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A Modern Romance with Humor and Heart

From the publisher:

Fans of Lauren Weisberger and Emily Henry won’t want to miss this funny, sexy, and emotional novel that looks at modern relationships, modern choices, and redefining—not to mention rebranding—your dreams, through the eyes of an Instagram influencer.

“Themes of personal choice and female empowerment underscore this tender rom-com from Guertin… A cast of wonderful supporting characters, led by spunky Addie, add authenticity and tug at the heartstrings. Readers will be charmed.”— Publishers Weekly

A PopSugar Beach Reads Selection

In this #funny, #wise, #emotionally compelling look at modern love and finding your true path, a proudly kid-free influencer meets the ultimate #dealbreaker . . .

It’s the influencer’s golden rule: know your niche. Kit Kidding has found hers on Instagram, where she gets paid to promote brands and share expertly curated posts about her fun, fabulous, child-free life. Kit likes kids just fine, but she passionately believes that women who choose not to become mothers shouldn’t have to face guilt. Or judgement. Or really hot chefs who turn out to be single dads.

Will MacGregor is aggravating, sexy, persistent, averse to social media, and definitely a bad idea. As soon as Kit learns his parenting status, she vows to put their scorching one-night stand behind her and move on. But Will and Kit are thrown together on an Instagram campaign, and the more time she spends with him—and his whip-smart, eight-year-old daughter, Addie—the more difficult it is to stay away, much less sustain what Will so cleverly calls her “Resting Beach Face.” Kit’s picture-perfect career path is suddenly clashing with the possibility of a different future—messy, complicated, and real. Which life does she truly want? Will she have to re-invent herself? And will love still be waiting by the time she figures it out?

I don’t know a whole lot about Instagram, especially influencers, so this was a really interesting read for me. Plus it’s fun, funny, and has a terrific romance at its center. As the bookstagram folks say, it’s got “all the feels”.

Kit Kidding lost her mom when she was only 10 years old. She decided early on that she didn’t want kids, mostly because she was afraid that she, too, would die by her 35th birthday. Her sister also doesn’t have kids, nor do her friends. In fact, she has built a career on it, writing a book about the “child-free” lifestyle. Her instagram feed has a couple of million followers, and her life is in the pictures. At least, the parts of her life that she is paid to share.

When one of her sponsors, a ready-to-cook meal delivery service wants pictures of her actually cooking the food, she panics. Kit stores books in her oven, her cabinets, and well, pretty much everywhere. She has all of her mom’s books, plus all the books she’s collected over the years. She even has a private bookstagram account. But the sponsor is willing to send a chef to help her learn to cook, so she caves. It’s all about the money.

Except the chef is the hot guy she had a one night stand with and now he’s ready for more. There is no fighting the strong attraction between them except he has something she definitely isn’t willing to cave on – a young daughter. Lots of struggles here to get to the happy ending, but what a fun ride to get there! A terrific, entertaining read.

7/2021 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

INSTAMOM by Chantel Guertin. Kensington (June 29, 2021). ISBN: 978-1496735355. 329 pages.

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How do you start a new chapter of your life when you haven’t closed the book on the previous one?

Eighteen months ago, Autumn Divac’s husband went missing. Her desperate search has yielded no answers, and she can’t imagine moving forward without him. But for the sake of their two teenage children, she has to try.

Autumn takes her kids home for the summer to the charming beachside town where she was raised. She seeks comfort working alongside her mother and aunt at their bookshop, only to learn that her daughter is facing a huge life change and her mother has been hiding a terrible secret for years. And when she runs into the boy who stole her heart in high school, old feelings start to bubble up again. Is she free to love him, or should she hold out hope for her husband’s return? She can only trust her heart…and hope it won’t lead her astray.

Autumn has been searching for her missing husband for so long that she knows it’s time to give up, but it’s a hard thing to do. While some people think he took off with another woman, Autumn is pretty sure he didn’t. Why would he leave without any money or any of his possessions? She thinks he went to the Ukraine and was doing something for the FBI, but they are not helpful so she hires a private detective. He turns out to be not so helpful either.

Autumn’s kids are in their final years of high school. Taylor will be a senior, and her brother Caden is just a year behind. It’s been difficult for them to deal with their father’s disappearance but they have had to go on with their own lives. Autumn’s mom won’t travel so she decides to bring the kids to her mom for the summer. She lives in Sable Beach, a small beach town, and it takes several hours to drive there from their home in Tampa. Her mom’s house isn’t big, so Taylor gets the bedroom and Caden gets the couch, while Autumn sleeps in the small apartment above the garage.

The kids make friends and seem happy-ish, so Autumn relaxes a bit. It’s incredibly difficult being stuck in limbo, not knowing if her husband is alive or dead but she knows she has to end the search soon. Things take a turn when she runs into Quinn, her high school crush. He married his high school sweetheart and broke Autumn’s heart, not that he knew that. But his wife suffers from a debilitating mental illness, which culminates in her stabbing Quinn in his sleep. He survived but she’s in prison, and her mom is still in this small town, badmouthing Quinn.

Quinn and Autumn start seeing each other and all the old feelings come back but there is that pesky missing husband lingering in the background. Taylor is having some major issues, including questioning whether or not she is a lesbian. I was so impressed with how Autumn handled it, so kudos to Novak for a sensitive and realistic (to me) response.

It’s not a stretch to say you can guess what happens once Autumn and Quinn realize they have fallen in love and want to spend their lives together. The kids really like him, too.

There is another plot line regarding Mary, Autumn’s mother. Mary and Laura own the bookstore in the title, and are best friends. Mary has a very disturbing background that takes a while to unravel, but adds another dimension to the story.

This is a really good read with a lot of twists for a romance that really isn’t romantic suspense. There is the mystery of the missing husband, and Mary’s background, but everything comes together by the end. I couldn’t put this book down and I really cared what happened to all these characters. Novak always writes a good story, and I loved this one.

NOTE: Novak is offering a free “Bookstore on the Beach” Bonus Epilogue that also signs you up for her newsletter. The epilogue was truly the icing on the cake here, and I was happy to share my email so I won’t miss her next book!

7/2021 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

THE BOOKSTORE ON THE BEACH by Brenda Novak. MIRA; Original edition (April 6, 2021). ISBN: 978-0778361053. 448 pages.

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The Wildstone Series, Book 7

From the publisher:

But although Gracie finds herself slowly falling for Sir online, she has

USA TODAY BESTSELLER

What would you change if you had to start your life—and love life—over again?

When Emma Harris wakes up from a coma she learns that her fiancé and her BFF have fallen in love, she’s lost her job, and the life she knew is gone. Overwhelmed but grateful to be alive she starts over from scratch. Not as easy as it sounds, of course. But she’s never been a quitter, even if she wishes she could quit rehab, where her hot but evil physical therapist, Simon, puts her through the wringer. 

Eager for a new beginning, Emma opens a doggy day care. Unfortunately, the only space she can afford is owned by her childhood nemesis Ali Pratt. But hey, she’s been through worse, right? She tries to roll with the punches, but a friend drops his grandpa off at the doggy day care in desperation then on top of that, she and Ali bring the term ‘frenemies’ to a whole new level. And then another grandparent shows up. And another.

In the midst of all that, Emma realizes she’s accidentally fallen for Evil PT. But the most horrifying thing of all is that Ali just might have turned into the best friend she’s ever had. And as Emma grows from the pain of her past and takes on her new path, she comes to realize that life isn’t what you’re given, it’s what you make of it. 

This was such a good book on so many levels. Shalvis writes great romances, and this certainly is, but it is so much more. For one thing, our heroine feels like anything but. Emma was a runner, and got hit by a car as she crossed a street. It was a no fault accident; the driver who hit her didn’t see the stop sign hidden by a tree (rather like the parking ticket we just got in Brooklyn because the “no standing” sign was hidden behind a tree). The driver hit another car and all told, Emma had horrific trauma to her but the driver’s wife died. They are both feeling lots of survivor guilt.

Simon is the physical therapist that has been working with Emma since the accident almost a year earlier. Her doctors told her she would never walk again, but with Simon’s help/torture, she is walking. But if having a traumatic accident wasn’t bad enough, Emma’s fiancé and her best friend ended up falling in love. so the two most important people in her life are now her enemy. She had been living with her BFF, but once she’s out of rehab she knows she can’t go back there. Luckily, Simon found her an apartment. It’s a second floor walk up, which means Emma has to deal with the stairs but that is good for her, too.

Emma is half in love with Simon, but he’s too important to her as a PT so she doesn’t want to risk a relationship with him. Not to mention she is in no mindset to date. Simon fell in love with Emma when he saw her arguing with her doctors about walking. She is the most determined person he’s ever met, and he has tons of admiration for the work she’s done to get better. Plus he thinks she’s hot.

Meanwhile, Emma cannot find a job. No one wants to hear that the gap in her employment history is due to being in a coma for months. She works very part time at a dog sitting service. She does training with the dogs who need it. But she needs a real job. Then the owner decides she wants to spend time with her grandchildren (I can relate!) and wants to sell the business. Emma decides it’s the perfect business for her but after she is turned down by three banks for a business loan, she is at the end of the road. But then Simon’s sister Ali comes through.

Ali helps run the family real estate business but has always wanted something of her own. But Emma and Ali have history, having competed all through high school. Due to a series of unfortunate events, they pretty much hate each other. But both are willing to overlook that to get what they want, and a partnership is formed.

As Ali and Emma finally become friends, Simon and Emma admit their feelings for one another. But Simon is in a bad place. His father suffered a couple of strokes and Simon is now his caretaker, not to mention running his father’s real estate company, which he hates. He loves doing PT, but has had to cut way back on his hours due to his other responsibilities, and he is at the point where he just doesn’t think he has the time for a relationship. In fact his last relationship ended when he couldn’t give her enough time.

But despite all this, Emma and Simon do get together, and then it falls apart. Ali and Emma become good friends, and Simon and Emma get their happily ever after. This was a very compelling read with terrific characters you can’t help but root for. Another excellent addition to the Wildstone series that can be read as a standalone.

7/2021 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

LOVE FOR BEGINNERS by Jill Shalvis. William Morrow (June 8, 2021). ISBN: 978-0063082243. 384 pages.

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The Nantucket Restaurant Series, Book 1

From the publisher:

Three sisters. An inherited Nantucket restaurant. One year before they can sell.

Mandy, Emma and Jill are as close as three sisters who live hundreds of miles apart can be. They grew up together on Nantucket, but Mandy is the only one that stayed.

Jill lives a glamorous life in Manhattan as a co-owner of a successful executive search firm. Never married, she is in her mid-thirties and lives in a stunning, corner condo with breathtaking views of the city and Hudson river. Everyone thinks there’s something going on with her partner, Billy, because as a workaholic, she spends more time with him than anyone else. But there’s never been anything but friendship between them and Billy loves being a bachelor in NYC.

Emma lives in Arizona and is an elementary school teacher and an aspiring photographer. She met her college professor husband, Peter, in grad school and they’ve been married for almost thirteen years. In recent years, she’s noticed that Peter has grown distant. But when he shares a surprising secret, she doesn’t see it coming and her world is turned upside down.

Mandy followed her high school boyfriend, Cory to Boston College, and right after graduation, they married and settled in Dover, just outside of Boston. Cory joined a successful hedge fund, while Mandy took a job at a downtown financial services firm as an administrative assistant. She quit a year later, when Blake, the first baby came. Two years later, when Brooke was born, Cory left to open a competing Hedge Fund and they moved home to Nantucket. Now that the children are older, Mandy has more free time and is eager to do more than just volunteer with local charity events. But Cory doesn’t want her to work. He thinks it doesn’t reflect well on him and appearances are everything to Cory. Though when Mandy finds a second cell phone in his gym bag, she begins to question what is really going on.

When their beloved grandmother, Rose Ferguson passes peacefully in her sleep a week before her ninety-ninth birthday she leaves them quite a surprise. In addition to her Nantucket home, they learned that she was the silent owner of Mimi’s Place, one of Nantucket’s most popular year-round restaurants. There is of course, a catch–she left the restaurant equally to Mandy, Emma, and Jill–and also to Paul, the chef for the past twelve years. And before they can sell, all three girls need to work at the restaurant for a period of one year–or else their shares will go to Paul–who was also Emma’s first love. Three sisters inherit a Nantucket restaurant and must work together for a year–or lose their shares to the chef. Paul was Emma’s first love, and now he’s their business partner.

I have never seen such a long, thorough synopsis as the one the publisher provides for this book (which led me to believe it was self published, and yes.) So I don’t really need to summarize the plot. I will say there was no cell phone in the gym bag, but there was a receipt for one – same difference, same results. You know what it means when a wife finds a second cell phone, and it is never anything good.

These three sisters get along amazingly well, lucky lucky siblings. Growing up on Nantucket, they never knew their grandmother owned their favorite restaurant, or really anything about her life. I think most kids don’t know much about their grandparents, so I found that pretty easy to believe. The fact that she was matchmaking from beyond the grave, also believable. And that two sisters are having marital problems at the same time, again believable. I am crediting all this believability to the author, she does a really good job here of introducing three complicated characters, and had me completely immersed in their stories from the get go. The fact that the plot revolves around a restaurant was just gravy! Plus it’s a pretty short book,, so kudos for developing so many characters in a short space.

This was a good read, very entertaining and for those who care, no sex. But implied sex, so a step above (and more believable) than other sweet romances like those from Debbie Macomber.

The next book in this series is Christmas at the Restaurant, which falls nicely into the ever popular Christmas in July summer extravaganza. It was not meant for that, but it’s how it fell into my lap. So be it. Check back for a review shortly.

7/2021 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

THE RESTAURANT by Pamela Kelley. Piping Plover Press (May 16, 2020). ISBN: 978-0991243563. 280 pages.

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The Silver Springs Series, Book 8

From the publisher:

Sometimes the biggest emotional risk can reap the best romantic reward…

After everything she worked for is destroyed, pediatrician Natasha Gray is determined to build a new life. Divorced, bankrupt and suddenly a single mom, she’s ready to start over in Silver Springs—on her own. She certainly doesn’t need help from Mack Amos, the man who’s already broken her heart twice.

Although Mack has had feelings for Tash since they first met, too many things have stood in the way. He’s always given her the support she needs, though, and he’ll do the same now. Even if the desire he wrestles with threatens to undermine his intentions…

But her heart is not the only reason Natasha wants to keep Mack at bay. More time in her life means getting closer to her son, which could lead to a revelation neither of them is ready to face.

I loved this latest entry into the Silver Springs series. Novak writes heartwarming romances, most reminiscent of Debbie Macomber but maybe not quite as sweet. I really enjoy this series but I forget about it. I’ve read about half the books so they definitely stand alone and do not need to be read in order. But if you want to:

1. Finding our forever
2. No one but you
3. Until you loved me
4. Right where we belong
5. Unforgettable you
6. Christmas in Silver Springs
7. A California Christmas
8. When I found you

Natasha Gray is a remarkable young woman who has had a spate of bad luck, to say the least. The child of a single mother who is also a drug addict, Tasha had a huge chip on her shoulder when her mom married J.T., making the Amos brothers her stepbrothers. Except that the youngest, Mack, didn’t feel like a brother to Tasha, she fell head over heels in love with him. Unfortunately, she was only 16 when they met, and he was 25 and too smart to commit a felony, no matter how hard Tasha tried to seduce him. A few years later, she finally gets her way but Mack leaves and breaks her heart.

Tasha was able to get through high school and into college because of the Amos brothers, especially Mack, looking out for her and giving her the money she needed to get there. Eventually she puts herself through medical school and becomes a pediatrician. She works hard and opens her own practice, only to lose it all a short while later when it turns out the nurse she hired had some serious psychological issues. Meanwhile, she got pregnant, married the baby daddy and when her pediatric practice fell apart, so did her marriage. She finds herself basically broke and homeless, with a young son.

Mack helps her move and get her settled and the old feelings start up again. There is some drama with her ex-husband that sends things spinning out of control. Things only get worse when Tasha’s mom, long divorced from J.T., appears to have shot him. He is in critical condition in the hospital and Tasha is a wreck, as are the Amos brothers.

Mack and Tasha have so much history between them that it is not surprising she wants to go slow, real slow. Mack is now old enough and mature enough to realize what he had done to her, and how much she means to him still. There is a bit of suspense throughout the story, and a lot of characters. Probably if you’ve read the other books in the series you would be more familiar with them, but my memory sucks and I didn’t remember them especially well. But I still couldn’t help but hope that Mack and Tasha were able to work through their troubled past and find a bright future. And they did. Another excellent addition to the series.

7/2021 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

WHEN I FOUND YOU by Brenda Novak. MIRA; Original edition (June 29, 2021). ISBN: 978-0778331940. 352 pages.

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From the publisher:

Love Is Blind meets You’ve Got Mail in this laugh-out-loud romantic comedy following two thirty-somethings who meet on a blind dating app—only to realize that their online chemistry is nothing compared to their offline rivalry.

Perpetually cheerful and eager to please, Gracie Cooper strives to make the best out of every situation. So when her father dies just months after a lung cancer diagnosis, she sets aside her dreams of pursuing her passion for art to take over his Midtown Manhattan champagne shop. She soon finds out that the store’s profit margins are being squeezed perilously tight, and complicating matters further, a giant corporation headed by the impossibly handsome, but irritatingly arrogant Sebastian Andrews is proposing a buyout. But Gracie can’t bear the thought of throwing away her father’s dream like she did her own.

Overwhelmed and not wanting to admit to her friends or family that she’s having second thoughts about the shop, Gracie seeks advice and solace from someone she’s never met—the faceless “Sir”, with whom she connected on a blind dating app where matches get to know each other through messages and common interests before exchanging real names or photos.

But although Gracie finds herself slowly falling for Sir online, she has no idea she’s already met him in real life…and they can’t stand each other.

One of Cosmopolitan’s 20 Books You’re Going To Want To Read This Summer

Any story loosely based on You’ve Got Mail is getting my attention; it’s one of my favorite movies. If you are not familiar (and have been living under a rock for decades? Or just hate romcoms? Then why are you even reading this?) it is a movie based on another movie, The Shop Around the Corner, and both stories are about a couple who write each other (emails/letters) but haven’t met and don’t know each other’s names, etc. In real life, the couple has met and hates each other. So they basically fall in love over email, and eventually one of them learns who the other is and works hard to overcome the obstacles and get their happy ending.

This story is an updated version, moving to messaging through a dating app instead of email. This is an unusual dating app, the sort of antithesis of Tinder. Instead of swiping on pictures, there are no pictures at all. People “meet” and develop a written relationship, then choosing whether or not to meet.

The other part of the story that carries through all these iterations is the setting and cause for the hate is a retail shop; first is a general store, then a bookstore, now a champagne store. Gracie took over her parents’ shop when she lost her father. Her siblings weren’t interested and while Gracie secretly yearns to be an artist, she feels a responsibility to keep her parents’ dream alive. But then she starts getting letters from the landlord, requesting to buy out the remaining years of the lease. Gracie can’t deal with it, so she keeps tossing the letters into the trash.

Meanwhile, she is on this new blind dating app and messaging with a man she calls Sir – no names, no personal information. But his messages are the highlight of her day, and he feels the same way. They keep messaging but haven’t met.

When Sebastian, the landlord, shows up in the champagne store, Gracie knows she can’t put it off any longer. She lets him know in no uncertain terms that she is not giving up the lease, no matter what enticements he is offering. It doesn’t help that he is gorgeous, and there is a strong attraction between them. But she is determined to keep the store going, despite the fact that she is struggling to make ends meet. Sebastian keeps showing up at the different events Gracie is throwing in hopes of drumming up more business, and she can’t help but start falling for him, despite the problems he is causing her.

So while the online couple is growing closer, the real life couple is seriously butting heads. There are a lot of laughs here in this is a super fun read. If you don’t love You’ve Got Mail, there is a lot to love here. The main characters are well developed and grow as the story progresses, and the secondary characters play their supporting roles beautifully. As their virtual and real lives start to collide, you can’t help rooting for their happy ending. Don’t miss this entertaining and satisfying read.

7/2021 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

TO SIR, WITH LOVE by Lauren Layne. Gallery Books (June 29, 2021). ISBN: 978-1982152819. 288 pages.

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