It’s summer at last, which means beach books and poolside reads. My first waterside reading was Island Charm by Audrey Wick.
Genre: Christian RomanceHeat Level: ❤️Overall Rating: 6/6 Glass Slippers
Anna didn’t plan to end up going on her sister’s honeymoon in Key West, Florida alone. Her jilted at the alter twin sister ditched her at the airport, leaving her to visit the sandy shores and clear…
Good Morning! Today is finally my day to share my review for @wickwrites On The Market as part of this amazing blog tour by @cometreadingsbooktours 💗 Also if you didn’t see my earlier post with author interview and the Giveaway being hosted over @cometreadingsbooktours go check that out! I haven’t done a lot of blog tours in the past year of two, but when I saw this book I wanted to be involved! I love books that incorporate a love of food and includes recipes, and the the story was one that I knew I would enjoy 😊
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Synopsis from the publisher: Valerie Perry has just inherited her grandmother’s home in Last Stand, Texas, a far cry in the country from her city life as an organic grocery buyer in San Antonio. Her methodical daily routine suits her just fine, so she aims to freshen up the property, sell it, and take her funds back to the city. She’s only got two weeks during her vacation to make this happen. Now is the time to cash in and get out. The oldest Hutchinson son, who people around town know as “Hutch,” is a third generation local who is poised to take over the family business with his brother, Cole. The barbeque brothers have very different ideas about the future of their restaurant, "The Hut." Just when he thought his biggest headache was his job, Hutch meets Valerie and both their worlds are upended. He’s drawn to this fish out of water, but Valerie’s time in Last Stand has an expiration date. Their sweet and saucy styles don’t mix, but can they both find the recipe to a happy future?
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I loved this book! The romance between Valarie and Hutch was so amazing and sexy. I loved how the town of Last Stand was defined as “Home” to so many people not because they felt they were stuck there but because they were part of a community of people that they wanted to belong to! Lastly, I of course love stories that incorporate cooking and a love of food! Which brings me to the food! I of course made all of the recipes from the book and they were delicious! My ten year old twins/picky eaters even ate and loved it! I particularly loved the Tailgate Tomato and Cucumber Salad! You can swipe to see a picture of the finished meal. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫
So a few weeks back I jumped at the chance to be on a blog tour and review On The Market by @wickwrites Audrey Wick 💗 I loved that this sounded like a super saucy and sweet romance that included real recipes in the back of the book from the story! Well it isn’t quite my turn on the @comereadingsblogtour yet but I was given the opportunity to interview author Audrey Wick before I wrote my review😊 so while you will have to wait till next week to see pictures of the yummy food and to hear all the details on the book, here is my interview so you can get to know a little more about Audrey Wick and her writing ✍️
1) I absolutely loved trying out the recipes that were included in On The Market. What gave you the idea to create a story/book that would also incorporate real recipes from the novel in the back of the book? Where did you get your recipe ideas?
Jean, I’m so glad that you enjoyed the recipes! Cooking and reading can go hand in hand, and I wanted to offer readers a way to achieve this by sharing recipes in the back of the book. Truly, the idea for this happened quite organically. As I was writing, I included foods that were important to the characters and plot, though they were also foods I was familiar with from Texas tables. After I finished the manuscript, I asked my editor at Tule Publishing what she thought of this idea—and she loved it! So we decided on four recipes per book, and each one is connected to the storyline and my own life. For instance, the Country Biscuits are something I’ve been making for years. Because the ingredients are simple and ones that most cooks have on hand at any given time, this seemed like a fun recipe to share.
2) I love reading books about that incorporate food, making food, or running a restaurant. Does the idea of writing stories that involve a love of food appeal to you enough that we might see this in future titles from you?
Writing descriptively is my way to breathe life into scenes for readers, and writing scenes
with food is an additional way to do that. I still remember one compliment my literary agent gave about my writing when she read my very first manuscript (which hasn’t actually been published): she really enjoyed the way I wove together food and conversation. Specifically, she mentioned character conversation taking place while pouring glasses of sweet iced tea at a kitchen table as something that resonated with her. Such specific feedback really made me smile, and I try to remember that, when I write, food can be a universal way to connect with readers. I certainly hope to do more of this in the future!
3) In the book I really loved the romantic chemistry that you were able to create in your story between Hutch and Valerie. One of the sexiest things about it was the continual theme of consent and comfortable boundaries between Hutch and Valerie, wast that a conscious writing discussion for you or did it just come together organically through your writing process?
Thank you for such warm praise! Yes, getting the romantic chemistry right between the hero and heroine was very important to me in this book. They meet under unusual circumstances, and Valerie is also not looking for love when she first encounters Hutch. Because of that, drawing boundaries seemed natural for this couple. I also wanted readers to relate to the gentle romance of this couple’s journey because that’s also how many relationships unfold: it’s not always hot, heavy, and steamy!
4) In the book the theme of "home" and what makes a place a home carries throughout the story, was the setting of Last Stand Texas based on your own hometown and the people in it?
The question of whether Last Stand is based on my own hometown is a difficult one to answer. Consciously, no. Last Stand is a fictional town created by a group of authors for Tule Publishing who are all using it as a setting for telling stories for the publisher’s Texas Born imprint. But unintentionally, I’m sure many of the character traits and small town charms are ones that visitors can find in my hometown. However, there was one very deliberate inclusion that is factual: Nod the dog. Nod is the name of a real neighborhood dog in my community, and he’s a gem! So I was thrilled to be able to give this special acquaintance of mine a cameo in this book.
The two little words of "get her" kept ringing in her ears, lassoing around her and constricting her movement through routine days. She had never been one to look over her shoulder in fear. But, now, doing so was the only way to know if he'd be following her with malicious intent.
NOTE: I received a complimentary ARC of this book from Tule Publishing through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
I had high hopes for Coming Home but unfortunately it fell a little flat for me. Maybe it’s because I’ve been reading too much contemporary romance lately but there were quite a few inconsistencies and sections of the story that were so slow and boring that I actually found myself skipping whole pages. I hate doing that because sometimes you can miss stuff, but in the case of this book, I feel like I could skip several chapters and not miss anything interesting or important.
The main issue I had with this book was unfortunately the main character, Mallory. The reasons I requested this book from Net Galley was because the description sounded as though Mallory was ruthlessly attacked on social media, and I was interesting in seeing how the author handled the situation, but that wasn’t the case at all.
A student annoyed about a bad grade he received from Mallory and he made a post about it, by the sounds of it, on his own social media page. First of all, why was Mallory looking at a student’s personal page? Second, unless I missed something the post wasn’t an actual threat. Even Mallory says that the police wouldn’t charge him with a felony. The kid, Jesse, mouths off about his grade and says he’s going to “get her” and then posts a supposedly ‘violent meme’. There’s no mention of what the meme entails until later in the book when Jesse explains himself, there’s no mention of what the post actually says, so I can only assume that based on the police only charging him for a misdemeanor and not a felony, that it wasn’t as bad as Mallory makes it out to be.
Listen, I know the kind of hate social media can breed (I’ve been a victim of it myself) and cyber bullying is by no means ever acceptable, BUT kids say stupid things online (and offline) when they’re mad; you would think that as a teacher Mallory would know this. Should he have known better and spoken to Mallory face-to-face to try to work through it instead of posting about it? Sure. But in my opinion Mallory’s reaction was a little bit of an overreaction.
Jesse was removed from the campus, a campus that assured her she was safe because they have security, he didn’t make any direct threats, there was no reason to think he knew where she lived, there was no indication that he has been previously violent and might follow through with anything, there was no reason to think that any other students saw it or that they would take action into their own hands or think anything less of her because of it. But Mallory jumped straight to panic and decided she had to leave the state.
Not only that, but that anxiety and panic only seemed to surface when it was convenient for the story. That’s not how anxiety works. She was afraid to go and get take out by herself, but had no problem making many trips to her storage alone and she even agrees to return to Santa Fe to go out in public to a family reunion with Alec. Once she moves to her sister’s that panic seems to disappear until it’s once again convenient to remind the reader why she moved. She gets a letter in the mail from a PO box in Santa Fe, which for some reason she assumes is Jesse. Forget the fact that a college student probably wouldn’t have enough money to get a PO box, but why wouldn’t she immediately think it’s a bill (or even a love letter) from the hunky Santa Fe removalist she just hired to move her stuff?
Which brings me to Alec; I actually like Alec’s character more than Mallory. The book description makes him sound like some kind of counselor, I didn’t for a second think that he was a removalist, so that was kind of a shock. I would have really loved to have seen this story from Alec’s point of view rather than Mallory’s, or at least the sections where they were apart, just to make it a bit more interesting. The only thing that struck me as weird was the lengths that Alec went to as a removalist. I’ve moved A LOT in my life and never have I come across a removalist that does anything other move the heavy things as quickly as possible and then leave. They don’t bring boxes, coffee or donut holes, they don’t call several times a day before and after you move to make sure you’re ok and settling in alright; they show up expecting you to have everything ready to go, they break your things during the move because they don’t care enough to be gentle, they barely even speak to you if at all let alone ask how you’re doing, and then they leave as soon as possible before you can find the box that made the shattering glass sound as they unloaded it off the truck.
The last thing I had an issue with was the ending, the VERY quick resolution with Jesse. First of all, what was Alec thinking driving Jesse all the way to Mallory’s house to confront her after she told him what had happened? I think Mallory overreacted to the whole situation but once she told Alec how scared she was, he should NOT have done that without at least warning her first. Although, I guess it didn’t matter because a few words from Jesse and all was forgiven. After all of that panic and anxiety and moving states, everything is suddenly fine because Jesse explained that he was just mad. Apparently it never occured to Mallory to speak to Jesse face-to-face when it happened to find any of this out, even though it says, and I quote “Mallory had sensed Jesse was upset before the posting. Her experience as an educator told her as much.” Isn’t that kind of her job as a teacher to ask her students about things like that? And wouldn’t that also indicate that he was having more issues that just school and that MAYBE his post was just his way of blowing off steam rather than an actual threat? After all of that fuss, the ending was definitely anticlimactic.
The one redeeming quality of this book, the reason for the two stars instead of just one, is surprisingly the romance. I’m not usually a fan of such obvious insta-love but I actually really enjoyed the romance between Alec and Mallory. I don’t fully understand why they were both so reluctant to want to start a relationship in the beginning but it added to the tension I suppose, and that little scene of them having to spend the night in Eden together when Mallory’s car broke down on the way to her sisters was cute. I enjoyed the romance so much that once Alec left Mallory with her sister and went back to Santa Fe, the story became boring for me. It was all about Mallory getting settled in, getting annoyed at her sister for pushing to at least try to get a job (which is understandable, Mallory is staying there for free), moaning about how no one understands how she feels, and walking around the neighbourhood. I just couldn’t wait for something interesting to happen or for Alec to come back into the story because Mallory on her own just wasn’t holding my interest.
All in all, I enjoyed the romance of Coming Home, but everything else fell flat for me.
She couldn't control Jesse or attempt to put herself in his shoes. Sure, she had been his age once, but she couldn't pretend to fully understand him. And she didn't need to do so. What she could understand—and control—was her own personal reaction.
Coming Home by Audrey Wick will be available June 26, 2018.
Check it out on Goodreads!
