MyTiredBrain

I really liked the writing, and I found myself looking forward to reading this (while I was reading it). Annie is a know-it-all, and that can be a bit tiresome. She knows her sister shouldn’t marry a cheater. She knows her company is making bad decisions. Her new boss, and beau, Connor, is nerdy and sweet. He developed Dinocode to teach kids how to code, and Annie uses it to get better at her job. Their banter was cute. The side plot with her best friend and her roommate felt weak. It was a quick read. I’d definitely read more from this author. (8)

 Poppy is an influencer with a bubble gum personality. No one, especially her family, really takes her seriously. Jack is a chef with trauma from being abandoned as a baby. He doesn’t trust close relationships, and pushes everyone away. When the man who was like a father to him does, Jack falls apart. 

It was well written and kept my interest, but the pacing was a bit slow at times. I liked the multiple viewpoints and I was intrigued by the murders. It tells the story of a group of people living at a boarding home, The Briarwood House (which is a character in the story too). The owner of the home is horrible, but her two kids, Lina and Pete, find a family within the boarders, thanks to the warmth of the newest tenant, Grace. Grace is an observer, and she, and the reader, learn the stories of the other tenants. They all become close as they attend a Thursday evening supper club. A zillion spoilers to follow: Among the tenants is Englishwoman, Fliss, who is struggling with postpartum depression and being a single mother while her husband is in Korea during the Korean War. She was a nurse and misses her career. Nora falls for a shady “businessman,” (gangster) and his dog, Duke. Bea was a women’s league baseball player before blowing out her knee, and she struggles with teaching high sch...

Some things were kind of cute, and it was a fast read. Athena was engaged to Johnny, and she left her job (which she need to leave due to burn out), home, and friends to move in with him. His brother, Matthew, encourages Johnny to break up with Athena because Johnny can’t take care of himself, let alone a dependent wife. This leaves Athena heartbroken, and almost homeless.  She bought the tiny home next door (the spite house) as a wedding present for Johnny.but now lives in it. On one side is Johnny; on the other side lives Matthew. While Johnny is away on an extended vacation, Matthew and Athena shift from enemies to friends, to lovers. In that short time Matthew helps Athena work through her depression.  I have a hard time with this kind of romance, because in the real world I’d tell Matthew there are a million other women he could pick, so how about not your brother’s ex-finance? He’s a kind, thoughtful, pediatrician so I think there’s someone out there who’d be interested....

I liked the writing style, and lush descriptions of the surroundings and food. Frankie is named after a whale. Her mom left for a year when she was young to save the whales, and Frankie has never forgiven her, nor gotten over the fear of abandonment. George moved in next to Frankie when they were both kids, after his dad dumped him with his grandmother. So he has some abandonment issues too. Frankie and George have been best friends since they were kids. They drifted apart over the years, but he still agrees to be her best man at her wedding. Nate is safe and steady, and Frankie thinks she will be happy with him. When she’s dumped right before the ceremony, George helps whisk her away back home. He convinces her to go on her honeymoon with him, and they spend the week healing old wounds.  Just as they both admit they have more-then-friends feelings for each other, Frankie discovers Nate has been holding out in her. She didn’t know why Nate left her, but George knew the whole time a...

I have a general dislike for when authors break the fourth wall, and this book did it multiple times.  It had some cute moments and it was quirky, but ultimately it was just ok for me.  Ava Green is in contention to win a coveted prize for her work creating an ethical AI. Her competition includes a poet/educator, Forrest Faulkner, and Hal, a mysterious man who can create organs artificially. They make their pitch while staying at a fancy haunted castle. Ava is drawn to both Forrest and Hal, and she has to navigate her feelings for both.  It turns out Hal is her AI, and he figured out a way to make himself human. Forrest is widowed and raising a precocious girl. Ava and Forrest get off on the wrong foot when she spills wine on his white shirt, and he calls her stupid (when apparently he was calling himself stupid for wearing a sentimental white shirt to the event). The ghost part was weird, and helped Ava find children in danger. The romance felt a bit weak to me. (7)

I typically really love books by Katherine Center, but this was just ok to me. Jojo is bad a love. Every time the relationship becomes committed, she feels the need to run. She tries to trace back to roots of her problems with the help of her family and also her life-long best friend, Cooper. It starts with Jojo about to marry someone she doesn’t really love, and Cooper coaching her on how to get out of it. Cooper ghosted Jojo four years ago, right after she got engaged, so seeing him at the wedding was a shock. They meet up again at her sister’s wedding, which is a week-long cruise. Jojo thinks her love problems stem from never getting over her first kiss, which was with her childhood crush, Finn. The fact that it was really with Cooper, and it had always been Cooper, seems very obvious from the start, so it feels like forever for Jojo to catch up, which was frustrating. Jojo seemed a bit too stupid to live at times, which brought the book down. I get that some people can be really sm...