MyTiredBrain

I liked the writing style, and the descriptions of the food and scenery were really strong. Olive Stone’s estranged father dies and leaves her his struggling restaurant. His devotion to the restaurant over his family is what caused the estrangement, so Olive wants to sell it and collect the money as soon as possible. The chef there, Leo Ricci, wants her to keep it and let him update the restaurant and menu in a way that her father refused.  Before she can settle that issue, she has to finish her father’s cookbook, which is on deadline and needs the last three chapters completed. Olive must travel with Leo to three regions in Italy to come up with recipes and stories to fulfill the obligation. Leo uses the time to sell his vision of the restaurant. Olive comes to terms with the reasons for the estrangement. And of course, the two discover feelings for each other along the way.  This reads almost more like women’s fiction than romance, as Olive’s emotional journey is more centra...

I enjoyed First Time Caller, and Jackson panic-babbling about the weather to kill radio time was one of my favorite parts of that book. So I was excited to read a book starring Jackson, and this didn’t let me down. I’m a fan of B.K. Borison, and I’m excited there will be at least one more book in the series (although I imagine at least two more). Jackson gives weather reports for the local Baltimore radio station. Delilah gives the occasional weather reports for a Baltimore TV station, but is usually given the worst assignments because her boss is horrible. Jackson is a buttoned-up list follower who is suspicious of fun. His mom ditched him and his sisters to chase fun, so he’s now the guardian of two 15-year-old girls, and he worries that his serious nature is having a negative impact on them. Delilah is manic pixie, but wants to be taken seriously. They’re tasked to jointly cover a huge blizzard, and they realize their differences compliment each other. Delilah and help Jackson light...

This is a tough one for me. There were several times I felt like not finishing the book, but I pretty much never DNF. It had some good points - some of the writing was sharp and funny. Ok, that might be the only good points oh, wait, I like the description of Costa Rica, and I was even in one of the parks she wrote about, so it brought me back to that.  The plot wasn’t good. Single mom Lulu goes on a vacation in Costa Rica after being suspended from her job as a teacher. It’s some sort of pickleball retreat, and her high school ex, Tyler, is there after he torched his pro pickleball career. Ok, sure. There were just so many plot elements that felt unnatural and only there to support the plot. They end up traveling around Costa Rica to teach pickleball and do adventurous stuff, which didn’t feel realistic and felt like it was just to have Lulu and Tyler in stressful situations. For the first half of the book Lulu thinks Tyler’s still married (It’s a romance, so the reader already kn...

Brooke Sinclair gets booted out of University as a result of a forbidden relationship with TA Jack Sutherland. Her dreams of being a writer fell apart with the expulsion, but a new opportunity finally comes her way when her writing mentor, Mhairi, asks her to co-write a biography. Mhairi created a popular hiking route, and to capture that adventurous spirit, Brooke opts to literally follow in her footsteps. The catch - Jack is also going along to take photos for the book.  It’s dual perspective and dual timeline, which felt choppy at times. I felt their whirlwind romance and gutted through when it all fell apart. The book focuses a lot on following your dreams (Jack is hesitant to let his family down but has no desire to join the family’s tour-guide business, and Brooke has imposter syndrome when it comes to writing.) The scenes with Mhairi were the most touching. I’d read another book by this author. (7.75)

This book is perfectly fine. It was cute, and a quick read. The characters were likable enough. Daphne McFadden is tired of query letter rejections, so she pretends her new book is written by a man. Suddenly she has an offer for representation, so she hires Chris Stanton to be the face on the back of the book. But then the book sells a bajillion copies so Chris now needs to stand in and do interviews and a tour. He pretends to live a her house for an interview. There is a jealous neighbor who eventually connects some dots. Meanwhile sparks (sort of) fly. I didn’t feel the sparks so much. He’s a really buff hottie and she spends a lot of time ogling him, but their connection felt sudden to me. She’s at risk of being outed and has to decide if she wants to step out into the limelight. The consequences of her decision seemed like a nothingburger and were resolved in a couple lines.  I’d read another Kelley Armstrong book. 

There was a lot of emotional stuff in this book. Macy and Elliot pretty much fell for each other at first sight, when Macy caught Elliot trespassing in the closet when she was touring her new summer cabin. He lived next door to the cabin, and through their shared love of reading, and Elliot refusing to dance around the topic of Macy’s mom’s death, they became best friends. In time they became everything to each other. The book bounces back and forth from then to eleven years later, when they haven’t spoken in over a decade.  They bump into each other at a coffee shop, and it unbalances Macy’s safe life. She’s engaged but not in love. Elliot dumps his girlfriend right away. As for why they became estranged, it’s definitely drawn out in the book for dramatic effect. Elliot is at a party, drunk, and he calls Macy, professing his love and desire to get married. She goes to him and finds him naked with an ex-girlfriend. She leaves in an emotional heap, and her father comes to get her. O...

It was a sexy book. The conflict felt a bit contrived, and the clumsiness over the top, but otherwise it was good. Layla Dupree runs the bakery at Lovelight Farms. She wants to find love, but she has had a string of horrible dates. She bumps into Caleb Alvarez during one horrible date, and they agree to practice date, since neither of them have had any luck with love. Their dates are cute, at a roller rink and an escape room, and both struggle with their growing feelings toward each other. Layla essentially panics and dumps Caleb, and he has to wait her out a bit. Caleb’s abuela and family were entertaining, and I liked the scene with rival baker, Bea. Basically a dirty Hallmark movie book. (8)