MyTiredBrain

This is the kind of book that sticks with you for a while. It took a while for me to get through it. Like India, it was a little too much and all over the place, but also impressive in its too-muchness. It takes a long time for Sonia and Sunny to actually meet, and it’s so wordy, with interwoven stories, that at times it felt like a slog. Still very impressive in its richness. At times it was too purple for my liking, but it was still obviously well written.  Sonia moves from India to the US for college, and ends up meeting a mercurial artist. He preys on her loneliness, abuses and belittles her, then abandons her, but not before keeping one of Sonia’s most cherished possessions, a family heirloom amulet. In her loneliness and desperation, Sonia accepts her father’s offer of an arranged marriage. He reaches out to a family he knows with the marriage proposition.  Sunny lives in New York with his mid-western American girlfriend. When his mother in India sends the arranged marri...

It’s always a good sign when right after I finish the book I look up the author to see what else she has written. This was sweet and well written. I didn’t 100% feel the chemistry/tension but I like the two main characters’ interactions.  Ciara Sheridan’s father is basically George R.R. Martin, and he just died, leaving Ciara with a beloved estate in Ireland. To pay for the home’s expenses, Ciara agrees to write the final book in his uber-popular series. But she’s blocked by grief, indecision, and insecurities. Sam Avery is a New York editor sent to help Ciara. He’s a huge fan of the books. They butt heads trying to get the book moving in the right direction. The local townsfolk are endearing. Sam lives for much of the book over the local pub. Sam attends a conference and accidentally discloses that Ciara is writing the book. Ciara’s best friend is intense, and in a war with someone who is cutting into her food truck business. It felt like there was another story there between her ...

Meh, it was ok. My love for Tessa Bailey books has dwindled, but I keep reading them. Eve is the small-town pariah because her father owned the local strip club. Madden moved to the small town as a teenager to get away from his abusive home in Ireland. They secretly crushed on each other since they were teens. Now Eve is 22 and inherited the strip club. And Madden is a starting catcher with the Yankees. She becomes guardian of her sister’s two kids, and agrees to marry Madden for the insurance coverage, but she insists it be in secret so she doesn’t degrade his good name. Side characters (Singer Veda and Skylar’s brother) were ok, with probable series potential.  Eve and Madden’s love felt forced dramatic to me. He needed a kidney as a teenager so she secretly donated one to him. 

Haddie Martin almost has a one-night stand with Levi Rourke, but bails at the last minute. She figures she’ll never see him again, until they find themselves trying to rent the same two-bed room apartment near the school they will both be working. They live together and struggle to maintain a platonic relationship. It was good, but nothing overly special. I’d read another book from this author.  Haddie has serious abandonment issues, and keeps everyone at arms’ length, so she is hesitant to peruse anything with Levi. He’s only planning to be at the job for one year and then move away, so her self-preservation frostiness is understandable. Levi was a college football coach who got demoted after punching a ref. He’s grieving the loss of his mother and battling the guilt of not being there. He’s now in charge of the high school soccer team, but doesn’t know much about soccer. Haddie coaches the women’s team and helps him navigate his new role. 

Tansy Perkins is a single mom and a children’s librarian. After a flood destroys her library, she has to work with grumpy Jack Reid to share space in his botanical garden. It was cute. Tansy’s insistence on independence was grating at times. Jack’s character was more likable, despite his gruff presentation. I’d read another book by this author.  Tansy and Jack first meet when Jack finds Tansy returning to the flooding library to save two birds, and he yells at her for risking her life instead of evacuating. He then saves her when she’s trapped at her house and he comes by in a rescue boat. Both are fighting for funding for their programs. They apply for the same grant which causes some tension. Jack is overprotective of his step sister, who is pregnant and has a baby in the book. Jack and Tansy’s dtr hit it off. The side-character friends were amusing at times. (7.75)

Both Grace Hastings and Eric Bancroft work for rival branches of the same dating app company tree. Grace’s focus is on a true-love app called Fate, while Eric is the face of hook-up-focused Ignite. After being dumped by her fiancé, Grace isn’t really feeling the love, and her boss is piling more and more work in her. When both Eric and Grace are both up for a big promotion, it’s (Hating) Game on. It was cute and I liked the voice.  Grace’s fiancé proposed during a large family gathering, with no pre-conversation with Grace. He tells everyone she said yes even though she was too shocked to speak. He then dumps her when she freaks out about it. Eric comes from a rich family and is known as a party boy. They go from friends to adversaries to lovers, and it was a peppy read. (9)

A second-chance love story told in past and present. Roslyn and Liam are separated and on the verge of divorce, but Roslyn hasn’t told her judgmental family yet. She’s reeling from the death of her mom, and after dropping out of med school to become an author, she doesn’t want to admit failure to her grandparents. When her grandparents invite her and Liam on a vow-renewal cruise, Liam agrees to pretend to still be a couple. I liked the writing and Roslyn’s grief was well-written.  Roslyn doesn’t really want to divorce Liam, but he became more and more distant in the marriage, never sharing information about his family. His sister would call him and he’d retreat, pushing Roslyn away. He gave her space when her mom died instead of being there for her. His own family baggage taught him that addressing problems head-on lead to bad outcomes, like when he tried to his mom away from his abusive father. The close proximity of the boat forced them to communicate, and their mutual love shine...