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*This is a #TBRChallenge review, there will be spoilers, I don't spoil everything but enough, because I treat these reviews as a bookclub discussion.

WANTED—A HUSBAND. Need Healthy man of any age willing to work spread and share the place. See E. Dinsmore, top of Rock Creek Road

April's TBRChallenge theme was No Place Like Home, so I chose Morning Glory, a book on my tbr for decades. A drifter who's never had a home but works hard to make one with a widow, sounded like a perfect fit to the theme. The first half of this, I raced through. There's a prologue of a young mother bringing her baby home and her parents locking her up in the house because they're ashamed of her “sin”, it's 1917 and unwed mother's are not looked upon kindly. The story then quickly jumps to 1941 and to a drifter named Will about to be fired from a sawmill because it's found out that he served five years in prison for murdering a woman. I had to pause to imagine one of those graphics with arrows pointing at the book listing tropes, “Murderer!” “Shut-in recluse!”.

Will Parker's eyes were drawn to her stomach as she rested a hand on it. He thought about how maybe there was more than one kind of prison.

Will starving and having no money, decides that he will check out the widower at the edge town “Crazy Elly” and her newspaper ad asking for a husband. When I tell you, the pain of these two, gah. Will's constantly thinking, please let me stay, knowing he looks like a half-starved vagabond, who Elly knows, because he told her, that he served jail time for killing a woman but drawn to something warm in Elly's aura. The house and property are run down but Elly and her two small boys seem happy and for someone who was abandoned as a baby and on his own his whole life, Will can't help but want to be welcomed into that magic, even if Elly is pregnant with a third child. Elly for her part knows she needs help and is constantly thinking, please stay, even though she knows she's not pretty, has children and pregnant, run down farm, and is called “Crazy Elly” because of her past. They're both yearning for what the other can give and I honestly felt like a voyeur reading their relationship this first half as they slowly grew to trust one another.

She was a good mother, a fine woman who'd been locked in a house and called crazy, and if he didn't tell her she wasn't, who would?

The first half also gives a pov from a woman in town called Lula, who is said to run “hot” and wants Will but he rebuffs her because he knows those kind of women can lead to trouble because of his past. Readers do learn about the murder he went to jail for and it's, probably of course, nothing that makes him nonredeemable. Lula is that classic “other woman” villain that makes you uncomfortable reading because she's backed by a whole lot of slut-shaming, but it's, pretty obvious, why she's included and while she disappears for the majority of the middle of the story, her set-up comes into play for the last half. There's also a Miss Beasley, librarian, that was a great character (Mentally, I've given her a novella HEA with the lawyer) but, geez, yeah for women with facial hair being talked about but did the hair on her upper lip have to be mentioned, SO MANY times? Like, damn, give the gal a break. Anyway, by midpoint, Will and Elly have decided to marry and they have grown to the I love yous. I can say, even if it didn't feel over-the-top passionate (which can be considered better by some romance readers) I did believe they loved each other. Elly growing up locked up in her home, constantly being told she's a sin, until the law forced her grandparents (side question: I thought it was going to be directly said but am I the only one who thought her grandfather raped her mother and that was what was with the “drawn shades” business?) to let her go to school, but she was considered “crazy” because of her lack of socialization, and only getting befriended by her first husband (he died a'la Bridgerton, bee stings) had never really had a man care for her the way Will did, or turn her on. Will was never cared for either and had no one to care for, so when they meet, it's a pretty simple scenario of two people deserving love and finding the person that connects with them to give it. It felt real their feelings and why I said it gave a voyeuristic feeling for me.

She smiled into the bluebird's painted eye, her own shining with delight. "A bluebird...imagine that." She pressed it to her heart and beamed at Will. "How did you know I like birds?" He knew. He knew.

The second half is where things really slowed down for me. Pearl Harbor gets bombed and Will gets drafted. There's a couple chapters of letter writing between Will, Elly, and Miss Beasley and then a really great scene where Elly has to rush to see Will before he gets shipped to the Pacific. She's had the baby by now (the birth scene was something else with Will playing doctor) and while they managed to have sex once before he left for boot camp, these two are ramped up. I love how the author described their attraction, from how Will was sitting in the chair and Elly eyeing him up and Elly breastfeeding with Will seeing her exposed boob, could definitely feel the tension in the air. Will gets injured and he's eventually sent home after being medically discharged because of shrapnel in his leg. The townspeople view him differently and he gets the respect he's craved but he's also suffering from PTSD and that delivers some strain between him and Elly until he eventually opens up to her. We're at around 80% when Lula comes back into the picture and Will's suddenly arrested for her murder. The ending was the court case and Elly trying to help prove him innocent until the last 5% gives us the HEA.

He wanted to take her close, cradle her head and rub her shoulder and say. "Tell me...tell me what it is that hurts so bad, then we'll work at getting you over it."

The first half, a slower moving but pulling you in with these two and their hurts and pains, learning to come together but the second half was a slower moving left me kind of disinterested ending. I read this in almost one shot and kind of glad I did, because even though slower moving usually calls for savoring, pacing out, I feel like this would be one that would be hard to pick up again, so my two cents of advice. These two will linger with me because of how real they felt but I'm not sure I could recommended, maybe just the first half and that meet-up in Augusta. Hope springs eternal for a Donald Wade, Thomas, and Lizzy P. spin-off series! (Elly's kids) Guess what I'm watching tonight? (Hint: check out what's on Tubi)

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review

Snuffing out the voices of women. It was how they set up the game so that we would lose, even as we convinced ourselves that it was our fault. If we could shout for help, then we might take the hands of our sisters, swim ashore, and manage to win.

Orphia and Eurydicius was a gender swapped Orpheus and Eurydice myth reimagining that had Orphia battling her father Apollo, men (gods and human), and systematic sexism. The beginning shows us an early twenties Orphia as she was taken by her father and placed on the Whispering Isles to learn combat and battle the men. This has lead to Orphia being looked at with some sneer in regards to, what is perceived in their society, as a more man like build, features, and mannerisms. Told she won't be able to leave until she beats the Prince, Orphia does have one friend Jason, who then introduces her to Eurydicius, a shield maker.

What I was looking, I realised, was a man who appreciated my manner. The desire in his eyes mangled with awe and something surprisingly soft. Respect. That was the word.

It's instant attraction between the two and he gives Orphia some confidence to explore her wanting to burst free poetry side. Even though it's one of her father's powers, Apollo has forbid Orphia to take up the lyre, so when she does, she understands the danger but can't contain that part of herself any longer. Apollo, of course, finds out and it's godly anger, he whisks Orphia away to Mt. Olympus and destroys the Isle, leaving Orphia to think Jason and Eurydicius are dead. With a new setting of Mt. Olympus, numerous gods and goddesses come into scene and it becomes apparent that the goddesses also live in a sexist world, their stories, only told by men, are skewed and told through a lens of sexism. Orphia learns her mother is Calliope, Chief of the Muses and Orphia was not given up by her but taken. With some help from Hera, Orphia gets her wish to tell poetry and goes to live with the Muses.

The thrill of expressing myself had driven me into fresh imaginings, until I could not see the risk I took.

The middle of the story was a lot of Orphia spending time with different Muses and learning from them, always discussing how sexism comes into play. It's then learned that Jason and Eurydicius did not die on the Isle and we get some romance interludes, focuses on how Eurydicius likes to be lead by Orphia, exploring the general societal gender swapping, which eventually leads to them quietly and hurriedly married. While the story was mostly focusing on Orphia and introducing other characters through her journey, the second half begins with Orphia being betrayed into going with Jason on his quest (Argo, Golden Fleece) and separating from Eurydicius. I thought some of this veered a little bit too much into “see how much mythology research I did” and it felt less like Orphia's story.

I wanted to tell stories of men who were soft when they were supposed to be hard; of women who were loud when they were supposed to be docile; of people of every nature who felt scarcely visible, and wished to make themselves whole through my stories.

The ending brought us back to more of the love story and we get Orphia trying to rescue Eurydicius from the Underwold, the Underworld providing some good atmospheric setting. The vast majority of this followed the traditionally known myths, some events mixed around here and there but all told through a focus on sexism. A gender swapping adds some new angles and layers to this myth and if you're interested in some goddesses getting their due, some righteous anger, and challenging of sexist norms, then this could be a new one to pick up.

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review

No, the question is not whether fox spirits exist. The question is: If one comes for you, can you resist it?

The Emperor and the Endless Palace was a drug and sex fueled Cloud Atlas like story woven from Chinese fables, mythology, and historical fiction. Following three timelines from individual point-of-views, Dong Xian 4 BCE, He Shican 1740, and River Present day, the reader is taken on a reincarnation journey as three souls are forever intertwined.

“To put it as simply as possible, our souls are caught in an endless loop. No matter how many lifetimes we endure, we will not be released from an ancient curse. And once upon a lifetime, I made a promise to you that I would break it.”

As the reader travels in and out of each time period, commonalities are revealed and a picture of tangled love and a magical force working to interfere becomes apparent. What is not always so apparent is which reincarnated soul belongs to whom and who are the souls that truly belong together. There's some initial good vs. evil going on but I liked how as the story went on, it does murky up some of that conventional thinking and shows the battles of temptations and freedom of will playing their part.

Dong Xian, this whole time you thought that you were playing the game, only to realize you are the game.

Each timeline, whether it was Dong trying to strategize for power and influence in the Emperor's Palace against the Emperor's grandmother and cousin, He Shican trying to find where he fits in life and escaping his father's disappointment and unrequited from a doctor who took care of him, or River exploring his sexuality and living out for the first time, provided inner workings and deeper layers into these souls. I thought Dong Xian's timeline was the most thought out and worked the best, He Shican's was the most fantastical and River's looped and jumped around a bit too much creating a “does this all make sense?”.

And I don’t know how else to describe a bittersweet feeling inside me— in this moment that I meet him, I realize I might be lonely for the rest of my life. His name is Joey.

I would consider this at least straddling the erotic line, sex, and drugs, are constantly playing their part. I don't think I could say I felt the, modern conventional, love between the souls but the endlessly drawn to feeling came through. The writing created an easy pace, if not the story always being clear, and I flew through this. If looking for a reincarnation story that plays with temptations and freedom of will, the setting and influence of Chinese fantasy and historical fiction make this an interesting one to pickup.

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review

The Enemy at Home was a World War II story that took a popular historical fiction time period but placed readers in a nontypical place. The story centers Nora, a late thirties woman living in Seattle taking care of her teenager son, preteen daughter, and starting a job at a Boeing B-17 plant. Her husband is a doctor in the military and somewhere in Northern Africa and she has a brother in the Navy currently recovering from an injury in San Diego. The story divulges Nora's background through her povs, thinking about her mother's mental illness, having to be raised by her grandparents, and then feeling guilty for leaving her younger brother when she got married and moved away. Nora seems an average woman of her time, dealing with ration cards, racism from having to do with a Japanese-American couple she rented a garage apartment to, single mother, and sexism in the workplace. An new fear gets added when a serial killer seems to be attacking and killing woman plant workers.

It was interesting to read a home front WWII story and the author did a good job of including all those specific big and small time period additives, especially Japanese-American interment camps. The first half was more about getting readers into Nora's life and introducing characters. There were povs from the victims of the serial killer, to bring in that ominous threat, when in the second half it becomes the main storyline.

The author did a credible job of supplying redherrings to keep readers guessing and looking for clues, it doesn't become crystal clear who the serial killer is until the latter second half, even though you will have some guesses. Nora's strained relationship with her son is a big worry for her and I thought in favor of keeping this vibe, the character of the son was left too broadstrokes. Other secondary characters did their part with adding but not distracting to the world and story. The ending delivered a bit too perfect stars aligning to have things work out a certain way and took away from some of it's impact, a decrescendo of, well, life goes on. If you were looking for a homefront WWII, this would deliver on setting and atmosphere, with an added bonus of serial killer mystery plot.

4.5 stars

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review

For someone who traveled light, Addie carried a hell of a lot of baggage.

Addie's mentor has brought her and her bestfriend on the tough ride of starting a new business. Addie's been around the world as a travel consultant but never to Scotland, where her parents honeymooned. After losing her mother in her teens thirteen years ago, Addie also emotionally lost her father as he pulled away from her in his grief. This taught Addie that she needs to protect herself from love, as losing one person can cause someone to lose everything, and why her job is so ideal for her, always moving and making no lasting connections. When she's sent to Scotland to help overhaul a family run tour business, her mom is on her mind even more, as pictures of her mom at Scottish sites from her honeymoon are some of Addie's most prized possessions. Addie can't let emotional issues ruin her business strategies, though, as her mentor is counting on her to streamline this tour business quickly and efficiently to add to their new portfolio. Which makes the chemistry she's feeling with the owner's son, even more dangerous.

It wasn’t just his family conspiring against him. The universe was in on it, too.

Logan can't help but feel betrayed when his father brings in an outsider to help overhaul their tours. He once tried new ideas to revamp their tours and failed miserably, feeling like his lost his two brothers when they then left the business. He's proud of Scotland and doesn't want to lead visitors around just to the gimmicky tourist sites and wants to keep the family and friends feeling to his tours. Which makes fighting Addie's ideas even more imperative, and more complicated as he starts to develop feelings for the trying to be emotionally walled up American.

That spark she’d been trying to smother since she’d first set foot in the office was looking for any opportunity to catch.

Kilt Trip was an immensely enjoyable contemporary romance that felt cozy, emotional, delivered on the setting, and sizzled with some heat. I went to check out this author's back-list immediately after finishing this and was shocked to see this is what looks to be a debut. You all are going to want to pick this book up and then keep this author on your radar; I'd say she's in the Kate Clayborn alike circle. The first half has a pace that I don't want to give the negative connotation of slow but the pace is slower; there's some romance lit fic feeling without the lit fic language, if that makes sense. We get povs from both Addie and Logan, which I love, and the first half has a little more of Addie trying to remain walled up from her developing emotions towards Logan and feeling, thinking about her grief from losing her mother so young, missing her and how it destroyed her relationship with her father. Addie has her mentor and bestfriend but they all three travel and she doesn't have a solid landing place to rest and feel loved, she's lacking deeper connections but also fears them.

He was a dangerous combination of sensitive and challenging, and Addie was having a hell of a time feigning disinterest.

Logan was the perfect other half that she needed, he pokes at her sparking side, they have good teasing and back-and-forth but also knows when to back off a bit to allow her to regain her equilibrium and not scare her away. Logan has his own emotional issues, since his attempt to change the family business almost ruined it and his brothers left the business, he's scared of change and dealing with some abandonment issues with his brothers. I loved Logan's character but there could have been a little more flushing out of him, more conversations with his brothers would have been great and even though I liked how he realized when Addie needed a break, I kind of wanted more gritting out pressing need from him, too.

“If you think I’m delightful when I’m mad, you should see me when I’m not.” He tugged her closer, his fingers slipping below the soft black bow. Her soft intake of breath sent fire through his veins. She stilled in his arms, wet her lips, and looked up at him through her lashes. “Then, let’s stop fighting.”

The later second half picked up the pace, enough of a not smooth change to make the overall pacing feel a bit disjointed to me, but all of the story's previous developing heat between Addie and Logan lead to, thank-you for including open-door in contemporary romance like the good old days, scenes. These two were cute, scrappy, flirty, and had delightful chemistry that I could read all day. The danger of Addie's job and her and Logan's emotional issues does eventually come to a head, they were great with addressing, talking, and trying to deal with at first when they admit to each other deeper feelings but that third act breakup is a persistent beast and a seen as a betrayal development separates the two. This was left close enough to the end that I thought the eventual HEA development didn't get enough time to give me the depth in it I wanted (here too I wished for Logan's character to have more) but there was an epilogue that jumped a year to show more to readers.

He offered her the one thing she hadn’t been brave enough to admit she wanted: belonging.

I loved how the setting was actually utilized, you'll get some facts, legends, history, and atmosphere feelings of in and around Edinburgh to transport you away and some of that delightful smile inducing back and forth chemistry and building heat tingling that delivers on the promised steaminess. The emotional was there with Addie's grief over her mother and Logan's awareness, ability, and caution to know how to care for Addie. Logan's gone for Addie pretty quickly but was wary of causing her to run away, it was nice to see the guy fall first but Addie's walls want and start to crumble pretty quickly too, so this also delivered with romance aspects. The I love yous maybe developed a little too quickly, missing more foundation there, but like the pace issues I had, ultimately not a deal breaker. If wanting to read a cute, fun, set in Scotland, romance that deals with grief but also delivers on chemistry and heat, you need to pick this one up.

3.5 stars

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review

Because wherever Rune Winters went, her carefully crafted reputation came with her. She was an informer. A witch hater. A darling of the New Republic. Rune was the girl who betrayed her grandmother.

The Crimson Moth series is a planned duology (so brace yourself for that cliffhanger) about a fantasy world where witches once ruled but two years ago, there was a revolution by the Blood Guard and the ruling three witch queen sisters were killed. Now, The New Republic has outlawed witches and the Blood Guard have hunted them to the point that very few are ever seen, identifiable by their scars cut into their bodies to supply the blood they need for their spells. Rune was sixteen when the revolution happened and forced into an impossible situation that had her surviving but drowning from guilt. She also gets a shock when, as a later bloomer, she gets her menses and it's revealed she's a witch. Knowing her survival depends on staying hidden, she uses her aristocrat lineage to pretend to be an empty headed society miss, but wanting to fight back, Rune also becomes the Crimson Moth, a vigilante that rescues captured witches and ships them away to freedom.

Gideon Sharpe. Rune’s lip nearly curled at the name of Alex’s older brother. Devoutly loyal to the New Republic, Gideon was a ruthless, bloodthirsty witch hunter who’d sent more of Rune’s kind to the purge than any other member of the Guard. He’d also famously helped assassinate the Sister Queens, sparking the revolution into a blaze.

The older brother of Rune's bestfriend, Alex, is Gideon a captain in the Blood Guard and helped start the revolution but killing two of the witch queens. When they were kids and Rune met him for the first time, she had a crush on him, until he was rude and dismissive to her. Now that she's eighteen and he's twenty, Rune tries to avoid him as he could be the cause of her death if he ever found out what and who she is. With chapters that alternate giving us Rune and Gideon's point-of-view, we get a good luck at Gideon's character and learn important information about his past, thoughts, and feelings. His family was poor until the queens favored his parents for their dress designs and while that should have made things better for their family, it was their downfall. Gideon catches the eye of the youngest queen, Cressida, and from there he's forced into a relationship that he initially wanted but then can't escape as she becomes murderously jealous and Gideon can't escape people knowing about his relationship with the witch queen and knows he has to stay with her for his remaining family member, Alex's, safety. Gideon has reasons to hate the witch queens and when Nicolas, the commander of the Blood Guard, lays out a way to get his revenge, he takes it.

He was a witch hunter. He suspected her. He was closing in on her even now. And yet.

I flew through the beginning first half of this, the world-building that was starting to be laid out with Rune having to remain hidden for her survival but having two friends, Alex and Verity, a girl Rune becomes friends with after Verity tells her the story of how she's not a witch but her two sisters were and her mother turned them in, set-up magic, danger, and then intrigue when Gideon came into the picture. Verity pushes Rune to find someone to court and then marry who has access to information so they can safely rescue even more witches, but does think Gideon could be too dangerous. Alex also has tried very hard to never betray his brother and refuses to completely side with Rune against him. However, since this is romance along with fantasy, Rune has a little bit of that drawn to Gideon and tells herself and friends that she's only going to use Gideon for information. Since we get Gideon's povs too, readers also know that Gideon's friends Harrow and fellow guard Lelia, also encourage him to pretend court Rune for information, when it's found out that Rune's family business of ships helped the last witch escape. So a really great cat and mouse dynamic is set-up with Rune and Gideon trying to use each other but also ultimately developing real feelings.

The hunted had fallen for the hunter.

The second half slowed down for me some as the romance became more of the focus and it stagnated with rinse and repeat of Gideon feeling he couldn't give into his feelings for Rune because he knows his brother Alex has romantic feelings for her and Rune, rightly so, scared that Gideon would turn her in to be killed if he discovered she's a witch. There was an open-door bedroom scene but I thought the best scenes between the two was when the tension ramped up because both are trying to fight their chemistry and both have some fear, Rune getting discovered and Gideon thinking he could be getting played and wanting to protect his brother. The latter second half also brought in some love triangle that I really didn't like and lead to a component of the ending that didn't quite deliver on the desired emotional impact for me; I'm not sure that character was flushed out enough.

She was the Crimson Moth— a wanted criminal, not to mention a witch, hiding in plain sight.

The last twenty percent picked up the stagnated pace and we get a rush of movement with a reveal that some will probably guess early at, some battle, and Rune and Gideon more divided than ever. This is tagged as a YA and it has some of that feel in the beginning but by the end I'd say it was more New Adult, the open-door scene and the method of how they kill the witches might be a little gruesome for the lower end of YA (but for YA/NA I loved that Rune used her menses blood for a source of power, using that blood so she wouldn't have to cut herself and have scars signaling she was a witch). There were characters I would have liked flushed out more, The Good Commander had such an impact on Gideon's life that I really missed seeing more scenes of the two together, not to mention Gideon and Alex. As I mentioned in the beginning, this ends with a cliffhanger and while I wanted more depth in some places, I'll definitely be in line for when the second comes out as in one aspect Rune got what she wanted but it may have just put her in danger from another foe and Gideon is going to want revenge even more.

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review

“I think he is going to kill me or have me killed,” Charlie told her.

A Change in Destiny: Dark Choices was the story of how a woman can find herself in an abusive relationship and the dark choices that can come up because of it, with some serendipitous circumstances helping out along the way. Charlie lost her parents and then her relationship with her fiance broke off, leaving her feeling vulnerable. Even with her close relationship with her twin sister, Jon, a good friend to Charlie and her ex-fiance moves in and within the year they are married. Coming from a high society banking family, Jon soon reveals what's under his suave mask and Charlie finds herself slowly being isolated as Jon tries to ruin her relationship with her sister, friends, and colleagues.

She knew as an investigator there were no perfect crimes.

Charlie's an investigator for the Houston medical examiner, she has friends in law enforcement, is very good friends with the state attorney, and has a sizable inheritance from her deceased parents. I thought it was mindful to show how a woman who seemingly has all the outs and backbone, still could find herself into an abusive relationship; it could happen to anyone. The story relays multiple povs, so readers get more of a surrounding view of the world and it gets going right away with a quick look at the present before going back six months and showing why Charlie is now at a pig farm.

Now the games begin.

I'm not sure I'd tag this as mystery or thriller, the reader is let in on every aspect of the whys and hows. This also read kind of dry to me, there wasn't much emotion coming from out characters, when Charlie straightforward tells her sister what she plans to do, it's all so matter-of-fact for such a heavy dangerous situation. I would tag this a procedural story, as Charlie's knowledge from her job comes into play at times and it becomes a story of steps Charlie systematically takes to come out from under her husband's thumb, without consequences. The serendipitous part comes in when, Charlie's ex-fiancé who works for the FBI shows up, and Jon, along with his father and bank, are served warrants and are now under investigation for bank fraud. It brings some attention Charlie wasn't expecting at first but ultimately works, I think, for her betterment. The investigation brings in more procedural story telling, almost no emotion from Charlie and her ex in the FBI worked into the story.

I've read/watched my fair share of true crime and horror movies, so I can't say I was personally surprised or horrified by some of the events, but this was a story I enjoyed taking the journey. I would have liked a little less of Charlie Scooby Doo dumping it all on her sister how she was going to get rid of her abusive husband problem and rather went more of an engaging mystery/thriller slow revealing. The ending jumps some time with enough divulging to give readers an answer to Charlie's fate. If you don't mind less emotional and more procedural (with pigs in the mix!), this could be one to pick up.

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review

The Summer Book Club follows three women navigating life after losing love and working to keep avoiding it but getting their second chances anyway. Friends since childhood, Laurel and Paris, are in their late thirties, divorced, and trying to keep their businesses running and successful, while late twenties newcomer from the East Coast, Cassie, is fighting being thrown out of the nest for the first time. This leaned a little more towards women's fiction but the romance interests make their appearances around the 25% mark (a little later for Cassie) and flutter in and out enough to give a secondary tag of romance. This was all closed door scenes, they passionately kiss but then are “waking” up in bed after having their world rocked ten/twenty minutes later. I also thought there was an underlying tone of conservative intimacy, the “save it for someone special” idealism that felt a little icky to me but your mileage may vary. The book club aspect wasn't really included, worked to get Cassie in the group and the men later join but it really only added some fun little shout-outs to books of yore, MacKenzie's Mountain by Linda Howard; Knight of Shining Armour by Jude Deveraux; The Endearment by LaVyrle Spencer; and Night into Day by Sandra Canfield.

No more guys, she vowed. No more love. No more being stupid.

Laurel has been divorced for a year after her husband drained their bank accounts and left to start a rafting company in Jamaica. She's been stressed to say the least as she tries to keep her thrifting business, searching for low priced items at Goodwill, estate sales, etc. to up-sale on Ebay, and raise her two pre-teen daughters. She's called into the school where a teacher tells her that her oldest daughter has been saying man hating comments and Laurel realizes that her bitterness has bled over into her daughter and it's time to find some positive male role models for her girls. With some serendipitous help, she keeps running into a sound engineer named Colton and dumps her story on him and he agrees to be “just” friends with her. They, oops, have some of that not shown bedroom mind-blowing but it's back to “just” friends, until Colton's parents are visiting and then a fake-dating situationship happens.

This was probably the most emotional story, but it wasn't to do with the romance, one of Laurel's daughters is hurt and angry about their father abandoning them and them being extremely flaky while the younger daughter loves him and begs and cries for any crumbs from him. It was hurtful to see how this kind of dynamic can hurt family members individually and the family unit.

She wasn’t who she had been.

Paris' story will probably be the one most people have the hardest connecting with, she's been divorced for a little under ten years after her husband walked out without saying a word to her. Paris grew-up with an abusive mom and carried those learned traits into her marriage, letting her anger control her and was not only emotionally abusive, yelling constantly at her husband, but also physical, throwing things at him and slapping him. It was great that Paris didn't excuse her behavior before she got therapy but the keeping of bringing up scenes where she was physically abusive to her husband did kill a lot of the romance genre feelings trying to come through. Her ex comes back to town to help his mother recover from knee surgery and she learns that his wife and mother to his son died of cancer a year ago.

I probably could have made an effort to connect with this story more if the ex-husband had shown any strength in being hurt or mad over how Paris treated him during their marriage, but he pretty much shrugs it all off and thinks more about how it was wrong of him to just walk away and not speak to her. He also shows no concern over leaving his son with her to babysit, saying he “trusts” her. Good, great but she was physically abusive with you and even though she says she went to therapy and seems calm in the two/three limited times you've been around her, should you immediately trust her around a child? This is where the focus on women's fiction hurt this story, the ex was pretty much an empty vessel to just be Paris' second chance and without his character depth, the redemption after she dealt with her anger issues did not feel satisfactory.

Why did she pick loser guys she helped get back on their feet who then left her?

Cassie's story was the most interesting to me but there was some thrown out there little wildness to it. Her parents died when she was fourteen and even though she had two older siblings, her uncle came and took care of her until she was eighteen. She never got to really deal with her grief and as a consequence, she is always focused on keeping everyone around her happy and keeps her relationships light because she thinks they're going to end anyway. Her siblings see that she is stalling her life to help them out and decide to kick her out and get her to go visit the land in California her uncle left her. Cassie's hurt and doesn't want to go but when she arrives, she gets a job at a bookstore and starts to fall in love with the land and small orchard her uncle left her.

This story has a, brought up over and over again, insanely handsome archaeologist that is excavating on Cassie's land because a matriarchal society lived there long ago, cave drawings newly discovered by Cassie (brought up once and never again), gold mine find of hidden cognac barrels, and a random old guy neighbor that knows all about orchards and wants nothing in life more than to help Cassie learn how to bring back to life and take care of her newly inherited one. The insanely handsome archaeologist also has some love of first sight but when he asks out Cassie, she laughs and leaves, thinking there's no way he'd actually be interested in her. Anyway, Cassie learns to live life for herself, not be afraid of some impending doom, and accept love from an insanely handsome archaeologist.

I liked how the women's lives all intertwined with each other but the romances were definitely weaker as the men were all pretty empty vessels who only seemed capable of spouting therapy perfect emotions and relationship conversations.

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review

Tales of the Celestial Kingdom is a compilation of short stories set before, during, and after the first two books in the Celestial Kingdom series. Separated into three parts, Dusk – prequel, Twilight – expands relationships in first book, and Dawn – set after second book, the short stories re-imagine myths and are from different character point-of-views. As I've not read the series yet, I only read the Dusk prequel section to begin my journey into this world. I plan on coming back and updating this review as I read each section as I make my way through the series.

Dusk

He was a hero of the people, a legend of our realm...but for today, I just wanted him to be my husband.

If you have already read the first book in the series, Daughter of the Moon Goddess, you'll soon realize that this is the re-imaging of the Chinese myth the ten Sunbirds and is about the parents of Xingyin, the female lead character of DOTMG. Switching from both Chang'e and Houyi's povs, readers learn that the land is on fire and dying because all ten of the Sunbirds have decided to stay risen in the sky. Houyi is the Emperor's General and thus, taxed with getting the Sunbirds to set. Chang'e is pregnant and not wanting Houyi to leave her and possibly die.

Houyi was visited in a dream and given an amulet to protect himself but he still is leery of taking on the gods. We travel with him as he confronts the Sunbirds, who at first come off as unruly adolescents. Things don't quite go as Houyi wanted but the land is given reprieve and returns to one Sunbird that rises and falls. He returns home a hero and is gifted an elixir of immortality.

Months later we return to a Chang'e who's about to give birth a month early and all alone at the moment. Panicking she ends up taking the elixir, giving herself and her daughter immortality while leaving behind a betrayed look on his face Houyi, as she ascends to the heavens to be with the other immortals.

There were three illustrations that complimented the story and helped readers to visualize the world. For a story only around forty pages, the emotions, the love between Chang'e and Houyi, was intensely felt. I was drawn into this mythological world and after reading about Xingyin's origins, I can't wait to start her book.

2.5 stars

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review

His eyes held mine in a silent conversation, filled with unsaid words and hushed confessions that had yet to cross our lips. It was as if his stare was whispering secrets his voice couldn't articulate.

The Prism Society tells the story of childhood friends, Emma and Liam, as they separate after Emma leaves town to go to design school in NYC and Liam continues his college in UCLA. The story opens with Emma leaving and while it's clear that two years older Liam has missed Emma at college and there are some feelings there, Emma only sees the diving head first into freedom and women Liam has partaken in after escaping his extremely restrictive parents. While they try to keep in touch through texts and social media, a surprise visit, where Emma sees in real time Liam about to hook-up with a woman, has her running away and slowly distancing herself, they eventually lose touch for three years. But when Liam shows up out of the blue as Emma's about to graduate in NYC, they find that time and growing up has only ignited their chemistry.

It was as if we were picking up right where we left off, but this time, we weren't just teenagers dreaming about what our lives could be. This time, we were adults living our own separate lives, hoping they somehow intersected.

The first half of this started off slower, with a New Adult vibe (Emma is 22yrs old and Liam 24yrs old) and Emma trying to work towards her dream of interior design. Told all from Emma's point-of-view, we get a lot about her worrying about her career. Her college career is skipped through, with her roommate Jessie getting added in as a secondary character and their shared dream of working for the “it” company Spectra. Since Emma talked about how it was her and her mother's shared dream and how close they were, I wish we would have gotten to see more of this relationship, instead of a very quick ending scene between the two. However, Liam comes back into the picture and the two realize they still have those feelings for each other that they were trying to hide before. Since we don't get Liam's pov, his character didn't feel as flushed out to me. You can tell that he has feelings for Emma, but his relationship with his friend and business partner Dominic and why they're working to set-up a club where people can be free to safely and consensually indulge in their chosen physical activities, isn't really delved into; it felt like a wobbly constructed table to get Liam to be able to say “good girl” a couple times.

“I see the beauty in The Prism Society. I see the beauty in what you're trying to create. And I'm sorry that it took me this long to admit that to myself...and to you.”

The conflict comes about because when Emma gets a job at Spectra, she has to sign a non-compete but she just can't help herself with helping Liam design his new club, even coming up with the name. It makes it hard to feel bad for her when it all comes back to bite her, because, she clearly knew she was in the wrong but just kept forging ahead anyway. There's some misplaced blame put on Liam and then Emma deciding a new path for herself that eventually, in the very last few pages, has her getting back with Liam. As far as the “spicy romance” tag, your mileage may vary. I don't consider any and all open door scenes in romance to be “smut”, I actually never use the term, but I know some younger and newer readers to romance have different thoughts on this. Liam is into voyeurism, which is where you could say the steamier scenes come from, there's a handful of them but they're fairly short and, yeah, “good girl” gets thrown around but there wasn't a lot of intimacy to them, more of the by rote “this sounds hot” that gets shared around; closer to a Tessa Bailey and far from a Cherise Sinclair. I did like how Emma and Liam started off open and addressing issues and this did have readability, but I thought the first half showed more care in setting up the story, while the latter half wobbled around and wasn't sturdy enough to deliver a hot engrossing read.

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review

“See, I knew this would be a mistake. I could tell you’d be all insufferable with me, saying all your cute things until I’m completely turned around. Well, I’m not having it,” he said all in a big, angry, frustrated rush.

When Grumpy Met Sunshine was a story about a retired footballer, Alfie, and a writer, Mabel, who is hired to ghostwrite his memoirs. Alfie has built a reputation as a gruff and grumpy guy and has went through seventeen ghostwriters already. At the meeting to see if Mabel should be hired on, the two banter, leaving Alfie drawn to Mabel and Mabel thinking Alfie insulted her weight. After a little stalking on Alfie's part, Mabel realizes that Alfie's comment wasn't saying what she thought it was and she agrees to help write his book. They then are caught by media and social media hanging out a lot and the speculation becomes that they're dating and to shut down some not so nice comments, Alfie blurts out they are dating and the trope fake-dating starts. As Mabel and Alfie pretend to be in love, the attraction between them builds and eventually Mabel is scared that she might have actually foregone the fake part.

she was enjoying unravelling him.

This story was written in all first person point-of-view from Mabel and in a stream of conscious narrative with short choppy sentences, this, personally, is a very hard writing voice for me to get into and I struggled mightily with being able to lose myself into the story and follow along with what was being said. A lot of this story is talking back and forth between Mabel and Alfie, the sense of setting is them talking in the car, in a house, and a random quick moment at a Beyonce concert. There were also end of chapter additives from various social media sites, Twitter/X, Reddit, etc., to try and help bring the outer world in but they also didn't work for me, I'm not a big social media person, so I think I missed some of that connection and the funny and/or cuteness it was supposed to bring. With only getting Mabel's voice, Alfie came off very unclear to me as a character, and for being late thirties, pretty immature. Mabel, I had a better understanding of but her constant misinterpreting Alfie's comments and actions began to feel a little forced as, you can take into account her insecurities lying to her, but his words and actions really gave no reason for her to think he thought negatively about her weight.

But there was something underneath it, she suspected. Something else they were saying without really saying it. About alcoholic fathers, and the effect they could have on you. Sometimes they turned you to the drink. And sometimes you went the other way.

The above quote gives some of that lovely connection between characters, they shared a painful childhood trait of having alcoholic fathers but the way it's laid out, short and choppy, imagine the whole story written that way, it just kills the flow for me. (another example: His hair seemed newly trimmed. She suspected he’d brushed his beard. Or that someone had brushed his beard. Most likely a barber who cost more than she spent on rent per month.) I also am not sure I fully understood or went along with why they had to start fake-dating at just before the midpoint of the story, it just didn't make sense and felt like a forced popular trope thrown in.

Because yeah, you weren’t supposed to want violence. But god, sometimes it was good to know someone thought it should happen on your behalf. That you weren’t just weak or nuts or exaggerating. Something didn’t just deserve pity, or whatever else she usually feared she would get, if she dropped some of her Bubbly Girl armor. It was bad, and they would do things about it, if they could. Things that made her want to do good by him, in return.

The second half was more talking with adding in dirty talk and some open door scenes but since I had issues with the style, and therefore couldn't connect with the characters, I wasn't feeling the chemistry between them and it all just ending up feeling like more words on the page I was struggling to read. There was a moment of sweetness I liked between these two, Alfie brushing Mabel's hair, but the writing style didn't allow the characters or me the reader to slow down and sink into it, I wanted Mabel to simply breath for a second so we could feel the moment. The last twenty percent had Mabel admitting to herself that she loved Alfie but then getting scared he didn't feel the same way, so after she's done writing the memoir, the story has them parting for a year. The very next chapter is the book launch, which brings them together and misunderstandings are talked through when Mabel reads a passage in the memoir that Alfie wrote himself and she sees his actions and feelings in a different light to deliver the HEA.

“I am happy, hanging around with a grumpy arse like you. Because you’re not that. You’re sweet, and kind, and most of all, I trust you. So you know what? If we have to kiss, we have to kiss. I know it’ll be all right. I always know everything will be all right when I’m with you,” she said.

I've read in some other reviews that Alfie seemed based off a tv show Ted Lasso character, I've never watched the show, so I could be missing some connection there and like I said, the narrative style of a character speaking in written word how people talk/think (stream of conscious) is a personal hard style for me to get into, I had to go back and reread so many passages to try and understand what was going on. A personal dislike and some writing that I think needed to be cleaned up, along with talking seemingly ninety percent of the three hundred and twenty-nine pages, made this a story that I could never get into.

1.5 stars

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review

Simeon Jones— debonair, polished, and suave— was softhearted.

I jumped into the School for Scoundrels series with this third installment, Her Adventures in Temptation. The beginning felt a little jarring thrust into the story with Simeon at a Viscount's house to paint a portrait for the lord's wife and that said wife, tipsily trying to visit Simeon's rooms one night. The Viscount catches his wife and angrily tells Simeon to bugger off but before Simeon can, the viscount's sister, Lady Myrtle asks to travel with Simeon to London. Simeon knows it will be a recipe for disaster and reputations but with Myrtle offering to pay triple the just lost commission on the viscount's wife's portrait, he can't turn it down. What followed was an occasional story with sweet moments but mostly felt like bullet points with no surrounding story.

She would go to London and use her mathematical skills to assist ladies with their monies, hopefully helping them become more financially secure.

Myrtle wants to go to London because she wants to prove to her brother that she doesn't need to get married and can successfully make a go at running a business to help women invest and take care of their money. Myrtle is a mathematical genius, readers know this because she says it a lot and spouts some mathematical lingo and apparently that translates to also being a money management guru. There really wasn't anything flushed out and integrated with Myrtle's character regarding her mathematical skills, it felt like a bullet point for the heroine and that was the extent of it. Myrtle also lacks serious tact and is oblivious when she says comments that conventionally come off rude. I don't know if her character was introduced in the previous series books and more understanding about her would come from having read those but, starting here, she doesn't really get developed. I know she only has two friends, her niece and past governess, so I don't know if it's just lack of social integration or if she is supposed to represent on the spectrum. For me, it came off “I'm not like all those other girls”, because of thinking and saying lines like this “I have misjudged you, Mr. Jones,” Myrtle replied in a bright voice. “You are quite clever, something that is rare to find in very attractive people. Usually they are able to sail through life just being attractive.”

“Pretend to be . . . married?” she squeaked, then frowned, annoyed at her own reaction.

The previous book might have also delivered some foundation on Simeon that I ended up missing starting here. He grew up destitute in a home for boys and developed friendships with five other boys, strong enough that they got the moniker, The Bastard Five. I was disappointed that those friendships were hardly ever shown, I think it wasn't until the very later second half that the other four guys showed up to have scenes with him. Simeon is poor, why he accepts Myrtle's deal to travel with him and an artist but again, like Myrtle's mathematical mind, his painting came off more of a bullet point. There was also a random thread of him having to take in his adoptive mother's daughter but there was absolutely nothing done with it and had me head scratching what the point was.

“I’ve never found it easy to be around others, even around members of my own family. I do find it easy to be around you. And not just because you’re so easy on the eyes. If only I could marry someone like you,” she said with a sigh. And then she clapped her hand over her mouth, her eyes wide.

The romance starts to develop between these two on their journey to London and when Simeon insists they must pretend to be married to save her reputation. There's a bullet point one bed scene and some “I think I'm starting to like this person.” The first half has a first kiss between these two and then they're in London and thinking they'll never see each other again. However, Myrtle's brother is in London, angry with her but now wanting her to chaperon his daughter for her coming out because tipsy wife broke her leg. Myrtle recognizes she doesn't have the social graces to navigate the ton, so naturally, she turns to the poor, bastard artist Simeon to help her. Their fake betrothal is back on, so society doesn't question why they're spending so much time together and Simeon claims he must paint Myrtle.

Dear God. Did she know what she was getting into? Did he know what he was getting into?

For some reason, Myrtle gets it in her head that Simeon could be a successful painter if only he didn't get distracted by sex (readers don't really see evidence of him being such a ladies man) and since she really enjoyed their kiss, gets a little something for herself as she's helping out with a new plan, for one week they'll indulge in bedroom play and then one week absolutely no touching, then see which week was more productive for Simeon. I can't say this all made sense and not just randomly thrown in. Anyway, Myrtle suddenly gets porn mouth (one ex. “I want you to— to fuck me,” she said at last, the words dropping like individual bits of flame into his soul. I'm saying this did not fit the character and/with time and specific situation, not that women don't ever talk like this) and after a handie and some head from Simeon, Myrtle thinks to herself that she is in love. The bedroom scenes had definite word spice but it all felt so forced to deliver “hot” but since the characterization and relationship development wasn't there for me, I didn't feel any chemistry.

“What do you want from me, Myrtle?” he asked again, this time in a softer tone. She lifted her face to his, swallowing hard against the emotion. “I want you.”

It took a little longer for Simeon to think he was in love with Myrtle but when he does, he had a sweet moment where he tries to show Myrtle but her obliviousness ruins the moment and they have a quick breakup in the last 10% before they both realize their mistakes and deliver the HEA. Their characterization, along with the feeling of setting because their wasn't much effort to deliver it, was missing from this for me and as a consequence, I couldn't feel their romance. This was full of bullet points but not much crafting and filling out of those points.

3.5 stars

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review

The tairen were dying.

Lord of the Fading Lands was a high fantasy romance story that introduces readers to a world full of humans, Fey, and Mages. Centered around Ellie, the daughter of common folk, her world suddenly gets turned upside down when the King of the Fey declares that she is his truemate. Rain is the last of the tairen fey, a fey who has the power inside of them to shift into a tairen, a cat, dragon like creature. Rain hasn't been in the mortal world for over a thousand years, leaving after the bloody war with the mages where his heartmate was killed and he scorched the earth. When he suddenly feels someone calling out to him, he discovers the connection with Ellie and what she is to him. With the fey dying out, there have been no fey births for the last couple centuries, he thinks Ellie has not only the power to save him but the fey. Ellie has suffered from seizures and nightmares her whole life but even though she knew she was adopted by her parents, she has always thought she was human, but Rain senses magic and power in her.

She had dreamed of Rain Tairen Soul all her life, and here he was. She felt herself moving towards him, her hand reaching out. He had asked, and she had to touch him. If only to be sure he was real.

This first book in the series is an introduction to the world and characters, this ends on a cliffhanger. At 400 pages, you're going to have to want to sink into this world and accept this is the start of threads with just the beginning of weaving happening. There were a couple times I thought the pace dragged but for the most part, I was captured by this world. The fey warriors that guard Ellie, were given enough life to make them distinctive in my mind, Ellie's bestfriend stayed mostly to the shadows but was given an aspect that will have her playing a bigger role in the series, the King and Queen of the mortal land played excellent secondary characters adding a lot to the story and making me interested in them without taking time away from the main characters, Ellie's family of mother, father, and younger sisters helped fill out some aspects of Ellie's character, the two mage villains that pop in and out to bring on the looming danger, and other smaller roles provided great meaty secondary characters.

She felt his lips press against her hair, felt his need for her down to her soul, and for this moment in time she did not feel alone.

Most of this was dedicated to placing the reader in the world, introducing the fantasy setting, familiarizing the reader with the political atmosphere, and starting the romance between Ellie and Rain. Since they are truemates, there is some of that instalove between them but you still get Ellie having to learn to trust Rain and Rain trying to let Ellie get to know him, while trying to keep his tairen tamed so as not to frighten her. They have some quiet talking moments and some physical moments but the quick open door scene doesn't come from these two, they're in the slightly push and pull beginning part of a relationship. I felt like I didn't get to fully know Rain, as this was more about Ellie discovering things about herself, but I think future books will probably bring him into focus more as he'll have a stronger roll to play, he's more waiting around for Ellie to accept things in this one.

The Mages had regained their power, and the world was in danger once more.

While Rain is courting Ellie, he senses the Eld, who he battled a thousand years ago, growing stronger again, even though the King and Queen don't realize it. Readers get povs from the High Mage, leader of the Eld and one of his minions, so the looming feeling is definitely felt. When Rain feels the magic in Ellie, he sends two fey to investigate the origins of her birth and while readers get to see what they find out, Rain, Ellie, or no one else on their side learn what is discovered and will be going into the second book not knowing that looming thread. This had fey, magic, evil looming, and romance, an introduction to a high fantasy world that you'll want to sink into as the characters you're starting to care about look to be on the brink of a war.

2.5 stars

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review

He's out there somewhere in the city.

As an artist that keeps her identity anonymous because she doesn't want her famous mother to garner her any advantages, Rooney is still searching for her defining artistic moment. Known as the Red String Girl because of her incorporating her love of the story of the Red String of Fate, a red string connects you to your soulmate, Rooney has just been contacted by NASA to work with them on a project melding her art with introducing a new mission to the public. It will hopefully bring the exposure she's been wanting for her art career but also money that she desperately wants, to buy back a video of her birth that her mother filmed as an interactive art piece. The new job would also come with working close with the mission liaison, who just so happens to be the man she thought could be her red string soulmate when they had a serendipitous night six months ago in New York City. Jack has been wondering why Rooney never called and when his subconscious thoughts that she could maybe be Red String Girl turn out to be true, he's both relieved to have found her again and scared that his career could be damaged if they don't keep things professional.

“We do have each other's phone numbers. Let's see where that takes us,” I say, feeling hopeful.

Red String Theory was a story that constantly discussed if fate, destiny, and chance are in play in our lives and had me searching for the “A Novel” on the cover. (It wasn't there but romance genre readers will know what I'm saying here and there were discussion questions in the back) Told in alternating first person present point-of-view chapters (I did struggle with the povs sounding in the same voice), Rooney and Jack meet early in the story and have a first night together that lasts about the first 30%. They read sweet and compatible together but differ on their thoughts of fate, Rooney the artist believes in fate and Jack the NASA systems engineer thinks it more chance and self-determination. They spend the night only giving their first names and not talking about their jobs but instead come up with “tests” to see if fate can be measured and therefore exist.

And then I have to ask. “Why did you kiss me?” I whisper.

It was a beginning that did draw me into their story as a couple but then when Rooney accidentally gets Jack's number wrong, they lose their way to keep their connection after they separate the next morning. The story then jumps six months and we get them meeting up again with the NASA job connection. The rest of the story, 350ish pages, is then a lot of hashing and rehashing if fate exists with both Rooney and Jack both thinking they should back away because they don't want to damage their careers. I mentioned looking for the A Novel on the cover because, while I don't think the language completely drifted to lit fic, the tone and conversations between the characters had some of that vibe and in the second half it did start to have moments that felt overwritten; if you like to wallow in it, this has the page count for you. For me, this felt very drawn out and lit fic airy, but newer published romance genre has seemed to be moving in this direction, so, closed door, a few kisses, newer romance readers may enjoy this more.

One of us is going to have to make a decision. We can't risk leaving this up to fate.

The ending did deliver a little bit of the characters choosing each other, which I want to feel even in a fated mates story. The personal issues with Rooney wanting to feel like she made a career on own also get worked through, although the whole thread with her birthing video never felt quite fitted in right to me, but I loved the character of her mother and actually would love to read her story. Jack had a little bit of his own family issues but, like in real life, there wasn't a definite resolve to them but more of a kind of made it to an understanding. These two did have sweet moments but I started to get a little sapped wading through the rehashing fate conversations.

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review

Suddenly we really saw each other, and it surprised us both.

Meg has lived hidden away for the last fifteen years at her grandmother's home, showing up at twenty-three when a panic attack finally chased her away from a professorship. In the beginning, genius Dr. Meg Brightwood worked to solve a centuries old mathematical proof, nicknamed “The Impossible Theorem” but the last few years have been caregiver to her grandmother. When her grandmother dies, Meg finds her safe, secure world starting to come apart. Her father, who never stopped pressuring her growing up, and uncle want her out of the house, but a will gives her two years in the home. It all becomes moot though, when Meg actually solves the proof and the boy she loved comes back into her life.

I wasn't a scared little girl anymore. I was a scared grown woman---which is different.

This was a contemporary fiction, lit fic, and romance story that I hope gets put on a lot of people's radar. Told all from Meg's point-of-view, I could feel her choking and helplessness during her panic attacks, they don't get magically solved at the end and still suffers from them but her character growth from the first page to the last allows her to become better equipped to handle them. Even though this was mainly Meg's story, Isaac, the troubled youth boy that used to do handy work around the grandmother's house, got a full character story. His troubled childhood of having a bi-polar mother, take her anger out on him grandmother, and older sister that tried to raise him but ran into her own problems with drugs, not so oddly gave him common ground and understanding with Meg, the come from money mathematical genius with a father who didn't let her have a childhood and jealous of the attention older sister. There were a couple flashbacks to when she was twenty-three and he nineteen, learning each other and talking to give the reader some foundation for why they're drawn to each other when they meet back up again fifteen years later but most of the meat of their togetherness is in the present, with open-door scenes.

One thing I knew---we both needed contact, each the anchor to the other's faltering ship.

This had a little bit of a slower start but if you're a frequent lit fic reader, it wouldn't faze you, there were a few times where the writing went to lit prose and therefore felt a bit overwritten to me but the emotions are there, making this a story that hits you. The second half didn't have the pacing issue of the first and Meg must deal with her father trying to steal her work and helping Isaac deal with a huge issue hanging over his head, all while they both try to navigate their love for each other; I'm not good enough for you, I'll ruin/be a pain in your life, etc. A cousin of Meg's and Isaac's older sister were fantastic secondary character additions, each bringing out a part of Meg and Isaac's character. There's not a lot of “math” talk, think a watered down movie Queen's Gambit but sexism, misogyny in the mathematical world, academia, is discussed and how Meg was affected by it for some of that world setting. This wasn't light or fluffy but will have your mired in the emotions, wanting Meg to stand up for herself and Isaac to allow her to fight for him.