Yours Truly

Finished May 27

Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez

This novel is the second book in the Part of Your World series, but the first that I've read. ER doctor Briana Ortiz loves her work, but her personal life has issues. Her divorce will be final soon, but her husband's cheating with one of her friends is hard to get over. Her younger brother is struggling with the reality of his health crisis and is on a waitlist for a kidney. She was hoping for a promotion but her boss has delayed his retirement and she learns it is partly because a new doctor has just been hired for the ER and he wants him to also have a fair shot at the position. 

Dr. Jacob Maddox left his old hospital to avoid working with an ex, but he's finding the new hospital less welcoming than he hoped. He's an introvert and isn't great at social situations. On the personal front, he is prepping for his brother's upcoming wedding, which is to Jacob's ex-girlfriend. He's honestly okay with it, but his mom and sisters are worried about his feelings around it. He's worried about people paying more attention to him than the happy couple. He impulsively tells a lie about his relationship status. 

Jacob's first encounter with Briana doesn't go well, and so he writes her a letter. Soon they are both writing, and leaving notes, and occasionally meeting for a quick and quiet lunch. When Briana finds out about the upcoming wedding, she offers to go as his girlfriend, and he confesses his own lie to his family. With them spending more time together, they learn more about each other, their pasts, and their vulnerabilities. 

I found these characters had real depth and the plot moved things along nicely. A very enjoyable read. 

Can't Help Faking in Love

Finished May 18

Can't Help Faking in Love by Swati Hegde

This contemporary romance novel takes us to India. Harsha Godbole is the child of wealthy parents and niece to a major Bollywood producer, but she never felt close emotionally with her parents. After getting her degree in the United States, Harsha decided to settle in Bangalore rather than her parents' city of Mumbai, and make a living as a photographer. She also decided to leave her trust account untouched and only live off what she made. She goes to Sunstag Café every day for a special drink and to do some work. Her apartment is small and not a place she wants to spend more time in than necessary. She did have a boyfriend from a similar wealthy background, but he has recently dumped her to marry someone his parents chose. There are a couple of family events coming up that she will attend: her aunt and uncle's 25th anniversary party and her cousin Nela's wedding. When she meets Nela and her fiancé by chance one night, she spontaneously introduces Veer Kannan as her boyfriend. Veer is actually a barista as Sunstag who she has a friendly relationship with.

Veer has helped support his family all his life after his father walked out when he was a child. He did go to acting school and worked in Mumbai for a while, even getting a job on a pilot show, but it wasn't picked up. Now he is working to help his mom and his younger brother Arjun. Arjun was accepted into a good business school, but they have cancelled his scholarship without warning and Veer is trying to figure out a way to come up with the tuition money in just a few days. 

So when Harsha asks him to pose as her boyfriend through the next few weeks, offering to pay him, the amount he asks for matches the tuition need. Harsha must use her trust money to pay him, but thinks it is worth it. They agree on a plan of payments and begins spending time together to get to know each other and feel comfortable interacting with each other.

As they grow closer and get to know each other, they also begin to learn more about each other's lives and feelings and the chemistry between them has time to work on them. They learn each other's vulnerabilities and find themselves becoming champions for each other in ways that feel real.

I liked the way the culture was shown without being focused on in a purposeful way. We learn about food, about social worlds, and about their family dynamics. 

Alice Rue Evades the Truth

Finished April 16

Alice Rue Evades the Truth by Emily Zipps

This book was such a fun read. It has humour, real emotions, a crazy fake relationship, the reality of life struggles, and so much more. 

Alice has had a hard life, losing both her parents and spending middle and high school trying to care for her father through his health challenges. The hospital is still a difficult place for her to be. Alice works as a night receptionist in an office building in Portland, Oregon. As the book opens, Nolan Altman, a man who works in the building there and who Alice has had a crush on even though they've barely spoken, had a medical incident. Alice administer CPR and calls for help and saves his life. Nolan is in a coma, and it is unclear whether he will ever recover. 

Due to a crazy remark Alice made during the crisis and a comment by one of the EMTs attending, Nolan's family believes that Alice is his girlfriend and they embrace her into the family. His sisters Van and Marie, his parents, his aunt and uncle all take over her life. Mainly it is the women who take over, with the men quiet and supportive. Alice tries to deny the relationship right away, but is again misunderstood. As she gets deeper into the family and the way they care for her, she finds it harder to tell the truth. 

As a result of news coverage of the story, Alice is reconnected with her cousin who has recently moved back to town. They were very close as children, but her cousin's family moved away as her own family faced its crisis. The two women work through the realities of the situation they had no control of at the time, and begin to build new bonds as adults. Her cousin is married with two young children and she finds herself drawn into their family life as well. 

Also as a result of media coverage, Alice finds her work situation changing. She is moved to the day shift, and begins to make friends with one of her co-workers, as well as other people who don't sleep during daylight hours. Dare she hope for a different life for herself?

During all this Alice finds herself drawn to someone else, Nolan's sister Van, and is unsure what to do about her growing feelings. The more she learns about Nolan, the less interested she is in him, and she doesn't feel any connection there. 

This is a story of a young woman finding that there may be a happier life for her outside of how she exists now. Her life is changing on all fronts and she realizes that she can make friends and find connections. A hopeful and happy read. 

Snow Kissed

Finished April 15

Snow Kissed by RaeAnneThayne

Set in small town Idaho, Holly Goodwin More runs a flower shop. Holly is divorced and has a five-year-old daughter, Lydia, who has Down's syndrome. Holly loves Christmas but this year the season is more complicated. Holly's former sister-in-law, who is also a friend, is getting married, and Lydia will be her flower girl. Holly's ex, his wife, and their new baby son will be in town for the wedding. Lydia doesn't want to be pitied for her situation, and her twin sister Hannah comes up with an interesting idea. What if she brings a fake boyfriend to the wedding, so everyone can see that she too has moved on. Holly has moved on, although she doesn't feel she needs a man to prove it. 

One of Holly's employees is in rehab after a scary car accident woke her up to the reality of her life. Because her employee's stepmother was badly hurt in the accident, and the employee's father is busy looking after her, the employee has asked her brother Ryan to come to town to look after her tween daughter Audrey. Ryan is a Navy helicopter pilot who is going through his own physical recovery from a work accident. Until Ryan can arrive, Audrey is staying with Holly and helping look after Lydia. With an employee down during the busy Christmas season, Holly is very busy with floral orders. Audrey and Lydia genuinely like each other and get along well. Audrey also likes the opportunity to earn some money of her own for presents. 

When Ryan is approached about taking on the role of fake boyfriend, he agrees asking for Holly's help in making Christmas special for Audrey with her mother absent. 

As the two grow closer, they develop both respect and feelings towards each other, and the story develops nicely from there. 

First Date: Divorce

Finished January 2

First Date: Divorce by Patricia McLinn

This book is the first book in the series The Wyoming Marriage Association. 

I've read books in three other series by this author and enjoyed them. I chose the book to meet a reading challenge left over from 2025. This book lets us see a variety of viewpoints. The main female character is K.D. Hamilton, a sheriff's deputy from Montana who has been trying to get her boss to let her do investigative work. K.D. was raised by a single mother after her father abandoned the family, and her mother remarried after K.D. left home. She is wary of relationships. She has been lent to the sheriff's office in Bardville, Wyoming and has just arrived at the ranch she was told to come to as the book begins. 

The main male character is Eric Larkin, a lawyer who has been living in Bardville for a short time, having moved there from Chicago after his divorce to be close to a couple of friends and have a fresh start. Along with him has come his assistant, a widowed friend of his mother's. The assistant is on the ball and trying to get Eric to be more social. Eric has kept to himself for the most part, except for his friends, the sheriff and a private investigator who is ex-FBI. 

The situation is a local business just outside of town, who is leasing a county-owned building and operating as a luxury retreat specializing in marriage counselling. A number of couple who stayed there left even more determined to split up, and they've all had one person who engaged a local lawyer for a divorce. Before renewing the lease, the county wants to ensure there isn't anything shady going on. 

K.D. and Eric will pose as a married couple who've been separated a while, but are attempting a reconciliation. Since Eric has kept to himself, no one in town outside of his friends is aware that he's divorced. There is a tight timeline, and they have to create a backstory complete with photographic evidence, so a few ranching women come together to stage wedding and other couple photographs. As K.D. gets involved, she learns more about Eric's ex and why they split. 

The mystery is pretty tame, but the romance has some sizzle. A fun read.

Unfortunately Yours

Finished December 8

Unfortunately Yours by Tessa Bailey

This is the second book in the duology A Vine Mess centred on the Napa Valley. I enjoyed the first book Secretly Yours, which also gave some hints about the couple in this book and had meant to read it for a while. 

Natalie Vos returned to her childhood home some time ago, after a bad call at work meant losing her investment management job and her fiancé. She has plans for a comeback, one that will prove to the investment community and her ex that she knows what she's doing. The problem is that she needs some money to start her own firm, and the only way that seems possible is to access her trust fund. Unfortunately, her estranged father has made the stipulation that she be married to get access. 

August Cates owns a vineyard, but his passion for it comes from the loss of his best friend, whose dream it was. He is intent on the endeavour, but is running out of funds, and knows his latest batch wasn't a success. When Natalie offers him funding contingent on them going into a fake marriage, he can't decide if it is a good idea or not. But a unexpected visitor makes his mind up for him. 

They have to do a convincing enough job to trick the local banker, but the greater difficulty may be trying not to notice their intense chemistry. 

Natalie has the skills to know how to improve August's wine, but he has a hard time letting anyone into his life in a meaningful way. We can see each of their weak points and the inner needs that they have, but they both have to be willing to admit them to each other, and to themselves. 

A quick engaging read that kept me wanting more. I enjoyed the plot and the characters, and how their interactions felt real. 

Sunshine and Spice

Finished November 15

Sunshine and Spice by Aurora Palit

This romance is set in Kelowna. We see the story from two points of view, the main female character Naomi Kelly and the main male character Dev Mukherjee. Naomi has her own brand consulting business, one she started after working in a larger corporate firm for several years. I wasn't familiar with this business, but it seems to cover a lot more than I would have thought. She proposes a reuse or redesign for space, and works with a construction contractor to bring it to life. It seems to involve a lot of elements of interior design. The story opens with her preparing for a bid on a job, the redesign of what has been for many years a bazaar run by an Indian family, carrying a wide variety of merchandise and rather cluttered at the moment. The owner lost her husband a few months ago and is now ready to face moving forward. 

Dev is the owner's son, who has recently moved back home from Penticton. He hasn't told his mother that he resigned from his job as a corporate accountant to pursue a different dream of his own. But his mother uses his presence to move forward with a different plan, finding him a wife. She hires a matchmaker looking for an Indian bride. She doesn't mind if the woman isn't Bengali, but Indian culture and its practices and traditions is important to her. 

Naomi is Indian, but hasn't been brought up in the culture. Her parents relationship wasn't approved of, and the young couple moved away. Her father moved on when she was just a toddler, and her mother married a local man in the Alberta town they lived in. Naomi is very close to her stepfather, sharing a love of sports with him. She isn't as close to her mother, who is into yoga and meditation and changes her other interests regularly. She has had no contact with her father or other relatives.

When Naomi's plan to remake the space as a family-run café is approved, and she and Dev run into each other while he is trying to escape a meeting with a potential wife, the two decide to help each other. Dev will help her on cultural aspects of the design and introduce her to Indian culture locally. She will pretend to be his girlfriend when they encounter any potential wives. Dev hopes to outlast his mother's plans. 

As they spend time together, they grow closer, but there are still barriers with Naomi's upbringing and Dev's family.

I enjoyed learning more about Indian culture and Naomi's business work, and I liked the plot. Dev definitely needed to grow a bit more backbone when it comes to his family, and Naomi needs to feel less insecure about her cultural knowledge. I liked the Canadian setting and reading a new author. 

Date the Alphabet

Finished November 14

Date the Alphabet by Laura Langa

This romance is the second book in a series set in Tucson. Here the female main character is a teacher in a private school, Ann Powell. Ann excels as a teacher because she really puts her heart into it. Not only does she work hard for her own students, but she offers free tutoring and donates supplies to teachers in the public system who are underfunded. She doesn't date, and doesn't socialize much. Her younger sister Rene is getting married, for the third time, and when they are discussing wedding details tells Ann that she must bring a plus one, and says that if she starts by working her way through the alphabet (by men's names) and finds true love, her sister will give her $4000 for her charitable work. 

Ann really doesn't want to do this, but agrees for the prize at the end. With the help of a fellow teacher who is a friend, Kennedy, she signs up to a dating app and begins. She finds a lot of duds, as well as some who leave her very unsettled. In a moment of desperation, she asks a student's father if he will attend with her and pretend they have fallen for each other. 

Zane West and his wife Tessa separated after her recovery from cancer, but remained great friends. She is about to move in with her new boyfriend Isaac, while he hasn't even dated yet. They both love their daughter Caroline, and worry about how she has dealt with the trauma of her mother's illness and their separation. They knew things weren't working for a while, but had been hanging together for Caroline. After Tessa's recovery they agreed that they deserved happiness and separated. Caroline is a quiet, but observant kid who loves art and draws a lot. 

Zane had been attracted to Caroline's third grade teacher since he first met her, but held back from any move due to worry about Caroline's feelings and about the ethics of dating his child's teacher. When Ann proposes that he be her fake date for Rene's wedding he agrees, but the events that they attend over the next few weeks have them both feeling the attraction.

I liked the plot, the details of their jobs (Zane is an audiobook narrator), and the touches of humour. There are other things influencing their actions and we come to see how and why they do gradually. A very enjoyable read. 

Say You'll Be Mine

Finished February 9

Say You'll Be Mine by Naina Kumar

This romance is very engaging. The narration does vary between the two main characters. The main female character, Meghna Raman, is a Dallas-area middle grade English teacher who has long aspired to write plays, and is working with her students to do the school's first production, My Fair Lady. Her parents and brother are all engineers and, in the eyes of her mother, engineering is the only profession worth doing. Meghna has received the speech on this many times, but her mother launches a new one now, convincing her to marry an engineer. Meghna's parents are a love match, and they've never proposed any introduction before, but she finds herself faced with an arranged marriage proposal, a rishta, now. Perhaps it is because she is nearing thirty without a serious relationship. 

Karthik is a mechanical engineer working in New York City for a large engineering firm. He likes his work, but has pushed off serious relationships and any discussion of them for years. He has finally made a deal with his mother to meet marriage possibilities for a certain time period on condition that if he doesn't find someone she won't bring it up again. And Karthik has no intention of finding someone. He has seen his parents' marriage and has no desire for anything like theirs in terms of a relationship. He has been trying to be as little like his father for most of his life. That's partially why he chose engineering instead of medicine, with his father teaching at NYCU medical school. 

The meeting, at Meghna's parents' house goes well, except for Karthik telling her that he has no intention of marrying anyone when the two of them have their one-on-one. Yet he finds himself telling his mother he needs time to think about her as a potential wife instead of just saying no. And then he digs himself in deeper yet. 

So when he contacts Meghna with a proposal to move ahead with a fake relationship, he has to find something that they both get out of it. And Meghna has a secret that only her best friend Ankita knows that might be the motivation she needs. 

As their story unfolds, it seems that there are more secrets, from Karthik, Ankita, and parents on both sides. 

I liked learning more about some aspects of Indian culture as well as seeing this plot unfold. The characters of Meghna and Karthik are ones with some depth, and we see their vulnerabilities as well as their strengths. I also liked the character of Paul, an intern at Karthik's company. 

I had trouble putting the book down as I needed to see how things worked out. 

The Summer Book Club

Finished July 25

The Summer Book Club by Susan Mallery

I enjoyed this book better than the other Mallery book that I read recently. The novel is centered on three women, two of whom have been friends since childhood. The third woman, Cassie, is undergoing a major life change as the book opens. 

Cassie's parents died when she was a child, and she was brought up by her two older siblings and her uncle. Cassie is a woman who loves to help those she cares about and her life up to know has been focused on her family rather than her own life and wants. When her uncle passed away, he left her some property in California, across the country from her home in Maine, and her siblings now force her to go out and see what's there and start living life for herself. It's a bit of tough love on their parts, but they want her to have a full life of her own.

Laurel runs a small business, mostly online, in small antiques and collectibles, and is divorced with two daughters. Her ex-husband wasn't an involved father, and left her in a bad place financially that she has worked her way out of. She's a bit wary of men, and she's worried that her fears have been passed on to her oldest daughter.

Paris is also divorced, and has been focused on her anger issues and her mental health for the more than decade since the divorce. She's built the farmland she inherited from her mother into a successful farmstand business. Because Paris is aware of her own emotional issues from the past, she's scared to try a new relationship. 

As Cassie is brought into the friendship through a casual meeting and an invitation to join the book club, the three spend the summer reading, learning about themselves and their capabilities, and taking a chance on new relationships. 

A satisfying and interesting read. 

The Paradise Problem

Finished July 5

The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren

This romance novel is a lot of fun to read, as one would expect from this author duo. Anna Green married Liam "West" Weston so that both of them could access subsidized family housing at UCLA. Both had needed an affordable place to live to finish their degrees, and Anna's friend Jake had suggested his brother as a solution. Anna had started in pre-med, but ended up in fine arts, and Liam was working on his graduate degree in economics. Anna signed some papers when they moved out and went on with her life, working low level jobs and painting as much as she can. She has a manager for her art, but hasn't hit it big. Liam is now a professor at Stanford, specializing in corporate culture. He is also one of the four children of the CEO of Weston Foods, one of the country's biggest grocery chains. His father has always expected Liam to take the reins as the next CEO, but Liam wants none of it. Both of his brothers, Alex and Jake, as well as his little sister Charlie work there in executive positions, but Liam has managed to make his own way after his father cut him off when he was in university. 

Now Charlie is getting married, and Liam is expected to make his appearance at the destination wedding at a resort in Indonesia. He is also expected to bring his wife. 

Anna hadn't realized that they were still married, and she also had no idea that Jake and Liam were part of this wealthy family. When Liam shows up on her doorstep to ask her to play at being in a committed marriage with him, she has to admit his timing is good. She's been trying to pay all her dad's hospital bills, but has recently lost one of her jobs, and is taking a day to distract herself. With Liam's offer to give her money in exchange for her appearance, she knows it will help her situation immensely.

Liam's lies to his family also included Anna being in med school as he didn't realize she'd changed her career track, so there is another lie that she has to play along with. 

The setting is beautiful, a luxury private resort, with ocean cabins, exquisite food, and lots of fun activities. The family not so much. The tension between Liam and his father is huge, and hanging over Liam is a clause from his grandfather's will that means Liam won't get his inheritance until he's been married five years, which is coming up in a few months. Liam's mother, Janet is passive aggressive. His older brother Alex is just plain aggressive, and Alex's wife Blaire seems to drink an awful lot. Jake is, of course, the only one that knows the real story of their marriage, but he's only too happy to assist. I really enjoyed the parts that included Alex and Blaire's children, particularly their oldest, Reagan. She's at the age that things get hard, puberty, and Anna is only too happy to give some life advice and support. 

There are a lot of things going on under the surface here, but Anna and Liam find themselves getting along in ways that they hadn't expected, not to mention feeling some chemistry between them. There is fun banter, real attraction, and some great romance going on. I didn't put it down until I finished it. A definite winner. 

The Love Hypothesis

Finished March 22

The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood

This is a book I've been meaning to read for a while and now finally have. It was a quick read as it was hard to put down. I read it in one day, around work demands. 

Olive Smith is a Canadian Ph.D. candidate in biology at Stanford, working on a subject dear to her heart, a way to diagnose pancreatic cancer earlier, and thus provide better chances for survival. She is very focused on her work, but still finds time for her personal life, her best friend Anh and her roommate Matthew. 

The book starts with a short interlude from two years earlier when Olive had been at the university applying to do her Ph.D. there. It sets the tone for banter with a serious undertone.

I like that each chapter is headed with a hypothesis that gives a hint to the contents of that chapter. It is a fun way to continue the theme of the title and lead the reader into continuing. 

Olive dated Jeremy a couple of times and then discovered that Anh was interested in him, but wouldn't pursue it because she didn't want to intrude on Olive's relationship. Since Olive had no chemistry with Jeremy and isn't interested in continuing the relationship, she's told Anh to move forward, but Anh is still reluctant. So Olive told her that she had a date with someone else. But she doesn't. She's at the lab working and then she spotted Anh, so she grabs a guy walking in the hall and kisses him. And then she discovers that she has just kissed Dr. Adam Carlsen, a real hotshot in the department who is known for being aloof and not very nice. 

As Adam learns of her reasons for her sudden impulse, he agrees to get on board. The situation may have an upside for him as well. After setting some ground rules and coming up with a plan that works for both, they continue the charade.

Of course, they are thrown together unexpectedly by circumstances, and they talk a lot more, sharing more of themselves with each other than they've done with most other people. 

This situation is one that sets some interesting questions around power dynamics and we see that come up again with other characters. There are also themes of friendship with both main characters and the people who are important in their lives. The science theme is also very interesting, particularly Olive's research which focuses on a disease that touches so many people, myself included. There isn't just a nod to science here, but instead science is central to the plot, as it is central to the lives of the characters. 

The characters themselves also have depth and we discover them as they reveal themselves to each other, seeing beyond the looks and reputation to the real person. 

There is lots of intelligent banter, because they are after all academics and quite smart. So I loved that too. There is also some geekiness, which goes with the territory. And there are real issues, issues of research and how to fund it, issues of women's barriers in science, and issues of competition. 

All in all, a lot to love, and a story that kept me returning to it every chance I got.