Chic Lit Review: The Truth about Clicking Send and Receive (The Truth About Series, Book 1) by Alissa Baxter

The Truth about Clicking Send and Receive: A Romance Writer's Email Adventures
by Alissa Baxter


Description:
Wrapped up in the dreamy world of romance fiction and flushed with the heady heat of a tropical Durban summer, Angie Wilson is having a hard time separating fantasy from reality. Struggling to choose between a hopeless crush on her gorgeous trust fund manager and a blossoming cyber affair with an enigmatic writer, Angie turns to her zany new friends for advice on love and life. But what does she really want?

A light-hearted romantic comedy.

This book was previously published by Oshun as Send and Receive.


My Review:
The Truth about Clicking Send and Receive explores the complexities of romance in the modern age in a fun, yet precautionary way.

Angie is a likeable character, a romantic who’s desperately trying to be responsible and chase her dream. I enjoyed how her story played out, adjusting to life in Durban, meeting and entangling with the love interests, despite herself.

One of the things I found interesting was that this was written and set in South Africa. The last book I read set there had a strong political bent to it, but not this one. Instead, it feels more like a regular day-in-the-life story. A taking a chance story. A falling in love story.

Another thing I enjoyed was the email romance Angie sparks up with the mysterious romance writer. One, I was super intrigued and wondering whether they’d get together in real life. Two, I was noticing and disregarding red flags just as swiftly as Angie was. I felt it was built and executed just as well as any “in person” romance I’ve read.

This story is pegged as chic lit. I’m not exactly sure what that entails as I usually do not read chic lit. But perhaps it has to do with dose of realism mixed in with the romance, or maybe it’s the relationship-focused storyline, and not just of the main character. I noticed a couple of other stories emerging and playing out, a method I like in a series like this. It allows the author to build interest in the next without resorting to a cliffhanger.

Anyhow, loved this story and recommend it to folks who enjoy chic lit, romance, and interesting settings.

I received the review copy of this book from NetGalley.


About the Author:

Alissa Baxter wrote her first Regency romance, The Dashing Debutante, during her long university holidays. After travelling the world, she settled down to write her second Regency romance, Lord Fenmore's Wager, which was inspired by her time living on a country estate in England. A Marchioness Below Stairs, her third Regency romance, is the sequel to Lord Fenmore's Wager. Also the author of two chick lit novels, The Truth About Clicking Send and Receive (previously published as Send and Receive) and The Truth About Cats and Bees (previously published as The Blog Affair), Alissa currently lives in Johannesburg with her husband and two sons. Alissa is a member of RWA as well as ROSA (Romance writers Organisation of South Africa).

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Classic Review: Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Slaughterhouse-Five
by Kurt Vonnegut


Description:
Selected by the Modern Library as one of the 100 best novels of all time, Slaughterhouse-Five, an American classic, is one of the world's great antiwar books. Centering on the infamous firebombing of Dresden, Billy Pilgrim's odyssey through time reflects the mythic journey of our own fractured lives as we search for meaning in what we fear most.


My Review:
Just a fantastic book, but also convoluted, lyrical, and thought-provoking.

I very much enjoyed this story, and I think I'll be quoting "so it goes" long into the future. It's rather dark, but there's a message of never ending, a comfort, that Billy Pilgrim's journeys through time and the resulting mantra convey. And added to that, I'd never heard of Dresden before listening to this book. Scary stuff, and heartbreaking.

Despite it being fiction, the real experiences the author draws from are historically accurate, and to be honest, I wouldn't have read a non-fiction book on the subject, but add in time travel and aliens and I'm all in, so there's that.

Overall, strongly recommended to folks who enjoy time travel books, with some off color bits and dark humor.

I borrowed the audiobook of this from library.


About the Author:

Kurt Vonnegut was born in Indianapolis in 1922. He studied at the universities of Chicago and Tennessee and later began to write short stories for magazines.

During the Second World War he was held prisoner in Germany and was present at the bombing of Dresden, an experience which provided the setting for his most famous work to date, Slaughterhouse Five (1969).

Visit his Amazon page for a more thorough rundown of his works and his Goodreads page for more about his interesting history. 

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YA Sci Fi Review: Across the Universe (Across the Universe #1) by Beth Revis

Across the Universe (Across the Universe #1)
by Beth Revis


Description:
A love out of time. A spaceship built of secrets and murder.

Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awaken on a new planet, three hundred years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end fifty years too soon and that she would be thrust into the brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules.

Amy quickly realizes that her awakening was no mere computer malfunction. Someone—one of the few thousand inhabitants of the spaceship —tried to kill her. And if Amy doesn't do something soon, her parents will be next.

Now Amy must race to unlock Godspeed's hidden secrets. But out of her list of murder suspects, there's only one who matters: Elder, the future leader of the ship and the love she could never have seen coming.


My Review:
I picked this little gem up from the library a short time ago, and I must say, it’s fantastic!
Based on the 10k plus number of reviews on Goodreads, I feel that I may be joining the fandom a bit late, but better late than never!

I very much enjoyed the young romance paired with the sci fi and the sociopolitical themes. The author nails it, both on the scientific believability and the emotional investment I felt as the book progressed. I’m almost afraid to pick up the second one, but I probably will.

The audio was great, but I think this one would read well, too.

Overall, highly recommended. There’s a lot of depth to this.


About the Author:

Beth Revis is a NY Times bestselling author with books available in more than 20 languages. Her works include young adult science fiction and fantasy titles, as well as nonfiction books on writing and publishing. A native of North Carolina, Beth is currently working on a new novel for teens. She lives in rural NC with her boys: one husband, one son, and two massive dogs.

Follow her on Twitter or Instagram at @bethrevis, or on Facebook at fb.com/authorbethrevis.

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Review: Wicked Appetite (Lizzy & Diesel #1) by Janet Evanovich

Wicked Appetite (Lizzy & Diesel #1)
by Janet Evanovich

Description:
For centuries, treasure hunters have been eager to possess the stones, undeterred by their corrupting nature. The list is long — Genghis Khan, Alexander the Great, Napoleon, to name a few. Now the Stones have found their way to Salem, Massachusetts, and so has Gerwulf Grimoire, adding himself to this rogues’ gallery of power seekers. He’s an uncommonly dangerous man, with a hunger for the forbidden, and a set of abilities that are way beyond ordinary. Abilities that he feels entitle him to possess anything he might desire.

That would include Elizabeth Tucker, the woman he needs to find the Stones. She’s freshly transplanted from New York City to Boston’s North Shore. With a new job as pastry chef at Dazzle’s bakery and an old house inherited from her Aunt Ophelia, her life is pretty much on track …until it’s suddenly derailed by a guy named Diesel, a rude monkey, and a ninja cat.

Lizzy can handle the monkey and the cat. She’s not sure about Diesel. He’s offering up his own set of unusual talents, promising to protect her from Grimoire. The kind of protection that Lizzy suspects might involve guarding her body day and night.

The Seven Deadly Sins are pride, greed, lust, envy wrath, sloth and gluttony. That pretty much covers everything that is wicked. Diesel thinks it also pretty much covers everything that’s fun. And Lizzy thinks Diesel and the Seven Deadly Sins cover everything her mother warned her about.


My Review:
One word: delightful.

Ok, now more words. I loved this story. Funny, sassy, has monkey, has one-eyed cat, has charmed items with rather unfortunate (but hilarious) side effects. The butter, oh the butter! I won't spoil it, though. If you've read it, you know.

Recommended by a friend. Borrowed audiobook from library. I too recommend this. Fun read!

All that being said, I was floored by all the negative or meh reviews on this. Apparently, folks are burned out on the author due to the two dozen plus Stephanie Plum books, all of which seem to have some things in common with the new Lizzie and Diesel series, including having the same narrator. This is the first book I’ve listened to from her, though, so I took it as it is and thoroughly enjoyed it.


About the Author:

 

 

Janet Evanovich is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Stephanie Plum series, the Lizzy and Diesel series, twelve romance novels, the Alexandra Barnaby novels and Trouble Maker graphic novel, and How I Write: Secrets of a Bestselling Author, as well as the Fox and O'Hare series with co-author Lee Goldberg.

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