Book Review, Fiction, Romance

The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪.5
Genre: Romance

When Emma is recruited to help rewrite a rom-com screenplay with her hero Charlie Yates she can’t believe her luck. That is, until she gets to L.A. and realizes Charlie has no interest in her being there. Emma was already hard-pressed to leave her dad, who needs full-time care and she’s determined not to let the opportunity go to waste, despite Charlie’s resistance.

I loved Charlie and Emma’s slow burn romance and his initial grumpiness and general lack of understanding as to what constitutes a ‘romance’ script. Allowing Emma to explain (and show him) how romances work was a really fun way for the tension between them to grow while staying aligned with the storyline of two writers.

Emma’s backstory was woven throughout the narrative and allowed you to understand her and all she had been through and to feel for her as a character. It added depth to the story that made it feel more rounded than a fluffy romance.

My big issue with this book was the ending which completely came out of left field and felt tacked on. It was super unnecessary and really let me down after such a wonderfully crafted 95% of the book.

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
The Rom-Commers on Goodreads
Buy The Rom-Commers at an indie bookstore near you

Book Review, Fiction

Sandwich by Catherine Newman ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪
Genre: Fiction

Sandwich follows Rocky and her family during their annual week in Cape Cod. Rocky is navigating menopause and the ensuing changing relationship with herself, while also navigating her changing relationships with her grown children. The way she narrates is really honest and quirky. I loved that I learned her personality through her unexpected descriptions of things happening around her.

We get a number of flashbacks, most notably focusing on Rocky’s miscarriages and her experiences as a young mother. This adds a pervasive heaviness to the book and paints a picture of a nuanced life.

I really appreciated reading about the shifting dynamics in the family and the way that things from the past informed present actions. The writing style was unusual in a wonderful way and the fact that everything was wrapped up in a summer week at the cape was such an interesting way to explore the family’s history.

This definitely isn’t a fun, light beach read, but it is a quick read and a compelling story (albeit a bit repetitive in Rocky’s internal monologue at times).

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
Sandwich on Goodreads
Buy Sandwich at an indie bookstore near you

Book Review, Fiction, thriller

The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪
Genre: Thriller

The Midnight Feast gave big White Lotus energy, focusing on an exclusive new resort and four people in its orbit: the founder, her husband, a guest, and someone who worked there. The four perspectives wove together the history of the resort and the land it was built on and the mysteries surrounding the area. Specifically, it touched on everyone’s experience with ‘The Birds,’ a mysterious group of people dressed as birds who seemed to wreak havoc on the area.

We know from early on that the resort has been burned down and at least one person has died. As the detectives in this future narrative piece together what happened, we learn the context from various perspectives. The parts of the story set in the past, many of which were communicated through journal entries, were really compelling and showed a lot about characters’ personalities and childhood experiences that informed who they became.

The whole “birds” thing seemed really random to me and honestly I never really understood it. I’m not sure why it was a necessary element in the story at all and the parts of the book talking about it didn’t move the story along for me. I would have liked it more if the book stuck to focusing on the intricate inter-character dynamics which I really enjoyed. Everyone was hiding something and it was intriguing to see everything come to light.

The setting was so well written and I could perfectly visualize the resort and the surroundings and came to understand the history behind the land. It was moody and atmospheric and made for such an unsettling backdrop for everything unfolding.

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
The Midnight Feast on Goodreads
Buy The Midnight Feast at an indie bookstore near you

Book Review, Fiction, Magical Realism, Romance

A Novel Love Story by Ashley Poston ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪.5
Genre: Magical Realism

When Elsy’s friends bail on their annual book club cabin trip, she decides to go by herself for some much needed “me time.” On her way, her car breaks down in a town that feels all too familiar: it’s the town from her favorite romance series, which was never finished due to the author’s death. Elsy knows the town by heart except for the bookstore owner, Anders. Convinced that the town must be trapped where the late author stopped writing, Elsy decides to see if she can move the story forward.

I loved the storybook setting and the way that classic romance tropes were played out. It really felt like a book within a book and I enjoyed getting to know the characters and the town of Eloraton, as well as seeing how much the series meant to Elsy. The way she used the books as escapism (and then literally escaped into them) was relatable and helped me understand her.

The setting itself was so cozy and Hallmark-y. The way it always rained at night, the same smells around the town, it was really cute and fun to read about. I also appreciated the growing attraction between Elsy and Anders and trying to figure out the mystery of who he was to the story.

The main qualm I had with this book was that the ending felt incredibly rushed and I had a bit of whiplash. The magical elements were also never explained, which I didn’t really care about, but some people might find frustrating.

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
A Novel Love Story on Goodreads
Buy A Novel Love Story at an indie bookstore near you

Book Review, Fiction, Romance

Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪.5 
Genre: Romance

Justin and Emma both have a “curse” where everyone they dates goes on to find their soulmate right after they break up. When Emma learns about Justin’s predicament via a Reddit thread, she DMs him and they strike up a deal to date each other in the hopes that their curses will cancel out.

The couple’s banter, especially over DM at the beginning of the book was so fun and flirty and I was excited to see how they would ultimately come together. Once they do, however, things are much heavier than I initially anticipated from this book. Emma’s mom shows up, bringing with her the toxicity Emma has had to deal with throughout her life and introducing mental health struggles, which remain persistent through the book. Justin meanwhile has to take custody of his younger siblings. It was….a lot.

The romance took a back seat once all the other threads of the book were introduced, which is fine, but it did lose some of its sparkle and made me care less about whether the main characters ended up together.

Outside of the romance, the other parts of the story painted compelling images of different types of families and friendships. I really enjoyed the writing style and could picture every step of the way. Jimenez really knows how to make a setting come alive. I would recommend going into this one not thinking it as a romance so much as general contemporary fiction.

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
Just for the Summer on Goodreads
Buy Just for the Summer at an indie bookstore near you

Book Review, Fiction, Historical Fiction

By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪
Genre: Historical Fiction
Release Date: August 20, 2024 (Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC)

By Any Other Name is a split narrative told in both the present, following a playwright named Melina, and in the 1500’s, exploring the story of Emilia as she comes of age. Although the women live wildly different lives, they both exist in a patriarchy and their explorations of what it meant to live as a woman in each time period were powerful.

Initially, I was much more drawn into Melina’s storyline and her relationship with her best friend as they struggle to make it in the New York City theater industry. I loved their relationship and their banter and could sense how much Melina wanted her play to succeed and the desperation she felt to do whatever it took to make that happen.

Emilia’s story really grew on me. We follow her from a young age as she is sent to be the mistress of a much older man. Through his guidance and wealth, she is able to experience art and literature unavailable to most women at the time. Her life took many turns throughout the story and was often hard to read about. The abuse she experienced and her selflessness in the face of her circumstances made me care deeply for her.

I appreciated the way the two narratives were woven together and we come to see how Melina is actually bringing Emilia’s story to the world. It was such a creative and well executed to tie together the two women.

It’s clear that tremendous research went into writing this book and it was all the more captivating to find out how much truth there was in this fictional story. There was also an unexpected romance that I found heartfelt. I appreciated that it didn’t overwhelm the narrative, but allowed us to see additional sides to certain characters.

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
By Any Other Name on Goodreads
Buy By Any Other Name at an indie bookstore near you

Book Review, Fiction

Swan Song by Elin Hilderbrand ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪
Genre: Romance

I love when Elin Hilderbrand’s books include a mystery and Swan Song did just that. Told in alternating storylines, it follows Coco who gets a job as a personal concierge or the wealthy Richardson couple who are new to Nantucket. In the past, she can’t believe her luck at landing the role until she realizes just how chained to the Richardsons she will have to be. In the future storyline, she has mysteriously disappeared.

As always with this series, I loved the character dynamics, the descriptions of the island in the summer, and the drama. Each character is so distinct and their interactions with each other feel real. I couldn’t wait to see how things would reach the inevitable tipping point that led to Coco’s disappearance. There were a lot of descriptions of lavish parties thrown by the Richardsons and honestly, they got kind of old. I understood that they were over the top try-hards, but didn’t need soooo many similar events to get the point across. They slowed the story down for me.

It seemed like Hilderbrand was maybe a bit nostalgic writing her last Nantucket book and included a lot of easter eggs and references to her other stories. This was fun to some extent but felt like it interfered a bit with the flow of the story at some point. Nonetheless, as an avid reader of her books, it was a fun way to say goodbye to these characters and this fictionalized Nantucket.

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
Swan Song on Goodreads
Buy Swan Song at an indie bookstore near you

Book Review, Fantasy, Fiction

The Lost Story by Meg Shaffer ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪.5
Genre: Fantasy

Meg Shaffer is great at coming up with concepts for her fantasy novels that somehow don’t feel entirely fantastical. Jeremy and Rafe disappeared in the forest for six months when they were kids only to reappear healthier than ever with no information about what had happened to them. In the present, Jeremy finds missing people as his profession and is not in contact with Rafe. That is, until Emilie comes to Jeremy asking for help finding her sister and Jeremy knows it’s time for them to venture back to the forest as a group.

This book was inspired by The Chronicles of Narnia and it definitely has the charm of a fairy tale. It was so comforting to get lost in this kind of world as an adult. Seeing inside the imagination of someone else was such a treat. That said, it was also imbued with a seriousness from the things that each character had dealt with in their life. The relationships of each of the three main characters with their families were nuanced and helped me to understand their motivations. There were definitely some heavy themes that made the urge to escape to the fantastical all the more understandable.

The magical world was whimsical and fun and I liked Rafe and Jeremy, but Emilie and another main character fell pretty flat for me and much of the second half of the book felt rushed. Overall an enjoyable read.

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
The Lost Story on Goodreads
Buy The Lost Story at an indie bookstore near you

Book Review, Fiction, Romance

Daisy Haites by Jessa Hastings ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪.5
Genre: Romance

Daisy Haites is the second book in the Magnolia Parks series and focuses, obviously, on Daisy, but includes many of the same characters as the first book. Daisy was raised by her brother Julian, who runs a gang, after their parents were murdered in front of them as kids. Obviously, there’s a lot of baggage there. Much of the book is a will-they-won’t-they romance with Daisy and Christian, who have been casually hooking up for a while but both begin to realize they might want more.

I was really rooting for the romance in this book and there was such a good build up. Daisy and Christian were fun to see together. I liked the unfolding of their realizations of the extent of their feelings for one another. There were, however, one too many big twists that impacted the romance and seemed unnecessary. There didn’t need to be a wrench thrown their way every step of the way.

Julian’s perspective and honestly his whole gang deal were laughable. In my opinion, it added nothing of substance to the story. I think that all could have been cut and the book would not have suffered. Maybe just give Daisy a normal supportive brother?

As per book one, the drama just kept coming in the best of ways and I ate up the tangled web of gossip between these super rich twenty-somethings.

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
Daisy Haites on Goodreads
Buy Daisy Haites at an indie bookstore near you

Book Review, Fiction, thriller

Middle of the Night by Riley Sager ~ Book Review

Morgan

My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪
Genre: Thriller

When Ethan was ten, he had a sleepover in a tent on his lawn with his best friend Billy. In the morning, Billy was gone and all that was left behind was a gash in the tent. Now, Ethan has returned to his hometown as an adult and finds himself haunted by the feeling that Billy is still there. He begins to reconnect with his neighbors in an effort to dig back into the past.

This story flashes back to the past and we come to realize that there was more to Billy and Ethan’s friendship at the time of Billy’s disappearance. That combined with a mysterious institute in the woods nearby point more and more to something sinister.

We get a lot of different perspectives and points of view in this book and it was very hard to keep track of all the characters. Most of them had pretty watery descriptions so there was nothing to help keep them straight. This alone made me less invested in the story than many of Sager’s other books.

I really enjoyed the atmosphere of the story with the spooky institute in the woods and the return to a childhood neighborhood that seems somewhat trapped in time (granted, I found it unbelievable that so many of Ethan’s childhood friends moved back there).

My biggest issue with this book was why someone would cut a gash in the tent instead of just unzipping it lol. For some reason that premise that the whole mystery was based on really threw me off.

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
Middle of the Night on Goodreads
Buy Middle of the Night at an indie bookstore near you