one as competent and smart as Cassie. Except for the infatuation-inspiring rookie, who doesn’t seem to mind having Cassie around. But she can’t think about that. Because love is girly, and it’s not her thing. And don’t forget the advice her old captain gave her: Never date firefighters. Cassie can feel her resolve slipping…and it means risking it all―the only job she’s ever loved, and the hero she’s worked like hell to become.

Katherine Center’s Things You Save in a Fire is a heartfelt and healing tour-de-force about the strength of vulnerability, the nourishing magic of forgiveness, and the life-changing power of defining courage, at last, for yourself.

There is a whole firefighter romance subgenre, but that generally means hot firemen. As in men. And while there are certainly hot firemen here, our heroine is also a firefighter, and she takes her job seriously. Extremely seriously. So when her estranged mother asks us to leave her beloved Austin job and move to Boston for her, Cassie’s first – and second – response is hell no. But then she receives an award for saving a bunch of kids from a school bus and wigs out on the councilman who gives her the award, who manages to grab her ass in the process. Apparently they have history. She flattens him and her options are to apologize or get out. With the help of her female boss, she finds a job near her mother and heads cross country.

The small fire station she joins is Boston Irish, over a hundred years old, and has never had a woman working there. Lots of changes in store for Cassie, and she is on her best behavior. But the other newbie, a rookie they call Rookie, is too hot for even Cassie to ignore. They are pranked and teased mercilessly, just for being new, so there is no way for them to pursue anything romantic or that would be unbearable. But when the Rookie begs her to be his date at his parents’ anniversary party, she caves and that everything they have kept buried comes to the surface.

There is a lot of information on the inner workings of fire stations, both new and old, and it is all presented in a way that is both informative yet completely entertaining. The characters are great, I really loved this feminist firefighter and how she deals with everything thrown at her. Her backstory was really good as well. There are some laugh out loud moments, and enough drama to really keep the pages turning. This is a terrific romance with enough depth to bring these characters to life and get the reader invested in them and their story.

There are lots of starred reviews for this and tons of praise, all of it well deserved. It isn’t often that a book lives up to its hype for me, so shout out to Mary Kay Andrews, who helped bring this book to my attention. Thanks, I loved it!

9/19 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

THINGS YOU SAVE IN A FIRE by Katherine Center. St. Martin’s Press (August 13, 2019). ISBN 978-1984805386. 336p.

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NOTHING VENTURED by Jeffrey Archer

September 7, 2019

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William Warwick Novels, Book 1

“Nothing Ventured” marks the start of a new series by the very versatile Jeffrey Archer. As in all his other works, the writing is crisp, characterizations well done, and the plot captures the reader’s immediate attention. It is a novel about a detective and it does definitely involve cases that are believable and solved only by hard police work.

William Warwick is the son of a very successful defense attorney, who would like nothing better than to have his son enter his practice when the time has come. But William, at the tender age of eight, wants nothing less than to work as a detective and aims for that goal. While both his father and his sister Grace are attorneys, William doesn’t lose sight of his goal.

After finishing university, he applies to and is accepted for London’s Metropolitan Police Force .After undergoing an apprenticeship under the watchful eye of an experienced patrolman, William manages an appointment to Scotland Yard’s Arts and Antiquities Squad.

The story follows William’s first case, does not gloss over his initial trials and possible errors, and becomes a very engrossing novel. In tracing a possible lead in a case involving a missing Rembrandt masterpiece, he visits an art gallery and meets Beth Rainsford. Beth is a beautiful woman and does become the person that William is interested in marrying. To add a bit of spice, Beth has a secret of her own which she is reluctant to share with William and one which will have a bearing on an action of his.

Archer points out his probable future plans for this series by placing the start of William’s police career in the mid 1980’s. This would mean that future novels will bring him into the 21st century, certainly books that will reflect his literary skills and attract the reader to seek them out.

9/19 Paul Lane

NOTHING VENTURED by Jeffrey Archer. St. Martin’s Press (September 3, 2019). ISBN 978-1250200761. 336p.

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THIS TENDER LAND by William Kent Kruger

September 6, 2019

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From the publisher:

A magnificent novel about four orphans on a life-changing odyssey during the Great Depression, from the New York Times bestselling author of Ordinary Grace.

1932, Minnesota—the Lincoln School is a pitiless place where hundreds of Native American children, forcibly separated from their parents, are sent to be educated. It is also home to an orphan named Odie O’Banion, a lively boy whose exploits earn him the superintendent’s wrath. Forced to flee, he and his brother Albert, their best friend Mose, and a brokenhearted little girl named Emmy steal away in a canoe, heading for the mighty Mississippi and a place to call their own.

Over the course of one unforgettable summer, these four orphans will journey into the unknown and cross paths with others who are adrift, from struggling farmers and traveling faith healers to displaced families and lost souls of all kinds. With the feel of a modern classic, This Tender Land is an enthralling, big-hearted epic that shows how the magnificent American landscape connects us all, haunts our dreams, and makes us whole.

“If you liked Where the Crawdads Sing, you’ll love This Tender Land…This story is as big-hearted as they come.” —Parade

Definitely.

While Kruger is best known for his Cork O’Connor mystery series, he probably received the most accolades (and gained a ton of new readers) with his extraordinary book, Ordinary Grace. This new book was pitched to me as another Ordinary Grace, so I wondered, can lightning strike twice? Apparently it can.

The writing is simply superb. The characters are unforgettable, and the setting is rich and evocative. I have seen this book described as an updated Huckleberry Finn, and that is an apt comparison, as is its comparison to Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath and Homer’s Odyssey. These are some heady correlations, and Kruger’s book easily stands up to them.

Four kids run away from the school where they have been, for lack of a better word, horribly mistreated.They jump into a canoe and head out on the Gilead River. The Gilead feeds into the great Mississippi, and that’s where these children are headed, hoping to reach St. Louis and the possibility of family, where two of them, the brothers, are from.

There are crimes committed along the way, starting with the “kidnapping” of Emmy, a young orphaned girl who has been adopted by the heinous owners of the school. But is it kidnapping is she wants to leave? It is her choice to run away, but this is right on the heels of the Lindburgh baby kidnapping and no one is asking those questions. These children, like many during the depression, grow up way too fast.

There are some major themes at play here, starting with the grand adventure on the river. This is an epic odyssey, often chaotic, and at times, spiritual. But other themes are also important, like the deplorable mistreatment of Native Americans in this country, and much of the history revealed here was completely new to me. Another major theme is that of family, how that is defined, and what it means. It is also a coming of age story for these runaways, and the book is narrated by the adult Odie so it is told with some perspective.

It is a story that immediately grabs the reader and doesn’t let go until the last page is turned. There is resolution, and redemption. Book clubs will love it; there is a deep, rich reservoir worthy of discussion. It is an excellent read, sure to make my best books of the year list. Don’t miss it.

9/19 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

THIS TENDER LAND by William Kent Kruger. Atria Books (September 3, 2019). ISBN 978-1476749297. 464p.

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ENTANGLEMENT – QUANTUM AND OTHERWISE by John K. Danenbarger

September 5, 2019

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Synopsis:

An explosive collision between a pickup truck and a Volvo erases two momentous scientific discoveries. Quantum probability results in complex emotional entanglements. Voices return from the dead. A blood-stained piano becomes an heirloom. Although a picture-perfect family, Beth Sturgess divulges an ignominious past to her loving husband–who has deadly secrets.

Mistakes are fatal.

With deeply flawed, relatable characters, Entanglement–Quantum and Otherwise is an intricate literary crime story that unravels the generational impact on reality after a loved one’s death.

A well done novel concerning the cause and effect of one generation’s actions on the people coming after them.

The book is populated by eight flawed characters living their lives in ensuing times with their thoughts, deeds and actions having direct effect on others. The story starts out with a collision between a Volvo and a Pickup truck. The action erases two important scientific discoveries. Events stemming from the accident creates a chain of events involving people somehow tied to those that took part in the crash.

The reader is led from person to person, event to event in a novel carefully planned to follow the sequence laid out by the author. The process is cumulative; what happens to whom and how does it effect the other principals in the book. Quite well done and an engrossing read highlighting the author’s work.

9/19 Paul Lane

ENTANGLEMENT – QUANTUM AND OTHERWISE by John K. Danenbarger. StormBlock Publishing (August 6, 2019). ISBN 978-0578450377. 380p.

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WELL MET by Jen DeLuca

September 3, 2019

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From the publisher:

All’s faire in love and war for two sworn enemies who indulge in a harmless flirtation in a laugh-out-loud rom-com from debut author Jen DeLuca.

Emily knew there would be strings attached when she relocated to the small town of Willow Creek, Maryland, for the summer to help her sister recover from an accident, but who could anticipate getting roped into volunteering for the local Renaissance Faire alongside her teenaged niece? Or that the irritating and inscrutable schoolteacher in charge of the volunteers would be so annoying that she finds it impossible to stop thinking about him?

The faire is Simon’s family legacy and from the start he makes clear he doesn’t have time for Emily’s lighthearted approach to life, her oddball Shakespeare conspiracy theories, or her endless suggestions for new acts to shake things up. Yet on the faire grounds he becomes a different person, flirting freely with Emily when she’s in her revealing wench’s costume. But is this attraction real, or just part of the characters they’re portraying?

This summer was only ever supposed to be a pit stop on the way to somewhere else for Emily, but soon she can’t seem to shake the fantasy of establishing something more with Simon or a permanent home of her own in Willow Creek.

I have never been to a Renaissance Fair (Faire?), even though there is an annual one in a park fifteen minutes from my house. Both my kids have been many times, both as school field trips and on their own. The closest I’ve ever gotten to one of these is dinner at Medieval Times outside of Disneyworld in Orlando. It was fun but that was about my limit for jousting and eating without utensils.

Many years ago, when online meant AOL and chatrooms, I had a friend (Hi Glen!) who worked at these fairs, travelling around the country, sleeping in tents, and so forth. I had a lot of respect for him but still never went. Maybe if he had made it to Florida I would have gone. Nonetheless, when my work daughter (Hi Caitlin!) recommended this, I figured it must be good – she has impeccable taste. And it was!

All this rambling has a point: even if you, like me, are not a Renaissance Fair type person, if you’ve never donned a fair maiden dress or you don’t know (as I didn’t) that “well met” is a Renaissance Fair greeting or you never watched grown men joust and toss logs and such, you may also enjoy this book. Renaissance Fair knowledge is not a requirement and lack thereof is not an impediment. In other words, this is a fun read!

To start with, Emily has no experience either, but she is sucked into performing when she finds out it is a requirement for her niece to participate. Plus men in kilts – who could say no to hanging out around that? Beyond the fair setting, this is a good contemporary romance with the meet-cute of our hero and heroine butting heads and hating each other on sight. Then things progress from there with lots of obstacles, back story, and fun along the way.

This is a very entertaining read, sweet and laugh out loud funny at times while alternately tugging at the heart strings. Well Met is very well done.

9/19 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

WELL MET by Jen DeLuca. Berkley (September 3, 2019). ISBN 978-1984805386. 336p.