Reviews: THE PARTY CRASHER & WELL MATCHED
Hey everyone, I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Today I’m sharing my thoughts on two contemporary reads that are perfect if you’re looking to escape your troubles for a few hours.
The Party Crasher Goodreads Author: Sophie Kinsella
Publication Date: October 12, 2021
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group – The Dial Press
FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
If you’re familiar with Sophie Kinsella’s books, you know she’s the queen of heartwarming, humorous reads and The Party Crasher is no exception.
The novel follows Effie, a young woman who has been struggling with the news of her parents’ divorce. The fact that she thought they were blissfully happy and didn’t see the divorce coming has really tarnished Effie’s view of what she had always thought of as a happy, loving childhood. It comes as even more of a blow when Effie’s father suddenly has a new, and much younger, girlfriend, Krista, and that he and Krista have decided to sell Greenoaks, the quirky old country house that Effie and her family grew up in.
Effie and Krista have butt heads so often over the selling of the house that even Effie’s relationship with her dad has suffered, so when Krista decides to throw a “house cooling” party so the family can say goodbye to Greenoaks, she doesn’t even send Effie an invitation. Effie doesn’t want to go anyway, that is, until she remembers that she had hidden a beloved childhood toy somewhere in the house and becomes determined to retrieve it without Krista or her father knowing she has returned to Greenoaks. She decides the perfect time is the night of the house cooling party since everyone will be distracted by the festivities. What could possibly go wrong?
What I always love about Kinsella’s novels is the balance between family or personal drama and laugh out loud hilarious moments. The drama in this story is obviously Effie struggling to deal with all of these changes in her life, and her antics as she tries to stealthily crash the house cooling party provide endless comical moments since pretty much anything that can go wrong, absolutely does. I found Effie to be an incredibly sympathetic character, even if she did occasionally have some juvenile reactions to her potential new stepmother. Haven’t we all had some family drama that makes such reactions easy to relate to?
I also loved the dynamic of Effie’s relationship with her sister, Bean, who is stuck in the middle of Effie’s feud with Krista. Bean is just so pure, like a golden retriever in human form. She just wants everyone to be happy, especially Effie, and she tries her hardest to make that happen, even if it means helping Effie with her crazy scheme to crash the party. Another unexpected source of help in Effie’s scheme comes in the form of Effie’s ex-boyfriend, Joe. Plenty of awkward, hilarious, and heartwarming moments ensue.
I’ve been going through a rough time lately so I was really in the mood for a funny and heartwarming read. The Party Crasher was exactly what I needed. 4.5 STARS
Well Matched (Well Met, #3) Goodreads
Author: Jen DeLuca
Publication Date: October 19, 2021
Publisher: Berkley Books
FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
With its wonderful characters and magical Renaissance Faire backdrop, I’ve been enjoying Jen Deluca’s contemporary romance series, Well Met, so much. April and Mitch, two of my favorite secondary characters from the previous books, have undeniable chemistry, so I was beyond excited to learn that Well Matched, the third book in the series, would bring them center stage and that the fake dating trope would be involved.
April is such a fantastic character. She’s a forty-year old, single mom who is used to doing everything herself. I really admired her sense of independence. As she says, it has always been just her and her daughter, Caitlyn, against the world and she likes it that way. She has big plans too, now that Caitlyn is heading off to college. It’s time to sell the house, leave Willow Creek, and have a fresh start somewhere else.
Even though she has no plans to stay in town and no interest in romance, she can’t help but admire Mitch Malone, the high school gym teacher. Mitch has a reputation for being a lady’s man and also for wearing a kilt every year at the Ren Faire that shows off his attributes. April can’t deny he’s easy on the eyes, so when he asks her to be his fake girlfriend at a family function to appease his grandmother, who thinks he’s never going to settle down, April agrees in exchange for him helping her with some work on her house.
April and Mitch’s journey together is a bit of a slow burn. It’s clear they are attracted to one another but April fights her attraction every step of the way, in part because of Mitch’s reputation and in part because she’s leaving anyway. Friends with benefits, yes, but an actual future together, nope. I loved watching their relationship evolve, especially as they get to know each other better and April realizes there’s a lot more to Mitch than she had previously given him credit for and finds it harder to fight her attraction to him. I thought DeLuca did a wonderful job of portraying April’s struggle over whether to follow her head or her heart and couldn’t wait to find out which path April would decide to follow.
I also had a great time being back in Willow Creek. I’m always captivated by the magic and charm of the Ren Faire setting and loved that I got to see beloved characters from the first two books in the series and see what they’re up to. I became so invested in these characters that it was like visiting with old friends and I truly loved that feeling.
If Ren Faires, sexy men in kilts, single mom protagonists, and fake dating are your jam, then you definitely want to check out Well Matched. 4.5 STARS
Thriller Thursday Reviews: Horseman: A Tale of Sleepy Hollow & Trail of Destruction
Hi there everyone! It’s me Sharon, back with another addition of Thriller Thursday. I hope everyone is doing well and getting some great reading done in this spooky season. 🙂 This week I am very excited to share my thoughts on Christina Henry’s amazing new book, Horseman: A Tale of Sleepy Hollow and Tracy Buchanan’s great new mystery, Trail of Destruction.
Horseman: A Tale of Sleepy Hollow Goodreads Author: Christina Henry
Publication Date: September 28, 2021
Publisher: Berkley Books
I have always loved the tale of the Headless Horseman, so I was very excited to read Christina Henry’s Horseman: A Tale of Sleepy Hollow. And I am very happy to report that this book did not disappoint. This has everything I have grown to love with Christina Henry’s books.
Horseman: A Tale of Sleepy Hollow is not a retelling of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, but more of a continuance of what happened after. The story takes place 20 years after the Headless Horseman drove Ichabod Crane from town and is centered around Brom Bones’ 14-year-old granddaughter Bendix, or Ben as she is called. Ben’s parents died 10 years ago, and she has been raised by her paternal grandparents, Brom and Katrina. Ben may have been born a girl, but she sees herself as a boy, much to her grandmother’s dismay. Her only friend is a boy named Sander. The story opens as Ben and Sander are playing Sleepy Hollow Boys in the woods and come across a group of men from town who have discovered the mutilated body of a boy with his head and hands missing. Not long after, one of Brom’s sheep is killed and its head and hoofs are missing and then another boy is found murdered with his head and hands missing as well. Is this the work of the Headless Horseman? Or is there something more evil lurking in the woods?
I loved Ben. She had such strong determination to be the person she wanted to be and not who society thought she should be. When Ben discovers that she was not told the real circumstances surrounding her father’s death, she takes it upon herself to uncover the dark secrets that lurk in the woods. Ben is a Van Brunt and Van Brunts are not afraid of anything. I loved how even though Ben tried to be tough and brave, there was a vulnerable side to her as well. Ben also feels a connection to the Horseman, she can hear the Horseman whisper to her and can hear the thump, thump, thump of his horse and to me that just added to the mystery of the story. Why does Ben have a connection with the Horseman?
I also loved the relationship Ben had with Brom and Katrina. Ben adores Brom and wants to be just like him. But it is Ben’s relationship with Katrina that really pulled at my heart strings. They have always had a rocky relationship. Katrina wanted Ben to wear dresses and learn to sew and be the girl she was born to be, but Ben wanted to wear pants and ride and play in the woods and be the boy she feels she should have been born as. Ben was sure Katrina did not love her but when push came to shove and Ben was threatened by some local townsmen, Katrina stepped right in front of Ben to protect her. It was then their relationship took a different turn and Ben saw Katrina through different eyes.
I loved the way Henry presented the story with keeping to the original story and adding her twists to it. I loved the eerie and creepy feeling with the woods and the added threat of what else was lurking around besides the Headless Horseman.
If you are looking for a great book to finish out the spooky season, I definitely recommend Christina Henry’s Horseman: A Tale of Sleepy Hollow. 4 ½ stars
Trail of Destruction Goodreads Author: Tracy Buchanan
Publication Date: September 21, 2021
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
The gossips of Forest Grove are back with a vengeance in Tracy Buchanan’s great new mystery novel Trail of Destruction.
Ellie Mileham has always been a problem solver. She loves the challenge, so when she took over being the moderator of Forest Grove’s local Facebook group, she figured she would have no problems at all. But no sooner does she take over then a prankster starts trolling the group. Whenever one of the members would complain about something on the group post, the prankster would retaliate. At first the pranks are harmless, but they suddenly turn violent and it becomes clear that this person needs to be stopped before someone is killed.
I love how Buchanan slowly increases the tension of the pranks. At first, someone complained about people not picking up their dog’s poop, so the prankster put a bag of dog poop through their mailbox. Another complaint about people not bringing in their trash cans right away prompted the prankster to pull everyone’s trash cans onto his property. But then when a complaint was made about fireworks, someone dropped firecrackers through their mailbox which caused a fire. And then the woods were set on fire while a couple of teenagers were making a video in the woods. With each incident and then the reaction from the residents of the village, I could feel myself cringing for what would come next.
This book is full of unlikeable characters and it worked so well. Oh, the pettiness of these people! If they were not complaining about something, then they just were not happy. And oh, don’t get me started on how fast they would turn on their neighbors. One minute they would be saying nice things about them, and the next the gossip would start flying. It was just so fun to watch. I am so glad my neighbors are not like that. LOL!
I did like Ellie though. She was going through a lot in her life. She has two teenage children, her husband of 20 years left her 3 months ago for another woman, and her mother had a nervous breakdown a few years ago and is living in an elderly facility at the edge of town. When she finds some threatening letters her mother received years ago, she starts digging into the history of Forest Grove to find out who would do such a thing and Ellie soon learns that there is a link between those letters and what is happening now. I really loved her determination, even when people started turning on her or when the clues pointed to someone she didn’t want to believe could be behind this all, she still pushed harder.
This was not an edge of your seat, tension filled read. It was more of a slow burn mystery that kept me turning the pages because I just had to find out who was behind everything. While Trail of Destruction is Buchanan’s third book that takes place in the village of Forest Grove, it can be read as a standalone. 3 ½ stars
Top Ten Tuesday – Online Resources That Enhance My Reading Life
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 Online Resources for Book Lovers (what websites, podcasts, apps, etc. do you use that make your reading life better?). I almost skipped this week’s topic because I just couldn’t think of anything beyond Goodreads at first. I put on my thinking cap though and was finally able to come up with a complete list of resources that just make my book-loving heart happy.
Online Resources That Enhance My Reading Life
1. Goodreads.com – It probably goes without saying that this is the main online resource I use in my reading life. I use it to track my reading, to reads reviews to see what new books I might want to read, and to keep my reading wishlist all in one place.
2. Overdrive.com – A way to read ebooks and listen to audiobooks for free, that works through my local library? Heck yes!
3. Scribd.com – Pay a reasonable monthly fee and read as many ebooks and listen to as many audiobooks as you want. They have a pretty decent selection, including new releases, so I use it when I’m way down the list for library holds and am too impatient to wait.
4. Kindle App – I have this app installed on every device I have and love that any ebook I’m reading will sync across all of the devices. This is my preferred app for reading ARCs as well as other ebooks.
5. Audible App – I don’t buy too many audiobooks but my husband has a subscription to Audible so I’ll occasionally use his credit to get audiobooks that are Audible exclusives. One of my favorite things about this app is that it has more reading speed options than any other reading app I use.
6. Get Booked Podcast – I don’t really listen to many podcasts but I tried Get Booked from Book Riot and enjoyed it. Who can resist a weekly show that gives personalized book recommendations to help grow your TBR? LOL!
7. Novel Pairings Podcast – Again, I don’t listen to many podcasts but I came across this one and thought it was fun. The goal of this podcast is to make classic novels “readable, relevant, and fun.”
8. Bookoutlet.com – I’m kind of cheating here since this is more about book collecting than it is actually reading, but anywho, I use this site to buy cheap copies of books I want for my collection. You can sometimes catch some pretty amazing sales and pick up titles you’re looking for as low as $1.99. I pick up a lot of older books this way, especially if I’m trying to read an author’s backlist and can’t find it on any of the other sites and apps I use.
9. Bookbeau.com – This is another site that isn’t really about reading but that just enhances my overall love of books. They sell book sleeves and other great bookish merchandise.
10. Fly Paper Products – Literary Gifts for Book Lovers – Yet another retail site that feeds my bookish addiction. They sell so many great bookish gift items. I especially love their wooden bookmarks and their mugs.
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