Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**
Thank you to Katherine Tegen Books for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!
The Haunting of Bly Manor meets House of Salt and Sorrows in award-winning author Kyrie McCauley’s contemporary YA gothic romance about a dark family lineage, the ghosts of grief, and the lines we’ll cross for love.
The Sleeping House was very much awake . . .
Days after a tragedy leaves Marin Blythe alone in the world, she receives a surprising invitation from Alice Lovelace—an acclaimed horror writer and childhood friend of Marin’s mother. Alice offers her a nanny position at Lovelace House, the family’s coastal Maine estate.
Marin accepts and soon finds herself minding Alice’s peculiar girls. Thea buries her dolls one by one, hosting a series of funerals, while Wren does everything in her power to drive Marin away. Then Alice’s eldest daughter returns home unexpectedly. Evie Hallowell is every bit as strange as her younger sisters, and yet Marin is quickly drawn in by Evie’s compelling behavior and ethereal grace.
But as Marin settles in, she can’t escape the anxiety that follows her like a shadow. Dead birds appear in Marin’s room. The children’s pranks escalate. Something dangerous lurks in the woods, leaving mutilated animals in its wake. All is not well at Lovelace House, and Marin must unravel its secrets before they consume her.
Content Warning:
I never read The Haunting of Bly Manor (but now I’m intrigued) but I did read House of Salt and Sorrows and loved it. This book was not what I expected. Here is what I thought:
+ Right away the cover gives off that this will be a creepy book and I’m here for it. Marin moves into the house of her mom’s friend, Alice, an author with three daughters. Marin’s mom died so she’s alone and so she is now the nanny to Thea and Wren. The girls, especially Wren – are creepy. The writing is atmospheric and I got the gothic vibes for sure.
+ I was definitely kept guessing throughout the book. And there were weird and gross things like finding teeth in clams, or the girls cutting their hair and saving it in a chest and of course the dead animals around the property. If I was Marin, I would have left the moment Wren tried to feed me poisonous berries as a test lol.
+~ The lgbt+ romance was a sweet one – Marin and Evie complimented one another and they bonded through their grief. Marin lost her mother and Evie, her father. But I also felt like it didn’t work for me. I was caught up in trying to figure out what was going on at the Lovelace estate instead of wanting to read a romance happening.
~ The main reason this story didn’t work for me was to slow in the first half and it just lost my attention. I also failed to connect to any of the characters.
~ I’m probably not the right audience for this book or it was due to me not being in the mood to read it that I didn’t really enjoy it.
Tropes: creepy secluded house
Why you should read it:
you like gothic mystery and horror
the theme of grief
Why you might not want to read it:
too slow for me
My Thoughts:
The beginning was too slow for me to get invested into the story but I did think the writing was atmospheric and brought the creepy vibes. This one didn’t work out for me but I think if you like gothic horror and mystery, you will enjoy this one a lot especially in the second half of the book.
Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**
Thank you to St. Martin’s Griffin for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!
Love breaks all the rules.
Margo Anderson is sworn off commitment. Alongside her best friend, Jo, she runs a viral podcast featuring rules for hooking up without catching feelings. So when Jo surprises her by deciding to get married and taking up a sponsor’s offer to host an all-expenses-paid wedding trip on Catalina Island, they have the whole internet to answer to.
In a scramble for content to appease their disappointed listeners, Margo cooks up a social experiment: Break all her own dating rules, just to prove that it’s a bad idea. And she’s found the best man for the job in the groom’s best friend and her old high school nemesis, Declan Walsh. He may be easier on the eyes than Margo remembered, but he’s sure to be as smug and annoying as he was before—there is no chance Margo will ever catch feelings for him . . . until she does.
The more time they spend together through cake tastings and wedding party activities, the more Margo can’t ignore their obvious spark, and she may actually be enjoying getting to know Declan. But can she let go of the rules to let him in?
Content Warning:
What happens when two women who have a podcast about how to be single and happy and then one woman defects and gets married? Well they definitely can’t continue making a podcast about staying single! So it’s definitely a problem between Go and Jo. They have to figure out how to move forward with their podcast, but it’s hard letting go – especially for Margo.
This rom-com has a little bit of everything that makes it a fun read. A wedding party travels to Catalina Island for two weeks, there’s an enemies to lovers kind of romance between Margo and her old classmate Declan (who happens to be the best man – she’s the maid of honor of course) and being stuck on an island for two weeks – well…anything can happen. And something does happen between Margo and Declan but it’s ruined by one person withholding information from the other. I thought the parts where they bickered was fun and they even got some steamy scenes. The two are opposites where Declan is more on the quiet side and doesn’t know his way around social media as compared to Margo who’s job requires she be on social media all the time.
Speaking of the job – Go and Jo are podcasters but we get mostly Margo’s perspective of the show because Jo is basically all but out of the duo. Jo fell in love and she’s getting married. Where does this leave Margo? A little bit floundering and trying to figure stuff out. I’d assume Margo and their group of friends are Millenials because they mention high rent prices and having to move back home to get their feet under them again.
I think the friend group/wedding party didn’t add much to the story. I would have like to get more out of them just to liven things up a bit. I also wanted a little bit more from Declan’s character but I guess that’s just how his personality is.
Overall, this is a good light-hearted romance and it would be a perfect book for summer time.
Why you should read it:
you want a light-hearted, quick and easy romance
it’s got a wedding party traveling and spending time together
Margo and Declan’s romance – plus there are sexy scenes between them
Why you might not want to read it:
My Thoughts:
This rom-com has a little bit of everything and I think it’s a great book for a summer read!
Aging and reclusive Hollywood movie icon Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. But when she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant for the job, no one is more astounded than Monique herself. Why her? Why now?
Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband has left her, and her professional life is going nowhere. Regardless of why Evelyn has selected her to write her biography, Monique is determined to use this opportunity to jumpstart her career.
Summoned to Evelyn’s luxurious apartment, Monique listens in fascination as the actress tells her story. From making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to her decision to leave show business in the ‘80s, and, of course, the seven husbands along the way, Evelyn unspools a tale of ruthless ambition, unexpected friendship, and a great forbidden love. Monique begins to feel a very real connection to the legendary star, but as Evelyn’s story near its conclusion, it becomes clear that her life intersects with Monique’s own in tragic and irreversible ways.
Content Warning: domestic violence, misogyny, prejudice against LGBT+ community
This is another book that I thought met all the hype it got. Would I say that if I read it? I’m not sure because I was picking up the ebook and not really getting into the story yet in the beginning when I decided oh hey, maybe the audiobook is available to borrow and sure enough it was! I decided to listen to the story instead and I was hooked. The narrators, and there are three, did such a fabulous job. Their voices were engaging and really took on the roles.
What can I say about this book that hasn’t been said? Evelyn is a compelling character. She’s someone who reinvented herself for money, fame, success and security. She married seven men for all those reasons and even though it was basically her marrying to get to the top, I applauded her for being a woman who knew what she wanted in a time when women didn’t have much power on their own. And she was even bi-sexual in a time when it was not okay to be and she was trying to figure it all out, and hide it. She was a person who lied and manipulated people and situations to get what she wanted but I didn’t hate her. I totally understood all her motivations until the very end but it was fun and sometimes heartbreaking to see her life’s journey. The message about women taking their power is strong in this story and I like how the journalist took on some of Evelyn’s advice.
I loved the feeling of being an insider in a big movie’s stars life and seeing how some marriages were just contracts to hide secrets. It makes you think about what current celebrities do to create the narrative they want the public to be hooked on. What a world! And clearly never will be my world and I’m actually grateful for that – I don’t know how anyone can deal with fame and not knowing the truth of things, like who your real friends are. I’m so happy Evelyn had Harry. And I really loved the message about love and soul mates and how people aren’t stuck with just one. There are many different kinds of worthy love out there.
All the characters that came into Evelyn’s life really made the story well-rounded. Her relationships with these men and Celia were all so different and fascinating, some even scary and heartbreaking. Evelyn really was a force to be reckoned with, someone who never gave up even when she had struggles.
It took me two days to listen to this book which means if I read it, it would have taken me one day – but by the end of it I was thinking, wow, what a time Evelyn had!
Why you should read it:
a story about reinventing yourself, taking what you want and love
entertaining story and behind the scenes of a movie star
Why you might not want to read it:
not into historical fiction
My Thoughts:
Another bestseller and hyped book is crossed off my TBR list and I honestly think it deserves all the hype. The narrators did an amazing job with voicing the audiobook but that also is due to having good material to work with. I loved all the messages about love and woman power in the story. Overall, it is an epic life journey story.
Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**
Thank you to Rocky Pond Books for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!
An intense, beautiful debut about the power of finding your voice and sharing your story after trauma. Perfect for fans of Nina LaCour and Kathleen Glasgow.
Seventeen-year-old Virginia makes bad choices. In fact, she’s That Kind of Girl, according to the whispers. But as long as she has her tight group of best friends by her side, she’s able to ignore the gossipers. Until she finds herself spending time with Rumi, Poppy’s boyfriend. Breaking with tradition, she doesn’t hook up with Rumi. Worse, she falls in love with him.
While Virginia and Rumi’s relationship grows in secret, she discovers that his little sister, Lyra, is being groomed for abuse. The soon-to-be-abuser is a respected member of the community, and only Virginia knows who he is and what he does. If she stays quiet, Lyra will become a victim. But coming forward feels equally impossible.
Content Warning: drug use, grooming, child abuse, sexual assault, domestic violence, suicidal ideation
First off, I love this book cover – it’s beautiful. This is a story with heavy topics but it’s an important book. The thing that really hit me about the story was that it resonated with me and not because I experienced these things but I have friends who went through some of these things and the way these girls are a tight group of friends, reminded me of me and my friends in college. The partying, the secrets, the drama – I felt like I knew these girls in this story.
I know a Virginia, a few Virginia’s and that’s a sad and scary reality. But although Virginia and her friends’ story is scary, and heartbreaking – they are courageous and brave. The ending is full of hope which I loved. I also loved the diversity represented in the story.
This story is under 300 pages and it’s a quick read. I found the story powerful but the writing didn’t flow for me. It was a bit choppy at times and I always had to find my place again. I felt like I missed a word or a sentence and had to reread the previous sentence. I understand it’s supposed to probably reflect Virginia’s panic, pain and her fears, but sometimes it took me out of the story. Despite all of that, this story is devastating.
Why you should read it:
powerful story about child abuse and the courage to stop it from happening again
Why you might not want to read it:
lots of trigger warnings
My Thoughts:
If you can handle the trigger warnings then read this book. This is a story filled with pain, hard issues like abuse, but a story about courage as well. Stories like these are never easy to read but I like how we get Virginia’s story because she’s that girl who has a bad reputation, yet people don’t know what she’s been through. And even though she is scared of her abuser her bravery to speak about what happened saved someone else from him, no matter the consequences and that matters.
Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**
Thank you to Inkyard Press for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!
Six friends. Five suspects. One murder.
Savana Caruso and Jesse Melo have known each other since they were kids, so when Jesse texts Savana in the middle of the night and asks her to meet him at Cray’s Warehouse, she doesn’t hesitate. But before Savana can find Jesse, she bears witness to a horrifying murder, standing helpless on the ground as a mysterious figure is pushed out of the fourth floor of the warehouse.
Six teens were there that night, and five of them are now potential suspects. With the police circling, Savana knows what will happen if the wrong person is charged, particularly once she starts getting threatening anonymous text messages.
As she attempts to uncover the truth, Savana learns that everyone is keeping secrets—and someone is willing to do whatever it takes to keep those secrets from coming to light.
Content Warning: attempted sexual assault, bullying, toxic relationship, alcoholism
Five teens are a suspect in a murder of one of the most popular boys in school, Raf. He was the ring leader in his friend group but he wasn’t the nicest guy. I like how the story starts off with the incident of Raf’s fall and Savana gets called to the area it happens. Right away we start getting into how these teens are involved by going back to the “start” so to speak. The timeline worked pretty well and I liked that it was told between Savana and Jesse’s perspectives. We are introduced to the five friends, Raf, Jesse, Tara, Freddie and Owen – the coolest kids in school. Savana is not part of the group but she’s close to Jesse who is the boy next door.
I easily read this book in one sitting and I felt like the story moved quickly. I thought Savana was a really good friend to Jesse and even Tara later. There is a mild friends to lovers romance going on between Savana and Jesse – though it takes a back seat with all the drama going on with Raf.
There are some tough topics discussed in this story like alcoholism, divorce, cheating, abusive relationships, bullying, and sexual assault but the story doesn’t go deep into the topics but it does give some suspects a motive for killing Raf.
As for the mystery of who committed the act – it was definitely someone I didn’t expect, but after hearing why the person did it, it made sense. But it would have been nice to have more hints about it throughout the book! Also Savana was supposed to be observing this popular group for a research project she was doing but it didn’t seem that important since we never see her doing any research whatsoever expect for observing the group of friends.
Why you should read it:
it’s a quick read
you like young adult murder mysteries
Why you might not want to read it:
it’s an easy read – it has hard topics but doesn’t go deep into them
My Thoughts:
I like that this was a quick and easy read because sometimes mysteries can get too slow and boring for me. I finished this in one sitting. I thought Savana was a great character as she and Jesse try and figure out what happened the night Raf died. There are a lot of tough topics in the story but it doesn’t get too deep into them. It showed how each character was going through something behind closed doors and even though the five friends were supposedly close – they still kept secrets from one another. Overall, this was an enjoyable young adult mystery.
Categories: Romance, Young Adult, Coming of Age, Contemporary
Prince Jones is the guy with all the answers—or so it seems. After all, at seventeen, he has his own segment on Detroit’s popular hip-hop show, Love Radio, where he dishes out advice to the brokenhearted.
Prince has always dreamed of becoming a DJ and falling in love. But being the main caretaker for his mother, who has multiple sclerosis, and his little brother means his dreams will stay just that and the only romances in his life are the ones he hears about from his listeners. Until he meets Dani Ford.
Dani isn’t checking for anybody. She’s focused on her plan: ace senior year, score a scholarship, and move to New York City to become a famous author. But her college essay keeps tripping her up and acknowledging what’s blocking her means dealing with what happened at that party a few months ago. And that’s one thing Dani can’t do.
When the romantic DJ meets the ambitious writer, sparks fly. Prince is smitten, but Dani’s not looking to get derailed. She gives Prince just three dates to convince her that he’s worth falling for. Three dates for the love expert to take his own advice, and just maybe change two lives forever.
Content Warning: sexual assault
Love Radio is a sweet simmering story about two teenagers, Prince who is a Dj on Love Radio giving out love advice (from a 17 year old?!) and Danielle, who is an aspiring writer with big dreams but a painful secret. These two falling in love did remind me of the romance movies Danielle’s mother is obsessed with like Love Jones (that movie came out when I was in college and I loved it and the soundtrack). Speaking of Danielle’s mom being obsessed with 90’s movies – I guess I could relate to her very well. And boy did I feel my age when Danielle and Prince mention loving Lauryn Hill and wishing they were alive when she was big! 😅 I went to a Miseducation of Lauryn Hill concert back in 1999 when I was in Los Angeles for college. I was blown AWAY and in awe…but I just had to let out a big laugh when Dani says “I wish I was born around the time she was making music.” I felt my age lol.
Prince is a capable young man who is already working, maybe not getting the best grades in school, but he’s also taking care of his younger brother and a mom who has Multiple Sclerosis. He’s a good guy and the way he woos Danielle shows it. Danielle is navigating a lot of feelings. She wants to go to NYC and become a writer and love doesn’t have a place in her life right now but Prince is going to try his best to convince her she can have her dreams and love too.
The romance between Prince and Danielle is a slow burn and I like that they get to know each other slowly because Danielle has trust issues and triggers. Prince is always so careful around her because he knows she’s holding back a piece of herself and I appreciated that about him. Prince may be giving love advice on the radio but they are both young with their lives ahead of them so it really touched on lots of coming of age topics like friendship, family, college and dating.
I do think because it was a slow burn there were some lulls in the story but I still read this in one sitting. I loved all the mentions about music, writing, and Detroit history in the story as well.
Why you should read it:
sweet, slow burn
love the 90’s/00’s romance movies and music references
heartwarming love story
Why you might not want to read it:
might come off a little boring because it’s a slow burn
My Thoughts:
I enjoyed this story a lot because of the nostalgia in the music and movie references and I liked seeing a boy trying to woo a girl slowly. Prince and Danielle are two young people who is just trying to get through high school and figure out what’s next while slowly falling in love. This one was a cute read!
Categories: Contemporary, Fantasy, LGBT, Magic, Paranormal, Young Adult
Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**
Thank you to Delacorte for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!
Maude is the daughter of witches. She spent her childhood running wild with her best friend, Odette, weaving stories of girls who slayed dragons and saved princes. Then Maude grew up and lost her magic—and her best friend.
These days, magic is toothless, reduced to glamour patches and psychic energy drinks found in supermarkets and shopping malls. Odette has always hungered for forbidden, dangerous magic, and two weeks ago she went searching for it. Now she’s missing, and everyone says she’s dead. Everyone except Maude.
Storytelling has always been Maude’s gift, so she knows all about girls who get lost in the woods. She’s sure she can find Odette inside the ruins of Sicklehurst, an abandoned power plant built over an ancient magical forest—a place nobody else seems to remember is there. The danger is, no one knows what remains inside Sicklehurst, either. And every good story is sure to have a monster.
Content Warning: violence, death
The cover on this book caught my eye really quick. It’s gorgeous! As for the story, this is what I thought:
+ This is a dark fairy-tale and some parts of it reminded me of the book, The Hazel Wood. There are modern and fantasy elements and there are monsters and violence.
+ Maude is an unreliable narrator and a pretty good one meaning I couldn’t tell if what she was remembering was a dream, hallucination or a memory. As the story unfolds and the story comes together, it starts to make more sense. I did like the concept of the story.
+ I found the magic system intriguing and the world is unique. Maude is from a line of witches and magic in the town seems like it’s a forbidden thing. I also liked the fairy-tale characters that come to life, they were interesting!
~ The pacing didn’t work for me. Most of the action takes place in the second half of the book.
~ It took too long for me to feel like I understood the world. It’s contemporary with fantasy elements but in the beginning of the story I was trying to figure it out because it had some modern things like the power plant and the way the characters talk. I didn’t feel settled into the story until almost the end. I think if it was pure fantasy it would have worked much better for me.
~ I didn’t connect to the characters but it kept me hooked enough to finish because I wanted to see how Maude would fix things. Maude was a bit obsessed over Odette but I guess that’s something she was working out with her other issues about losing people in her life.
Tropes: unreliable narrator
Why you should read it:
you like dark fairytales, unique world building and interesting magic system
unreliable narrator
Why you might not want to read it:
slow beginning, got interesting in the end
My Thoughts:
I love the book cover and I love the concept of the story. I think the dark fairytale aspect of the story with the unreliable narrator was enough to keep me interested. The thing that was a miss for me was the pacing, which was too slow in the beginning with flashback memories that made the story feel like a dream at some points. Also the characters were interesting but I couldn’t connect to anyone. It seems like there will be a sequel but I’m not sure that I will continue the series. I think people who like dark fairytales like The Hazel Wood.
Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**
Thank you to Berkley Books for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!
A woman discovers the father of the child she is nannying may be her biggest (Only)Fan in this steamy contemporary romance by Lana Ferguson.
After losing her job and being on the brink of eviction, Cassie Evans finds herself with two choices: get a new job (and fast) or fire up her long-untouched OnlyFans account. But there are no jobs to be found, and as for OnlyFans. . . . Well, there are reasons she can’t go back. Just when all hope seems lost, an ad for a live-in nanny position seems the solution to all her problems. It’s almost too perfect—until she meets her would-be employer.
Aiden Reid, executive chef and DILF extraordinaire is far from the stuffy single dad Cassie was imagining. She is shocked when he tells her she’s the most qualified applicant he’s met in weeks, practically begging her to take the job. With hands that make her hindbrain howl and eyes that scream sex, the idea of living under the same roof as Aiden feels dangerous, but with no other option, she decides to stay with him and his adorably tenacious daughter, Sophie.
Cassie soon discovers that Aiden is not a stranger at all, but instead someone who is very familiar with her—or at least, her body. She finds herself at a loss for what to do, given that he doesn’t remember her. As their relationship heats to temperatures hotter than any kitchen Aiden has ever worked in, Cassie struggles with telling Aiden the truth, and the more terrifying possibility—losing the best chance at happiness she’s ever had.
Content Warning: mention of death of a parent
A single dad and the nanny? I was definitely interested to see what would happen here especially since the nanny had an OnlyFans account. Here’s what I thought:
+ If you like steamy, hot scenes – this book is definitely for you. From the recollections of Cassie’s OnlyFans sessions with her favorite client to her and Aiden getting it one. Oh boy…this one is on fire!
+ The single dad trope I thought was done pretty good. He’s busy and needs some help and Cassie is definitely qualified.
+ My favorite characters in this book are Sophie who is definitely a typical 9 year old, playing on her Switch and thinking kissing is gross. She’s had some trauma and a busy dad so I totally understood her reservations. Also Wanda, Cassie’s best friend, an elderly woman with so much spunk is hilarious.
~ As much as I enjoyed the smutty scenes and I like that Aiden and Cassie have a connection. I wanted them to connect on a deeper level. I just didn’t feel it and honestly, I did feel like Iris (Sophie’s aunt) was correct to be worried that Aiden didn’t do enough for Sophie. He barely spent time with his daughter in this story and if he did, and was a bit more protective of her, even when it came to Cassie who was new to their family – I have been more endeared to him I think? I give him credit for trying but as a character – I felt like he was not putting enough effort. And you’d think as a chef with a famous restaurant he’d at least cook something good for Cassie but he never does! I was waiting for some amazing meal scene or something along those lines.
~ The conversations between Aiden and Cassie got repetitive at times and lacked the kind of banter I love in a romance. It would start off okay and they do well in the bedroom but outside of the bedroom I felt like they needed better communication skills.
~ Cassie is a sweetheart but honestly, sometimes she got on my nerves because she knows what sleeping with her boss would do and especially in the eyes of Iris. I’m glad Wanda was there to tell her what is up because that girl needed some guidance. Also when Cassie decides to leave – did she not think how that would affect Sophie who’s mom just died? So leaving without a goodbye is a good decision? Just little things like that bugged me.
Tropes: single dad, dad and the nanny, one house
Why you should read it:
hot sex scenes
single dad trope, live-in nanny romance
Wanda is the best character
Why you might not want to read it:
repetitive and need better communication between the characters
My Thoughts:
I was not expecting the blush factor in this book, it’s got some steamy scenes which I enjoyed! I just wish the two main characters connected better outside of the bedroom as well as they did inside of it because as much as I enjoyed the smut, I was skipping a few of it at the ending because I wanted the emotional parts of these two characters. Also their conversations felt repetitive. My favorite character is Wanda, Cassie’s spunky friend who is the closest thing to family that she has. She brought a lot of the humor into the story. Overall I thought the book was still enjoyable despite the some of the issues I had with it.
“A stunning portrait of a woman blossoming into her full power…this is Alka Joshi’s best book yet!” —Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Diamond Eye
From the author of Reese’s Book Club Pick The Henna Artist, the final chapter in Alka Joshi’s New York Times bestselling Jaipur trilogy takes readers to 1970s Paris, where Radha’s budding career as a perfumer must compete with the demands of her family and the secrets of her past.
Paris, 1974. Radha is now living in Paris with her husband, Pierre, and their two daughters. She still grieves for the baby boy she gave up years ago, when she was only a child herself, but she loves being a mother to her daughters, and she’s finally found her passion—the treasure trove of scents.
She has an exciting and challenging position working for a master perfumer, helping to design completely new fragrances for clients and building her career one scent at a time. She only wishes Pierre could understand her need to work. She feels his frustration, but she can’t give up this thing that drives her.
Tasked with her first major project, Radha travels to India, where she enlists the help of her sister, Lakshmi, and the courtesans of Agra—women who use the power of fragrance to seduce, tease and entice. She’s on the cusp of a breakthrough when she finds out the son she never told her husband about is heading to Paris to find her—upending her carefully managed world and threatening to destroy a vulnerable marriage.
Paris
September 2, 1974
I pick up on the first ring; I know it’s going to be her. She always calls on his birthday. Not to remind me of the day he came into this world but to let me know I’m not alone in my remembrance.
“Jiji?” I keep my voice low. I don’t want to wake Pierre and the girls.
“Kaisa ho, choti behen?” my sister says. I hear the smile in her voice, and I respond with my own. It’s lovely to hear Lakshmi’s gentle Hindi here in my Paris apartment four thousand miles away. I’d always called her Jiji—big sister—but she hadn’t always called me choti behen. It was Malik who addressed me as little sister when I first met him in Jaipur eighteen years ago, and he wasn’t even related to Jiji and me by blood. He was simply her apprentice. My sister started calling me choti behen later, after everything in Jaipur turned topsy-turvy, forcing us to make a new home in Shimla.
Today, my sister will talk about everything except the reason she’s calling. It’s the only way she’s found to make sure I get out of bed on this particular date, to prevent me from spiraling into darkness every year on the second of September, the day my son, Niki, was born.
She started the tradition the first year I was separated from him, in 1957. I was just fourteen. Jiji arrived at my boarding school with a picnic, having arranged for the headmistress to excuse me from classes. We had recently moved from Jaipur to Shimla, and I was still getting used to our new home. I think Malik was the only one of us who adjusted easily to the cooler temperatures and thinner air of the Himalayan mountains, but I saw less of him now that he was busy with activities at his own school, Bishop Cotton.
I was in history class when Jiji appeared at the door and beckoned me with a smile. As I stepped outside the room, she said, “It’s such a beautiful day, Radha. Shall we take a hike?” I looked down at my wool blazer and skirt, my stiff patent leather shoes, and wondered what had gotten into her. She laughed and told me I could change into the clothes I wore for nature camp, the one our athletics teacher scheduled every month. I’d woken with a heaviness in my chest, and I wanted to say no, but one look at her eager face told me I couldn’t deny her. She’d cooked my favorite foods for the picnic. Makki ki roti dripping with ghee. Palak paneer so creamy I always had to take a second helping. Vegetable korma. And chole, the garbanzo bean curry with plenty of fresh cilantro.
That day, we hiked Jakhu Hill. I told her how I hated math but loved my sweet old teacher. How my roommate, Mathilde, whistled in her sleep. Jiji told me that Madho Singh, Malik’s talking parakeet, was starting to learn Punjabi words. She’d begun taking him to the Community Clinic to amuse the patients while they waited to be seen by her and Dr. Jay. “The hill people have been teaching him the words they use to herd their sheep, and he’s using those same words now to corral patients in the waiting area!” She laughed, and it made me feel lighter. I’ve always loved her laugh; it’s like the temple bells that worshippers ring to receive blessings from Bhagwan.
When we reached the temple at the top of the trail, we stopped to eat and watched the monkeys frolicking in the trees. A few of the bolder macaques eyed our lunch from just a few feet away. As I started to tell her a story about the Shakespeare play we were rehearsing after school, I stopped abruptly, remembering the plays Ravi and I used to rehearse together, the prelude to our lovemaking. When I froze, she knew it was time to steer the conversation into less dangerous territory, and she smoothly transitioned to how many times she’d beat Dr. Jay at backgammon.
“I let Jay think he’s winning until he realizes he isn’t,” Lakshmi grinned.
I liked Dr. Kumar (Dr. Jay to Malik and me), the doctor who looked after me when I was pregnant with Niki—here in Shimla. I’d been the first to notice that he couldn’t take his eyes off Lakshmi, but she’d dismissed it; she merely considered the two of them to be good friends. And here he and my sister have been married now for ten years! He’s been good for her—better than her ex-husband was. He taught her to ride horses. In the beginning, she was scared to be high off the ground (secretly, I think she was afraid of losing control), but now she can’t imagine her life without her favorite gelding, Chandra.
So lost am I in memories of the sharp scents of Shimla’s pines, the fresh hay Chandra enjoys, the fragrance of lime aftershave and antiseptic coming off Dr. Jay’s coat, that I don’t hear Lakshmi’s question. She asks again. My sister knows how to exercise infinite patience—she had to do it often enough with those society ladies in Jaipur whose bodies she spent hours decorating with henna paste.
I look at the clock on my living room wall. “Well, in another hour, I’ll get the girls up and make their breakfast.” I move to the balcony windows to draw back the drapes. It’s overcast today, but a little warmer than yesterday. Down below, a moped winds its way among parked cars on our street. An older gentleman, keys jingling in his palm, unlocks his shop door a few feet from the entrance to our apartment building. “The girls and I may walk a ways before we get on the Métro.”
“Won’t the nanny be taking them to school?”
Turning from the window, I explain to Jiji that we had to let our nanny go quite suddenly and the task of taking my daughters to the International School has fallen to me.
“What happened?”
It’s a good thing Jiji can’t see the color rise in my cheeks. It’s embarrassing to admit that Shanti, my nine-year-old daughter, struck her nanny on the arm, and Yasmin did what she would have done to one of her children back in Algeria: she slapped Shanti. Even as I say it, I feel pinpricks of guilt stab the tender skin just under my belly button. What kind of mother raises a child who attacks others? Have I not taught her right from wrong? Is it because I’m neglecting her, preferring the comfort of work to raising a girl who is presenting challenges I’m not sure I can handle? Isn’t that what Pierre has been insinuating? I can almost hear him say, “This is what happens when a mother puts her work before family.” I put a hand on my forehead. Oh, why did he fire Yasmin before talking to me? I didn’t even have a chance to understand what transpired, and now my husband expects me to find a replacement. Why am I the one who must find the solution to a problem I didn’t cause?
My sister asks how my work is going. This is safer ground. My discomfort gives way to excitement. “I’ve been working on a formula for Delphine that she thinks is going to be next season’s favorite fragrance. I’m on round three of the iteration. The way she just knows how to pull back on one ingredient and add barely a drop of another to make the fragrance a success is remarkable, Jiji.”
I can talk forever about fragrances. When I’m mixing a formula, hours can pass before I stop to look around, stretch my neck or step outside the lab for a glass of water and a chat with Celeste, Delphine’s secretary. It’s Celeste who often reminds me that it’s time for me to pick up the girls from school when I’m between nannies. And when I do have someone to look after the girls, Celeste casually asks what I’m serving for dinner, reminding me that I need to stop work and get home in time to feed them. On the days Pierre cooks, I’m only too happy to stay an extra hour before finishing work for the day. It’s peaceful in the lab. And quiet. And the scents—honey and clove and vetiver and jasmine and cedar and myrrh and gardenia and musk—are such comforting companions. They ask nothing of me except the freedom to envelop another world with their essence. My sister understands. She told me once that when she skated a reed dipped in henna paste across the palm, thigh or belly of a client to draw a Turkish fig or a boteh leaf or a sleeping baby, everything fell away—time, responsibilities, worries.
My daughter Asha’s birthday is coming up. She’s turning seven, but I know Jiji won’t bring it up. Today, my sister will refrain from any mention of birthdays, babies or pregnancies because she knows these subjects will inflame my bruised memories. Lakshmi knows how hard I’ve worked to block out the existence of my firstborn, the baby I had to give up for adoption. I’d barely finished grade eight when Jiji told me why my breasts were tender, why I felt vaguely nauseous. I wanted to share the good news with Ravi: we were going to have a baby! I’d been so sure he would marry me when he found out he was going to be a father. But before I could tell him, his parents whisked him away to England to finish high school. I haven’t laid eyes on him since. Did he know we’d had a son? Or that our baby’s name is Nikhil?
I wanted so much to keep my baby, but Jiji said I needed to finish school. At thirteen, I was too young to be a mother. What a relief it was when my sister’s closest friends, Kanta and Manu, agreed to raise the baby as their own and then offered to keep me as his nanny, his ayah. They had the means, the desire and an empty nursery. I could be with Niki all day, rock him, sing him to sleep, kiss his peppercorn toes, pretend he was all mine. It took me only four months to realize that I was doing more harm than good, hurting Kanta and Manu by wanting Niki to love only me.
When I was first separated from my son, I thought about him every hour of every day. The curl on one side of his head that refused to settle down. The way his belly button stuck out. How eagerly his fat fingers grasped the milk bottle I wasn’t supposed to give him. Having lost her own baby, Kanta was happy to feed Niki from her own breast. And that made me jealous—and furious. Why did she get to nurse my baby and pretend he was hers? I knew it was better for him to accept her as his new mother, but still. I hated her for it.
I knew that as long as I stayed in Kanta’s house, I would keep Niki from loving the woman who wanted to nurture him and was capable of caring for him in the long run. Lakshmi saw it, too. But she left the decision to me. So I made the only choice I could. I left him. And I tried my best to pretend he never existed. If I could convince myself that the hours Ravi Singh and I spent rehearsing Shakespeare—coiling our bodies around each other as Othello and Desdemona, devouring each other into exhaustion—had been a dream, surely I could convince myself our baby had been a dream, too.
And it worked. On every day but the second of September.
Ever since I left Jaipur, Kanta has been sending envelopes so thick I know what they contain without opening them: photos of Niki the baby, the toddler, the boy. I return each one, unopened, safe in the knowledge that the past can’t touch me, can’t splice my heart, can’t leave me bleeding.
The last time I saw Jiji in Shimla, she showed me a similar envelope addressed to her. I recognized the blue paper, Kanta’s elegant handwriting—letters like g and y looping gracefully—and shook my head. “When you’re ready, we can look at the photos together,” Jiji said.
But I knew I never would.
Today, I’ll make it through Niki’s seventeenth birthday in a haze, as I always do. I know tomorrow will be better. Tomorrow, I’ll be able to do what I couldn’t today. I’ll seal that memory of my firstborn as tightly as if I were securing the lid of a steel tiffin for my lunch, making sure that not a drop of the masala dal can escape.
Born in India and raised in the U.S. since she was nine, Alka Joshi has a BA from Stanford University and an MFA from California College of Arts. Joshi’s debut novel, The Henna Artist, immediately became a NYT bestseller, a Reese Witherspoon Bookclub pick, was Longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, & is in development as a TV series. Her second novel, The Secret Keeper of Jaipur (2021), is followed by The Perfumist of Paris (2023).Find her online at www.alkajoshi.com.
Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**
Thank you to Sourcebook Casablanca for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Ginny Baird brings her signature charm to this multicultural story about two disputing families sharing a beach house and the messiness that comes from falling in love with someone who your family is determined to despise.
Busy flower shop manager Evita Machado can’t wait to get to Nantucket. With a bad breakup behind her, relaxing at the shore with her folks and her brothers and their families sounds like the sure cure for heartache, and their vacation destination looks like an amazing place! But when they arrive at the quaint rose-covered cottage, another group has already put down stakes: the Hatfields.
Ryan Hatfield was Evita’s former crush from high school, but their business rival moms refused to let them date. Now history professor Ryan is here for a week with his parents, who won them this oceanfront rental in a society silent auction. Once it’s clear there’s been a double-booking due to a bidding mistake, Ryan’s mom digs in her heels, meaning to stay. When Evita’s mom won’t back down either, both sides tepidly agree to share the luxury accommodations by dividing the cozy space.
With the boisterous Machados livening things up and the strait-laced Hatfields tamping them down, can Evita and Ryan keep the peace between the warring factions while fostering a growing chemistry between the two of them?
Content Warning:
I thought this book cover looked really cute and the synopsis sounded like it would make for a good rom-com. This is what I thought:
+ Two families, two mom’s that hate each other, and two people who used to be close in high school are reunited accidentally in this book. They try to make the best of their vacation week by sharing one house and it’s almost a disaster. It’s definitely the type of book I was reading to the end to see what kind of chaos ensue and I was not disappointed.
+ Evita and Ryan was the level-headed ones of their families. Evita comes from a big, loud, tight-knit family and Ryan comes from a small, not so close, quiet family. Those two families clash but it’s mostly because of the mothers who have it out for one another due to a high school feud of their own! I loved Evita’s brothers and their families Talk about chaos, but I relate all too well.
+ The romance between Evita and Ryan is really sweet. They were good friends in high school, both crushing on one another without the other knowing. But it seems like the stars have aligned, or good timing, because both of them are free to date one another now, if they want to pursue it. And they do. This is a sweet romance, all we get is some kisses between them, nothing more but I think it works.
+ I love the theme of family in this story. Evita’s family is more tighter, but she still had to beg her mom to back off and let her be independent when it comes to wanting to hang out with Ryan. As for Ryan he had to have a major family meeting with his. But in the end it’s a very happy ending.
~ The mom’s are basically the ones acting like petty young girls, but I thought it was funny. I’m just glad they finally acted adult enough to bury the hatchet by the end.
Tropes: one house, rival families
Why you should read it:
you want a sweet romance, two families under one house with lots of chaos, but a very happy ending
Why you might not want to read it:
the moms are a bit petty, and fought over the silliest things
My Thoughts:
I thought this was a cute story and I loved seeing how different the two families were and how they warmed up to one another by the end. It does have two moms arguing about the smallest things but that’s as far as the drama goes in the story. Overall it was funny, and the romance was really sweet. I look forward to reading more books from this author.
Past Midnight Book Reviews & More 