Day: August 20, 2020

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Here to Stay by Adriana Herrerra – Blog Tour (Review)

What could have been a run-of-the-mill, enemies to lovers/workplace romance story was made much more enjoyable by the author’s perfect capturing of a unique lifestyle and attitude that belongs to one group of people.

Every major city has its quirks, and life-long residents grow up incorporating them (often unknowingly) into their own characters. There is no place where this is truer than New York City.

People from there have a style and persona that is identifiable as “strictly NYC.” That even carries into the Boroughs, and further into neighborhoods. I lived in the city, so I’m very familiar with most of them.

I think that’s why I enjoyed this book so much. The author did a fantastic job of capturing that certain something New Yorkers have. From the lexicon to the clothing styles, it all felt familiar and a little bit comforting.

BUY LINKS

Harlequin: https://www.harlequin.com/shop/books/9780369700926_here-to-stay.html
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Here-Stay-Adriana-Herrera-ebook/dp/B086R2QY77
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/here-to-stay-adriana-herrera/1136795733
Apple Books: https://books.apple.com/us/book/here-to-stay/id1506190677
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Adriana_Herrera_Here_to_Stay?id=_-zaDwAAQBAJ
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/here-to-stay-20

I especially liked Julia. She reminded me of a Dominican I once worked with in Midtown. Big and bold, but at times unsure in new situations. I also enjoyed Julia’s mom’s attitudes toward her daughter living in Texas. That’s another NYC thing…nothing is as good as what you can get in the city (even down to hand lotion).

I thought Rocco was an interesting character. He was working class Queens (also familiar) but painted as the bad guy in Julia’s eyes. I enjoyed watching the two of them slowly grow to understand each other and realize how much they actually had in common. It showed the importance of looking beyond the surface of people.

I got the feeling that this was written for a younger set of readers. Due to my teenage son, I’m pretty up on slang and current phrases, but don’t use them myself. The characters in this book used them consistently, especially when the NYC transplants were together. It made the book very contemporary.

I would highly recommend this well-written and “current” book. I think a lot of people will be able to identify with the characters and their situations.

About Adriana Herrera

Adriana was born and raised in the Caribbean, but for the last fifteen years has let her job (and her spouse) take her all over the world. She loves writing stories about people who look and sound like her people, getting unapologetic happy endings.

When she’s not dreaming up love stories, planning logistically complex vacations with her family or hunting for discount Broadway tickets, she’s a trauma therapist in New York City, working with survivors of domestic and sexual violence.
Her Dreamers series has received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist and has been featured in The TODAY Show on NBC, Entertainment Weekly, NPR, Library Journal and The WashingtonPost. Her debut, American Dreamer, was selected as one of Booklist’s ‘Best Romance Debuts of 2019’, and one of the ‘Top 10 Romances of 2019’ by Entertainment Weekly. Her third novel, American LoveStory, was one of the winners in the first annual Ripped Bodice Award for Excellence in Romantic Fiction. Adriana is an outspoken advocate for diversity in romance and has written for Remezcla and Bustle about Own Voices in the genre. She’s one of the co-creators of the Queer Romance PoC Collective. Represented by Taylor Haggerty at Root Literary.

Connect with Adriana Herrera

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Echo Hall by Virginia Moffatt – Blog Tour (Review)

Atmospheric doesn’t even begin to describe this book. Gothic comes a little closer. Epic Gothic? Gothic Epic? Page-turning?

All of the above.

Spanning the lives of three women and three different wars, the author has created a story that spans time while pulling out the common threads of each of the women. Echo Hall, the house, binds them together – and that’s not necessarily a good thing.

I thought the author did a great job of making sure that each woman’s story was told succinctly. That was important because it was easier to see where the parallels were as the story proceeded. There wasn’t any guesswork involved, as sometimes happens with historical novels (especially ones that undertake the time span this one did).

Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/3ggdZxJ Amazon US: https://amzn.to/39IOFOn
Blackwells: https://bit.ly/3ffdouO Waterstones: https://bit.ly/3gfNjgw
Hive.co.uk: https://bit.ly/3fiaV2C

I liked how the house was a character unto itself. It had almost as much to do with the life trajectories of the women as their personal choices did. I know that sounds a little bit odd, but there is nothing magical about it – the house just “is.” What I do believe, and what this author captured was that misery and sorrow can remain in a location and affect people who visit or live in the place.

I remember when my husband and I were house hunting a few years ago, there was one place that we walked through that just felt sad. Like there was no joy to be found. It was decorated nicely and looked homey, but there was just a bad feeling about it. We asked the realtor, and found out that the wife had nursed the husband in his final days of an illness, and he had died in the house. Sad, to be sure, but it was like it had gotten into the walls.

This is what came to mind as I read Echo Hall. But I digress.

Not only were the women ultimately unhappy, but the stresses of war played a part in each of their lives. It was just a whole lot of sad and kind of eerie, but all expertly woven together.

It’s hard to say whether someone would enjoy this book because it is definitely Gothic (that word again) in feeling (and by definition, I don’t think Gothic can be joyful in the traditional sense). But I would certainly recommend it.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/aroomofmyown1
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/virginiamoffattauthor/
Website: https://virginiamoffattwriter.wordpress.com/

About the author: Virginia Moffatt was born in London, one of eight children, several of whom are writers. ‘The Wave’ is her second novel. Her previous publications are ‘Echo Hall’ (Unbound) and ‘Rapture and what comes after’ (Flash fiction collection published by Gumbo Press). She also writes non fiction. Virginia is married to Chris Cole, Director of Drone Wars UK. They have two daughters at University and a son still living with them in Oxford.

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A Dangerous Goodbye by Fliss Chester – Blog Tour (Review)

I’ve read a lot of historical fiction, mostly centered around WWII and I am always interested to learn something new (yes, I know I’ve mentioned that before). This one however was truly unique, because it was more of a mystery set in the era instead of a straight historical fiction novel. And I truly enjoyed it.

To be perfectly honest, the author had me at crossword puzzles and wordplay.

That both Fen and Arthur were fans of cryptic word puzzles was an excellent background to the mystery of Arthur’s whereabouts. It was unique to have the initial clues in his letter and it highlighted the connection that the two of them had in spite of the shortness of their actual relationship.

Amazon: https://bit.ly/33V7Rrh Apple: https://apple.co/3gVq2Ad
Kobo: https://bit.ly/2WiGBym Google: https://bit.ly/3gU1zfe

I liked how the author didn’t get bogged down in the post-war dread. We know that it was a horrible time, and there were still terrible things going on, but that wasn’t the concern of the characters in this book. There’s a time and a place for such things, and it would have been VERY out of place here.

Instead, it was almost light-hearted. That’s not exactly the right word for it, because it was still post-WWII France. I guess a better way to put it was that it the author chose to let the spy/intrigue/mystery take care of the “drama” aspect of the story.

And there was plenty of spy intrigue. I thought it was all well-done. (I really don’t want to say a lot, because I don’t want to give anything away).

Suffice to say that I thought Fen was tenacious and quick-witted – a real heroine to get behind. I loved this mystery, and look forward to more of her cases! I just hope that the clever wordplay and puzzles continue….

Twitter:  @SocialWhirlGirl
Website: https://flisschester.co.uk/  
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/flisschester 

Author Bio:
Fliss Chester lives in Surrey with her husband and writes historical cozy crime. When she is not killing people off in her 1940s whodunnits, she helps her husband, who is a wine merchant, run their business. Never far from a decent glass of something, Fliss also loves cooking (and writing up her favourite recipes on her blog), enjoying the beautiful Surrey and West Sussex countryside and having a good natter. 

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