Book Review: Sounds of Summer

By Sara Steven

Ramona is ready to shake up Seaside, Oregon, with her all-'90s morning show. But her retro vibes clash hard with Quinn, the station's seriously uptight (and seriously attractive) manager. He's obsessed with "consistency," she's all about breaking the mold, and their battles over the playlist are legendary.

But beneath the surface, a bigger threat looms. A powerful corporation is circling, ready to swallow up their beloved local station and replace it with a cookie-cutter format. And this media giant plays dirty, armed with slick tactics and deep pockets.

As the pressure mounts, Ramona and Quinn must find a way to work together, even as their undeniable attraction sparks a whole new kind of static. Can they save the station – and maybe even their hearts – before the music fades out for good? (Synopsis courtesy of Goodreads.)

There are so many fun things to love about Sounds of Summer! One of the biggest draws for me had been the location of where the story takes place. I’m from Oregon, and having been to Seaside several times growing up, I thought it was awesome to have Ramona’s and Quinn’s experiences take place in such a charming, small-town atmosphere. Then you have the radio show that they both work for. It offered up a more unique plotline that really worked with the nineties music that Ramona plays. But one of the biggest draws had been the intense connection between the two primary characters! It’s the classic love to hate, hate to love scenario that really worked for the both of them.

Ramona can’t stand how regimented Quinn can be. He doesn’t want her to play the music she wants to play, preferring to have her play from a list that is formulaic and devised, yet at the same time, Quinn is annoyed that Ramona never listens to what he wants. His methods are tried and true–why can’t she follow the rules? But as the chapters unfold, both characters begin to see that while Quinn is more disciplined, he has deep reasons as to why he has to see the local station succeed. And even though Ramona doesn’t follow any particular list of songs to be played, she has a method to her madness that seems to pay off, every time. Respect begins to form, which leads to deeper understanding.

But there are forces at play that are out of their control, with the powerful corporation worming its way into the radio station’s bases, without anyone even knowing it. How it’s discovered was pretty clever and what followed was pretty clever, too. I felt tied to seeing the survival of the fledgling station, with a lot of undertones that fed into the need to see something that is more mom and pop surviving a conglomerate’s obvious need to destroy and carry on, leaving in its path a devastating reality for the employees of the radio station.

Sounds of Summer provided a lot of tension between its two main characters, a plotline that included a well-played David vs. Goliath-type scenario with the radio station, and an ending that truly felt fitting for everything involved. It was a worthy five-star read!  

Thanks to Tracy Krimmer for the book in exchange for an honest review.

More by Tracy Krimmer:

All That Glitters

Something Just Like This

Dating for Decades

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Rachel J. Lithgow gets real (and really funny)...plus a book giveaway

We're pleased to have Rachel J. Lithgow at CLC today to talk about her book, My Year of Really Bad Dates. Melissa is excited to read this one soon as it sounds like it will be really interesting and entertaining. Thanks to BookSparks, we have one copy for a lucky reader!

Rachel J. Lithgow is a historian and museum professional with thirty years of experience running large cultural institutions. Her work and writing have appeared in dozens of publications around the world, including The New York Times, The Daily News, Time, The Advocate, The Jerusalem Post, The Huffington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Times of Israel, eJP, The New York Observer, and the Buffalo News. Rachel has two children and splits her time between Long Beach, Long Island, and Hell’s Kitchen in New York City.

Visit Rachel at her website and on Instagram.

Synopsis:

After two life-shaking events, Rachel Lithgow leaves a thirty-year career to write full time and pursue a relationship with a man she recently met online. But then he announces he’s joining a cult and moving to Phoenix with a blonde real estate agent.

What follows is a year of terrible dates, a few great experiences, and a lot of pinot noir. This is the story of how Rachel learned that patterns can be changed, that asking for help is sometimes necessary, and that there’s only one way to repair her brokenness: by facing trauma and demons head-on. 

Through a unique mix of humor, self-deprecation, and gritty vulnerability, My Year of Really Bad Dates tackles divorce, dating, single motherhood, PTSD, grief, loss, and starting over in midlife.

"This book is an absolute delight. Rachel Lithgow is a master storyteller, and what a gift it is getting to be by her side as she navigates a midlife divorce and the ensuing attempt to find love and connection again . . ."

—Catherine Burns, former Artistic Director of The Moth

"From the opening sentence, I knew Rachel Lithgow is a hilarious new voice in women’s fiction. This book is part memoir, part life lessons, and part How-NOT-To instruction manual on love & dating. The stories of sex, heartache, love, betrayal, and ultimately hope will keep you laughing and crying, then laughing again. This is a MUST read!"

—Randi Mayem Singer, screenwriter of Mrs. Doubtfire

 

In one sentence, what was the road to publishing like for you? 
In a word? Rocky. But honestly, my brain is often ahead of everything else around me, so it makes sense that it felt rocky and long. The reality is that I left my job in 2021 to write full-time, and I've written 3 full manuscripts, got an agent, and am publishing my first book 4 years later, so though it feels rocky, it's not so bad in the grand scheme of the publishing game. I have learned a lot, however, and I'm very grateful to She Writes and the Stable Book Group for making an impossibly complicated industry manageable. 

What is a favorite compliment you have received on your writing? 
The nicest thing that I've been hearing is that the writing feels intimate, like sitting at a table with a cocktail or a coffee with a good friend. That was exactly what I was going for in tone, so I'm glad that people feel that when they read it.

If My Year of Really Bad Dates were made into a movie, which celebrity would you cast as yourself? 

Haha. I love this question! My ego wishes I were Scarlett Johansson, but the reality is that I'm much more a character actor than leading lady material. I am a huge fan of Debi Mazar; her attitude, her humor, her quick wit, and her vulnerability with toughness make her a better choice! Plus, she's gorgeous.

Which TV series are you currently binge watching? 

OMG, the Murdaugh Murders on Hulu. Patricia Arquette is magical, isn't she?

If we were to visit you right now, what are some places you'd take us to see? 
I would take you to LB Social, which makes the best cocktails in Long Beach and also the best food. Of course, to the beach with my puggle Dexter. He loves it so very much, and watching him run on the beach would bring even the coldest human a lot of joy.

What is something you are currently thankful for? 
That I don't only love my kids, but that I like them now that they are fully formed almost adults. 

Thanks to Rachel for chatting with us and to BookSparks for sharing her book with our readers.

How to win: Use Gleam to enter the giveaway. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us. If you have trouble using Gleam on our blog, enter the giveaway here.

My Year of Really Bad Dates (1 print copy)

Giveaway ends November 18th at midnight EST.

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Book Review: The White Octopus Hotel

By Allyson Bales

“Have you travelled a long way?” she asked carefully..

A smile twitched at the corner of his mouth. “Well, yes,” he said slowly. “Yes, you could say that. But it was worth the wait.”

London, 2015. When reclusive art appraiser Eve Shaw shakes the hand of a silver-haired gentleman in her office, the warmth of his palm sends a spark through her.

His name is Max Everly—curiously, the same name as Eve’s favorite composer, born one hundred sixteen years prior. And she has the sudden feeling that she’s held his hand before . . . but where, and when?

The White Octopus Hotel, 1935. In this belle époque building high in the snowy mountains, Eve and a young Max wander the winding halls, lost in time.

Each of them has been through the trenches—Eve through a family accident and Max on the battlefields of the Great War—but for an impossible moment, love and healing are just a room away . . . if only they have the courage to step through the door. (Synopsis courtesy of Amazon.)

I don't know what I expected from this book but it DEFINITELY was not what I just read and I mean that in the BEST way.

When I read the synopsis of The White Octopus Hotel I was really excited to meet Max and Eve and journey to a magical hotel in the Swiss Alps.  This story not only transported me to one of my most favorite settings in a book but also introduced me to some amazing characters.  

I don't want to give too much away with this one.  Just know there is so much that happens in this story.  It contains mystery, time travel, a layered story that ebbs and flows pulling you in and spitting you out again, and dynamic characters that you will dearly miss when the story is over. 

I love that there was so much hope, love, and grief in this story.  I constantly felt like I could see myself in Eve's character and really can't wait for you to meet her.  She really explores making peace with some mistakes she has made and whether or not she can forgive herself for her past and I think we can all really relate to that.

Thank you so much to Penguin Random House Audio, I was able to do an immersive read of this one and really enjoyed Mei Mei MacLeod's narration. I enjoyed her voice very much and really felt she wonderfully brought this story to life.

This is definitely going to be a five-star read for me and a story that will live rent free in my head for some time to come.

Thanks to Random House for the book in exchange for an honest review.

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Book Review: Sisters of Fortune

By Melissa Amster

The Cohen sisters are at a crossroads. And not just because the obedient middle sister, Fortune, has secretly started to question her engagement and impending wedding, even as her family scrambles to prepare for the big day. Nina, the rebellious eldest sister, is single at twenty-six (and growing cobwebs by her community’s standards) when she runs into an old friend who offers her a chance to choose a different path. Meanwhile, Lucy, the youngest and a senior in high school, has started sneaking around with a charming older bachelor.

As Fortune inches ever closer to the chuppah, the sisters find themselves in a tug-of-war between tradition and modernity, reckoning with what their tight-knit community wants for them—and what they want for themselves.

Sisters of Fortune is a story about dating, ambition, and coming-of-age within an immigrant community whose affection is endearing, maddening, and never boring. This novel explores the roots that entwine our lives with the ones who love us best, the dreams we hold for our daughters, and the winding paths we take to our own happy endings. (Synopsis courtesy of Amazon.)

I am really glad I got a chance to read Sisters of Fortune! It was like Jewish comfort food for the soul. I enjoyed getting to know Fortune, Nina, and Lucy, Syrian Modern Orthodox sisters living in Brooklyn in the late '00s. Fortune (the middle sister) is about to get married but something doesn't feel right. Nina is judged for being 27 and not married, but she is finally doing something she wants. Lucy is almost out of high school and dating a 30 year-old doctor. He's wealthy though, so no one is complaining. There's a lot of parental involvement and opinions nudging their way into the sisters' lives and decisions they make for themselves. And there's also Sitto, their grandmother, who has a lot to say. 

I liked all the Jewish elements and learning new things about Sephardic foods and rituals. I was glad the story was split between the sisters so that we got each of their perspectives. The entire time, I felt like I was right there in the Cohen home hanging out with everyone in the family, and perhaps helping them cook or prepare for Shabbat and upcoming holidays.

I had a few minor concerns, but nothing that took away from my enjoyment. I noticed a time inconsistency at the beginning: They said it was Monday but suddenly it turned into Wednesday. Lucy's storyline didn't match with the synopsis, as it said she was sneaking around but she wasn't as everyone knew who she was seeing. Finally, it would have been helpful to have definitions in footnotes or more context for words and phrases that were not defined in the glossary. 

I really enjoyed this book and have been recommending it to my friends. The cultural aspect was interesting as I am only slightly familiar with Sephardic customs and foods (although I'm still not sure what knafeh is). The story was just edgy and relatable overall.

It was difficult to cast a movie version of this book, but it would be cool if one were made. I could only think of one idea, and that is Lainie Kazan for Sitto.

(Trigger warnings at the bottom of this post.)

Thanks to Random House for the book in exchange for an honest review.

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TW: Death of grandparent. Bodily functions mentioned often.

Book Review: Such Good People

By Melissa Amster

It’s 10 p.m. on a Thursday in the spring of her freshman year of college, and April is standing at the back of a crowded Manhattan bar waiting for her friend, Rudy, to arrive. Their eyes lock the moment he enters the room, and in an instant, lives and legacies are altered forever.

Within hours, Rudy is arrested. Within days, April is expelled. Within weeks, he’s incarcerated. And within months, she meets Peter, a prodigious young attorney who makes her world recognizable again.

Nearly fifteen years later, April is happily living in Chicago married to Peter, a mother of three with a fulfilling career and standing yoga date with her girlfriends. On the eve of Peter’s election for local office, Rudy is up for parole. Headlines explode about April’s past, jeopardizing Peter’s campaign and everything they hold dear.

 Suddenly, April is faced with an impossible choice: protecting the life she created, or the person who sacrificed everything to make that life a possibility. Such Good People is a captivating portrait of blurred lines, divided loyalties, and what it means to love purely, steadfastly, and interminably. (Synopsis courtesy of Amazon.)

I have been binge watching Drop Dead Diva for the past few months and it has me interested in what happens in a courtroom and how the law can work for or against someone. All I know is that Rudy DeFranco would have never seen the inside of a prison if he had Jane/Deb or any of the other lawyers from Harrison and Parker defending him.

In Amy Blumenfeld's sophomore novel, Such Good People, Rudy is given a raw deal in life, locked away for a homicide that was the result of an accident during a bar fight. The situation has a huge impact on his best friend April and a ripple effect on her life when he is released thirteen years later. Told from the perspectives of Rudy, April, April's husband, and a former college classmate, Such Good People looks at where people draw the line between right and wrong or innocent and guilty.

I loved this novel and can't stop thinking about it! It is just so captivating and well-written. It shows how easily people make judgements when they aren't given all the facts and how that can negatively impact people's lives. So many things made me angry on behalf of April and Rudy. I don't want to say too much as to not spoil anything. I just hated that Rudy didn't get a fair trial to begin with. There's a Cold Case feel to this story, as well. I liked the different perspectives and how the went back and forth in time. 

My only minor issue was grammatical in nature. While everyone's perspective was written in third person, there were times the characters would slip into first person. I don't know if this was by accident and was fixed for final publication. It didn't ruin how great this novel was, but it took me by surprise. It's about as jarring as when someone changes between past and present tense or the narrative switches without any section or chapter break.

I highly recommend checking this one out as soon as possible! It's such an important and worthwhile read. There's a lot of emotional impact, as well.

Amy's debut novel, The Cast (reviewed here), came out seven years ago. I hope she doesn't wait that long to release another novel!

(Trigger warnings at the bottom of this post.)

Movie casting suggestions (for the present timeline):

April: Elizabeth Lail

Rudy: Lorenzo James Henrie

Peter: Corey Sevier

Jillian: Erin Yvette

Tommy: David Henrie (I like the idea of brothers playing brothers)

Isla: Laura Marano

Thanks to BookSparks for the book in exchange for an honest review.

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TW: Incarceration. PTSD. Paparazzi. Bullying. Aging parents. Death of young adult.

R.L. Maizes completes us...plus a book giveaway

Photo by Steve Olshansky

Today we welcome R.L. Maizes to CLC to talk about her latest novel, A Complete Fiction. This novel sounds unique and fun and we're excited to talk with her about it. Thanks to Blankenship PR, we have TWO copies to give away!

R.L. Maizes is the author of Other People’s Pets, which won the 2021 Colorado Book Award for Fiction, and the story collection We Love Anderson Cooper. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, O Magazine, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, and Electric Literature, and has aired on NPR. A Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Fellow, she’s currently supported by a 2024–2025 Fellowship Grant from the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture. 

Maizes lives in Boulder County, Colorado, with her husband, their dog Rosie—who still can’t believe how nice the weather is—and the ghost of their cat, Arie. Visit her at her website and on Instagram.

Synopsis:

With little evidence, would-be author P.J. Larkin serves a "nibble" on the trendy new social-media app Crave, accusing editor George Dunn of stealing the novel she submitted to him for publication.

The nibble shoots to the top of the site's Popular Menu Items and before you can say "unpaid literary labor," George is embroiled in a scandal, his job and book deal in jeopardy. P.J.’s novel is snapped up amid the publicity, but has she revealed her sister Mia’s secrets in the book? Some diners on Crave think so, and now it’s P.J.’s turn to feel the public’s scorn.

Told in the humorous vein of Where'd You Go Bernadette?, A Complete Fiction examines the very serious questions of who has a right to tell a story, and has cancel culture gone too far in our social media-drenched world? (Courtesy of Amazon.)

"R.L. Maizes has written a smart, compelling novel about publishing and its perils, families and friendships and their limitations, and storytelling itself, in all its wondrous messy glory."

—Laurie Frankel, author of This Is How It Always Is

"We follow P.J. as she longs to publish a first novel and George, an editor, who turned her down for writing a book that he may or may not have plagiarized from her. Rooting for both with laugh out loud moments, I raced to the conclusion to find out how it would end." 

—Bethany Ball, author of What to do About the Solomons

"A Complete Fiction checks all of the boxes for an incredible read that sits at the intersection of cancel culture and #metoo. It's packed full of contemporary anxiety, it's hilarious in moments, and it's a page-turner where readers will get a true joy out of being a fly on the wall to the conversations between characters." 

—Wendy J. Fox, author of If the Ice Had Held

What is a favorite compliment you have received on your writing?
A national book club organizer told me they dreamed about my novel A Complete Fiction. It’s an honor to enter someone’s psyche that deeply. A writer recently said they thought of me while stirring Medjool dates into oatmeal. In Other People’s Pets, my debut novel, a man makes that precise oatmeal for his sick partner. It’s the greatest compliment to me when someone is thinking about my book years later and taking a compassionate action that mirrors one in the book. Of course, it’s not all compliments. At the second author talk I gave for the new novel, a reader wondered who came up with the “terrible” title A Complete Fiction. As it happens, I did. 

If you could tell the debut novelist version of yourself one thing, what would it be? 
Savor each success. You don’t need a review in The New York Times to feel fulfilled as a writer. You don’t need your book to be a number-one bestseller, though that would be nice. What matters is that the book reaches the people it’s supposed to reach, that it speaks to those readers and sticks with them. Take time to appreciate each of those wins. 

If A Complete Fiction were made into a movie, who would you cast in the leading roles? 
🤞🤞🤞 In the movie version, which is definitely going to be made, at least in my highly fertile imagination, Kiera Knightley plays P.J. and Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays George.

How would you describe your relationship with social media? 
I’m horribly addicted. I’m checking-during-commercial-breaks-while-on-the-throne addicted. I had tempered my use of social media while writing A Complete Fiction, but now I’m promoting the novel and social media is a good way to reach readers. Unfortunately, it has completely sucked me back in. Which is ironic since the book satirizes social media. I hope after this period of intense book promotion to cut back again, or at least to keep it out of the bathroom. It’s best not to be around cameras when in compromising positions.

If your life was a TV series, which celebrity would you want to narrate it?
Any ET broadcaster. That way people would be fooled into thinking I’m way more famous than I am. 

If we were to visit you right now, what are some places you would take us to see? 
I’d show you some great Colorado hiking trails. Fall is a beautiful time to take a walk in the woods here. We’d also visit the pedestrian mall in Boulder to see the buskers: fire eaters, jugglers, musicians, and writers who will pen a poem for you. When we got sufficiently tired, we’d find a café and people-watch while drinking craft beer and eating truffle fries.

Thanks to R.L. Maizes for visiting with us and to Blankenship for sharing her book with our readers.

How to win: Use Gleam to enter the giveaway. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us. If you have trouble using Gleam on our blog, enter the giveaway here.

A Complete Fiction (2 print copies)

Giveaway ends November 11th at midnight EST.

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Book Review: Royally Off-Limits

By Sara Steven

I called him Ledonia’s most eligible man-child in a headline. Now I'm living at his palace.

After my no-holds-barred exposé on Prince Maximilien goes viral, the royal family doesn’t banish me—they hire me. Apparently, the King and Queen think damage control looks like me filming an exclusive behind-the-scenes series on their charming, cocky, scandal-prone son.

Prince Max isn’t thrilled. In fact, he downright despises me. Which is fine. Because the feeling? Entirely mutual.

But the thing is, I didn’t expect him to be smarter, deeper, and somehow even hotter in royal pajamas. And I definitely didn’t expect to start falling for a man I’ve built a career out of publicly roasting.
There’s just one problem: He has no idea who I really am. (Synopsis courtesy of Goodreads.)

In all of the Royally Kissed books within this series, Fabiana Fontaine is the end all be all voice on all matters that involve the royal family. In fact, the majority of the chapters begin with quick snippets of her skilled insight, with no one knowing how she has figured out the ins and outs, and what goes on behind the scenes. She’s the most unlikely character to highlight on, particularly because she’s mostly been seen as a background personality, but bringing her more into focus and getting to know more about her and why she’s so vocal about the royal family really worked well! 

We learn that there is so much more behind Fabiana’s reasons for becoming a royal correspondent. When she’s tasked with working with Max, the royal’s youngest son, she figures it will be easy to keep her deepest secrets to herself in the process. She’ll go in, do the documentary, then leave. No harm done. But she discovers that there is also more to Max than she’d ever imagined, and maybe he’s not as much of a man-child as she once perceived him to be. The more he gives her a different side to him, the more she fears losing control of the carefully constructed persona she’s made for herself. One wrong move could mean the end of her career–or worse.

Reading about Fabiana really gave me a different perspective of her. Sometimes while reading this series, I’d wonder who she was and would at times think, “Who does she think she is?” I could understand the tension and annoyance that the royal family would feel towards Fabiana, feeling as though she’d often highlight the negative aspects, or as Fabiana calls it, “warts and all.” Yet, knowing her background, it makes perfect sense, not to mention how dedicated she is to her work. She doesn’t sugarcoat anything, preferring to give the truth, no matter how it looks.

Max appreciates Fabiana, but will he appreciate who she is once he learns who she really is? It gives Fabiana the chance to finally be who she is, warts and all, at risk of allowing someone to love her without the secrets. Royally Off-Limits is really the best addition to the series, an opposites-attract redemption experience–a definite five-star read! 

Thanks to Kate O'Keeffe for the book in exchange for an honest review.

More by Kate O'Keeffe (Royally Kissed series):

The Backup Princess

Royally Matched

The Royal Runaway

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