Rom-Com Reviews: THE DATING PLAN & ACT YOUR AGE, EVE BROWN
Beware the Ides of March! More like, beware the day after Daylight Savings Time kicks back in. I feel like I have been dragging ever since we turned our clocks ahead. Oh well, hopefully sharing my thoughts on these two fabulous rom-coms will liven things up a bit.
The Dating Plan Goodreads Author: Sara Desai
Publication Date: March 16, 2021
Publisher: Berkley Books
FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
Sara Desai’s new novel The Dating Plan is a heartwarming rom-com filled with quirky characters and laugh out loud moments. That’s not all though. It’s also a heartfelt story about two people who are perfect for each other, if they can only overcome painful events from the past that have shaped how they see themselves and how they see each other.
Daisy Patel is a software engineer who loves statistics, spreadsheets, and all things Marvel. Daisy, however, does not love Liam Murphy. In fact, she actually hates him. Why? Because ten years ago, Liam was supposed to be Daisy’s date to her senior prom and he stood her up. Not only did he stand her up, but he abruptly packed up and left town without a word. She hasn’t heard from him since that night, so when Liam shows up at a conference Daisy is attending, sparks fly…and not in a good way.
Liam is in a bind though and thinks Daisy might actually be the perfect person to help him get what he wants. Liam’s grandfather, who recently passed away, has left him the family business in his will, but there’s a catch. In order to secure his inheritance, Liam must marry before his next birthday and then stay married for at least one year. Otherwise, the business goes to Liam’s brother, who just wants to dismantle it and use it to infuse cash into his own struggling business. Liam is desperate to keep that from happening and when he witnesses Daisy being hounded by her matchmaking Aunties, he approaches Daisy with what he thinks is a win-win deal for them both. If Daisy will agree to marry him and stay married for a year, he can secure the family business for himself while Daisy is freed from the incessant matchmaking and arranged marriage frenzy. Daisy agrees reluctantly but says she cannot wing it when it comes to faking a whole relationship. She needs a plan, complete with a slate of dates, that will provide her with a realistic backstory.
The plan they come up with is what really drives the bulk of the action in the book and it’s so much fun to follow Liam and Daisy as they seek to fool people into thinking they’re a couple. There are so many hilarious moments, particularly involving Daisy’s aunties as well as some of the fun dates they decide to go on. Daisy and Liam are adorable together and it becomes clear the more time Daisy and Liam spend together that they really are perfect for each other. If only they could resolve and move past what happened ten years ago. I was really rooting for them every step of the way.
I don’t want to give away anything, but I found the progression of their relationship very satisfying overall, and I also appreciate the blend of rom-com and heavier topics as we learn more about why Liam so abruptly disappeared from Daisy’s life. The Dating Plan is a gem of a story for anyone who enjoys a light-hearted romance balanced with a healthy dose of family drama. 4 STARS.
Act Your Age, Eve Brown (The Brown Sisters, #3) Goodreads Author: Talia Hibbert
Publication Date: March 9, 2021
Publisher: Avon
I’m so bummed that Act Your Age, Eve Brown marks the end of Talia Hibbert’s popular romance series, The Brown Sisters, but I’m thrilled to report that the final book in the series has quickly become my favorite. I devoured this book in just a few hours because I just couldn’t get enough of Eve and her new boss, Jacob. Their chemistry is off the charts so the sexy factor is high, but Eve is kind of a hot mess so the laugh factor is equally high.
As much as I adored Chloe and Dani from the first two books, I have to say that Eve just stole my heart from the very first page. With her purple hair, orange lip gloss, her kickass music playlist, and her overall sunny disposition, Eve is just a delight in every way. Eve does have one little problem though and that’s sticking with plans she has made, especially those plans that relate to a career. Eve has no idea what she really wants to do with her life and so she basically flits from one career to another, all the while living off of her trust fund. Until her parents decide to cut her off, that is. They’re both worried that she’s never going to get her life together so they kick her out of the nest and force her to get a job and fend for herself. Eve goes out for a drive to clear her head and comes across a charming bed and breakfast that has an opening for a chef. On a whim, she decides to interview for the position and immediately butts heads with Jacob Wayne, the sexy B&B owner. Jacob likes to be in control and wants everything just so. He can tell from the moment he meets Eve that there’s no way he could deal with having her in his kitchen. She’s just way too flighty for him to deal with. When an unforeseen accident forces Jacob to step back and let Eve work for him, he finds out there’s a lot more to Eve than meets the eye and he may have severely underestimated her.
As I’ve already mentioned, the chemistry between Eve and Jacob is fantastic. I was rooting for them to get together from their first snarky conversation during the job interview and cheering for them every step of the way as they got to know each other better. I love how Eve’s sunny disposition basically wears down Jacob’s inner grump in one hilarious scene after another.
I don’t want to give away anything else about the plot but if you’ve been enjoying this series so far, you are absolutely going to fall in love with Eve. And if you’re unfamiliar with the series but are looking for a delightful and sexy romance, Act Your Age, Eve Brown is just the read you’re looking for. My only disappointment was that another Brown sister didn’t turn up out of the blue so that the series could continue. Otherwise, the series has ended on a perfect note with me. 5 STARS.
Top Ten Tuesday – Spring Cleaning My TBR
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 a Spring Cleaning Freebie (for example, books you’re planning to get rid of for whatever reason, books you’d like to clean off your TBR by either reading them or deciding you’re not interested, books that feel fresh and clean to you after winter is over, etc.). I decided to focus on book that I have taken off my TBR so far this year. I guess that’s technically “winter cleaning” but whatever.
As most who follow me know, one of my big goals for the year is to read more of the books I own and another is to finish up (or at least make some progress) on some series that have been lingering on my TBR for years. I’ve gotten off to a pretty good start on these two goals. I’ve read 19 books from my bookshelves and 5 of those are books from series I’ve been way behind on. Not only have I read a lot of my own books, but I’ve also made some hard decisions regarding some series have been lingering on my shelves for years now and decided to purge them from my TBR. It was hard because my heart is telling me that I’ve invested time in the series and should continue, but the more practical side of me says that if I haven’t read book 2 five years after reading book 1, I’m just not that into it and need to move on. In most cases, I can’t even remember the basic premise of the series or the names of any characters and just don’t have any interest in re-reading the first book to re-familiarize myself with it.
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Spring Cleaning My TBR
What I Read
1. THE ROSE & THE DAGGER by Renee Ahdieh
2. DARKDAWN by Jay Kristoff
3. A COURT OF FROST AND STARLIGHT by Sarah J. Maas
4. A REAPER AT THE GATES by Sabaa Tahir
5. THE TOLL by Neal Shusterman
What I Purged
6. GOLDEN SON by Pierce Brown
7. BLOOD OF A THOUSAND STARS by Rhoda Belleza
8. THE INFINITE SEA by Rick Yancey
9. EVER THE BRAVE by Erin Summerill
10. LINGER by Maggie Stiefvater
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Question: Have you read any of these? Am I missing out if I give up on those five series?
Historical Fiction Reviews: Wartime Settings
Hey everyone! Hope you all had a nice weekend and that this week is off to a good start for you. In a departure from the rom-com spree I have been on for most of the pandemic, I actually found myself craving some good historical fiction last week so I was excited to find that I actually had a couple of March ARCs on my TBR that fit the bill. Both feature wartime settings with World War II for the first one and the Civil War for the second, and I’m excited to share my thoughts on both of them with you.
The Girl Who Escaped from Auschwitz Goodreads Author: Ellie Midwood
Publication Date: March 9, 2021
Publisher: Bookouture
FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
Ellie Midwood’s new novel The Girl Who Escaped from Auschwitz tells the inspiring yet tragic true story of Mala Zimetbaum, a young Jewish woman sent to Auschwitz and is known as the first woman to escape, and Edek Galinski, a long-time Polish political prisoner who also happens to be a member of the underground Resistance. Imprisoned in absolutely inhumane and hellish conditions, surrounded by cruelty and death, Mala and Edek somehow manage to find each other and fall in love. They make a promise to each other – that they will either escape the camp together or will die trying…
As with most accounts of Nazi atrocities, this is such a hard story to read, just knowing that the awful things described within the pages actually happened to real people, and that these monsters slaughtered so many innocent people. I found myself in tears often as I read the graphic and horrific accounts of the gas chambers and the crematoriums, and the story also had me furious as I read about how the Nazis were so easily able to fool the Red Cross into thinking they were treating their prisoners well.
What makes the story such a beautiful one in spite of everything, is the love story of Mala and Edek and just the overall selfless way they lived their lives in the camp. Although she was a prisoner, when it was learned that she was fluent in several languages, Mala was given a job as an interpreter and camp runner. She uses her position of privilege to help better the lives of as many fellow prisoners as she can, finding them jobs that are suited to their skills, slipping them extra rations whenever possible, etc. Edek, as a member of the Resistance, lives his life in much the same way. When the two of them meet and fall in love, they become a symbol of hope to those around them. A light in the dark.
I don’t want to spoil their story so I’m going to stop here so you can experience it for yourself. I’ll just conclude by saying that The Girl Who Escaped from Auschwitz is a powerful but heartbreaking story of strength, courage, hope and love against all odds. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys WWII historical fiction. 4.5 STARS
Sunflower Sisters (Lilac Girls, #3) Goodreads Author: Martha Hall Kelly
Publication Date: March 30, 2021
Publisher: Ballantine Books
FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
Sunflower Sisters is the third and final book in Martha Hall Kelly’s historical fiction series, The Lilac Girls. For those unfamiliar with the series, the first two books introduce us first to Caroline Ferriday, an American philanthropist who does all she can to help young girls released from concentration camps during WWII, and then to Caroline’s mother, Eliza Woolsey, who, a generation earlier, helped displaced Russian families who made their way to America during the Russian Revolution and WWI.
The final book in the series, Sunflower Sisters, takes us back yet another generation to the Civil War to meet another Woolsey ancestor, Georgeanna (Georgy) Woolsey. Raised by an abolitionist mother, Georgy is determined to do her part to bring slavery to an end and so she trains to be an Army nurse. From New York City to Washington D.C. to the battlefield at Gettysburg, Sunflower Sisters follows Georgy everywhere her passion for nursing takes her.
One of my favorite things about all three books in the series is the way Martha Hall Kelly crafts her stories so that the events unfold from the perspectives of three very different characters, gradually pulling the threads of their stories together until their lives intersect. In Sunflower Sisters, we follow not only Georgy, but also a slave girl name Jemma who is sold off and then somehow ends up conscripted into the Union Army, and we follow a woman named Anne-May Wilson, a plantation owner in Maryland who also happens to be Jemma’s owner.
The story itself started off a little slow for me as each of these characters were introduced, but I quickly became invested in both Georgy and Jemma and just wanted to see Anne-May, as a cruel slave owner among other things, get what was coming to her. I loved Georgy’s determination and tenacity, especially as she was constantly being told by men that women should not be helping on the battlefront. She never let their blatant sexism deter her. As much as I loved getting to know Georgy, Jemma was the character who ultimately stole my heart. Jemma’s strength and determination in the face of endless cruelty from Anne-May and her nasty overseer was incredible to witness and I was wishing with every fiber of my being for her to find a way to safely escape to freedom. Where I loved Georgy and Jemma, Anne-May, on the other hand, was a character I loved to hate. She is a desperate, evil, manipulative woman and I was wishing for her to fail just as hard as I was wishing for Georgy and Jemma to thrive. The story became quite riveting as I was waiting for the lives of these three women to come together in what was shaping up to be an epic clash between slave, abolitionist, and slave owner. I don’t want to give anything away, but the clash does not disappoint!
Sunflower Sisters was a bittersweet read for me, just because I’m sad this wonderful series is ending, but the Ferriday/Woolsey family is filled with extraordinary women and I’m grateful to this series for introducing me to them. 4 STARS