review: laura rider's masterpiece by jane hamilton

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A woman tells her husband, an enthusiastic lover, she no longer wishes to have sex. It might come as no surprise that he should then have sex with another woman. Yet there is a surprise. Although Laura Rider may not have intended for her husband to have sex with the radio host she so admires, Laura does orchestrate their relationship. It's all part of Laura's plan to write a romance novel. It's an interesting twist, but it also makes the characters pretty awful. Laura and her husband are knowingly manipulating Jenna while Jenna is betraying her husband with someone she believes is also cheating and then Charlie begins betraying Laura by making elements of his relationship with Jenna private. The characters do not grow or learn from their actions, so the ending is as dissatisfying as the relationships the characters have with each other.
2/5
Review copy provided by the publisher, Grand Central Publishing.

review: river city dead by nancy g. west

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During San Antonio's Fiesta Week, advice columnist Aggie and her detective boyfriend have plans to stay at a River Walk hotel. This is a big step forward in their relationship, but unfortunately, a woman Aggie knows is found murdered at the hotel. While the police investigate, Aggie embarks on her own attempt to solve the murder.

The premise is promising, but the writing suffers from big information dumps. Nancy G. West clearly researched Fiesta Week and San Antonio, but awkwardly incorporates that information in clunky chunks. Here's an example:

Taking Casa Prima's exit to the River Walk, I walked toward Arneson Theater. The open-air amphitheater built by the Works Progress Administration in 1939-1941 had tiers of concrete seats rising up one side of the river with the stage situated across the river. I'd absorb unique details of the venue later.

The characterization of Aggie feels off as well. Aggie is overly concerned with aging--even writing an advice column centered on staying youthful. It was shocking to learn she is not yet 40; she comes across as 60-something and her good friend (the ex-mother-in-law of the murdered woman) is 60. Interestingly, Aggie would be about 60 today (the book takes place in 1998).

After a while, I just couldn't with Aggie. Her advice to a college-aged woman contemplating having sex for the first time was straight out of an abstinence-only, slut-shaming "health" class. She writes, "He can never be sure you were his first lover or that he'll be your last. He'll never honor you in the same way." No thank you.
1/5
Review copy provided by the publicist, MM Book Publicity.

review: pillow stalk by diane vallere

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Madison Night is relatively new to Texas, but her interior design business focused on mid-20th century décor is doing well in part due to her enterprising though slightly morbid way of obtaining authentic merchandise on the cheap—she reads the obituaries. But her business gets put on hold when Madison gets caught up (from multiple angles!) in a murder investigation.

Pillow Stalk is a beautifully written cozy mystery with Diane Vallere having fun playing with the theme of Doris Day and the movie Pillow Talk. (Among other things, Madison, who loves Doris Day, has a dog named Rocky and one of the suspects is named Hudson.) Refreshingly, Madison is a strong protagonist far more concerned with the murders and potential damage to her career than with making a love connection (although Vallere does include some potential romantic interests). There is a bit of a hole in the story (why would the cops allow Madison to remove potential evidence only to reprimand her about it later?), but that detail is easily forgiven.

About the audiobook: Susie Berneis has the perfect voice for Madison intoning just the right amount of sass for the character. Pillow Stalk was released by Dreamscape Media in January 2017. It runs a little over 8 hours.
5/5
Review copy provided by Audiobook Jukebox.

review: the separatists by lis wiehl

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In another timely story featuring TV anchor/reporter Erica Sparks, a group plots to have North Dakota secede from the United States. When Erica learns of the Take Back Our Homeland movement, she decides it's the perfect first story for the show she's launching at GNN. The long hours and flights to North Dakota put even more strain on her relationship with her 13 year old daughter as well as on her marriage. While the secessionist storyline is gripping, recovering alcoholic Erica's self-destructive thoughts and behavior grate. She completely loses it when her daughter's friend makes a video in Erica's house (Erica cites the exclusivity clause in her GNN contract as the reason, but it was an epic overreaction). Over the course of the Newsmakers series, Erica has made an unfortunate shift from sympathetic go-getter to control freak.
3/5
Review copy from Amazon Vine.

review: the wild woman's guide to traveling the world by kristin rockaway

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After being ditched by her best friend, Sophie finds a pub, orders a San Miguel, and promptly meets a fellow American also traveling around Hong Kong. Sophie, who travels frequently for work, isn't much for commitments and has no qualms about making the good-looking artist another one her conquests, but there's something different about this one. Soon Sophie is ignoring her work responsibilities (it may be a vacation, but Sophie's boss only agreed to it if Sophie met with one of the senior partners in Hong Kong) for a hot romance with Carson. That is until the trip comes to an end and she has to return to a reality where she's significantly damaged her job status.

The Wild Woman's Guide to Traveling the World starts as a fun romance, but becomes a tale of empowerment when the consequences of shirking responsibility kick in. Sophie had been content with the status quo, but her time with Carson combined with some comments from her friend who deemed her "closed off and miserable" are the spark she needs to finally pursue her dream job. It's a highly entertaining story that encourages one to live life to the fullest.
5/5
Review copy from Amazon Vine.

review: a shattered circle by kevin egan

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A Shattered Circle kicks off with the murder of a man once tangentially involved with a judge in New York City. In the primary part of the story, the wife/secretary of that judge is desperately trying to keep people from finding out that a head injury has left the judge unfit for the bench. Her struggle to try to maintain her husband's reputation is very compelling. And in yet another element of the story, one of the court officers begins looking into a decades-old murder that occurred in the building. While it seems that these three plots will not intertwine, it becomes clear A Shattered Circle is appropriately named as the mysteries unfold. Kevin Egan brings them all together in what turns out to be one interconnected and expertly woven plot.
5/5
Review copy provided by the publisher, Forge.