June Netgalley Wrap-Up
June was a great month! I loved two of the review books and liked the other….mostly. All books below are courtesy of Netgalley and their publishers.
Title: The Pairing
Author: Casey McQuiston
Genre: Romance
Pub Date: August 6, 2024
Theo, daughter of a family of famous movie stars, Sommelier in training, and former best friend of Kit, heads to Europe with a backpack and a prayer to fulfill her dream of a European tour the last month the ticket is valid. It has been four years since she has seen her former best friend and boyfriend Kit, so who should show up on the same European tour for the same reasons? Through a lot of great culture and tons of tension these two friends turned lovers turned enemies work through their past and look to the future after destiny brings them back together.
Casey McQuiston is an auto-read for me. I don't care what the book is about, I am getting it. This book did not disappoint. Following Kit and Theo on a star-crossed lover's adventure through Europe was an absolute delight. What starts as tension and stress blossoms and grows into a lovely story about redemption, lost love, and closure. The writing itself creates a kind of sensory overload in the reader with the descriptions of food, wine, places, and people. I was craving a European tour of epic proportions by the end. There is quite a lot of language in local dialects, as well as local place names, so I will be listening to the audiobook. A true 5-star read.
As a side note, there is a lot of honest heartfelt discussion about gender and identity. It so beautifully done, but at one point Kit and Theo discuss pronouns for Theo. Throughout the book it is made clear that she is very androgynous and the penultimate discussion leads to Theo opening up about gently changing her pronouns to align with a they/them label. I wanted to put a note in here to prepare you because it is a little hard to adjust to after you have been reading she/her for half a book. I also think it is done in a very interesting way because, while I have not experienced it, being close and seeing someone everyday who then asks to change pronouns must be just as jarring in real life. It is bound to be a hard adjustment for family and friends for a little bit, and certainly by the end of the book it becomes natural. Just an interesting little earworm there.
Content: Plenty of spice, off-the-charts tension, LGBTQA+, All the good feelings
Title: Cole and Laila are Just Friends
Author: Bethany Turner
Genre: Romance
Pub Date: June 4, 2024
A group of friends have made their own little family. Two of them are married and it is clear to everyone in their small town that the other two should be. Cole and Laila are oblivious though. They go together like cheese and crackers and are both comfortable and happy with their lives. After a family loss, Cole is sent into a tailspin and has an honest to go midlife crisis for one wild week in New York. He and Laila being to look at each other a bit differently as they work through the ramifications of Cole's loss and being to question where they go from here.
This book ended up being just as fun as the cover. After a life-changing turn of events, a group of nearly 40’s best friends have a collective mid-life crisis and end up in NYC. There are many ups and downs, slow burn clean romance, and a shocking twist ending. It is one of those where you think you know what will happen, and then the last twenty pages twists and turns so hard you just set the book down and process after. It has a single narrator portraying multiple characters, but ultimately she does it well. Cole and Layla are both just lovely people and very well-written. It is rare to find a great romance with no spice these days, but Bethany Turner has really accomplished that.
Content: No Spice, Friends to More, Dreams Realized
Title: The Honeymoon
Author: Rona Halsall
Genre: Thriller
Pub Date: June 4, 2019
Chloe marries the love of her life, Dan...In two months. What starts as the perfect relationship, dream wedding, and long wished for honeymoon, beings to unravel when Dan unexpectedly changes their honeymoon plane tickets, and does not tell Chloe until they are loading on the plane. What follows has Chloe questioning everyone and everything, but mostly her brand new husband, who she is quickly realizing she knows nothing about.
The Honeymoon is a thriller with many twists and turns. Some were predictable and some were not. Rona Halsall did a great job of keeping you guessing on many of the plotlines and had a good grip on who her characters were. The story itself wasn't believable enough to keep you on the edge of your seat but it did create tension. While the book wasn't for me, it certainly will find an audience. The cover is gorgeous and her dialogue is well written. It wasn't my favorite book of the year, but it wasn't a DNF.
Content: Low Spice, Who did I marry???, Twists and Turns
