Read for KCLS book club, our theme this month is “Vacation Romance “. Genevieve is busting her ass at her job in the hotel industry. She just opened a new hotel in Panama and is on her way to a VP role. She’s exhausted though and plans a two week break in a beach town in Colon. Meanwhile, the past 2 months her driver Adrian has been keeping it professional but as soon as she mentions going to his home town Adrian suggests they go together and see where things go. They are 2 very hot people that are very attracted to each other so it’s go time. So they have an amazing 2 weeks but Gen has to go home to Miami. Adrian has some very hard lines for himself about work life balance and helping his family and doesn’t want to get caught in the all work/all drive lifestyle again. So they go their separate ways even though they are both wrecked over it. Weeks later Gen finally breaks and they start talking. This becomes a great story about what happens after the 2 week vacation when work and family are the reality. The author does a great job building the issues and conflicts up. We really want things to work out for these two but it really might not in the real world. I loved this. Great characters and world set up. I loved learning more about Panama and the Black culture there.

Another adventure with Carl, Donut and Mongo. This is the one with trains . Donut get cool sunglasses and Carl gets a book of secrets.

This was a good book, it just wasn’t for me right now. I read way too much Romance so I started off thinking it had all the hallmarks of a contemporary romance. It does end happily, but not in any of the ways I expected. This is more a story of friendship, characters finding opportunities to change their circumstances and find happiness for themselves in their own way. Set in Seattle around a fictional bookstore (or not so fictional). Westley is a book seller, and is Very Handsome. A customer, April, decides to ask him out, but does it by leaving a note in a book. Another customer, Laura, ends up with the note and we end up with a big mis-communication set up, poor Westley doesn’t even know he’s a part of it and April and Laura pass notes through a copy of Twilight (lol) each thinking they are getting to know Westley. I admit… I got bored with the slow pacing and skipped ahead to see where this was all going. I won’t spoil it for anyone else though. I think if you enjoy a cosy fiction with lots of friends, kind people, cute book stores, you’d enjoy this. Thank you to the publisher for the arc. I enjoy Moira MacDonald’s writing in the Seattle Times and look forward to reading more from her.

Too many crazy plot devices.

I’m taking a star off because the model comes home at one point, late in the evening. Husband asks if she’s eaten all day, no. How much has she worked out, 3 hours. He gives her a cupcake from Paris and oral sex. How about a chicken salad buddy? Stirfry? What’s up? Feed this woman. This is the one with Raven and Ares. Ares is a WINDSOR (read that in posh voice) and his family always has arranged marriages, even in 2024. His G-ma had arranged for him to marry Raven, daughter of a family friend that they want to do big business merger with. But, as teens, Raven’s sister Hannah swoops in and steams Ares and he ends up engaged to Hannah. Raven has to watch them be in love and engaged for years. She’s friends with Ares, but is basically pining away for him. Hannah, aka asshole sister and fiance, delays the wedding and then cancels, claiming she can’t give up her career. She’s obviously bluffing, but G-ma has had enough and persuades Raven to marry Ares with 2 days notice. Raven is actually devastated to marry Ares, who she loves, because she knows Ares loves her sister. This is really fucked up for everyone. We see in Ares POV he’s kind of happy about this turn of events, but he also feels guilty about it. There’s a BUNCH of drama with the sister over the rest of the book and Raven’s insecurity (well earned). Ares does some dumb things that he has to make up for. But once he’s in, he’s all the way in love with Raven. If you like drama, terrible mom’s and sister’s, she falls first but he falls harder, marriage of convenience, crying over dumb book characters, this is for me. :)

Just a lovely story