MyTiredBrain

It was a cute, quick read. At times the flipping between the past and present was frustrating to me. I wanted to stay in the present. And Thea narrating her thoughts and life felt a little contrived to me. Otherwise I really enjoyed it. Thea and Alex met as they walked to Thea’s ex-husband’s house, and realize their exes have jumped into a relationship with each other. Thea and Alex pretend to be long-lost lovers, and that lie becomes the basis for a deep friendship. Both seem to yearn for more, but both have been burned by love in the past. It’s a lot of “will-they, won’t-they,” but I liked their interactions.  I’m not sure the book will be overly memorable, but it was enjoyable. Thea’s interactions with Alex’s daughter were sweet. The way Alex’s ex was portrayed was well done too. (8)

It was cute. It felt like it took a while to get going, and it lagged in parts. There was a bit too much internal dialogue for my tastes. The romance part felt weak to me, and the killer was exactly who I expected it to be. It was a fine cozy mystery, but there was no grit. Emersyn is raising her niece after her brother dies of cancer. (So she’s Auntie Em.) She gets fired from her waitressing job, so she’s job hunting in order to figure out a way to stay afloat. She’s broke because an ex-boyfriend ran off with her savings. Her friend devises a plan to get Em’s money back - buy fake detective business cards and make him think he’s under surveillance for theft. The cards say “Wyatt” because Emersyn always equated that name with sexy romance leads. Then she meets a mysterious Wyatt while trying to confront her ex. Finally, a guy in her apartment building dies, and Em is “hired” to solve the crime. It was farcical in places, with the elderly people in the building all helping to investigat...

Quick read, but not exactly light. Heavy focus on surviving a traumatic event and communication difficulties. Ros and Vin’s rock solid marriage is in danger after they survive a near-death experience. They try to keep their shakiness from Raffi, Ros’ best friend and Vin’s brother. He’s the most fragile of the three of them and suffered the worst injuries from the accident. Both Ros and Vin seek out ways to manage their grief and fear. Ros takes a drawing class and meets new friends. Vin goes to therapy and takes active measures to work on his communication. For my memory: a car crashes into a cafe where Ros, Vin, Raffi, and another gentleman are sitting. Vin saves Ros by diving on top of her. Both suffer from PTSD. Ros finds a lease and thinks Vin plans to move out. Vins sees Ros making new friends and moving on, and he thinks maybe he should give her space to heal. They aren’t communicating and are sleeping in separate rooms. Vin never signed the lease,  and only brought it home t...

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.