Genre: Chick Lit

Part rom-com part dramedy, Mrs. Nash’s Ashes has a stellar premise on paper that convinced me to pick it up blindly despite this type of romance genre being hit or miss for me. With an opposites attract setup, a long-lost LGBT love from the 1940’s, and a road trip featuring classic rock tunes, Sarah Adler’s Mrs. Nash’s Ashes has a winning combo that grabbed my attention from the get-go. The comedic elements and dialogue are stellar and the back and forth between the emotional and romantic Millie vs the detached and logical Hollis are easily the strongest bits of the novel. Unfortunately, I found the this book was full of missed opportunities to do more with its narrative and the conclusion veering off in an unexpected and disappointing direction. The Miss. Sunshine and Mr. Overcast Grouch is a classic trope for a reason and Mrs. Nash’s Ashes is no exception. I found the witty banter and comedic timing to be spot-on with the best moments involving Millie doing something random or poorly thought out and Hollis reacting in stony disbelief. I liked the chemistry between the two leads, and I enjoyed the story the most when it was just the…

The Seven Year Slip has already been well-received with a following but admittedly it took me a while to get into it (as usual contemporary romance fiction without witty comedy is not my go-to genre). While the listed romance genre is prevalent right from the get-go, about a third of the way into the book, the plot and character development ramps up substantially and crosses over into straight contemporary fiction drama. While the romance and chemistry are good, the Seven Year Slip’s synopsis doesn’t include the more nuanced topics covered in the back half of the book involving grief and loss, one’s goals, “happiness”, losing yourself and understanding that constant changes that are inevitable over time. Our main character Clementine is an ambitious, workaholic publicist working at a small yet successful publishing company who is personally tasked by one of the co-owners to sign an up-and-coming chef James Ashton for a cookbook publishing deal after one of their biggest clients jumps ship to a rival publisher. She throws herself fully into her work 24/7 so there’s no time to have to worry about her recent breakup or the loss of her aunt who she was close to. Just as she’s…

I feel like the synopsis for Kristen Perrin’s How to Solve Your Own Murder does it no favors by comparing itself to Knives Out, Thursday Murder Club, or selling the murder mystery concept in general due to the murder mystery investigation being one of the weakest aspects of the novel for me (more flair and quality is needed to make such a bold claim). As a fan of true crime documentaries and the murder mystery genre, I was excited to read this based on the stellar premise of a character spending their life trying to solve their own murder before it occurs. I was also encouraged to pick this up as it was voted 2nd place for Jimmy Fallon’s upcoming bookclub. Unfortunately the actual execution, attention to details, and pacing left a lot to be desired (1.5 rounded down). From the get-go I was unimpressed with the characterization and dialogue as well as the story’s details. Following an excellently foreboding prologue where Frances receives her grave fortune that kickstarts the titular concept, the book’s pacing and interest lost me. Despite being 366 pages, I felt like I was reading empty pages with little value or importance to either storylines revolving…

I picked this up off of another Amazon Kindle algorithm suggestion which was a surprisingly specific choice that had me amused. It managed to find a novel that combined my recent reads involving a silly romcom, mysterious dead bodies, British-set narratives, and an M/M LGBTQ+ focal couple. It’s honestly quite an impressive of feat (even though the dead bodies discoveries are more of a plot device to get Ray out of his house, this is decidedly not a murder mystery or investigative story). Reviewing and critiquing Isabel Murray’s Not That Complicated is akin to reviewing and critiquing a risqué reality tv dating show. They’re meant to be simple entertaining affairs full of salacious situations and R-rated spice, not shooting to be the most ambitious or critical experiences. It knows exactly what the assignment was and delivers a flamboyantly over the top, outrageous romcom story managing to get Ray and his youthful love-interest Adam together in multiple steamy scenes. While there’s obviously a lot of bedroom action to be had (not my cup of tea but quite hot, I think?), I found Not That Complicated to consistently be funnier than it needed to be. “You can’t buy me any more than…

This was short novella was fine and a quick sub-25 minute read. Part of the Amazon’s The Improbable Meet-Cute Series featuring short stores themed around Valentines Day written by popular romance authors, I found With Any Luck to be cute yet inconsequential. 50 pages requires a concise and tidy story which With Any Luck manages by covering only two days worth of plot during Audrey Love’s best male friend’s wedding. At the wedding she unfortunately is greeted by the fiance’s best man who she had a fling with on a previous trip. The novella is essentially an enemies to lovers setup but the short length does the trope no favors. The only way to reverse the animosity is via misunderstandings which I’ve mentioned many times as being one of my pet peeves. This is exemplified by Audrey believing she ruined the wedding when her best friend goes missing the morning of the wedding following a drunken night out she can’t remember. However, the fact that enemies to lovers romantic interest was there during the drunken night and knows exactly what happened to Audrey feels like a cheap gotcha plot twist. The entire conflict could’ve been avoided had he just told…