Month: April 2022

Sunday at the Sunflower Inn

Mary Blog Tour, Contemporary Romance, Jodi Thomas, Kensington, Women's Fiction, Zebra

Sunday at the Sunflower Inn by Jodi Thomas

Published:  April 26, 2022 – Zebra Books/Kensington

Review galley from the publisher and NetGalley

Description:

Jessica Ann McKenzie—“Jam” to everyone in Honey Creek—has fulfilled her dream of owning the best restaurant for miles around. Serving candlelit dinners to every couple in town on Valentine’s Day is a reminder of another dream, one she’s just about given up on. Until, that very night, Sergeant Tucson Smith clambers out of the muddy river and onto her land, bringing the promise of something they’ve both been searching for.
 
When McCoy Mason crashes on Interstate 45, he doesn’t just bust up his Mustang, his leg, and his relationship. He also loses his prospects of a job and apartment in Houston. Honey Creek, home to his estranged grandfather, offers a temporary respite, a place to recover before moving on again. After all, what permanent use could a town so picture-perfect have for a man like him?
 
At sixty-seven, Charles H. Winston III lives by order and routine. One of his most cherished rituals is a regular lunch date with three lovely ladies at the Honey Creek Café, including the very proper Miss Lilly Lambert. But it’s not too late to surprise the whole town—or himself—by seizing a chance for a once-in-a-lifetime adventure. And there’s no better season than spring, when the warm breeze blowing in from the Brazos River brings fresh hope and second chances to those who need them most . . . (publisher)

My take:

With her new novel, Sunday at the Sunflower Inn, Jodi Thomas proves why she is on my favorite  authors list. This is book four in the series but easily stands alone. That said, if you love a good comfort read I highly recommend any of her books.

As usual, Jodi Thomas writes relatable (on one level or another) characters and situations. I won’t rehash the synopsis included above. I enjoy that she always includes characters of different generations in a way that isn’t caricature. In this book there is young love between a teen couple, love in the 30s for a few people, and love at last for a couple who thought it might have passed them by.

Told with the warmth and humor I’ve come to expect this was a book with characters I wasn’t ready to leave by the last page. Recommended to fans of Jodi Thomas and contemporary women’s romantic fiction.

 

Spotlight/Review: How to Keep House While Drowning

Mary K.C. Davis, Self Help, Simon Element

How to Keep House While Drowning by K.C. Davis, LPC

Expected publication date: April 26, 2022 – Simon Element

Book courtesy of the publisher

My take:
I have a sister who seems to love to clean her house. I, on the other hand, do not. I’m more an as-needed cleaner. There are times I wish I was more like my sis but I’ve managed to live this long being her almost polar opposite (where cleaning is concerned).
So, I was intrigued when the publicist reached out about K.C. Davis’s book. Davis writes with compassion as she describes her reasons for sharing her thoughts and philosophy of keeping house, how she and her husband divide or share tasks, and ultimately she conveys the message of treating yourself with kindness. I found a lot of her tips to be common sense but many people (not raised by my wonderful mother who loved to have a tidy home) will find kernels of wisdom and encouragement. 😊
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About the book:

This revolutionary approach to cleaning and organizing helps free you from feeling ashamed or overwhelmed by a messy home.

If you’re struggling to stay on top of your to-do list, you probably have a good reason: anxiety, fatigue, depression, ADHD, or lack of support. For therapist KC Davis, the birth of her second child triggered a stress-mess cycle. The more behind she felt, the less motivated she was to start. She didn’t fold a single piece of laundry for seven months. One life-changing realization restored her sanity—and the functionality of her home: You don’t work for your home; your home works for you.

In other words, messiness is not a moral failing. A new sense of calm washed over her as she let go of the shame-based messaging that interpreted a pile of dirty laundry as “I can never keep up” and a chaotic kitchen as “I’m a bad mother.” Instead, she looked at unwashed clothes and thought, “I am alive,” and at stacks of dishes and thought, “I cooked my family dinner three nights in a row.”

Building on this foundation of self-compassion, KC devised the powerful practical approach that has exploded in popularity through her TikTok account, @domesticblisters. The secret is to simplify your to-do list and to find creative workarounds that accommodate your limited time and energy. In this book, you’ll learn exactly how to customize your cleaning strategy and rebuild your relationship with your home, including:

-How to see chores as kindnesses to your future self, not as a reflection of your worth
-How to start by setting priorities
-How to stagger tasks so you won’t procrastinate
-How to clean in quick bursts within your existing daily routine
-How to use creative shortcuts to transform a room from messy to functional

With KC’s help, your home will feel like a sanctuary again. It will become a place to rest, even when things aren’t finished. You will move with ease, and peace and calm will edge out guilt, self-criticism, and endless checklists. They have no place here. (publisher)

Photograph by Julie Soefer
KC Davis

KC Davis is a licensed professional therapist, author, and speaker. She is the creator of the mental health platform Struggle Care, where she shares a revolutionary approach to self and home care for those dealing with mental health, physical illness, and hard seasons of life. KC began her mental health journey at sixteen, when she entered treatment for drug addiction and mental health issues. After getting sober, she became a speaker and advocate for mental health and recovery. She lives in Houston with her husband and two daughters.

 

The Patron Saint of Second Chances

Mary Atria Books, Blog Tour, Christine Simon, Fiction

The Patron Saint of Second Chances by Christine Simon

Published:  April 12, 2022 – Atria Books

Review copy courtesy of the publisher

Description:

Vacuum repairman and self-appointed mayor of Prometto, Italy (population 212) Signor Speranza has a problem: unless he can come up with 70,000 euros to fix the town’s pipes, the water commission will shut off the water to the village and all its residents will be forced to disperse. So in a bid to boost tourism—and revenue—he spreads a harmless rumor that movie star Dante Rinaldi will be filming his next project nearby.

Unfortunately, the plan works a little too well, and soon everyone in town wants to be a part of the fictional film—the village butcher will throw in some money if Speranza can find roles for his fifteen enormous sons, Speranza’s wistfully adrift daughter reveals an unexpected interest in stage makeup, and his hapless assistant Smilzo volunteers a screenplay that’s not so secretly based on his undying love for the film’s leading lady. To his surprise—and considerable consternation, Speranza realizes that the only way to keep up the ruse is to make the movie for real.

As the entire town becomes involved (even the village priest invests!) Signor Speranza starts to think he might be able to pull this off. But what happens when Dante Rinaldi doesn’t show up? Or worse, what if he does? (publisher)

My take:

This book is so different from what I usually read (women’s fiction, suspense, romance) but it was the right book at the right time. Christine Simon’s story has quirky characters, some more larger-than-life than others, a beleaguered everyman protagonist in Speranza, and an almost hopeless cause that could either break his tiny town or make it stronger than ever. The author had me often laughing with the madcap happenings as the story played out. The pace was good and I was happy with how she wrapped things up.

3.5 stars rounded up

About the author:

Christine Simon grew up in a very large and very loud Italian family and now lives with her husband and four children. The Patron Saint of Second Chances is her first novel.

 

Love & Saffron

Mary Kim Fay, Putnam, Women's Fiction

Love & Saffron by Kim Fay

Published:  February 8, 2022 – Putnam

Book courtesy of the publisher

My take:

Calling all fans of “food fiction” and epistolary novels! I definitely fit into those categories. When a young woman writes a fan letter to a columnist for a monthly ‘home & life’ magazine it is the beginning of a lovely friendship.

Joan is a new food writer living in Los Angeles and Imogen is a 60-ish writer living with her husband on an island off the coast of Seattle. They share parts of their lives, the food they love, and hopes and dreams. The food descriptions had me drooling and I loved that a few recipes were included.

A few notable events of the early 1960s are worked into the story and give a bit of heft to the setting. I appreciated that. What I loved most, though, was the friendship between two women from different generations. Just a lovely novel that I will recommend to friends this spring.

Description:

When twenty-seven-year-old Joan Bergstrom sends a fan letter–as well as a gift of saffron–to fifty-nine-year-old Imogen Fortier, a life-changing friendship begins. Joan lives in Los Angeles and is just starting out as a writer for the newspaper food pages. Imogen lives on Camano Island outside Seattle, writing a monthly column for a Pacific Northwest magazine, and while she can hunt elk and dig for clams, she’s never tasted fresh garlic–exotic fare in the Northwest of the sixties. As the two women commune through their letters, they build a closeness that sustains them through the Cuban Missile Crisis, the assassination of President Kennedy, and the unexpected in their own lives.
 
Food and a good life—they can’t be separated. It is a discovery the women share, not only with each other, but with the men in their lives. Because of her correspondence with Joan, Imogen’s decades-long marriage blossoms into something new and exciting, and in turn, Joan learns that true love does not always come in the form we expect it to. Into this beautiful, intimate world comes the ultimate test of Joan and Imogen’s friendship—a test that summons their unconditional trust in each other.
 
A brief respite from our chaotic world, Love & Saffron is a gem of a novel, a reminder that food and friendship are the antidote to most any heartache, and that human connection will always be worth creating. (publisher)

About the author:

Born in Seattle and raised throughout the Pacific Northwest, Kim Fay lived in Vietnam for four years and still travels to Southeast Asia frequently. A former bookseller, she is the author of Communion: A Culinary Journey Through Vietnam, winner of the World Gourmand Cookbook Awards’ Best Asian Cuisine Book in the United States, and The Map of Lost Memories, an Edgar Award finalist for Best First Novel. She is also the creator/editor of a series of guidebooks on Southeast Asia. Fay now lives in Los Angeles.

 

Mini Review: Her Last Affair

Mary John Searles, Mariner Books, Suspense

Her Last Affair by John Searles

Published:  March 22, 2022 – Mariner Books

ARC courtesy of the publisher

Description:

Every marriage has its secrets….

Skyla lives alone in the shadow of the defunct drive-in movie theater that she and her husband ran for nearly fifty years. Ever since Hollis’s death in a freak accident the year before, Skyla spends her nights ruminating about the regrets and deceptions in her long marriage. That is, until she rents a cottage on the property to a charming British man, Teddy Cornwell….

A thousand miles away, Linelle is about to turn fifty. Bored by her spouse and fired from her job when a questionable photo from her youth surfaces on social media, her only source of joy is an on-line affair with her very first love, a man she’s not seen in nearly thirty years, Teddy Cornwell…

While in New York City, Jeremy, a failed and bitter writer, accepts an assignment to review a new restaurant in Providence. Years ago, Providence was the site of his first great love and first great heartbreak—and maybe, just maybe, he’ll look her up when he’s back in town…

Part page-turning thriller, part homage to film noir, and dazzling in its insight into the often desperate desires of the human heart, Her Last Affair is a tense and atmospheric novel of love lost and found again. (Publisher)

My mini-take:

Please read the publisher’s description above.

Her Last Affair is my first book to read by John Searles. This was a bit grittier in tone than my usual reads. I thought the plot was convoluted at times but still it held my interest – which is why I’ll read more from the author.

This book is about what happens when one revisits the past. Can you go back and be the person you were? For some it could be worth the effort, for others not so much. An interesting read that kept me turning the pages.