BOOK REVIEW: Love on Lavender Lane, Karis Walsh

★★★ 1/2

Love on Lavender Lane is about Paige, a consultant who helps businesses improve profit margins, and Kassidy, a lavender farmer whose dad pays for a consultation from Paige. Though Paige is more accustomed to working with bigger companies, she relishes the chance to get away from Portland, work in the countryside for a bit, and get her hands dirty. Kassidy, on the other hand, doesn't exactly care for her estranged father's gift, and she thinks Paige will advise her to sell the farm. Their attraction is pretty immediate, and although I wouldn't categorize it as insta-love, part of me wish they'd spent longer in the almost-rivals stage.

I'd definitely classify this as a soft story. Not a lot big happens, and I'm very okay with that. The characters are the main focus here, and Paige and Kassidy are both lovely. I liked Paige a little more because she was more outgoing and funny, but I connected with Kassidy more because she's more reserved and likes to stay in her comfort zone. They spend a lot of the book learning about each other, and they both deal with past baggage in a believable way. My biggest complaint about that is the black moment was a little too dramatic. I had some trouble following Kassidy's logic there and wish the characters would've talked it out more.

This book also features a loveable dog named Dante, who was my favorite character--hands down! I only wish Kipper the cat had featured a bit more, too, but Dante stole the show. Although it didn't blow me away, this was a pleasant read with an interesting premise and an even lovelier setting.

Thanks to NetGalley, Bold Strokes Books, and Karis Walsh for the e-copy!

BOOK REVIEW: Love Like This, Melissa Brayden

★★★★

Love Like This is the fourth and final installment in Melissa Brayden's Seven Shores series and the third in the series I've read (Sorry, Autumn. I have your book; just haven't gotten to it yet!). The series follows the same group of four friends who all live in the same apartment complex and feature heavily in each other's stories, and Love Like This follows Hadley, the group's resident ray of sunshine. It's fitting that Brayden chose Hadley's story to finish out the series.

After watching her friends Isabel, Autumn, and Gia all find their person and fall in love, it's finally Hadley's turn. As the assistant manager of a clothing store on Rodeo Drive, she's charged with finding a new designer to bring in more interest and clientele. Enter Spencer Adair, a pragmatic designer who doesn't believe in happily ever afters, only happily for nows. The only problem is that Hadley isn't sure she can settle for anything less than forever.

BOOK REVIEW: Sparks Like Ours, Melissa Brayden

★★★★

This was my third Melissa Brayden title (and I have more in my TBR pile). Even after only two books, I knew Brayden would deliver a solid, enjoyable read, and she certainly did.

Sparks Like Ours is the third book in a four-book series following a group of four friends. This is Gia's book, although Isabel, Autumn, and Hadley all appear throughout the story. Gia's a pro surfer and looking to make it to the number-one spot, currently occupied by Elle Britton, surfing's golden girl. While Gia and Elle have crossed paths on the tour, there's little love between them. Until they're presented with a joint sponsorship opportunity and are forced to spend more time together and get to know one another.

BOOK REVIEW: Riding the Track, by Kara Ripley

★★★★

I wanted something short and fun to read, so I picked this one up. When Clara discovers that her boyfriend's cheating on her, she kicks his butt to the curb and goes on the trip they had planned together-- five days in the Australian outback, riding horses and herding cattle. Her group guide is Evie, a beautiful "jillaroo" (cowgirl) with Aboriginal ancestry. I'm not in a position to say if the Aboriginal representation was good, but it was there, which I appreciated.

Let me start with the things I really enjoyed. One was Clara. The story's written entirely in Clara's point of view. It's also written in first person, which I sometimes have a hard time getting into. Here, I had no problem, and a lot of that was due to Clara's voice. She's bitter and snarky, and I loved it. It works because she just got out of a relationship that ended very poorly, and I think Ripley did a good job conveying that her bitterness toward her fellow travelers (especially Michael and Louise, that lovely couple) was less about them and more about her own unhappiness. She also makes great progress in terms of her mood throughout the trip, which was nice to read.

BOOK REVIEW: The Princess Deception, Nell Stark

★★★

I really enjoy Twelfth Night, and I'm an even bigger fan of She's the Man. When I saw this available on NetGalley, I jumped at the chance to read it. Modern adaptations of older works are always a lot of fun, especially when things get updated in unique ways. Because of that, I really, really wanted to love this one. However, I didn't.

The story is about Viola, the Princess of Belgium. When her twin brother, Sebastian, overdoses right before the month-long bid for the FIFA World Cup begins, she decides to play him while he goes to rehab so the bid can continue. Meanwhile, Missy Duke is a former pro soccer player who was forced to retire early because of a knee injury. Now, she's covering the Belgian-Dutch joint bid for a sports magazine/network. Cue the ensuing misunderstandings.

I don't think it's a spoiler to say that Duke finds out about Viola's ruse, but I think she finds out way too easily. Ultimately, I think that's what dissatisfied me. The whole conceit of Twelfth Night is that pretty much no one knows that Cesario is really Viola, and a lot of the drama and comedy come from the audience knowing. Instead of being intrigued by "Sebastian" and then having to reevaluate when she finds out Sebastian is really Viola, Duke spends the majority of their relationship trying to figure out why Viola's doing it so she can break a story. More than that, though, they actually just don't spend a lot of time together. We're 40% in before they have a conversation in private, and the black moment comes at 70%, which doesn't leave them much time to develop a relationship.

My main complaint is possibly my own fault. I went into this with high expectations because, like I said, I enjoy Twelfth Night and especially She's the Man. So, my expectation was that this would be funny. Instead, it's very dramatic. That's fine, and the drama is mostly earned. Sebastian's overdose and subsequent rehabilitation are treated with the weight they deserve. Duke is still depressed over losing her soccer career. I just wanted this to be a lot more fun and filled with more shenanigans than it was.

There are some nice moments and observations in the writing, though. At one point, Viola notes how much she appreciates her circle of friends. Both Viola and Duke treat Sebastian's addiction as a disease and defend him against people who would "out" his addiction as a scandal. While posing as Sebastian, Viola realizes she shouldn't say a lot because men are often laconic when it comes their emotions, and she wonders "whether men felt as constrained by the norms governing their behavior as she did emulating them."

Because there's such a focus on a woman pretending to be a man and having to wear "masculine" clothing and on how people present gender, it made me think a lot about transgenderism and gender expression and passing and the "proper" amount of masculinity or femininity. I don't know if this can be classified as transgender representation, especially whether it can be classified as positive transgender representation. What I can say is that it made me think and made me want to learn more about transgender history.

Overall, The Princess Deception is an interesting book, but don't go into it expecting a faithful representation of Twelfth Night.

Thanks to NetGalley, Bold Strokes Books, and Nell Stark for the advanced e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

BOOK REVIEW: It's Not a Date, Heather Blackmore

It's Not a Date is about Kade Davenport, a tech entrepreneur and investor who is a stickler for punctuality and doesn't let herself get close to anyone, and Jen Spencer, CEO of Creative Care, which aims to pair people who need to hire care for elderly or sick relatives with private-care workers. When one of Creative Care's board members falls ill, Kade is called in to substitute, and Kade and Jen find out they have very different management styles even while sparks fly.

Throughout the read, I was hovering between 4 and 5 stars, but by the end, I was completely charmed by this story. Honestly, I didn't understand some of the stuff about investments and venture capitalists, but it never took away from my enjoyment of the story. I could still very much understand where each woman was coming from and the stakes each was facing.

A lot of Jen's concerns about being a female CEO in the tech industry are real-life issues women face. Her colleague was pushed out of her CEO role for becoming pregnant. Jen thinks that Kade, who basically has no private life, has set an example for successful businesswomen that essentially advises women to value their job over their family. And Jen worries that having to leave work unexpectedly to care for her grandmother, who has dementia, will hurt her prospects in the field.

On Kade's end, she has some very real trauma from her youth that she's never gotten over. Because of this, she's never been in a relationship and only has one real friend. Jen, through her kindness, helps her grow as a person.

This is what I loved most about this book and what ultimately won me over--how Jen and Kade are written. There's always going to be miscommunication and angst in a romance, but it's very subtly done here. Their differences arise from them being completely different people, but I always understood both points of view. There were multiple points where their differences could've been used to amp up the angst. Instead, Blackmore often has the character or characters in the wrong take time to cool off and understand on their own why they were wrong. It's very refreshing.

I also want to say that the ending scene was one of the most satisfying romance ending scenes that I've read. It tied things together in a lovely way.

There were a few things that didn't quite work for me, however. I see from a lot of people's reviews that they loved the beginning set in Maui. While I enjoyed it, I found myself questioning the authorial choice to devote an entire 12% to it. I think it could've been pared down, but I realize I didn't enjoy it as much as some others because I don't care too much for instant attraction. I like when characters have a bit of a struggle getting there.

I also thought the points of view were a little imbalanced, especially toward the beginning. We spent a lot of time with Kade first then lots with Jen before it evened out. Perhaps I would've found the beginning 12% more interesting if there had been more of a balance. Along these same lines, sometimes it took a paragraph or two to figure out whose point of view we were in. These types of things definitely aren't deal-breakers for me, but they could be improved upon in the next book.

I'd definitely recommend this to romance readers, especially those who enjoy f/f romance, and I'll be looking forward to more stories from Blackmore.

Thanks to NetGalley, Bold Strokes Books, and Heather Blackmore for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

BOOK REVIEW: The Universe Between Us

Ana is a 26-year-old biochemist whose mother has raised her to be part of a private corporation's mission to colonize Mars. She's been training for it since she was 13. Part of her training included building a self-sufficient farmhouse. The problem is she needs someone to take care of it when she's gone if she doesn't want it to fall into dilapidation.

Jolie, a student at the local university, answers her ad for a roommate in order to cut down on living expenses, quit her job, and make more time for her art. The two are immediately attracted to one another, but Ana can't tell Jolie anything about the upcoming mission. All Jolie knows is that Ana will be going away and soon. Is the chance at love, even if it's short-lived, worth it?

This story is set in a realistic near future, one where Earth is becoming less and less habitable, forcing humanity to turn to the next closest planet. Esther threads in details about what this future is like--automatic cars, screens everywhere, bracelets that let people take video calls. It's nothing earthshattering in terms of technology, but these details are enjoyable glimpses of the world, and Esther utilizes them well. If anything, I wanted more from the science. Ana is a biochemist and in charge of the colony's food supply. She mentions experiments but doesn't go in depth. I thought this aspect could have been explored more, but I did like what was there.

I felt like the writing could've been polished a bit more. I liked Jolie and Ana, but I didn't get enough of a sense of who they were outside their relationship. That's partly a constraint of the plot because the characters need to get together if Ana's upcoming departure is going to have emotional heft. I would've liked to see more of Jolie's life at the university and more of Ana's life in her terrarium and with her experiments. I would've been more accepting of it, I think, if the dialogue had felt more natural. It's sometimes stilted, and characters jump from one subject to another without Esther giving us their inner thoughts to make that jump. It was off just enough that it sometimes popped me out of the story.

I'm okay with endings being neatly tied up. However, where this one lost me was in the conflict that separates Jolie and Ana. Without giving much away, if Ana's job was so important, I would think there would be measures in place for replacements, maybe even an entire B-crew. In this way, the conflict felt a little too contrived for me to be worried about the fate of their relationship.

Overall, this was a relaxing, breezy read, perfect for huddling up indoors when it's cold outside. I'd recommend it to readers who are romance fans.

Thanks to NetGalley, Bold Strokes Books, and Jane C. Esther for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. 

BOOK REVIEW: A More Perfect Union

Disclaimer: NetGalley provided this copy in exchange for an honest review. Thanks to NetGalley, Bold Strokes Books, and Carsen Taite.

People often seem surprised when I say I read romance. I don’t read them as often as I’d like because I’m a fairly slow reader and generally focused on sci-fi and fantasy and because there are so many romances books out there that sometimes it’s hard to dive in. I requested this on a whim from NetGalley, and I’m glad I did! I read the majority of this in the space of a day.

The setup is fairly standard (not a bad thing). Lt. Colonel Zoey Granger is a whistleblower scheduled to testify in front of Congress on a corruption scandal. Rook Daniels is a hotshot spin doctor who “fixes” scandals when they appear. Their paths cross, sparking both attraction and frustration, but neither thinks it will go very far. Then their professional lives collide, and they have to investigate a case close to Zoey’s heart while navigating their growing connection.

I liked both the main characters. Zoey is a stand-up person with a strong sense of morality. She’s also a bit lost since the army’s been her family for years and exposing the corruption scandal has partially ostracized her. Rook is charming and devoted to her job but, like the best love interests, has a painful past that she doesn’t like to talk about. Their quick attraction to one another feels real, as do the issues that initially keep them apart. Zoey, who is honorable and truthful, dislikes Rook’s profession and feels spinning stories is akin to lying. Rook has a distrust of the military that stems from her past and can’t understand Zoey’s comfort with taking orders and her devotion to the army.

Despite the military being a large part of this story, there’s pretty good gender balance. While a lot of the characters in the military are male, women hold powerful positions, too. One of the driving forces behind the plot is Rook’s friend Sarah, who is the White House Chief of Staff. In a smaller part is her girlfriend, who’s a Chief Justice. (Details might be a little off because I read this fast.) There are some cool women on Rook’s team, and Zoey is shown to be respected by her higher-ups and to know the men who don’t respect her aren’t worth it. I liked that it took place in D.C. and the military world. I don’t know much about the military, but things seemed accurate. I especially liked the climax and the phones (can't give anything away, but you'll see when you get there). The writing was nice and clean and kept the story flowing.

One area for improvement would be the diversity. On the one hand, I enjoyed that the characters didn’t have to deal with homophobia. In a sense, it would be more realistic if they did, but it’s nice to see a lesbian couple treated like any other couple. They have their issues, but they’d have the same issues regardless of sexuality. I think there’s room for telling both kinds of stories. On the other hand, I’m pretty sure most of the characters are white. If there were clues to the contrary, I missed them. Maybe I was reading too fast!

Overall, I very much enjoyed this book, and I’ll definitely read more from Taite in the future.