Reading - April 2023

Take A Chance On Me by Jennifer Dawson (2014)

The Winner Takes It All by Jennifer Dawson (2014)

What originally drew me to these books were the ABBA songs as titles. Other than that, the basic premise is fairly standard: another idyllic US small town where people can find real life and love after the artificiality of the big city - so far, so formulaic. The formula is stretched too far though with the alpha-male characters. It's one thing to be swept away by passion and another to force your passion on someone else. Maybe it's appealing to the millions who lapped up 50 Shades (which I haven't read, incidentally), but the willing submission of the female characters made me uncomfortable. The books are well-written and the characters believable - mostly - but I won't be reading any more.

Finding Hope by Stacy Finz (2015)

Working my way through the "Nugget" series again reminds me of how well-balanced they are: a superb mix of plot, romance, sex and characterisation - in particular, many of the secondary characters are really well drawn and fill the story out very well.

One Two Three Four: The Beatles in Time by Craig Brown (2020)

This is an odd book, and one I found hard to get through. It consists of one hundred and fifty short vignettes, in broadly chronological order, about different aspects of The Beatles, from trivia, fan accounts, and curiosities to interviews and fan conventions. There's no real thread and overall the sense is of a rather scattershot approach that feels like it was assembled piecemeal. I'm not sure I understand the universal acclaim for it.

Second Chances by Stacy Finz (2015)

A little less well-paced than the previous two installments in this series, and I found myself getting frustrated by how self-absorbed the main hero was. Probably realistic actually, but annoying. I enjoyed it though.

Bedlam by Christopher Brookmyre (2013)

I've not read this for over two years, which when you consider that up until then I'd pretty much read it once a year since I got it, is something. So, on the (counts) eighth reading, is it still good? Yes, it is. One of my favourites.

Starting Over by Stacy Finz (2015)

Getting Lucky by Stacy Finz (2015)

If there's a sign I've not been well, it's that I'm ploughing through easy-reading romance novels. Nice stories that resolve well and don't require too much brain power, but are engaging enough to keep my attention, and not make me feel like my time has been wasted. Both of these books are similar in structure and pattern but different enough to feel like it's not a formula.

The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang (2018)

Re-reading this nearly five years later (and where has that time gone?) because it stuck with me and although I remembered less about it than I thought, it was still as enjoyable as I recalled. Just as nice the second time round.

Borrowing Trouble by Stacy Finz (2016)

More cute fun in Nugget, this time with a soupçon of thriller and suspense. Again, I'm enjoying the fact that there are secondary characters with nicely developed stories too (and of course those end happily too).