Jane Litte's Blog, page 120

REVIEW: V is for Valentine by Jeannie Watt

Three weeks to win her heart…

Investment banker Felicity Evans returns home to Holly, Idaho, to answer her injured father’s SOS. He needs her to help him meet his construction deadline on a historic property by Valentine’s Day. Felicity swings a mean hammer, but her life is in Seattle and she’s leaving as soon as the project is finished. One problem with her quick escape plan? Danny Montgomery. Years after moving away, he still complicates her life despite her many efforts to forget him.

For a...

Review: Cry Wolf (Big Bad Wolf # 5 ) by Charlie Adhara

Agent Cooper Dayton never thought anything could be harder than solving murders. Until he had to plan a wedding.

After taking down an old adversary, Agent Cooper Dayton of the Bureau of Special Investigations has earned a break. Not that planning a wedding to his sexy shifter partner, Oliver Park, is necessarily stress free, but it’s better than worrying about the ominous warning, delivered months ago, that Cooper’s life is in danger.

When he’s dragged to an event by his family, Cooper braces f...

REVIEW: The Obsession by Jesse Q Sutanto

A classic sort of love story…except somebody might wind up dead.

Nobody knows Delilah like Logan does. Nobody. He makes sure of it by learning everything he can through her social media and watching her through a hidden camera he has trained on her house. Some might call him a stalker. Logan prefers to be called “romantic”.

But after Logan sees Delilah killing her abusive stepfather, he realizes there’s still more about her to discover. His sweet, perfect Delilah isn’t so perfect after all.

De...

REVIEW: The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

Trigger warnings:

Spoiler: Show

Racism, colorism, sexism, transphobia, sexual harassment, domestic abuse

Content warnings:

Spoiler: Show

bullying, abandonment

Dear Brit Bennett,

I can’t name any one reason why I picked up your novel, The Vanishing Half. Part of it was surely its omnipresence on my Goodreads stream. Part of it was all the praise it’s garnered, which includes appearing on the National Book Award’s finalist longlist, being named one of the top ten books of the year by both t...

Janine’s Best of 2020

I spent much of 2020 grateful to books and authors for giving me a way to visit other times and places while stuck at home because of Covid. Below, listed in alphabetical order by author, are my top eight favorite books of 2020. Some grades have been adjusted since my reviews of the books posted; the passage of time has changed my perspective.

This is also the 500th Dear Author post to appear under my by line. I’m grateful to the readers who have let me blather here over the years. Whether or no...

REVIEW: Infinite Stakes by John Rhodes

September 1940. Adolph Hitler’s Luftwaffe is poised to defeat Britain’s RAF and conquer England, his last remaining enemy.

Winston Churchill faces Nazi Germany from the Battle of Britain bunker. Waves of Luftwaffe bombers sweep over England, carrying death and destruction. Only a handful of heavily outnumbered RAF planes rise against the Luftwaffe. The battle—involving almost a thousand aircraft—rages all day.

But, against all odds, the Luftwaffe is turned back, and England survives to fight ...

REVIEW: Teddy Spenser Isn’t Looking for Love by Kim Fielding

Some people search their whole lives to find love. He just wants to avoid it.

Teddy Spenser spends his days selling design ideas to higher-ups, living or dying on each new pitch. Stodgy engineer types like Romeo Blue, his nemesis—if you can call someone who barely talks to you a nemesis—are a necessary evil. A cute necessary evil.

Working together is bad enough, but when their boss puts them both on a new high-stakes project, “working together” suddenly means:

¥ sitting uncomfortably close on t...

REVIEW: The Ex Talk by Rachel Lynn Solomon

Shay Goldstein has been a producer at her Seattle public radio station for nearly a decade, and she can’t imagine working anywhere else. But lately it’s been a constant clash between her and her newest colleague, Dominic Yun, who’s fresh off a journalism master’s program and convinced he knows everything about public radio.

When the struggling station needs a new concept, Shay proposes a show that her boss green-lights with excitement. On The Ex Talk, two exes will deliver relationship advice...

Jayne’s Best of 2020

Doing a rough count of my 2020 reading journal, I read a little over 200 books last year. I also started but DNF a number of books that I didn’t count in that total. So … I read a lot. There are many B+ grade books that for various reasons didn’t make my “Best of List” along with some wonderful A ones released in previous years. But I recorded only ten A grade ones released this year. Five of them are children’s picture books which might be a result of needing comfort reading in this COVID domin...

Open Thread for Readers for February 2021

Got a book you want to talk about? Frustrated with a book or series? In love with a new one? Found a buried treasure? An issue that keeps popping up in the books you are reading? Just want to chat about stuff in general?