The Good Luck Charm is a sexy second chance romance that tackles some real issues beyond just the initial breakup. Ethan and Lilah were high school sweethearts until Ethan breaks Lilah’s heart by breaking up with her (over the phone!) to pursue a hockey career. Now, Lilah is a nurse studying to become a nurse practitioner and Ethan has been traded back to his hometown team.

This is a fun, quick read. I like how goofy Ethan is in trying to win Lilah back, and especially one scene where he apologizes using a bag of her favourite candies from the local convenience store. His note includes a pun on the Hot Lips candy, and I love that bit of silliness.

I like that it didn’t take the whole book to resolve the conflict about why they broke up in the first place, and that instead the book chose to focus on how things can realistically work out for them this time around. I love how their present-day relationship made them both realize some uncomfortable truths about the lives they would’ve led if they’d never broken up in the first place. So often in second chance romances, the focus is on how much time was wasted when the couple wasn’t together, so I really like that this book showed how their initial breakup may have actually had some benefits for the lives they now lead.

I also love how realistic the main conflict of their present-day relationship is — how much Ethan wants to make up for lost time by having Lilah be a major part of his life, and how much Lilah (rightly) recognizes the risk of allowing her ambitions to be subsumed by his. I love that the risk to Lilah’s career isn’t the same old story of a man being jealous of his girlfriend’s career — on the contrary, Ethan’s very supportive of Lilah’s ambitions — but rather the more realistic situation of thoughtlessness and miscommunication between the couple. I can understand why Ethan wants to spend more time with Lilah, and I can also understand why Lilah would often acquiesce, even though she needs to study for an exam or work on an assignment, and I like how their decisions have some real consequences to Lilah’s studies.

The title is somewhat misleading, and to be honest, the part about Ethan’s being superstitious about her bringing him luck felt artificial. From the start, it’s pretty obvious he wants her for more than whatever luck she can bring his career, and I think that makes this a much stronger, more compelling story.

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Thank you to Forever Romance for an egalley of this book in exchange for an honest review.

How could I resist such an awesome cover?! Cherry Pies and Deadly Lies is the first in a cozy mystery series about Whitney Bloom, a disgraced ad executive (she ran a tampon ad during the Super Bowl) who now sells cherry pies online. In this book, she returns to her family’s cherry farm to support her parents and investigate a murder when her father is accused of the crime. Solving the crime with her is Jack, her former high school rival and the town’s only police officer.

Cherry Pies and Deadly Lies is a fun cozy mystery complete with a cherry pie competition, funny subplots involving Whitney’s best friends (a rivalry over a hot rich guy, and a minor betrayal over a pot pie dinner), and a Sasquatch sighting. I liked the small town feel and how close-knit the community seemed, and I liked the friendships among the characters.

There were some annoying, too-stupid-to-live moments, most egregiously the one where Whitney spills everything about her murder investigation to C-bomb, her mysterious (read: anonymous!) online suitor. And from what I could see, there was no reason beyond casual conversation and a slight suspicion that C-bomb could be Jack. What Whitney found mysterious and exciting (C-bomb’s refusal to reveal his identity until “the right moment”), I found creepy and disturbing, particularly when people in your immediate circle are getting murdered. Seriously.

The last few scenes as well seemed a bit over-the-top, with the series of big reveals and the Nancy Drew level of danger the heroine found herself in. I realize a big trope of cozy mysteries is the heroine landing in danger for whatever reason, but it was also one of those moments where she walks headlong into dangerous situations unnecessarily.

Still, overall, it’s a quick, breezy read and a solid addition to the cozy mystery genre. And the cover art is hilarious.

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Thank you to Thomas Allen & Son for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

By the author of Under the Tuscan Sun, Women in Sunlight is a beautiful, languorous story of three American women who lease a house in Tuscany, and their American expat neighbour who’s writing about a friend who died. I love that the story featured older women — the three friends met while touring a seniors residence and decided to go on an adventure in Tuscany rather than settle down, which is awesome. I love the riff on a second lease in life, and how it’s not so much that these women had miserable lives before, but rather than moving to Tuscany opened them up to new opportunities (e.g. one of the women decided to pursue a long-held, rarely-indulged interest in painting, and ended up discovering her gift for it). I also love how strong the friendship between the women are, even though they met only a short time before the move to Tuscany.

I also loved the depiction of Tuscany, how beautiful and magical the place seems and how much emphasis there is on slow living, good home cooking and spending time with neighbours. There are many scenes that feature meals, and in one memorable scene, one of the women notes that a neighbour paid for her coffee because that’s just how things go in Tuscany. The book makes me want to visit Tuscany and possibly live there for a while — it just seems like such a wonderful place to escape to.

The American expat neighbour writing about her friend is a less compelling character. Her story is strong enough in that we sympathize with her need to make sense of her friend’s death and also honour her friend’s life, but it doesn’t quite compare to the wonder and joy and complexity of emotions that the three older women brought.

I personally would have preferred this as a movie than a book, though I think that’s more about myself as a reader than about the book itself. I tend to prefer reading a faster paced plot, and found myself wanting to see the beautiful setting in person or on the screen rather than in my imagination. This story is slow and languorously told, which fits perfectly with the themes, but had me tuning out at times. I can just imagine loving a film version with actors like Diane Keaton and Jane Fonda just living their best life and enjoying all that Tuscany has to offer.

That being said, I admit that’s more about my personal taste as a reader than a critique of the book itself. I can already imagine other readers enjoying this more than I did, and can definitely picture this as a book club read.

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Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.