contemporary

The Hiking Trip by Jenny Blackhurst

This was a fun and twisty mystery/thriller set on the West Coast Trail in Canada. Maise lives an unhappy life in the UK. She plans a trip to hike in Canada, but her friend flakes on her. Maise goes anyway, and while waiting to board the bus to the trail, she meets brother and sister Ric and Sera. They instantly click and decide to hike the trail together. The first couple of days go well with lots of fun antics, but then things go bad. Really bad. Twenty-five years later a woman named Laura is shook when she hears a body was found near the trail and police suspect it’s Sera. Laura is afraid the secret she’s been keeping will come out, and odd things start happening making Laura suspect someone is determined to make her spill her secrets.

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January 24, 2023 0

Accidentally Famous (Hideaway Harbor #2) by Marissa Clarke

This is such a cute, fluffy romcom I fell in love with it instantly. It’s book two in a series, but can be read as a stand-alone.

Cassidy owns a construction company and loves to rehab and restore vintage homes. She has social media accounts where she shares videos of her projects with a handful of fellow restorers who help each other out. Jack is a big time Hollywood star. His assistant sends out a goofy message that’s an inside joke with his sister, but tags Cassidy instead of Jack’s sister. Instantly Cassidy’s social media accounts blow up and before long, the tabloids are on the story and paparazzi are stalking Cassidy in her tiny town in Maine. Determined to make things right, Jack travels to Maine to apologize, but only causes more of a media firestorm. Sensing a win-win scenario, his manager concocts a fake dating scheme that will keep Jack’s career on track and boost Cassidy’s business. What could possibly go wrong?

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January 24, 2023 0

Surfacing by Tiffany Manchester

3.5 stars rounded up

This book is hard to describe, but I enjoyed it. It reads like part fiction, part spiritual guide, and part self-help book. The story is told in first person, which isn’t my favorite, but as I got into the story, my irritation went away. Zoe is a professional surfer on the World Surf League. Two years ago she was a champion, but for the last two years she’s been flailing. Now at the end of the tour, she realizes she needs to make a change, which includes breaking up with her long-term boyfriend. In a funk, she returns to Australia to stay with her best friend’s family. Zoe has lost her confidence and wonders if her career is over. She decides she needs to do some deep soul searching to figure out what is wrong and make some important decisions about her career and life.

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January 19, 2023 0

Musical Games (Kinloch, #4) by Evie Alexander

This is a fun, flirty contemporary romantic comedy set in Scotland. This is book four of the Kinloch series, but can be read as a stand-alone. Sam lives in London and is an actress on a popular soap opera. She is on the brink of becoming a big star — all she needs is one lucky break. But when she drops everything for the chance to meet Hollywood’s biggest star, she blows it by blurting out a lie.
Now she’s got to write an entire album in ten days.

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January 16, 2023 0

The Villa by Rachel Hawkins

3.5 stars rounded up to 4

This was a pretty good mystery/thriller that involves two best friends and their summer at a high-end holiday home in a small town in Italy. Emily is a successful author of a cozy mystery series going through a painful and expensive divorce. She has recently recovered from a mysterious illness and is going through a bad case of writer’s block. Her best friend Chess is a successful self-help author and influencer.

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January 2, 2023 0

The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff

This is a very good contemporary fiction/mystery/thriller set in India. Geeta’s dead-beat husband left her five years ago. She didn’t kill him, but everyone thinks she did. Since then, she’s taken out her nose ring (become a widow) and made a life for herself selling hand-made jewelry. The inhabitants of her small village scorn Geeta, gossip about her, and the children are afraid of her. While this would make some women sad, Geeta relishes in her freedom.

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January 2, 2023 0

Queen of Nothing (Reina del Cartel, #1) by Santana Knox

This is a good first book in the reverse harem, enemies to lovers, dark romance series. I haven’t read many dark romance books, or any cartel books, so this is all new to me. I enjoyed the author’s world building which made it easier for me to understand the setting and circumstances of the characters.

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December 30, 2022 0

A Dash of Salt and Pepper by Kosoko Jackson

This is a cute LGBT contemporary romance set in a small town in Maine. Xavier has been dumped and passed over for a prestigious fellowship. He slinks home to lick his wounds, but his family have other ideas. Trying to get him out of his funk, Xavier’s mother presses him to work as a prep chef at a trendy new restaurant in town owned and operated by hot dad Logan. Logan doesn’t want to hire Xavier, but he needs the help. The duo find they have an unexpected connection, but since they both want different things in life, their relationship may be doomed before it really starts.

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December 18, 2022 0

Well Traveled (Well Met #4) by Jen DeLuca

This is a super cute contemporary romance involving a high-powered corporate attorney and a Renaissance Faire Irish kilt-wearing man. Louisa, “Lulu” to her cousin, is out of town for work. Completely stressed out, she discovers a Renaissance Faire is taking place nearby and goes there for an escape. While there, she runs into a band that she met earlier that summer while attending a faire with her cousin. When events take a drastic turn, Louisa finds herself unemployed and running away with the faire for the summer.

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December 8, 2022 0