Chick Lit

Great Big Beautiful Life

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by Emily Henry

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“I’m fine. Everything’s fine.”

I have had mixed feelings about the very ballyhooed Women’s Fiction/Romcom/Chick Lit author, Emily Henry. She is good, don’t get me wrong, but I do not understand all of the hype considering there are much better and more consistently great authors out there in the same genre. At least in my (not very shared) opinion. Case in point. I believe there are five of her books being adapted for the screen, the last I counted. I approached this one hopefully but not too confidently. I also did not have a great mindset when I started it as I was anxious to get it over with (it was a library book) so I could get back to the very involving historical fiction series I am in the middle of. But I thought it was excellent and right up there with her best. It would have even been 5 stars except for a lame temporary break up of the couple near the end caused by a totally unnecessary and silly inability to communicate what was going on. It could have been done without compromising anyone. I get enough of that irritating and overused plot device with Hallmark. It was out of place here, considering everything which had gone before. That brought it down ½ of a star.

It was a dual time line plot, which we all know can be tricky since almost inevitably the reader is lots more interested in one story than the other. But in this case, both stories were engaging and interesting. (I was surprised and prepared to kind of speed read through the back story one, but to my irritation I had to read every word. Haha.) Two journalists are given the chance to write the authorized biography of a famous former media star and tragic poor little rich girl heiress of yesteryear who has, until journalist #1, Alice, tracks her down, and journalist #2, Hayden, is summoned to her small coastal town, where she has been hiding in plain sight for 20 years. Margaret will allow herself to be interviewed by the competing writers for the right to tell her story in full. But it isn’t long before Alice and Hayden agree that there is something weird going on. Margaret is not telling the whole truth to one or both of them. Alice is a cheerful, gregarious, and likable writer for a light-weight People Magazine type publication. And Haydon is a Pulitzer prize winning serious biographer who is hard, reserved, and moody. You know the drill.

The romance between the two writers was sweet, well paced and believable. I really liked how Hayden opened up and fell so hard for sweetie-pie Alice step by step. It’s told from Alice’s point of view so we know her inner feelings, but Emily Henry did a wonderful job of showing Hayden’s developing inner feelings towards Alice by his words and actions.

“I murmur, “Tell me something no one knows about you,” and he’s quiet and still for so long I start to wonder if I’ve crossed a line. Then he tips his chin down to his clavicle to meet my eyes and says simply, “I’m in love with you.”

For me, authors need to bring a lot more to the table than just a romance, and EH delivered in that department as well. Margaret’s tale of her life, starting with how her great grandfather made his fortune, Her grandfather’s, grandmother’s, father’s and mother’s ups and downs, and then her own romance with a rock idol and her relationship with her almost pathologically shy sister went from at least tolerably interesting to fascinating and gripping. Additionally, as the story developed, some mysteries emerged both in the past and the present. I was in anticipation of the answers and resolutions and hoped for happy outcomes. Alice had a difficult relationship with her mother and the exploration and resolution to that also added a lot of interest to the story. To top it off there was a twist that I didn’t see coming in how Margaret’s narrative of her family results in a reveal about a main character’s history.

There were parts of Margaret’s story that seemed a little weak, especially some decisions she made concerning her relationship with her sister. Didn’t make a whole lot of sense and seemed to be manufactured to create drama. I also wished for more closure to Alice’s relationship with her largely “off screen” boyfriend. Definitely expected him to show up at some point so Alice could give them the heave-ho he so richly deserved. But on the whole, I thought this was almost her best book. But then, I lean towards women’s fiction with the romance not being the be all and end all.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Cover Story

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by Mhairi McFarlane

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I’ve only given one of Mhairi’s books less than 4 stars and that was a long long time ago. I’ve loved them all but the last 2 were 4 star reads for me and the one before that, although 5 stars, had some really uncomfortable unpleasant things happen to our heroine, and it was quite light in the romance department. This one is back to 5 stars, and I am so happy about that. Often a favorite author kind of plateaus for me for a while. Sometimes permanently, or even starts spiraling downward. The books are still good, sometimes great even, but with reservations. Sometimes I can tell it is really through no fault of their own, but I just get too familiar and less enchanted with their ways. I find myself giving them an extra 1/2 star or more out of loyalty.

MM’s stories, including this one, often rest on her often used foundation of a very competent, funny, charming girl in her workplace who runs into trouble. Family is usually a significant part of the story and she usually has one or more ride or die friends. Though humor is never more than a page or two away, serious issues are tackled, and things can get fraught.

This story was very layered with a lot going on in addition to a very satisfying romance. Our heroine, Bel, is an investigative journalist, and part of the story is her trying to take down a corrupt politician who also is a sexual predator. To do this, she has to go undercover and befriend a Paris Hilton type young socialite in order to get into her laptop. We meet lots of interesting well rounded people in this thread that surprise and entertain. There is mystery and a lot of suspense because there is a lot at stake. I was very invested in Bel’s hoped for takedown of this guy. And success was very much a long shot.

A new arrival to Bel’s two person office/outpost is Connor, a new intern who quit his previous lucrative but high-pressure career in finance to start over again as a journalist. His first impression of her is “Helena Bonham Carter via the police cell drunk tank.” Not surprisingly, they don’t get on. To Bel and her partner in crime, Aaron, Connor comes across as aloof, superior and disapproving, and they treat him accordingly. Connor and Bel’s romance is a slow long burn as they get to know each other and discover what’s behind the curtain. When Connor inadvertently walks in on Bel in the early days of her undercover work she is forced to not only take him into her confidence, but wrangle him into posing as her boyfriend.

And there’s more! Both Connor and Bel are both dealing with troublesome exes. Bel, with two, one being a very scary psychopathic stalker. And let’s not forget the family and friends!

Often when a book includes a few disparate plot lines, one or more become distractions. Often it is the romance part which gets sidelined. Not so in this one. Connor and Bel become involved key players in each other’s work and personal dramas, which put the romance front and center. Their investigation, and their personal lives both provide suspense, excitement and Mhairi’s always reliable laugh out loud humor. Even minor characters, if not all multi-dimensional or complex, are at least entertaining and interesting. We even have some mystery of the “ Yikes! WTF is going on here?!!” variety and some pretty surprising twists.

At around the 70% mark, I was about to put the book down and go to bed, when things got even more interesting and the ante got upped. I couldn’t put it down, it didn’t let up, and I finished it that night. Although there is an almost inevitable misunderstanding that threatens to keep the two from their happy ending, it does not last long, and one risks all by some timely soul-baring which becomes mutual. It was very satisfying and refreshing. I didn’t want to say goodbye to Connor, Bel, and their lives.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Same Time, Next Week

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by Milly Johnson

Timewise, I can never be too far from a Milly Johnson book. I’ve been re-reading them sporadically on Audible while waiting for a new one by her. This time, I ended up reading this new title at the same time as I was listening to an old favorite, The Woman in the Middle. Unfortunately the main heroine of the older book bore a great similarity to one of the main characters in this one in personality as well as her challenges and journey. So every time I returned to this one after listening to the other, I had to get my thoughts together and reset, so to speak. It wasn’t too difficult as “Middle” had only one main story to Same Time, Next Week’s fairly equally distributed stories of five women’s paths to love and inner growth.

Same Time… follows the lives of women who start out at, or soon reach, very low points in their lives. How they find their ways to happiness, success, and their just deserts is the very familiar foundation to any reader of Milly Johnson. It didn’t break too much new ground, that’s for sure. And I am more than fine with that. With Milly, it’s not the plot, but the writing, humor, and the way she makes you care about her characters. And you can’t beat the way she always makes sure the good guys triumph and the bad guys get what they deserve. With Milly, due rewards and punishments are super-sized. And that’s a good thing, because she really puts her characters through the gauntlet at the hands of their tormentors. When the character you grow to care about suffers, you suffer along with them. The fact that you know revenge and justice are coming for all makes it all worth it.

In this one, I would say the two main characters are Amanda and Mel. Amanda is in her 50s and suffering mightily from the symptoms of menopause. Milly gives us a play by play on this stage of life, and it’s not pretty. For those who have yet to go through this, I hope your experience does not mirror Amanda’s. Take hope that her experience is not a universal one. Some sail through with just a few blips. She is faithfully and lovingly taking care of her elderly mother who does not appreciate her and has never really loved her. On the other hand, she worships her worthless and immoral son, Bradley, who only cares about what he can get out of her and is eagerly anticipating his inheritance. The elderly, those that care for them, and their struggles, is an issue that Milly has tackled before. This one is more harrowing and heartbreaking than usual.

Mel has been married, she thinks happily, to Steve for 30 years. He goes to a highschool reunion and starts having an affair with a woman he meets there. My first question was why Mel didn’t go with him, but it is never even mentioned as a consideration. Perhaps school reunions are different in the U.K. It’s not a good idea not to accompany your spouse to a high school reunion, in my view. If Mel had gone with Steve, none of her story would have happened, and that would have been a bad thing. Bad for the reader, and, as it turns out, bad for Mel. Because life without Steve teaches her that she was not so happy in her marriage after all.

Astrid, Sky, and Erin round out the quintet of women who, through the friendship group that Amanda starts, become friends and supporters of each other through their trials and tribulations. The group meets in the newly opened Ray’s Diner, a new business in Spring Hill Square, a little center that has made a number of appearances in previous books. Sky is in her late twenties and haunted by a false accusation that her father was a serial killer. It ruined his life and keeps raising its ugly head. Her sweet and gentle nature is also being taken advantage of by her landlord from hell who moved in on her and is a creepy pervert to boot. This part of the story was very disturbing and I didn’t understand how this could have been allowed to happen. She is in love with her boss who is 20 years older and the ex-husband of…Erin. The two exes were and are great friends but were unhappy in their marriage. Erin is struggling with guilt and the death of the woman she left her ex, Bon, for. Astrid, who is a trans woman, played a prominent role in Afternoon Tea at The Sunflower Cafe and was also in The Mother of all Christmases., and The Queen of Wishful Thinking. She is struggling with the death of her husband and a lack of purpose. Astrid is a great character, a real “cracker,” pun intended. “Cracker” as in the British slang version, I hasten to add.

Once again, Milly expertly weaves a lot of threads together to fashion very entertaining and satisfying journeys of all her protagonists. And of course that includes finding love as well as their paths forward through grief of all sorts to the promise of happiness and fulfillment.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

The Love Haters

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By Katherine Center

Katherine Center’s bright and sparkly authorial voice captured me right away, as it always seems to. Her heroines, who narrate their stories, are instantly relatable and likable. I also am a sucker for “direct address”, where the narrator speaks right to you as if she expects you to answer. The usual humor was present and accounted for. Unfortunately, it wasn’t long before Katie, who narrates her story, started to get on my nerves and I got very impatient with her.

The agenda in this book (and I don’t mean that in a bad or critical way) is to encourage body positivity. When Katie’s former fiancé became a big music star, she was exposed to the cruelty of social media commenting on how fat and ugly she was, when of course she was just a normal nice looking girl. If I remember correctly she starved herself and got really thin. Her fiancé cheated on her and dumped her, and then she started putting on the pounds until she became a little plump. Katherine Center is pretty vague about the weight loss and weight gain, and I understand why.

Katie makes corporate videos and posts mini-biographies of “Heroes” on her own YouTube channel. She agrees to go to Key West to interview and film her boss’s brother who is a hero in the Coast Guard, having famously rescued Jennifer Anniston’s dog who fell off a cliff. To do her job though, she has to get in a bathing suit and learn to swim. She is used to wearing black inconspicuous clothes that do nothing for her, so this prospect of what she has to do to do her job and get material for her personal YouTube channel fills her with horror. For me, her inner struggles with bathing suits and learning to swim got very tedious very quickly. And since her luggage got lost on the plane, she is “forced” to borrow clothes from her boss’s and his brother’s beloved Aunt’s store which are all brightly colored and very loud. Again, this is torture for her, as she is afraid of being seen and judged. Her fixation on her body came across as silly and shallow. “Oh the Humanity!”

I didn’t get what the heroic, beautiful, kind, and smart hero saw in her. She was kind of a cute nonentity. She was naive and she didn’t seem to be too bright either. On almost the first page she states to the reader that she couldn’t locate Key West on a map or know what the Coast Guard or a rescue swimmer was. Was she trying to be funny? I don’t think so. Because later in the book she is corrected when speaks of forming an “allegiance” with someone when she meant “alliance”.

**Spoilers**

Shortly before the halfway mark she is magically cured by a kiss from “Hutch” the coast guard hero and the love interest. Frankly, I was OK with that, even though I’m not sure what message that was sending. She decides to disagree with the ghouls on the internet and “be the kid who stands up for bullying victims-for myself”. My relief didn’t last long however. She knows her boss Cole, Hutch’s brother is a liar, but when he unexpectedly shows up in Key West, believes and lamely goes along with all of his lies to Hutch and his Aunt Faye. **End Spoiler**

It’s all a tempest in a teapot until a real tempest descends on Key West and Katie is blown out to sea in Hutch’s houseboat trying to rescue his beloved dog, George Bailey. Will she prove her mettle and come into her own?

This was well-written (of course) and perfectly enjoyable. It seemed lighter and fluffier than the four other books I’ve read by her. There really isn’t anything really serious at stake, as with her other books. But sometimes that is just what one is in the mood for. Since I’ve been reading Katherine Center I’ve enjoyed each book more or at least equal to the previous one. This one is a slight step back. But still 3 ½ stars.

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for an Advanced Review Copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review. It will be published 5/20/2025

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Ain’t She Sweet?

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Susan Elizabeth Phillips

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“Hold it right there. The only agreement we ever had was that you intended to make me as miserable as possible, and I intended to courageously make the best of an intolerable situation like valiant Southern women have always done.”-Sugar Beth Carey

“They’re all mad, everyone of ’em” Said Rupert with conviction.
Georgette Heyer-The Devil’s Cub.

I have read this 2004 book by the great Susan Elizabeth Phillips a few times, and listened to it once before. The book is great. One of her best. It’s a stand alone, but mention of the Daphne the Bunny books from her Chicago Stars series tie it to that universe. Ultimate Chick Lit, it has all the ingredients I look for in that lightly regarded genre and with a delicious southern twang: Funny dialog, plenty of drama, suspense and anticipation, quintessential enemies to lovers, slow burn, true love, redemption, and justice for all. You name it. In Sugar Beth Carey, SEP has created one of her strongest and funniest heroines. And Colin Byrne, apparently inspired by Georgette Heyer’s The Duke of Avon is more than a match for her. But Sugar Beth is no worshipful Leonie sitting at the feet of Heyer’s Justin Alistair.

Sugar Beth is a one of a kind heroine who was truly a pampered mean girl and bully in her youth. In truth, she deserved every bad thing that came (and will come) to her in this book, and she knows it. The reader, however, soon learns she has reaped the consequences of her past foolish and bad acts and come through the flames a changed and better person. But her former friends and the townspeople, when she returns to her small home town of Parrish Mississippi, only know her as the spoiled rich girl who cruelly bullied and humiliated her shy illegitimate step sister. She’s the girl who dumped the popular hometown high school hero for a big time college athlete and left her provincial small town in the dust. She is still the beautiful and flirtatious teen who falsely accused a young teacher of sexual harassment and got him fired and sent home in disgrace. And who didn’t even have the decency to come back for her father’s funeral. I told you she was bad. But while life has not been kind to Sugar Beth, the nerdy step-sister from the wrong side of the tracks is now the heir of all their late father’s wealth and married to Sugar Beth’s former boyfriend. They are the power-couple of the small town and its social leaders. And the young teacher Sugar Beth ruined? He is now a wealthy and famous author who has returned from England to live in Parrish and who has brought it a certain fame and prosperity. And now Sugar Beth is back in town to find a valuable legacy that will hopefully turn her life around and save the future of a vulnerable dependant. And then get back out of the town which holds so many painful memories as soon as possible. Not gonna happen. Let the games begin.

As backstories unfold, and and secrets are revealed, we love and cheer for the very entertaining Sugar Beth while cringing at the person she used to be. But we also sympathize with and admire her sister and nemesis, Winnie Davis. This is a book with no “bad guys.” A really good romance has great side characters and every character in this one is a finely honed gem, and it is funny as heck.

With this listen on Audible, however, I regret to say that the narration by Kate Fleming got on my last nerve. It tainted large chunks of the book for me, including, unforgivably, the romance part. On paper, Colin Byrne is eccentric and affected but ultimately romantic and intriguing. An original in the 21st century, he is apparently based on an archetypal Regency or Georgian aristocratic romantic hero. In the hands of Ms. Fleming, he becomes a pompous and ridiculous ass. She does OK with Sugar Beth and the rest of characters most of the time, but she rarely lets up on the acid sardonic tone, even when it is not called for by the words or the story. Her southern accent is way over the top. I’m a southerner and when a southerner hears a southern accent that is way too southern, it is. Susan Elizabeth Phillips had the good taste and discernment to preface each of her chapters with an appropriate quote from a Georgette Heyer novel. What Kate Fleming did to those quotes was a train wreck of clown cars. She obviously has no knowledge of the characters that spoke the words of the iconic Georgette. Her reading added insult to the injury she inflicted to one of SEP’s best books. I have listened to other books by this author narrated by Kate Fleming aka Anna Fields and her interpretations have been spot on and wonderful. What the Heck happened, and why did no one stop her? The Book is 5 stars. The narration is unforgivable. But I’m not going to punish the book for that.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

In a Holidaze

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by Christina Lauren

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I was expecting more from this, especially after I started reading it. The premise, in which our main character keeps going back in time until she get things right, had a lot of promise. But the two main characters turned out to be disappointments, and a disappointment together. The very large and crowded secondary cast had no one entertaining enough to carry a secondary storyline to fall back on.

Andrew, our heroine’s love interest, was too much of a paragon. Perfect face, perfect body, and perfect personality. There was no room for growth, or change for the better, possible for him.

He smiles, and Lord, if the sun doesn’t come out from behind the clouds. Dimples so deep I could lose all my hopes and dreams inside them. I swear his teeth sparkle. As if on cue, a perfect brown curl falls over his forehead. You have got to be kidding me.

You’ve got to be kidding me too. The description reminded me of those old comic book representations of Superman. And that can be fine if he is the knight in shining armor character who has to rescue a victimized or seriously flawed heroine from a heinous antagonist. But this heroine had just failed to launch and needed to grow up. Besides, no disrespect to Superman, but I prefer Clark Kent. The love story seemed jejune and more of school girl crush. Our heroine, called variously Maelyn, Maisie, Mae, or Noodle, is 26. She had decided she was in love with “Mandrew” at 13 and has since only saw him for one week a year. Hardly a strong foundation for an enduring love story. Honestly, it had all the makings of “Girl thinks she is in love with the guy who checks all the boxes, but her real connection is with the less obvious underdog.” I would have preferred it if the love story started with perfect Andrew but ended with his flawed brother Theo, minus the gross face licking incident.

I glare across the table at him, but he doesn’t look up. He tucks into his Lucky Charms like a hungover frat boy. Theo is a dick.

Lots of room for growth and change there! A slow realization that Theo had been misunderstood and had hidden depths would have been much more interesting and romantic. But unfortunately the author(s) saddled him with some serious no-nos that eliminated that possibility and any suspense of who she would wind up with, despite my hoping for a miracle.

The second big thing that didn’t track with me was the time travel/Groundhog day thing. It didn’t make any sense, and I’m not even talking about “why this particular girl?” Although that would have been nice to know! By the way, our heroine had never heard of this modern classic Romantic Comedy, which did nothing to endear her to me. I was ok with her having 3 trips only which stopped at the halfway point. She was always whisked back in time right before she was about to be killed or maimed (or seriously injured.) At first I thought the universe was trying to save her life. The first time, an out of control truck is spinning towards her and feet from crashing into her car. The second time she is about to fall down the stairs. The third time, a heavy tree branch is about to fall on her head. But when the fourth time a life threatening incident occurred, nothing happened. She assumes the universe is trying to warn her she did something wrong (why?), which she didn’t. In fact, it occurred right after she decided to do something very right and be honest with Theo about Andrew. And throughout the book, it never seems to hit her that the first incident that triggered “Groundhog day” could also have killed her and her whole family. This possible tragedy waiting to happen (again) is never acknowledged.

Fairly early on, after the 3rd reliving of her cabin vacation, She actually learns the lessons she presumably is meant to learn, the secret to her being happy. She emails her boss and quits the job she hates, and is honest about her feelings for Andrew. But the penny doesn’t drop until almost the 80% mark.

I’ve spent years not trusting my ability to make decisions and quietly letting life just happen to me. It can’t be a coincidence that the moment I stopped being passive and followed my instincts, everything seemed to fall into place. I know what makes me happy—trusting myself. What a gift, right? I found happiness…
The only person whose expectations you have to live up to is yourself. When I thought it didn’t matter and no one would remember, I finally started living authentically. I quit my job. I was honest about my feelings. I went after what I wanted without fear.

I don’t know, it was all very confusing. But I won’t pile on about other things that bothered me.
The upshot is, that the premise could have been the foundation of a really good book with some depth and all sorts of interesting things going on, but the authors wasted it on what is only a light and frothy holiday (and pretty insipid) romance. It was like Christina Lauren purposely steered away from anything that could have made it substantial or really special.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

The Happiest Ever After

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by Milly Johnson

This was a typical Milly Johnson and that’s more than OK with me. By typical I mean a nice woman or three who are not appreciated and put upon by their partner, their family, or their employer. Sometimes all three. Often they are even emotionally abused by a narcissist and they are totally under their thumb through most of the book. As the story proceeds they gradually see the light and the true character of the man they once loved. But often, and frustratingly, no action is taken until it’s last straw time. In the course of the book, she will find a good kind man who is truly worthy of their love. But the point is, we look forward to the heroine’s triumph and takedown of the abuser and it is usually massive and exceedingly satisfying. Much of this is true of the story of Polly Potter.

However, in this one, I was happy that Polly had her long-term boyfriend’s number from the beginning of the book. She had been too nice and too tolerant for too long, but she was done. She has been planning on leaving Chris but her plans have been delayed by her role in his sister’s renewal of her wedding vows. Meanwhile, Polly is also unhappy with her employer. She has been taken advantage of and discriminated against ever since the business solutions company she works for as a highly successful and talented consultant was sold. On the day before she plans to leave her boyfriend, she reaches the end of her rope with her boss and walks out. The next day, she follows through with her plan to leave Chris, but on her way to the seaside town she has run to she is mugged, hits her head, and loses her memory and her purse with all of her identification. I won’t mention all of the drama she has to go through on the “wedding” day but wow. I didn’t see that coming.

Anyway, she is taken in by Marielle, a kind and generous retired nurse and finds love with her son, a restaurant owner who is being sabotaged by a large chain restaurant that is moving into the neighborhood. As with all Milly Johnson books, there are plenty of side stories going on alongside our main character’s and as always, they doubled my pleasure in this book.
Even though this has suspense and tension as well as cheers and triumph, it didn’t reach quite the highs of some of her former books. After Polly puts her foot down at home and work, she leaves all that pain behind, and although she loses her memory everything is pretty much smooth sailing for her from there. And I was very happy that she did put her foot down. Sometimes Milly has gone a little too far in putting her long-suffering characters through the ringer. Of course, the upside of all that tension and frustration is the power of the catharsis when it comes. Although it was nice, I also was not as invested in the romance. Teddy was not as interesting as most of her heroes have been.

Milly excels in her characterizations. In this book she shows Polly/Sabrina’s goodness while still making her inner voice funny and likable. Her baddies are sometimes over the top, but I sure get a lot of pleasure in hating their guts. Polly’s boyfriend Chris was just a worm, but hoo-boy his sister Camay (!) was something else. Chris’s son Will was a love and definitely not a chip off the old block. Chris’s daughter Shauna was a teenage menace who did her best to undermine Polly at every turn. Her boss was a typical pig (“Polly put the kettle on”) but her pregnant officemate, Sheridan, was a welcome support and ally. And at the end, Marjorie, the scheming female head of HR was a force to be reckoned with. Luckily she’s a good guy. At her seaside haven, Polly meets the funny and quirky Flick, who is as smart as a whip, and one of the restaurant staff she works with as a temporary employee. Each of them is deftly drawn too. The baddie in this setting is the foolish and avaricious Cilla, Flick’s mother, and her kind protector, Marielle’s, cousin. Milly is pleased to offer some hope and redemption for her at the end thanks to Polly’s very much unsolicited words of wisdom.

No one does Karma like Milly Johnson. As always with Milly’s novels, the good are rewarded and the bad are punished, and in spectacular fashion. Absolutely nothing wrong with that, in my book.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Angels

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by Marian Keyes

But the point I’m making is I wasn’t playing it safe when I married Garv, This is the way I really am!”
Plain yoghurt at room temperature?”
“Um…”
Plain yoghurt at room temperature and proud of it?” “…With Raspberry puree at the bottom?”
Yes! I might even get a T-shirt saying it” “Two. One for Garv as well.”

Had I read the Walsh Family Chronicles in order I would have probably looked upon Maggie’s story as a relief after Claire’s marriage drama and Rachel’s hard-fought and very entertaining journey out of denial and into sobriety. I don’t remember too much about how I felt about it on my first read, by which time I was well into Marian Keyes’ oeuvre, which included many of her standalone novels. When I came to my second Walsh novel, at first I didn’t even realize I had read about these characters before. I remember I liked Angels better than most people did. This time on Audible, I liked it pretty well. After reading all of the Walsh sisters’ stories including sequels, I was very familiar with how the rest of her family view Garv and Margaret. I was interested in how Keyes would find much fodder in the boring life of boring Maggie and her even more boring husband Garv. He is accepted only grudgingly in the first go-round with the Walshes. Except Anna, and that’s a whole other story. They love and respect Margaret but she is somewhat of an outsider, being sensible, responsible, and stable compared the rest of the family’s batshit-in-a-blender lives and times. As I got to know Maggie and learned about her life, I realized she was no different from the usual likable, funny, and good-hearted heroines of Women’s Fiction or Romantic Comedies. She was “every woman” and not boring at all.

After she finds out her husband has cheated on her and she is fired from her job, Maggie flees from Ireland to Los Angeles to visit her best friend Emily. As the white sheep of the family who never strays from the straight and narrow, this unexpected turn of events is quite the shocker. As Maggie experiences life in California and meets many of their strange peoples, we also learn a little more about her teen years, her first love, Shay Delaney, whom she has never quite gotten out of her system, her happy marriage to Garv, and what has caused their marriage to fracture and then break. Her life there with her friend Emily, a struggling scriptwriter, is one curveball after another. But nothing of lasting importance happens to her there in Los Angeles, and most of the book is about Maggie meeting and interacting with various Los Angeles stereotypes. It has even less of a plot than Watermelon. She also meets Shay there, but there is no fear that he will be any more important in her future than the rest of the other large cast of characters. By that time, we understand what a wonderful man Garv is, how happy they both were in their marriage, and how much Maggie still loves him. But he doesn’t show up in the book live and in person until the 95% mark. By this point, I was half in love with myself and I was very happy to see him, hear his side of the story, and have him get Maggie away from her well-meaning but overbearing family. Yes, Mammy Walsh, Mr. Walsh, Anna, and Helen show up in L.A. late in the book and bring their own special brand of crazy and hilarious to the unsuspecting Angelenos. Most of the book is an affectionate send-up of Hollywood culture seen through Maggie’s Irish eyes. The only real people of any depth were her old friend Emily and her new friend Laura. Some of the book is quite dated and exaggerated, though there is also a lot of truth in it, I imagine.

I didn’t love it but I liked it, and I also enjoyed Gerry Halligan’s reading even if the accents of the American characters seemed a little exaggerated and “off.” Weirdly, she pronounced Rodeo drive like it was a cowboy contest and “4-1-1” as 4-eleven. Even those little quirks had their charms.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

You Belong With Me

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By Mhairi McFarlane

“If you look for problems all the time, you’ll start to create them. I’m wondering why you do.”

Her boss Richard once told her she was her own worst enemy, and though the title of her worst enemy had been a keenly fought competition, he might be right.

When last we saw Edie and Elliot, it was in the final pages of Who’s That Girl? The couple had reluctantly split up 4 months earlier and Edie is fixing Christmas Dinner when her sister Meg calls excitedly to her that there is someone at the door for her. That’s it. The End. But we knew it was Elliot and that somehow they would work their movie star/normal girl issues out and have their happy ending. That ending was very controversial for a Rom-com and there were lots of complaints. But I was fine with it, even though I am famous in my own mind for wanting closure with all of the loose ends tied up. This sequel is meant to be that. Even though I was satisfied with the ending of the first book, of course I welcomed more of Elliot and Edie, and after all, you can never have enough closure.

Even though there are many challenges for them to tackle in working out a relationship that works for them both, they are deeply in love (and like) and can’t bear to be without each other. Unfortunately, some of their challenges have to be tackled over and over again. The book got pretty repetitive thanks to Edie’s stubborn lack of faith in Elliot’s loyalty and love. Her knee-jerk reactions to such things as paparazzi stories were irritating even though she always calms down and wises up later after she thinks about it. I disliked Edie doubting Elliot over and over. I could have used a lot less of that. She didn’t realize what a wonderful treasure of a man he was until it was almost too late. She always put the worst spin on anything that could be taken two ways. In one incident she was warned by Elliot and his agent about a story coming out in the tabloids of Elliot and his beautiful costar and that it was very misleading. She still goes off the deep end and behaves like a child. She doesn’t think it through herself but needs an objective friend to point out the obvious before she can believe Elliot and not the photos. She had gained a lot of understanding and insight in the first book, but apparently not enough. She is not a quick learner, and I often wondered how Elliot could be so patient with her.

Fortunately, there are some subplots that end up being very entertaining. Horrible jerk Jack who caused her so much grief in the first book comes back on the scene to vindictively try to ruin Edie’s life (again). How that is dealt with is a stand-up and cheer-worthy surprise that Mhairi is so great at setting up. The second involves personal details about Elliot that were leaked to the press that only his nearest and dearest would know. Who could be violating Elliot’s trust? It couldn’t be Edie, we know (and happily so does Elliot.) It couldn’t be his much-loved and lovable brother Fraser. Or their parents. But Fraser’s new fiance, whose behavior and family has been a bit questionable, and to whom Fraser of confides freely, looks to be the only possible source.
Elliot’s dilemma was, to me, very reminiscent of what William must have been going through with Harry. He too felt he had to warn his brother about getting married so soon to a woman he was head over heels with but hadn’t known too long. Edie and Elliot realize it is tricky and would probably result in anger, misunderstanding, and possible estrangement. There seemed to be a lot of parallels, but this fictional situation ends better thanks to Edie. The third is Edie’s rapport and friendship with a new workmate that we know will eventually lead to trouble with Elliot. When the confrontation finally came, I saw both sides, and it went deeper than expected. But it finally results in blind as a bat Edie seeing the light about herself and her relationship with Elliot. I found the climax suspenseful and worrisome. They have a real knock-down-drag-out and they both score solid points. The happy ending was hard won and at the end, I believed in their relationship because of their love and compatibility, but also their mutual sense of humor.

I really loved this one and the many positives overshadowed the few irritations. Yes, it was a bit long. But for writers such as Mhairi McFarlane, better too long than too short. I’d even welcome a third book in which Edie goes to Hollywood or New York.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Summer Romance

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by Annabel Monaghan

I find a fourth box of cornstarch and it takes me down. I use one teaspoon of cornstarch once a year to make a pecan pie for Thanksgiving. How have I become a person who doesn’t have the time or energy to check the pantry before she buys more cornstarch? How is it possible that I am a professional organizer who doesn’t even make a grocery list?

Just a 3. This is going to be short and somewhat slapdash. This book didn’t get off on the right foot with me, because Ali, our heroine, got on my bad side from the get-go. And the more I got to know her, the more I didn’t like or approve of her. Her mother had died two years ago, but she was letting her absence take over her life, to the harm of her children. When her husband comes home on the first anniversary of her mother’s death and finds her sobbing with a “sink full of unopened mail” he announces he does not want to be married anymore. When we see more and more how Ali has let herself and her life go to pot, I didn’t much blame him. Now I respect that she was very close to her mother and there is no timetable for grief, but that doesn’t mean I would enjoy mucking around in the “slough of despond” with her. Another year passes, and Ali is still in the same place. Also, although she remembers her mother as always there to protect, support, and entertain her and her kids, I sensed something a little off in their relationship. I didn’t like it.

As the book progresses, and she meets the love interest (who was lovely) she starts to pull herself together and my antipathy diminished. Unfortunately, it came part way back again when her younger new man gives her skateboard lessons and she puts her baseball cap on backwards. I skipped through most of the romance part because it was just so blah for me. He was completely besotted with her and it was so very smooth. I loved how she got the best of her husband during the divorce arbitration and Ethan’s (“Scooter’s”) role in that. Her husband turned out to be a real jerk. Then Ali lost me again by breaking up with such a great guy who was so good for her and her kids because she wouldn’t even explore the idea of moving to his town just because she had children. Or even try to make a long-distance (4 hours by car) relationship work.

This was well-written and had some good parts in it. I liked that Ali realized that some of the problems with her husband were her fault and that her perfect mother was also not so perfect after all.

Rating: 3 out of 5.