Dear Fellow Reader,

Sigh…. It has been a while again. I swear that I will keep this up and then life gets in the way. Since I wrote last, we have moved into Spring and almost Summer. But since I am sitting here in a sweatshirt and slippers, it certainly isn’t Summer today.

I still need to get the hang of audiobooks. I have listened to a couple but so far I haven’t been sold on them. I understand that there are lists of which ones are better than others. ( From Esquire magazine – https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/books/g39764530/best-audiobooks-of-all-time/) (From Harper’s Bazaar – https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/g38320421/top-audiobooks/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=arb_ga_har_d_bm_comm_lft_us_g38320421&gclid=CjwKCAjwy_aUBhACEiwA2IHHQGHEo8Oxgu6JBfBZZzRl8Z4SL5gF7E-VFmaZDCBKxYTtz9CZFtvHEhoCdo4QAvD_BwE)  The reason this is on my mind is that I have been knitting and I can’t read and knit at the same time. If only I could balance my time better, I could find time for both, like most people do. I seem to do one or the other – read or knit. Audiobooks would solve this and combine the two but I just haven’t found the right audiobook to knit by. I am open to any suggestions you leave in the comments!

I have two books to review for you today. While I normally review books one at a time but I am behind and both books are in the same genre. Here comes – both books were given to me so that I would provide my unbiased review. (There is that disclaimer again!) Both books are in the romance genre. If you have read this blog before, you know that my feeling is that the romance genre has come a long way from when I used to read titles like Sweet Savage Love. Today’s romance novels are much more sexually explicit. As long as you know it is coming… (kind of a pun there)

Fake it Till You Bake It is a modern romance that has a football player and a reality show contestant meeting, clashing, and then well, come on, it is called a romance. Jada Townsend-Matthews was on a reality dating show. The show’s viewers united in not liking Jada and she is having a hard time just walking down the street without being abused. She needs to find a new niche. Donovan Dell is a professional football player who happens to be a baker. He and two of his friends open a bakery named Sugar Blitz. The bakery was doing great but sales have slumped and Donovan needs to do something to perk up sales. When a reporter mistakenly reports that the two of them are an item, they decide to use the mistake to help both of them.

This is a much-simplified plot line. There is more character development and storyline. It is what I might call a “popcorn book” but I do like a good popcorn book from time to time. Do not expect War and Peace. But it is a book that will hold your attention and won’t take too long to read.

The second book for this post is Island Time by Georgia Clark. This book is a new sub-genre for me. It is an LGBTQ+ romance. In the book, the Kelly family, who are from Australia, and the Lee family from the US are on a tropical island off the coast of Queensland together. Why are they together? Matty Kelly met Parker Lee in New York City. They fell in love and got married. While the parents are not so crazy about each other, they both love their daughters. Amelia Kelly is also with her family on the trip. As the story opens, she is waiting for her boyfriend to come to the island to join the family and, she hopes, announce his intention to marry her. While the island can accommodate more people, the Kellys and the Lees are the only guests at this time. Liss, is the staff person on the island, there to help if anything is needed and to give information about the island.

This trip to the island is a prequel to Matty and Parker moving to Sydney. Matty is scheduled to start her route to getting pregnant when they get to Sydney. Jules Kelly, Matty and Amelia’s Mom, is in support of this and has made most of the arrangements. Shortly before the trip, Jules announced to her husband that their marriage was over but that they would not tell the girls until they were all home from the island. Gary is not sure he agrees with this idea. He thinks it would be better to tell the girls the truth right away, but Jules has a more dominant personality and has always been the decision-maker. The Lees are not exactly the “roughing it” kind but they are doing this for their daughter.

Then a nearby volcano erupts and the families and the two island employees are stranded on the island for six weeks, the characters have a chance to find out more about themselves and each other. Right after the eruption, another staff person is on the island, his name is Jarrah and he is a member of the Aboriginal tribe that owns the island.

Alright, I think you need to suspend belief on a few points. First of all, they all seem to have phone and internet service the entire time. I found this hard to believe. Also, there was electricity most of the time. Since our electricity can go out in a big storm and need the power company to come out and fix it, I find it hard to believe that this remote island had power.

Getting past that, the time on the island gives the characters time to learn more about each other and themselves. Yes, there are TWO love stories that start on the island. One that shows some potential and the other hits a setback, but it could continue.

The book was okay. It held my attention and moves along fairly well. But it is a good summer beach read. It just isn’t boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy and girl kiss and makeup. It does show that all couples have issues and can resolve them or not.

Okay, that was our week of summer romance novels. Both books will be published soon. Island Time will be published on June 14, 2022, and Fake It Till You Bake It will be out on June 21, 2022.

Thank you for reading!