Book Review: Dragon Kin’s Blood by Jo Jo Gatenby

5 March 2026 by Melissa

About the book: Dragon Kin’s Blood

Who do you trust when you can’t go home?

After centuries of hiding themselves and their shifting abilities from outsiders, the Dragon Kin decide to send a delegation of “dragon riders” to a nearby Lowlander territory. Eager to see the world, young Lauran quickly volunteers. But not all Lowlanders can be trusted. As the visit comes to an end, Lauran finds herself trapped in her draconic form—and hunted by an evil warlock. Desperate to protect herself and her people, she flees along the Dragon Spine Mountains, away from friends and foes alike.

Meanwhile, the last place Jenny wants to be during her summer break from university is on a family vacation with her mother’s new husband and his young son, Davy. Hoping for some peace and quiet, she explores a nearby cave—only to stumble into a portal to the Kingdom of Galahar, a land of magic and mythological creatures.

As Jenny searches for Davy, who follows her through the portal, and Lauran struggles for freedom, they come together with the help of Nath, an apprentice shaman of the Anishinabe people. Between Jenny’s technology and Nath’s magic, can they help Lauran escape the warlock’s relentless pursuit before he gets his hands on the Dragon Kin’s blood?

Buy, read, and discuss this book:

Amazon (UK) | Amazon (USA) | Goodreads

About the author: Jo Gatenby

Thanks to her great-grandmother, Jo Gatenby is a status Algonquin, of the Pikwakanagan First Nation, in Canada. The mountain people in this, her first novel are heavily influenced by native beliefs, and the magic words used are Algonquin language based.

Jo writes whatever the voices shouting in her head tell her to. As a result, she has had over two dozen stories and flash fiction published in on-line magazines. Links to many of these can be found on her website. She has also self-published five children’s books, which can also be found on her website.

Connect with Jo:

Website | Facebook | Instagram

My Thoughts

I’m always drawn to fantasy that takes familiar ingredients and mixes them in slightly unexpected ways, and Dragon Kin’s Blood by Jo Gatenby does exactly that. We get dragon shapeshifters, a secluded mountain culture, political ambition in the form of a power-hungry duke, and a warlock who is clearly bad news for anyone in his path. It’s YA fantasy, but with some cozy touches—most notably the presence of kaffee—and the added wrinkle of two kids from our world suddenly finding themselves in the middle of a magical one.

The story begins with several characters moving through their own separate threads. When those threads finally weave together, the narrative gains momentum and becomes especially engaging. The dynamic between the characters is fun to watch develop, and a number of the side figures are interesting enough that I would happily spend more time with them in future installments.

The women in this story are particularly well drawn. Each one feels like an individual, with her own perspective and reactions rather than blending into the background. Gatenby’s prose is also approachable in the best way: clear, descriptive, and easy to follow without getting bogged down in excess detail.

At the same time, there are places where the story seems eager to move forward just when a moment might benefit from a little more space. Certain turning points arrive and resolve quickly, leaving me curious about how those experiences truly shaped the characters involved. The climactic sequence, which carries major stakes for the world and the people in it, might have landed even more strongly with a deeper look at what everyone was thinking and feeling as events unfolded.

One small personal note: I am absolutely the reader who flips to the map before beginning chapter one. The map included here is impressive in scope, though intricate enough that I occasionally had to pause and trace things out to keep track of where everyone was headed.

Overall, this is the kind of fantasy you can sink into without emotional whiplash or relentless grimness. The adventure unfolds steadily, the characters are enjoyable company, and the world hints at more stories still waiting to be told.

Dragon Kin’s Blood offers an inviting introduction to a magical setting filled with dragons, shifting alliances, and journeys across rugged landscapes.

Goes well with: a mug of kaffee, fresh bread, and a crackling fire.

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Book Review: The Regression Strain by Kevin Hwang

23 February 2026 by Melissa

About the book: The Regression Strain

Genre: Medical Thriller
Publisher: Normal Range Press
Publication Date: May 26, 2025
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Dr. Peter Palma joins the medical team of the Paradise to treat passengers for minor ailments as the cruise ship sails across the Atlantic. But he soon discovers that something foul is festering under the veneer of leisure. Deep in the bowels of the ship, a vile affliction pits loved ones against each other and shatters the bonds of civil society. The brig fills with felons, the morgue with bodies, and the vacation becomes a nightmare.

One by one, the chaos claims Peter’s allies. His mentor spirals into madness and the security chief fights a losing battle against anarchy. No help comes from the captain, who has an ego bigger than the ocean.

With the ship racing toward an unprepared New York, the fate of humanity hinges on Peter’s deteriorating judgment. But he’s hallucinating and delirious…and sometimes primal urges are impossible to resist.

The Regression Strain is a fast-paced medical thriller laced with psychological suspense, perfect for fans of Michael Crichton and Blake Crouch.

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Watch the Trailer for The Regression Strain

About the author: Kevin Hwang

Kevin O. Hwang, MD, is a professor of internal medicine in Houston where he sees patients and teaches residents. His academic work has appeared in leading medical journals. Nothing excites him more than chicken enchiladas, index cards, and appropriately sized packaging. The Regression Strain is his debut novel.

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My Thoughts

I’m a sucker for a good science-based thriller, and I also love medical drama, so as someone who came of age reading Michael Crichton, when I had the opportunity to review this book, I jumped at it, and Kevin Hwang’s writing caught me and held me fast from beginning to end.

What unfolds on the Paradise is more than a contained outbreak story. It is a pressure cooker at sea, blending investigative tension with deeply personal stakes. The illness may be the catalyst, but the heart of the novel lies in the people trapped with it: physicians, security officers, crew members, and passengers from wildly different backgrounds. The cast feels varied and fully human, and the story makes it brutally clear that no one is insulated by rank, expertise, or good intentions. I was especially drawn to Dr. Peter Palma, whose history shadows every choice he makes. His compassion is genuine, but so is his fragility, and that combination gives the narrative real emotional weight.

The ethical questions here are not abstract. They land hard and fast as alliances fracture and fear overrides reason. The atmosphere grows tighter with every chapter, and the cruise ship setting amplifies that claustrophobia in a way that feels almost uncomfortably plausible. The pacing never lets up, yet the author still finds room to explore what happens when advanced medicine collides with the most primitive parts of human nature. More than once, I felt echoes of 2020 in the way misinformation spreads, authority falters, and ordinary people are forced to confront who they really are under pressure.

Ultimately, The Regression Strain delivers exactly what I want from a medical thriller: credible science, escalating stakes, and characters whose choices matter. It is unsettling without being gratuitous, thoughtful without slowing the momentum, and it lingers after the final page in the way the best speculative fiction does. If you like your suspense grounded in biology and human frailty rather than gimmicks, this one absolutely belongs on your list.

Goes well with: strong black coffee in a thick mug, eaten-at-midnight leftovers from the fridge, and the uneasy feeling of being far from shore with nowhere to run.

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Book Review: The Locked Room by Holly Hepburn

21 January 2026 by Melissa

About the Book: The Locked Room

Join Harriet White in 1930’s London for another glorious Sherlock Holmes-inspired mystery, for fans of Nita Prose and Janice Hallett.

After a very close call on the Norfolk Fens, Harriet White is about ready to hang up her deerstalker and settle back into her normal life, working in a bank on Baker Street. Until she discovers a letter in The Times newspaper challenging Sherlock Holmes to prove his status as the world’s greatest detective, by solving an impossible mystery. The letter, signed Professor James Moriarty, advises Holmes that the crime will be committed within the following seven days. There will be no further clues – Holmes himself must deduce which crime is the correct one to investigate.

Dismissing the letter as a prank, Harry goes about her business until news breaks of the theft of valuable jewel collection from a safe in an apparently locked room in a Mayfair townhouse.

Intrigued in spite of her misgivings, Harry dons a disguise and investigates. But as she begins to unpick the puzzle, a body is found. And now, a stranger, and far more deadly mystery begins to unfold around her…

Buy, read, and discuss this book:

Purchase Link | Goodreads

About the Author: Holly Hepburn

Holly Hepburn writes escapist, swoonsome fiction that sweeps her readers into idyllic locations, from her native Cornwall to the windswept beauty of Orkney. She has turned her hand to cosy crime inspired by Sherlock Holmes himself. Holly lives in leafy Hertfordshire with her adorable partner in crime, Luna the Labrador.

Connect with Holly:

Newsletter Signup | Instagram

My Thoughts

Locked-room mysteries are my Kryptonite, so I was already inclined to be generous with The Locked Room. Add in a female sleuth, a Sherlock-adjacent premise, and 1930s London, and I was fully on board before the first page. What I did not expect was how thoroughly this book would delight me—or how quickly I’d be buying the first two installments in the series for pure, unapologetic pleasure.

The Locked Room drops us back into Harriet White’s world after a near-fatal case on the Norfolk Fens. Harriet is ready to retreat to the relative safety of her bank job on Baker Street, until a provocative letter appears in The Times, publicly challenging Sherlock Holmes to solve an “impossible” crime in seven days. When a jewel theft from a supposedly locked Mayfair room hits the headlines, Harriet’s curiosity—and sense of justice—prove impossible to ignore.

I jumped into this series with book three and never felt lost, which is no small feat. Author Holly Hepburn provides just enough grounding to orient new readers while rewarding longtime fans with deeper character beats. I was also intrigued to learn that the premise draws inspiration from a real historical incident, which adds an extra frisson to the cleverness of the setup.

Hepburn’s writing is witty, assured, and inviting, with a light touch that keeps the pages turning. The historical setting feels lived-in rather than performative. I could see the grand townhouses, the quieter streets, and the sharp contrast between wealth and hardship in interwar London. Period details are woven in naturally, never paraded for effect, which makes the world feel solid and breathable.

This particular mystery unfolds around a snowbound manor and delivers one of the most satisfying locked-room puzzles I’ve read in years. False identities, impossible footprints, and a wonderfully human subplot involving Harriet’s mischievous younger brother keep both the tension and the charm dialed high. Hepburn’s prose is richly evocative; the chill of the house, the glow of firelight, and the small rituals of comfort feel almost tangible, even as the tension tightens and the stakes rise.

The twists genuinely surprised me. The romantic thread simmers gently without ever hijacking the mystery. When the final reveal landed, I actually gasped—then immediately flipped back to earlier chapters to admire how skillfully I’d been misdirected.

The Locked Room is clever, cozy without being complacent, and deeply satisfying for puzzle-lovers. If you adore classic detective fiction but crave a fresh perspective, Harriet White deserves a place on your shelf—and very likely, in your reading rotation for a long while to come.

Goes well with: a blazing fire, a generous glass of brandy, and the delicious certainty that you’re about to be very cleverly fooled.

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A Treatise Martian Chiro Ebook Cover 10.18.25

Book Review: A Treatise on Martian Chiropractic Manipulation and Other Satirical Tales by Lisa Fox

18 January 2026 by Melissa

About the Book: A Treatise on Martian Chiropractic Manipulation and Other Satirical Tales

Human beings are flawed creatures, and humor is the perfect means to exploit the endless fodder of our shortcomings. This multi-genre collection of twenty-one short satirical stories will leave you smirking, chuckling, scratching your head, and maybe even muttering to yourself “WTF is this?”

From the award-winning author of the acclaimed short story collections “Core Truths” and “Passageways: Short Speculative Fiction” comes something a little bit irreverent and a whole lot of weird.

Ketchup-covered chiropractors on Mars. Wealthy vigilante housewives battling coffee-addicted aliens. Cheerleaders protesting unrestricted access to cupcakes. Canine doulas. Hallucinating marine biologists. No one is immune from the absurdity.

Buy, read, and discuss this book:

Amazon (US) | Amazon (UK) | Goodreads

About the Author: Lisa Fox

Lisa Fox loves to ask questions. By day, she’s a pharmaceutical market researcher. By night, she channels that same inquisitive spirit into writing short fiction, building worlds and characters that explore the meaning of life, the universe, and everything in between. She survives, and sometimes thrives, in the chaos of suburban New Jersey with her husband, two sons, and quirky Double-Doodle dog. Lisa is an award-winning author of two short story collections: Core Truths and Passageways: Short Speculative Fiction.

Connect with Lisa:

Website | BlueSky | Facebook | Instagram | X (Twitter)

My Thoughts

If satire is a mirror, A Treatise on Martian Chiropractic Manipulation and Other Satirical Tales tilts it just enough to catch the light at an unexpected angle.

This multi-genre collection moves between speculative fiction, satire, social commentary, and moments that are deliberately unsettling. Humor is very much part of the mix, but it is not the whole of it. Fox allows different stories to do different kinds of work, and the tonal shifts feel intentional rather than scattered.

The titular piece is a standout and an effective entry point into the collection’s sensibility. Beyond that, some of my favorite stories include “A Feral Yearning,” “Community Watch,” and “Crazy for Coqui.” These pieces succeed for very different reasons. Community Watch is the most overtly tense, grounded in suspicion and collective behavior. As someone who has always struggled to fit in, and is now in her second term as a member of her HOA’s board of directors, this piece particularly resonated with me. A Feral Yearning and Crazy for Coqui feel more observational, exploring ideas and impulses without pressing for a single emotional response.

“Is That an Emotional Support Robot?” left me wanting more, which I mean as a compliment. “Population Management” and “Obfuscation Nation,” by contrast, are both brilliant and disturbing, stories that do not soften their implications or rush toward resolution.

Across twenty-one stories, Fox demonstrates strong control of craft while working across genres and tones. Some pieces are amusing, others thought-provoking or quietly unsettling. There isn’t a weak choice in the collection, only different entry points depending on what kind of story you’re in the mood for.

Goes well with: coffee made from real Brazilian beans and a chocolate-mint cupcake.

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Review: The Calendar, by WM Gunn – with Giveaway

23 May 2025 by Melissa

About the Book, The Calendar

Genre: Science Fiction
Pages: 302
Publication Date: April 3, 2025
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Long-range monitors detect a massive rock plunging through space on a path toward Earth. Will it miss our planet, deliver a glancing blow, or destroy Mankind? And how will people react to an uncertain future? Or will they be told?

What if everything and everyone you cherish vanished in a heartbeat? What if you knew the very day your world would cease to exist? What if you could not save those you love? What if all your dreams and hopes of a brighter tomorrow would never be realized? How would you react if there was nothing you could do to delay it or prevent it? What would you do?

Prepare yourself for the upcoming end of all that is right and wrong. Prepare yourself for the fear and uncertainty of the unknown. Prepare to feel the tension grow and grow.

Prepare to read The Calendar.

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About the author, WM Gunn

WM Gunn is a native Texan who spent many years in the pharmaceutical industry in sales, sales management, and training and development. He is active in writing groups and volunteering with non-profit groups. He lives in his hometown in Texas with his high school sweetheart bride of many years. To date, he has written hundreds of short stories, three novellas, and two novels. Holmes, Moriarty, and the Monkeys and Chasing the Sun are two novellas released earlier in 2024. His debut full-length novel The Two Terrors of Tulelake was released in October 2024, as an e-book and as a paperback. The Calendar is his newest novel available in April 2025 as an e-book and in paperback

Connect with WM

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My Thoughts

Part thriller, part human drama, The Calendar is a truly original novel about a classic science fiction trope: what would you do if you knew a giant meteor was about to slam into the Earth.

But in WM Gunn’s deft hands, this book defies the tropes, forgoing (mostly) the expected flash and bang for quieter moments. The plot progresses not with one protagonist, but in a series of vignettes told over the course of a calendar year, showing us not only who changes when faced with impending doom, and who stays the same.

The early chapters introduce us to the characters – lawyers with marital issues, doctors with challenging patients, criminals, do-gooders, and world leaders faced with what to tell their various constituents. As the novel progresses, details are filled in both with the external crises of the traveling asteroid, nicknamed Goliath, and the more immediate goings-on at home. Each flip of the calendar page (or new chapter) heightens the tension and makes the characters increasingly more dimensional, until they are as real as anyone we readers might know.

The story of the pizzeria owner, Max, who offers free pies to his city’s unhoused population, really struck a chord with me, reminding me of my own local pizza maker who fired up her oven in a shop without electricity to feed first-responders and those who’d lost their homes after last year’s back-to-back hurricanes on Florida’s Gulf Coast. It’s that kind of resonance that makes this novel so compelling.

One detail that makes it even more relatable is the addition of a song that goes with each month, with lyrics quoted in the text and a playlist provided at the end. It’s a nice touch and really added to my appreciation of the author’s work.

It’s not a spoiler to say that this book doesn’t have a happy ending. We’re told in the blurb that Earth won’t survive. But despite the fact that there’s no neat sci-fi solution, this book isn’t sad. It’s uplifting. It’s hopeful. In a world that seems increasingly dark, it reminds us that there are good people all around us. The Calendar should be on every discerning reader’s summer TBR list.

Goes well with: pizza, obviously, the Neapolitan kind with a crispy crust and blistered cheese, and beer or sweet tea, your choice.

To learn more about the book, look for #LSLLTheCalendar on your preferred social media platform.

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Review: Green Forest, Red Earth, Blue Sea by Jim Gulledge

15 August 2024 by Melissa

About the book, Green Forest, Red Earth, Blue Sea

In Green Forest, Red Earth, Blue Sea, amid the rugged terrain of North Carolina, a small pocket watch bears witness to the loves and losses of three families-the Kellers, Elliotts, and McClures.

As the heirloom passes down over a hundred years, questions arise. Can strength and goodness be gifted to one’s heirs? What about corruption and evil? Do the lives of ancestors have any bearing on those who come after them?

From Reconstruction to the modern age, this sweeping family saga speaks to what binds families together and tears them apart. Powers of darkness and light fight for the minds and hearts of every individual.

In a land of beauty populated by Scots Irish pioneers, cotton farmers, Native Americans, fishermen, and pirates, Green Forest, Red Earth, Blue Sea is a chronicle of human failings and the power of redemption-and a probing narrative of which is the stronger force.

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About the author, Jim Gulledge

Jim Gulledge earned an AB in Christian education from Pfeiffer University, an MA in English from Clemson University, and a DMin in theological studies from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He has participated in the Adult Development Institute at Harvard University, the Fulbright German Administrators Exchange Program, and the C. S Lewis Summer Residence program in Oxford, England. Gulledge is the author of A Poor Man’s Supper, a novella included in the North Carolina Collection at UNC-Chapel Hill and the W. L. Eury Appalachian Collection at Appalachian State University. A lifelong resident of the Carolinas, Jim and his wife, Linda, enjoy visiting with their four children and son-in-law and daily life with their miniature schnauzer, Luka.

Connect with Jim:

Website

My Thoughts

Green Forest, Red Earth, Blue Sea by James Gulledge can be treated as one long novel or three connected novellas, and it works well with either interpretation. It’s a love story about the history and landscape of North Carolina, with prose as gorgeous – as glorious- as the places being described. I felt the breezes, smelled the air, heard the sounds of nature and of humanity – it was an immersive experience.

Equally gripping was the actual plot – family drama, human drama – explorations of love and loss, life and death, history and the present, with rich characters. I particularly liked the use of the pocket watch as inanimate observer and connective tissue.

If you love epic storytelling that perfectly merges a grand scope with the tiny details that breathe life into the written word, you will love this book.

Goes well with: sweet tea and fried clams.

Review: Old Girls Behaving Badly by Kate Galley

19 May 2024 by Melissa

About the book, Old Girls Behaving Badly

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Boldwood Books (May 13, 2024)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 280 pages

A delightfully heartwarming and funny story that proves it’s never too late to change the habits of a lifetime, perfect for fans of Judy Leigh, Hazel Prior and Maddie Please.

Something old, something new, something stolen…?

Gina Knight is looking forward to the prospect of retirement with her husband of forty-three years. Until, to her surprise, said husband decides he needs to ‘find himself’ – alone – and disappears to Santa Fe, leaving divorce papers in his wake.

Now Gina needs a new role in life, not to mention somewhere to live, so she applies for the position of Companion to elderly Dorothy Reed. At eighty-three, ‘Dot’ needs someone to help her around the house – or at least, her family seems to think so. Her companion’s first role would be to accompany Dot for a week-long extravagant wedding party.

But when Georgina arrives at the large Norfolk estate where the wedding will take place, she quickly discovers Dot has an ulterior motive for hiring her. While the other guests are busy sipping champagne and playing croquet, Dot needs Georgina to help her solve a mystery – about a missing painting, which she believes is hidden somewhere in the house.

Because, after all, who would suspect two old ladies of getting up to mischief?

Buy, read, and discuss this book:

Purchase Link | Goodreads

About the author, Kate Galley

Kate Galley writes UpLit and Bookclub fiction full of heart and humour. The older generation are at the centre of her stories and are usually wrapped up in a mystery.

She lives with her family in Buckinghamshire and works part time as a mobile hairdresser in the surrounding Chiltern villages.

In her spare time she crochets blankets, knits jumpers and also disappears into her workshop to play with kiln formed glass.

Kate is the author of The Second Chance Holiday Club – which has been optioned for TV – and The Golden Girls’ Road Trip.

Connect with Kate:

Newsletter Signup | BookBub Profile | Facebook | X (Twitter)

My Thoughts

There’s a meme going around which reads, “Your time on earth is limited. Don’t try to age with grace. Age with mischief, audacity, and a good story to tell.” Gina and Dorothy, the two women at the heart of this novel are perfect representations of that thought. Gina is 71 when her husband asks for a divorce and, in an attempt to rebuild her life, answers an ad to be a companion for an older woman. The woman in question, Dorothy, is in her eighties and while her faculties seem fine, she did have a fall that has her children concerned.

What I liked about this novel is that it’s a love story but not in the romantic sense. Rather it’s the story of each of these women learning to love themselves, and the loving friendship they form through the course of the novel, which also has a wedding, business betrayals, adult children having issues about their parents’ divorce, and many other every-day dramas.

Author Kate Galley has given us a pair of vivid central characters, who are refreshingly authentic and timeless in the way the best writing always is. As someone who is inching ever closer to being Gina’s age, I was tickled to see older women portrayed with vitality and curiosity. As someone who lives in Florida, where there is a very large population of retirees, I see such women every day, and both of these characters felt like the same people I sit next to in the nail salon, or are at the next table and whatever lunch spot I take my mother to.

Also worthy of note was the pacing. This book moved well – it’s a relatively fast read, but felt much shorter than its 280 (in print) pages, never dragging.

Over all, this is a solid novel, perfect for summer reading, and it kept my interest all the way through.

Goes well with: strawberry shortcake.

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Review: We Burned Our Boats, by Karen Jones Gowen

15 May 2024 by Melissa

About the book, We Burned Our Boats

Publisher ‏ : ‎ WiDo Publishing (January 18, 2024)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 306 pages

Bruce and Karen Gowen are facing a retirement that neither one wants. Bruce can’t imagine life without employment. Karen wants change, adventure, a chance to spread her wings and fly away after thirty years of raising their large family.

Their opportunity comes in a way they can both helping their daughter and son-in-law with a hotel project in Panajachel, Guatemala.

Never ones to do anything halfway, the Gowens sell everything, including one of their businesses. What they can’t sell, they give away. With their worldly possessions down to two checked bags and two carry-ons each, they fly one way to Guatemala City. Then on to Panajachel, a tourist town on scenic Lake Atitlan, in the southern highlands of Guatemala.

Here they begin their new life, a time filled with incredible experiences, tough challenges, and unexpected adventure in one of the most beautiful settings on earth. A place where the Maya culture permeates the land. A land and people that will transform anyone fortunate enough to encounter the magic of these hills in Guatemala.

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About the author, Karen Jones Gowen

Born and raised in central Illinois, Karen attended Northern Illinois University in DeKalb and the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana. She transferred to Brigham Young University, where she met her husband Bruce, and there graduated with a degree in English and American Literature.

Karen and Bruce have lived in Utah, Illinois, California and Washington, currently residing in Panajachel, Guatemala. They are the parents of ten children. Not surprisingly, family relationships are a recurring theme in Karen’s writing.

My Thoughts

Many people – me included – fantasize about giving up everything we know and going on a mad adventure in another place. Most of us never do so, but Brian and Karen Gowen did, and their story is chronicled in We Burned Our Boats.

Part adventure-travel memoir, part personal examination, part analysis of a marriage and a life, the Gowens’ story has it all: love, fear, courageous acts, and international intrigue. Okay, maybe more like being intrigued by new customs and habits. It’s an easy read, and very vividly related. Karen’s writing makes you feel like you’re with them on their journey.

I’ve never really considered relocating to Guatemala (my fantasies typically involve Fez or Marrakech), but this book made me almost – almost – consider it.

I recommend We Burned our Boats to anyone who loves memoirs or travel, or travel-memoirs.

Goes well with tostadas and Moza dark lager.

In Their Words: Caroline James, author of The French Cookery School

27 April 2024 by Melissa

I’m so excited to bring you this guest post from Caroline James, author of The French Cookery School. I read the novel, and it’s a delightful story full of food, France, friendship, and second-chance romance. Scroll down for purchase links after guest post. I also reviewed one of her previous novels, The Cruise. Thanks to Ms. James and Rachel’s Random Resources for this opportunity.

In Their Words: Caroline James

In this guest post I ask – what is it about romcom fiction that keeps readers coming back for more?

When asked what genre I write, I’m never quite sure how to answer and romcom is generally my reply. My books feature romance at the heart of every story and always a happy ending but I endeavour to cover serious issues and include plenty of humour too.

So what is romcom? Romantic comedies, or romcoms for short, have long been a popular genre in fiction and audiences have always been drawn to stories of love, laughter, and happily-ever-after endings. At its core, romcom fiction is all about the journey of two people falling in love. The best romcoms not only make us laugh, but they also make us care deeply about the characters and their relationships. We root for them to overcome obstacles and find their way to each other, even if we know that the outcome is predetermined. There’s a certain comfort in knowing that, no matter how crazy and chaotic life gets, true love will always find a way.

Romcoms allow us to escape into a world where the odds may be stacked against our protagonists, but their determination and chemistry ultimately win out. We can live vicariously through their ups and downs, knowing that, in the end, everything will work out just the way it’s supposed to. In recent years, thankfully, there’s also been a push for more diverse representation in romcoms, which has opened up the genre to a wider audience and allowed for even more wonderful stories to be told.

Romcoms also offer a refreshing break from the heavier, more serious stories that dominate much of fiction. While there’s certainly a place for complex dramas and serious literary works, romcoms remind us that sometimes, having fun is okay. They offer a chance to escape into a light-hearted world where love and laughter are the only things that truly matter. I love to leave my readers feeling uplifted and in a good mood.

So the next time you’re in the mood for a little romance, a feel-good movie and a lot of fun, don’t hesitate to pick up a rom-com!

About the book, The French Cookery School

Publisher ‏ : ‎ One More Chapter (April 25, 2024)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 25, 2024
Language ‏ : ‎ English

Mix together a group of mature students:

A culinary Sloane, a take-away cook and a food journalist.

Add in:

A handsome host

Season with:

A celebrity chef

Bring to the boil:

At a luxurious cookery school in France!

Waltho Williams has no idea what he’s letting himself in for when he opens the doors of La Maison du Paradis, his beautiful French home. But with dwindling funds, a cookery school seems like the ideal business plan.

Running away from an impending divorce, super-snob Caroline Carrington hopes a luxurious cookery holiday will put her back on her feet. Blackpool fish and chip café owner Fran Cartwright thinks she’s won the lottery when her husband Sid books her on a week working alongside a celebrity chef. Meanwhile, feeling she is fading at fifty, journalist Sally Parker-Brown hopes her press week covering the cookery course will enable her to boost her career.

But will the eclectic group be a recipe for success, or will the mismatched relationships sink like a souffle?

Whip out an apron, grab a wooden spoon and take a culinary trip to La Maison du Paradis, then sit back and enjoy The French Cookery School!

Buy, read, and discuss this book:

Click to Purchase | Discuss on Goodreads

About the author, Caroline James

Caroline James always wanted to write, but instead of taking a literary route, followed a career in the hospitality industry, which included owning a pub and a beautiful country house hotel. She was also a media agent representing celebrity chefs. When she finally glued her rear to a chair and began to write, the words flowed, and several novels later, she has gained many bestseller badges for her books.

Her Amazon Top Five Bestseller, The Cruise, is described as: ‘Girl power for the over sixties!’ Caroline’s hilarious novels include The Spa Break and The Best Boomerville Hotel, depicted as ‘Britain’s answer to the Best Marigold Hotel’.

The French Cookery School is set in the magical environment of La Maison du Paradis, where an eclectic group of guests get more than they bargained for when they come together for an unforgettable week.

Caroline likes to write in Venus, her holiday home on wheels and in her spare time, walks with Fred, her Westie, or swims in a local lake. Caroline is a member of the Romantic Novelists Association, the SoA, ARRA and the Society of Women’s Writers & Journalists. She is also a speaker with many amusing talks heard by a variety of audiences, including cruise ship guests.

Books by Caroline James:

The French Cookery School

The Cruise

The Spa Break

Hattie Goes to Hollywood

Boomerville at Ballymegille

The Best Boomerville Hotel

Coffee Tea the Gypsy & Me

Coffee Tea the Chef & Me

Coffee Tea the Caribbean & Me

Jungle Rock

Connect with Caroline:

Website | Facebook | Instagram | X (Twitter)

Visit the Other Great Blogs on This Tour

Review: This Familiar Heart by Babette Fraser Hale

22 April 2024 by Melissa

About the book, This Familiar Heart

Genre: Memoir / Relationships / Aging / Grief
Publisher: Winedale Publishing
Date of Publication: April 2, 2024
Number of Pages: 312 pages

In this intimate rendering of a relationship, we learn how deceptive surface impressions can be.

Leon Hale, author of Bonney’s Place, was sixty years old, a “country boy” who wrote about rural Texans with humor and sensitivity in his popular column for The Houston Post and, later the Houston Chronicle. Babette Fraser at thirty-six was a child of privilege, a city girl educated abroad, struggling in her career while raising a young son. No one thought it could work.

Even Hale himself held serious doubts. But it did endure. The interior congruencies they discovered through a long and turbulent courtship knit them tightly together for the rest of his life.

And when he died during the Pandemic isolation period, searing levels of grief and doubt threatened Babette’s understanding of the partnership and marriage that had sustained her for forty years. Had he really been the person she thought he was? Had he kept secrets that would forever change her view of him?

In candid, evocative prose, she explores the distorted perceptions that often follow the death of a cherished spouse, and the loving resolution that allows life to go on.

Buy, read, and discuss this book:

Amazon | TAMU Press | Goodreads

Watch the Trailer for This Familiar Heart

About the author, Babette Fraser Hale

Babette Fraser Hale is the author of A Wall of Bright Dead Feathers, 2022 winner of the debut fiction award from the Texas Institute of Letters. Her stories have received notice from Best American Short Stories, 2015 and the Meyerson Award from Southwest Review. In addition to writing fiction, Babette has been a magazine feature writer, columnist, contributing editor, book editor, and publisher. She lives in Texas.

Connect with Babette:

Blog | Goodreads | Facebook | Amazon

My Thoughts

Reviewing memoirs – especially deeply personal stories like This Familiar Heart – can be tricky. Too easily we fall into the habit of judging the life and choices presented to us. But this isn’t fiction, and cannot be examined the same way.

If this book were fiction, it would be an amazing story. The characters are erudite and earthy at once, and the pace of this love story is perfect. The author draws you in as her tale goes spiraling from a letter to meeting to several more encounters, to sex and love and a partnership that is ended by death and grief.

But since this book, this story, is a memoir, I won’t talk more about the events, but rather the way author Babette Fraser Hale has chosen to present them, which she has done beautifully.

I loved the way she told her origin story with the man who preferred to be called “Hale,” rather than his first name, as a creative non-fiction exercise, interspersed with her notes from the perspective of “after.” The noted are italicized so you cannot mistake them for the narrative, but they do more than add future knowledge. They color the narrative with all the years, experiences, and feelings since the initial occurrences.

Babette’s (I use her first name to distinguish her from the Hale she writes about) language is also beautiful, full of evocative phrases like, “The day spreads out around them as they walk,” or “His mouth and tongue study her body, but it is in no way enough, and it is also too much,” and “We have been erased, as completely as our house itself, or more completely, perhaps.”

This is the kind of writing that inspires me to wander around the house reading passages aloud to my husband, the dogs, myself – it doesn’t matter. This is the kind of writing that sits with you, long after you’ve finished.

So, while this story, which begins with two people falling in love and ends with love torn apart, covers some decidedly not-beautiful details – death is never pretty – the book itself is beautiful. And brilliant.

Goes well with: canned soup and candlelight.

Visit the Other Great Blogs on This Tour

Click to visit the Lone Star Literary Life Tour Page for This Familiar Heart for direct links to each post on this tour, updated daily, or visit each blog directly.

04/16/24	Jennie Reads	Review
04/16/24	Hall Ways Blog	BONUS Stop
04/17/24	Chapter Break Book Blog	Book Trailer
04/17/24	LSBBT Blog	BONUS Stop
04/18/24	The Real World According to Sam	Review
04/19/24	Book Fidelity	Review
04/20/24	It’s Not All Gravy	Review
04/21/24	StoreyBook Reviews	Excerpt
04/22/24	Bibliotica	Review
04/23/24	Boys’ Mom Reads	Review
04/24/24	Carpe Diem Chronicles	Review
04/25/24	The Plain-Spoken Pen	Review

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Then she climbed on.