Can’t Wait Wednesday – LUCY ON THE WILD SIDE by Kerry Rea
/8 Comments/by Suzanne
“Waiting On” Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, which encourages fellow bloggers to spotlight upcoming releases that we’re excited about. It is a meme that I have loved participating in since I first started blogging, but as Jill is no longer actively posting, from now on I’ll be linking to Can’t Wait Wednesday, hosted by Tressa at Wishful Endings, which is a spinoff of the original WoW meme.
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My selection for this week is LUCY ON THE WILD SIDE by Kerry Rea. Kerry Rea’s debut novel, The Wedding Ringer, was an absolute gem of a book, one of my favorites from last year. For that reason and because of this entertaining synopsis, I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy of her new rom com. It sounds like such a fun read!
LUCY ON THE WILD SIDE by Kerry Rea
Publication Date: September 13, 2022 by Berkley Books
From Goodreads:
A charming and wildly funny new romantic comedy by Kerry Rea, author of The Wedding Ringer.
Lucy Rourke has two great loves in her life: the gorilla troop she cares for as a primatologist and the laundry list of reality TV shows she watches to escape the fact that her actual love life doesn’t exist. And like a reality contestant gunning for the final rose, Lucy’s laser-focused on one thing: getting promoted to head keeper. So when a wildlife docuseries hosted by hotshot TV personality Kai Bridges chooses her zoo as its summer filming location, she sees an opportunity to showcase her beloved gorillas to the world and land a starring role in her department.
When Kai and his film crew arrive, however, it’s obvious to Lucy that Kai cares more about sky-high ratings than the gorillas, and he considers her a camera-averse know-it-all whose wardrobe consists entirely of khaki. But she’s surprised to discover there’s more to him than his rugged good looks and cheesy catchphrases…and that maybe a promotion isn’t the only thing she wants. But when secrets from their pasts threaten to complicate everything, Lucy discovers that happiness and success aren’t the same thing—and that finding joy just might mean getting a little wild.
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I’d love to hear what upcoming book releases you’re waiting on this Wednesday? Leave me your link in the comments below and I’ll stop by and check out your CWW selection for this week. 🙂
Top Ten Tuesday – Books That Feature Umbrellas on their Covers
/50 Comments/by Suzanne
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Top Ten Tuesday has been one of my favorite memes ever since I started blogging, so huge thanks to Jana for taking over the hosting duties!
This week’s TTT topic is Books with [___] On the Cover (Pick a thing (a color, an item, a place, an animal, a scripty font, a sexy person, etc.) and share covers that have that thing on the cover). I have no idea why, but the first thing that popped into my head when I saw this topic was UMBRELLAS (maybe it’s hearing the expression April showers bring May flowers so much lately, lol). Whatever the reason, that’s what I’m sharing this week. 🙂
Books That Feature Umbrellas on their Covers
1. A HUNDRED SUMMERS by Beatriz Williams
2. CUTTING FOR STONE by Abraham Verghese
3. WEATHER GIRL by Rachel Lynn Solomon
4. HOTEL ON THE CORNER OF BITTER AND SWEET by Jamie Ford
5. HAPPY NEVER AFTER by Mary Kay Andrews
6. LADIES’ NIGHT by Mary Kay Andrews
7. MARY POPPINS by P. L. Travers
8. THE FAVORITE SISTER by Jessica Knoll
9. THE IDENTICALS by Elin Hilderbrand
10. THE NANNY DIARIES by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus
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Question: Can you think of any other books that feature umbrellas on their covers?
Reviews: THE HOMEWRECKERS & EVERYTHING MUST GO
/10 Comments/by SuzanneHappy Monday all! I hope everyone had a nice weekend. We had absolutely fantastic weather here so I spent a lot of time outside starting to get our yard and flower beds ready for planting. I’ve also been helping my son prepare for his AP Science test so lots of nights spent quizzing on vocabulary words. I did manage to squeeze some reading time in as well though, so I’m back today with a couple of new reviews for you.
The Homewreckers Goodreads
Author: Mary Kay Andrews
Publication Date: May 3, 2022
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
The Homewreckers by Mary Kay Andrews is a story about love, loss, and how to find your path forward after losing the love of your life. Set in beautiful Savannah, Georgia, the story follows Hattie Kavanaugh, a young woman who tragically lost her husband in a motorcycle accident seven years ago. Since his death, Hattie has basically thrown herself completely into her work, while leaving the rest of her life on hold. Hattie’s work is restoring old historic homes to their former glory, a passion she shared with her husband and which she still shares with her father-in-law. Hattie’s head still isn’t completely in the game though and so when she makes a bad investment on a house she was hoping to restore and flip, she finds herself in desperate need of cash and reluctantly agrees to star in a reality TV show about flipping houses. Little does she realize that not wanting to be on TV will soon be the least of her worries.
Hattie is a fantastic protagonist. She’s feisty and fierce, takes no crap from anyone, probably a byproduct of working in a field that is filled predominantly with men and therefore constantly underestimated. Beneath that tough exterior, however, there’s also the vulnerable, heartbroken side of Hattie. I found her such an easy character to love and I was fully invested in her story. I also loved that she has maintained such a close relationship with her father-in-law. It was sweet watching the two of them interact. Even though her husband is gone, it’s clear that Hattie is still very much part of the Kavanaugh family.
Aside from my love for Hattie, what really took this story to the next level for me was all the drama that ensued from the moment production starts on Hattie’s show. First, there’s the aggressively determined producer who is convinced Hattie and this TV show are going to be huge hits. Then there’s the handsome and all-too-charming cohost whose interest in Hattie may or may not be genuine. Lastly, there’s the renovation project itself, which seems to be downright cursed. One bad thing after another keeps happening – fires, threats, code violations, and when they open up one of the walls in the old house to repair some damage, they even find the wallet of a beloved high school teacher who has been missing for 17 years and presumed dead. In short, there’s drama, intrigue, and suspense in spades, making for one heck of a wild ride!
I don’t want to give away anything about the developments in that missing person case, but wow, talk about twists and turns. Andrews kept me guessing every step of the way and glued to this book until I had all the answers. There is a bit of romance as well, but I’d say it definitely takes a backseat to Hattie’s overall journey, to what is going on with the house renovations (the actual filming, the butting of heads between cast members, showrunners, network executives, etc.), and of course with finding out what happened to the teacher and how her wallet ended up inside the wall of a random old beach house.
If the way I devoured this story in less than a day is any indication, I think The Homewreckers is going to land in a lot of beach bags this summer. It’s the perfect beach read! 4 STARS
Everything Must Go Goodreads
Author: Camille Pagán
Publication Date: April 26, 2022
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
Everything Must Go by Camille Pagan is a wonderful, heartfelt story about love, family, and second chances. It also explores the strength of the bond between mother-daughter, as well as that of the bond between sisters.
Laine Francis’ life is in turmoil. More than anything, she wants to be a mother, but her husband has been putting her off for years, saying he’s not ready. Laine’s biological clock is ticking so loudly that it’s all she can hear and so she tells her husband she wants a divorce since they clearly don’t want the same things. On top of that, she has received a frantic call from one of her sisters, begging her to come to New York to help with their mom, who hasn’t been herself lately. Even though Laine has no desire to come back to New York, she knows she is the only sibling who doesn’t have small children to care for so she’s the logical choice. When Laine arrives in New York, she runs into Ben, her former best friend. She hasn’t seen Ben since they had a huge falling out years ago, so seeing him again after all this time brings back a lot of memories. She hopes seeing him again will provide the opportunity to mend their relationships, but she soon realizes that her sisters were right about their mom. Something is definitely wrong and it’s not just the occasional forgetfulness.
I think this is a story that many readers, especially those with aging parents, are going to find so relatable. As the sisters try to determine the full extent of their mom’s memory loss, they have to have tough heart-to-heart conversations about what to do, how best to care for her, while maintaining as much of her independence and dignity as possible, etc. I loved how realistically these relationships were portrayed and how the sisters all came together to help their mom. I also loved that in addition to Laine’s perspective, which we got since she was the one taking the lead when it came to their mom, we also got the perspective of Sally, so we could see what was going on in her head, both as she realized what was happening to her and as she realized that her girls knew as well. Not only that, but we also get an inside look at some pretty major secrets Sally has been keeping from her family. I found Laine’s journey to figure out what she really wants from her life, especially regarding motherhood, just as compelling as Sally’s story. There were so many different layers that kept me turning the pages and fully invested in seeing how things would turn out for both Laine and Sally.
While Everything Must Go touches on some pretty weighty topics like divorce and dementia, it’s ultimately a feel good story that left me shedding a few happy tears by the time I got to the last page. 4 STARS