Passion on Park Avenue is a fun, breezy romance about Naomi moving into the fancy apartment building she had once lived in during her youth and coming face-to-face with her childhood nemesis Oliver. He had tormented her when they were both children, but has now grown into a gorgeous, kind man.

The main conflict of this story is Naomi's grudge against Oliver for his younger transgressions and her wanting to show him that she's finally made it. Sure, Naomi's grudge is overblown and silly, and she comes across as rather petty for having held onto it for so long. But overlooking that, this book hits all the right notes as a lighthearted summer read.

This first book also introduces us to Naomi's friends, who will each get their own romantic stories coming up in the series, so I look forward to reading those once they are released.

Readaroo Rating: 3 stars

Our favorite author who writes himself into murder mysteries is back!

In this installment, famous celebrity-divorce lawyer Richard Pryce is found murdered in his home, beaten and stabbed with a bottle of expensive wine. The killer leaves a clue: a three-digit number painted on the wall next to his dead body. The police is baffled, so they bring in private investigator Daniel Hawthorne, who then brings in his scribe, writer Anthony Horowitz.

This whodunit is so much fun. There is a small number of interesting suspects, plenty of clues everywhere (but which ones are the important ones?), and lots of red herrings. It was delightful to go on the journey with the detective and the writer as they uncover secrets and sort through clues, trying to fit each piece into the puzzle.

I've read a few mysteries by Horowitz now, and he hasn't disappointed yet. His style hearkens back to the Golden Age of mystery, where the murders can be solved by paying attention to the clues instead of cheap thrills or crazy characters.

As is standard for this series, Horowitz writes himself into the book by being the scribe for the detective. I found it to be a little odd in the first book, and I'm still getting used to it in this one. Horowitz definitely isn't afraid to poke fun at himself, so his character verges on the annoying. He keeps jumping in with comments that give away crucial information. He becomes obsessed with solving the case before the detective does. He bungles around a lot. Honestly, I wouldn't mind if the character was toned down just a bit.

Aside from that little nitpick, I'm really enjoying the series. This whodunit turned out to be super entertaining and engrossing, and I can't wait to read more.

Readaroo Rating: 4 stars

Rising is a sobering and unflinching look at the impact of rising sea levels from the front lines--those coastal communities dealing with hurricanes, flooding and loss of property. What this book does best is bring the theoretical problem of climate change to the here and now. It isn't some potential issue for the future. In fact, many people are already affected by it today. And Rush shows that it's not just people, but also trees and animals and entire ecosystems on the coast that are on the verge of total collapse.

However, this book is also random and boring at times. Rush often treated this as her personal journal, filling it with rambling reflections and philosophical musings, so there are many passages that have nothing to do with climate change. She also takes a long time to come to her points, so that by the time she gets there through many convoluted sentences, I've already forgotten what she was saying at the beginning of her point. She would included details and names of every single plant and tree she comes across. She also skips around in her narration, referring to people and events many chapters later without helpful hints of who and what they were. This all together made it a much harder book to read than it should have been.

Overall, I feel I learned a lot from this book. It's a timely and poignant look at all that we are already losing to climate change, and all that we still have to lose if we don't take action now. But I was hoping more for a book based on science, while this comes across more as a memoir by a climate scientist, with random musings, side stories, and philosophical questions. This wasn't the easiest book to get through, but because of its timeliness and relevance, I'm glad I did.

Readaroo Rating: 3 stars

Ghosted started out so strong and slowly turned into a tedious and uninteresting mess. In it, Sarah meets a wonderful man Eddie, and spends seven blissful days with him. When they part at the end of that time, she knows it's love and he agrees. But then he disappears, never answering her calls or efforts to reach out.

The premise is interesting enough, but what follows is a long and mostly pointless story that is equal parts boring and odd. When Eddie disappears, Sarah is certain that he loves her and would never ignore her unless something bad has happened. But instead of going to the police or just stopping by his place, she online stalks him and badgers his friends. But when she's close to an answer, she runs away instead.

This book is filled with so much irrelevant padding, including long and bland backstories of every single side character. Each is having their own crisis, which is described in excruciating detail. It doesn't help that everyone acts like loonies by being melodramatic and making mountains out of molehills. Every setting, every thought, every action, every visual is explained to us in excessive detail. If it can be said in one sentence, the author said it in five. At some point, I just started skimming through the paragraphs.

At its heart, this book just didn't know what it wants to be. Is it a domestic thriller about the disappearance of a man, or a romance about love overcoming odds, or a composite of separate stories about different people whose lives are loosely intertwined? Instead we end up with a dull, awkward, rambling pile. Yes, there is a twist, but I wasn't invested enough by that point to care. It's too bad such an intriguing premise turned into such a dud.

Readaroo Rating: 1 star

There's something about mysteries that take place in secluded locations, I just can't resist.

Guests are checking into a small lodge in the middle of nowhere, looking forward to a romantic and relaxing time. Alas, a winter storm blows through, knocking out power and contact with the outside world. One person dies by what seems to be accidental means, but when a second person dies, it's clear something sinister is afoot. Is it one of the guests, or is there an unknown, mysterious interloper on the loose?

This was a bit of a mixed bag for me. On the one hand, I found the premise and initial setup thoroughly intriguing. Just like the best Golden Age mysteries, there is a limited set of suspects, and everyone is acting questionable and hiding something. In fact, the cover of the book compares this to Agatha Christie, which is high aspiration indeed.

But unfortunately, after the great start, the mystery didn't really come together the way I was expecting. What's amazing about Agatha Christie is that all the clues are there, and when it's explained in the end, you feel like you could have figured it all out if only you'd been a little bit more clever. But with this story, there were no clues for me to put together and solve, and the reasons became known only when the book chose to reveal it. That takes a lot of the fun out of the mystery, at least for me.

Another letdown is that the characters act all panicked and wacky, which leads to more drama than is necessary. I've noticed that this is a trend of modern mysteries, where instead of offering great clues and red herrings, a lot of them just have characters acting crazy as the element that propels the story along. In fact, there were a few weirdly emotional characters who I was hoping would get murdered to be rid of their annoying presence.

Still, if you don't go in expecting a mystery with actual clues, then this is an adequate one. The setting is atmospheric, the premise is interesting, and the unfolding of the plot is engrossing enough. I'm glad I picked it up, even if the mystery didn't quite live up to its potential.

Readaroo Rating: 3 stars

Adversity presents itself in many forms . . . if a man does not master his circumstances then he is bound to be mastered by them.

Every once in a while, I come across a book that speaks to the heart of who I am, as though it's been written specifically for me. That's how I feel about A Gentleman in Moscow.

Count Rostov has been sentenced to house arrest in the grand Metropol Hotel in Moscow. We follow him as he tries to make a life of purpose for himself within this small world. Instead of withdrawing and giving in to misery in the face of diminishing circumstances, he makes the most of his situation. He reaches out, opens his heart, and lets in all that life has to offer inside the hotel.

This story was an absolute joy to read! It's buoyant, charming, and so funny. There were many insightful passages into the human soul and the comedy that comes with trying to find life's meaning. This is the rare sort of book that I want to read slowly and savor every word. Often, I found myself marveling at what I had just read, and I have to reread and relish it again it before I could move on.

Even though this book is quite long, I blew through it. It didn't drag on or feel boring to me at all. I connected with it from the very beginning and knew early on that this would be a book I'd love. If you've been on the fence about whether to read this, especially given its longer length, give it a try. I think you'll be able to tell within the first few chapters if this is for you.

This brilliant gem of a book is so deserving of all the accolades it has received. Its exploration of human behavior and our never-ending drive to find happiness and purpose, no matter the circumstances, is so uplifting and enchanting. The best books steal a part of our hearts and remain with us long after they are read, and so this will be for me. I only wish I had discovered it that much sooner.

Readaroo Rating: 5 stars!

Overall, I do like My Favorite Half-Night Stand. It was a fun and enjoyable romantic comedy with a great cast of supporting characters, as well as a likable male lead. For me, what kept it from being great instead of just good is that I didn't really connect with Millie. She comes off as both standoffish and needy. She runs away from communication and honesty, even though I do understand that that functions as the main conflict (without which there would be no story). But what really seems cruel and unforgivable is that she catfished Reid, her supposed best friend/lover.

Romances are so personal. What speaks to one person doesn't always speak to another. A lot for me depends on how much I can relate to the main characters, and with this story, Millie was just a little too much of a villain for me to really buy into the Millie/Reid love story. The catfishing aside, I found the rest of the story to be entertaining and the other characters to be lovable. This was my first book by Christina Lauren, and I'll definitely give this duo's other books a try.

Readaroo Rating: 3 stars

You Think It, I'll Say It is a collection of short stories, mostly centered around middle-aged people who were unhappy with their lives and feel their prime is past them. I found the writing to be compelling, but I didn't really understand the point of most of the stories.

They seem to center around people who were nostalgic for their youth, or who'd grown bitter and regretful, or who were envious of others. Sure, it was uncomfortable to read about these things, and it made me feel pity and sadness for the characters. But in the end, I'm not sure what I was supposed to get out of them. Since these are short stories, I wonder if they were longer and more fleshed out, I would like them better.

Since I found Sittenfeld's writing to be engaging, I won't rule out reading her other books. But I'll probably steer away from more of her short stories.

Readaroo Rating: 3 stars

When is an exploration of how timing effects everything we do and achieve. Some things covered in this book include the afternoon slump, how starting your career during a recession affects your lifetime earnings, and how working together with others in a cohesive environment produces more positive results than working alone.

This book contains some interesting tidbits, but for me, most of it falls under the category of common sense. Therefore, I didn't feel its points were particularly revolutionary or insightful. The book also feels like a collection of separate ideas, tied together under the common umbrella of time, but they didn't really congeal into a whole. Because of that, some of the conclusions feel forced, as if the author had to stretch hard so that they fit into the concept of time.

In the end, this book was a bit of a disappointment for me. It didn't contain enough original or compelling ideas. As a result, I don't feel I got anything new out of this book that I didn't already intuit myself or have read elsewhere.

Readaroo Rating: 3 stars

Even when Jane Harper writes a story I don't quite connect with (trekking through the wilderness with co-workers *shudders*), I still end up enjoying it.

Five women go on a corporate retreat into the wilderness, but only four return. The missing woman, Alice, had been helping federal agent Falk with a financial investigation into her company and was on the verge of bringing him crucial incriminating evidence. So what really happened at the retreat that caused everything to go horribly awry?

For me, I just didn't find the topic of this book to be as interesting as Harper's other books. Through alternating chapters, we follow both the current investigation as well as the actual wilderness excursion that led to Alice's disappearance. I found the chapters on the investigation to be riveting, but the wilderness ones to be rather boring. Since I'm not someone who goes camping or does outdoorsy stuff, I had trouble getting into so much traipsing through the woods. And at least initially, there were many more pages of the wilderness narrative than of the investigation. It wasn't until about two-thirds of the way into it that the story started to pick up for me.

I do find, for a mystery, that it's a little deflating to rely so heavily on telling what really happened instead of using the unfolding investigation to drive the explanation. As a result, I found Falk's eventual solving of the mystery to be a little weak, really more of a lucky guess than truly fitting all the clues into the puzzle. But that subterfuge is not as apparent to the reader since we were able to delve into the minds of everyone, so all the pieces do make sense and fit together for us.

Still, Harper is an amazing writer. Her characters always feel interesting and fleshed out. I particularly enjoyed getting to know Carmen, Falk's partner, in this story. And even though the topic of this book is a little bland to me, Harper's writing isn't. It's compelling and atmospheric, dropping you right in the middle of the narrative so that you are inhabiting that world rather than looking in on it.

I'm glad I picked up this book even though I didn't enjoy it quite as much as Harper's other ones. There's a reason she's one of my favorite authors. Really, I'll read anything she writes.

Readaroo Rating: 3 stars

I inhaled The Bride Test, and now that I am done, let me just take a moment to squeal in delight! I've been eagerly awaiting this book ever since I read The Kiss Quotient last year, and I'm so happy to report it lives up to all my expectations.

Helen Hoang has a real knack for taking a fairly fluffy genre and elevating it to something truly special. Her characters feel so real, each with their complex emotions, thoughts, and expectations. Esme is sweet and caring, trying to win over Khai even though she feels she doesn't belong in his world. Khai struggles with emotions, and while he keeps others away due to the misguided belief that it's for the best, he can't help but be taken with Esme's positive attitude and can-do spirit.

For me, the part I connected with the most is Esme's immigrant experience. She's in this foreign land to make a better life for herself and her family. She doesn't know what to do a lot of the time, but she does know hard work will pay off and she doesn't shy away from it. She's competent and self-sufficient, and even when things are not going well, she doesn't give up. She's exactly the kind of female lead I can look up to and cheer for.

I always find romance books to be so personal; what speaks to one person may not speak to another. But this sweet and adorable love story sang to my heart and filled me with so much joy. Unfortunately, now I'll have to wait another whole year for Hoang's next book. Sigh... next year cannot come fast enough.

Readaroo Rating: 4 stars

Wait... what did I just read? I'm so confused, and I'm pretty sure this isn't possible, not to mention really strange, weird, and revolting. It doesn't make any sense. My mind is blown, but in a bad way.

So the story in I Know Who You Are is that Aimee is an actress who comes home one day to find her husband missing. She reports him missing to the police, but as evidence starts to come to light, they become suspicious of her. In alternating chapters, we also discover what happened to Aimee as a child.

The premise of the story is interesting enough, but I think it didn't pay off this time. Feeney had the craziest twists and turns in her previous book Sometimes I Lie, but they worked in that story and made sense. Unfortunately, that isn't the case this time. When the big reveal happens in the end, I was just baffled. My mouth was hanging open, not from a happy shock, but from confusion.

Also, there is a lot of filler in this book to fluff out the pages. We are treated to so much random musings from Aimee about how she hard she has to work, how she has to lie to protect herself, how she lacks confidence, how she has to stay strong, ya da ya da. And the things she does and the lies she tells make her look terribly suspicious to the police, all for no reason.

I appreciate the author trying hard to shock readers in interesting ways, but it just didn't work this time.

Readaroo Rating: 2 stars