Pretty Face by Lucy Parker (★★★★★)
E-Book • Owned (Amazon) • Contemporary Romance • 2017
Short synopsis: Lily Lamprey is determined to prove herself in her first role as a stage actress. Sparks fly when she catches the eye of the director, Luc Savage. As their romance deepens, both their careers are put at risk, testing their love and ambitions.
This romance was a reread for me, and oh, I loved it just as much as I did the first time around! I think this book is when I really noticed Lucy Parker’s talent as a novelist and she became an auto-buy author for me. There was so much I loved about this novel, between the sweet romance, the complicated family dynamics, and getting a glimpse into what it takes to put on a stage production these days. I loved the rapport between Lily and Luc—they had sizzling chemistry but also a very sweet way of caring for one another. Please do yourself a favor and pick up a Lucy Parker romance if you haven’t yet!
The Very Nice Box by Laura Blackett and Eve Gleichman (★★☆☆☆)
Audiobook • Spotify • Fiction • 2021
Short synopsis: Ava Simon, a designer at a Brooklyn furniture company (basically an IKEA knockoff), is startled by her reaction to her new boss, Mat Putnam. As an unexpected relationship between them blossoms, things begin to unravel for Mat and Ava realizes everything is not as it seems.
I had a very strange reading experience with this book. The book is marketed as “suspenseful” and I was expecting something a bit more dark and twisted than what I got. Instead, about 70% of the book was a bland romance between a woman who had a hard time opening up to others and a boring white man who expected the world to fall at his feet. Snooze. Finally, just about a few chapters to the end, things picked up and the suspensefulness I had been promised was delivered. By that point, though, I was tired of the book and didn’t feel like the payoff was worth it. I needed more of a build-up to the big reveal rather than it all happening at one time. It was also just hard to feel invested in the story between Ava and Mat when I knew something crazy was about to be revealed, so why are we spending pages and pages and pages with them and their budding romance? Meh.
Our Woman in Moscow by Beatriz Williams (★★★★☆)
Print • Library • Historical Fiction • 2021
Short synopsis: In 1948, Iris Digby and her family mysteriously vanished from London, sparking rumors of either a Soviet kidnapping or defection. Four years later, Ruth Macallister receives a postcard from her estranged twin sister, prompting her to journey to Moscow under false pretenses to rescue Iris and her family.
This was a great historical fiction novel! The Cold War era fascinates me so much, but I find that there is little I know about it. This novel took me on a journey of a small part of the Cold War involving a woman whose husband is a Soviet spy and her sister who knows very little about her life. I’ve read many novels by Beatriz Williams and this one felt a lot darker and heavier than her other ones, while still having her signature lightness with some romance thrown in to keep things from feeling too dark. I wanted a little more from the ending—it felt very rushed and I would have liked another chapter or two to explain everything—but other than that, it was an excellent novel that had me on the edge of my seat at the end!
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