I’m starting off with two books that when i picked them up I had no idea they would be so complementary/eerily and weirdly similar. However here we are, two of the best romances of the summer, and two which you should pick up.
You with a View by Jessica Joyce
Goodreads blurb: Two high school enemies must reunite for a road trip inspired by their grandparents’ broken engagement in this electric debut romance. Noelle Shepherd is unemployed, living with her parents, and grieving the loss of her beloved grandmother when she discovers decades-old photos of Gram and a smitten man, tucked alongside a love letter. She creates a TikTok to search for the mystery man, which goes viral, and she’s shocked when his grandson responds—a man who happens to be her high school nemesis, Theo Spencer. Noelle refuses to let Theo’s annoying accomplishments in adulthood—or his sexy smirk—stand in the way of meeting his grandfather and unlocking the secrets he knew about her gram as a young woman. When she learns that their plans to elope were thwarted, Noelle decides to take the honeymoon road trip they planned but never got to carry out. There’s a catch, though: Paul, Theo’s grandfather, asks to come with her, and he insists that Theo join them. It’ll be a miracle if they make it through the trip without Noelle throwing Theo out of the moving car—or the bed they end up sharing. As the miles tick by, the tension simmers hotter between them…until she discovers that Theo’s hiding a secret that could cause their tenuous relationship to end before it can restart.
My take: 5 out of 5 This might be my romance of the summer. It has some stiff competition as it was a great summer of reading, but this, this is the book you have to take to the beach with you and on your next trip. Also especially because it is a book about a trip so that would be Perfect kismet. I love both Noelle and Theo, how flawed they were and how much they grew together. Paul is an adorable side character, he brought so much heart to the story and how he told his story with Gram was just lovely. An enemies to lovers trope is not my favorite but here it just works.
Mrs. Nash’s Ashes by Sarah Adler
Goodreads blurb: A starry-eyed romantic, a cynical writer, and (the ashes of) an elderly woman take the road trip of a lifetime that just might upend everything they believe about true love. Millicent Watts-Cohen is on a mission. When she promised her elderly best friend that she’d reunite her with the woman she fell in love with nearly eighty years ago, she never imagined that would mean traveling from D.C. to Key West with three tablespoons of Mrs. Nash’s remains in her backpack. But Millie’s determined to give her friend a symbolic happily-ever-after, before it’s (really) too late—and hopefully reassure herself of love’s lasting power in the process. She just didn’t expect to have a living travel companion. After a computer glitch grounds flights, Millie is forced to catch a ride with Hollis Hollenbeck, an also-stranded acquaintance from her ex’s MFA program. Hollis certainly does not believe in happily-ever-afters—symbolic or otherwise—and makes it quite clear that he can’t fathom Millie’s plan ending well for anyone. But as they contend with peculiar bed-and-breakfasts, unusual small-town festivals, and deer with a death wish, Millie begins to suspect that her reluctant travel partner might enjoy her company more than he lets on. Because for someone who supposedly doesn’t share her views on romance, Hollis sure is becoming invested in the success of their journey. And the closer they get to their destination, the more Millie has to admit that maybe this trip isn’t just about Mrs. Nash’s love story after all—maybe it’s also about her own.
My take: 4.5 out of 5. What is it about road trips that is making for fabulous romantic books? I had just finished You with a View when this was selected as my book club book for the month and it was quite funny how the two tied together. Although I did like you with a view better this is a perfect companion. The premise is beautiful and although Millie stressed me out half the book their relationship was super cute. Also i didn’t know whether to tear up or laugh at the concept of the three table spoons of ashes, it was just so heart warming and heart breaking. The concept of the broccoli festival was straight out of a movie I would have definitely watched and loved, and the small town feel was so perfect. Because really the start of this book, with the cancelled flights and planes trains and automobiles had me feeling like i was straight into some of of my favorite Christmas Classics.
One of my favorite things was that at the end of the book the author wrote: Books You’ll Find Sarah reading in the Passenger seat (Even though shell definitely get carsick). It’s such a fab idea to get a glimpse of what ticks the mind of an author you just enjoyed (i did add some new ones to my Good reads wish list). It also made me think what were mine? So in the spirit of Sarah Adler, here my my 10 books (and i interpreted as my 10 desert island books which was a really hard exercise and I might change my mind tomorrow and its also very skewed to the last couple of years as my memory is terrible): Midnight library, The Henna Artist, Book Lovers, The Nightingale, The Last Romantics, Girls Guide to Hunting and Fishing, Bridgit Jones Diary, Pride & Prejudice, Good in Bed, P.S. I love You
Save What’s Left by Elizabeth Castellano
Goodreads blurb: When Kathleen Deane’s husband, Tom, tells her he’s no longer happy with his life and their marriage, Kathleen is confused. They live in Kansas. They’ve been married thirty years. Who said anything about being happy? But with Tom off finding himself, Kathleen starts to think about what she wants. And her thoughts lead her to a small beach community on the east coast, a town called Whitbey that has always looked lovely in the Christmas letters her childhood friend Josie sends every year. It turns out, though, that life in Whitbey is nothing like Josie’s letters. Kathleen’s new neighbor, Rosemary, is cantankerous, and the town’s supervisor won’t return Kathleen’s emails, but worst of all is the Sugar Cube, the monstrosity masquerading as a holiday home that Kathleen’s absentee neighbors are building next door to her quaint (read: tiny) cottage. As Kathleen gets more and more involved in the fight against the Sugar Cube and town politics overall, she realizes that Whitbey may not be a fairytale, but it just might be exactly what she needed. Save What’s Left can best be described as the “un-beach read.” It pulls back the curtain on life in a beach town, revealing the true cost of a pretty view. Told from the candid and irreverent perspective of a newcomer turned local, this is a story of forgiveness, fortitude, and second chances.
My take: 2 out of 5. I still don’t understand why i finished this book. I was about to DNF so many tines but i was in a long car ride and didn’t have another audiobook at hand so figured might as well. I did not enjoy it and it doesn’t get any better. The main character is insufferable and the whole book is just one big complaining rant. This is no the positive energy book I want in my life. I rally don’t even understand its point , but most importantly how was this GMA’s book club pick?
The next two are a series..
Secretly Yours by Tessa Bailey
Goodreads blurb: Hallie Welch fell hard for Julian Vos at fourteen, after they almost kissed in the dark vineyards of his family’s winery. Now the prodigal hottie has returned to their small town. When Hallie is hired to revamp the gardens on the Vos estate, she wonders if she’ll finally get that smooch. But the grumpy professor isn’t the teenager she remembers and their polar opposite personalities clash spectacularly. One wine-fueled girls’ night later, Hallie can’t shake the sense that she did something reckless–and then she remembers the drunken secret admirer letter she left for Julian. Oh shit. On sabbatical from his ivy league job, Julian plans to write a novel. But having Hallie gardening right outside his window is the ultimate distraction. She’s eccentric, chronically late, often literally covered in dirt–and so unbelievably beautiful, he can’t focus on anything else. Until he finds an anonymous letter sent by a woman from his past. Even as Julian wonders about this admirer, he’s sucked further into Hallie’s orbit. Like the flowers she plants all over town, Hallie is a burst of color in Julian’s gray-scale life. For a man who irons his socks and runs on tight schedules, her sunny chaotic energy makes zero sense. But there’s something so familiar about her… and her very presence is turning his world upside down
My take: 2.5 out of 5. I think this is proof that maybe I’m just not a Tessa Bailey person. I was all about this romance set in Napa (i love me some wine) but here it just failed me. First there was more gardening than wine in terms of the setting. Second, I really did not love the characters and found them annoying. But the main issue, is that there was such a disconnect between the real life voices and the bedroom voices that it just feels off. I’m fine with some Steam and a good B.R.A.D., but i feel like here a nice romance writer was writing some scenes and then they copy pasted some steamy text from another book once they were in a bedroom scene and there was really little dialog or story sense between both.
Unfortunately Yours by Tessa Bailey
Goodreads blurb: A down-on-her-luck Napa heiress suggests a mutually beneficial marriage of convenience to a man she can’t stand… only to discover there’s a fine line between love and hate. After losing her job and her fiancé in one fell swoop, Natalie Vos returned home to lick her wounds. A few months later, she’s sufficiently drowned her sorrows in cabernet and she’s ready to get back on her feet. She just needs her trust fund to finance her new business venture. Unfortunately, the terms require she marry before she can have the money. And well, dumped, remember? But Natalie is desperate enough to propose to a man who makes her want to kill him–and kiss him, in equal measure. August Cates may own a vineyard, but he doesn’t know jack about making wine. He’s determined to do his late best friend proud, no matter what it takes. Except his tasting room is empty, his wine is disgusting (seriously, he once saw someone gag), and his buddy’s legacy is circling the drain. No bank will give him the loan he needs to turn the business around… and then the gorgeous, feisty heiress knocks on his door. Natalie has haunted his dreams since the moment they met, but their sizzling chemistry immediately morphed into simmering insults. Now, a quickie marriage could help them both. A sham wedding, a few weeks living under the same roof, and then they can go their separate ways–assuming they make it out alive. How hard could it be? There’s just one thing they didn’t account for: their unfortunate, unbearable, undeniable attraction.
This is an ARC review thanks to a gift from the publisher.
My take: 3 out of 5. I’m glad i decided to stick to this book after really not liking Secretly Yours, because it was a much better experience. What was better? MY two main reasons to like this one much more was that there was more wine! and also Natalie was actually quite a cool character. I still feel the disjointed voices between in and out of the bedroom here. Also August was a bit of a caricature I felt, not as developed a character as Natalie, but still entertaining.
Tati's Tidbits 