Novella Review: Booked for the Holidays by Liz Maverick
Booked for the Holidays
Author: Liz Maverick
Narrators:
Eva Kaminsky
Andrew Eiden
Published: November 14, 2024
Audiobook: 3 hours 49 minutes
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Listened To: December 3-4, 2024
Jessica’s Rating: 3.5 stars
Novella Description:
Brighten the holidays with this funny, heartfelt rom-com about the stories—and the love—that we never forget.
When mystery author D. B. Ziegler is late delivering her book, Abi Schore steps in to help. Surely she can give her favorite author moral support over the holiday break and get the manuscript to her boss at Tea & Sympathy Publishing in time for the new year.
When Abi shows up on Ms. Ziegler’s doorstep bearing holiday treats, she’s met by the author’s handsome grandson Dov, who reveals a startling plot twist. His grandmother isn’t able to finish the book and Dov promised he’d complete it so fans won’t be disappointed—a task that’s harder than he ever imagined.
As Hanukkah unfolds, Abi and Dov cozy up in his grandmother’s brownstone apartment working their way through his writer’s block and untangling plot threads. Before long, the novel starts taking shape … and so does their simmering attraction. Will their own story end once the book is written, or is this just the first chapter?
Jessica’s Review:
This was a really cute novella! It’s a rom-com and very obvious what is going to happen, but isn’t that was a rom-com is all about?!?!? A ‘break’ from reality to enjoy a sweet story?
This book has a theme that has become recurring over recent years: For various reasons an author isn’t able to finish a book he or she was writing so it’s left to someone else (or two someone’s…) to finish the book.
A plus for me was that the characters are Jewish! I haven’t read many books with Jewish characters. Another plus was the super adorable pup that shows up: I absolutely adored Oslow!
There were two narrators: Eva Kaminsky and Andrew Eiden. They both did a good job with their narrations.
An enjoyable novella with Jewish characters and today was perfect time to review it as Hanukkah has just started. It is extremely rare that the world has Christmas and Hanukkah starting on the same day
Purchase Links: This one is only available on Audible
Amazon US
Amazon UK
An Advanced Listening Copy Review of Switched by Sarah Ready
Switched
Series: Ghosted #2
Author: Sarah Ready
Narrators:
Kelsey Navarro Foster
James Anderson Foster
To Be Published: February 20, 2024
Audiobook: 10 hours 12 minutes
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Listened To: February 2-12, 2024
Jessica’s Rating: 4.5 stars
Book Description:
For Serena Otaki, free-spirited Californian, life is simple. She loves smashing atoms at The Large Hadron Collider near Geneva, Switzerland. She loves Star Trek, spicy tofu, and her cat, Captain Purrk. She loves her messy (slob-fest) apartment, her chaotic brand of organizing, and staying permanently, happily unattached.
Life is perfect. She has one true love—physics.
Loving a man isn’t in her future.
For Henry Joules, uptight Brit, life is simple. He loves making analog black holes, drinking piping hot tea, and organizing his pencil tray. He loves his family, red meat, and obsessively cleaning his spotless apartment.
Life is perfect. He has many loves—physics, family, friends. He can’t wait to find the woman of his dreams.
Love and marriage are in his future.
One perfect night Serena and Henry meet. Sparks fly, particles collide, the universe comes to a halt, and…
It was a mistake.
They’re too different.
It won’t work.
Love isn’t in their future.
Until an electric storm causes an unexpected event at the particle collider and suddenly—they’ve switched.
Serena is in Henry’s body.
Henry is in Serena’s body.
And both life and love are suddenly very, very complicated.
Jessica’s Review:
Wow, Jessica listened to another romance novel and really enjoyed it! This is the second in the Ghosted series. It isn’t necessary to have read Ghosted before this one because Jillian and Daniel’s story is mentioned in Switched, but I really do recommend it! Their story also continues since Switched happens after Ghosted. So far in this series we have extremely smart FMCs (female main characters) with STEM careers, that are also nerdy but adorable. It’s great to have strong female characters with this type of career!
To be honest, I wasn’t really interested in the book until Serena and Henry switched bodies. I think it was a ‘me’ thing with some things going on in my life. But once that switch happened the book took off for me.
Switched is very entertaining and hilarious at times. We see what happens when you are not just in another person’s body, but someone of the opposite gender! Both Serena and Henry have experiences as the opposite sex. And really, we do see that women really are the stronger gender! Full on hilarity ensues, I just don’t want to say what as a minor spoiler. We do have a small amount of spice that I could have done without. Remember…. I’ve figured out that I seem to be a ‘fade to black’/ ‘behind closed door’ romance reader.
Here are some of the tropes we have in Switched:
Fake Dating
One Night Stand
Forced Proximity
We have two narrators: Kelsey Navarro Foster and James Anderson Foster, who are married in ‘real life’! Kelsey did a fabulous job! She really captured everything with the characters down to the ‘bad English accent’ with Serena attempting to be Henry. James only narrated for one chapter, and for that I was thankful as his voice for this chapter did not work for me.
Sarah Ready is an author I discovered last year and Switched is the third book I have listened to from her, and I have enjoyed them all! She’s an author I plan to read/listen to more. And with a third book in the Ghosted series coming out in July, I am ready for another book from her! And for one who doesn’t really read much romance, that is saying something! And let me just say that the covers of the books in this series… It’s very tempting for me to want physical copies of them because they are just… Gorgeous!
Many thanks to the publisher for having these audiobooks available to listen to and reviewing!
Pre-Order Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
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Book Review: People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry
People We Meet on Vacation
Author: Emily Henry
Published: May 11, 2021
373 Pages
Reviewed By: Kim
Kim’s Rating: 3 stars
Book Description:
Two best friends. Ten summer trips. One last chance to fall in love.
Poppy and Alex. Alex and Poppy. They have nothing in common. She’s a wild child; he wears khakis. She has insatiable wanderlust; he prefers to stay home with a book. And somehow, ever since a fateful car share home from college many years ago, they are the very best of friends. For most of the year they live far apart—she’s in New York City, and he’s in their small hometown—but every summer, for a decade, they have taken one glorious week of vacation together.
Until two years ago, when they ruined everything. They haven’t spoken since.
Poppy has everything she should want, but she’s stuck in a rut. When someone asks when she was last truly happy, she knows, without a doubt, it was on that ill-fated, final trip with Alex. And so, she decides to convince her best friend to take one more vacation together—lay everything on the table, make it all right. Miraculously, he agrees.
Now she has a week to fix everything. If only she can get around the one big truth that has always stood quietly in the middle of their seemingly perfect relationship. What could possibly go wrong?
Kim’s Review:
Brain candy, plain and simple. And unfortunately, it bordered on YA level maturity. A bunch of adults acting like teens and it did indeed get frustrating, per usual. Plus, who visits Sanibel Island and talks about book stores, without mentioning Gene’s Books by name?? I mean, come on; it’s a romcom book. There’s not much to say. It’s simple, it’s easy, it’s sorta feel good when you’re not annoyed with the characters’ stupidity. It entertained me, but I will never read it again. There it is.
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
