Reader, I’ve been reading a bunch of random books, with absolutely no direction in my life. Sitting at home and just trying to get out of my own head by getting into someone else’s. These are three of them. I liked some better than others, but they all had interesting bits. Here they are, in order of least favorite to most beloved.
You’d Be Mine was a random Kindle download I picked up when the whole RWA thing blew up, and I had seen Erin Hahn interact with a bunch of writers that I like, so I gave her a shot.
It tells the story of a superstar country singer/hearthrob Clay Coolidge who finally meets his match in Annie Mathers, his opening singer on his huge summer tour. Annie is the daughter of Nashville royalty, but determined not to follow in her parents’ tragic pasts. Clay drowns his sorrows on a nightly basis with booze and women, and is on the path to complete destruction.
The plot is very A Star is Born, but with teenagers. Clay’s fame slowly recedes as his problems increase. Annie’s fame skyrockets, but she just can’t give up on Clay.
Nothing super original, but I enjoyed the story. I don’t love country music, but for some reason, I love to know about its history and how cut-throat it is to make it in Nashville. 2.5 stars.
Next!
Regretting You was a hot mess of a book that I couldn’t put down. I haven’t read Colleen Hoover before, and probably won’t again, but I enjoyed the experience for what it was. Not going to tell you the plot, because that’s no fun.
This book zigs and zags constantly, and I was constantly surprised by some of the plot twists that came about. It reminded me of When Life Happened, which was a popular Cannonball book a few years ago (CBR9!)…the book starts off as one thing, and then quickly becomes another thing. I like that reading experience, even if the book and the writing aren’t all that great.
This book is mostly about mother/daughter relationships and how secrets can tear families apart. As the parent of a teenage girl, I hope I never, ever encounter a teenager as HORRIBLE as Clara in this book. I wanted her to get punched in the face. She was the worst. Everything she did to everyone was the worst. Yes, teenagers are dumb sometimes, but this was OFF THE CHARTS.
TL;DR — the writing of this isn’t great, but good lord, this was addicting. 3 stars.
Lastly, a popular choice around her of late, Get a Life Chloe Brown. I really liked this one.
Chloe is a wealthy young lady, living on her own for the first time, and dealing with the chronic pain of fibromyalgia. It effects everything in her life, and ruined her last relationship.
Chloe’s apartment handyman is the gorgeous and charming Redmond. Red was once an up and coming artist with the world at his fingertips. But now he fixes lights and heaters in an apartment complex.
Chloe relies on sarcasm to keep her feelings in check and to mask her almost constant pain. Red wears his emotions on his sleeve. Clearly, these two aren’t going to get along right away.
But they do. And they have fun together. And they bring out the best in each other. And sometimes the worst in each other. They have ups and downs, but I never doubted that things would work out ok for these two (and really, that isn’t a spoiler. You’ve read books before. You know.)
I really liked that this book had a female lead who was a woman of color, who happened to be plus-sized, and who had real, legitimate problems. Red never mentioned her color or her size other than when he was saying how beautiful she was. Her family was filled with fun sisters and grandmothers. She was an amazing web designer. Her looks don’t matter. All that mattered was that she was someone who was lost in her own life and trying to find her way, and that being with Red made her happy.
I had a few quibbles with the editing of this book, and actually felt that the book would have been better without any of the “adult’ scenes in it. I felt like those took me out of the story. But these are minor issues! I liked it! I’d definitely read another book by Talia Hibbert. 3.5 stars.
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