What I Read This Week: August 7, 2022
I finished three books this week, two hits and a miss.
Scandalized by Ivy Owens
Contemporary romance
Advanced copy from NetGalley, expected publication August 23, 2022. This book captures everything I love about the romance genre. It has an interesting story, swoony romance, hot sex scenes, and it covers some serious topics. I love a good romance where one partner doesn’t realize the other is a celebrity, and here it’s handled perfectly. Georgia runs into her childhood best friend’s older brother at the airport after not seeing him for over a decade. Because she a journalist caught up in her stories, she doesn’t know he’s a famous actor. They spend one steamy night together and she finds out who he is afterward. Later, she learns he has a connection to a huge story she’s working on, involving women being assaulted in a London night club. It would have been easy for this storyline to overpower the romance angle, or vice versa but they both are equally weighted and work together well. I liked Georgia and Alec separately but especially together. They had fantastic chemistry and complimented each other well. I highly recommend this one for romance readers, and I’ll be on the lookout for more from this author.
Thank You For Listening by Julia Whelan
Contemporary romance
Advanced copy from NetGalley, published August 2, 2022. As a lover of both audiobooks and romance novels, it felt like this was written specifically for my enjoyment. It was fun to get a behind the scenes look at audiobook creation. The storyline is great, Sewanee is a former actress turned award winning narrator who only read romance to get into the genre and doesn’t believe in happily ever afters. But now she is considering returning to romance for a huge project. As she bonds with her co-narrator, she also considers returning to acting. It’s a romance with great humor but it also covers some heavy territory. Overall, this book is everything I want from a romance novel and I highly recommend it.
A Good Marriage by Kimberly McCreight
Thriller/Audiobook
Interesting enough for me to keep reading but ultimately a disappointment. All the characters were unlikable and I never grew to care about what was happening to them. There were side stories that went nowhere, which was annoying. I guess they were supposed to be red herrings but they weren’t done well. I listened to the audiobook and it was well done. I’m not sure I would have continued if I’d been reading on my own. I don’t recommend this one.
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