January 2024 Book Reviews

Lucy Score is a go-to author for me, so when I needed a feel-good read at the end of the year I picked this one up on Kindle Unlimited. It was happy, and cute, and predictable but wasn’t necessarily a book I’d read over and over. Good for a festive fix though!

From Amazon:

There’s only one thing standing in the way of Cat King saving a small town’s Christmas festival: Grumpy town manager Noah Yates.

Single dad Noah takes his responsibilities seriously. When a late season hurricane turns Merry, Connecticut, into a disaster, he’s left scrambling to pick up the pieces of the town he loves.

At least, until home renovation expert and smoking hot reality TV star Catalina King arrives with a camera crew and a budget big enough to put the town back together again. But Noah doesn’t want a celebrity diva capitalizing on their tragedy or filling his daughter’s head with visions of glitz and glam.

3.5 Stars

This was my first Lisa Jewell book and it will certainly not be my last! I tore through this thriller which kept me guessing and on my toes right to the very last page. It’s one of those reads which keeps you thinking after you finish it… the best kind of book!

From Amazon:

Celebrating her forty-fifth birthday at her local pub, popular podcaster Alix Summer crosses paths with an unassuming woman called Josie Fair. Josie, it turns out, is also celebrating her forty-fifth birthday. They are, in fact, birthday twins.

A few days later, Alix and Josie bump into each other again, this time outside Alix’s children’s school. Josie has been listening to Alix’s podcasts and thinks she might be an interesting subject for her series. She is, she tells Alix, on the cusp of great changes in her life.

Josie’s life appears to be strange and complicated, and although Alix finds her unsettling, she can’t quite resist the temptation to keep making the podcast. Slowly she starts to realize that Josie has been hiding some very dark secrets, and before she knows it, Josie has inveigled her way into Alix’s life—and into her home.

But, as quickly as she arrived, Josie disappears. Only then does Alix discover that Josie has left a terrible and terrifying legacy in her wake, and that Alix has become the subject of her own true crime podcast, with her life and her family’s lives under mortal threat.

Who is Josie Fair? And what has she done?

4.5 Stars

K.A. Tucker is quickly becoming a go-to author for me and I’ve get to be disappointed by any that I’ve read! Becoming Rain was a really intriguing story of an undercover police officer (Cecilia/”Rain”) who starts falling for the subject of her investigation (Luke Boone). Luke is the nephew of the mastermind behind a local car theft ring, but how much does he know? And what will happen when he discovers who Rain really is?

I tore through this story- reading it in about 48 hours- I just HAD to know what happened next and if Luke and Rain’s love was real… and would it survive!

This is the 2nd book in a 4 part series, so if you like it, there are more to read!

4.0 Stars

I had heard so much buzz about this book (and it’s sequel) but unfortunately it fell SO flat for me! I felt like the writing style was way too wordy (I kept shouting at the book “get to the point!”) and the plot line got dragged out so much longer than it needed to be. Seriously the story could have wrapped in about 200 pages but it was over 500! I might be in the minority here but this just missed the mark for me.

From Amazon:

Catalina Martín desperately needs a date to her sister’s wedding. Especially since her little white lie about her American boyfriend has spiralled out of control. Now everyone she knows—including her ex and his fiancée—will be there and eager to meet him.

She only has four weeks to find someone willing to cross the Atlantic and aid in her deception. New York to Spain is no short flight and her raucous family won’t be easy to fool.

Enter Aaron Blackford—her tall, handsome, condescending colleague—who surprisingly offers to step in. She’d rather refuse; never has there been a more aggravating, blood-boiling, and insufferable man.

But Catalina is desperate, and as the wedding draws nearer, Aaron looks like her best option. And she begins to realize he might not be as terrible in the real world as he is at the office.

3.0 Stars

I absolutely devoured Josie Silver’s previous book “One Day in December” and actually pegged it as one of my favorite reads of the year (back in ’21 or ’22) so I was so excited for another new novel from her. However this one was S-L-O-W and never really picked up, and honestly I didn’t believe the chemistry between the two main characters. Lots of other readers love this book though so if you’ve read it I’d love to know your thoughts!

From Amazon:

When Iris decides to move to New York to restart her life, she realizes she underestimated how big the Big Apple really is—all the nostalgic movies set in New York she’d watched with her mom while eating their special secret-recipe gelato didn’t quite do it justice. 

But Bobby, Iris’s best friend, isn’t about to let her hide away. He drags her to a famous autumn street fair in Little Italy, and as they walk through the food stalls, a little family-run gelateria catches her eye—could it be the same shop that’s in an old photo of her mother’s?

Curious, Iris returns the next day and meets the handsome Gio, who tells her that the shop is in danger of closing. His uncle, sole keeper of their family’s gelato recipe, is in a coma, so they can’t make more. When Iris samples the last remaining batch, she realizes that their gelato and her gelato are one and the same. But how can she tell them she knows their secret recipe when she’s not sure why Gio’s uncle gave it to her mother in the first place?

Iris offers her services as a chef to help them re-create the flavor and finds herself falling for Gio and his family. But when Gio’s uncle finally wakes up, all of the secrets Iris has been keeping threaten to ruin the new life—and new love—she’s been building all winter long.

3.0 Stars

This is book 3 of the 4 part “Burying Water” series and probably my least favorite of them because once again I struggled with the chemistry between the two character being believable or being able to be built in a week or less. I clearly believe in “when you know, you know” but this book asked us to believe it on a whole new level without giving me the story arc to back it up. I am looking forward to book #4 though and finishing out the series!

From Amazon:

Armed with two years’ worth of savings and the need to experience life outside the bubble of her Oregon small town, twenty-five-year old Amber Welles is prepared for anything. Except dying in Dublin. Had it not been for the bravery of a stranger, she might have. But he takes off before she has the chance to offer her gratitude.

Twenty-four-year-old River Delaney is rattled. No one was supposed to get hurt. But then that American tourist showed up. He couldn’t let her die, but he also can’t be identified at the scene—so, he fled. Back to his everyday life of running his family’s pub. Only, everyday life is getting more and more complicated, thanks to his brother, Aengus, and his criminal associations. When the American girl tracks River down, he quickly realizes how much he likes her, how wrong she is for him. And how dangerous it is to have her around. Pushing her away would be the smart move.

Maybe it’s because he saved her life, or maybe it’s because he’s completely different from everything she’s left behind, but Amber finds herself chasing after River Delaney. Amber isn’t the kind of girl to chase after anyone.

And River isn’t the kind of guy she’d want to catch.

3.5 Stars

This is a short story as part of Amazon’s Valentine’s Day Series “The Improbable Meet-Cute” and I absolutely adored it! This mini series features some of the top contemporary romance authors so I thought it would be a nice way to “sample” them and see who I wanted to read full books from next. Christina Lauren is now definitely at the top of my list after this adorable story!

From Amazon:

On February 14, an accidental email to a stranger opens the door to an unexpected relationship in a captivating short story by the New York Times bestselling authors of The Unhoneymooners.

One typo, and a boy and girl connect by chance. Wishing each other a happy Valentine’s Day isn’t the end. In fact, it becomes a friendly annual tradition—with rules: no pics, no real names, nothing too personal. As years pass, the rules for their email “dates” are breaking, and they’re sharing more than they imagined—including the urge to ask…what if we actually met?

4.5 Stars

Jimenez can do NO wrong- I have devoured every book that she’s written and this mini story was no exception! It is so sweet and heartfelt, even in just 100 pages and will leave you with a big smile 🙂 A great read leading into valentines day!

From Amazon:

Holly is dealing with the impending death of her grandmother and still reeling from a bad breakup. One bright spot: a Valentine’s Day card on Holly’s windshield—even if it wasn’t meant for her. An amusing mistake soon turns into a lovely exchange of anonymous notes, little acts of kindness, and a growing affection between two strangers. What happens when one of them has to say goodbye?

5.0 Stars