Review: Where Have All the Boys Gone?

Where Have All the Boys Gone? by Jenny Colgan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Pleasant, if slightly dated romantic comedy in the Katie Fforde school.

Katie works in PR in London, she, her best friend Louise and her boss Olivia all bemoan the lack of decent men in London. After being mugged in Central London Katie applies for a job doing the PR for Fairlish Forestry Commission in the Highlands of Scotland, despite having previously only done PR for things like make-up and ice-cream.

Although her boss at the Forestry Commission Harry is grumpy and looks like a younger Gordon Brown (see what I mean about dated? FYI, Gordon Brown was an MP and Prime Minister between 2007 and 2010), the amazing thing about Fairlish is the abundance of men, 16 men to every woman they say, including her boss' arch enemy, newspaperman Iain.

Harry is trying to prevent a local businessman cutting down the beautiful forests to build yet another golf course and he needs Katie's assistance. Cue much hilarity, references to painting men's bottoms blue (in Braveheart style), local radio shows, and many quaint Scottish characters. This is clearly one of Jenny Colgan's earlier novels, the humour feels a little forced, the characters a bit too quirky, as if she's trying too hard compared with something like The Bookshop on the Shore. Nevertheless, if you like the idea of our plucky heroine organising a ball for 500 people in the Laird's crumbling mansion to raise awareness of the cause, including celebrities such as Ewan McGregor and Richard and Judy (big daytime TV hosts back in the day) then this light-hearted romance could be right up your street (or glen, since this is the Highlands).

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Review: Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend

Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend by Jenny Colgan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Four and a half stars.

When Sophie Chesterton's father dies she finds her lavish lifestyle (house in Knightsbridge, cocktails in Chelsea, fake job, black Amex card, and shopping in Harrods) is a thing of the past. At first his will requires her to live off her own earnings independently for six months but when the dust settles it seems that her father was over-extended and all his assets are taken to pay his debts.

Sophie can barely afford a grotty flatshare in the Old Kent Road, sharing with four art students. She can't even afford to pay the deposit so agrees to clean the flat if the boys cover her deposit. Acting as gopher for a renowned photographer who makes his real money taking 'glamour' shots of topless models, Sophie struggles to build a new life, torn between two of her flatmates: the sultry manslut Cal and the kind sweet Eck. TBH I wasn't in any doubt who she would pick but I enjoyed the modern, adult riff on that children's classic A Little Princess, I was at home in bed with summer flu and this was just the ticket, fun, easy-reading romance.

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Review: Outmatched

Outmatched by Kristen Callihan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Parker Brown might love her job, and be great at it, but that doesn't cut any ice with her misogynist boss's boss Franklin Fairchild, he thinks permanent positions should only be offered to individuals who are committed: married; engaged; home owners etc, after all if they can't commit in their private lives how will they commit to their jobs? As the only woman in the team Parker is already struggling for acceptance so she arranges for an escort to act as her fake date at a dinner with her boss and Mr Fairchild.

Parker has arranged a date with Dean Morgan, but when his older brother, retired boxer Rhys Morgan, finds out that Dean has prostituted himself to some rich woman he is incensed and goes to meet Parker to give her a piece of his mind, but ends up taking the role of her pretend boyfriend when Mr Fairchild turns out to be a rabid fanboy.

As the pretence continues Parker and Rhys' fake relationship turns real, but when Rhys refuses to have another fight for Mr Fairchild he threatens Parker's job and her family.

I actually first read this when it was published, didn't write a review at the time and then wasn't sure what to write so I actually reread it. I have to say, this novel was easy to reread. Parker and Rhys were engaging and likable characters, I also liked Dean, Easton and Zoe and can see stories featuring one or more of them in my future (hint, hint).

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Review: French Leave

French Leave by Mark Hayden
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Vicky, Alain and Conrad take a trip to France where they engage with Druids to capture the bard Adaryn ap Owain.

This is a short but satisfying novella which takes place before and after the The Seventh Star, it ties up some loose ends but also sets up some future problems for our intrepid team.

I just love these books, the only thing that could have made it better would have been more Mina and a smidgen of Tom.

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Review: Carried Away

Carried Away by P. Dangelico
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

When a former NFL quarterback is killed in a jet-ski accident and everyone is praising him Carrie Anderson is incensed, only four years ago she broke the story of how he was a wife-beater and she retweets her story to remind the world. Unfortunately the world, and her boss, don't take kindly to her causing his family any more upset and she is promptly sacked from her job in California as gopher to Ben, a ground-breaking journalist on whom she may just have a little bit of a crush. When her sister refuses to let Carrie stay with her she is forced to return to her family home in Lake Placid.

Despite having lived in Lake Placid in her formative years, Carrie is taken by surprise by a heavy snow fall and has to be rescued by a grumpy grizzly man mountain who treats her like an imbecile. Of course the man mountain turns out to be former hockey player Jake Turner, who's career was cut short when he was the driver of a car which crashed and killed his teammate. Jake is renting a cottage at Carrie's family business, Comfort Cottages where he paints and does manly things like chop wood.

It's a classic city girl returns home in disgrace to small town, finds her small town vibe and ages to land a great job contemporary romance, with a former NHL player with a mystery thrown in to boot. Unfortunately, somewhere along the way, maybe it was the myriad issues, or the side romance, or her parents' relationship woes, or the business issues, or the drama with Ben trying to lure Carrie back to the big city I just didn't see any romance. They went straight from avoiding each other and giving evil stares to snogging as far as I can see.

I have already written this review once, then the wi-fi went down and I lost the second half and I can't be bothered to say it again. Didn't really warm to either lead character, felt that I had read each of them a 1,000 times before in other books and the same with the plot which was utterly predictable.

Sadly not for me in the same class as P. Dangelico's other books.



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Review: Kiwi Strong

Kiwi Strong by Rosalind James
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Daisy Kittredge is a nurse, she is also a woman who escaped a cult with her twin brother and she is en route to rescue two of her sisters when a series of circumstances lead to her being pushed off the road into a river by former rugby player Grayson Tamatoa.

Gray is horrified that he nearly killed Daisy and is determined to help her, even if the woman is so strong and resourceful that she rescued herself from a freezing cold river. At first it's just offering Daisy a lift to rescue her sisters but soon its a place to stay and safety after her sister's husband starts stalking them.

This book is just choc full of the feels for me, gruff former rugby player turned builder, plucky nurse, family, romance, determination, strength, love. Just from start to finish it plucks at your heart-strings and you feel yourself urging Daisy on, willing her to succeed and wanting Gray to support her always, a fabulous read that I devoured.

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Review: Anything but Easy

Anything but Easy by Susie Tate
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Four and a half stars.

Fair warning, I love Susie Tate's novels so this is a bit of a fan-girl review and I get that she might be a bit like Marmite to some readers but I loved this book.

Kira Murphy is a sexual health Registrar (doctor) with pizazz - in my mind I see her like the character of Scarlett in the film Four Weddings and a Funeral, diminutive with pink and red hair and a wacky dress sense. She is great with her patients and passionate about immunisation against genital warts (I am just wondering how I am ever going to get this review past the puritanical censor on the B&N website). She also has a secret crush on the latest Tory wunderkind MP Barclay Lucas (think British Justin Trudeau), the current Minister of State for Business, Energy and Clean Growth, who is trying to get a revolutionary new scheme through parliament.

Kira and Lucas' paths cross when she gives a verbal tongue-lashing to one of her boss' HIV patients who isn't taking his meds, the patient turns out to be Lucas' younger brother.

Kira's crazy antics, such as making tea for all the press lurking outside Lucas' palatial London home, belie a dedicated healthcare professional who is devoted to the National Health Service. Lucas just can't understand why Kira won't accept private work treating his brother away from the local NHS hospital, but when the press see her leaving his house his approval ratings soar and so he suggests they play along. What I loved most about this was that Kira went off into a romantic comedy monologue where she old Lucas she would be his fake fiancé but they would fall in love for real etc, etc (all very tongue-in-cheek) and Lucas was horrified.

This is contemporary British romantic comedy at its finest IMHO, great characters, great plot, impressive use of cockwomble as a pejorative, and truly laugh out loud at times.

A minor niggle, which might be deliberate, towards the end, on what felt like consecutive pages, there was a line which felt like a direct quote from Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman, followed by a visual reference to something that Natalie (Martine McCutcheon) does in Love Actually. Could be allusive, could be unintentional but they pulled me away from the plot a little.

Anyway, channelling Cherish Finden, one of the judges in the under-rated TV show Bake Off: The Professionals loved it, loved it, loved it! Now I am sad because I am going to have to wait months and months for another book - maybe I will re-read all the other books ...

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: Mum & Dad

Mum & Dad by Joanna Trollope
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Gus and Monica moved to Spain 25 years ago and have successfully built their own prestigious (if not necessarily financially) vineyard and farm shop. Then Gus has a debilitating stroke and things start to unwind, Monica can't run the vineyard, their eldest son Sebastian refuses, their daughter Katie is a successful London solicitor and won't which only leaves the youngest, Jake.

At first, frankly, each of the characters comes across as unpleasant, in turns snobby, misogynistic, weak, mercenary and self-centred. Little-by-little we see into the lives of Gus and Monica, their children and their spouses and their grandchildren. Things start to make more sense, the characters become more relatable, the children and their spouses in particular change their behaviours.

My biggest issue with this book is that it ends very suddenly, I actually thought my Kindle had broken when it wouldn't move to the next page. Maybe it was deliberate, leaving the reader to imagine what happens next, maybe my more regular diet of romance has conditioned me to expect everything to be wrapped up but this felt like the start of something … and then nothing. Overall, I was left feeling 'So what? What was the point?'

The writing was excellent, each of the characters (and there are a lot) is given their own voice and the reader can empathise with each in turn (well maybe not all) and I was drawn into the lives of these three generations, but I was left hanging at the end.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: Can I Give My Husband Back?

Can I Give My Husband Back? by Kristen Bailey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Let me start by saying I think the blurb for this book is very misleading, I really liked the novel but it is not what I expected from the blurb.

Emma is a pediatric heart surgeon and mother living in a fabulous house in a desirable area of London. Her ex-husband is also a surgeon and a lying, cheating waste of skin. After mourning the death of her marriage (the finale of which is shared via flashback throughout the book), Emma is finally willing to dip a little toe into the dating pool.

This is the second novel about the Callaghan sisters but it is perfectly possible to read it as a standalone novel (as I did).

Emma is in the tricky situation of trying to be the reasonable parent, career woman, caring sister and interesting date. Added to which she is dealing with the baggage of modern families eg interfering parents, dealing with the ex-in-laws, dealing with your ex-husband's new girlfriend, dealing with your sister's relationship issues and, of course an Elsa from Frozen competition.

Loved it!

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: The Dare

The Dare by Elle Kennedy
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Taylor is a curvacious, big-busted shy virgun. Her sorority continues the outdated practice of hazing new sisters and playing a charming game they call Dare or Dare. After a dare went horribly wrong and Taylor kissed a random guy who turned out to be another sister's boyfriend, Taylor has been the butt of several spiteful dares, the latest being to take one of the hottest hockey players, Conor Edwards, upstairs at the latest Greek Row party.

Conor is a recent transferee to Briar University. Originally a dirt-poor son of a working mom their lives changed forever when his mom fell in love and married a billionaire. Conor was well on his way to a life of drugs, gangs and petty crime until he was sent to Briar and he feels a complete fraud, as if people would look at him in disgust if they knew who he really was. After twelve months of taking advantage of being a young good looking hockey player and hooking up with loads of girls Conor is starting to feel like he wants something more, a connection, someone who actually sees him. Then a scared looking girl with beautiful eyes asks him to humour her and come upstairs for a bet - she emphasises that she has no designs on his body!

What follows is a classic fake romance becomes real but Conor has this low self-esteem, accentuated by the fact that he doesn't know what he wants to do in life (other than follow his step-father into his business), and Taylor worries that the romance is all an elaborate hoax and Conor will dump her in the most humiliating way possible.

I love Elle Kennedy and I have loved the Briar U series but I have to say this just seemed to be recycling old plot lines and three-quarters of the way through this book I just thought, 'meh! Read this all before in one of the earlier books' First Conor has a situation and pushes Taylor away, that gets resolved, and then Taylor has a situation and pushes Conor away, yawn.

Maybe my expectations were too high, if this was a book from an unknown author I would have rated this higher, because Elle Kennedy's writing is good, but this just lacked any originality for me - a sad way to end a series.

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Review: Artistic License

Artistic License by Katie Fforde
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Thea Orville is that quintessential Katie Fforde heroine, somehow owns a large house but earns very little money (acting as a landlady to feckless students and working part-time in a photo shop) and has artistic tendencies. On an artistic holiday in Provence which she was strong-armed into attending by her bossy neighbour Molly, aunt to one of Thea's lodgers. Thea meets a charming Irish artist called Rory who rather impulsively invites her to stay with him in Ireland. Initially Thea laughs it off as a younger man making a pass at a slightly older woman, but when confronted at Gatwick by the news that her students had thrown a raucous party and trashed the house she decides to turn straight around and fly to Ireland rather than face the mess.

Although Rory's attentions are flattering, Thea is more interested in his artistic talents which have been hidden away after his disastrous debut years earlier. Thea doesn't even have a chance to properly review the paintings before Molly descends upon Rory's tiny cottage bringing along her niece (and Thea's tenant) Petal, Petal's uncle Ben (a man who has already looked down his nose at Thea) and his son - way too many people for a small two bedroom cottage!

Thea hatches a wild scheme to open an art gallery in Cheltenham and bring Rory's art to the world, despite having no money and no prior experience! And despite Rory's clear indications of interest Thea is more interested in Ben, despite Ben making it very clear that he is not interested in a relationship, and certainly not with someone like Thea.

As always there are trials and tribulations, cute moppets, shaggy dogs, nasty ex-wives, bossy home county women and Thea in the centre of it all.

If you have read my other recent reviews of Katie Fforde's books you will know that I have a hatred of heroes who show absolutely no interest in the heroine until the very last chapter (or so it seems) and, more annoyingly, Katie Fforde's use of the word 'rape' when she means 'ravage'. I am very pleased to report that neither of these are an issue in this book.

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Review: The Year of the Crocodile

The Year of the Crocodile by Courtney Milan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A very short but utterly charming story about what happens when Tina Chen and Blake Reynolds' parents meet for the holidays, also contains a teaser for Blake's dad's romance.

Loved it.

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Review: Hold Me

Hold Me by Courtney Milan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A modern twist on You've Got Mail. Maria Lopez writes an apocalypse-centred anonymous blog which has just hit the big time, estranged from her parents since she was 12 years old, she relies heavily on the support of her brother. She has actively engaged with an individual who has been commentating on her blog for the past 18 months and they have become texting buddies through the anonymised interface.

Jay na Thalang is a Professor mentoring Maria's twin brother, already disapproving that he is engaged rather than concentrating on his career, Jay is horrified to meet Maria who he dismisses because she is beautiful and wears sexy clothes - he falls into the classic misogynist trap of thinking pretty girls can't understand STEM. At their first meeting he is unbelievably rude and continues to be so each time they meet, totally overlooking the fact that Maria understands her brother's specialist field. And of course Jay is Maria's commentator but doesn't know it.

I feel conflicted about making the next comment because TBH half of me thinks it has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not you enjoy the romantic comedy of this book. Then the other half wants to shout it from the rooftops and she won. Part of the reason I loved this book is that Maria is a trans woman and nobody cares, other than some issues about pronouns and not being able to understand certain points of view. Another reviewer noted that gender and sexuality are less important in the STEM world, although the belief that being girly somehow precludes the individual from being clever is still apparently widespread, and that is how the matter is treated in the book, it is who Maria is but it doesn't define her (I hope that makes sense).

Overall, who wouldn't love a nerdy enemies to lovers romance featuring a handsome gazillionaire adjacent college professor and a hot blogger?

Loved it and can't believe that the next books in the series are so delayed.

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Review: The Kissing Game

The Kissing Game by Marie Harte
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

DNF at 42%.

Sickly sweet heroine who works in a rough biker bar to save money for her own business, desperate to get married. German mechanic who looks like a viking and doesn't speak much. Crushing on each other but neither of them able to make the first move.

I detested Rena, sappy, marriage-obsessed, jumps to conclusions, makes ridiculous rules about what must or must not happen.

I gave it the old college try but I just had no interest in reading any more.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: A Perfect Cornish Escape

A Perfect Cornish Escape by Phillipa Ashley
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

DNF at 43%.

I was enjoying this to start with but then it just kind of ran out of steam, too cute, too predictable, too slow. Maybe in a different time or a different mood I could have enjoyed this but I put this down and just couldn't summon up the enthusiasm to pick it up again.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

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Review: Second Thyme Around

Second Thyme Around by Katie Fforde
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Perdita Dylan has a small specialist nursery growing unusual vegetables and herbs for the local restaurants and health club. She is making a precarious living, helped by the fact that her neighbour, Mrs Kitty Ansen, allows her to use her grounds for Perdita's polytunnels.

When delivering her usual daily boxes of vegetables, salads and herbs to the local hotel restaurant she is dismayed to find out that the new chef is none other than her ex-husband Lucas, last seen a decade ago when he was a stockbroker or something equally high-pressured in the City (of London). Perdita was only 18 when they got married and the marriage broke down after Lucas started staying out all night, had an affair with an older woman, and generally behaved atrociously.

Lucas has been offered a pilot TV show and the producers want to use Perdita's tiny, picturesque cottage for filming and have Perdita herself as a side character!

Has Lucas changed and could this be a second-chance romance?

I really enjoyed this, after starting and putting down half a dozen books, including several ARCs which are overdue for a review because the books have already been published, I devoured this in a single day. However, it is a product of its time (first published in 2001 I think).

First there are some dated references to a long-defunct TV show called Changing Rooms (Katie Fforde was clearly obsessed with the show because it seems to feature in so many of her novels).

Second, and this is a particular bug bear of mine with Katie Fforde's novels, she uses the word rape where she means ravish. I truly wish her publisher would just do a search and replace in all her digital books because she uses the word in several books and uses it wrongly. Rape is a violent crime, a violation of a person and to use it to describe a consensual act

And as I didn't cuddle him, only hugged him that time he brought me home after Christmas, and didn't actually let him rape me in the ladies' powder room at Grantly House, I must have pretty much got Lucas out of my system.

is abhorrent to me.

Finally, I was rooting for Lucas until (view spoiler)[he blamed Perdita for the breakdown of their marriage

You didn't fight back, Perdita. You didn't demand that I was faithful, you didn't curse me for bringing colleagues home unexpectedly. You let me get away with murder.

If you hadn't put up with so much bad behaviour, I might have stopped behaving badly.

I'm flabbergasted, why should a wife demand her husband is faithful, it is part of the marriage vows fer crissakes and breaking that is on him, not her! (hide spoiler)].

However, notwithstanding those points, and Perdita's inability to use a mobile phone (again, she's only 30 not 90), I enjoyed this cosy second-chance romance.

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Review: Death's Door

Death's Door by April White
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Not recommended if you haven't read the Immortal Descendants series.

This is a short novella, written in the COVID period, based on the strange disappearance of the author Edgar Allan Poe for five days just before he died. April White imagines that Poe was a Clocker, although he didn't know it, who travels to present day Baltimore where he meets an extraordinary woman called Alexandra Reynolds aka Ren.

I'll be honest, I have the memory of a goldfish and I have no idea if Ren is a character from the Immortal Descendants or not. If not, then there is a lot of reading between the lines about Ren's history but I kind of like that. Being British I am not as familiar with Poe's work and life story as US readers might be, and I enjoyed learning about him in the novella and in April White's author's notes at the end.

I am definitely looking forward to reading more of the Baltimore Mysteries.

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Review: Tap - A Love Story

Tap - A Love Story by Tracy Ewens
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Two and a half stars.

I was a great fan of Tracy Ewens' books and went through a spate of reading them and requesting ARCs on NetGalley so when this book was on offer at 80p I jumped to add another to my collection, even better one of my reviews of a previous book said I was keen to read Cade's book.

Cade McNaughton and his brothers own Foghorn Brewery and he runs the bar. Recently his brothers have all found love and he is increasingly feeling like the odd man out, viewed as the good-time boy by his brothers and women when actually he is looking for his own white picket fence, wife, kids and marriage. Things culminate when an ex posts a picture of Cade asleep and naked on the pub's instagram, it attracts all the wrong kind of attention and Cade's brothers are not impressed.

Sistine Branch is the exact opposite of the women Cade dates. They are all about the bog hair, make-up, tight clothing and a good time. She is the owner of a knitting shop with old lady taste in clothes. She and Cade are friends, he is teaching her backgammon and it's a huge case of opposites attract. Obviously she is attracted to this ridiculously good-looking guy but they also share a love of words and games and have great conversations. For his part Cade realises that Sistine is one of the few women, maybe the only one outside his family, that he has real conversations with.

So far so good right? Okay the old-lady knitting shop thing is a bit cliched but I could run with that and I love a good opposites attract romance.

But Sistine has a secret. It's one of those annoying secrets that the reader doesn't find out until three-quarters of the way through the book. By that time not only was I bored of the secret that dare not say its name but when the big reveal came I was massively disappointed because frankly it was so much less exciting than I had imagined and goodness only knows why Sistine felt it was a guilty secret.

I reread one of my previous Tracy Ewens reviews to see why I liked her so much, and I quote:

she writes engaging characters with real life problems and memorable minor characters. There was angst, but not too much, humour and good plot development

Sadly, in this book I found none of the above to be true, Sistine felt like a caricature of a quirky, offball, misfit all she needed was a graphic novel habit to hit the geek girl jackpot. Cade definitely seems to categorise women as Madonnas and whores which is problematic for me, I really hate that these guys never marry the women they've been happily banging for years and it troubles me that female writers perpetuate this view.

Sadly this was a bit of a swing and a miss for me.

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Review: The Good, The Bad And The Dumped

The Good, The Bad And The Dumped by Jenny Colgan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I loved Jenny Colgan's latest book 500 Miles from You and decided to start reading her back-catalogue. However, I have to say this book left me feeling meh.

Posy Fairweather is living with her boyfriend Matt a fitness instructor but when he proposes she doesn't feel quite the way she ought, when Matt retracts his proposal a few days later Posy sets out on a mission to meet her previous serious boyfriends to see where it all went wrong.

On paper the plot seems like a great idea, especially because Posy's boyfriends tend to the extreme ends of the spectrum, but in reality it fell flat for me, maybe because I found all of the characters pretty unlikable, including Posy. And in the way of so many 'romantic comedies' I felt that Posy was the only character who had to change, despite the other characters also having myriad faults.

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