Sweetwater and the Witch

 Sweetwater and the Witch (Harmony series)- Jayne Castle

Berkley/Penguin Random House

Release Date: September 20, 2022

Rating: 📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: If there’s something Ravenna Chastain knows, it’s when to end things. And after she almost winds up the victim of a cult that believes she’s a witch, it’s easy to walk away from her dead-end career, ready for a new start. But where to find a job that would allow her to use her very specialized skill set? The answer is clear: she becomes a matchmaker.

But even a successful matchmaker can’t find someone for everyone, and Ravenna considers Ethan Sweetwater her first professional failure. After nine failed dates, Ravenna knows it’s time to cut Ethan loose. But Ethan refuses to be fired as a client—he needs one final date to a business function. Since Ravenna needs a date herself to a family event, they agree to a deal: she will be his (business) date if he will be her (fake) date to her grandparents’ anniversary celebration.
 
What Ethan fails to mention is that attending the business function is a cover for some industrial espionage that he’s doing as a favor to the new Illusion Town Guild boss. Ravenna is happy to help, but their relationship gets even more complicated when things heat up—the chemistry between them is explosive, as explosive as the danger that’s stalking Ravenna. Lucky for her, Ethan isn’t just an engineer—he’s also a Sweetwater, and Sweetwaters are known for hunting down monsters…

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Ravenna Chastain, criminal profiler turned matchmaker, has been put in the awkward position of having to fire her company's highest profile client as unmatchable. Ethan Sweetwater didn't make things easy at the start by not filling in most of his profile questionnaire and he doesn't make it easy to fire him as a client. He needs a date to a business function, she (with over 30 failed dates to her credit) needs a date to a big family function. What could go wrong? When Ethan arrives to pick up Ravenna for their date (which is also going to involve some clandestine spying for the Arcane Society) and finds her standing over the unconscious body of the man who just tried to kill her, he rolls with it. That freaks Ravenna out more than a past date trying to kill her. Is Ethan a mob connection? Who else knows just what to do with duct tape? Things heat up from there with more attempted assassinations, high drama family functions, and dust bunny shenanigans. 

This was definitely a fun book for me. You don't have to have read previous Harmony novels (Guild Boss, Illusion Town) to enjoy it, although being familiar with Harmony and the Krentz/Quick/Castle Arcane Society world helps you spot some fun Easter eggs along the way. Ravenna has enough FBPI training to handle herself as more than a matchmaker in the increasingly tense situations she winds up in as collateral to a much larger picture, but enough sense at the beginning to worry when her date is willing to help her disappear a body like its a normal thing. Most women would worry, even as they found it convenient. Ethan is the mild mannered engineer who is much more than he seems, and is stubborn enough to keep going for what he wants. I loved the declaration and "it's always been you" moment at the end! 

Sweetwater and the Witch was fast paced, full of fun, wry humor, danger and mystery, and everything a reader expects from Jayne Castle. Also, I loved Harriet the dust bunny! With her love for pens and popcorn, I think we may be soul mates. 

A book not to be missed for the Jayne Castle fans!

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Witch & the Tsar

 The Witch and the Tsar- Olesya Salnikova Gilmore

Ace/Penguin Random House

Release Date: September 20, 2022

Rating: 📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: As a half-goddess possessing magic, Yaga is used to living on her own, her prior entanglements with mortals having led to heartbreak. She mostly keeps to her hut in the woods, where those in need of healing seek her out, even as they spread rumors about her supposed cruelty and wicked spells. But when her old friend Anastasia—now the wife of the tsar, and suffering from a mysterious illness—arrives in her forest desperate for her protection, Yaga realizes the fate of all of Russia is tied to Anastasia’s. Yaga must step out of the shadows to protect the land she loves.

As she travels to Moscow, Yaga witnesses a sixteenth century Russia on the brink of chaos. Tsar Ivan—soon to become Ivan the Terrible—grows more volatile and tyrannical by the day, and Yaga believes the tsaritsa is being poisoned by an unknown enemy. But what Yaga cannot know is that Ivan is being manipulated by powers far older and more fearsome than anyone can imagine.
 
Olesya Salnikova Gilmore weaves a rich tapestry of mythology and Russian history, reclaiming and reinventing the infamous Baba Yaga, and bringing to life a vibrant and tumultuous Russia, where old gods and new tyrants vie for power. This fierce and compelling novel draws from the timeless lore to create a heroine for the modern day, fighting to save her country and those she loves from oppression while also finding her true purpose as a goddess, a witch, and a woman.

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In The Witch and the Tsar, Olesya Salnikova Gilmore does for the infamous Baba Yaga what Madeline Miller did for Circe, what Genevieve Gornichec did for Angrboda, and what Natalie Haynes' upcoming StoneBlind promises to do for Medusa: allow a traditionally "villainous" woman to take control of the narrative and tell her own story. Her own story is not that of an evil hag, but a good woman: half goddess, all healer, turned out by villagers and vilified when Russia turns towards Christianity. So she lives in a hut with chicken legs out in the woods and waits for peasants to come to her for help under cover of night, but no longer lives among them. She sees her mortality as a weakness and tries to ignore it, and to stay out of human affairs. But one day Russia's tsaritsa, Anastasia, Yaga's old friend and now wife of the tsar, comes to her. Anastasia is being poisoned by a hidden enemy and Yaga agrees to save her, even if that means going to Moscow itself. Soon she discovers the danger is much bigger than just to Anastasia's life, that gods and immortals are meddling with humans and nature and Yaga must decide if she is brave enough to risk everything to protect the people she has come to love.

The Witch and the Tsar may be Gilmore's debut novel, but you would never know it. Beautifully written with the confidence of one who might be on her tenth novel instead of her first, The Witch and the Tsar is crafted so that the reader appreciates the complicated lives of each character- none are one dimensional, throw away, figures. You feel sorrow for Yaga's enemies even as your heart breaks for the choices Yaga must make, this is a triumph in fantasy storytelling. Russian history and mythology weave together into an intricate world and beautiful creation that you feel as if you, the reader, are a part of. The sights and sounds, the smells, the food and clothes, the woods and city streets, all come alive and draw you in.  It is clear from the beginning that Gilmore loves the characters she has created, the ones she has drawn from history and mythology as well as her own imagination. Whether or not you are familiar with Baba Yaga and Ivan the Terrible before starting this book, expect surprises both beautiful and heartbreaking in the most unlikely places. Gilmore shows us through her characters that in the darkest places we can find our true selves and our strengths, and that even immortals can discover something new- in the world and in themselves- after hundreds of years. A message of hope for us all.

I defintely look forward to future books from Olesya Salnikova Gilmore and will be recommending The Witch and the Tsar to my friends who enjoy fantasy and feminist retellings!   

  

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review 

American Roommate Experiment

 The American Roommate Experiment- Elena Armas

Atria/Simon and Schuster

Release Date: September 6, 2022

Rating: 📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Rosie Graham has a problem. A few, actually. She just quit her well paid job to focus on her secret career as a romance writer. She hasn’t told her family and now has terrible writer’s block. Then, the ceiling of her New York apartment literally crumbles on her. Luckily she has her best friend Lina’s spare key while she’s out of town. But Rosie doesn’t know that Lina has already lent her apartment to her cousin Lucas, who Rosie has been stalking—for lack of a better word—on Instagram for the last few months. Lucas seems intent on coming to her rescue like a Spanish knight in shining armor. Only this one strolls around the place in a towel, has a distracting grin, and an irresistible accent. Oh, and he cooks.

Lucas offers to let Rosie stay with him, at least until she can find some affordable temporary housing. And then he proposes an outrageous experiment to bring back her literary muse and meet her deadline: He’ll take her on a series of experimental dates meant to jump-start her romantic inspiration. Rosie has nothing to lose. Her silly, online crush is totally under control—but Lucas’s time in New York has an expiration date, and six weeks may not be enough, for either her or her deadline.

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The sequel to The Spanish Love Deception, The American Roommate Experiment is a cute rom-com about New Yorker Rosie, who quit her job as an engineer to be a full time romance writer and is now panicking over writer's block and a manuscript deadline. When the ceiling of her apartment falls in she moves into her best friend's apartment- only to find her friend's cousin Lucas is also staying there. Lucas, who Rosie has had a secret Instagram crush on for over a year. In a one bedroom apartment. This can't get awkward, right? 

Rosie is a great, realistic character- trying to keep it all together because that's what she's always done, never letting anyone see when she needs help because that's not what she does. Even when she gets annoyed at others for not asking for help she doesn't think to ask for it and is surprised when Lucas offers. She's stressed and awkward, questions her choices and rarely goes for what makes her feel good because she takes care of everyone else first. Lucas, I was disappointed in. On the surface he's a great romantic hero- has all the right moves, says all the right things. But I never felt like I knew him below the surface and that was disappointing. It was only the last 20 pages of so where his issues actually got spelled out and I wanted more development for him than that. 

This was a super slow burn; a "I'm not good enough for the person I have a crush on"; a forced proximity; fake date trope book that worked really well. Full of humor and energy, if a little slower than I'd have liked in some spots, and the only reason I gave it 4 instead of 5 stars what that I was really hoping for more character development for Lucas. 

Definitely a book romance readers will enjoy!

I received an ARC from Atria in exchange for an honest review

Ithaca

 

Ithaca- Claire North

Redhook/Hachette

Release Date: September 6, 2022

Rating: 📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Seventeen years ago, King Odysseus sailed to war with Troy, taking with him every man of fighting age from the island of Ithaca. None of them has returned, and the women of Ithaca have been left behind to run the kingdom.

Penelope was barely into womanhood when she wed Odysseus. While he lived, her position was secure. But now, years on, speculation is mounting that her husband is dead, and suitors are beginning to knock at her door. 
 
No one man is strong enough to claim Odysseus' empty throne—not yet. But everyone waits for the balance of power to tip, and Penelope knows that any choice she makes could plunge Ithaca into bloody civil war. Only through cunning, wit, and her trusted circle of maids, can she maintain the tenuous peace needed for the kingdom to survive. 

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Seventeen years ago, King Odysseus sailed off to war with Troy, as did every man of fighting age on Ithaca. Over the ten years that war raged on the plains of Troy, Ithaca sent money and men who reached fighting age off to Troy, and received songs from the poets about their brave fighters in return. The old men who were left nodded and told the boys who remained that this was what being a man was all about. Seven years have passed since the war ended and none of Ithaca's men have returned- including their king. Outsiders and Ithaca's youth alike are starting to circle, trying to decide how to take the throne from a man who must be dead, but hasn't quite been declared dead- especially by his loyal wife and queen, Penelope.

For seventeen years Ithaca has managed to survive: food has made it to tables, trade has continued in the harbors, farms have continued to produce crops. Suitors are fed and the balancing act of hospitality and greed is kept in check. None of the old men question how this is done- until pirates come to Ithaca. Suddenly they have to do something, and they discover while they think they have been running things, they really have no idea what to do.

Ithaca is the book the Greek poets (and plenty of more modern fiction writers) wouldn't think to ask: what happens when the men leave home to go off fighting? The answer is obvious: the women run everything. But in Greece they are hampered by the cultural problem that they cannot be seen to run anything. In ancient Greece women have a strict place and that is behind the scenes, in the women's quarters, in the women's world. How to handle this catch-22 situation? Ithaca is narrated by Hera, the goddess of wives and marriage, a goddess who knows a few things about toxic masculinity and double standards. She doesn't pull any punches in her assessments of the characters she introduces us to and is willing to call a twerp a twerp if that's what she thinks he is- poetic hero or no. Hera doesn't have much use for heroes or poets. But women and queens, those are different matters. In daylight where Penelope plays the perfect Greek wife mourning her husband, in night's shadows where Penelope hunts for clues about the identity of the pirates and builds an army of women to defend Ithaca, Hera shows us all of Ithaca's secrets. 

In case we, as more modern readers, don't understand the situation Penelope would be in if she just stood up and told the men "You lot are idiots, I'm in charge now", there is a secondary story to bring the message home to us. Penelope's cousin Clytemnestra has been ruling Mycenae openly in her husband's absence. Now Agamemnon is back and while there were a few domestic squabbles about lovers on the side, Hera makes sure we understand that really, it was Clytemnestra's decision to rule openly that has led to her downfall. (And a bit of murder.) By the time Penelope's deception with her weaving is discovered we aren't surprised by the violence that nearly comes from it because we understand now- it isn't necessarily about the act itself but about the woman trying to take some control over her own life (or being perceived to take an active role in the lives of men) that is the real problem, and brings about death. Men must always be in control of the narrative. It is why women, even goddesses, must work in shadow and avoid being seen.  But they get the job done.

If you think that Hera is an odd choice of a narrator in the beginning, it won't take long for you to understand that she is the perfect choice to tell this story of women who are ignored or forgotten, belittled, by the men who rule. Remember, none of the stories you think you know about Hera have been told by women either.

An excellent addition to the popular mythology-alternate genre, fans of Madeline Miller, Jennifer Saint, and Natalie Haynes will definitely enjoy this new take on Penelope's story.  

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

For the Love of the Bard

For the Love of the Bard- Jessica Martin

Berkley

Release Date: June 28, 2022

Rating: 📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Literary agent and writer Miranda Barnes rolls into her hometown of Bard’s Rest with one goal in mind: to spend the summer finally finishing her YA novel, the next installment in her bestselling fantasy series. Yet Miranda’s mother, deep in the planning stages for the centennial of the town’s beloved annual Shakespeare festival, has other ideas. 

Before you can say “all’s fair in love and war,” Miranda is cornered into directing Twelfth Night—while simultaneously scrambling to finish her book, navigating a family health scare, and doing her best to avoid the guy who broke her heart on prom night. 
 
When it comes to Adam, the veterinarian with a talent for set design and an infuriating knack for winning over Miranda’s dog, the lady doth protest too much. As any Shakespeare lovers knows, the course of true love never did run smooth, and soon Miranda realizes she’ll have to decide whether to trust Adam with her heart again.

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Miranda is a great lead, and one we can all find within ourselves. Mostly confident, but hiding behind a pen name as a writer, and humor/snark when uncomfortable, Miranda isn't the most outwardly social person but is loyal to those she lets in her circle. Suffering from middle child syndrome, she always wants to be the peace maker and please everyone, and this summer that means taking on more and more of Bard's Rest's major Shakespeare festival instead of hauling her sisters in to help so she can work on her book. She also has to decide on her feelings for Adam, the sexy vet in town for the summer and helping her dad with set design. Can she get past the fact that he was her high school crush and broke her heart on prom night? There's clear chemistry between them, but a tricky past history makes her wary.

 

I loved that this wasn't just a story about two people falling in love. Yes, it is a second chance romance, a delightful slow burn and sizzle. But it was also about family, the love and dynamics and bonds the sisters share, and rebuilding their relationships after missteps along the way. And it was about Miranda (and Adam) re-discovering what it is they love about their jobs and their lives, for themselves as individuals as well as part of a possible couple.  

A mix of light and serious, this book does have its moments of serious. There is a parent health scare and a hospital scene, so if that's something you're sensitive about, head's up (spoiler alert, things seem ok by the end of the book). A bit of tighter editing in some places might have helped, and I wasn't a fan of the overuse of metaphors Miranda's mental ramblings often take, but that aside, I ended up really enjoying this book. 

Bard's Rest is one of those quirky little towns you wish you could visit, or possibly live in, with humorous Shakespeare twists on everything. The secondary characters flesh out nicely and become full fledged supporting roles of their own, and I am very much hoping sisters Cordy and Portia get their own books down the line so we can keep coming back to Bard's Rest and the delightful world and people Jessica Martin has created.

Fans of Jen DeLuca's Well Met series and romantic comedy in general will enjoy a trip to Bard's Rest to meet Miranda, Adam, and Jessica Martin's delightful For the Love of the Bard.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review 

An Affair at Stonecliffe

An Affair at Stonecliffe- Candace Camp

HQN

Release Date: May 24, 2022

Rating: 📚📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: Noelle Rutherford would do anything for her young son, Gil. A fiercely independent woman recently widowed, Noelle is determined to raise Gil alone. After all, her late husband Adam Rutherford married her for love, which infuriated his aristocratic family. Gil is Noelle’s whole world, and she will not have him wrested from her by haughty nobles.

But she may not have a choice unless she’s prepared to run.
 
One awful night, Noelle is confronted by Carlisle Thorne, a handsome yet severe, irascible man sent by the Rutherfords. Noelle is horrified when Carlisle offers her money in exchange for taking Gil to be raised at the Rutherford estate, Stonecliffe. Knowing that Carlisle will use any means necessary to take her son from her, Noelle flees, Gil at her side.
 
Thus begins an epic rivalry that spans five years—a battle of wits between two unforgettable characters bound together by fate and fortune. However, when danger threatens, these enemies must come together to protect what matters most… even if it means losing their hearts.

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This book in a new series by Candace Camp was so wonderful to read, I ended up not being able to put it down and read the whole thing in one day! You instantly connect to the emotions of Noelle, a young widow trying to raise her infant son, cope with her grief at her husband's death, her fear of being destitute, and then in comes Carlisle Thorne, a friend of her husband's aristocratic family, wanting to buy her baby and take it away from her to her husband's family. She runs and is on the run for the next five years, avoiding attempts of kidnappers to take her son. When Noelle and Carlisle meet again her fear and his exasperation come across as if you are feeling them yourself, and the reader starts to wonder (before the main characters) if there is something else going on- because if Carlisle is not behind the kidnapping attempts, who is? 

There are some excellent plot twists right up to the end to keep you guessing. Every secondary character is well done, and essential, and you instantly want to know more about them. I can't wait for characters like Nathan, Annabeth, and Sloane to have their own books to discover their secrets! Noelle and Carlisle shift from enemies to lovers with what felt like the right amount of timing and tension, and a delicious amount of chemistry and misunderstanding. Noelle may be one of the strongest characters I've read in awhile- she takes everything life throws at her and refuses to break under any of it. 

Beautifully written, well paced, and delightful characters, this is an absolute must read for romance readers. Candace Camp fans will rejoice in the start of this new series!

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

It Girl

 

The It Girl- Ruth Ware

Simon and Schuster/Gallery

Release Date: July 12, 2022

Rating: 📚📚📚📚

Synopsis: April Clarke-Cliveden was the first person Hannah Jones met at Oxford.

Vivacious, bright, occasionally vicious, and the ultimate It girl, she quickly pulled Hannah into her dazzling orbit. Together, they developed a group of devoted and inseparable friends—Will, Hugh, Ryan, and Emily—during their first term. By the end of the year, April was dead.

Now, a decade later, Hannah and Will are expecting their first child, and the man convicted of killing April, former Oxford porter John Neville, has died in prison. Relieved to have finally put the past behind her, Hannah’s world is rocked when a young journalist comes knocking and presents new evidence that Neville may have been innocent. As Hannah reconnects with old friends and delves deeper into the mystery of April’s death, she realizes that the friends she thought she knew all have something to hide…including a murder.

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In this new psychological thriller Ruth Ware introduces us to an unlikely group of friends at an Oxford college, all orbiting around "It Girl" April- rich, beautiful, intelligent, and talented who seemingly has it all. Yet by the end of their second term April is dead, murdered in her rooms. A decade later it comes out that maybe the man sentenced for the murder didn't actually do it- which naturally makes you wonder, if not him, who did kill April?

This is the second Ruth Ware book I've read (One by One was the other) and I definitely liked this one more than I expected to. The book is split into alternating "Before" and "After" chapters (as Hannah's life is divided into 'before April's murder' and 'after April's murder'), introducing us to narrator Hannah, "It Girl" April, and their friends Will, Ryan, Hugh, and Emily, as well as building them up over the course of their college experiences. In the "After" sections it is ten years later, Hannah and Will have moved to Edinburg and are expecting their first child, and the man convicted of killing April dies in prison. They are pushed back into the trauma of the murder and the media circus surrounding the murder and the trial and you get a really good sense of how traumatizing both events were for Hannah, Will, and the others- and how they reacted to it in very different ways. But you also see, before she does I think, that while Hannah might see herself as weak, she is anything but- when the idea comes up that Neville might have been innocent Hannah does face it and does start to confront the memories surrounding that time period, asking herself what she might have gotten wrong and who might have killed April if not Neville. She's a far better friend, in life or death, then April probably deserves, because she doesn't let it go. It effects her marriage and her health, but she feels like she owes it to April and to Neville, a man who sexually harassed her at college, to find out the truth. Is she naive, innocent, and in over her head? Yes. Is that annoying? Yes, often. But it somehow makes her the character you've read a hundred times before and at the same time someone you can pull for the whole way because you see something new through her eyes. You want her to understand that April is a vicious, nasty piece of work while at the same time hoping that Hannah was somehow making April a better person. You want Hannah's innocence to remain intact while knowing it won't, which makes you worry about what will be left when the dust settles- because you care about her and her marriage and her friends through the spell that Ware casts page by page.

There are well-written descriptions of Oxford and what the college and college life are like; wrenching psychological cases of survivor's guilt and looks into our morbid cultural fascination with "it" murders and what they do to the people left behind in the cases; tension weaves through the pages even before anything happens without you able to quite identify why; red herrings leap like spawning salmon; excellent twists and turns getting to the 'who', 'how' and 'why'; and friendships and relationships that will haunt you to the last page.

A must read summer psychological thriller for the mystery lover!

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review