Review: The Seven Day Switch

The Seven Day Switch by Meg Chronis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

When Becca Stratton's identical twin TV celebrity Gem runs into problems as always Becca comes riding in to the rescue, leaving her prestigious job as concierge at one of London's smartest hotels to return to South Africa where Gem was supposed to be doing seven days of community work at an animal sanctuary after tweeting some unfortunate remarks about an animal. Gem's had a meltdown and is in danger of losing her lucrative sponsorship deals unless she (ie Becca) can fix things with the surly vet Dr Sullivan Scott.

How hard can it be? Switch places for one week? Easy. Shovel manure? You should see the things Becca has had to clean when she was working her way up the ladder in hospitality.

The only trouble is, Becca's legendary prowess at fixing problems for her hotel guests has totally deserted her and it seems she can't take a step without mucking up, whether its crashing her car or practically drowning a dog. And then there's the inconvenient attraction to Dr Scott, especially since Gem is dating the captain of the Springboks (South Africa's national rugby team).

I'll be honest, I would have liked this better if Becca hadn't been such a walking disaster. It felt out of character and unrealistic. Why would Dully fall for a woman like that? Also, Becca was so totally indiscreet and talked about London so much that it felt contrived that Sully didn't put two and two together and guess that she was Becca when he learned that she had an identical twin sister. Especially since he commented so often about how different she was when she returned.

Overall, this felt like one of those Goldie Hawn frenetic romantic comedies (you know the ones where she runs about causing chaos and squealing a lot) which didn't really match with the vibe of the characters. I don't think I'm explaining myself very well, but if you are the type of woman who can pander to outrageous guest demands and do it with a smile on your face, why would you do so many stupid things? Ah, no I've just got it, very much like The Proposal with Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds, although there's no reason to take Becca down a peg or two. So a four star knocked down by half a star.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

View all my reviews

Review: Yours Truly

Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Dr Briana Ortiz and Dr Jacob Maddox get off on the wrong foot. She thinks he's come to her hospital to get the promotion she's been working for, instead he's come to avoid his ex-girlfriend and brother who have got together and both work at his previous hospital. Briana's younger brother is in kidney failure and has slumped into depression, which means he's not looking after himself and is a frequent visitor to the ER where she works.

Jacob is an introvert and an over-thinker, very much like Briana's brother. On his first day at the hospital he had a series of patients die (none of them his fault) and now the nurses call him Dr Death and hate him. His large, loud family are constantly hovering over him, taking his side and throwing shade on his brother. It's all too much. Then a woman runs past him so fast she knocks his phone out of his hand and cracks the screen. Could anyone get off to a worse start? Well yes, they could follow the woman into a patient's room and then (see introvert and overthinker above) make some stupid comments when she is clearly distressed by the patient (Briana's brother).

Anyway, long story short, Jacob writes Briana a letter to apologise for his behaviour and explain why he acted the way he did. A proper letter on real paper with a pen. The letter means a lot to Briana and she understands his behaviour better because of her brother. So strikes up a pen-pal relationship as they leave each other letters around the hospital.

Jacob's mother received a kidney donation many years ago and the entire family were grateful because none of them were a match. In an attempt to pay it forward Jacob volunteers to be tested for Briana's brother and turns out to be a near-perfect match. He agrees to donate a kidney but insists on anonymity and for the operations to take place at another hospital, his introversion could not cope with everyone crowding around him, being grateful and loud.

When Jacob confesses that he is dreading dinner at his parents' house where his brother is going to announce his engagement Briana offers to accompany him as his fake girlfriend. She understands his anxiety and vulnerability and wants to help, just as she would help her brother. Indeed, she teaches Jacob a game she and her brother play at social events.

Things are going swimmingly, Briana and Jacob are getting on fine, they could even have something real, but when Briana finds out that Jacob in her brother's donor he can't tell if she's faking it out of gratitude. On her part, Briana is worried that Jacob is still in love with his ex and just faking it with her to distract his family. Can these two get over themselves?

I thought that this was the second Abby Jimenez book I had read, it's actually the fourth! This loosely follows from Part of Your World, which was a bit heavy on the woo-woo with a sentient Inn. The Inn features in this book, but only a cameo appearance.

What can I say, I loved it. Okay I felt both of them maybe harped on a bit too much about what they thought the other was doing rather than looking and listening to what they were actually doing, but hey that's the nature of the beast, there has to be some kind of conflict.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

View all my reviews

Review: The Good, the Bad and the History

The Good, the Bad and the History by Jodi Taylor
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Four and a half stars.

First off, this is book 14 in a series. These books are not standalone. I barely can keep up and I've read all 14 books. Do not start here. There will be spoilers for earlier books.

At the end of the last book an unknown person had shot Commander Treadwell, the Time Police operative acting as Director of St Mary's whilst Dr Bairstow was being held by Martin Gaunt. As a consequence St Mary's is in lockdown whilst various military regimes investigate. Max no longer works for St Mary's instead she is a time traveller bounty hunter with Markham (who is officially on paternity leave), Pennyroyal and Smallhope. Because Max is wanted by various organisations for various things she is masquerading as Nicola Hay, librarian, while she recovers from Insight's attempts to assassinate her. Are you keeping up?

Insight appears to be a benign historical research organisation, however Max and Markham discovered that it was trying to alter the course of history by interfering in moments such as the signing of the Magna Carta. Max has infiltrated Insight and they have foiled three attempts to alter the timeline, but the recent attack means that Insight will soon find out that Max is a spy.

Can Max bring down Insight before she is caught? How far is she willing to go to get in with the real power at Insight? Why are they altering history? And given the need to time travel to the future to work for Insight and back to the past on missions, how is Max going to cope with her time travel sickness?

With all Jodi Taylor's trademark humour, this was a great book in the series, even Clive Ronan makes a brief re-appearance. Could it be the end? Who knows.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

View all my reviews

Review: Summer at the Cornish Farmhouse

Summer at the Cornish Farmhouse by Linn B. Halton
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

When Jess' husband leaves her for another woman she is devastated, so when her grandfather offers her the chance of a new life in his Cornish farmhouse she and her eight year old daughter Lola jump at the chance.

Jess is determined to restore the farmhouse and surrounding farmyard outbuildings and barns to expand the fledgling camping and holiday cottage business she has started, but her long-term goal has to be restoring Renweneth Manor, the derelict old house and gardens sitting on their land.

Jess has done most of the renovations herself, with some assistance from specialists like electricians, but when all round handyman and builder Riley offers to give Jess two days a week of his time she can really get going with the renovations.

This was pleasant enough, but there was no conflict, no drama, even the romance was low-key, and as a result when I got to the end I felt a little as though nothing had happened. Or maybe that this is the first chapter in a series? Anyway, a gentle romance where no-one is ever mean or unkind might just be your cup of tea on a bad day.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

View all my reviews

Review: The Summer Skies

The Summer Skies by Jenny Colgan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Morag's family, more specifically her grandfather, runs a small airline ferrying people between remote Scottish islands. She has the flying bug, but her interest is larger passenger jets criss-crossing Europe, until a tragic accident puts her and the pilot on leave pending an assessment of their ability to continuing flying. Although she loves the remote islands, Morag's heart is definitely on the mainland and she has no intention of taking over the airline when her grandfather retires. Although Morag passes the tests with flying colours, and snags a date with the HR consultant assessing her to boot, she knows deep down that she is scared to take control of an aircraft and decides that she will take a sideways promotion, eschewing piloting European short-haul for being co-pilot on long-haul aircraft.

Before she takes her final test, in a flight simulator, Morag is called back to the Scottish Highlands, her grandfather is ill and she is needed to hold the fort. Even then, Morag manages to take the co-pilot role, ferrying locals to and from the larger islands and extreme sportsmen to the remote islands until a forced landing on a remote island and a freak storm leave her stranded with what might be the grumpiest ornithologist on earth.

This had an unusual, one might even say unorthodox, start. In fact I couldn't believe it was a Jenny Colgan novel because it was so far from what I've come to expect from her. And yet that isn't fair because she also covers some hard-hitting emotional issues in her other books, its just that they are wrapped up in the cosy small-town vibe that I forget it's not all home-made brownies, cute sheep, and lashings of ginger beer.

It's got romance, a goat, beautiful scenery, a hen party, home baking, flying family, and discovering what home really means. Oh! It's a Jenny Colgan book after all LOL.

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

View all my reviews

Review: He's My Cowboy

He's My Cowboy by Diana Palmer
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Overall, a low three stars, I only requested it for the Rebecca Zanetti book.

THE HAWK’S SHADOW * Diana Palmer
Two and a half stars.

Gil is a new sheriff's investigator. When construction workers find a long-buried body near a burst water pipe he calls in someone from the state crime lab. At first their relationship is abrasive but soon they find they have more in common than most, but is it too much too soon?

Nemara finds it difficult to make friends, her family connections mean people always want her to get them to do favours for them, and her prickly demeanour puts people off.

This was okay, although I'm past being irritated by a man and a woman having exactly the same likes and dislikes and yet he is seen as a desirable mate whereas everyone thinks she's an oddball. Unfortunately, we didn't stop there. Nemara is a virgin (or course she is eyeroll) and has spooky powers which allow her to 'know' what happened to their corpse, but of course she can't tell anyone because it isn't proper policework!

Basically, anyone with any iota of common-sense could tell who had 'killed' their victim right from the start.

RESCUE: RANCHER STYLE * Rebecca Zanetti
Three stars.

Tara is a widow and a high school English teacher. Greg was her high school sweetheart and first love, until he dumped her and joined the Marines. Now he's back in town to care for his older brother's children and ranch after his brother's death. When his brother's second wife tries to get custody of the children (for their half of the ranch) she slings a lot of dirt, which seems to be sticking, until Greg's niece Hannah announces to the judge that Tara (a character witness) and Greg are engaged to be married. Now the senile old judge has married the two of them off and they have to live together for two months until the judge determines that Greg is a fit person to bring up three teenagers.

This has suspense, second chance romance, and what seems to be a wider arc - I must look out for this Cattle Club and see if there is another series.

Unfortunately, and this is the reason for the three star review, Greg insists his way is best with Tara and the children. He gives them all orders, won't listen to advice and basically insists its his way or the highway. And he doesn't learn the error of his ways. I'm over men who think they rule the world and its verging on controlling, do this, don't do that, stay here, etc.

A COWBOY KIND OF ROMANCE * Delores Fossen
2 stars.

A couple who broke up when he chose rodeo over her are reunited by interfering family and friends years later. He's had to retire after a nasty injury and she's just finished a stint in the military police. Their families and the entire small town are scheming to get them back together in the most juvenile ways possible - using their prom picture (without permission), doctoring it, and then plastering it on huge billboards around town to promote it as a romantic town for one example. To make it worse, his brother and her sister are getting married and forcing the two of them to do most of the heavy lifting.

This just felt juvenile from start to finish: the inability to stop accidentally kissing, I've read tweenager books with less accidental kissing; the ghastly families who are forcing them together; the lack of an actual plot.

View all my reviews

Review: Soul Taken

Soul Taken by Patricia Briggs
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

What to say? I started reading this shortly after it was published, got bored and dropped it for other things. I restarted it a few days ago and finished this morning. I feel like this series has got stuck in a holding pattern with close friends/allies having to die or be horribly mutilated in every book.

Adam, Mercy and the pack are having beers in Uncle Mike's fae bar when Marsilia, the head of the local vampire seethe appears in smoke format in a flash of brimstone to warn them that Wulfe, the half-crazed wizard/witchborn/vampire, has gone missing and that Adam's pack will be blamed unless they can find him.

While investigating Wulfe's disappearance, Mercy discovers that there have been many other disappearances, going unnoticed because the others were supernatural beings with very little power, white witches, transient goblins, minor fae etc, all people who had moved to the Tri-Cities because Adam and Mercy had vowed to keep the area safe.

The disappearances are linked to an old urban legend about a creature called the Soul Harvester who killed people with a scythe, coincidentally the subject of a slasher horror movie being shown at the local cinemas which was written by a local man. It seems there was some truth in the story and the scythe may be an ancient magical artefact. Now I have to say I do not like horror films and therefore a book that reads like one is not going to be top of my list of favourite reads.

Also, and this may be over-simplifying but it felt that there was A LOT of talking and musing, and suddenly realising things (which were not shared with the class) and only two action scenes (for want of a better word), or maybe three. Mostly it seemed that either Wulfe, or Stephan was speaking to Mercy in her dreams to move the story along. Even the artefact did a whole brain dump (just like a Bond villain) into Mercy's mind just so that she could understand its motivation and how it gained its power. It felt like tell, tell, tell, fight, tell, tell, tell, fight.

View all my reviews

Review: The Problem with Perfect

The Problem with Perfect by Philip William Stover
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Ethan Wells has been producing a lifestyle tv show Myles of Style hosted by an openly gay presenter, Chase Myles. Ethan is the brains and the flair of the operation, Chase is the pretty front-man, I was going to say nice but dim, but he isn't very nice, in fact he's a complete diva and very unprofessional. The studio also likes the idea of Chase and Ethan as a couple so the two of them have been fake dating for years, even though Chase is sleeping with other men left right and centre. When Chase swans off to a party in Miami when the team have time-critical social media pictures and content to film and post Ethan can see his longed-for promotion slipping out of his reach. With no time to fly to Miami and drag Chase back, Ethan decides to try to persuade Chase's identical twin brother, who lives in the wilds of rural New York, to step and take the shots.

Chase's brother Beau is nothing like Chase, intelligent, thoughtful, kind, mindful, oh and he looks like the wild man of Borneo, although that's easily fixed. The trouble is, on set no-one can understand how 'Chase' is no longer throwing tantrums on a daily basis and suddenly remembers the names of all the crew members. But when Chase decides to fly off to Abu Dhabi with a film producer he met in Miami will Beau be able to pull off a longer deception? And what will happen when Chase eventually returns?

Literature and films are mildly obsessed by identical twins/doppelgangers. Just think of The Parent Trap, The Prisoner of Zenda, The Man in The Iron Mask, or Dave. So the idea of a look-alike or twin being nicer than the original is not a new one. But if you enjoy that sort of thing (which I do) then this is a fun take on the theme.

I think my grading would have been higher if Beau hadn't been so dargone perfect, he felt too good to be true. Even his big bad secret was truly nothing of the kind. And in contrast, Ethan seemed to be the one who had to change himself, it's interesting that this is often a complaint I make about hetero romances, it is always the woman who has the faults and has to change - maybe its just something that writers lean into more heavily on the protagonist rather than their love interest? Anyway, it did make me wonder what Beau found to like about Ethan when he was (apparently) so bossy and needed everything to be perfect. But a minor gripe, otherwise it was a fun read.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

View all my reviews

Review: The Shadows of London

The Shadows of London by Andrew Taylor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It's 1671, the Great Fire of London was only five years ago and much of London is still rubble. Mistress Cat Hakesby and her business partner Brennan have a lucrative commission to build a row of almshouses for a local businessman, Robert Hadgraft. But work is halted when a disfigured naked corpse is found amongst the rubble, and the local magistrate Mr Willoughby Rush insists the area must remain untouched until the Bishop whose aegis the land falls under has sent his own man to investigate the murder. Haemorrhaging money paying labourers and suppliers without getting any money back from their client, Cat turns reluctantly to James Marwood, clerk to Lord Arlington the current Secretary of State, to help in resolving the red tape and save her from being bankrupted.

As always, what seems to be a single incident spirals and Cat and Marwood are drawn into royal politics, treading a fine line between angering either Lord Arlington or his sworn enemy the Duke of Buckingham.

Yet another triumphant novel, exposing the corruption and power politics in the court of Charles II where lives are ruined at the whim of the aristocrats as they jostle to gain favour. Both Cat and Marwood are subject to the caprices of wealthy men pushing and pulling them in different directions. What I like about Andrew Taylor's novels is although the investigation process may be convoluted I often suspected the person from the start so the unveiling of the murderer's identity has a sense of rightness to it.

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

View all my reviews

Review: The Consequences of Fear

The Consequences of Fear by Jacqueline Winspear
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

So here we are, the sixteenth book in the series. It's autumn 1941 and the bombs are falling on London. Young Freddie Hackett is employed to run around London delivering top secret messages by government departments. One night whilst on his way to deliver a message, Freddie witnesses a murder, and then only minutes later delivers his message to the killer ,a man who looks like the actor Victor Mature, but with deep lines in his face. The police don't believe Freddie's story, especially when there is no evidence of a body, so Freddie approaches Maisie Dobbs, detective extraordinaire to whom he has delivered messages in the past, to help him.

Maisie is having troubles of her own, her romantic liaison with Mark Scott, an American diplomat/spy is rendered increasingly difficult by the secrets they must each keep about their respective war work. Maisie is engaged by the government to vet potential SOE operatives (spies), to give them the best chance of surviving when parachuted into occupied France . It's nerve-wracking work, especially knowing that the life of a radio operator in France is measured in weeks. Then there's her step-mother Brenda who is strongly disapproving of Maisie's relationship with Mark and wants him to put a ring on it!

When Maisie is whisked away to a castle near Edinburgh to evaluate a group of potential operatives who are training alongside Free French fighters and various French Canadian and Algerian soldiers she is astonished to see a man who perfectly matches Freddie's description of the murderer but Robert Macfarlane, former Scotland Yard policeman and now SOE management refuses to listen to her, instead sending her straight back to London.

No sooner is she back in London than she discovers that Macfarlane is also on his way back, accompanying the body of one of the operatives from Scotland, it seems pretty obvious that his neck was deliberately broken before he fell off a cliff but Macfarlane is having nothing of it.

Can Maisie bring the murderer to justice? Can she uncover the motive for the murders? Can she keep Freddie and his family safe? Can she resolve her romantic difficulties?

This book is proof (for me) that reading and enjoyment of a book is about the state of mind of the reader more than anything else. I started reading this a year ago and put id down, not engaged at all. Yet I picked it up again a day or so ago and raced straight through it. I still think that Maisie is a very special Mary Sue, and I do worry for Mark seeing as she has such a bad track record with keeping lovers alive, but I can live with that because Jacqueline Winspear does such a great job of bringing the period to life.

Available on Kindle Unlimited.

View all my reviews

Review: Maybe Tomorrow

Maybe Tomorrow by Penny Parkes
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three and a half stars.

Like many people in the pandemic Jamie Matson lost everything. The travel business she loved, her best friend, her home. Now she is stuck making minimum wage stacking shelves at the local up-market supermarket where the owner/manager is a petty tyrant. Added to her woes, her talented son Bo also suffers from serious breathing difficulties which necessitate frequent visits to A&E, lost work hours, and expensive Uber rides. As a consequence, Jamie isn't keeping her head above water, she's got an emergency credit card which is crippling her with the interest and she is forced to resort to the local food bank to feed her and Bo. Words can't express the shame that she feels to have fallen so far in such a short time.

Then one day Jamie and Bo go to the food bank mid-morning, instead of sneaking in at the crack of dawn to avoid being seen. To her surprise she sees the lovely A&E nurse Kath also in the queue. Kath knows another woman in the queue, Bonnie who is setting up a local hairdressing kiosk. Bonnie and Kath help Jamie to realise that she isn't the only person with a full-time job who can't make ends meet and their burgeoning friendship gives each of them the courage to dream of more.

This is such a difficult read to categorise/rate for me. On one hand, it shows just how easily events outside our control can overturn our comfortable lives. It also highlights the distressing fact that in a wealthy country like the UK there are people in full-time work who can't feed themselves because their salaries don't cover the bills, or there are other circumstances which drain their money. It shows how society wants to label people and put them in neat boxes, rather than letting people be themselves. It also preaches the message which we hear a lot these days that a career for life is no longer a reality for most, people may have many different careers during their lives, radically changing who they are and what they do. All of these are really important messages and really worthwhile to see in the context of fiction. However, there was also a little bit of a fairy-tale quality to the novel because ultimately most of the characters get their first steps towards a new life as a result of the generosity of an elderly couple who open their home to those in need. However, there was also the message that it can be impossible to do it alone, you need help and support from those around you , it takes a village and all that, to get you back on your feet again.

So I've made it sound a bit depressing and worthy, which it absolutely isn't. It's a book about hope and friendship and new beginnings and I really enjoyed it.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

View all my reviews

Review: The Break-Up Clause

The Break-Up Clause by Niamh Hargan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Fiadh (Fia for those that can't read/speak Gaelic) is an Irish family lawyer who transferred to her firm's New York office several years ago. She's angling for promotion so jumps at the chance to be a mentor to one of the firm's summer interns. Imagine her horror when the intern assigned to her is none other than her husband, who she hasn't seen (or heard from) in eight years.

Fia and Benjamin were counsellors at Summer Camp together. They were like oil and water, always arguing: she hated his privileged, wealthy, frat boy, life-and-soul-of-the-party persona, and he hated her uptight, follow-the-rules, rigidity. An end of camp trip to Vegas ends in the inevitable drunken marriage. Benjamin promised to divorce Fia once his mother's election was over, but when she contacted him time and time again he didn't respond.

Now sharing a tiny office is beyond awkward, but they both have too much to lose to either confess to the partners or leave. Fia is also incensed to find that Benjamin is treating her with contempt - what has she ever done to him?

Eight years may have passed but Fia and Benjamin still disagree about everything, from how to organise their desks to how to approach their client's divorce petition, but as they learn to work together it seems their marriage might not just be in name only.

As is only to be expected, this relies on a series of misunderstandings and unfortunate events, in which respect it reminds me of Niamh Hargan's previous novel Twelve Days in May, although the rest of the plot is wildly different. Stepping back, I believe there was more than one way for Benjamin to resolve the issue (I'll say no more because ... spoilers), but that's in hindsight.

Overall, an enjoyable, well thought-out, second chance, enemies to lovers, Vegas wedding romance.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

View all my reviews

Review: Sugar, Spice, and Can't Play Nice

Sugar, Spice, and Can't Play Nice by Annika Sharma
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Payal is an Anglo-Indian fashion designer, living and working in New York. She dreams of having her own fashion line but she needs backing and her family, although wealthy, are in some business difficulties and cannot help her.

Ayaan is also from an Anglo-Indian family and is also living in New York. A stupid mistake when he was sixteen years old haunts him and has resulted in estrangement from his older brother Arun and the rest of his family treating him like the family loser. Ayaan's family business Veer wants to enter into a merger/acquire Payal's family business Luxuriant and in time-honoured tradition they decide that the business deal should be cemented by a matrimonial deal, marrying Ayaan and Payal. Little do they know Ayaan and Payal had a hot and steamy one-night stand which might have turned into something more, if Ayaan's ex-girlfriend (of that morning) hadn't messaged him the morning after.

Now Payal and Ayaan are separately summoned home to be ordered to marry 'for the good of the family'. Although initially vehemently opposed to an arranged marriage, both separately negotiate with their families for what they need to advance professionally: for Ayaan that's 50% of Veer and the position of CMO, for Payal it's Veer sponsoring her fashion line., Payal also intends to break off the engagement once the merger has gone ahead and she has presented her fashion show.

Despite a rocky start, Payal and Ayaan start to work together marketing Payal's clothing line and seem to have more of a connection, after all they have a shared culture and are ex-pats living in New York. Payal might be a party boy, but he knows everyone and has a strong following on social media, soon he's networking and getting Payal noticed.

I was enjoying this, although there were too many descriptions of exactly what everyone was wearing for my taste, but it descended into rinse-and-repeat territory for me. Ayaan slips up and sees his ex-girlfriend, Payal gets made, he grovels, they are friends. Rinse and repeat. Often there is nothing wrong on Ayaan's side. Towards the end I just felt the book was in a holding pattern and needed tightening up.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

View all my reviews