Reviews: GLIMPSED and JOINT CUSTODY

Happy New Year, everyone! Hard to believe it’s 2021 already but here we are. I had a lovely break, quiet and relaxing, and was able to get a lot of reading done.  Today I’m sharing my thoughts on two rom-coms that are coming out this month, Glimpsed and Joint Custody.

Author: G. F. Miller

Publication Date: January 5, 2021

Publisher:  Simon and Schuster for Young Readers

FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Netgalley.  All opinions are my own.

If you follow my blog, you know that I love a good fairytale retelling. When I read that G.F. Miller’s new novel Glimpsed is a modern-day Cinderella retelling from the perspective of the Fairy Godmother, I knew I had to read it. Charity is a high school student with an unusual and magical gift – she can glimpse a person’s deepest desires and can make their dreams come true.  Making people’s wishes come true fills Charity with a sense of joy and purpose, that is, until one of her wish fulfillments ends in disaster.  This causes Charity to question everything she has ever done – Is she really helping people or is she setting them up for failure and unhappiness in the long-term?  Her feelings of self-doubt aren’t helped at all when she is confronted by Noah, a boy in her class, who says he knows what Charity does and threatens to expose her to her classmates because she ruined his life by making the girl he liked fall in love with someone else.

I really enjoyed this modern spin on the Cinderella story and especially that it focused on the Fairy Godmother who is so firmly in the background of the original tale.  I also loved the exploration of whether or not granting a person’s wishes actually leads to a happily ever after.  It adds so much more depth to this beloved character who never once questions that granting a wish could have ramifications that she hasn’t considered.  I also really liked that even though it’s technically a retelling, Glimpsed still has a unique and fresh feel to it. It’s not just a rehashing of the story we already know.

Charity and Noah are also a huge draw for me. Their relationship starts out in such an antagonistic yet entertaining way. Even though Noah is blackmailing Charity, it soon becomes clear that he’s really just a softie and a sci-fi geek to boot. In short, he’s adorable and even though she kind of wants to strangle him, Charity soon finds herself thinking of him as a friend and then wonders if they could be more than friends.  Is a Fairy Godmother allowed to have a happy ending of her own?  If you want to know the answer to that question, you’ll definitely want to check out Glimpsed!  4 STARS

Author: Lauren Baratz-Logsted and Jackie Logsted

Publication Date: January 5, 2021

Publisher:  Berkley Books

FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Netgalley.  All opinions are my own.

If you’re a dog lover, you’re going to want to check out Joint Custody, the new novel from Lauren Baratz-Logsted and Jackie Logsted.  It follows Gatz, a mischievous border collie who is none too pleased when his owners break up.  Gatz knows they’re perfect for each other, and of course, the perfect owners for him so he decides to take matters into his own paws and get them back together.

And when I say it follows Gatz, the story really follows Gatz.  We see everything from his perspective and we are fully in his head as he plots and schemes to get his owners back together.  It’s a really fun read too as we get Gatz’s inner thoughts as he orchestrates ways to bring his owners in proximity to one another, to remind them that they belong together. It gets downright hilarious at times too as Gatz seeks to sabotage any dates his owners go on with other people.  He’s just not having it, haha.

Because we are getting the story from the perspective of a dog, we don’t get a lot of in depth information about the humans in the book.  The owners are The Man and The Woman, and when one of them goes on a date, the date is New Man, New Woman, etc.  That took a little getting used to at first, but once I settled in, I thoroughly enjoyed the overall story.

If you love dogs and/or enjoy books like A Dog’s Purpose, Joint Custody is a book that will warm your heart and put a smile on your face.  3.5 STARS