Through some rabbit hole on the internet, I stumbled across the name Anya Seton and a fancy cover for her book, The Turqouise. Intrigued, I waited patiently for the inter-library loan snail to bring it to me, and boy was I surprised when the book delivered was a battered hardcover bound with actual thread and smelling of an octogenarian’s basement. While slightly put-off, I accepted it anyway and went home to discover the strange and satisfying pleasure of reading an old book. I ripped my fare share […]
Skewer the rich
Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan was the April Mocha Girls Read book club selection. The story revolves around the romance between Rachel Chu and Nicholas Young. The two NY based professors are in love. Nick invites Rachel to spend the summer in Singapore with his family. Nick is the best man for his friend Colin Khoo’s wedding. The plan is to get the big event over with and travel around Asia. Sounds fun, right? However, Nick fails to explain exactly how extensive and wealthy […]
More New York-based contemporary romance
Francesca “Frankie” Cole’s parents went through a fairly harrowing split when she was fourteen. Her father cheated with a much younger woman, left her mother as a broken-down wreck and walked out without ever looking back. Frankie was the one who had to try to pick up the pieces with the devastated parent she had left. After a period of mourning, her mother seemed to decide that enough was enough, cut her hair, lost a lot of weight and started borrowing her daughter’s clothes, determined […]
The control freak and the commitmentphobe find love in New York
Events planner Paige Walker was expecting to be promoted, but instead finds that she’s been fired, alongside her two best friends and a lot of others. Having spent much of her childhood and her teenage years in hospital due to a heart defect, Paige is fiercely independent and wants to be in control of every aspect of her life. Normally very calm, collected and always the one with the plan, Paige is suddenly at a loss and very much adrift. She has some savings, but […]
NOT one of the Top 10 romances of the year. Not even Christina Lauren’s best romance this year.
Holland Bakker is trying to be a writer, but two years after graduating from college, still doesn’t really feel like she has anything to write about. The apartment she lives in is in part paid for by her wealthy uncles, and even her job, as a stagehand/photographer at the Broadway theatre where her uncle is the musical director is thanks to him. She’s feeling adrift and like a bit of a scrounger, and desperately wishes she could find some purpose. For more than six months, […]
A lovely and enjoyable Christmas romance
Perpetual optimist Eva Jordan loves the Christmas holidays, but this year, still mourning her beloved grandmother who passed last year, it’s getting more difficult for her to summon up her holiday cheer. Now that her two best friends and business partners are both in happy relationships, Eva’s goal for the Christmas season is meeting someone she might find happiness with too. But first she has a job to do. One of her elderly clients has hired her to decorate her grandson’s luxurious penthouse apartment while […]