Jenn's Review: The Viper

Author: John Verdon
Series: Dave Gurney #8
Publication Date:  July 18, 223
Publisher: Counterpoint LLC
Pages: 400
Obtained: purchased
Genre:  Crime, Thriller 
Rating: 4/5
Bottom Line: Couldn't get it out of my head
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Summary: Pushed to his breaking point and accused of murder, retired NYPD detective Dave Gurney must face his greatest adversary yet to solve a mystery that is quickly tearing his world apart. Tennis bad boy Ziko Slade is serving twenty years for the grisly murder of small-time criminal Lenny Lerman. The facts of the case--and Slade's checkered past--seem indisputable. What begins as a cursory review of the case as a favor to Dave Gurney's wife's friend soon spirals into something much more complicated. When Gurney's involvement threatens to expose a viper's nest of corruption, he finds himself framed for murder and pursued by a sensational media, a ruthless district attorney, and a coldblooded killer. As he evades the law and attempts to solve the case to salvage his reputation, Gurney grapples with the realization that his unshakable need for police work is costing him more than the brilliant detective ever suspected. The Viper is the most shocking and riveting chapter yet in the internationally bestselling Dave Gurney series. ~amazon.com

Review: I have been a long time fan of this series and I returned to it for a comforting familiarity and a visit with old friends, but this installment of Dave Gurney was too unsettling.

After the last case I would have imagined Gurney becoming more protective of his wife and the effects of his investigations. Gurney seems to have become more recklessly obsessed with solving the case. True, this time she brought him the case, but he was blinded to the point of recklessness. This case brought out a darkness in Gurney. I missed his meticulous attention to detail and moral compass.

I have long thought Gurney and his wife were mismatched but being a bystander to the self destruction of their relationship was hard, more difficult than I imagined, actually.

Although the case is mostly resolved, there are a lot of open ends and unresolved issues. There is no neat ending here and many of the methodical fact gathering was abandoned. I realize I’m not meant to, but I don’t like where things were left. I hope none of the characters are broken beyond repair but it is a definite possibility. It was a difficult place to leave my Walnut Crossing friends and definitely not the comfort I was seeking.

Sunday Skim

Week of 10/22/2023:

Finished:

Currently Reading:

Looking Forward To:

Yes, I have joined the Sarah J. Maas fandom. 

Sunday Skim

Week of 10/15/2023:

Finished:

Currently Reading:

Looking Forward To:

Julie's Review: The Spanish Love Deception

Author: Elena Armas
Series: None
Publication Date:  February 8, 2022
Publisher: Atria
Pages: 448
Obtained: purchased
Genre:  Contemporary Romance
Rating: 5/5
Bottom Line: Slow, spicy burn
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Summary: Catalina Martín desperately needs a date to her sister’s wedding. Especially since her little white lie about her American boyfriend has spiralled out of control. Now everyone she knows—including her ex and his fiancée—will be there and eager to meet him. She only has four weeks to find someone willing to cross the Atlantic and aid in her deception. New York to Spain is no short flight and her raucous family won’t be easy to fool. Enter Aaron Blackford—her tall, handsome, condescending colleague—who surprisingly offers to step in. She’d rather refuse; never has there been a more aggravating, blood-boiling, and insufferable man. But Catalina is desperate, and as the wedding draws nearer, Aaron looks like her best option. And she begins to realize he might not be as terrible in the real world as he is at the office. ~amazon.com 

Review: Well Ms. Armas wastes no time diving right into the storyline with the first line of the book and it pretty much had me swooning from then on. I mean I'm sorry but Lina is pretty blind that she can't see how Aaron is totally into her from the beginning. I guess that is the purpose of an enemies to lovers book though. Although I wasn't convinced that it was a two sided hate at all. I mean a guy who hates you doesn't offer to bail you out, right? 

The heat that radiates from the two of them really comes off the page but it's also very sweet. I loved Lina and her loud, boisterous family. They cracked me up, especially her sister. Lina is full of assumptions about Aaron because of their initial meeting and something she heard while passing outside a door. Of course, there's a very different meaning around what he said.

What I loved about this is that it is the epitome of a slow burn, I mean you have to read 3/4 of the book to get to the spicy, but the build up is so worth it. There's a good plot too about confronting your past to move on and learning to forgive yourself. 

Julie’s Review: A Winter in New York

Author: Josie Silver
Series: None
Publication Date:  October 3, 2023
Publisher: Dell
Pages: 328
Obtained: pubisher via Netgalley
Genre:  Contemporary Romance
Rating: 4.5/5
Bottom Line: A moving love story about all kinds of love
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Summary: When Iris decides to move to New York to restart her life, she realizes she underestimated how big the Big Apple really is—all the nostalgic movies set in New York she’d watched with her mom while eating their special secret-recipe gelato didn’t quite do it justice.  But Bobby, Iris’s best friend, isn’t about to let her hide away. He drags her to a famous autumn street fair in Little Italy, and as they walk through the food stalls, a little family-run gelateria catches her eye—could it be the same shop that’s in an old photo of her mother’s? Curious, Iris returns the next day and meets the handsome Gio, who tells her that the shop is in danger of closing. His uncle, sole keeper of their family’s gelato recipe, is recovering from a stroke and can no longer remember it, so they can’t make more. When Iris samples the last remaining batch, she realizes that their gelato and her gelato are one and the same. But how can she tell them she knows their secret recipe when she’s not sure why Gio’s uncle gave it to her mother in the first place? Iris offers her services as a chef to help them re-create the flavor and finds herself falling for Gio and his family. But when Gio’s uncle finally wakes up, all of the secrets Iris has been keeping threaten to ruin the new life—and new love—she’s been building all winter long. ~amazon.com

Review:  What would you do if you had a secret family recipe but it wasn’t for your family? Would you immediately give it back, even if brought you comfort? This is the quandary of Iris as she happens upon the gelatria that is in her mom’s scrapbook. 

I absolutely adored Iris and her found family of Shen, Bobby and Robin in New York. Even the stray cat Smirnoff provided a comfort to her when she needed it. It's not happenstance that brings her to New York but a way to stay connected to her deceased mother. It was always just them since Iris' father was absent and she feels a bit untethered since her death. She also fled London to get out of a horrible relationship. 

Gio has also gone through hardships of his own and is pretty closed off emotionally except for his daughter. HIs family is also loud and loving,  constantly pushing him in ways he doesn't want. It doesn't help that his Papa suffered a stroke and can't remember their family recipe for their famous vanilla gelato. This is where Iris comes in and their lives intersect. Neither of them planned on falling in love and it really complicates things when a family member of Gio's returns. 

When Iris tries to run this time, there are people who love her and try to stop her. She needs to face her past to have a future, any future. 

Yes, this is a romance novel but it’s also about family, found family and letting go of the past. I loved Iris and her struggle to do what is right for her and also this new found family in the Belotti’s. This is another great novel by Josie Silver who is now an auto buy for me. 

Sunday Skim

Week of 10/8/2023:

Finished:

Currently Reading:

Looking Forward To:

It's been a really good week for books and in different genres but if I tell you to read one book then it's Rochelle Weinstein's What You Do to Me. It is a beautiful book about how music and love go hand in hand. 

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Julie's Review: Verity

Author: Colleen Hoover
Series: None
Publication Date:  October 26, 2021
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Pages: 336
Obtained: a friend
Genre:  Psychological Thriller
Rating: 4/5
Bottom Line: Not for the faint of heart
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Summary: Lowen Ashleigh is a struggling writer on the brink of financial ruin when she accepts the job offer of a lifetime. Jeremy Crawford, husband of bestselling author Verity Crawford, has hired Lowen to complete the remaining books in a successful series his injured wife is unable to finish. Lowen arrives at the Crawford home, ready to sort through years of Verity’s notes and outlines, hoping to find enough material to get her started. What Lowen doesn’t expect to uncover in the chaotic office is an unfinished autobiography Verity never intended for anyone to read. Page after page of bone-chilling admissions, including Verity's recollection of the night her family was forever altered. Lowen decides to keep the manuscript hidden from Jeremy, knowing its contents could devastate the already grieving father. But as Lowen’s feelings for Jeremy begin to intensify, she recognizes all the ways she could benefit if he were to read his wife’s words. After all, no matter how devoted Jeremy is to his injured wife, a truth this horrifying would make it impossible for him to continue loving her. ~amazon.com

Review: I'm sorry but what the hell did I just read? I mean it says something about Ms. Hoover that I'm still thinking about this book after finishing it. It is probably one of the most messed up books I've read and I read Tampa by Alysssa Nutting, which is THE most messed up book I've read. 

This  novel that has the classic unreliable narrator, which I don't mind. I think it makes things pretty interesting from a story perspective but I have to question if we have 2 unreliable narrators: Lowen & Verity. We really only get Verity's side of the story from her autobiography that Lowen happens to stumble upon. There is a twist that makes you question if she did stumble upon it and kind of makes you start to think about everything you've learned throughout the book. 

I mean is Jeremy as nice and Prince Charming as he seems for both Verity and Lowen? Or is he kind the mastermind behind it all? I couldn't help but question Jeremy from day one because well he was just almost too nice/too perfect on paper. 

This is my first CoHo book and I know it's very different than her other books, which to be honest is why I picked this one up. I'm always good for a thriller and this one fit the bill. I'm still up in the air if I'll read her other books but one never knows. 

Julie's Review: What You Do to Me

Author: Rochelle B. Weinstein
Series: None
Publication Date:  October 17, 2023
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Pages: 363
Obtained: publisher via NetGalley
Genre:  Contemporary Fiction; Historical Fiction
Rating: 5/5
Bottom Line: Music and love always go together
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Summary: Journalist Cecilia James is a sucker for a love song. So when she stumbles across a clue to the identity of the muse for one of rock’s greatest, she devotes herself to uncovering the truth, even as her own relationship is falling apart. While writing an article for Rolling Stone, Cecilia works to reveal the mystery that has intrigued fans and discovers a classic tale of two soulmates separated by fate and circumstance. Rock star Eddie Vee once sang with his soul, dedicating love songs to Sara Friedman, his inspiration and first love. Now, Eddie takes refuge in anonymity, closed off to the past. Sara, too, has distanced herself from their love, moving thousands of miles away to live the life she once railed against. As Eddie and Sara tentatively open up to Cecilia about broken dreams, she struggles to give them a happy ending. In the process, she learns that broken hearts can be healed―even her own. What You Do To Me is the story of a love song and of the triumph of the heart over the greatest of odds. Even for those who have written off love forever. ~amazon.com

Review: A song can transport you to a moment or a person or even a time period in your life. Sometimes it'll spark a memory you have forgotten or it just helps your mood. We all have a song or probably many that can do this for us. Not only that but there are song where you wonder who or what the inspiration was and that is what Ms. Weinstein explores in What You Do to Me? 

Cecilia James is an up & coming journalist at Rolling Stone but she needs that big break to get her own byline but at what expense. She's in Miami for another meeting when she happens upon a lady sitting on a bench upset about the tragedy marker. She also leaves a piece of paper behind, which is what sets Cecilia on a path to find out the truth behind one of the most famous songs and who is behind it. 

The story is told by Cecilia in the 90s and Sara in the 70s/80. I loved Sara's voice and reading about her struggles with falling in love with someone where she knew it was impossible but trying to find a way to make it happen. Sara is trying to live her life while honoring the traditions of her faith but her mom has much stricter rules. I loved the closeness of Sara's family but I could also see how suffocating it would be for a young women who wants to experience life outside her bubble. She's trying to define her own life while still trying to live into her family expectations. 

CeCe is dealing with some unresolved baggage from her parents marriage and divorce. She's never forgiven her father for walking out on them and has her deceased mom on a pedastal. When things go south for her in her relationship, she has no one else to turn to but her dad and his wife, Tori. It is here where Cece begins to heal and let her walls fall down. It is also the story of Sara and Eddie that helps her heal as well and figure out what she really wants. 

This is a pretty emotional book; well at least it was for me. I loved both women's journey to figuring out their lives. Both of them were dealing with things that were holding them back from the lives they wanted and yes they were different but obstacles are obstacles. 

I will read anything Ms. Weinstein writes but this is definitely her best novel so far! If you haven't read her, you really should. 

Sunday Skim

Week of 10/1/2023:

Finished:

Currently Reading:

Looking Forward To:

The Measure was an audiobook and it was a real thought-provoking book; I would highly recommend it as a book club read. Love Interest was just a homerun for me. It was exactly what I needed and an all around great romance. The Other Princess is a strong historical fiction about a woman who paves her own way given her circumstances. 

Julie's Review: Love Interest

Author: Clare Gilmore
Series: None
Publication Date:  October 10, 2023
Publisher: Griffin
Pages: 352
Obtained: publisher via Netgalley
Genre:  Contemporary Romance
Rating: 5/5
Bottom Line: A fun read with depth about healing
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Summary: Casey Maitland has always preferred the reliability of numbers. Now a twenty-four-year-old finance expert working in Manhattan, she wonders if the open project manager position at her company―magazine powerhouse LC Publications―is a sign from the universe to pursue a career with a little more sparkle. That is, until she’s passed over for the job in favor of the board chairman’s son. Alex Harrison is handsome, Harvard-educated, and enigmatic. Everybody loves him―except for Casey. But when the two are thrown on the same project, what they discover about their company might change everything―including the dreams each of them is chasing and their mutual love interest. ~amazon.com 

Review: I've been really loving romance books lately. I mean I've always read them but the books being published now are so different than the ones I grew up reading. For me they are more rooted in things that could actually happen in real life to anyone and Love Interest fits that. Given that we spend a great amount of time at work, romance has to happen there on a regular basis. I'm not sure I would classify this as an enemies to lovers trope but more like an opposites attract. Casey just doesn't like Alex because 1) He got the job she wanted; 2) She thinks he got it because of his last name. Of course, things aren't always what they seem which is what Casey finds out pretty quickly. Plus, there's a pretty clever meet cute for them right off the bat. 

While Casey didn't get the job, she is assigned at the financial analyst to the project which puts her and Alex in very close proximty to each other. It becomes evident very quickly why Alex got the job with his vision and excitement. Alex is the opposite of Casey in every way but not the point where they don't find common ground. Casey is pretty quick to let her guard down with him especially after spending some time with him for the company YouTube series. 

I was afraid that it was going to follow the usual trope of a misunderstanding that leads to a big fight to tear them apart but Ms. Gilmore did not go that direction and I appreciated it. This book left me with a big smile on my face and a feel good feeling. There are some serious messages in the book but nothing that felt preachy to me. 

I highly recommend this one for all you romance readers out there. 

Monthly Rewind - September

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As you can see, it was a great month for reading. I mean a lot were audiobooks and it definitely helped finishing up the Chronicles of Narnia series. I went out on a limb, based on several high recommendations and read a romantasy book. Now I really can't get Fourth Wing out of my head. It is so worth the hype and the 2nd one comes out in November. I would also highly recommend Kissing Kosher and Don't Forget to Write. 

What did you read in September?