The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley

I had heard of this book through many channels. The one that got me to pick it up was a review by Ian Mond in Locus magazine. There he described it as “the sort of novel you fall into, only to come up for breath to eat and sleep.” It has an element of time travel and the exploration of how people from the past might deal with the shock of coming to the future. Sounded like a great book for me.

In a near future UK, the government has discovered time travel. Unsure as to what might happen to time travelers, they have brought forward from the past five people who history shows as either dead or missing. Each of these people is assigned to a “bridge” who helps them adjust to the dramatic change in their lives. The main characters are one of these people from the past and his bridge. As the story progresses, some things begin to appear to not be what they are at first glance and the time travelers and their bridges start to band together to figure things out.

Unfortunately, this book did not live up to the billing. I found it rather easy to put down. In fact, I almost stopped reading it halfway through. The metaphors feel forced. I found the writing clumsy and stilted with only a rare moment or two where it shined and pulled me in, enveloping me in a feeling and communicating something deeply. And there were numerous references to things in the UK that someone not immersed in that culture would not understand. Worst of all, the conclusion fell flat. The author seems to think she has said something profound in this story that just wasn’t there for me. I should have listened to my instinct and left this one unfinished.

My rating: 2/5

Funny Story by Emily Henry

After I finished reading Run by Blake Crouch, I needed a bit of a palette cleanser. That was a dark book, and I needed something lighter to balance it. I am a fan of Emily Henry and hadn’t read her latest yet, so I picked up and read Funny Story.

In it, a thirty-something woman is engaged to the man of her dreams. She has moved into a house he bought for them in his home town and is enjoying being part of his circle. A few months before their wedding, he decides he is in love with his childhood best friend and breaks off the wedding. Desperate for a place to live in a town far from her own friends and family, she moves in with her ex-fiancé’s ex-boyfriend. At first they keep their distance. Then they devise a plan that may unintentionally bring them closer together.

There wasn’t anything terribly new here. As with all romances, we know how this one will end. It isn’t about the ending, though. It’s about the journey. And the journey here is emotional, funny, and enjoyable. As is my experience with Emily Henry, the characters feel true to life and the plot deals with real human problems with a level of complexity that goes deeper than I would expect for a romance. That said, this is a romance novel. It is a quick read and doesn’t get too deep. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but is wasn’t as good as some of her other stuff I’ve read.

My rating: 3.5/5

Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros

This sequel continues the story from the first book. It’s hard to summarize the plot here without giving away a major plot twist of the first book, so I won’t. The romance between the two main characters continues but becomes ever more problematic while starting to follow what for me are the worst romance tropes. Violet also gets more whiny and starts blaming herself for everything. I found it rather annoying. However, the characters are still interesting and some new and interesting dynamics arise between them. In the end, my curiosity for the story line and interest in the dynamics between the characters outweighed the negative, barely.

My rating: 3/5

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

I’ve been hearing about this book almost since it came out. There has been a lot of buzz around it. But historically I have not been a big fan of fantasy. When I think fantasy, I think elves and dwarfs and kings and queens and court intrigue and am just bored to death. Not interested. But I have read a lot more fantasy than usual lately and really liked it, though most of it has been urban fantasy. Recently, as my partner was reading this book, she told me numerous times that I would really like it. She has been right every other time, so I decided to finally read it. I think I need to change my first reaction to fantasy going forward.

The story is about a young woman who has studied to be a Scribe her entire youth. But as the day approaches for her to officially choose that direction, her military general mother requires her to become a Rider. This is a dangerous pursuit where most candidates die during training. At the end of the training, the cadets parade before dragons who may or may not choose them. And if they don’t find them worthy to even consider, may incinerate them. This would be challenging for any cadet, but the protagonist has limbs that easily disjoint and break, making her appear weak to other cadets and the dragons. The young woman makes her way through this school for Riders where her male best friend growing up preceded her by a year. Their relationship isn’t what is used to be. At the same time, the son of an executed traitor has it in for her as do many other cadets who see eliminating her a way to make their own path easier.

As I write this description, it all feels very melodramatic, but the writing is tight and keeps the story humming along. It never felt overly dramatic to me and very true to life as far as relationships go. This book falls into the newer category often referred to as romantasy, that is romantic fantasy. And there are some steamy sex scenes that would not be out of place in a romance novel. Remarkably, this all held together for me. I always wanted to find out what would happen next. But I never felt I knew for sure what that would be (though I had ideas). This is the first book in a series. I don’t often read the second book in a series these days, but I will be reading the sequel to this one very soon!

My rating: 4/5

Beach Read by Emily Henry

A woman and man lay on separate towels on the beach reading.

Appropriately enough, I read most of this book while lying on the beach during my recent vacation in Greece. I added it to my ereader before I left in case I wanted a novel as a break from all my short fiction magazines. I’m glad I did.

The protagonist is struggling to write her next book. A contributing factor is the recent death of her father with whom she was very close. At the funeral she learns that the father that she idolized her whole life had an affair. To make matters worse, her mother knew about it and refuses to discuss it. And the icing on the cake is that her father left her the summer home in Michigan that he bought during that affair.

She decides to go to the house for the summer with the plan to bang out the text of her book while clearing out the house and selling it. This turns out to be more emotional than she bargained for. And her neighbor doesn’t make it any easier. He turns out to be a “friend” from college that she had a crush on while they were both studying creative writing.

The bulk of the story is about how these two interact with each other, and (this is a romance) fall in love. Much of what I don’t like about many romance novels is that they often depend on people behaving badly or making ridiculous assumptions that could easily be overcome if those involved simply communicated. I like that this author doesn’t do that. Yes, there are misunderstanding and assumptions, but they make sense and last an appropriate length of time.

In the end, this book is about two people learning that in order to love another, it is necessary to learn about and love yourself, warts and all, and to extend that same courtesy to those in your life that you love. The result is a romance that feels rather more mature than others I have read. It was definitely an enjoyable beach read.

My rating: 4/5

Happy Place by Emily Henry

The author name at top and book title at center on a magenta background. At the bottom, six cartoon people are floating on and jumping into water.

I occasionally read a romance novel. One of my favorite authors in this genre is Emily Henry. When she recently released her latest novel, I requested it from my library. My turn finally came around earlier this week, and I finished it in three days.

About half way through this book, I wasn’t sure if I was going to end up liking it. The story is told from the point of view of Harriet. She and her long-time boyfriend Wyn broke up five months ago, sending her into a tailspin. They used to attend the annual friends vacation together, but this year is her turn after the split. But when she gets there having just about gotten over him, Wyn is there, too. They end up having to make the most of a bad situation for reasons I won’t spoil.

I wasn’t sure this book was for me because the crux of the plot is a miscommunication between Harriet and Wyn, or at least a lack of communication. They spend much of the book making assumptions about the other’s thoughts and feeling regarding how and why they broke up. I hate this trope! I mean, just talk to each other and clear it up already! But when the author gets around to clearing things up around 70% of the way through, it turns out there are good reasons for not having discussed it. And they feel legitimate and real rather than forced.

As I said, this is a miscommunication, enemies become lovers (again) romance. But it goes surprisingly deeper than that covering such themes as life purpose, individuality, self-care, mental health, and growing into yourself. I am very glad I finished the book. It may be my favorite of hers so far.

My rating: 4/5

People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry

On an orange background with palm leaves at the edges, a man and a woman both recline on lounge chairs in outdoor clothing. He is reading a book, she is sunbathing

When I finished reading my latest short fiction magazine, I felt like I needed something lighter to read. I remembered that I had a romance novel by Emily Henry in my “to be read” list. I really liked the last book by her that I read. That’s how I found myself reading and thoroughly enjoying People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry.

Like all romances, this one was based on a trope, that being “friends become lovers”. For me, the difference between good romance fiction and that which I don’t like is how the trope is used to tell the story. Some novels the trope is the story and not much else. That is not the case with this author.

Alex and Poppy have been friends since orientation in college. They have little in common but are best friends regardless. Each year they take a vacation together. But two years ago, something happened on vacation that created silence between them instead of the ongoing text conversations they were used to. The story alternates between the annual vacations in the past leading up to that fateful summer trip and the present where they are planning and experiencing their latest vacation together.

As I write all that, it feels very formulaic. And it is at the bare bones. But the emotions and psychology of the story are what put the meat on those bones. For me, this is a story of growing up and growing into a deeper knowledge of oneself. And the dialog is funny and smart with likeable characters. This was another great book when I wanted an easy read that wasn’t mindless.

My rating: 4/5

A Fluffy Surprise

I don’t often read romance novels for the same reason that many people love them – they are rather formulaic. But when I was thinking about what novel to read next, I wanted something simple and not very challenging. I had just finished No Gods, No Monsters and needed some fluff. So I picked up a romance novel from my “books about books” stack – Book Lovers by Emily Henry. It was just what I needed.

Sure, it had the typical tropes like enemies become lovers. And it had the typical romantic expectations of what “love” looks like. That part I don’t really care for and didn’t so much in this book. But what I really appreciated about this book is that it turns many other themes on their head. In fact it looks at one of these from the other way around

So many romance stories are about the busy city man with a hard charging, no-nonsense, get-it-done, workaholic girlfriend. While in a small town on business, he meets and falls for a small town girl who shows him the error of his city ways and the charms of a slower small town life. Well, this book is about that city girlfriend who has experienced the unpleasant end of this trope, over and over again.

I won’t say much more for fear of ruining the story, but I will say that I found the ending rather satisfying. While it is neither a simple reversal of the main trope it explores, it also doesn’t completely give in the romantic ideal of leaving everything for the one you love. Instead it makes some space in a fluffy romance novel to explore more deeply what people are really like and what they really want for themselves and the ones they love.

Surviving Love

On top of being a contemporary romance, The Mountain Between Us by Charles Martin is a survival tale. Two strangers end up on single engine airplane attempting to go from Salt Lake City to Denver at night in a snow storm. Bad idea. Their pilot has a heart attack and dies but not before making a crash landing on a mountain top that leaves his passengers injured but alive… in the middle of nowhere.

My girlfriend and life partner recommended this book to me. She said it was her favorite by Charles Martin. I had read one of his other books (Water from My Heart) at her recommendation. It was extremely good, so I had high hopes for this one. It totally delivered.

My biggest complaint about romance books in general is that the characters are flat and unrelatable. I want stories where realistic people struggle with real-life problems in love and relationships. And they don’t make simple, one-dimensional, thoughtless choices. I just find that lazy writing and thinking. This book has none of that. The characters are real and genuinely care about each other. And like all humans, they have their struggles and issues.

The man in this book is married but separated from his wife. The woman is engaged and on the way home to her wedding when the plane crashes. Do they fall in love in the snow-capped mountains and make mad passionate love to each other? SPOILER ALERT! No, thank goodness, they do not. Instead they talk about their situation and about their partners while doing their best to get out of their desperate situation alive.

I won’t say much more for fear of ruining the book, but this is a superb story of survival and love — both romantic love and love in the sense of friendship and caring for your fellow human beings. I promise that it will both move and entertain you.

Getting Stronger

My latest romance read was Heartbreak for Hire by Sonia Hartl. I found this short novel much more enjoyable than my previous read. This was in many ways its opposite. That one was sex with a bit of story to hold it together. The sex scenes in this novel can be counted on one hand, but the story is pretty good. Don’t get too excited, though. It is a take on the enemies become lovers trope. Nonetheless it is fairly well done and enjoyable.

I prefer romances with strong female leads. The main character in this one wants to be strong, but she isn’t quite there. She is coming out of a bad breakup with an emotionally abusive boyfriend that she let control her. Now her employer is controlling her through that broken relationship. What makes the story mostly work for me is that the narrative is about the main character’s learning to take control of her life and what she wants to do with it.

As with all my experience with romance novels so far, this is not great literature. But it isn’t bad. I enjoyed it. But I am not sure how many more of these I will read. There are so many more books on my to read pile that are potentially much better than anything I expect to find in the romance genre.