Paul Reeves is an immigration lawyer in New York City with a passion for old maps. When he discovers his beautiful and married next door neighbour Jennifer Mehraz in the arms of a handsome man who isn’t her husband, Paul is unwittingly drawn into a complex scheme of murder and obsession. Jennifer’s husband Ahmed, a wealthy Iranian financier-lawyer, puts out a hit on his wife’s boyfriend, and the job eventually makes its way to a bloodthirsty Mexican biker who used to work for El Chapo and who is determined to find the source of the job and demand a higher payday.

Paul wants to help Jennifer, but more importantly, he wants to own an old map he discovered at an auction which the current owner wants to sell for much higher than Paul can afford. This obsession over the map will eventually play a role in the larger scale scheme with the Mexican assassin.

You Belong To Me kept me reading but never really grabbed me. It reminded me of old school Hollywood action movies where the men are muscled and own guns and the women are beautiful but don’t do too much. It’s an entertaining enough story and, on the big screen with a tub of popcorn and an action star being chased by stunt men, it may be exciting. As it was, it felt solid but not very memorable. I’ve heard it described as a ‘noir’ thriller, which could explain the stock characters, but it lacked the edge, distinct voice and atmosphere that I like about Raymond Chandler and Dashiel Hammett’s books.

Minor spoiler (but hopefully vague enough that it isn’t spoilerish): The one thing that did evoke a reaction in me was the part about Ahmed’s citizenship status. I know he’s a bad guy in this book, and he did a lot of bad things that make him deserve whatever he gets. But some of his characterization and the things that happened to him didn’t quite sit right with me. Much of the book built up Ahmed as being super powerful and untouchable because of his wealth, whereas Jennifer and her blond soldier were the poor unfortunates in danger. I admit my own personal bias here, but all I kept thinking was that in present day America, no matter how much wealth you’ve amassed, with a name like Ahmed Mehraz, you can still never be secure about victory in the courtroom. And when his past is dredged up and his citizenship status becomes an issue, it was a stark reminder of how tenuous a right citizenship is.

Overall, I think the book just felt stale to me. We’ve seen all of this before: the racialized villains, the beautiful damsel in distress, the ordinary hero and the beautiful women utterly in love with him. And the book itself just didn’t feel compelling enough to make it all feel fresh.

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Thank you to Simon and Schuster Canada for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Zadie Anson and Emma Colley have been best friends since medical school, where Zadie fell in love with their chief resident Nick Xenokostas, who ends up breaking her heart. A couple of decades later, Nick joins the medical team at Emma’s hospital, and his reappearance opens old wounds and threatens to bring long-buried secrets to light.

The Queen of Hearts is a romantic medical drama that reminds me somewhat of Grey’s Anatomy and ER. The author is an emergency medicine doctor herself, which explains the depth and detail of medical knowledge included in the text. I didn’t understand a lot of the terms, but I liked how these scenes made the story feel more realistic and really rounded off Emma and Zadie’s characters as doctors.

I liked Emma and Zadie’s friendship, and the glimpses of their lives in medical school. I liked how Emma’s a really beautiful woman who chooses dorky but confident guys as her boyfriends, and I thought Zadie and Nick had fantastic chemistry.

I really liked the big reveal near the end, which without giving any spoilers away, is related to the reason Nick broke Zadie’s heart and yet has much farther reaching impact amongst the characters. I wish this reveal had happened earlier, because there’s so much I wanted to unpack about it, and I felt like the most interesting parts of the book were all crammed near the end. I’m glad I did read to the end, but I thought it started off slow and most of the book was just okay for me.

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

In Angel C. Aquino‘s Love at First Run, graphic designer Diana can’t even run a block without breaking a sweat, but when her office crush Paul invites her to join a running club, she figures it’ll be worth the chance to get to know Paul better. To her horror, she learns that members of the running club are expected to participate in a half-marathon only four months away. Fortunately, she realizes she actually enjoys running, and the races they join to train for the half-marathon are a lot of fun. She also meets Josh, a long-time runner who becomes her running buddy and personal cheerleader during training. Her heart races whenever she’s with him, and Diana begins to wonder how much of what she actually feels is just runner’s high.

Will Diana choose Paul, the gorgeous co-worker who inspired her to start running in the first place?

“Hey Diana, you okay? You look so intense.”

My teammate Paul nudged me on the shoulder, distracting me from my breakfast daydreams. Even though we’d both been here since midnight, his smooth, straight hair still fell perfectly over his eyes. The sun hadn’t risen yet but his smile emitted rays of sunlight toward me.

The heat rose from my chest and crept up to my face. If there was one thing that made this thankless job worth it, it was Paul. [p. 5]

Or will Diana fall in love with Josh, the man whose smile radiates such sheer joy that he makes running at dawn seem fun?

Joshua took the umbrella with one hand, put his other arm around my shoulder, and pulled me close so we would both be covered. Thunder rumbled in the distance.

We fell into an easy silence as we walked with no clear destination in mind. I tried not to think about how close he was, how safe and comfortable I felt beside him. I caught a whiff of peppermint and lavender mixed with the smell of ramen on his shirt. He gripped me tightly and I felt the muscles on his chest expand and contract with every breath. [p. 56]

I won’t spoil anything, but here’s a scene that made me super kilig. 😉

“I hope that someday, if I’m ever crazy enough to run a marathon, I’ll have someone like you by my side.”

He moved even closer and turned his face toward me. “Just say when and I’ll be there.”

My face was two inches away from his. It was only now that I noticed how long his eyelashes were, how full his lips. All I had to do was lean forward a little more and they would be mine. [p. 89]

Seriously, I know this is a sweet romance, but Aquino is a master at the slow burn, and I admit I yelled “just kiss already!” at my galley more than once.

Love at First Run is available in print in the Philippines and on Amazon Kindle internationally. Check out my review here.

To learn more about the author, visit www.angelcaquino.com

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Thank you to the author for an electronic advance reading copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Full disclosure: The author is a friend, and I’m super proud of her for writing a novel, but all views expressed on this blog are my honest opinions.