READING: Do You Want to Start a Scandal by Tessa Dare

Publication date: September 27 2016
Published by: Avon
Genre: Adult, Historical Romance, Chick Lit, Georgian 

Rating:

 

On the night of the Parkhurst ball, someone had a scandalous tryst in the library.
• Was it Lord Canby, with the maid, on the divan?
• Or Miss Fairchild, with a rake, against the wall?
• Perhaps the butler did it.

All Charlotte Highwood knows is this: it wasn’t her. But rumors to the contrary are buzzing. Unless she can discover the lovers’ true identity, she’ll be forced to marry Piers Brandon, Lord Granville—the coldest, most arrogantly handsome gentleman she’s ever had the misfortune to embrace. When it comes to emotion, the man hasn’t got a clue.

But as they set about finding the mystery lovers, Piers reveals a few secrets of his own. The oh-so-proper marquess can pick locks, land punches, tease with sly wit... and melt a woman’s knees with a single kiss. The only thing he guards more fiercely than Charlotte’s safety is the truth about his dark past.

Their passion is intense. The danger is real. Soon Charlotte’s feeling torn. Will she risk all to prove her innocence? Or surrender it to a man who’s sworn to never love?

 After reading three amazing books by Tessa Dare, she's definitely going on my author auto-buy list 👏

This one is about Charlotte, a smart girl with a knack for investigating, who is, through no fault of her own, caught in a compromising position with the Marquess Piers Brandon, and is "forced" to marry him. Of course, nothing is that simple, as Charlotte's spirit objects to a marriage of convenience, even when her heart and body don't.

This is a classic Tessa Dare read, and it did not disappoint. Dare is an expert in writing well rounded and likeable characters, even her secondary characters are all interesting and memorable (who can forget that mother??)
What I like most about Dare's books is her ability to combine light-hearted fun with steamy romance, and she does that phenomenally well.
There is a scene where Charlotte's mum is trying to educate Charlotte about sex and its workings using various fruits, like peaches and eggplants. While this is absolutely hilarious to the reader and to Charlotte, she immediately feels despondent thinking that she might never experience something like that herself. This king of level headedness is what I admire in Dare's women. They are strong and free spirited yes, but also pragmatic in a sense, and completely aware of their place in the world, especially when we're talking early 18oos.

That being said, the fact that they are not as fanciful as other HR heroines, doesn't mean that the romance isn't as magical, because it is. In this case, it might have been a little too magical. Don't get me wrong, I loved all Charlotte and Piers's steamy trysts. However, I found it a bit unrealistic for a young, innocent girl, with no prior romantic encounters to suddenly be so open to being that intimate with a man. I am not saying it's wrong, far from it. I'm only saying that I personally found it too far fetched for the era, and that was the only "issue" I had with this book. I would have preferred the thrill of the chase to last a little longer, rather than Charlotte succumbing to Piers so easily.

Piers was likeable for an alpha male. He was funny and serious when needed, and I liked how he seemed to come alive next to Charlotte. But let's face it, men are never the focal point in Dare's books. Women are arguably the more interesting and complex characters, and their involvement with men always leads to the latter's betterment, another thing I love about Dare's books.

If you are into HR and you still haven't heard of Tessa Dare's books (impossible!), please give them a try. I guarantee you won't regret it.
Also, if you are ever in a reading/life slump and you can't seem to get out of it, they are the perfect remedy 👌

 

READING: Beach Read by Emily Henry

Publication date: May 19 2020
Published by: Berkley
Genre: Contemporary, Adult, Romance

Rating:

Augustus Everett is an acclaimed author of literary fiction. January Andrews writes bestselling romance. When she pens a happily ever after, he kills off his entire cast.

They're polar opposites.

In fact, the only thing they have in common is that for the next three months, they're living in neighboring beach houses, broke, and bogged down with writer's block.

Until, one hazy evening, one thing leads to another and they strike a deal designed to force them out of their creative ruts: Augustus will spend the summer writing something happy, and January will pen the next Great American Novel. She'll take him on field trips worthy of any rom-com montage, and he'll take her to interview surviving members of a backwoods death cult (obviously). Everyone will finish a book and no one will fall in love. Really.

I wasn't a fan of this one :/ It fell flat for me and in my opinion, it is way overhyped.
To be honest, its premise didn't really draw me in, but seeing how much every one else loved it, I thought why not? But see, I knew better. And somehow I still fell for the hype. I should have trusted my instinct and steered clear.

The good:
January and Gus's banter. It was witty and funny and it actually made me laugh out loud a couple of times.

The bad:
Everything else.
The story was not convincing at all. Too many "coincidences" and too much far-fetchedness (pretty sure that's not a word), even for a romance book.
Plus, I thought it was a bit sexist. You have a woman author who writes romance books one one side, and a guy author who writes fiction novels on the other. Now, the romance genre is presented as the laughingstock of the literary world, while fiction is a "serious" genre. The whole story is about the woman author trying to prove to the guy author that her work needs to be takes as seriously as his.
Um why? Isn't that sort of a given? And if the guy doesn't think they are both equals, why the hell am I even reading about him? Why would the woman need to prove anything? And not only this, but we got to see her struggling to write a "serious" book, but never find out how the guy's romance book came out. Only that he got more money for it, which: duh.

Also, you know what I am just over in books with even a hint of romance? How women are all nervous wrecks when they talk to a guy, practically spazzing and constantly questioning everything they say, while the guy is so calm, and cool and whatever he says sounds like the most interesting thing ever?
That's what happened here. There is a scene in Gus's car where he and January talk and she was just a hot mess, even her thoughts didn't make any sense, and Gus was so chill, but kind of arrogant too, especially when he saw the effect he had on January. Why can't women have that effect on men in romance novels? Why do women have to be the insecure ones ALL.THE.TIME?
I wanted to yell at her "Get it together girl!"
Spoiler alert: she didn't get it together.

The ending was even more painful when Henry tried to force the "January's dad is a good person after all" down my throat. He was scum, no matter how many soppy letters he writes.
Plus the insta love came out of nowhere! Obviously, I expected these two to end up together, but all this professing of love after they slept together once and Gus being such a dick to January after? Nuh-uh. Not buying it.

Beach Read wasn't for me. It was slow paced (agonisingly bad, more like) and not interesting at all.
There are so many contemporary romances out there which are far better than this. Don't waste your time.

READING: They Wish They Were Us by Jessica Goodman

Publication date: August 4 2020

Published by: Penguin Teen  

Genre: High School, Secret Society, Cliques, Silly  

Rating:

In Gold Coast, Long Island, everything from the expensive downtown shops to the manicured beaches, to the pressed uniforms of Jill Newman and her friends, looks perfect. But as Jill found out three years ago, nothing is as it seems. Freshman year Jill's best friend, the brilliant, dazzling Shaila Arnold, was killed by her boyfriend. After that dark night on the beach, Graham confessed, the case was closed, and Jill tried to move on. 

Now, it's Jill's senior year and she's determined to make it her best yet. After all, she's a senior and a Player--a member of Gold Coast Prep's exclusive, not-so-secret secret society. Senior Players have the best parties, highest grades and the admiration of the entire school. This is going to be Jill's year. She's sure of it. 

But when Jill starts getting texts proclaiming Graham's innocence, her dreams of the perfect senior year start to crumble. If Graham didn't kill Shaila, who did? Jill vows to find out, but digging deeper could mean putting her friendships, and her future, in jeopardy.

This book sucked the life out of me 😣
Even though I am a sucker for high school cliques and secret societies, this one was just not my cup of tea.

I could almost forgive the non - existent mystery; it is very obvious from the beginning who the murderer is. Again, I wouldn't have a problem with that if the rest of the book was alright.
What I couldn't get past was the despicable characters.
Jill was a mean, terrible person, who valued being the most popular girl in school more than anything. It seemed to me she was relieved her friend died, so she could take her place in the hierarchy and be the queen of the school. Even after 3 years of her friend's death, she kept that awful secret club alive, along with its inhumane hazing.
Now, all of a sudden, Jill decides to grow a conscience for reasons unbeknownst to the reader (really, no explanation at all) and finally sees that what she has been doing all this time is actionable, to say the least, and tries to stop it. However, she still really misses her "friends", who are even worse than she is, and her hard earned popularity.
Ugh, I disliked Jill very much.

They Wish They Were Us was kind of OK until 20% where I was still curious about where all this was going and Adam's character was intriguing. It went downhill very fast from there. I struggled to finish it, and I really don't think it will appeal much to ages older than 12-13 yo, if that.