Three women who seemingly have nothing in common find that they’re involved with the same man in this smart new rom-com by Beth O’Leary, best-selling author of The Flatshare.
Siobhan is a quick-tempered life coach with way too much on her plate. Miranda is a tree surgeon used to being treated as just one of the guys on the job. Jane is a soft-spoken volunteer for the local charity shop with zero sense of self-worth.
These three women are strangers who have only one thing in common: They’ve all been stood up on the same day, the very worst day to be stood up—Valentine’s Day. And, unbeknownst to them, they’ve all been stood up by the same man.
Once they’ve each forgiven him for standing them up, they are all in serious danger of falling in love with a man who may have not just one or two but three women on the go….
Is there more to him than meets the eye? Where was he on Valentine’s Day? And will they each untangle the truth before they all get their hearts broken?
This was a slow start for me, but I stuck with it and ended up loving this story of a good guy acting badly, who may not be as bad or good as he seems at first glance. This book surprised me, and that rarely happens, especially a romance. Most are very formulaic: boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back and happily ever after. This story was quite a bit more complicated than that.
These three women are all very different, but all are involved with the same man. Jane is volunteering at a thrift shop in the small town outside of London where she grew up. She is hiding from the world after something happened at her job. We don’t find out what it was until the end, we just know that her self esteem is nonexistant, and she is dealing with her issues by carefully monitoring her behavior. She seems a bit OCD, wearing the same outfit every Monday, a different outfit on Tuesday, and so forth. She allows herself to read one book per week. But then she meets Joseph in a coffee shop, and they form a book discussion group of sorts: just the two of them discussing a different book each week. They read all sorts of things, but when Joseph suggests she might want to read another book during the week, Jane is horrified at the thought of such an interruption to her carefully regimented life. Joseph is not deterred; he starts leaving her books on her doorstep, and she finds it almost thrilling to read another book during the week. Jane starts falling for Joseph, but they remain just friends. Until he stands her up on Valentine’s Day.
Siobhan, Shiv to her friends, runs a very popular women’s empowerment website with her best friends from college. Shiv doesn’t have time for a relationship. Early on, she meets Joseph in a club, and the spend the entire night talking. But she knows she has to invest all her time into her new business, and she ghosts him. She likes having a friend with benefits though, and pencils herself in for the first Friday of every month to have sex with him. He wants more but when he suggests it, she ghosts him again.
Miranda is a tree surgeon, a female rarity who works with a team of men. One of the men, AJ, is known to be a womanizer and when he starts flirting with her, she quickly shuts him down, telling him she has a boyfriend. Carter is a good boyfriend, a nice guy, but there is something a bit off there and she isn’t sure what it is. Eventually, she is also stood up on Valentines’ Day and that sets Miranda on a path to find out what is really going on with him.
This is a gentle romance that moves seamlessly between these three women, weaving together three disparate parts into a shocking whole story. It is an emotional read, often funny but other times inducing tears. I loved it!
4/2022 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch
THE NO-SHOW by Beth O’Leary. Berkley (April 12, 2022). ISBN: 978-0593438442. 352p.
From number-one best-selling author Lisa Scottoline comes a pulse-pounding new novel.
Your family has been attacked, never again to be the same.
Now you have to choose between law…and justice.
Jason Bennett is a suburban dad who owns a court-reporting business, but one night, his life takes a horrific turn. He is driving his family home after his daughter’s field hockey game when a pickup truck begins tailgating them, on a dark stretch of road. Suddenly two men jump from the pickup and pull guns on Jason, demanding the car. A horrific flash of violence changes his life forever.
Later that awful night, Jason and his family receive a visit from the FBI. The agents tell them that the carjackers were members of a dangerous drug-trafficking organization – and now Jason and his family are in their crosshairs.
The agents advise the Bennetts to enter the witness protection program right away, and they have no choice but to agree. But WITSEC was designed to protect criminal informants, not law-abiding families. Taken from all they know, trapped in an unfamiliar life, the Bennetts begin to fall apart at the seams. Then Jason learns a shocking truth and realizes that he has to take matters into his own hands.
So I made the mistake of starting this book at 10:00 at night. I very reluctantly went to bed two hours later, then dreamt about it! The Bennetts are a family that happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time – or so it seems. When the truck that was tailgating them on the way home suddenly passes them, then turns and blocks the road, Jason realizes they may be in trouble. The men who stopped them are armed, and force them all out of the car. But then his daughter is shot, and while he is tending to her wound, another shot is fired. One of the bad guys killed the other, then takes off.
They manage to get their daughter to the hospital, but the wound is fatal. Then in the middle of the night, the FBI comes knocking on the door and convinces the family to go into hiding. There is more to this story than a simple carjacking gone bad. Shortly after they leave with the FBI, their home and businesses are destroyed by fire. And then things really escalate.
This book was unputdownable. The characters really come to life on the page, and their concerns became my concerns. There is a lot of action that really makes the story move, and enough twists and turns to keep me guessing until the very end. Another excellent read from one of my favorite writers – don’t miss it!
4/2022 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE BENNETTS by Lisa Scottoline. G.P. Putnam’s Sons (March 29, 2022). ISBN: 978-0525539674. 400p.
Covid deaths in Florida now over 73,000 as of 3/31/2022
I’m a librarian at a small, private university and as of March 28, masks are only required in the Health Center, nowhere else on campus. I work from home two days a week, and the days I am on campus I tend to stay in my office as much as possible.
We went to Costco the other day and didn’t wear masks for the first time. We went at dinner time when the store is the least busy (not that it’s ever really quiet there!) but we kept away from people and felt fairly safe.
My husband and I are vulnerable, and I figure it can’t hurt so why take chances. I’m hoping that I will be more comfortable going without a mask soon. Now that we are eligible for a fourth shot, AKA second booster, once that is in the rear view maybe I’ll be able to relax for a while? I’m not rushing to get it though, but will soon.
We also did something we haven’t done for two years, almost to the day. In March of 2020, we and a group of friends attended a Swank Farm Dinner right before everything shut down due to Covid. Well, I was thrilled to be able to do so again this year! It’s all outdoors and that helped us feel safe. It was so much fun to just hang out with good friends – it felt so normal when I haven’t felt that way in so long.
Living in Florida is becoming more and more problematic. I don’t trust our governor and his state surgeon general. Our local newspaper, The Sun Sentinel, ran this editorial earlier this year:Joseph Ladapo and his contrived evasiveness must go. They are both anti-science and act like children, thumbing their noses at the CDC. In fact, the governor’s policy is to do the opposite of whatever the CDC recommends. It’s maddening and frightening and illogical. It is his base that is unvaccinated and dying.
Meanwhile, the governor’s priority is in rousing his base as he readies himself to run for president. That is not reassuring to me, to say the least. He is all about banning books, banning abortion rights, making sure our children remain ignorant and uneducated, and is hostile to the LGBTQ+ community, among others. He has his own Brownshirts, AKA the Election Police, poised and ready to intimidate voters, and you can guess the types of voters they will be intimidating. It’s all just unimaginable to me, to be living in a society like this. And even more disheartening, polls show Biden and Trump virtually tied in the next election. The only saving grace is that it is still a couple of years off. I can’t imagine what life will be like in America if Trump, or one of his disciples (like Gov. DeSatan,) gets into office. It may be April 1, but this is no joke – it is my worst nightmare.
I can’t help but wonder how much longer I will live in Florida. I love my life here – I love my job and my co-workers and my friends. But sea levels are rising – hello, climate change! My husband, who has two degrees in oceanography and marine science, fears we will be under water sooner rather than later, even though we are about 14 miles inland from the coast. Not to mention the political climate, which is becoming untenable for me. But I do love the weather here and truly hate the cold. I am uncomfortably cold when it drops below 70!
I grew up in New York but moved to Florida when I was 17 years old and went to the University of Miami. That was the year it snowed in Miami! When I lived in New York, I had terrible bouts of strep throat and bronchitis, year after year, not to mention terrible allergies. I still have allergies, but they are much milder, and haven’t had a strep throat or bronchitis since I moved down here. But my grandchild is in NY, so if I have to move, it will be somewhere a lot closer to my family there. Not sure when that will be, but eventually. Maybe. Who knows!
Publishing Giants Are Fighting Libraries on E-Books: The Association of American Publishers filed suit to block a new Maryland law that aims to increase public libraries’ access to e-books, with support from a powerful copyright lobbying group. If you’re wondering why you have to wait three months or more to borrow a new bestseller for your Kindle, here’s why.
Video from Oklahoma: Oklahoma State Representative Sherrie Conley (R-Newcastle) compares librarians to cockroaches to justify another bill attacking librarians and books. pic.twitter.com/Lw0jnNkqxX
Since Pi Day, 3.14 (March 14,) fell on a Monday and it was the first day back to school after spring break, it seemed like a good day for pi. Pie, that is. Did you know that cheesecake is actually pie? And that Boston Cream Pie is actually cake? Librarians; we do the deep dive for you!
Mini strawberry pies & Ricotta PieVanilla Bean Cheesecake & Pumpkin Pie
A few of my colleagues and I made pies for our student workers and staff. I made the pumpkin using a recipe based on a Paula Deen recipe that I tweaked. I upped the spices, used some brown sugar, and ditched her idea of buying pie crust for a ginger snap crust instead.
INGREDIENTS 1 (8 oz) package softened cream cheese (I leave it out overnight) 1 can pumpkin puree (not pie filling!) 1/2 cup sugar 1/3 cup lightly packed brown sugar 1/4 teaspoon finely ground sea salt 1 egg plus 2 egg yolks, lightly beaten 1/2 cup heavy cream 1/2 cup whole milk (or 2%) 1/4 cup melted unsalted butter 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
PIE CRUST 1 1/2 cups Ginger Snap crumbs (Trader Joes preferred!) 6 T. butter, melted 1/4 cup light brown or white sugar
DIRECTIONS Preheat the oven to 375°F.
Easiest way to make the ginger snap crumps is to dump a little more than 1 1/2 cups of broken ginger snaps into the food processor and pulse until finely ground. Measure out 1 1/2 cups and remove the rest (great on ice cream or sprinkle on top of the pie.) Put the crumbs back in the food processor and add sugar and melted butter. Pulse until like wet sand. Press into deep 9” pie plate and bake for 8-10 minutes. It should barely be brown around the edges. Let cool while making pie filling.
Turn down the oven to 350°F.
In a large mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese on medium high until fluffy. Add the pumpkin and beat until combined with no white streaks are left. Add the sugar and salt, and beat to combine. Add the egg with the yolks, heavy cream, milk, and melted butter, and beat on low until well mixed. Finally, add the vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg and beat just to combine.
Pour the filling into the prepared pie crust and bake for 50-60 minutes, or until the center is set. Check it after 30 minutes and cover the pie crust if it is getting too dark. (I use this: https://amzn.to/3JXj2lq) Place the pie on a wire rack and cool to room temperature. Refrigerate when cool. (If you look carefully at the picture, you can see that I forgot to use the deep dish pie pan when I made this, so I had extra pie filling leftover. Don’t be me!)
In exciting news from my world, my grandson recently celebrated his first birthday, and he is learning Spanish as well as English!
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.
I actually started and read this series in order. After I read the Hockey Hotties series by this author, I checked Hoopla (from the public library) to see what other Piper Rayne books were available. They had this entire series, so down the rabbit hole I went. There are all fairly short, fast sexy reads and a lot of fun.
The Rooftop Crew are a bunch of friends who live in an apartment building in Clifton Heights. I’m not clear on where that is exactly. On the map of NY, it’s upstate and they mention Peekskill, which I know is Westchester, so on the way upstate and five hours from Clifton Heights. But they also mention “the city,” and as far as I know, the only place in New York that is referred to as “the city” is Manhattan. I guess it doesn’t really matter but that is how my brain works. Anyway, these friends often hang out on the roof of their apartment building; hence, the Rooftop Crew.
Here’s a little fun fact: Piper Rayne is actually a pseudonym for two women writing together: Elizabeth Grace is “Piper” and Michelle Lynn is “Rayne.” And honestly, those “real” names sound fake, too, like maybe their first & middle names??
I can’t borrow him. He’s not a sweater or a skirt. He’s not even her favorite dress—the lucky one she wears on first dates. The one she probably wore on her first date with him.
In my defense, I didn’t know who he was. To me, he was a cool, calm, confident stranger. He was perfection for the entire hour and a half train ride while the concrete jungle turned into a rolling green landscape.
To an outsider, we probably appeared more friends than hopeful lovers. But my blush came quickly, and his dimples indented with every smile. We definitely shared a spark of what could be.
Too bad I didn’t know who he was before I fell for him, because he can’t be mine.
This is Blanca and Ethan’s story. The ex in the title is Blanca’s friend Sierra. Sierra and Ethan had a very volatile relationship until they broke up. Now they are just enemies. Well, at least Sierra sees it that way. When Sierra runs into her old friend, it is right after Blanca has lost her job and needs a place to live. Sierra invites her to Clifton Heights, and on the day Blanca moves there, she meets this hot guy on the train ride in. There is great chemistry there, and when they run into each other again, they start dating. Things get pretty hot and heavy fairly quickly. Meanwhile, whenever Sierra’s ex, Sigmund, is mentioned, flames shoot out of her eyes. So when it turns out the Sigmund is actually Ethan’s nickname, and Sierra finds out Blanca is dating him, things get a little messy. But no worries, they get their happily ever after!
He’s not your average Joe from the corner bar. He’s the heir to the crown.
I should know, I’ve followed him for years. Not in a stalkerish way. Magazines and online gossip blogs are fair game when you’re royalty. But I do know every detail about him, down to the brand of boxer briefs he wears.
All my studying of the man who plays a starring role in my dreams pays off when I win a dinner with him. As if that wasn’t enough, he barters a deal with me that has him moving into my spare guest room.
I forgot that fairy tales don’t exist though because just as I’m about to get everything I want, including the prince, I find out there’s someone in Prince Adrian Marx’s life I don’t know—his fiancée.
A Royal Mistake features Sierra and Prince Adrian. Adrian is prince of Sandsal, some country that doesn’t exist, and their rules state that the country must be ruled by a King but he also must be married. Unfortunately, his parents are getting divorced so that will force him to be king, but only if he marries. Adrian has no desire to be king, and his sister would love to rule, but she cannot. That leaves his youngest brother who is way too young to rule. He escapes to America (think “Coming to America” only much, much whiter) and Sierra, who is obsessed with the good looking prince, wins a date with him. That ends up with him moving in until he has to return home. He gets a part time job in a bagel bakery, and the next thing you know, Sierra and Adrian are an item. Of course his parents don’t approve, nor does his country, complicating things further. But this is a romance so they do end up together.
I’ve loved him from afar. Though most times he’s only a foot away.
I’m smart enough to know he’ll never be anyone’s forever.
He checks all the bad boy boxes. Tattoos. Check. Motorcycle. Check. Chip on his shoulder. Check check.
If he wasn’t my neighbor and friend I may have thrown myself at him. Okay, yeah. I wouldn’t. Because guys like Dylan don’t want a woman who writes kid’s math textbooks under him in bed. Instead, I pathetically savor morsels of moments where I have his sole attention.
That was until his archenemy moved in with me. Now suddenly, Dylan’s moving in too and warning off the first guy in a long time who’s showing me interest. Could he finally see me as more than a friend, or am I just a prize to win and show off to his enemy?
Book three is about Rian and Dylan, and introduces Jax. Rian has had a big crush on Dylan for a long time and everyone knows it but him. Dylan also has a crush on Rian but instead of acting on it, he goes out with lots of different women. Until Jax moves in. He’s been away for a while, but Dylan and Jax were good friends until they had a falling out over a girl and some professional jealousy. So when Jax is invited to move in with Rian, Dylan immediately moves his stuff across the hall to the other empty bedroom. Rian loves to bake, but she is also a math genius. So when her parents start bugging her to enter this mathematical contest and actually sign her up, she decides to go for it. The first person to solve the math problem wins $25,000. As Jax flirts with Rian and they even go out on a date, it drives Dylan mad until he finally succumbs and asks Rian out. Dylan always liked Rian but thought he wasn’t good enough for her. Turns out they are very good for each other.
She’s got two strikes against her. Her name is Erickson and her parents own The Bagel Place.
It wasn’t always that way. When we were nine, we were best friends. But then a feud between our dads ripped their successful business apart—and my best friend was ripped away too.
Our paths were bound to cross again. When both our families vie for the same spot on a Food Channel’s reality show, the producers decide to change the format, aligning us as allies.
In order to get our parents to agree to work together, Evan asks me to pretend to be her boyfriend, but I dare her to up the ante—be my fiancée. Fake fiancée… obviously.
As usual, I didn’t think things through. Turns out our parents have a lot of demands neither one of us expected. And all those demands lead to things feeling more real than fake.
Our Star-Crossed Kiss is Seth and Evan’s story, and is a riff on Romeo and Juliet. Their fathers were once business partners in a bagel shop until they had a major falling out. Seth and Evan were best friends as children until they were forbidden to see one another after the fight. Each of the father’s opened their own bagel shop – Evan’s dad specialized in fantastic shmears (cream cheese) while Seth’s dad made the best bagels. When a TV show wants to feature both of their shops, Evan and Seth decide they want to do it. Neither one really wants to run a bagel shop and this could be their way out of it. They come up with this plan for a fake engagement, forcing the families together again, but the dads aren’t buying it. If you’ve ever read a romance novel, you know that the fake engagement always ends up with a happy ending and this is no exception.
She was always the one. Or so I thought. Turns out my instincts were dead wrong.
Years ago I was faced with the choice between two women. Both were perfect in opposite ways. One was carefree and against commitment. The other was a woman you’d bring home to mom.
I was young, naïve and stupid. I’m sure you can guess who I chose.
Now, I’m older, wiser and know what the hell I want.
So, when the same two women pop back into my life it’s my chance for a do-over. But they flipped the script. Just like me, they want different things now. Leaving me with one choice—convince the woman I want that she wants me too.
This book centers on Knox and Kamea. They met several years earlier when Kamea was waitressing in a bar. Knox flirted with her all night, but one of his friends told him that she was the kind of girl you take home to meet your mom, not a one night stand. That scared him off, and he ended up taking Leilani home. She was trouble, but the savior in Knox, a cop, led him to believe she was the one he would save. Their on again, off again relationship really hurt him, but it has been months since he’s seen her and he’s over her. Kamea was hurt that he took off with Leilani that night. They were childhood friends but Leilani was a real user – the only time Kamea heard from her is when she wanted something. Like bail money. Kamea bails her out and Leilani disappears, but not before she and her friends get Kamea kicked out of her apartment. Now she’s broke and homeless, and when Knox finds her with the homeless, he insists on taking her home with him. It’s time for them to have a do-over and find their happily ever after.
Three tattoo guns. Five motorcycle tires. Countless T-shirts.
That’s what I lost before I realized nothing good comes from dating my co-workers.
Usually, I don’t have much self-control. So, the fact that Frankie Grant is a hot, talented tattoo artist means it’s a damn miracle she hasn’t already been in my bed. But nothing can happen between us because Frankie comes with Jolie, her young daughter, and a crap load of baggage from her ex. And those are two things I never entertain.
Anyone who knows me—the screwed up foster kid from the wrong side of the tracks—knows I’m not the guy you take home to meet your parents, let alone your kid. But I also know what it’s like not to have parents, so things get complicated when Jolie asks me to be her daddy.
I might as well just slash my own tires now.
This is the last book in the series and centers on Jax and Frankie. Frankie is a single mom to Jolie, her sweet five year old daughter. Jax and Frankie are tattoo artists who work together and constantly butt heads. Jax has a lot of baggage and is leery of relationships, to say the least. But he loves Jolie, and consequently when Jolie asks Santa to make Jax her daddy, or get her a puppy, he panics and buys her the dog. This leads to more fights but utlimately they co-parent the dog, bringing them closer. The more they get to know one another, the closer they get, fighting it all the way. But they find their happy ending, and I was sad to end this series.
Luckily, I have a few hundred more books to read so I’m good! But if you like steamy romances, this is a fun series. I read them all in a week and was happy to spend time with the Rooftop Crew.
Comments Off on ROOFTOP CREW SERIES by Piper Rayne | Fiction, Romance | Permalink Posted by Stacy Alesi
A collection of essays spanning politics, criticism, and feminism from one of the most-watched cultural observers of her generation.
In these funny and insightful essays, Gay takes us through the journey of her evolution as a woman (Sweet Valley High) of color (The Help) while also taking readers on a ride through culture of the last few years (Girls, Django in Chains) and commenting on the state of feminism today (abortion, Chris Brown). The portrait that emerges is not only one of an incredibly insightful woman continually growing to understand herself and our society, but also one of our culture.
Bad Feminist is a sharp, funny, and spot-on look at the ways in which the culture we consume becomes who we are, and an inspiring call-to-arms of all the ways we still need to do better, coming from one of our most interesting and important cultural critics.
A New York Times Bestseller• Best Book of the Year: NPR • Boston Globe • Newsweek • Time Out New York • Oprah.com • Miami Herald • Book Riot • Buzz Feed • Globe and Mail (Toronto) • The Root • Shelf Awareness
I’m a long time admirer of Roxane Gay, but this is the first book of hers that I read. Over the years I’ve read many of her essays in various publications like New York Magazine, VQR, The New York Times, and many more. This book is part of the Social Impact Book Series that I facilitate at Lynn University. The essays are divided into five parts: Me; Gender & Sexuality; Race & Entertainment; Politics, Gender & Race; and Back to Me.
It was originally published in 2014, and I’m sorry to say there is one essay about Bill Cosby that has not held up. In fact, Gay wrote about Cosby later on, updating her position in The Empty Chair & 35 Women Standing Up to Bill Cosby, Rapist. Then again, most of us loved Bill Cosby until his actions forced us into hating him.
Other essays include the eponymous “Bad Feminist,” in which she says, “The more I write, the more I put myself out into the world as a bad feminist but, I hope, a good woman.” She describes herself as “a mess of contradictions” and discusses the dichotomy of thinking herself a feminist yet listening to rap music that degrades women, knowing nothing about cars, hating how women are held to impossible beauty standards yet being a voracious Vogue reader. I think most women struggle with these and other dichotomies as well, and I certainly can relate.
In this collection, Gay explores what it means to be a woman in America in this century. She explores her own imperfections, thus shining the light on our own and helping us understand that we are all imperfect. Her voice is always engaging and I found myself reading just one more and then one more after that. At times funny and sad and everything in between, Gay takes us on her very personal journey yet somehow I found it very relatable, and that is no easy feat. An easy book to pick up and a bit tougher to put down, this is a collection that is worth seeking out.
NOTE: Roxane Gay Books is a new imprint of Grove Atlantic announced in May. 2021 and will “focus on underrepresented fiction, nonfiction and memoir writers, with or without agents.” (NYT) I am not aware of any books that have been published yet.
3/2022 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch
BAD FEMINIST by Roxane Gay. Harper Perennial; 1st edition (August 5, 2014). ISBN: 978-0062282712. 336p.
Three generations of women. Three generations worth of secrets. Will a cache of letters from beyond the grave hold the key to unravelling them all? The answer to that question lies at the heart of this addictive and atmospheric novel from the author of The House of Brides.
Growing up, the Anderson sisters could not have been more different. Susie, the wild one, had an adventurous life while Camilla— Mills—followed a safer path. When Susie suddenly dies, Mills falls apart. Until she receives a bundle of mysterious letters from her estranged sister to be read in the case of her death. Each letter instructs her to visit a place special to Susie, both to spread her ashes but also to uncover some truths Susie has long kept hidden from her family.
Their mother Margaret has secrets of her own. When living in Swinging Sixties London, she too made a decision about her life that not only haunts her, but will reverberate through the generations.
One family, three very different women. What choices and secrets connect them? In this novel of truth and lies, concealment and regret, Jane Cockram flips the looking glass to expose our true face, revealing the deep lines of deception that can run through families and how the people we love the most often have the most to hide.
This multi-generational story of family secrets by Cockram (The House of Brides) centers on two sisters; Camilla, the “good” daughter who follows the rules, and Susie, the rebel. When Susie suddenly dies, she leaves behind a series of letters for Camilla, instructing her to scatter Susie’s ashes in the various places she visited one summer in 1998. Camilla honors her sister’s wishes even though it puts a strain on her marriage.
Three generations of women in this family have skeletons in their closets, all involving another family, the Rowes. Susie met David Rowe that fateful summer in London, followed him to a tiny island in France, where she met his girlfriend Isabelle, then met Henri and fell in love. Things ended badly, and now Susie’s letters have sent Camilla on a trail that has threatened to reveal things her mother and grandmother never wanted exposed. Turns out there is a lot of juicy history between the families, and all is eventually revealed.
Verdict: This somewhat convoluted story gets bogged down by jumping time periods, but ultimately reaches a satisfying conclusion. Should appeal to fans of Liane Moriarty or Celeste Ng.
That’s what my teammate’s sister-in-law told me after our one-night stand. I didn’t expect to see Hollis again, let alone end up raising a child with her.
We set some ground rules—we’ll raise the baby together, but that’s it. No relationship, no future, and definitely no kissing.
But the more time we spend together, the harder it is to keep track of where the lines were once drawn.
I’m known for my one-timer on and off the ice, but this game with Hollis just got a lot more complicated…
ONE-TIMER is a standalone hockey romance. There is a one-night stand, an accidental pregnancy, wit, steam, and lots of fun!
I am loving this series! I am not usually a fan of the pregnancy romance, but Hunter does such a good job with it she’s made me a convert.
Hollis recently got divorced after finding out her husband was cheating on her. Her sister is getting married to a hockey player, so Hollis has to be in the wedding even though all she wants to do is go off by herself and cry. Pity party for one, please! But an understandable pity party for sure.
Lowell is her future brother-in-law’s teammate and a man who has been burnt once himself. His girlfriend told him she was pregnant and he was ready to marry her until he found out she was lying. He is determined to avoid relationships and stick to one night stands where his heart won’t get involved.
Hollis and Lowell have a one night stand at the wedding, and a big oops occurs. When she finally gets hold of Lowell to tell him, he feels like history is repeating itself. Except Hollis doesn’t seem like the type to be after his money or his fame. He cautiously agrees to be involved with the baby but insists on them just co-parenting. No relationship allowed!
Best laid plans and all…Hollis and Lowell spend a lot of time together. He falls in love with his baby almost from the get go but is cautious around Hollis, and she is cautious as well. She loves the support he is giving her – the emotional and physical support because she is having a pregnancy that sends her sex drive roaring, and he is happy to help out.
You can guess what happens but this was such a fun, sexy read it didn’t matter. I wanted them to find their happily ever after, and they do. Looking forward to the next book in the series, Sin Bin, publishing in July.
3/2022 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch
ONE-TIMER by Teagan Hunter. Independently published (March 24, 2022). ASIN: B09QH91PQN. 263p.
Returning to Magnolia Sound was never part of the plan. Then again, Parker Bishop rarely had one. Yet after confessing her love to her best friend right before his wedding, she needs time to lick her wounds from the disastrous scene that unfolds. After the unsympathetic welcome she receives from her parents and siblings, Parker finds herself absentmindedly driving through town in search of a place to stay.
That’s when she spots the flier and a familiar name…
Ethan Harlow enjoys the peace and quiet. Unfortunately, finding a moment of it becomes impossible when the flier he posts for a roommate brings Parker crashing into his life. Of course, he remembers her from high school. It’s impossible to forget little miss popular who was always the center of attention. All he wanted was to split the rent and keep to himself. Instead, Parker transforms his home and makes him question the dreams he gave up out of fear of stepping out of his comfort zone.
The attraction they feel to one another makes crossing the line from roommates to lovers seem inevitable. But the more Parker encourages Ethan to pursue his dreams, the less likely it becomes that they can have any kind of future together. Can they find a way to claim their happily ever after or will their individual paths make a future impossible?
I have read several books by this author and I always like the book and hate the cover. I didn’t hate this one! It is probably the best cover for one of her books that I’ve seen, so feel free to judge this book by its cover.
Having recently moved back to her hometown of Magnolia Sound, Parker is bouncing from one relative to another until she finds Ethan’s flier in the library. Her whole family lives here, and while she vaguely remembers Ethan from high school, her cousin, the librarian, vouches for him. She basically steamrolls Ethan into renting her a room in his house, and he isn’t sure this is going to work at all.
The funny thing was I had no idea this was part of a series when I read it, never mind the tenth book! Looking back I can see it, so kudos to Chase for doing such a good job with that.
Ethan is an introvert, a nerd, and completely intimidated Parker when they were in high school together and he was class valedictorian. Parker has the lowest self esteem of anyone I’ve read about in quite a while, but is so charming and self-deprecating that I couldn’t help but root for her. Ethan and Parker become roommates, then friends, then more while Parker tries to figure out her life.
Small town charm is abundant here, as are a lot of laughs from Parker’s crazy large family. I really enjoyed watching both these characters grow and bring out the best in one another. Not much sex either, if that is a factor for you. All in all, a very enjoyable read and yep, I’m looking for the earlier books in this series.
3/2022 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch
ALWAYS ON MY MIND by Samantha Chase. Chasing Romance, Inc. (March 22, 2022). ASIN: B09QD5FV3C. 277p.
Zig and Nola are back—in the hugely entertaining, highly anticipated follow-up to Brad Meltzer’s #1 New York Times bestselling thriller The Escape Artist.
What’s the one secret no one knows about you?
Archie Mint has a secret. He’s led a charmed life—he’s got a beautiful wife, two impressive kids, and a successful military career. But when he’s killed while trying to stop a robbery in his own home, his family is shattered—and then shocked when the other shoe drops. Mint’s been hiding criminal secrets none of them could have imagined.
While working on Mint’s body before his funeral, mortician “Zig” Zigarowski discovers something he was never meant to see. That telling detail leads him to Mint’s former top secret military unit and his connection to artist Nola Brown. Two years ago, Nola saved Zig’s life—so he knows better than most that she’s as volatile and dangerous as a bolt of lightning.
Following Nola’s trail, he uncovers one of the U.S. government’s most intensely guarded secrets—an undisclosed military facility that dates back to the Cold War and holds the key to something far more sinister: a hidden group willing to compromise the very safety and security of America itself.
This is the sequel to The Escape Artist, which I read several years ago. That book made my Best Books of the Year for 2018 list. Bonus – I remember more than I usually do because these characters are not your typical run-of-the-mill private detectives or cops or Feds or whatever. Instead, Zig is a mortician at Dover Air Force base, working on the bodies of fallen American soldiers. Nola is the U.S. military’s Artist-in-Residence, which means she goes to locations of tragedy or war (she gets to pick) and draws and/or paints what she sees – a job I had never heard of. Leave it to Meltzer to ferret out these interesting positions and incorporate them into a thriller – now a series. These characters might be considered “amateurs” like the kind you find in many cozy mysteries, but trust me, there is nothing cozy about this book, it is a thriller started on page one. The good news is that you do not have to read the first book in the series to understand this one; it stands alone beautifully.
I love these characters and we learn more about them this time, especially the enigmatic Nola. All the characters are interesting, multi-dimensional, diverse, and fully realized. The situations they find themselves in are often not of their own doing, but their resolve, ingenuity, and tenacity gets them where they need to go. That said, the body count is high and this is not a book for the squeamish. There are an almost a dizzying number of twists and turns and the pages fly by in this unputdownable thriller. Yes, I stayed up late to finish it! This is a worthy sequel, and the second book of what is shaping up to be one of my must-read series.
If you are not familiar, Meltzer does a ton of research for his books. I know this because over the past several years, on occasion I have helped him access obscure articles or articles behind paywalls. So trust me when I tell you that even though you may never have heard of some of the things in his books, they are generally based on impeccable research, including personal interviews with various government officials, even including Presidents (many have been fans of his work!)
I met Meltzer when I was working at Borders Books. His parents (since deceased) lived in Boca Raton, where I worked, and one day he stopped in to see if we had his book – his first novel, The Tenth Justice. In a funny coincidence, I had just read it and loved it. We chatted a bit and that was that. Or so I thought. He told me that I was the first bookseller he ever met who had actually read his book, and honestly, I thought he was full of it. But then a few years later, he told that story to a few hundred people at a booksigning at Barnes & Noble, when I was in the crowd with my daughter. And he’s repeated it since. So we have had a fairly long relationship – I believe he just celebrated the 25th anniversary of that first published novel. Brad is a really good guy, down to earth, madly in love with his wife, and consumed by his children – he once did an event for me at the Palm Beach County Library that we had to schedule around his coaching his son’s baseball team. Or t-ball. Whatever. The guy is a mensch – buy his book!
Watch Brad discuss The Lightning Rod with Seth Meyers!
3/2022 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch
THE LIGHTNING ROD by Brad Meltzer. William Morrow (March 8, 2022). ISBN: 978-0062892409. 432p.
A chef’s journey to success leads to discovering the perfect recipe for love in this delicious romantic comedy.
Sadie is a rising star in the trendy Seattle restaurant scene. Her dream is to create unique, modern, and mouthwatering takes on traditional Jewish recipes. But after a public breakup with her boss, a famous chef, she is sure her career is over—until she lands a coveted spot on the next season of her favorite TV show, Chef Supreme.
On the plane to New York, Sadie has sizzling chemistry with her seatmate, Luke, but tells him that she won’t be able to contact him for the next six weeks. They prolong their time together with a spontaneous, magical dinner before parting ways. Or so she thinks. When she turns up to set the next day, she makes a shocking discovery about who Luke is….
If Sadie wants to save her career by winning Chef Supreme, she’s going to have to ignore the simmering heat between Luke and her. But how long can she do that before the pot boils over?
Sadie was working as a sous chef for her boyfriend, who dumps her and fires her. Just when she thinks she’ll never get another job, she gets something even better; a call from Chef Supreme (think Top Chef) and the opportunity to be on national TV and get her reputation back. Sadie knows if she can make it through to the semifinals, everything will be golden – she may even get the opportunity to realize her dream of opening her own restaurant.
On the flight from Seattle to New York City, where the show is filmed (one of the small variations on the Top Chef formula) she is seated next to Luke, a good looking man who has the hands of a chef. Sure enough he is a chef, and they really get to know one another on the long flight. When they land, he goes with her to Queens where she will be staying and takes her to a Korean speakeasy of sorts. They have a magical date, but she is going to be untouchable for the next six weeks. She promises to call when she can, and she heads off.
Turns out Luke’s father is one of the most celebrated chefs in New York, and Luke has been tapped to judge on the TV show when the regular judge has a medical emergency. Sadie is shocked to see him there, and even more shocked when he calls her “Sandy” as if he doesn’t remember her.
Sadie is of Jewish descent, and her goal is to let people know there is more to Jewish food than just bagels and latkes. She puts a gourmet spin on many of the most familiar dishes, and works her way towards her goal. Meanwhile, spending time with Luke is hard on her, and as it turns out, on him as well. But no worries, there is a happy ending in sight for both of them.
I loved this book so much! I am a huge Top Chef fan, and this felt like a peek behind the curtains of that iconic show. Having a Jewish protagonist was also a plus for me, not something I see very often in romcoms but that seems to be changing, very slowly for sure, but I’m always hopeful. While this is the first “Amanda Elliot” book and the author’s debut novel for adults, the author has several Young Adult books under the name Amanda Panitch. This was a terrific, one night read for me and I look forward to seeing what “Elliot” does next.
3/2022 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch
SADIE ON A PLATE by Amanda Elliot. Berkley (March 15, 2022). ISBN: 978-0593335710. 352p.
Posted by Stacy Alesi 
Stacy Alesi's BookBitch.com™ 