Review - - Jane in Love

 

Jane in Love

by Rachel Givney

Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks

Release Date: October 27, 2020

Reviewed by Hellie

 

 

A charming, romantic debut novel in which Jane Austen, heralded author, ends up time-traveling almost 200 years in the future. There she finds the love she's written about and the destiny she's dreamed of...but is it worth her legacy?

Bath, England, 1803. At 28, Jane Austen prefers walking and reading to balls and assemblies; she dreams of someday publishing her carefully crafted stories. Already on the shelf and in grave danger of becoming a spinster, Jane goes searching for a radical solution—and as a result, seemingly by accident, time-travels. She lands in...

Bath, England, present day. The film set of Northanger Abbey. Sofia Wentworth is a Hollywood actress starring in a new period film, an attempt to reinvent her flagging career and, secretly, an attempt to reinvent her failing marriage. When Sofia meets Jane, she marvels at the young actress who can’t seem to "break character," even off set. And Jane—acquainting herself with the horseless steel carriages and seriously shocking fashion of the twenty-first century— meets Sofia, a woman unlike anyone she’s ever met before. Then she meets Fred, Sofia’s brother, who has the audacity to be handsome, clever, and kind-hearted.

What happens when Jane, against her better judgement, falls in love with Fred? And when Sofia learns the truth about her new friend Jane? And worst of all, if Jane stays with Fred, will she ever achieve her dream, the one she's now seen come true?

 

Hellie’s Heeds: 

I confess I started writing this review before I even finished the book. I also confess I committed the egregiously grave sin of reading the last pages to make sure the ending would be satisfactory. I confess the last time I loved a book so much that I was telling everyone about it and insisting they read it before I was even a third of the way finished, it was the book written by the author who is featured recommending this book on the cover, Graeme Simsion, who wrote The Rosie Project. I confess myself utterly charmed from beginning to end with this story, which when one dives into the world of Jane Austen spin-offs, they are a bit like wish-fulfillments of what we wished had happened. In this regard, this love letter to Jane Austen the author is the kind of wish fulfillment I can get behind. While by no means is “finding a man” the be-all and end-all of happiness, for the author who gave us six near perfect love stories, we do wish she had been able to find that sort of happiness for herself too. In this book, she does (to an extent) and it is as witty and delicious and comical as if Jane had composed it herself.  

I enjoy a good time travel romance--tropes ebb and flow in popularity and I do hope to see more time travel in my future reads--and Jane Austen makes the perfect fish out of water in modern day Bath and London. The author does not make Jane Austen a modern heroine--she is quite in keeping with her time period and social mores, which I appreciated more than I can put into words. The modern characters, Sofia Wentworth and Fred Wentworth are delightful, the former an aging movie star wanting to win her husband back (or does she really? I mean, he’s a real asshat in my book) and the latter a history teacher who thinks this Jane Austen wannabe is taking advantage of his dear sister. We also have this handsome librarian who is very helpful and not at all an asshat who I think deserves his own happy ending.  

Urgency commences when Jane’s books start disappearing from modern time (first Persuasion, then Sense & Sensibility? Oh my! My favorite Alan Rickman movie erased for all time? Jane MUST return!) and Jane is unable to figure out how to reverse the spell to get back to her own time. Further complicating her issues is the fact she is falling more and more in love with Fred. A choice between love in a future (that may or may not exist the longer she stays and things keep disappearing) or returning to her own time and becoming the woman we all know and love? A very modern dilemma: career or love? Still...I think Ms. Givney does an excellent job of giving us both, really, and giving us the wish fulfillment we all dreamed for Jane Austen. I think Jane may even give her own nod of approval from The Other Side, or at least enjoy the social critiques similar to her own for the modern era.  

For me, this is a 5 star, Top Dish, and definitely going on my Keeper Shelf (next to The Rosie Project, incidentally.) That said, those who are purists when it comes to romance will be left a bit cold at this story because when taken at its parts, this is much more a women’s fiction/fantasy than romance (i.e. the guy always gets the girl, the story is primarily about the two getting together and overcoming their hurdles), but I quite enjoyed the feminist themes and didn’t mind that the romance was rather secondary. Or that the more engaging romance wasn’t even between the “primary” characters--since some of the other characters seemed to have better romance trajectories. I know some may take issue with the implication that this book is suggesting women can’t have it all, that the story is forcing a choice that doesn’t have to be made. Haven’t we grown up with “Women can have it all”? We can--at least eventually, I say--but I would also say we can’t have it all at the same time. And still...as women, we know when we’re juggling so many tasks, some things have to be let go, and usually the easiest ones of those to drop are those things we do for ourselves, like writing or making art...and I think that is a conundrum explored in this book. Besides, I think those who are successful at juggling all the tasks do have spouses in their lives who support them in honoring that part of their lives, help them create the space for it, and if you do find someone who loves you enough to get out of your way and let you do what you love, isn’t that the real thing? Isn’t that the true love we all hope for ourselves? I think that is the moral of the story in the end.

 

Review - - Christmas on Reindeer Road

 

Christmas on Reindeer Road

by Debbie Mason

Highland Falls - Book 2

Publisher: Forever

Release Date: September 29, 2020

Reviewed by PJ

Can the magic of mistletoe bring together two busy single parents?

Mallory Maitland knows all too well what it's like to feel abandoned, which is why she's sworn never to give up on her two stepsons -- her late husband's children. But when the teens land in hot water, she's got a whole new problem: how to resist the caring and incredibly hot Chief of Police Gabriel Buchanan. All Mallory wants is to give the boys a magical holiday. She doesn't need the distraction of wondering what it would be like to kiss Gabriel under the mistletoe.

After his wife died, Gabriel left his job as an adrenaline-chasing New York City homicide detective to focus on raising his three sons. But back in Highland Falls, he doesn't have to go looking for trouble. It finds him -- in the form of a beautiful neighbor and her troublemaking stepchildren. With Gabriel's mother-in-law looking for any excuse to gain custody of his sons, Gabriel can't risk getting involved with Mallory, even though she's the only woman capable of making this Christmas -- and all the rest to come -- his best ever.

PJ's Thoughts:

If this book doesn't put you in the holiday spirit, nothing will. It's like a cozy blanket, twinkling Christmas tree, and mug of hot chocolate - with marshmallows - all wrapped up in one delicious bundle. I adored every single word. 

Mason has populated her fictional community with a plethora of characters ranging from quirky to mischievous to downright meddlesome. I loved some and wanted to kick others off the nearest cliff but isn't that the way in most small towns? I really enjoyed getting to know Gabe and Mallory better, learning their back stories and watching them navigate the numerous - and often hilarious - pitfalls awaiting them. It was also fun to catch up with Hunter and Abby from book one, Summer on Honeysuckle Ridge. And then there were the boys. They made me laugh, made me cry, broke my heart, then filled it with happiness. I fell for all five of them but Gabe's youngest, six-year-old Teddy? He's something special, one of my favorite kids in a romance, ever. He stole my heart...and every single scene he was in.

There's so much emotional depth in this story. It has *all* the feels. Honestly, I just wanted to wrap my arms around these characters and hug them tight. I loved them so much. But, along with the emotion that accompanies some serious issues, Mason has also laced the story with a heartwarming, lighthearted touch. She's an author who transitions seamlessly from heart-wrenching to hilarious while immersing readers in the lives of her vividly and realistically depicted characters. She had me sobbing on one page, snort-laughing on the next, and eagerly looking ahead to whatever awaited me around the next turn. 

I've been reading Debbie Mason since her debut and more than a few of her books have been 5-star reads for me but this one, this one is special. I had already pre-ordered Christmas on Reindeer Road in e-book (because I have limited space) but after reading it - twice - I ordered another copy in print. It's joining my holiday shelf, the one containing those books I can see, touch, and curl up with in front of my Christmas tree every year as I once again revisit beloved characters and lose myself in their journeys to a happily ever after.  

I highly recommend Christmas on Reindeer Road for your holiday romance reading. As Teddy Buchanan says, "This is what love looks like on Reindeer Road." 

 

Do you have a shelf of holiday romances you reread every year?

What are some of your favorite Christmas romances?

Have you read Debbie Mason yet?

 

Review - - Beauty Tempts the Beast

 

Beauty Tempts the Beast

by Lorraine Heath

Sins For All Seasons - Book 6

Publisher: Avon

Release Date: September 29, 2020

Reviewed by PJ

She wants lessons in seduction

Althea Stanwick was a perfect lady destined to marry a wealthy lord, until betrayal left her family penniless. Though she’s lost friends, fortune, and respectability, Althea has gained a scandalous plan. If she can learn to seduce, she can obtain power over men and return to Society on her terms. She even has the perfect teacher in mind, a man whose sense of honor and dark good looks belie his nickname: Beast.

But desire like this can’t be taught

Benedict Trewlove may not know his parentage but he knows where he belongs—on the dark side of London, offering protection wherever it’s needed. Yet no woman has ever made such an outrageous request as this mysterious beauty. Althea is out of place amongst vice and sin, even if she offers a wicked temptation he can’t resist. But as the truth of his origin emerges at last, it will take a fierce, wild love to overcome their pasts.

PJ's Thoughts:

Somehow I knew Beast would end up being my favorite. Lorraine Heath has wrapped up her Sins For All Seasons series with a book I inhaled in one sitting, then returned to the beginning and slowly savored scene by scene, word by delicious word. Heath is a gifted writer who brings layered stories and nuanced characters to life through her skillful command of exquisite language and heartfelt storytelling. Consider this passage in which Thea begins to realize what her life would have been had she not lost what she thought at the time was everything:

The world in which she'd grown up lacked magic, depth, satisfaction. Only now did she realize it, only now did she understand that without him, her world had been an arid place where she never would have truly come into herself.

Such a beautiful description of how, sometimes, losing everything you thought necessary leads you to who you're truly meant to be and to the person you're meant to be with.   

Beast and Thea are both complex characters which makes them that much more interesting, both individually and as a couple. I loved watching them shift and grow through the deepening of their relationship and the changes in their lives. I enjoyed watching Thea's growing confidence as she took control of her destiny. And Beast has so many intriguing facets. I loved his caring, nurturing nature, his calm, reasoning demeanor, and his fierce love for Thea. I'm not a swooning person by nature but, oh mama, is he worthy of it. My love for them is as boundless as their love for one another. I just finished a third reading of this book and, honestly, all I want to do is go back to page one and immerse myself in their journey all over again. I have a feeling I'll be revisiting them often. 

Heath has packed this story with humor, heart, and deeply sensual emotion. I was immersed from start to finish. And that epilogue! I don't usually enjoy epilogues that take characters decades into the future but this one featuring the entire Trewlove family was glorious. My heart burst with joy while my eyes overflowed with tears and I laughed out loud. I couldn't have asked for a better conclusion to one of my favorite Lorraine Heath series. 

And, bonus!  Heath is bringing us two future books featuring secondary characters (Thea's brothers) from Beauty Tempts the Beast with the possibility of Trewlove sightings in those stories. Color me beyond excited! 

~~~~~~~

Are you reading the Sins For All Seasons series? 

Do you have a favorite book or couple in the series?

Do you enjoy an epilogue that takes you decades into the future?

Review - - Emerald Blaze

Emerald Blaze

by Ilona Andrews

Hidden Legacy

Publisher: Avon

Release Date: August 25, 2020

Reviewed by PJ

As Prime magic users, Catalina Baylor and her sisters have extraordinary powers—powers their ruthless grandmother would love to control. Catalina can earn her family some protection working as deputy to the Warden of Texas, overseeing breaches of magic law in the state, but that has risks as well. When House Baylor is under attack and monsters haunt her every step, Catalina is forced to rely on handsome, dangerous Alessandro Sagredo, the Prime who crushed her heart. 

The nightmare that Alessandro has fought since childhood has come roaring back to life, but now Catalina is under threat. Not even his lifelong quest for revenge will stop him from keeping her safe, even if every battle could be his last. Because Catalina won't rest until she stops the use of the illicit, power-granting serum that's tearing their world apart. 

PJ's Thoughts:

After every book in the Ilona Andrews Hidden Legacy series I wonder how they will possibly be able to top what they've just written. And then the next book in the series comes along and...they do. Emerald Blaze is filled with everything I love about this series. The world building continues to blow me away. I know, I really do know that this is a fictional world but everything in it is so unbelievably vivid and realistic that I find myself completely immersed in it, reacting to the characters, danger, magic, and non-human beings as if it's all real. I engaged in a lot of gasping, hand-wringing, breath-holding, sighs, and, yes, a few tears, before reaching the end of this book. The characters are so well developed that they've become more like real people to me than characters in a story. I care about them and am fully engaged in their lives.

The book starts a bit slow but quickly begins to build then ramps up and takes us on a life or death race to the finish. Catalina's character continues to strengthen and grow in this second book of her trilogy. As much as I liked Nevada, I like Catalina even more. She's growing into her power and position and I can't wait to see what comes next for her. Alessandro, also, shows significant growth in this story. I'm enjoying the person he's becoming and the effect that has on his actions and his tenuous relationship with Catalina. Their romance really develops in this book with unexpected twists and unveiled secrets that pack an emotional punch and create an ever deepening bond. These two have captured my heart and I am so hoping for their happily ever after. There are a couple significant obstacles in their path though, and one more book in the trilogy, which means more hurdles ahead. And I am here for every one of them.

We also get a lot of familial interaction in this book, including Nevada and Rogan (heroine and hero of the first trilogy). I love the dynamics within the Baylor family and am especially enjoying the evolution of Arabella, Leon, Bern and others. Still keeping my fingers crossed for a trilogy for Arabella once she's a bit older.

For maximum enjoyment of Catalina's character arc (without reading the entire series), I recommend beginning with Diamond Fire (a novella), then reading Sapphire Flames followed by Emerald Blaze. However, for a complete understanding of the Hidden Legacy world as well as the Baylor family dynamics, I suggest starting at the beginning of the series with book one in Nevada and Rogan's trilogy, Burn for Me, followed by White Hot, Wildfire, and then Catalina's books.

I've already read this book twice and I have no doubt I'll be revisiting it again before the final book in Catalina's trilogy is published. These characters have a tendency to not want to let go.

Review - - You Had Me at Hola

You Had Me at Hola

by Alexis Daria

Publisher: Avon

Release Date: August 4, 2020

Reviewed by PJ

Leading Ladies do not end up on tabloid covers. 

After a messy public breakup, soap opera darling Jasmine Lin Rodriguez finds her face splashed across the tabloids. When she returns to her hometown of New York City to film the starring role in a bilingual romantic comedy for the number one streaming service in the country, Jasmine figures her new “Leading Lady Plan” should be easy enough to follow—until a casting shake-up pairs her with telenovela hunk Ashton Suárez. 

Leading Ladies don’t need a man to be happy. 

After his last telenovela character was killed off, Ashton is worried his career is dead as well. Joining this new cast as a last-minute addition will give him the chance to show off his acting chops to American audiences and ping the radar of Hollywood casting agents. To make it work, he’ll need to generate smoking-hot on-screen chemistry with Jasmine. Easier said than done, especially when a disastrous first impression smothers the embers of whatever sexual heat they might have had. 

Leading Ladies do not rebound with their new costars. 

With their careers on the line, Jasmine and Ashton agree to rehearse in private. But rehearsal leads to kissing, and kissing leads to a behind-the-scenes romance worthy of a soap opera. While their on-screen performance improves, the media spotlight on Jasmine soon threatens to destroy her new image and expose Ashton’s most closely guarded secret.

PJ's Thoughts:

Alexis Daria had me from page one. I adored this book! Filled with humor, passion, swoon-worthy romance, and Latinx authenticity, You Had Me at Hola is on my Best of 2020 watch list and should be on everyone’s summer reading list. It's just that good.

I love the over-the-top drama that is prevalent in both American soaps and Latin telenovelas. Telling a story within a story, Daria reels readers in with the drama of Jasmine and Ashton's romance as well as that of their television characters, Carmen and Victor, and I was there for all of it. I love the chemistry between them (both on-screen and off), the snappy dialogue that results from their less than ideal first meeting, the friendship that slowly begins to grow, and the slow-burn romance that threatens to flame out of control. 

Daria's research gives readers a realistic look at the making of a television show. The extra touches and attention to detail left me feeling as if I was actually on set.  

Both families (Jasmine's and Ashton's) are central to the characters' evolution as well as the overall story and Daria depicts them with the joy, frustration, well-intentioned meddling, and unconditional love of a close-knit family. I adore Jasmine's cousins, Ava and Michelle (the other two Primas of Power) and am delighted that Daria plans a book for each of them. I haven't had nearly enough of Abuela Esperanza and the rest of the Rodriguez family.

This is a romantic comedy and Daria has packed it with spot-on humor but also tempered it with steamy chemistry, heart-tugging emotion, rapid-fire banter, and complex, multi-layered characters I couldn't get enough of. I love Jasmine's confidence and ambition but also her vulnerability. I want to hang out with her, and her cousins. I want to cook (and dance) with Abuela Esperanza. I want to shake some sense into Ashton, then hug the stuffing out of him, before I jump his sexy self. Yeah, yeah, I know he's Jasmine's but a girl can dream, right? In short, I want to crawl into the pages of this book and that is why You Had Me at Hola gets my Top Dish rating. 

Review - - Daring and the Duke

Daring and the Duke

by Sarah MacLean

The Bareknuckle Bastards - Book 3

Publisher: Avon

Release Date: June 30, 2020

Reviewed by PJ

Grace Condry has spent a lifetime running from her past. Betrayed as a child by her only love and raised on the streets, she now hides in plain sight as queen of London’s darkest corners. Grace has a sharp mind and a powerful right hook and has never met an enemy she could not best...until the man she once loved returns. 

Single-minded and ruthless, Ewan, Duke of Marwick, has spent a decade searching for the woman he never stopped loving. A long-ago gamble may have lost her forever, but Ewan will go to any lengths to win Grace back…and make her his duchess. 

Reconciliation is the last thing Grace desires. Unable to forgive the past, she vows to take her revenge. But revenge requires keeping Ewan close, and soon her enemy seems to be something else altogether—something she can’t resist, even as he threatens the world she's built, the life she's claimed…and the heart she swore he'd never steal again.

PJ's Thoughts:

Sarah MacLean wraps up her Bareknuckle Bastards trilogy with an unapologetically feminist, romantically swoon-worthy, triumphant masterpiece featuring unforgettable characters, one of my all-time favorite hero redemptions, a strong and powerful heroine who is also one of my all-time favorites, and a second-chance journey to love that is sheer perfection. 

After reading the first two books in MacLean's Bareknuckle Bastards trilogy, I was still so conflicted about Ewan. On the one hand, I felt sure there had to be a good reason for what he had done to Grace before she, Devil, and Whit fled their father's home as children. On the other hand, I couldn't imagine how in the world Grace would ever forgive him after that, and following his actions as an adult during the first two books of the trilogy. She does, of course she does, but wow, does she ever make him work for it. Grace and Ewan put me through an emotional wringer, kept me reading half the night, and left me brimming with joy, and wiping away tears, at the end. Their journey is one of the best grovel and forgiveness stories I've ever read.

Daring and the Duke is my favorite of all the books I've read so far this year. I can’t wait to read it again...and again...and again. This is not a book that should be read as a standalone. To fully appreciate how Grace and Ewan got to this point, what needs to happen for forgiveness to occur, and how they are able to move forward together, I strongly recommend reading the three Bareknuckle Bastards books in order. They are Wicked and the Wallflower, Brazen and the Beast (read PJ's Top Dish review), and Daring and the Duke.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Have you read the Bareknuckle Bastards trilogy? Do you have a favorite BB story/couple?

Who is your favorite romance villain turned hero?

One randomly chosen person who posts a comment before 11:00 PM, July 10, will receive a signed copy of Daring and the Duke. 

*Must be 18

*U.S. only

Review - - An Heiress to Remember

An Heiress to Remember: The Gilded Age Girls Club

by Maya Rodale

Publisher: Avon

Release Date: March 31, 2020

Reviewed by Hellie 

Can a scandalized heiress…

Beatrice Goodwin left Manhattan a duchess and has returned a divorcée, ready to seize control of her fate and the family business. Goodwin’s Department Store, once the pinnacle of fashion, has fallen from favor thanks to Dalton’s, its glamorous competitor across the street. But this rivalry has a distinctly personal edge…

And a self-made tycoon…

For Wes Dalton, Beatrice has always been the one—the one who broke his young heart by marrying a duke, and now, the one whose cherished store he plans to buy, just so he can destroy it. It’s the perfect revenge against a family who believed he’d never be good enough for their daughter—until Beatrice’s return complicates everything…

Find happily ever after at last?

While Goodwin’s and Dalton’s duel to be the finest store in Gilded Age Manhattan, Beatrice and Wes succumb to a desire that has only deepened with time. Adversaries by day, lovers by night, both will soon have to decide which is sweeter: winning the battle or thoroughly losing their hearts…

 

Hellie’s Heeds 

This book is AMAZEBALLS. You guys, the Gilded Age Girls’ Club series is a brilliant series; and I think Maya’s best series. But this series has it all: the era of women coming into their own and taking their power, the start (or so it feels) of all the best stuff women love being loved and appreciated, and happily ever afters.  

And yet there is something subversive about this particular story (and perhaps the whole series). Mind you, romance novels are already subversive in that they are books written by women for women for their pleasure and enrichment. (It’s why romance novels tend to be so maligned.) But Maya takes it a step further. Generally in a romance novel, the hero, as all rabid romance readers know (and I do, I’m a rabid reader), the hero is always someone rich, powerful, preferably titled so the heroine can be safe/truly loved. After all, you can’t believe in a happily ever after if you’re poor as church mice. Or can you?  

Wes Dalton--the love Beatrice, the heroine, left behind--is now the rich, powerful, most important man in New York City. He is clearly now Romance Novel Hero material, which he wasn’t sixteen years ago. Beatrice has just returned from England in a scandal because she just divorced a rich, powerful DUKE (the epitome of Romance Novel Hero material) to come back home. All Beatrice wants is to run her father’s store, to bring it back to its glory again. Wes wants to ruin the business of the family that destroyed the one wish he ever really had: to marry Beatrice. Revenge is always a delicious plot conflict device, yes?  

Yet it soon becomes clear that even though Wes is now worthy Romance Novel Hero material, it is not enough to win fair Beatrice. Why? Because as it is revealed in a humble few paragraphs right before Beatrice chooses love, a modern romance heroine needs to own her heart and mind, to know her heart and mind; and above all, she needs to be able to leave at any time and support herself respectfully because only then can she know she is choosing to stay because of Love and not anything else.  

Dude. Maya Rodale is my new romance author hero. I grant you the more modern romance novels from my favorite authors have given me similar themes and words of wisdom, but this particular story spoke to me. I could relate to Beatrice’s hesitancy to leap into another marriage, even for love, out of fear of losing herself. Women do it everyday. We’re even expected to, I believe; and we even expect it of ourselves. But this book...WOW. And in the end, Dalton becomes a modern day feminist in the best way. He truly is Romance Novel Hero material, all while trying to give all his wealth away. SUBVERSIVE. Well played, Maya, well played.  

And if you’re not like me and don’t want to write a master’s thesis particular to this series about feminism and the romance novel, you can totally enjoy this story on its own merits of being a story. There are complex loveable characters, plot points keeping people apart in a valid way (and when you realize why her mother doesn’t like Dalton--WOW! Just, wow!), and sexual tension and love galore. I hope Maya writes more stories in this era and location because I think there should be more romances about the New Woman, a reminder of how far we’ve come and how far we have yet to go, all while finding our Happily Ever After. 

 

Review & Giveaway - - The Carousel

The Carousel
by J.A. Stone
Publisher: Juliana Stone Publishing
Release Date: January 28, 2020
Reviewed by PJ

An emotional journey of four women joined by blood, love, loss and time.

Pruett Fontaine is at a crossroads. Divorced, she’s lost herself and is struggling to find her place. When her estranged mother dies unexpectedly, she’s drawn back to Louisiana, to a family and town she left behind twenty years ago.

With no choice but to deal with her mother’s estate, a father she doesn’t know anymore, and the woman her mother left them for, she brings her teenage daughter to Sweetwater and collides with a past she’s been running from since she was eighteen.

Her mother’s journals open her eyes to a woman she barely knew, and she can’t outrun the sins of the past. Secrets are exposed, tragedies are revealed, and temptation rears its head over the course of one long, hot Louisiana summer.

PJ's Thoughts:

J.A. Stone didn't just tell me a story; she dropped me smack-dab in the middle of Sweetwater, Louisiana, and Prue Fontaine's broken family, both guarding painful secrets of the past, and the fragile hope of forgiveness and redemption in the present. Stone's descriptions of Sweetwater were so vivid that I convinced myself I could smell the sweet aroma of backyard gardens, feel the dense humidity trickle across my skin, and hear the faint strains of a Johnny Cash song intermingled with the sounds of the bayou on a warm, summer night. I could feel the soothing relief of ice-cold beer as it slides down a parched throat, lick the sweet tang of slow-cooked barbecue from sticky fingers, and relive the joys of youth as long-separated friends are reunited and long-ago damaged fences, delicately mended. 

Stone's characters are so realistic, so fully formed, that as I accompanied them on their journey, I felt like I was experiencing it with friends rather than reading about fictional characters on a page. Dysfunctional relationships are fully explored and, based on Prue's relationship with her daughter, I'm very confident the author has mothered a teen-age girl at some point in her life. But it's the character of Lila, Prue's deceased mother, who held me most spellbound. Told through her journal entries, as well as personal recollections of other characters, we all - especially Prue - begin to know the full scope of this character and the impact certain events had on who she was as a girl and who she became as a woman. It was fascinating, heartbreaking, and, in the end, healing. 

I read this book in one day. Once I began reading, the story refused to let go. The characters drew me in, engaging both my interest and my emotions from beginning to end and the mystery of Lila kept me guessing right up to the reveal. It's the kind of story I'd love to see played out on screen. In fact, the experience of reading this book was so immersive that at times I felt like I was watching a movie. I hope that Stone will venture into this type of storytelling again. She has a clear talent for it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Because I enjoyed this book so much, I'd like to share the experience with one of you, so tell me...

What was the last book you read that you'd love to see on screen?

Have you read any of Juliana (a/k/a J.A.) Stone's contemporary romances? 

One randomly chosen person posting a comment before 11:00 PM, January 29, 2020, will receive a Kindle copy of The Carousel. 

*Must be 18 or older