Reviews: FOR THE LOVE OF THE BARD & A THOUSAND MILES
/21 Comments/by Suzanne
Happy Friday everyone! I’ve had a crazy busy week but I’ll finally be catching up on my blog hopping today. Today I’m sharing two very entertaining second chance romances with you. One is a fabulous road trip read, while the other is an ode to the Bard himself.
For the Love of the Bard Goodreads
Author: Jessica Martin
Publication Date: June 28, 2022
Publisher: Berkley Books
FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
I’m a huge Shakespeare fan, so Jessica Martin’s new contemporary romance For the Love of the Bard was a must-read for me. Aside from all of the Shakespeare love, the story also features a small town setting, a second chance romance, and a fabulous dog named Puck, all things that are basically catnip for me. For the Love of the Bard doesn’t disappoint either. I spent most of the book smiling and chuckling to myself and was ultimately bummed when I reached the last page because I wanted to spend more time in this setting with these characters.
The story follows Miranda Barnes, a literary agent and author, who returns to her hometown for the summer in hopes of finding some inspiration to finish her next novel. Miranda fully expects to hole up in the attic at her parent’s house and write all summer, but her mom has other ideas. Each year their town hosts a popular Shakespeare festival, and this year is the centennial year and Miranda’s mom is the event planner. She recruits Miranda to direct one of the plays they will be putting on as part of the celebration. Miranda reluctantly agrees but immediately finds herself face to face with someone she had hoped never to see again – Adam, the high school flame who ditched her on prom night. Will Miranda finally get to confront Adam and get some closure about what happened that night so many years ago?
I had so much fun reading this book! Miranda’s hometown of Bard’s Rest, in particular, delighted me. If you’re a Gilmore Girls fan, imagine Stars Hollow but where every building, street, etc. is named using a Shakespearean reference and all the residents are Shakespeare enthusiasts who want to be part of the festival. It was so charming and quaint, and I just wanted it to be a real place so that I could visit it and geek out on all the Shakespearean references.
I was also a big fan of Miranda. Even though the book is advertised as a romance and there’s definitely plenty to keep readers entertained with respect to Miranda and Adam’s will they or won’t they vibe, it’s Miranda’s journey and her relationship with her family, especially her sisters, that captivated me. It was interesting to watch the different dynamics between Miranda and each of them as they try to navigate some personal drama regarding their mom’s health. In addition to the family drama, Miranda is also dealing with fan pressure. Her fans were very vocal about not liking the direction her last book went in, so she’s under tremendous pressure to write a new installment that will satisfy everyone. I was very engrossed by what turns out to be a very personal journey of self-discovery for Miranda as she discovers who she really wants to be as an author.
For the Love of the Bard is a charming story about love, family, community, and most of all, it’s about second chances and finding yourself. If you enjoy stories that features those elements and you’re a Shakespeare fan as well, I highly recommend this one. 4.5 STARS
A Thousand Miles Goodreads
Author: Bridget Morrisey
Publication Date: June 21, 2022
Publisher: Berkley Books
FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
I love a good second chance romance and I’m also a fan of books that feature road trips so when I saw that A Thousand Miles by Bridget Morrisey featured both, I knew I had to read it. The story follows Dee and Ben, two former best friends who had a falling out and haven’t spoken to each other for ten years. One night Ben shows up unexpectedly on Dee’s doorstep simply stating “a promise is a promise.” The promise in question is to recreate the 1,000 mile road trip to Colorado that the two of them completed their senior year before their falling out. Even though she’s still angry and confused about what happened ten years ago, Dee agrees to take the trip, hoping for answers and to reconnect because as upset as she is, she has missed Ben more than she wants to admit.
I really enjoyed this book. Ben and Dee’s road trip was so entertaining, and I loved the whole nostalgic vibe that surrounded it as they went to all of the same places they went the first time around. I liked the contrast between the memories of when they were best friends versus experiencing the same things now but with so much awkwardness and tension between them. It’s a fun trip for them, but there is also a lot of angst as those memories of their fight are still hovering between them.
I also thought both Ben and Dee were fantastic characters. I loved their friendship, particularly as they slowly rekindled it, and was fully invested in learning what happened ten years ago and hoping they could move beyond it. It was also pretty clear that they have more than just friendly feelings toward one another, which gave me another reason to be invested in their future.
The entertainment factor doesn’t just come from Dee and Ben’s road trip though. Dee hosts a popular podcast called “Did I Forget to Tell You?” where she and her cohost share personal stories about their pasts, both the highs and especially the lows. Transcripts of some of the episodes where Dee discusses her troubled relationship with Ben (or Name Redacted as she refers to him) are sprinkled throughout the book. I loved the added in-depth look at Dee’s life and personality that those excerpts provided. You can tell just how much the falling out with Ben has dominated her thoughts over the years.
A Thousand Miles is a delightful and insightful story about love, friendship, and second chances. I highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for a fun but angsty summer read and especially to those who are fans of road trip books. 4 STARS.
Can’t Wait Wednesday – ALL THE DANGEROUS THINGS by Stacy Willingham
/22 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 ALL THE DANGEROUS THINGS by Stacy Willingham. I read Willingham’s debut thriller A Flicker in the Dark a couple of months ago and just devoured it. It was definitely a book that lived up to the hype, so I was thrilled to see she has a new thriller coming out in January. It sounds like just as addicting a read as her debut did too!
ALL THE DANGEROUS THINGS by Stacy Willingham
Publication Date: January 10, 2023 by Minotaur Books
From Goodreads:
Following up her instant New York Times bestseller, A Flicker in the Dark, Stacy Willingham delivers a totally gripping thriller about a desperate mother with a troubled past.
One year ago, Isabelle Drake’s life changed forever: her toddler son, Mason, was taken out of his crib in the middle of the night while she and her husband were asleep in the next room. With little evidence and few leads for the police to chase, the case quickly went cold. However, Isabelle cannot rest until Mason is returned to her—literally.
Except for the occasional catnap or small blackout where she loses track of time, she hasn’t slept in a year.
Isabelle’s entire existence now revolves around finding him, but she knows she can’t go on this way forever. In hopes of jarring loose a new witness or buried clue, she agrees to be interviewed by a true-crime podcaster—but his interest in Isabelle’s past makes her nervous. His incessant questioning paired with her severe insomnia has brought up uncomfortable memories from her own childhood, making Isabelle start to doubt her recollection of the night of Mason’s disappearance, as well as second-guess who she can trust… including herself. But she is determined to figure out the truth no matter where it leads.
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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 On My Summer 2022 To-Read List
/62 Comments/by SuzanneTop 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 On My Summer 2022 To-Read List. I have way more than ten I’m hoping to get to this summer, but today I’ll share some of my highest priority reads, both new releases and books I own and have been hanging on to for a while. I’ve got a few romances, one fantasy, one thriller, and even one science fiction. We’ll see if my inner mood reader cooperates and lets me read anything beyond the romances, lol.
Books On My Summer 2022 To-Read List
(Titles linked to their Goodreads pages if you want to check them out)
1. THE BODYGUARD by Katherine Center
2. HOTEL NANTUCKET by Elin Hilderbrand
4. LOVE ON THE BRAIN by Ali Hazelwood
6. EVERY SUMMER AFTER by Carley Fortune
7. EMPIRE OF THE VAMPIRE by Jay Kristoff
8. THE FRIEND ZONE by Abby Jimenez
9. UGLY LOVE by Colleen Hoover
10. US AGAINST YOU by Fredrik Backman
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