Tag: Fiction

The ROM-COMMERS by Katherine Center

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Publication June 11, 2024-St. Martin’s Press-Women’s Fiction-336pp

Book Summary

She’s rewriting his love story. But can she rewrite her own?

Charlie Yates is a great writer. He wrote the epic screenplay that made Jack Stapleton a household name—and became a household name himself. But now he’s written a romantic comedy . . . and it’s terrible.

Emma Wheeler could have been a great writer—but her life didn’t quite go like she planned. Now, when she gets the chance to rewrite Charlie’s apocalyptically bad screenplay—uncredited, of course—she jumps.

But Charlie doesn’t want anyone to rewrite his work—least of all a “failed nobody screenwriter”—and Emma can’t support a guy who doesn’t like rom-coms adding another terrible rom-com to the world.

So what choice do they have, really . . . but to fall stupidly, crazily, heart-poundingly in love?

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

The Rom-Commers, an emotional tug-of-war, pairs perfectly with the classic 1934 romantic-comedy, “It Happened One Night.” The movie, known for humor, sexiness, and wisdom, is a mirror for Charlie’s screenplay.  Emma deems the screenplay’s script terrible and explains, “The job of a rom-com is to give you a simulated feeling of falling in love, and that stories exist for the emotions they create.”  Charlie’s script did neither, so Emma is hired to fix the screenplay.

Katherine Center believes we, like her characters, gain wisdom through struggles. Through thought provoking dialogue with Charlie, Emma reveals her struggles and true feelings realizing she is the supporting character in her own story. Themes of unfulfilled dreams, sacrifice and guilt immerge in the kitchen, poolside, and at the worktable as Emma and Charlie spend time together. The emotional tug-of-war is filled with rom-com snooty disrespect, admiration mixed with some flirty banter, and even a distrusting, quitter attitude! How will this end? That’s what Katherine Center’s readers look forward to!

Wise beyond her years, Emma describes love as “feeling hopeful, and kind, sunshiny and soothing…like your heart is glowing.”

To experience humor, sexiness, and wisdom like Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert’s “It Happened One Night,” read The Rom-Commers. Your heart will glow.

BookPage calls Katherine Center “the reigning queen of comfort reads.” She’s the New York Times bestselling author of ten novels, including How to Walk Away, Things You Save in a Fire, and her newest, Hello Stranger. Her summer 2024 book is The Rom-Commers—a connected story to her blockbuster hit, The Bodyguard. Katherine writes laugh-and-cry books: deep romantic comedies about how life knocks us down—and how we get back up. She’s been compared to both Jane Austen and Nora Ephron, and the Dallas Morning News calls her stories, “satisfying in the most soul-nourishing way.” The Netflix movie adaptation of her novel Happiness for Beginners—starring Ellie Kemper and Luke Grimes—just hit the Global Top Ten in 81 countries, and the movie of her novel The Lost Husband was a surprise Netflix sensation in 2020, hitting number one and landing in their top 25 movies for the year. Her books have made countless Best-Of lists—at Audible, BookBub, and Book of the Month, as well as Goodreads’ Best Books of the Year, and Amazon’s yearly Top 100 books. Emily Henry calls The Bodyguard “my perfect 10 of a book,” and Jodi Picoult says of Things You Save in a Fire, “Just read it, and thank me later.” Katherine lives in her hometown of Houston, Texas, with her husband, two almost-grown teenagers, and their fluffy-but-fierce dog.

Blog Tour: What Would Jane Austen Do? by Linda Corbett

Published June 16, 2023-Harper Collins, UK-One More Chapter-Contemporary Romance, Austenesque Fiction, RomCom, 384pp, eBook, Audiobook

Book Summary:

It’s a truth often acknowledged that when a journalist and Jane Austen fan girl
ends up living next door to a cynical but handsome crime writer, romantic sparks
will fly!
When Maddy Shaw is told her Dear Jane column has been cancelled she has no choice
but to look outside of London’s rental market. That is until she’s left an idyllic country
home by the black sheep of the family, long-not-so-lost Cousin Nigel.
But of course, there’s a stipulation… and not only is Maddy made chair of the committee
for the annual village literary festival, she also has to put up with bestselling crime
author –and romance sceptic – Cameron Massey as her new neighbor.
When Maddy challenges Cameron to write romantic fiction, which he claims is so easy
to do, sparks fly both on and off the page…

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

Despondent, Newly Fired Agony Aunt, Maddy Shaw vs. Grumpy, Crime Fiction Author, Cameron Massey

Maddy Shaw, love and relationship correspondent, admits in an interview with best-selling crime author, Cameron Massey, that “it’s not the guaranteed happy ending that readers enjoy most, It’s the journey the couple go on.” Corbett’s journey, like a layered tea tray, is laced with family mystery, romantic suspense, and plenty of “Austenesque” advice. Corbett’s musing, witty, sometimes soul-searching dialogue between the cracking characters on the festival committee is endearing as she deftly reveals failings, flaws, and family histories. 

From the Jane Austen quotes opening each chapter to the myriad Austen character references, this present-day romantic journey is set amidst the hectic planning of the Cotlington Literary Festival 2022. Readers will have definitive responses to What Would Jane Austen Do?

As in the quintessentially British tradition of high tea-Linda Corbett’s What Would Jan Austen Do? suits a variety of readers, “those looking for four-star luxury with champagne or a simple spread in a local village pub.”

Like high tea-from the first morsel of scone to the last sip of tea-simply delightful.

Linda Corbett lives in Surrey with her husband Andrew and three permanently hungry guinea pigs. As well as being an author, Linda is treasurer and fundraiser for Shine
Surrey – a volunteer-led charity that supports individuals and families living with spina bifida and hydrocephalus. For many years she also wrote a regular column for Link, a
disability magazine, illustrating the humorous aspects of life with a complex disability and she is a passionate advocate of disability representation in fiction. Love You From
A-Z is her first published novel. Linda’s website: https://guineapighotel.wordpress.com/

Purchase Links:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/What-Would-Jane-Austen-Do-ebook/dp/B0B7VBBKGQ

BARNES & NOBLE: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/what-would-jane-austen-do-linda-corbett/1141898159?

Wine People by Michelle Wildgen

Publishing August 1, 2023-Zibby Books-General Fiction-304pp

https://www.michellewildgen.com/

Book Summary:

What happens when two ambitious young women, opposite in every way, join forces in a competitive male-dominated industry?

Wren and Thessaly collide when they land coveted jobs at a glamorous New York City boutique wine importer. Hardworking, by-the-book Wren comes from a modest background and has everything to prove while Thessaly hails from a family of prestigious California growers—but she is plagued by self-doubt. Thrown together at work, where they’re expected to have exquisite palates, endless tolerance for alcohol and socializing, and the ability to sell, sell, sell, they regard each other with suspicion.

It’s only on an important European business trip—with everything on the line for both of them—that they unexpectedly forge an alliance that will change the course of their careers and personal lives.

With mouth-watering descriptions of food and wine, Wine People takes readers from France, Germany, and Italy to the Midwest and Sonoma. An utterly entertaining page-turner that explores how close friends can both misjudge and uplift each other.

Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

Wine People is an eye-popping, intuitive glimpse into the business of importing wine, the pursuit of friendship, and the underlying impact of alcoholism. Michelle Wildgen, like a personal guide through wine country, melds operating and financing in the wine import industry with tasting rooms and vignerons. Learning about a myriad of wines along with the stock wine types in the industry are a bonus to the central plot.

Through main characters Thessaly and Wren, Wildgen creates tension and empathy, but also the stress of mixing competition in business with burgeoning friendships.  Thessaly, daughter of a Sonoma grower, golden girl of the industry and wine importing’s version of a supermodel is competing against Wren, with only five years restaurant experience, no special memories of food or childhood, but desperate to learn from observation. Both young women are coping with father issues. Wildgen uses Wren’s absent, alcoholic father and Thessaly’s famous father’s ‘nothing ever good enough’ approach to illuminate their anxiety, fears, and dependencies. Wren’s mask is competitive forthrightness and Thessaly’s excessive drinking.

Thessaly and Wren: “lifers” in the wine industry, learning to trust each other, eager to beat the ‘great men’. Ambitious, aggressive “Women in Wine.”

Wine People by Michelle Wildgen, highly recommended and enjoyed reclining on a chaise with a chilled Rosé.

Michelle Wildgen is the author of the novels Wine People (August 2023, Zibby Books— Pre-order here!), You’re Not You, But Not For Long, and Bread and Butter, and the editor of the food writing anthology Food & Booze. A former executive editor with the award-winning literary journal Tin House, she is a freelance editor and creative writing teacher in Madison, Wis. Since 2013 she and novelist Susanna Daniel have run the Madison Writers’ Studio, offering a variety of creative writing workshops and classes.

The Newcomer by Mary Kay Andrews

Mary Kay and her family divide their time between Atlanta and Tybee Island, GA, where they cook up new recipes in two restored beach homes, The Breeze Inn and Ebbtide—both named after fictional places in Mary Kay’s novels, and both available to rent through Tybee Vacation Rentals. In between cooking, spoiling her grandkids, and plotting her next novel, Mary Kay is an intrepid treasure hunter whose favorite pastime is junking and fixing up old houses. https://marykayandrews.com/

The New York Times bestselling author and Queen of the Beach Reads delivers her next page-turner for the summer.

The Grateful Reader Review by Dorothy Schwab

Add The Newcomer to a book bag, head to your favorite reading spot and be whisked from a fashionable townhouse in New York City to the Murmuring Surf Motel in Treasure Island, Florida. Secrets within secrets- that was the story of Letty’s sister, Tanya, who has been found dead in her apartment with her 4- year-old daughter wailing upstairs.  Letty and Tanya have had an “on again, off again” relationship over the years, and now Letty is on the run, having promised her sister that if anything happened, Letty would take Maya far away from NYC and Tanya’s evil Ex- Evan Wingfield.

Letty and Maya find the Murmuring Surf, a “mom & pop” motel, and are easily accepted by owner Ava and her family. The retirees and snowbirds that land like clockwork are not so ready to accept “the newcomer’ to their summer paradise. These “characters” add their own Southern wit & charm to the Surf. The fact that Ava’s handsome son Joe, is a detective for the local police force adds plenty of romantic tension, along with suspense as the mystery and detective work unfolds in the bars, bungalows, and beaches of Treasure Island. Mary Kay Andrews builds just enough trust between Letty and Ava, and enough doubt and suspicion between The Surf residents regarding “the newcomer,’ that readers will refresh drinks, ignoring a possible sunburn, to find out if Tanya’s secrets are uncovered and how Letty and Maya will spend their future with no sister and mom in the picture. What will the family photo look like?  

The Murmuring Surf will conjure images of roadside motels & beach trips in the 1950’s and ‘60’s- back before online reviews & reservations kept motels in business-where cars pulled off the highway when a VACANCY sign came into view.  Hang your own flashing “no vacancy” sign on the door and treat yourself to the first beach read of the summer.