I seem to be on a Jane Austen retelling kick lately: first Once Persuaded, Twice Shy, and now Relative Strangers, which is a modern reimagining of Sense and Sensibility.
What’s Relative Strangers about?
Amelia Bae-Wood ((ahem, Marianne Dashwood) goes to live with her widowed sister Eleanor, her widowed mother, and her niece Margaret after her glamorous foodie-preneur lifestyle falls apart. Her family has been rendered near penniless...
I cried from the very first page of Morning in this Broken World.
The more I read, the more I cried. In good and bad ways.
But, the important thing is that I kept reading. Because Morning in this Broken World is one of the best books I’ve read in a long, long time.
What’s Morning in this Broken World about? Morning in this Broken World is about love. The power of love, and how it can be both healing and destructive all at once. It's...
I really wanted to love Sex Romp Gone Wrong. However, this collection of short stories by Julia Ridley Smith wasn’t quite what I was expecting.
What’s Sex Romp Gone Wrong about? Sex Romp Gone Wrong covers relationships and friendships, love and romance, marriage and kids, and all the blurred lines in between. Based on the wonderfully intriguing title -- the sole reason I requested an ARC of this book -- I expected the stories to be a...
I waited a long time -- too long! -- to read The Truth Project.
Author Dante Medema (whether she knows this or not) was one of the very first people to start following the Tart’s Instagram account. Of course, I followed her right back, and not long after that, she announced her upcoming debut publication. I've been waiting to read The Truth Project since the day it was published back in 2020.
Correction: I've been waiting to read it since...
I bet Naomi, the main character in A Novel Obsession, has "crazy eyes."
She has to have crazy eyes. Because, it sure doesn't take long for her crazy to start coming out.
What's A Novel Obsession about?
I stumbled across A Novel Obsession when I decided to take a writing workshop taught by author Caitlin Barasch. The story’s premise intrigued me right away: twenty-something Naomi stalks her boyfriend's ex-girlfriend under the guise of...
The Reservoir's a quirky one, Tartlets. Just warning ya.
This novella (a.k.a, a short book) is written by David Duchovny. Most people my age will know him as Fox Mulder from a little TV phenomenon called The X-Files, and later on from Californication.
Normally, I’m pretty skeptical of books written by celebrities. Either such books are ghostwritten, or the celeb just got the book deal because, well, they’re a big, famous actor and not...
If you're a fan of the movie Love Actually (umm, who isn't???), you’re going to adore Lockdown on London Lane.
Is it too early for a COVID-themed book? I know that most of my fellow readers and writers prefer to pretend that the past few disease-ridden years never happened, at least when it comes to escaping into literature.
Ordinarily, I’d be with you. But, Lockdown on London Lane navigates this sensitive topic with such ease, humor, and...
Sometimes, you just don’t have the time to read an entire novel, which is where books like Love Like That come in handy. Author Emma Duffy-Comparone’s collection of short stories is about imperfect women dealing with imperfect love in all its forms. The heroine of each story is flawed – humorously, pathetically, worryingly -- but always relatable. You may not identify with every situation portrayed in Love Like That, but you’ll recognize...
Honestly, is it even summer without a Mary Kay Andrews book to read? You all know my love for MKA runs deep, and The Newcomer hit every expectation that I had for my summer beach read: -- dreamy Southern vacation spot along the water? Check. -- a sweet and plucky heroine? Check. -- a predictable but enjoyable romance with a hot, too-good-to-be-true guy? Check. -- a spot of murder for a dash of intrigue? Check. When I told my husband the premise...
Let's jump right into it: I loved The Candid Life of Meena Dave. Like, really loved it. As in, I give it all the stars! You guys know my fondness for the "unexpected inheritance" trope, so when Kaye Publicity asked me if I wanted an ARC of The Candid Life of Meena Dave, I was like, You had me at "inherits a Victorian brownstown in historic Back Bay, Boston." I love Boston, and, like most people, my favorite area of the city is Back Bay with its...
