Plot Twist

Book Review: Plot Twist by Breea Keenan

I often find I struggle to like contemporary romance but I enjoyed this book.

Becca is a teacher who is writing a children’s book on the side. She meets Riley, a romance writer, in an online writing forum and they begin an internet friendship. When Becca’s life falls apart, Riley invites Becca to stay with her in Ireland. Only when Becca arrives, she discovers Riley is not a ‘her’ at all, as Becca presumed, but a gorgeous (obviously) man.

The book promotes itself as being very chicklit/romcom and I will say I definitely got movie romcom vibes as I read. In fact, more than once I was reminded of [the movie] Holiday whilst reading.

Plot Twist had all the ingredients a good chicklit/romcom needs: There is an actual conflict (so rare!) and some good misunderstandings. The minor characters were great (mostly, I was actually not a huge fan of Becca’s BFF; her scenes just seemed to indicate she was a bitchy drunk which I assume was not the intention). The leads had some nice chemistry. The Irish setting was appealing. And, oh, the hero had a cute kid.

One negative was its humour. I wouldn’t say it was hilarious at all (as claimed on the blurb). I never found Becca to be particularly funny at all, despite Riley finding her so.

Overall, Plot Twist was sweet and a pretty strong debut from Keenan. I’d recommend.

4 out of 5

The Miller Women

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Book Review: The Miller Women by Kelli Hawkins

Oooh, now this is how you write a modern twisty thriller.

There’s three generations of Miller women — Joyce, Nicola and Abby. The story starts with Cara, a school friend of Abby’s going missing. Nicola has always wanted to write a piece of hard hitting investigative journalism, as opposed to the puff pieces she currently writes for the local newspaper, and thus starts to question some of the key suspects. Soon, she realises one of these suspects could be her own daughter, Abby.

Woven through this present-day mystery are flashbacks featuring the three Miller girls. I loved all these, not one B plot was boring. Things only got twistier and twistier with each reveal.

I absolutely adored all three characters and sped through the last quarter of this book to find out all the finer details and just how Hawkins would resolve it all. Unlike a lot of other books of this genre, I was not disappointed with any of the final twists. This book was great from beginning to end.

Read it now, early, to avoid spoilers.

5 out of 5

What Happened to Nina?

Book Review: What Happened to Nina by Dervla McTiernan

As the title suggests, Nina is missing. Her boyfriend, Simon, claims that Nina was alive and waiting for a friend to pick her up from his family’s vacation property when he saw her last. Nina’s parents are not quite so sure, and nor is the police detective assigned to the case.

Most reviewers have mentioned that McTiernan has used the real life case of Gabby Petito as her inspiration for What Happened to Nina. I do see the similarities, but there’s enough differences for readers to still be surprised by some of the events in the book. One of the main similarities McTiernan included between the real life case and her fictional one is social media scrutiny. It’s quite scary to think how easily people can be influenced by a couple of Facebook posts.

The story is told from multiple points of view and McTiernan’s writing style made this a very fast read, I finished it in only a couple of days. It’s definitely a standalone tale but, I will admit, I wouldn’t be adverse to McTiernan giving Detective Matthew Wright another outing some time.

Recommended and it wouldn’t surprise me if this was one day turned into a tv series.

5 out of 5

*Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins Australia for my copy.

If I Never Met You

Book Review: If I Never Met You by Mhairi McFarlane

Even though this is only my second McFarlane novel, I feel this weird infinity with her and her writing and feel like I’ve read so many more of her books and been a fan of hers for much longer. Weird.

Anyway, this is the story of Laurie, a 36 year old lawyer from Manchester who has lived with her partner, Dan, who also works at the same law firm, for 18 years. After this length of time she, of course, expects they will soon be taking the usual next steps in their relationship – marriage, babies… But… No. Dan decides to have some sort of midlife crisis instead.

Enter Jamie, who is also a lawyer at their firm, eager for a promotion to partner. To get this promotion, Jamie needs to shed his player reputation and what better way to do this by presenting Laurie as his new steady girlfriend. In the process, Laurie will be making Dan green with jealousy.

Even though the book does include the fake dating trope, it actually is much more than pure chicklit/romance. McFarlane’s themes include casual racism, child abuse, coercive control, survivor guilt and, the one she focuses on mostly, sexism.

Unfortunately, I thought, despite McFarlane weaving her feminist message throughout the plot, I also still just wanted Laurie to find her HEA with a guy, so… Some sort of irony there.

4 out of 5

Hello Stranger

Book Review: Hello Stranger by Katherine Center

I’m so pleased I have some more Center books to catch up on. This, the third I’ve read now, is another winner.

I went into this completely spoiler free and clueless to the plot, so I’ll try and keep this review similarly vague and would recommend you avoid too many details in other people’s reviews as well.

Sadie has a bit of a sad backstory but things are looking up when she becomes a finalist in a portrait competition. However, the night she is set to celebrate her success with her friends, she suffers a medical episode which leads to her chances of painting a portrait at all, let alone winning a prize for painting one, a struggle.

In the midst of her multiple setbacks, Sadie meets her dream man – Oliver Addison, a vet she takes her elderly dog to see. She also meets Joe who lives in her apartment building and, despite her initial belief that he is a bit of a player, turns out to be quite a generous and sweet guy.

To be honest, it’s not difficult to work out what’s going on with this unlikely love triangle, but I still had fun wondering how and when it would work out for Sadie, Oliver and Joe.

Once again, Center tugged at my heartstrings, and I will admit to shedding a few tears whilst reading. Hello Stranger was also heartwarming though and ultimately a feel-good read. Highly recommend.

4 ½ out of 5

The Love Interest

Book Review: The Love Interest by Victoria Walters

Aiden is Liv’s brother’s best friend and they have always bickered like they are siblings themselves but, in truth, Liv was instantly attracted to him when they met ten years ago. Now, Aiden is moving to teach at the same university that Liv works at, and also moving into the flat she shares with her brother. Liv’s always wanted to be a romance writer and, with all the forced proximity, Aiden soon becomes the inspiration for her book’s ‘love interest’.

This book went so close to being great.

The book within a book was one thing I disliked about The Love Interest. The writing for the actual book was solid enough throughout but I was put off by the style of the book Liv was supposedly writing. It sucked big time but everyone was sprouting how talented she was. Confusing.

Even though I liked the pop culture references, I didn’t think there were enough of them to make it a ‘thing’ in the book. Walters didn’t include any unique or original titles to capture my attention either. Pride and Prejudice, You Got Mail and Breakfast at Tiffany’s have been used far too many times already.

Walters also fell into the trap of making the book far too long. This golden page limit publishers seem to come up with is so annoying. Letting your authors waffle on about nothing is not doing them any favours.

I don’t want to be all negative though. The book was cute enough and the characters were likeable. It would probably be a great little read for a rainy weekend when you want something to make you feel warm and fuzzy.

3 ½ out of 5

For Once in My Life

Book Review: For Once in My Life by Karly Lane

I’m constantly searching for a great romance read featuring mature characters. This one was not perfect, but it was far from awful.

The book started with much promise. I sped through the first half, where Jenny, a divorcee who now works as a nurse, is set up on an internet dating site by her three [adult] daughters. The dates, and the way her girls manipulate her dating profile, are quite amusing. Also amused is Nick, the new barman at the local pub, who starts to share some banter with Jenny whilst she is reluctantly out to dinner with these men.

I think Lane lost me a little by jumping around and going off track with her plotline. The initial dating experience, coupled with the painful ex-husband and interfering daughters could have been enough to see the book through. However, Lane added in a You Got Mail type subplot which has Jenny messaging another man on the dating site, and a family secret of Nick’s sister which was straight out of an 80s Mills and Boon. Neither of these worked for me.

Lane also focused on Jenny’s reservations about her and Nick’s age gap. Jenny is 50 and Nick only 38. As a woman over 50, I can’t imagine going out with anyone that young. Instead of focusing on the issues a woman that age would face with a younger man, Lane just glossed over them with cliched adages such as ‘age is just a number’. Disappointingly, Lane kept the entire thing ‘closed door’ and never included any problems I would imagine with this age difference in the bedroom. Apparently they had fabulous sex constantly as Jenny is still fit as a fiddle and is not having any menopausal symptoms at all… Okay, then.

For most of the time, though, I enjoyed this book and will definitely be reading more by Lane.

3 ½ out of 5

Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone

Book Review: Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson

What a fun book!

As the title suggests, everyone in Ernest Cunningham’s family has killed someone. This book, narrated by Ernest as if he has written the book himself based on his real life experiences, follows the plot of Ernest’s family reunion where he gradually reveals each member of his family’s murderous exploits.

If you’re a fan of Knives Out, you’ll love this book. It’s fast paced and funny and the deceptively complex plot kept me on my toes. Even though I suspected a few outcomes correctly, I missed a plethora of details and twists that Stevenson revealed in the final chapters.

Ernest is a very likeable character, and it doesn’t surprise me in the least that Stevenson has decided to feature him again in another book. I would definitely think you’d have to read this book first though, I can’t imagine all the intricacies of this plot being condensed into a recap successfully.

Stevenson’s acknowledgements noted that he thinks Aussie crime fiction is the best in the world and that we may look back one day and see we are currently in our own Golden Age. I think he’s actually correct. And you need to add this one to your list of must reads.

5 out of 5

Don’t Look Back

Book Review: Don’t Look Back by Jo Spain

Between her books and screenwriting, I’ve become a huge fan of Jo Spain. But… Unfortunately, this one, for me, was a bit of a letdown.

After a whirlwind romance, Luke and Rose marry. Things go awry when her violent ex-boyfriend tracks her down. A dead body later, Luke has called in his friend and former barrister, Mickey, to assist. However, once Mickey starts investigating, she’s not sure who to believe.

I liked Mickey. I would like her to feature in another book. There were moments though that Spain confused me with where she wanted Mickey to go romantically. She’s in love with this one, and then this one, and then having dinner with this one, but hang on, she loves this one. It all seemed very out of character with the rest of Mickey’s personality and was very distracting.

Likewise, the flashbacks of Rose and Luke’s romance were also unnecessary. They became quite tedious and, in the end, I didn’t think these numerous scenes added to the plot.

I also found that the wealth of the main characters grating. At times, it read like a 80s Sidney Sheldon.

I’m still keen to read more Spain books but this one was not her best work.

3 out of 5

The Chocolate Factory

Book Review: The Chocolate Factory by Mary-Lou Stephens

Despite the promise of chocolate and the Tasmanian landscape and feminism and romance, I did not really enjoy this book.

I did like the historical details. Hobart was chosen as Cadbury’s first chocolate factory outside of England. The investment, in 1921, must have been huge – along with building the factory and a housing estate for its employees, they also shipped out several staff to establish operations in Australia.

Dare I say that Stephens may have been better off simply writing a non-fiction book about Cadbury’s. There are a lot of interesting facts she includes. They read, however, like facts. I don’t t think they were added organically into the fictional plot.

Stephens’s story centres on Dorothy, a WWI widow, whose passion for the ‘firm’ finds her in an esteemed position of authority (for a woman in 1921) which sees her leave England to become one of the first Australian based employees. Dorothy had potential, but Stephens seemed to jump around with her plotline.

There was a lot of focus on unnecessary and boring plot points (eg Dorothy’s accent, the Quaker religion, the uptight boarding house owner, blah blah) and then others which should be expanded upon were condensed and mentioned almost in passing (the meeting of school teacher Thomas on the ship, for example, was brief and uneventful but then, a mere chapter later, Dorothy is all starry eyed when thinking about him and I was sure I must have missed an entire scene).

I haven’t had much luck lately with Australian historical romance and this book unfortunately didn’t get me out of that rut. I’m sure a lot of readers will love it, but it wasn’t for me.

2 ½ out of 5