Review: Love on the Brain

By Marisa Appleton

Meet neuroscientist Bee Königswasser, who lives her life by a simple motto: What would Marie Curie do? As Bee is offered a dream role on a project for NASA, she has to face her arch-nemesis, Levi Ward. Throughout grad school, Levi made his feelings for Bee perfectly clear - he hated her. How can they possibly work together? As their project – and their relationship - gets complicated, Bee learns to trust Levi. Is Levi softening into an ally? Or could their new relationship be something more?

In Ali Hazelwood’s newest release, Love on the Brain, she focuses on Dr. Bee Königswasser, a neuroscientist at NIH. Bee lands her dream job at NASA where she is tasked with designing helmets for astronauts. Bee, and her sidekick/assistant Rocío, make up the neuroscience team. Her arch-nemesis from grad school, Levi Ward is in charge of the engineering team. Between them, they are tasked with creating these groundbreaking helmets which are based on each individual astronaut's brain. Now, I’ll admit, there was a lot of science talk in this book that I didn’t fully understand. I do, however, fully appreciate Hazelwood’s representation of women in STEM. Bee faces a lot of common problems faced by women in STEM and academia in general. She is ignored, mansplained to, and talked down to. I’m sure almost all women can identify with the problems that she faces. Bee does not let these stop her. She questions Levi about the lack of progress on their project, which leads him to reveal a few secrets which could derail the whole project. 

While this book is definitely similar to Hazelwood’s debut novel, The Love Hypothesis, the plot is more developed. This novel focuses on a different area of science but contains similar themes of academia. Most importantly, this book contains everyone’s favourite trope – enemies to lovers. Once Bee learns that Levi is not intentionally sabotaging her project, they slowly develop a friendship. The problem that I had was that Bee is incredibly naïve. She constantly talks about how Levi hated her in grad school when this is obviously not true. She fails to mention her failed engagement but doesn’t grasp that Levi thinks she's married. While this does add to the enemies to lovers theme, I found it quite annoying how Bee refused to acknowledge the fact that Levi was blatantly in love with her. Even when they eventually become lovers, Bee seems to have this notion that they are just friends. This offers a change to the stereotype that women become more emotionally attached than men. Of course, as with any great enemies to lovers novel, they have a happily ever after. 

I really enjoyed reading Hazelwood’s newest novel, she offers a light, enjoyable story that is perfect for a relaxing read. I did feel like this book was a little bit like The Love Hypothesis all over again. If you enjoy an enemies-to-lovers story, this book is definitely for you! 

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

More by Ali Hazelwood:

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Spotlight and Giveaway: Lizzie Blake's Best Mistake

Today we are pleased to feature Mazey Eddings' latest novel, Lizzie Blake's Best Mistake. It looks and sounds like a delightful rom com and we're excited to share it with you today. Thanks to St. Martin's Press, we have THREE copies up for grabs!

Lizzie has made endless mistakes. Kitchen fires, pyramid schemes, bangs (of the hair and human variety), you name it, she’s done it… and made a mess of it too. One mistake she’s never made is letting anyone get close to her. But after a particularly messy day caused by her uncontrolled ADHD, she breaks her cardinal rule and has a two-night-stand that changes everything.

Once burned, twice shy, Rake has given up on relationships. And feelings. And any form of intimacy for that matter. Yet something about charming, chaotic Lizzie has him lowering his guard. For two nights, that is. Then it’s back home to Australia and far away from the pesky feelings Lizzie pulls from him. At least, that's what he thinks. 

An unexpected surprise brings the two together again, and through a series of mishaps, including totally “platonic” single bed sharing, Lizzie and Rake learn that even the biggest mistakes can have the most beautiful consequences.

"Lizzie Blake's Best Mistake is phenomenal. Laugh-out-loud funny, filled with joy, as deliciously swoony as it is downright steamy, this is such a compassionate, affirming portrayal of neurodivergence, found family, and falling wildly in love. I couldn’t adore it more." 
―Chloe Liese, author of Two Wrongs Make a Right

Credit: Ben Eisdorfer

Mazey Eddings is a neurodiverse author, dentist, and (most importantly) stage mom to her cats, Yaya and Zadie. She can most often be found reading romance novels under her weighted blanket and asking her boyfriend to bring her snacks. She’s made it her personal mission in life to destigmatize mental health issues and write love stories for every brain. With roots in Ohio and North Carolina, she now calls Philadelphia home. 

Visit Mazey online:
Website * Facebook * Twitter * Instagram

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Giveaway ends September 13th at midnight EST.

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Book Review: Killers of a Certain Age

By Jami Denison

When the Sex and the City sequel And Just Like That premiered, a popular meme circulated the internet with a photograph of Carrie, Miranda, and Charlotte next to a shot of the four women of the Golden Girls. The New Yorkers were glamourous and styled; the Floridians had gray hair and glasses. The meme pointed out that all the women were about the same age. Fifty is the new thirty? Sixty is the new forty? Who can keep track anymore?

Killers of a Certain Age, the latest offering by Texas author Deanna Raybourn, puts sixty squarely in the retirement home. In fact, her heroines—Billie, Mary Alice, Helen, and Natalie—are literally retiring. They’ve spent forty years at the same job, a job they started at the age of twenty. But it’s not medicine, education, business, or entertainment the women are stepping away from. No, these women are a squad of assassins, working for The Museum, an organization begun after World War II to hunt down escaped Nazis. When they’d gotten all the Nazis, there were plenty of other bad guys left to fill the void. 

To celebrate their retirement, the women are sent on an all-expenses-paid cruise. But when Billie spots one of their own, she realizes that she and her friends have been targeted for assassination by their own organization. They fake their deaths in order to find out who at the Museum wants them dead.

Going back and forth between the women’s 1970s adventures and their current predicament, Killers of a Certain Age at times feels like Charlie’s Angels meets the Golden Girls. Led by Billie, the women swap the sex appeal of their younger years for a savvy cleverness that keeps them ahead of their adversaries every step of the way. It’s a funny, quick-paced romp filled with quips and right hooks. 

In her author’s note, Raybourn said she wanted to write about older women, and the book’s tagline reads: Older women often feel invisible, but sometimes that’s their secret weapon. But is older the same as old? Actress Jennifer Coolidge of White Lotus fame is 60; she is starring in the next season of the series. At times, Raybourn, who is 54, seemed to be writing for women in their 70s who’d been retired for ten years, not a squad who had just finished their last assignment. An early line about Billie “protesting and burning bras” in 1978 reinforced the feeling that the women had initially been older; those were 1968 activities. In the late 1970s women were wearing bell bottoms and going to discos. And watching Charlie’s Angels. 

Still, I think Raybourn has a stellar group of women, and I hope Killers of a Certain Age is the first book of a series. There’s still plenty to explore with these four. Sixty may be older, but it isn’t old at all. 

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

More by Deanna Raybourn:

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Spotlight: The Most Likely Club

Today we are pleased to be celebrating the publication of Elyssa Friedland's latest novel, The Most Likely Club. Melissa says it is sure to delight fans of Romy and Michele's High School Reunion. You can see her review here. It's the perfect back-to-school read, so definitely add it to your TBR!

In 1997, grunge is king, Titanic is a blockbuster (and Blockbuster still exists), and Thursday nights are for Friends. In Bellport, Connecticut, four best friends and high school seniors are ready to light the world on fire. Melissa Levin, Priya Chowdhury, Tara Taylor, and Suki Hammer are going places. Their yearbook superlatives confirm it: Most Likely to Win the White House, Cure Cancer, Open a Michelin-Starred Restaurant, and Join the Forbes 400.

Fast forward twenty-five years and nothing has gone according to plan as the women regroup at their dreaded high school reunion. When a forgotten classmate emerges at the reunion with a surprising announcement, the friends dig out the yearbook and rethink their younger selves. Is it too late to make their dreams come true? Fueled by nostalgia and one too many drinks, they form a pact to push through their middle-aged angst to bring their teenage aspirations to fruition, dubbing themselves the “Most Likely Girls.”

Through the ensuing highs and lows, they are reminded of the enduring bonds of friendship, the ways our childhood dreams both sustain and surprise us — and why it’s deeply uncool to peak in high school. (Synopsis courtesy of Amazon.)

“A hilarious, delectable, and much-needed time machine back to the nineties.”
—Jo Piazza, bestselling co-author of We Are Not Like Them

“Endearing and immensely readable, Elyssa's Friedland's The Most Likely Club is an ode to female friendship, second chances, and the people who are 'Most Likely' to love us the most.”
—Laura Dave, #1 New York Times bestseller of The Last Thing He Told Me

“Elyssa Friedland writes with heart, depth and humor in this story of four friends exploring what they wanted in high school, and what they have today. Utterly delightful and uplifting!”
—New York Times bestselling author Kristan Higgins

Photo by Brian Marcus

Elyssa Friedland is the author of five novels and a forthcoming picture book. She attended Yale University, where she served as managing editor of the Yale Daily News, and is a graduate of Columbia Law School. She worked as an associate at a major firm before turning to writing full-time. She teaches an undergraduate course at Yale called Contemporary Novel Writing. Her work has been published in The Washington Post, McSweeney’s, LitHub, POPSUGAR, RealSimple.com, Bustle, Modern Bride, New York magazine, Columbia Journalism Review, CBS MarketWatch.com, Yale Alumni Magazine, and more. Elyssa resides in New York City with her husband, three children and puppy.

LAST SUMMER AT THE GOLDEN HOTEL was a Good Morning America Buzz Pick and a Book of the Month selection. It was the OneBook, One Hadassah selection for August 2022 and is currently in its 5th printing. THE FLOATING FELDMANS was a People Magazine “People Pick” and a “SkimmReads” selection and was praised by Cosmopolitan, Bustle, Good Housekeeping, National Geographic, Woman’s Day, Woman’s World, Kirkus, Publisher’s Weekly, Library Journal, Booklist, and more. THE INTERMISSION was praised by The Wall Street Journal, SheReads, PureWow, POPSUGAR, HelloGiggles and featured in USA Today. Her debut novel, LOVE AND MISS COMMUNICATION, was a “best book” in Cosmopolitan, Glamour and InStyle magazines. THE MOST LIKELY CLUB, her fifth novel, will be on sale 9/6/22. THE MUSEUM OF LOST TEETH, her first picture book, will be published in February 2023. She is also a co-author of FIRST STREET, a serialized novel available in electronic and audio formats about four ambitious lawyers clerking at the Supreme Court.

Elyssa loves wine, ice cream, Forensic Files, and texting her friends obsessively. (Bio courtesy of Elyssa's website.)

Visit Elyssa online:
Website * Facebook * Twitter * Instagram

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Book Review: The Winter Orphans

By Jami Denison

World War II fiction delivers inspirational tales of people who lived through the worst period in history. While horrific and sad, there is always the unspoken message at the end of each tale: This will never happen again. And, of course, that Americans were the good guys. These are comforting messages that no longer can be assumed. 

Author Kristin Beck’s second World War II novel, The Winter Orphans, takes place in southern France and is based on real women. The Swiss Red Cross operated refugee camps for displaced children, including Jewish children separated from their parents. With the Germans on the move and the French police complicit, caretaker Rosli Naf realizes she can no longer keep her teenage charges safe at their refuge in an abandoned castle. When the French police arrest every Jewish teenager under her roof, she manages to get Swiss Red Cross leaders involved and take the children home. But she knows it’s only a matter of time before the police will be back. Realizing it’s the only way to keep them safe, she begins training the teenagers on how to flee France and sneak over the mountains to Switzerland or Spain. When she’s fired for ignoring orders to obey French law in order to retain the Swiss Red Cross’s neutrality, her position is given to Anne-Marie Piguet, who continues the mission.

The third point-of-view in this book is given to Ella Rosenthal, a 17-year-old girl who lives at Rosli’s mission. Ella’s parents helped her flee Germany with her younger sister, Hanni, begging the older girl to take care of her sister. For a while, life at Chateau de la Hille was safe, and Ella made friends and even developed a crush on Isaak, a Jewish boy a year older. But after the arrest, Ella has to decide whether to try to sneak out of France and leave Hanni behind, or stay with her sister and risk being sent to a camp in Poland or Germany. When she and Isaak begin a relationship, her decision is even more fraught.

How do people come to a place where they accept young adults being arrested just for being Jewish? Hitler and his followers worked for decades. Jews were blamed for World War I, for German economic issues; called the worst kind of names and had their rights taken away one by one. By the time of the “Final Solution,” Hitler had succeeded in making them less than human. People could look away at what was happening, even say the Jews deserved it, because of the years of these messages.

Reading The Winter Orphans, especially scenes where Swiss Red Cross executives casually dismiss the fate of Jewish children, brings up the question of “Could it happen here?” Sadly, that question has already been answered in the affirmative. Just ask parents of trans children, who have to flee Texas to escape child abuse investigations. Or the parents of a 10-year-old girl who had leave Illinois for Indiana, to get an abortion after being raped. Now she’s a target, and so is the doctor who helped her. Trump supporters target LGBTQ+, authors, teachers, and anyone who votes Democrat or disagrees with them. They are called pedophiles—“pedos.” Anyone who doesn’t support right-wing extremists are being actively dehumanized by them. At the same time, just as Hitler and his supporters did, they are worming their way into state and local governments in order to change voting and other laws to give them power. 

“Could it happen here?” becomes “Are we watching it happen right now?”   

Rosli and Anne-Marie were real people; Ella is based on the children the women helped. And Beck never lets us forget that Ella is a child who misses her mother and wants to go to school and be an artist when she grows up. The scenes of Ella and Isaac talking about the house they wish to raise their children in, while wondering if they’ll be shot by Nazis, are particularly cutting.

It is easy to imagine Proud Boys as Brownshirts for the Republican party. 

The Winter Orphans is a flawlessly written book, and readers should make sure to take in the author’s note at the end of the book about these real-life heroines. Then imagine yourself in Europe during World War II. Would you be one of the brave, selfless ones risking everything to help people who were targeted for death? Or would you turn your head away because of “neutrality” or high gas prices? 

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

Also by Kristin Beck:

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Ebook giveaway on Goodreads.

Reviews at Amazon -- July/August 2022

We're posting some reviews at our Amazon (or Goodreads) accounts, as either they've been sitting in our queue for a while and deserve their time in the sun, fall under our featuring policy, or they're new reads that we couldn't wait to post at the blog. You can check them out at the links below. Hope we can help you find your next favorite book!

Sara:

Crazy to Leave You by Marilyn Simon Rothstein

I'll Be Seeing You by Robin Lee Hatcher

The Last Housewife by Ashley Winstead

Men or Paws by Rich Amooi

Head Over Feet by Whitney Dineen

Finding Grace by Maren Cooper

The Thread Collectors by Shaunna J. Edwards and Alyson Richman

A Dress of Violet Taffeta by Tessa Arlen

Melissa:

It Could Be Anyone by Jaime Lynn Hendricks

The Rewind by Allison Winn Scotch

The Lost Girls of Willowbrook by Ellen Marie Wiseman

The Matchmaker's Gift by Lynda Cohen Loigman

Finding Grace by Janis Thomas

Something Wilder by Christina Lauren

Cinder-Nanny by Sariah Wilson

When We Let Go by Rochelle B. Weinstein

Just Another Love Song by Kerry Winfrey

She's Up to No Good by Sara Goodman Confino

Sophie Go's Lonely Hearts Club by Roselle Lim

Meant to Be by Emily Giffin

Smart Girl Summer by Kristin Rockaway

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Spotlight and Giveaway: Andrea Hoffman Goes All In

We are pleased to kick off September with Diane Cohen Schneider's debut novel, Andrea Hoffman Goes All In. Take a trip to the career world of the 1980s with this wild new story. Thanks to BookSparks, we have TWO copies to give away!

 

Andrea Hoffman is an overeducated, underemployed, and unmotivated recent college graduate—until an unexpected robbery blasts her out of her funk and into a job in the finance world of early-1980s Chicago. At first, it seems like a bad fit. But the world of finance has its own weird charm, and she grows increasingly fascinated by the strange language of trading, the complexity of the stock market, and her colleagues, who navigate it all with a ruthless confidence. Even though she has two strikes against her—Jewish and female—Andrea’s quick wit and strong work ethic propel her into an actual sales job and her career takes off. 

But this is the Wall Street of the eighties, and along with making a lot more money, Andrea adopts a new, fast life of cocktails, cocaine, and casual sex. Drunk on her achievements, she gradually realizes that at some point, she’s going to have to decide what success really means to her.

“Diane Cohen Schneider’s new book, Andrea Hoffman Goes All In, is laugh-out-loud funny and sharp. Set in the 80s, this story is a timeless look at the relationship we have with our jobs. It explores how work may do more than reflect who we are—it may shape who we become.”
—Madeleine Henry, author of Breathe In, Cash Out and The Love Proof

 “Ms. Cohen Schneider evokes both the ebullience and the excess of that era [1980s], all the while charming the reader with her heroine’s trajectory through her twenties. I found myself rooting for her, sympathizing with her, and fondly remembering my own less-than-straight path through life. An engaging coming-of-age story that will appeal to all ages.”
—Deborah Goodrich Royce, award-winning author of Ruby Falls and Finding Mrs. Ford

© Gabriella Marks

Diane Cohen Schneider grew up in Illinois but spent most of her adult life in Stamford, CT, with her husband and their three children. Her career as a Wall Street sales executive during the 1980s Go-Go years inspired Andrea Hoffman Goes All In, which is her debut novel. Today, she continues her love of finance through an Instagram account called @moneylikeuhmother. Seeking to re-pot themselves, Diane and her husband recently moved to Santa Fe, NM.

Visit Diane online:

Website * Facebook * Twitter * Instagram

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

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Giveaway ends September 6th at midnight EST.

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