Jeff Sexton

Solid Harlequin Romance. This is a Harlequin romance of the classic type, though they're trying to get away from the somewhat infamous cover set apparently. :D

For those that love that style - and there is a very clear business reason why the publisher puts out so many books of exactly the same style - know that you're getting exactly what you're after here. Solid romance, a couple of sex scenes, a Hallmarkie type plot and conflict resolution (with a fair amount of angst to boot), etc. This book is perfectly within your comfort zone, and it is a solid, fun, and short-ish book to boot. So go ahead and hand over the money you know you're going to anyway, and have fun. :)

For those that are more hesitant, perhaps because of the infamy, know that if you're open to the romance genre at all, this one is going to be pretty well exactly what you expect (see above). It is truly enjoyable, but also very much within the conventional bounds of the genre. Some heartstrings pulled, and a fun (if foreseeable due to genre rules, but still interesting in exact manner) resolution that plays on a bit of a darker moment from earlier in the book.

There really isn't much more to say here. Again, if you're open to the genre at all, you're going to have fun with this book. If you're not, you probably aren't even reading this review. ;) Very much recommended.

Sizzling Miami Romance. This is an incredible tour of Miami through the eyes of a megastar - who wasn't always - and a struggling artist. As the two come together, we see most sides of Miami from its glittering glitz of the mega-famous to the down-in-the-dirt seediness of its struggling working class - and everything in between. Gonzalez does remarkable job of showing the breadth of the hispanic community's lives in that city - and tells a solid tale of mystery and intrigue while building what is ultimately a romance novel. All tied up in less than 200 pages, making this a solid July 4th vacation read no matter what your plans for the weekend may be. Very much recommended.

Excellent Twisty Thriller That Will Trigger Some. Holmes does an amazing job here of showing off the works and trials of a group committed to ending sex trafficking in their town... only to find out that they have a ring in their midst. The other timeline - used as a sort of countdown - shows the trials of a woman who has been abducted, and this is where most of the triggering is likely to happen. Little is “on screen”, but Holmes goes into enough detail of the overall abuses that some may find this a difficult read. For me, it worked well to enhance the tension and to drive the plot at breakneck speeds - particularly in the endgame. Seemingly an excellent look at all facets of how sex trafficking affects the abducted, their families, and the workers trying to find them, this is one of those books that works perfectly fine as the psychological thriller it is designed to be and yet can also serve as a clarion call to illuminate the struggles it portrays. Very much recommended.

Interconnected and Interweaving. Bromke executes on an interconnected and interweaving style here better than many other attempts I've seen at such an approach. Told via half a dozen or so perspectives - mostly the various ladies who live in a particular neighborhood - this book has its own central mystery while also revealing bits and pieces of a larger mythos. A mythos that will leave the reader with bated breath desperate for the next book... where it is possible Bromke will continue to tease out this particular larger, seemingly darker, mystery. If you are a reader that can have no possible spoilers when reading a book, you're going to want to start with Book 1 of this series. I personally started with Book 2 and had no real problems following the story (thanks in part to Bromke putting a summary of each character and where they are at the start of the tale), but I generally have no issues doing this and back reading the original stories. This is one of those women's fiction tales that might come close to the cozy mystery label, perhaps - I've never read a book knowing it was labeled as a “cozy mystery”, but knowing how friends speak of what that genre entails, this book certainly gets close to that feeling. Ultimately a fun, compelling, and short-ish (just over 200 page?) read that truly will have you coming back to this series. Very much recommended.

Dense Yet Enlightening. This is a book about the history of the philosophical and legal thoughts and justifications for transitioning from the brutal and bloody wars of the 19th century (when the history it covers begins) through to the “more humane” but now seemingly endless wars as currently waged, particularly by the United States of America. As in, this treatise begins with examinations of Tolstoy and Von Clauswitz during the Napoleonic Wars and ends with the Biden Presidency's early days of the continuation of the drone wars of its two predecessors. Along the way, we find the imperfections and even outright hypocrisies of a world - and, in the 21st century in particular, in particular a singular nation on the ascendancy, the United States - as it struggles with how best to wage and, hopefully, end war. Moyn shows the transition from a mindset of peace to a mindset of more palatable (re: “less” horrific / “more” humane) perma-war. But as to the description's final point that this book argues that this might not be a good thing at all... yes, that point is raised, and even, at times, central. But the text here seems to get more in depth on the history of documenting the change rather than focusing in on the philosophical and even legal arguments as to why that particular change is an overall bad thing. Ultimately this is one of those esoteric tomes that those with a particular interest in wars and how and why they are waged might read, if they are “wonks” in this area, but probably won't have the mass appeal that it arguably warrants. The central premise is a conversation that needs to be had in America and the world, but this book is more designed for the think tank/ academic crowd than the mass appeal that could spark such conversations. Still, it is truly well documented and written with a high degree of detail, and for this it is very much recommended.

Strong Character Study With Maybe Not Quite Enough Introspection. This is one of those strong women-bonding-as-character-study type books where we get to see three very different women thrown together as a result of a family that blended and then dissolved years ago, and how that blending and dissolution affected all of them and even their common parents (one step father, one stepmother, both of whom combine to be the natural parents of the third sister). As someone who has a cousin that is actually in the exact position of the third sister - both parents having been previously divorced and having kids from those marriages - this was particularly interesting. As with the other Mallery book I've read so far, she does excellent work keeping things mostly realistic, and really my only fault here - potentially intentional, as it is still a realistic scenario - is that one of the three sisters perhaps doesn't look into herself as deeply as the other two do. Ultimately an engaging and satisfying book, this is thus very much recommended.

Solid Short Scintillating Summer Story. This is one of those great vacation reads because of its brevity- at around 150 pages, you're not committing to too much, so you can enjoy whatever you're doing on vacation itself and still have a solid escape during downtimes. As to actual trope classification, some might call it enemies to lovers - the couple does in fact start out this book in that form - but others might classify it as second chance - they start out as enemies because of a failed romance years before the events of this tale. Either way, solid mashup of boardroom / entertainment drama as our leads clash over who will take over a multimedia powerhouse, and with our leading lady just as capable as our leading man of taking on any challenge presented. Also features a wider array of Spanish speaking ethnicities and nations than is usually presented in US media, so there is that as well. :D Very much recommended.

Solid, But With A Glaring Error Early. As a romance between an amnesiac assassin and an undercover FBI agent, this story works great. As a continuation of this new Richter series (which is apparently a spinoff from the First Wives series, though I did not know that until perusing the reviews on Goodreads for this book), this works quite well. As a forced-proximity romance, this is actually fairly inventive, as the leading couple is not alone in the house... and there are cameras and sensors (almost) everywhere to boot!

But there is one blinding in its glaringness issue that needs to be mentioned, even though it isn't objectively strong enough to remove a star over (though I know some who would likely 1* the book on this issue alone). And that issue is the very moment the assassin becomes an amnesiac. When she is shot on a crowded Las Vegas street in a drive by shooting with a “silenced” weapon. That nobody hears.

Why is this so glaring?

Because I know from both handling firearms and speaking/ listening to others who do that suppressors - they aren't actually called “silencers”, for one - don't actually silence a weapon, unlike what happens so often in Hollywood. Depending on several factors such as barrel length of the gun (usually shorter, in drive by situations), temperature, humidity, etc - all of which would be known and factored by professional hitmen/ security / assassin types - a suppressor at best takes a gun shot from sounding like you're standing beside the speakers at a rock concert to sounding like your is using a chainsaw to cut down a tree on the other side of the fence you are standing beside.

In other words, for the shot not to be heard by everyone nearby - inside or outside - is so implausible that it brings the reader out of the story if they know the realities of these devices at all.

And since Bybee herself noted during the discussion of her Canyon Creek series that she knows her way around a shotgun, it is implausible that the author is not aware of these issues directly. Which makes them being written this way even worse. Though again, because it was a singular point in the book and not a recurring problem, it isn't a star-deduction level error.

Ultimately, this is a quite solid book for what it actually is, and I'm still very much looking forward to seeing where this series goes from here. (And I'll need to go back and read the book this series spins off from, since I bought it years ago and have yet to read it. :D) Very much recommended.

Engaging Account Of Oft Overlooked Era. The period between D-Day (and the summer of 1944 generally) and the Battle of the Bulge (again, and winter 1944-45 generally) is one of the more overlooked eras of WWII, particularly in the zeitgeist of at minimum Americans. (I cannot speak to what Europeans think/ know, as I've never been closer to that continent than off the coast of the State of New Hampshire.) Here, King sets out to tell the tales of this overlooked period via numerous first hand accounts and other sources, showing through the eyes of the people that were there what was happening and through the other sources of history what was going on around those events. This is one of those books that will serve as a wakeup call to those who romanticize this particular war and these particular soldiers, as King makes the point quite well - and repeatedly - that given the pervasive and frequent abuses from all sides, there truly were truly few innocents involved in any angle of this, certainly of the adult (and even teenager/ young adult) variety. Even knowing that both of my grandfathers were there among some of these very events (both would survive the Bulge itself), I find King's prose and commentary compelling here. He does a tremendous job of truly showing just how horrific this period was on everyone involved, not just the soldiers and not just the victims of the Holocaust - though he does indeed cover many of the horrors both of those groups saw in this period as well. Truly an outstanding book, and one anyone interested in WWII needs to read. Very much recommended.

Visceral. When you start off at one of WWII's most infamous defeats (of the Allies) at Dunkirk and go right into one of its lesser known war crimes (the slaughter of nearly 100 British soldiers at Le Paradis), you know this is going to be one intense book. And it is. Here, Lane uses a British nurse and two French sisters to tell a tale of survival during the war's early years, when Germany seemingly could not be defeated. The way she tells it reads as some of the most gripping suspense (arguably even horror, without the supernatural elements often part of that genre) I've yet come across in tales of this era - and indeed, even in most other tales, period. From the opening chapters where the Germans attack through the closing chapters (other than the extended epilogue), Lane never really gives these characters - and thus, the reader - any real sense of calm or safety. The Germans are always right there, in mind if not in body, and the threat of capture and execution - or worse - is never far from anyones' thoughts. Releasing just one week before the 81st anniversary of the events it fictionalizes, this is easily one of the best books of Summer 2021, particularly for those looking for dark/ suspense tales. Very much recommended.

Solid Use Of Misdirection. Here, Pine seems to be building to an epic confrontation through much of the book, and then... boom. Quick resolution to that conflict, move on thankyoukindly. Still, one thing that Pine truly excels at is misdirection - the tales that it seems like the resolution will come quick, you get intense, epic showdowns. The books you're anticipating the intense, epic showdown, you get something else. And yes, along the way you get the standard “police procedural” stuff of showing the friendship and family among our primary cast - this time featuring primarily medium and witch extraordinaire Copeland Forbes, private investigator with a supernatural connection Jude Byrne, and former Cold Case Captains in the Boston Police Department Ronan O'Mara and Kevin Fitzgibbon. And yes, this book is primarily focused on the Titanic disaster, with Pine showing several features many likely were unaware of, as well as crafting a few fictional details to suit her needs in this story. Yet again another book in this series that if you don't mind coming into an existing universe and having various prior books spoiled to some degree or another is a perfectly fine entry point. (So fans / followers of the Titanic and related stories, here's your shot!) And yet, also yet another book that long time fans of this ever expanding series and world will love. Very much recommended.

Factual Overview Of The Penis. This book, written by a Belgian urologist, has a bit of everything when it comes to factual information about the penis. We've got history. We've got biomechanics. We've got anatomy. We've got medical recommendations for a wide range of topics related to the penis from basic hygiene to STDs and when to seek further consultation. If you've ever wanted to know really most anything about the penis, this is the book you should probably look to if you don't already have some degree of academic knowledge of it. Seemingly comprehensive, though the version I read (nearly 5 months before actual publication) didn't have much of a bibliography at all - just about 5% of this text, vs closer to 25% of an average nonfiction text. Still, Dr. Hoebeke mostly relies on his own decades of experience and appears generally authoritative - at least in a general sense - even without the extensive bibliography (which may yet be added between the date I write this review in early July 2020 and the date of publication in early November 2020). Very much recommended.

Complicated Yet Beautiful. Hawker has a way of painting pictures with words that are utterly beautiful, and yet also utterly ugly at the same time. Ultimately, this book reads like a more evocative, more painting quality version of the somewhat similar story David Duchovny created in Truly Like Lightning, even as it seems that both authors were working on these works for quite a number of years. Particularly in their showing of the worse sides of Mormon life, complete with overbearing and hypocritical fathers, this reads almost like as much an attack on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints as the character study that it is. And yet, again, the way Hawker executes it here is utterly beautiful in its prose and storytelling. Hawker sucks you in, weaving these plot threads near and around each other before bringing them all together to grand effect. Ultimately the biggest quibble with this entire effort isn't Hawker's writing, but the actual description of the book - which leads one to believe certain aspects arguably happen sooner than they do. Indeed, Linda becoming “privy to a secret Aran and Tamsin share that could dismantle everything everyone holds dear” happens quite late (later than 80%, maybe even closer to the 90% mark), though again, the actual execution here is quite solid and indeed allows the book to end in surprising ways that were only very subtly hinted at much earlier. Even Aran and Lucy getting together to begin with seems to happen much later in the tale than the description seems to indicate, though that relationship is particularly well developed. Ultimately this is a book that Mormons likely won't like, people with various misconceptions about Mormonism will probably tout, but one that tells a remarkable tale in the end. Recommended.

Solid Romantic Suspense. This book is listed as Book 5 in a series, but I can tell you from having read it without having read any of the other books that it works totally fine as a standalone as well. The existence of people from the prior books is mentioned, but I didn't actually note anything that could even really be a spoiler about those books in this one (other than the not-really-a-spoiler-due-to-genre-rules mentioning that certain people are together, possibly). Overall a truly solid book mostly on the mystery/ suspense side - it opens with a man attempting suicide and being stopped by what he believes is the butt-dial of a long-lost friend being murdered by his long-lost ex-best friend. But this is a romance, and that does develop, it just mostly develops later as our leading man and leading woman are largely approaching the investigation into the phone call and what it revealed from two very different angles that later become more intertwined. One of those with twists almost until the very last page (other than the epilogue). Very much recommended.

Beautifully Woven Complex Romance. This was the first time I'd actually read this author, despite being in similar orbits for a few years now - virtually since I first began this book blogging/ “review absolutely everything I read” adventure. But as I told her privately, when she puts a book directly in the very channel I make no secret of the fact that most of my current reading comes from (NetGalley, though technically this book was published before I got it)... it kinda sounds like a beacon “READ THIS BOOK, JEFF!”. :D

And seriously, this was an absolutely beautifully woven tapestry that mixes in long family lore (with many references to her “Emerson Pass Historicals” ongoing series) along with not just one, but three second chance romances and a very developed town and surrounding characters. All of the characters feel fully “human” - there aint a single one of them that is wholly monstrous or wholly innocent, and that is a refreshing change of pace from so many books, even within the same genre, that have less complicated characters.

One note, just because I know it itself is a clarion call both directions for different people, is the frequent-yet-not-preachy calls to God, prayer, faith, etc. Having grown up in the Southern Baptist Church and lived my entire life in the exurban or even rural Southern United States, this is the level that people actually talk down here - not the preachiness that so many politicians or celebrities pound on, but just the honest, heart felt, “natural” level of people who genuinely believe what they say. Some of y'all are going to love that, I know other readers who will 1* a book the instant they come across that. So consider yourself prepared either way. ;)

I've bought many of Thompson's books in the time that I've known of her, mostly on the strength of being around her and having several common friends that rave about her books. And now I call tell you straight up: If you're looking for something deeper, something more complex with various threads going all over the place and making a book world feel like a true community rather than just a series of barely-joined books... you're going to want to check out this author. And this particular book isn't a bad place to start, despite being labeled Book 2. (Though yes, it does give several details of what - presumably - happened in Book 1.) Very much recommended.

Swinging For The Fence... But Not Quite Putting It Over. This was another of O'Neal's works over the last few years where she is very clearly swinging for the fence in attempting to write a masterpiece that will leave you breathless - which she nailed in 2019's When We Believed In Mermaids - that doesn't quite make it over. Ultimately this is a solid double/ stretch triple - powerful and great, but also very clearly not quite what she was hoping for. And honestly, most of that has to do with the ending and particularly the flash-forward epilogue. As at least one other review has mentioned, this could have been better with another hundred pages or so to flesh out that particular area, or perhaps (my own suggestion here) as a duology wherein the resolutions to the varying plot threads are set up, and then executed (with complications, of course) in the second book. Still, truly a solid and compelling read that hooks you in early and makes you want to read all the way through. Very much recommended.

Great Laid Back Gulf Coast Mystery In The Big Easy. This particular mystery manages to capture the aura and allure of both Hollywood and New Orleans (and my AI voices I use for the Audio book reviews I post to YouTube aren't going to be able to pick up the Southern, much less local, pronunciation of that town's name). You've got the glitzy high priced hotels and the down in the weed drug dealers. You've got Cafe Du Monde and a bayou full of gators. You've got the real world pressures of being on set on a movie and trying to stay within budget... and a lead actor who likes to sleep around with the locals.

And then you've got Jake Longly, his girlfriend Nicole, his dad Ray, and his best friend Pancake. Yet again doing what they do, and yet again using each of their talents to help solve the mystery - and resolve the resultant fight scene. Jake being the former MLB pitcher who knows his way around a bat, Nicole learning her way in a fight, Ray being the former SpecOps-adjacent soldier, and Pancake being a beefy guy that could likely hold his own with Jack None Reacher, should the crew ever come across him.

This particular entry in the series is absolutely more New Orleans focused than general Gulf Coast / Floribama vibe that the other books in this series generally have, and yet it absolutely works for the story told here.

Very much recommended.

Hot Chicks. Cool Gulf Breeze. Fast Cars. Compelling Mystery. What's Not To Like? Another reviewer 2*'d this book citing the line herein about men never progressing beyond the maturity of a 14yo - and noting that the book was entirely written for said 14yo and that this was a *bad* thing.

Um, no. This book is written for *adults*, with quite a bit of four letter words (and not "four" or "word") and sex... well, anywhere Jake and Nicole can find a few minutes alone. Even on a stakeout. There is also a decently high body count, including a few particularly grisly murders and at least a tease of a rape threat (that, to be clear, never *really* develops - a bit of a spoiler, perhaps, but a needed one, for some).

So this is written for adults, but adults who enjoy a more laid back approach. Not every mystery tale has to be Big City Something or some frenetic John Wick / Jeremy Robinson / Matthew Reilly balls to the wall action with guns blazing and other weapons flying all over the place all the time.

This tale is written for those who enjoy the more laid back vibes of the Gulf shores of the US or the general Caribbean region, who want their murders with their margaritas as they sit by the pool on a cruise ship (exactly what I was doing while reading part of this book, fwiw). And as the first book in what I now know to be a decently long running series (I've now worked books 5 and 6 - or is it 4 and 5? - as Advance Reader Copies over the last couple of years before now coming back to the books I missed), this one sets up everything I already knew I loved from the series. Indeed, Jake and Nicole's meeting is both abrupt and quite hilarious, and I love how both prove themselves capable in their own ways in this very first outing.

Truly a great, fun, relaxed book perfect for those pool side drinking days - or any other place you may find yourself reading it. Very much recommended.

Weather Machine : Political Machine :: forge : weave. Hey, first time I've ever used an analogy in that particular format in the title of a review. The answer, of course, is that all four are ways of making different things. Forging is the process of creating metal objects, weaving is the process of creating cloth objects. Similarly, a "political machine" is the process of creating some political outcome, and according to Blum in this text, a "Weather Machine" is the process of creating a... weather forecast.

Blum begins with a history of some of the earliest attempts at forecasting the weather for a given location, moving from the realm of religion and superstition to the realm of science - religion and superstition by another name, but sounding better to the "modern" ear. The history largely culminates with a discussion of the early 20th century concept of the "Weather Machine", a giant warehouse full of human computers using slide rules to run calculations based on observations placed into a mathematical model in order to predict the weather.

An admiral goal well ahead of its time... but once computers (and particularly supercomputers) became a thing... perhaps an ideal no longer ahead of ours. It is here, in the era of computing, that Blum spends the rest of the text, showing how the first and earliest computer models found success all the way up to showing how certain modern models and teams work to forecast ever further out ever more rapidly... and how all of this now largely happens inside the computer itself, rather than in the suppositions of "trained meteorologists".

In other words, this is a book not about weather itself, but about the process and, yes, *business*, of creating a weather *forecast* and the various issues and histories tha come to bear in this process.

Ultimately a very illuminating work about the business side of forecasting, Blum could have perhaps spent more time showing how say hurricane and tornado forecasts are formed and how much they have progressed in the last few decades, rather than forecasting more generally - but he also ultimately stayed more true to his general premise in staying more general, showing how forecasting *as a whole* has gotten so much more detailed without diving too deep into any particular area of forecasting itself.

Ultimately a rather fascinating look at a topic few people truly understand.

Very much recommended.

Tough Choices. Great Debut. This is a solidly written, compelling story that is a tremendous debut book. Farrell manages to use a miracle during a disaster to show that miracles... are not always that... while also showing just how complicated and messy real life is in oh so many ways. The mystery is solid enough to keep the reader invested, and then the action kicks into high gear a bit as things begin to unravel. Finally, a choice is made in an instant that will affect numerous lives - and Farrell shows all of this with remarkable reality. The overall style and tone won't necessarily be exactly to everyone's liking, but stick around - the book really is very, very good. Very much recommended.

Record Scratch. There's... a remarkable amount of attachments here for a book titled “The Summer of No Attachments”. #ijs :D

But seriously, this is one of those feel good, not even quite Hallmarkie (since it doesn't really even have any even pushover “big threat”) Southern romance tales. Yes, there are a lot of heavy elements here - mom abandons son, drug use (off screen), abuse (also mostly off screen), #MeToo moments (also off screen), etc - but there is also quite a bit of lighthearted banter and romance. And puppies! And an old cat! This is apparently book 2 of a series, but it totally works as a standalone, as the people from Book 1 barely show up at all - making this one of those barely connected tangential “series” that share the same world and even town, but don't heavily feature in each others' tales.

Overall truly a light and refreshing read, despite its occasional heft, and great for a relaxing summer read, or a relaxing read at any point in the year really. Very much recommended.

Ho Lee Schitt! WHAT A RUSH! With this book, Laurence again ups his game and introduces a weapon that is arguably scarier than any he has unleashed yet... particularly since it seems plausibly real. The action, stakes, and sheer terror here are all off the charts, and Laurence pulls no punches. That so much of the backstory is based on documented real world events is arguably among the scariest elements of this book, even if at least some of it is in fact fictionalized so that Laurence can craft the story the way he wants. With all of this noted, this isn't one of those books that you can just pick up this Book 3 in the series and go, you really do need to read both Book 1 (Extinction Agenda) and Book 2 (Annihilation Protocol) first. At which point you're immediately going to want this book anyway. And when you finish this one, you're going to want Book 4 immediately... which is going to make you rain curses of mild inconveniences down upon Laurence as you will likely have to wait a bit for it. :D Very much recommended.

Excellent Debut. First off, I have to thank a very particular PR person at St Martin's - they know who they are, I'm not going to publicly name them in this review. I had requested this book on NetGalley around the time I first saw it there, and after several weeks languishing in my “Pending Requests” queue there, I finally contacted a contact at SMP I've worked with on various other ARCs and Blog Tours in the past, and that person was able to approve my request for this book, and viola. I'm reading it. :D So while I normally don't even mention this level of activity in reviews, this effort was unusual and therefore it deserves this unusual step of thanking the person involved directly in the review.

Having told (vaguely) the story of how I obtained this ARC, let me now note what I actually thought about the book, shall I? :D

As I said in the title, this really was an excellent debut. There are a lot of various plot threads weaving themselves in and out of focus over the course of 60 or so years, and anyone of a few particular generations, particularly those from small towns, will be able to identify readily with many of these threads. In 2008, we get a grandmother waiting to reveal some secrets to her twentysomething/ thirtysomething grand daughter - this actually opens the book. Then we get both the grandmother's life story - up to a particular pivotal summer - interspersed with the granddaughter's life story - mostly focused on two summers in particular, but with some updates in between. The jumps in time are sequential, but not always evenly spaced, so for example we start the grandmother's tale during WWII when she is serving as a nurse and is courted - in the rushed manner of the era - by a charming doctor. When we come back to her tale after spending some time in the granddaughter's life, we may be days later or we may be years later, depending on how deep in the story we are at this point. Similarly, when we leave the granddaughter in 1994, we may come back to later that summer or we may come back to 1999. (Or even, more commonly for the granddaughter's tale, back to 2008.) 2008 serves as “now”, and the histories of the two women remain sequential throughout the tale. The editing, at the beginning of the chapter, always makes clear where we are in the timeline, and yet this style of storytelling can be jarring for some. So just be aware of this going in.

But as a tale of generational ideas, aspirations, and difficulties... this tale completely works on so very many levels. Perhaps because I find myself of a similar age as the granddaughter, and thus much of what she lives, I've also lived - particularly as it relates to a small town home town and its divisions.

And, for me, Hume actually has a line near the end of the tale (beyond the 90% mark) that truly struck a chord: “Haven Point has its flaws, of course it does. But while it might not be the magic that some pretend, there was never really the rot she claimed either.” Perhaps the same could be said of my own “small town” (it now has a population north of 100K) home town.

Ultimately, this was a phenomenal work that many will identify with but some may struggle with. I will dare compare it to The Great Gatsby in that regard and in this one: keep with the struggle. It is worth it. Very much recommended.

Perfectly Titled. This is a solid adult FF romance featuring two established-yet-still-young ladies who know themselves and yet still find themselves growing... together. I titled this review as I did because the book really is perfectly titled, as the major conflicts between these women truly do center around the issue of stability and what that can mean for different people in different situations. Some, such as Zaira, more grounded and family oriented may need one form of “standard” stability. Others, such as former child prodigy Paige, may find a more gyroscopic sense of stability in the chaos. Merging the two worlds... well, Alter does a great job of showing the realistic headaches and heartaches that such an attempt can bring about. Excellent story set in an existing world, but within its own corner of it and with prior characters featuring heavily. For those who are less concerned about details of prior books being revealed before the reader actually reads those books, this is absolutely a book you can enter this world in and go back and read the details of the other relationships discussed in the other books. For those who are more concerned about such things... you're going to want to read those other books first. Based on this book - the only one I've read from the author so far - I can tell you that you're most likely going to want to read those books anyway, and when you read them you're going to want to have this one on hand anyway if you didn't read it first. Truly an excellent and seemingly realistic-ish story. Very much recommended.

A Lot Going On - And Yet It All Works. This turned out to be one of two romance novels I was reading at the same time, that release about a week apart, that both featured single dads and their only children. So that was interesting as far as my own reading went, but not overly relevant to what you, the reader of my review, want to know about. :D

Here, Snow packs quite a bit into a fairly Hallmarkie romance. Which as I've noted before, there is a massive market for, so I totally get why she went this particular route. (Particularly when given her other creative outlets such as her satirical Housewife Chronicles books and her dark alter-ego JM Winchester.) We get a female coder - more common than some might have you believe, but still accurately portrayed both in real life and in this text as a male dominated field. We get an overbearing boss - which happens at all levels of coding, from the small companies our female lead works for here to the biggest companies on the planet. (I happen to currently work for a Forbes 50 company in the tech field, though to be honest my bosses are quite awesome here. :D) We get a tween girl whose dad doesn't fully understand her, who wants to do one thing - in this case, write code - and yet whose dad is pushing her to more “typical” activities. We get the small town businessman dad whose business is struggling and who has many issues of his own, both from being a former NFL star and from having his wife die several years prior to the events here. We even get a hint of a long-ago romance and long-lost love via another side story. And we get the classic Hallmarkie former high school frenemy who shows up again... and may not be all that is remembered or presented. So like I said, a LOT going on, particularly for a 300 ish page book.

And yet, in classic Hallmarkie/ Snow style, it really does all work. It is (mostly) pretty damn realistic, despite what a few other reviewers claim, including several messy moments. It hits all the notes that any romance reader will want to see, yes, including a few sex scenes - oral (both ways) and full penetration - and the requisite-for-the-genre happy ending.

A truly excellent tale and a fine way to pass some time sitting in the shade or on a lounger whiling the summer away. Very much recommended.