Posted on by Maureen

All Girls by Emily Layden

Books that take place at a boarding school are my favorite, so needless to say, I was very excited about the opportunity to read All Girls.

As the prestigious Atwater School prepares to welcome its students back for a new school year, they encounter an unexpected surprise: signboards along the local roads, except instead of presenting a jovial message like the Burma Shave ads of almost a century ago, they announce that the school is harboring a rapist.

Naturally, this sends shockwaves through the entire Atwater community. Rather than presenting one girl’s experience at school like Sittenfeld’s Prep, this book presents a cohesive narrative of the school year through the eyes of a series of girls. While the scandal—a student from 25 years ago has accused an unnamed male faculty member of coercing her into a sexual relationship when she was a senior—is always in the background, the main themes are much more about American girlhood than this particular scandal. The students are from different cultural and socio-economic backgrounds; they also have different interests, presenting the breadth of the student body at a place like Atwater.

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Posted on by Maureen

As Far As You’ll Take Me by Phil Stamper

After graduating from high school a year early, Marty moves to London. He’s a talented oboe player, but he’s not going to the conservatory like he planned, but his parents don’t exactly know that. He’s supposed to be going to church every Sunday, but he’s not doing that either. Marty came out to his parents last year, but it didn’t go very well. Still, they’ve allowed him to go to London, and Marty’s determined to make the most of it.

Marty is always looking for places to showcase his musical talent; there isn’t a lot of demand for an oboe player, but the opportunities he finds prove to be rewarding. He’s also coming to terms with being out. Back home, he’s only out to his parents and his two best friends, but in London, he can be fully out, and that means that he can find a boyfriend.

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Posted on by Maureen

Wonderstruck by Allie Therin

I have been waiting for the conclusion of the Magic in Manhattan trilogy for nine months, and now it’s finally here! The plot picks up after the events of Starcrossed. Ace and Rory and their supernatural friends are still trying to stop the big villains before they unleash utter destruction on the world. This probably doesn’t make sense if you haven’t read the rest of the series, but I’m keeping the details vague so as to not spoil the first 2/3 of a trilogy.

But for those of you who have read the other books, Wonderstruck is an absolute treat. Rory is still as grumpy as ever, and some of the funniest scenes involved defending slights—both real and perceived—against his beloved Ace. As Rory would say, this book isn’t just mushy lovey dovey stuff: there’s plenty of action and a couple of real close moments where you aren’t sure if everybody is going to come out okay.

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Posted on by Maureen

Make Up Break Up by Lily Menon

Annika Dev is the founder of Make Up, a dating app to help couples with relationship problems. She’s horrified to find out that her company is going to be in the same building as Break Up, an app that helps people end relationships. Ani had a summer fling with Hudson Craft—Break Up’s founder—and she’s pretty sure that he stole the idea for his app from her. Needless to say, she’s less than thrilled to see him again, especially since he’s so different from the man she met over the summer.

And of course, all of a sudden, Hudson is *everywhere* and Ani can’t avoid him. Not only does she run into him at the office, but she also finds him at her yoga class and at the same restaurant—the man is practically omnipresent, but not in a creepy way.

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Posted on by Maureen

The Beautiful Things Shoppe by Philip William Stover

New Hope, PA is a special town with a strong LGBTQ+ community. It is the perfect place for Prescott to open his antique store and for Danny to open his vintage toy store.

Unbeknownst to them, their mutual friend has purposefully rented the same store to these two men, intending for each to have half of the space.

Naturally, this simply will not do: Prescott thinks Danny is a slob and Danny thinks Prescott is a snob. Both men believe that sharing the store will be disastrous for their respective businesses, but they have no choice. They’re going to have to work together if they want to succeed.

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Posted on by Maureen

For Better or Cursed by Kate Williams

My thirteen year old daughter asked me to request this book because she enjoyed the first book in the series so much. Here is her review:

For Better or For Cursed is the sequel to The Babysitters Coven, so if you haven’t read that book, you need to do so before reading this one.

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Posted on by Maureen

This is Not the End by Sidney Bell

Anya is married to Zac, a rock star, and while marriage and a baby have led them to a more sedate lifestyle than what once knew, they have brought a third person into their relationship many times. These have always been one-time encounters, and that’s fine with Anya and Zac. After all, they weren’t looking for anything deeper than that.

But then Anya realizes that she’s attracted to Cal, Zac’s best friend and bandmate, and neither Anya nor Zac knows how to process these feelings. Cal doesn’t know about the open relationship, and furthermore, if the feelings aren’t reciprocated—or even if they are and things take a bad turn—the aftermath could do permanent damage to Zac and Cal’s two decades of friendship.

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Posted on by Maureen

The Worst Duke in the World by Lisa Berne

While I don’t want to take too much time talking about myself in a book review, I do want to explain my sporadic review writing over the last few months. In short, 2020 was a year to be remembered, and it was often difficult to find the motivation to read and write. Fortunately, thanks to many—to borrow a word from this very book—charming things to read, I am hopefully back on the road to productivity.

But on to the book!

Jane Kent is a penniless waif who shows up on the doorstep of the esteemed Penhallow manse. She claims to have a connection to the family, and the letter she produces, as well as the strong family resemblance, is all the Penhallows need to take her in as one of their own.

Although Jane is twenty years old, she has never received a formal education, and arrangements are made for her receive tutelage from the local vicar, whose only other pupil is eight-year-old Wakefield Farr, the only son of the Duke of Radcliffe, the titular worst duke in the world.

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Posted on by Maureen

Teddy Spenser Isn’t Looking for Love by Kim Fielding: Review and Excerpt

Book Details

About the Book

Title: Teddy Spenser Isn’t Looking for Love

Author: Kim Fielding

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Imprint: Carina Press (Carina Adores)

On Sale: December 29, 2020

Format: Trade Paperback

Price: $14.99 U.S.

ISBN: 9781335971999

Book Description: Some people search their whole lives to find love. He just wants to avoid it.

Teddy Spenser spends his days selling design ideas to higher-ups, living or dying on each new pitch. Stodgy engineer types like Romeo Blue, his nemesis—if you can call someone who barely talks to you a nemesis—are a necessary evil. A cute necessary evil.

Working together is bad enough, but when their boss puts them both on a new high-stakes project, “working together” suddenly means:

  • sitting uncomfortably close on the same plane,
  • staying in the same hotel room—with only one bed—and
  • spending every waking minute together.

Turns out Mr. Starched Shirt has some hidden depths, and it’s getting harder to ignore the spark Teddy feels with every brush of their hands, with every knowing look. He might not have been looking for this connection with Romeo, but will he ever be ready to let him go?

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Posted on by Maureen

Admission by Julie Buxbaum

Chloe is a high school senior living in Los Angeles. Her mother starred in two popular television shows as well as Hallmark movies. Her mother also engaged in an elaborate scheme of cheating and bribery in order to help Chloe get into college.

The narrative alternates between Then and Now, exploring the dual perspectives of the events that preceded Chloe’s mother’s arrest as well as what she and her family do after being implicated in the scandal.  

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