MyTiredBrain

The third book in the When in Rome series. Emily and Jack have been enemies ever since they met in college. When he got engaged and moved away, Emily should have felt relief, but instead it felt like a piece of her was missing. For a control freak like Emily, it has been disconcerting. So when she discovers Jack broke off the engagement and is moving back, she is ready to give him the cactus treatment to make him stay away.  Jack finds odd pleasure in sparring with Emily, and life without her has felt flat. He buys a house next door to Emily, and their fighting turns into something more. Jack is a secret best-selling author. Emily wrote a romance novel. She drunk sends it to her boss, and Jack helps her delete the email. Jack has a narcissistic father and a too-kind mother, so he struggles to support his mom while dealing with his dad. Emily is struggling with her sisters and brother moving on while she is anxious and stagnated. When her parents died young, Emily was the one who he...

It was cute but not overly memorable. When Lily’s local soccer team decides to move to another town, her family decide to start a new local team. The first few chapters are about her, her father, her sister, and other townsfolk working together to get the team off the ground. One of the players on their new team has a famous soccer player brother, named Ben Pryce. He is currently suspended for an altercation with a fan, so he spends his time cheering on his brother and wooing Lily. The book feels more Ted Lasso and less romance, but Lily and Ben have their moments.  Ben is finally allowed to return to his team, but his publicist insists he be seen dating an up-and-coming actress to help Ben repair his image. This puts a strain on Ben and Lily’s relationship. It also felt very contrived to me. (7.75)

It was a cute read. I’m getting a little tired of books with main characters who need money to keep gram gram in the nice nursing facility, but that may be just me. Anywho, Olive needs money to keep her beloved grandmother in the swanky assisted living. When her argument with her actor boyfriend, Chuck, goes viral, they agree to participate in a reality tv show to live together for a month despite a nasty breakup. Olive is the scandalous baby of a famous affair, and she’s always felt ashamed of her existence. Her parents died when she was young, and she felt guilt and sympathy for the woman (a famous actor) her parents scorned. Meanwhile Chuck has been labeled a problem actor, and can’t get a job. Their time filming the reality show is full of set ups for romance and conflict.  Olivia’s father married an actress to help the actress stay in the US and advance her career, but they were never in love. It was a business arrangement. When her father met her mother, their relationship wa...

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...