If April seems like one giant blur, you’re not alone. It’s been a month of cooking up a storm and bingewatching TV shows, and for me, not as much reading as I ordinarily do. So I’m bringing you a selection of books that might have passed you by this month.
Personally, I’ve been the queen of starts-and-stops reading during self-isolation, but I’ve finished all of these books. And in these times, that feels like an accomplishment, and extra high-five to the power of these stories.
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Sloan lost her fiancé in an unexpected accident nearly two years ago. Grief has been extra rough, and she’s lost sight of her art career. She’s on her way to visit her fiance’s grave when a dog jumps in front of, and then into, her car. When she tracks down the owner, she discovers, he’s a musician touring half a world away in Australia. She agrees to look after the pup until Jason gets back to town. Once he does, they both fall hard and fast. The Happy Ever After Playlist will make you laugh, but its still angsty and intense, so be prepared for an emotional rollercoaster. You know that scene in The Notebook where Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams get out of the rowboat and it’s pouring and he yells, “It wasn’t over. It *still* isn’t over!!” Yeah, it’s that kind of intense.
4 stars
Get THE HAPPY EVER AFTER PLAYLIST at The Ripped Bodice | Bookshop.org| Amazon | Apple Books | IndieBound
Check out our review of The Friend Zone, the book where we first met Sloan.
Sophie Jordan gives the virgin heroine a modern twist in a romp of a historical romance celebrating female desire. Love potions are involved. Oh, you need more than that? Charlotte, the middle sister, always does the right thing. She’s engaged to a childhood friend, more because it’s the right thing to do, and in spite of the fact that his parents are social climbers. They’re about to sit down to a dinner with the whole family when Kingston, the Duke of Warrington’s stepbrother, turns up expectedly. Charlotte, already feeling crampy ahead of dinner, excuses herself to take a tonic. But instead of assuaging her pains, the tonic inflames something else entirely {eyebrow waggle}. I loved it.
4 stars
Read an excerpt from THE VIRGIN AND THE ROGUE.
Get THE VIRGIN AND THE ROGUE at The Ripped Bodice |Bookshop.org| Amazon | Apple Books |IndieBound
The Rakess is a sexy, feminist, burn down the patriarchy romance with a delicious role reversal. Seraphina Arden is a crusader, writer, defender of women’s rights and an unabashed rakess. While in Cornwall on a writing retreat she embarks on an affair with her neighbor, widowed father architect Adam. Like any good rakess, Sera isn’t looking for attachment. But as one of her friends says to her, wouldn’t it be good to try? Peckham lays bare all the ugliness of how women are treated from gaslighting to slut shaming to outright misogyny. And although the story is set late in the 18th century, there are elements of it you could easily see unfold today. Read it, read it, read it.
4 stars
Read an excerpt from THE RAKESS.
Get THE RAKESS at The Ripped Bodice | Bookshop.org| Amazon | Apple Books | Indiebound
A bonafide slump buster! Fake relationship – check. Fireman – check. Florida Keys – check check. Island Affair has Sara landing in Florida to find out her boyfriend has ditched her just ahead of spending a week with her family in the Keys. In any other family, it wouldn’t be a big deal, but Sara has something to prove. In a family of doctors, she’s the odd one out, making her living as a social media influencer. She meets Luis Navarro, and he’s the perfect solution to her lack-of-boyfriend of problem. They’ve definitely got chemistry, can they convincingly come off as a couple?
Island Affair is a celebration of family and community that transports you to the Keys. Add in a sexy, slightly squished cinnamon roll hero with a savior complex and it was exactly the escape I needed. Sara and Luis both have issues they’re working through, but it never overshadows the budding romance. Sara’s past disordered eating issues are handled forthrightly, though others would have to comment on the accuracy.
CW: Past disordered eating issues, parent with cancer
4 stars
Get ISLAND AFFAIR at The Ripped Bodice | Bookshop.org| Amazon | Apple Books | Indiebound
This one is Brothers and Sisters meets Big Little Lies. The Sweeney Sisters delivers the family drama and plenty of food for thought — about sisterhood, family secrets, ego and entitlement, and the less glamorous side of how the country club set lives. Against an idyllic Connecticut backdrop, the Sweeney girls are dealing with the death of their literary lion father when a 4th sister they didn’t know they had shows up at the wake. Did I mention she grew up next door? Oh, the havoc at 23andMe-like DNA test can wreak! The question is, what does new sister Serena want? A cut of the inheritance? To write a tell-all, or something else entirely?
These are not people you’re going to like all the time. And that’s kind of the point. Liza is the first sister we meet, and I was over her by the time I got to the end of chapter one. But there is personal growth for all three sisters over the course of the book. It’s a journey worth taking. By the end, I found myself wondering if there’s more in store from The Sweeney Sisters, especially Tricia.
Get The Sweeney Sisters at Bookshop.org| Amazon | Apple Books | IndieBound
Author Lian Dolan will be doing two virtual events to support the book launch TODAY:
11 a.m. PT: Mighty Blaze via Facebook Live with Robin Kall
6 pm PT: Vroman’s via Crowdcast
