eyes.2c Reviews

Finlay Donovan Digs Her Own Grave  (Finlay Donovan #5)   by Elle Cosimano     ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Finlay Donovan and her friend/nanny, Vero go from one complicated situation to another without even trying. This time Finn’s ex husband Steve has been arrested for murdering missing man Guilford Dupree, and burying his body in a neighbor’s garden. Finlay knows that he’s innocent and for the sake of their children, and because she’s basically a decent person, feels compelled to prove it. The neighbor, Mrs. Haggerty ends up staying with Finlay, potty training her young son (hilarious!), and home schooling Finlay’s five year old daughter Delia, who snapped after being bullied mercilessly by a boy at school. This is a woman of determination and depth, and is entirely too knowing not to be up to something. Finn’s hot detective boyfriend Nick is on the scene. We love him. 💕 A heap of laughs, and some highly improbable but wholly believable situations, show that Cosimano is easily able...

Love in the Cupboard  (Love & Mishaps Quirky Romantic Comedy #2)   by Mari Jane Law        ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ An unusual story about a Catholic priest, Father Thomas Sheridan, with a Jewish mother, who decides he wants to leave the priesthood, fall in love with a woman ,and have   a family. He doesn’t want to be alone. Of course things become super entangled and Father Tom ends up being coerced into doing wedding shots for a cop’s wedding day (strange story), counselling a gay couple, and meeting the woman of his dreams in a dark cupboard. Only that woman, Faith Goddard was having her own problems with her lying, cheating ex boyfriend, and  a sister  with ill health whom she’s supporting. Faith thought Cupboard Man and Tom the photographer were two seperate people. So what’s a girl to do when she likes them both, and doesn’t realize they’re the same person? And no, the lights haven’t been turned on in that dark cupboard, which strangely resembles m...

Rock ‘n’ Rose   by   Suzan Holder  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Daisy’s quest is filled with missteps, adventure, and shining lights until the truth is revealed. I so enjoyed the idea of Daisy, with her grandmother Rose’s assistance, running a vintage clothes shop with the name ‘Blue Moon Vintage’. I was caught right there.  I could live with Daisy searching for the truth about her grandfather, the hype around Elvis and Graceland, but after the initial whoha I ‘ALMOST’ lost interest. Then I honed in. Along with Daisy’s purchase of the cowboy boots “that felt as though she was destined to have them. The unusual rose pattern embossed into the leather would be a fitting tribute to her music-loving nana,” just as Daisy’s search to solve the mystery of her grandfather was a tribute.   I was hooked! What a fabulous concept. Lost generational love! ❤️The search for the man who was that lost love, and all that follows. And let’s not forget the cop called Blue— Officer Joe Cody. A love st...

The Wedding Crasher   by Abigail Mann ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Poppy has been separated from her gaslighting ex-husband Josh for sometime although one would hardly know it given they still have infrequent sexual relations. A talented wildlife photographer, Poppy is determined to get away and follow her first love, capturing images in the wild. She’s all set to travel to a secluded island to take shots of her favorite birds, Puffins. Her trip is slightly deflected (read knocked off course) when her best friend Lola, an up and coming wedding planner who’s invested her all in meeting the demands of an exclusive high society wedding, asks Poppy to step in and replace the high fee commanding wedding photographer who’s had to bow out temporarily. An island wedding surrounded by extreme security with ALL cell phones being commandeered. (Sort of). Ripe for nonsense!  More a business takeover than a wedding, the groom is gorgeous and likeable, the bride heavily into time alone to align her mantras. ...

If the Shoe Fits (Meant to Be) by Julie Murphy           ⭐️⭐️⭐️ First up I loathe and detest reality shows. Often so dehumanising. I’ve been reading articles lately about contestants who suffer greatly after being on such shows. The suicide rate and severe depression is real. To me such shows are the equivalent of the trials by combat of Ancient Rome, only now the colosseum is our TV screen and the modern Roman citizen watches from the couch tweeting responses of thumbs up or down. So I wasn't really that aware of what I was letting myself in for with this read. However I must say that I was pleasantly surprised by Cindy, a plump talented shoe designer who’s miles away from the stereotypical contestant. (I was pretty excited about the shoes. I absolutely adored what she did when there were no clothes her size!)  The fractured fairytale Cinderella trope works well. Lots of + + + pluses, including her family, some of the contestants and program’s staff, and ...

Incense and Sensibility (Rajes Series #3) by Sonali Dev         ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ What a tangled, complicated web Dev has woven here. And didn’t I just LOVE this addition to the Rajes series. It’s brilliant, a ruby contribution to this series, shining warmth and love across deflection, hate and lies. (I didn’t use a diamond analogy ‘cause that’s way to glittery and harsh.) This is the story of love sidelined by circumstances and choice. Although those reasons are not all bad, for Yash Raje they’ve become a stranglehold. Yash is running for the California Governorship and is shot at by a racially motivated individual at a rally. He’s fine but his friend and bodyguard is in hospital in a coma. This causes Yash to have panic attacks, and in turn to question many aspects of his life. His family (no pressure there!) ask a family friend and stress management coach India Dashwood to help. The thing no one knows but these two, is that they have a history. That’s complicated! There...

Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto              ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Absolutely hilarious story about a wedding photographer working in the family business with her mother and four incredibly volatile aunties. The aunties are fabulous!!! We all need aunties like these! Chan can’t make the break from her family. That ruined her love life—when she let the love of her life, Nathan, go. Take a murdered body, aunts involved in getting rid of it, a huge wedding on Santa Lucia Island off the coast of Southern California, missing presents and the return of the love of your life and you have a complex, totally over the top wonderful love story. I laughed all the way through—when I wasn’t cringing or inside yelling No-o-o-oh! Cautionary tale meets comedy of manners enroute to romance! A super read! A Berkley Group ARC via NetGalley

Grown Ups: A Novel by Emma Jane Unsworth          Definitely funny, Obsess..ss..sive moments  are scripted as our gal Jenny McLaine decries life and all relationships in general, online. Inventively stealing others stories to make them her own ‘cause her own life’s in tatters even as she possessively clutches her one true prop, her phone—even during sex (and then wonders why her boyfriend Art moved out!) Working for an online magazine that sounds more like some sort of pop-up than a stayer, adds to the transient, ungrounded feel of Jenny’s life. Then there’s Jen's relationship with her mother, one that seems to have parented our 35 year old obsessor into being locked into inaction and stuck Alice like in a somewhere-too-young place on the never ending merry-go-round of life. I felt I was watching Bridget Jones on steroids. The angst and worry is EXHAUSTING! The urge for recognition, the attention to who’s following you on Twitter, and then maybe n...

The Marriage Game by Sara Desai An enjoyable read, with food once more framing the background. After her relationship falls apart Layla Patel, a recruitment consultant, finds refuge above the family Indian restaurant, using the premises as an office for a new startup. Unfortunately her father forgot to tell her that: a) he'd rented the premises to Sam Mehta whose business is the complete opposite to Layla's. He assists companies to downsize. Code for firing employees. b) he'd posted online, "the marriage résumé of [his] beloved daughter, Layla Patel, age twenty-six, who is in immediate need of a husband." These two factors add an intriguing level of interplay, both dramatic and comic to Layla and Sam's interactions. Of course there's a bunch of aunts and other relations that add energy to the story. That online resume enables some spectacular points of interest to the storyline. Beyond Sam's reasons for setting up business above the resta...

The Grace Kelly Dress by Brenda Janowitz     A story of traditions, of precious things passed down. In this instance a wedding dress modeled on Grace Kelly's. As the story weaves between the woman who designed the dress, the French  grandmere, the current mother of the bride, and the bride, strands of what it is to love, loss, standing your ground, knowing when to say no, familia relations, the fifties, the seventies and the now are braided to get her with loving care. There's Rose, the seamstress in the Parisian xx, Joanie her daughter and Rocky her granddaughter. As each face their particular fears and demons, the indecisions and strengths, the writing becomes more focused and telling. I was unsure at first as to whether I would engage sufficiently but as the story progressed, as I became used to it's rhythms, I was well and truly beguiled. But then, how could anything associated with Grace Kelly and her fabulous wedding dress not fail to please. I loved the...

Goodbye, Paris  by Anstey Harris Call me a romantic! I loved this. I loved the struggle that Grace Atherton has to play, to live! I loved the atmosphe of instruments being shaped, the smell of glues, the aliveness of the instruments, and the music swelling throughout. I love Nadia and Mr. Williams. They shine! I walked the streets of Paris and Cremora with Grace and was pulled into the sights, the sounds, the smells. Troubled love leads to troubled times and beyond, and I was glued to every word. Fabulous! A Touchstone ARC via NetGalley *****

Unmarriageable: A Novel  by Soniah Kamal         I so enjoyed this! Pride and Prejuidice reimagined in Pakistan! Could that be pulled off? Yes, Yes and Yes, most definately! The Binats and the Bennets are unbeatable! To be brutally honest I quail before the plethora of Austen spin offs. I dislike them (and yet I have no problem with Holmsian off shoots Mmm!). I am so over them! But "Unmarriageable" is just so different. Rich in cultural interactions, in social mores, in sharp questions beneath the surface of the story, and of characters and their behaviors that throw the original Austen directly into our world of today. So many comparisons of characters can be made, of social customs, of how the author has made the Austen concept work fabulously in this richly flavored novel. These parallels between the Bennets and the Binats are brilliantly displayed, and to my mind given a new lease of life. "Mr. Barkat “Bark” Binat and Mrs. Khushboo “Pinkie” Binat an...

Aphrodite's Tears    by  Hannah Fielding How much more can happen in one novel. Lost opportunities and lost dreams are bundled into this lengthy novel that leaves one exhausted. Although I must admit the detail in the food descriptions are mouthwatering and left me scrabbling through my Greek Cookery books (Yes! I read novels on my kindle, but cookery and art books are definitely a hardcopy essential). The archeological descriptions are crazy wonderful and inspire me to visit the Greek Islands. The mythological stories inculcate the secrets of the past, sometimes romantic, at other times tragic, all underlined by the cruelty of the gods. Mystery abounds about the major players. There's torturous romance, torrid at times, twisted at others, sensitive and self absorbed. All the key aspects for an exciting novel are there, and yes I kept on until the end. I felt the sunlight and the dark corners... and yet I felt I was watching a movie length production ...

Fatal Charm   by Blair McDowell A deceptively simple start to  dramatic and lively unfolding action,  where romance and mystery take the lead! Caitlin Abernathy, a jewelry designer is shocked by the murder of her boy friend Allen Thompson. His last words to the medics were a message for her. Something about an omelette. It didn't make sense. Nothing is straightforward with this day. Shortly before Caitlin learns of Allen's death she is confronted by two men who rob her of a selection of her jewelry designs as she's on her way to meet a potential client. A stranger enters Caitlin's workshop to commission a piece. He is a noted historian, professor and  mentor for her associate and friend Aristotle, a doctoral student who resides above her studio. Dr. Colin Stryker is an Irishman, charming and intelligent. The attraction between the two is immediate. The finding of a dragon brooch hidden amongst Caitlin's store of gems and precious stones draws these ...

Where Lemons Bloom   by Blair McDowell.   The more I moved into this story the more Involved I became . At first I went, really? A short time later I was exclaiming... Really!!! Wow! Waste no time! All right extenuating circumstances--maybe? Eve is a strong and determined woman who finds herself through love with a handsome stranger, sunshine and a picture postcard habitat on the Italian Amalfi coast. I swear I felt the sun's rays kiss my face and the sea view calm my soul as I sipped coffee with Adamo and Eve's on their pensione balcony The meeting of Eve Adomo de Leone is dramatic. They part, never to meet again, but fate throws a curve ball and they find themselves on the same boat bound for Italy. Instead of going their own ways Eve accompanies Adamo to the Almafi coast and to the beginnings of a new life--dogged by the mystery of eighty million missing dollars Adamo has supposedly embezzled, and now attempted murder. As the story spun out I found myself ...

What Happens in Tuscany... by T A Williams Sustained storyline of poor little rich girl being rescued by interesting young woman escaping a broken relationship. The fact that most of the action happens in Tuscany and that 'money's no object' supports the fantasy. Add to that sublime vintage vehicles, top end Italian sports cars and rugby this seems to have all the ingredients I could enjoy. Victoria (25) has been brought up in an Edwardian time warp if not a plastic bubble and is so over protected that she really doesn't know how to go about fitting into normal everyday life, (let alone television, tablets and tweets) now that her rich, eccentric and over protective father is no longer around to prohibit her interaction with the world. Katie, after seven long years dumps her dubious rugby playing partner, quits her teaching job and sets out to be the paid companion of Miss Victoria Chalker-Pyne. Helping Victoria to come out of seclusion into today's world ...