Julie's Review: The Heir Affair

Author: Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan
Series: Royal We #2
Publication Date:  July 7, 2020
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Pages: 481
Obtained: Bought and Paid For
Genre:  Contemporary Fiction
Rating: 4.5/5
Bottom Line: It's not so easy being royal and being married to one
Grab, Just get it at the library, or Remove from your TBR list? Grab

Summary: After a scandalous secret turns their fairy-tale wedding into a nightmare, Rebecca "Bex" Porter and her husband Prince Nicholas are in self-imposed exile. The public is angry. The Queen is even angrier. And the press is salivating. Cutting themselves off from friends and family, and escaping the world's judgmental eyes, feels like the best way to protect their fragile, all-consuming romance.
But when a crisis forces the new Duke and Duchess back to London, the Band-Aid they'd placed over their problems starts to peel at the edges. Now, as old family secrets and new ones threaten to derail her new royal life, Bex has to face the emotional wreckage she and Nick left behind: with the Queen, with the world, and with Nick's brother Freddie, whose sins may not be so easily forgotten -- nor forgiven. ~amazon.com 

Review: I don't think there's enough money to make me want to marry into the royal family. That being said those that do it should go in with their eyes wide open to ensure they understand all of what is going to be asked of them now and in the future. I feel like Bex did go in with her eyes wide open, it's why she struggled to make sure her feelings for Nick were real. They were and they are. Nick and Bex clearly adore and love each other but running away from their problems to start of a marriage could be a sign of a rocky beginning. At least that's what the British Media want you to think. The truth is they enjoyed their time together as Steve and Margot; it cemented them to each other; it gave them a firm foundation. Which is a good thing because their lives are going to be a whirlwind when they get called back to London on a family emergency.

From there they are forced to face what they ran away from and the domino effect it had on familia obligations. In Nick's absence, Freddie stepped up but can they repair their relationship. It won't ever be the same but it can be something different and maybe something better. Bex also has to change her relationship with Freddie because maybe they were too close before. They never crossed the line physically but sometimes emotional support can be more than physical.

I think my favorite part of the book was the developing relationship between Queen Eleanor and Bex. At first it was a stand off of wits and stubborness but it grew into something more. I also love the backstory and mystery of Georgina, Eleanor's sister. It all dovetails nicely into the current plot line.

I wasn't sure what the timeline span of The Heir Affair would be but I'm glad they chose to set it over a few year period and didn't advance the storyline with trival plot points. When there was nothing left to be said, they moved on to the next important piece of the story.

I enjoyed the ending of the book and I wouldn't be terribly upset if they didn't write another one in the series but I would also read the next one if they decided to go that route as well.

The Heir Affair is a fun book with some serious angles to it that will let you escape 2020 for just a little bit.



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Sunday Skim

Week of 8/23/2020:

Finished:

Currently Reading:

                                                                Looking Forward To:

Full swing of school this week and it's going well but not without some hiccups. I've accepted that it is what it is for now and I'm hoping they can at least get back in the building a couple days a week in the fall. I think that would help everyone's mental and emotional states. 

Cleo McDougal Regrets Nothing was a wonderful read as was The Heir Affair. I'm actually ok if the authors don't write another novel in the series. Some times your readers use of their own imaginations on what happens to the characters is just fine. 

I'm ditching audiobooks again which means I probably won't meet my goal but you know what; it is what it is. With the kids home for school and not having the ability to shut myself off in a meeting room to work, my time with audio is limited and I'm rarely in the care by myself to listen. I hope to get back to listening to books but it might not be until 2021. 

Julie's Review: Cleo McDougal Regrets Nothing

Author: Allison Winn Scotch
Series: None
Publication Date:  August 1, 2020
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Pages: 328
Obtained: Amazon First
Genre:  Contemporary Fiction
Rating: 5/5
Bottom Line: Multi-layered novel about the things women deal with throughout life
Grab, Just get it at the library, or Remove from your TBR list? Grab

Summary: Cleo McDougal is a born politician. From congresswoman to senator, the magnetic, ambitious single mother now has her eye on the White House—always looking forward, never back. Until an estranged childhood friend shreds her in an op-ed hit piece gone viral. With seven words—“Cleo McDougal is not a good person”—the presidential hopeful has gone from in control to damage control, and not just in Washington but in life. Enter Cleo’s “regrets list” of 233 and counting. Her chief of staff has a brilliant idea: pick the top ten, make amends during a media blitz, and repair her reputation. But there are regrets, and there are regrets: like her broken relationship with her sister, her affair with a law school professor…and the regret too big to even say out loud. But with risk comes reward, and as Cleo makes both peace and amends with her past, she becomes more empowered than ever to tackle her career, confront the hypocrites out to destroy her, and open her heart to what matters most—one regret at a time. ~amazon.com

Review: I don't read a lot of political fiction because I do feel it gets infused with the author's political views but in Cleo McDougal Regrets Nothing I didn't feel that at all. Sure I knew what political party Cleo was in but it wasn't the driver/focus of the book. As women, we are familiar with the term frenemy and Cleo is outed as not a nice person by her's from high school, Maryanne. Although her motive isn't really alturistic either. To say that neither of them are not good people would be too easy and gloss over more complicated feelings and circumstances.

Cleo is a wonderfully complicated character that you do feel like you know her. Cleo has always been about herself and being first or winning. What she never realized with that singular focus, she never realized how her goals and means to her goals affected other people. How they might have been hurt in the wake of the storm that is/was Cleo. With the op-ed by Maryanne, it forces Cleo to look in the mirror and realize that maybe she doesn't regret some of her actions but that doesn't mean she has to be proud of them.

There are so many great supporting characters in this book, her son Lucas being on of them. She begins to realize that it's always been the two of them and now that he's a teenager it might not hurt to be alone. She also comes to the conclusion that some of her decisions have been selfish when it came to him. In order to be a better mother, she needs to put his feelings first for a while.

This book is so layered that there were times where I paused and thought, "wow" beause it rang so true for the undercurrents of the novel. Women are put through the ringer professionally and personally and held to higher standards which isn't necessarily bad but it is certainly not fair. Ms. Scotch addresses these issues with aplumb.

Cleo McDougal Regrets Nothing will be on my best of 2020 list for sure. I highly recommend!



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Sunday Skim

Week of 8/16/2020:

Finished:

Currently Reading:

                                                                Looking Forward To:

Back to school happened at the end of last week for us and it was different. Both my kids really want to be back physcially in school but for now they are remote learning. We set the up with desks in their rooms so here's hoping it works out better than it did in the Spring. I'm always glad the first week is never a full week and I think it'll help even more this year as things are a bit off. 

I didn't enjoy Ms. Sullivan's latest as much as I did her previous novels but it was exceptionally written but it didn't resonate with me. It happens right? 

I've got some exciting books from the library that I'm hoping to get to soon. The Heir Affair is one I've been dying to read but waiting for my sister to finish her current read so we can buddy read it. 

How are you holding up? 

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Sunday Skim

Week of 8/9/20:

Finished:

Currently Reading:

                                                                Looking Forward To:

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Sunday Skim

Week of 7/26/20 and 8/2/20:

Finished:

Currently Reading:

                                                                Looking Forward To:

So I've been a little absent from writing reviews lately and I apologize for that. Work has gotten busy in the midst of traveling a bit for baseball tournaments. I'm hoping as this weekend was our last one, I can get back to doing the books I'm reading justice.

I'm sure you all are feeling a bit overwhelmed as I am with the prospect of school opening. No choice will be the right one for everyone; so whatever anyone decides has to be right for them and their kids. We didn't have a choice both my kids will start the school year online; one was super upset and the other one was like, well what can I do about it? So there will be 4 of us home again working and being students. Like the rest of the US, we are thinking about workspaces and desks.

I hope you all are doing well physically, emotionally and mentally during this weird time.

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