Genre: Fiction

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…

This might be the earliest I’ve ever read a newly published book as I ninja-ed it the day my library got a digital copy and I was very excited based on the synopsis and listed genres. For me, the Book of Doors was a solid comfort read (note, NOT the actual Comfy read genre) that felt nostalgic in the first half, invoking the wide-eyed magical feel of many YA fantasy books I read growing up yet clearly intended for adult readers. This book is also fully targeted towards book lovers with countless descriptions and settings based on book collections, stores, or libraries (to be expected for a story involving magical books). What I did not expect was the surprisingly ambitious and well-executed time-traveling/manipulating second half that manages to recover and tie-up the narrative successfully after a disjointed mid-section. Despite the obviously heavy fantasy elements provided by the magical books (I assume it’s not mentioned in the synopsis as not to show it’s trump card early), the Book of Doors should first and foremost be considered a soft time-travel drama. A young women in her 20’s living day to day in New York, Cassie is at the pivotal stage in her…

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…

A haunted- or rather “enchanted” house on a private undeveloped island, a mysterious institute tasked with managing said properties in question, a budding and free-spirited writer teaming up with a prim and proper housekeeper; oh and there’s a dangerous magic-stealer on the loose. Charlie Holmberg’s Keeper of Enchanted Rooms has a lot of great elements working for it that should’ve culminated in an enchanted and dreamy experience. Unfortunately for me these pieces weren’t assembled in the most effective manner which made the overall reading experience feel underwhelming and a missed opportunity. With its diverse plot threads, the Keeper of Enchanted Rooms is a lot of things. Taking place in New England in 1846, it’s sort of a historical fiction novel (more on that below) with a fantasy and magical theme. However in actuality, the story is better described as a cozy fantasy of sorts; I’m not sure how to describe it beyond being slow-paced and comfortable. The fantasy elements are beyond magical realism, the romance isn’t strong enough to be considered romantasy yet the magic is not development enough to be pure or hard fantasy. The book feels like it’s intended as an adult novel due to the age of…