fiction

Love You, Mean It

/ Brienna / Leave a comment

If you’re a fan of romantic comedies, enemies to lovers, and fake dating tropes, then this book is for you! Love You, Mean It by Jilly Gagnon tells the story of Ellie Greco. When a local real estate developer’s plans threaten the family business, Greco’s Deli, Ellie goes to great lengths to stop them.

Book cover image featuring a man and woman leaning back to back in front of a storefront.

While our protagonist does make some cringe-worthy choices, I still thoroughly enjoyed this. Ellie made her choices with the best intentions in mind, and like her, as a person who sometimes lacks self-confidence, I can relate to her state of mind. And I’m sure you’ll be rooting for her, just like I was.

Even though the premise is completely different, this reminded me of the movie How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. The chemistry between our main characters, Ellie and Theo, perhaps?

If you’re looking for a fun beach read, or something warm and fuzzy to keep you warm this winter, I highly recommend Love You, Mean It.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House/Ballantine for an advance copy in exchange for sharing my opinions. All opinions in this review are my own. Links in this review are affiliate links, and I may earn a commission from qualifying purchases.

Twenty-Seven Minutes

/ Brienna / Leave a comment

Twenty-Seven Minutes by Ashley Tate is a book about secrets. As the 10th anniversary of a tragic accident and death of a young girl approaches, tensions are high.

The book centers on the death of Phoebe and questions surrounding the accident that caused her death, and why it took her brother, Grant, twenty-seven minutes to call for help.

I had high hopes for this. It started well. However, I quickly found all of the characters unlikeable, even the dead girl. And that’s unfortunate. I also disliked the portrayal of mental illness and the fantastical nature of some of the latter parts of the novel.

Overall, I thought some of the twists were interesting, but not enough to make me fall in love with the book, the plot, or the characters.

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for an advance copy in exchange for sharing my opinions. All opinions in this review are my own.

The Book of Two Ways

/ Brienna / Leave a comment

The Book of Two Ways by Jodi Picoult is yet another book featuring infidelity.

I’m not really sure if I liked it or not. I didn’t really care for the characters, but I found parts of the plot interesting.

What I loved:

  • Learning about The Book of Two Ways and Egyptology in general.
  • Dawn’s work as a death doula and her friendship with her client Win.
  • Quantum mechanics and discussions of Schrödinger’s cat and the multiverse.

What I didn’t love:

  • The alternating timelines. It was confusing. Is this now? The past? Boston? Egypt? I understand why the narrative device was chosen, and appreciate the twist at the end, but there could have been better signaling of when/where the story was at.
  • The infidelity.
  • The implausibility of Dawn and Wyatt.
  • Dawn’s actions, which really did not seem to match what we’re told about her character (selfless, loving, etc.)

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

Recommended if you love Egypt, mummies, or anything about Egyptology.

Dogboy vs. Catfish

/ Brienna / Leave a comment

Dogboy v Catfish by Luke Gracias is billed as a mystery-thriller. It was a quick, somewhat fun read, but lacking depth for my tastes.

When a woman knows the date she’ll file for divorce on her wedding day, there can be no good intentions. When the husband goes missing just before the planned divorce date, you wonder if there was foul-play or if he somehow got wise to her schemes.

This novel has a detached, 3rd person narration, as we are following the police investigators and others in the story more than our main characters. We are mostly told about them and about what they have done and speculations on their actions. This is somewhat limiting, and makes most of the characters come across as one-dimensional.

Additionally, I probably would not have read it if I had realized it centered around counterfeit designer goods. After reading Counterfeit by Kirstin Chen last year, I’ve had my fill on the topic. Others might find this more interesting than I do, though!

I did enjoy the analogy of The Endless Knot. Overall, the plot is interesting, and the ending was good, but the middle part was lacking depth. Due to the shallow characters, there wasn’t much of an emotional investment in the story, so it didn’t really matter to me how it ended or who “won.”

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Thanks to NetGalley and the author for an advance copy in exchange for sharing my opinions. All opinions in this review are my own.