The Other Mistress by Shanora Williams

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This was an interesting one. I thought it was going to be a classic story about a woman whose husband cheats on her and she wants revenge. I thought that the twist might be that things get a little out of control, maybe she murders the husband or the mistress. There were twists, but they were not the kind I was imagining. 

I enjoyed this story, but I was also puzzled for the bulk of it. The twist gets revealed near the end, which is normal. But before I figured out what was going on I was irritated with the main character, Adira, for being too soft. Even with the help and support of her new friend, Jocelyn, who is all for Adira dumping her husband, which I fully agreed with, she can’t seem to let him go. She is a beautiful, successful, and very wealthy woman, who has been made stupid because of her love for a man who is absolutely not worthy of her. One thing that makes me furious in both literature and real life is a woman who is hung up on a man who is not deserving of her. But let me get into why this book had me questioning multiple things for the majority of the time I was reading it.

When the murder case that was currently the talk of the town was first mentioned I thought that it would be important to the plot. But even when it is mentioned a second time it ends up adding nothing to the overall story, it has nothing to do with the plot. It was literally filler, conversation between characters that we didn’t need. Was the author trying to trick us into focusing on it as a means of attempting to get us to not focus on the mystery of whatever is going on with Adira? Perhaps. But I just found it to be a meaningless plot that the story did not need at all because it added nothing of substance. And nothing could have distracted me from trying to figure out what was going on with that woman. Half of the reason I read this book so fast was to try and determine what was really going on.

If I read something and it doesn’t make sense to me, I am immediately suspicious. Did the author actually mean to write something that seems to make no sense, something that seems like an actual error, or was it purposeful? When Adira directly asked Gabriel about Jocelyn and nothing came of it, I was baffled. She asked him about the woman he was having an affair with, by name, then he kind of made a joke about it, and then the conversation ended. I can’t think of a single circumstance in which a person confronts their partner about an affair, the partner brushes it off, and then the accuser lets it go. She did not question him at all after he told her that he had no idea what she was talking about. But then later in the story when she asks him about it again, he admits to the affair. And she forgives him so easily! Adira was calm, too calm in my opinion, I knew something was off. When you figure out what was going on and you go back to read those two passages, plus a few others, they make sense. But for a while I was a little confused while at the same time angry with Adira for forgiving her husband too easily. 

Will I read this again? No. But I will not say that it is not worth a read. It’s a good time and you can get through it very quickly. I think I was just expecting a little more darkness and danger and I was disappointed that I didn’t get it. Hopefully I will find a book like this soon, because I now find myself with a thirst. 

The Book of Accidents by Chuck Wendig

Fiction

I had high hopes for this book when I first started it, but the longer I read it the less I was into it. I feel like I only continued to read it because there were some mildly interesting things going on and I just wanted to know if certain characters were going to be alive or dead at the end of the story.

The main characters of the story are wife and husband, Maddie and Nate, and their son, Oliver. Maddie is an artist, she creates sculptures from recycled materials, Nate is a cop, and Oliver is an overly sensitive teenager. At once, it is very obvious that Oliver’s immense empathy is going to be a major focal point in the novel. Also established early on is how Nate’s terrible relationship with his father is going to be very crucial to the story. Additionally, I got the sense very early on that there was something wrong with Maddie, mentally. The story is part mystery, part thriller, part supernatural. 

Now let me just get straight into all the things I didn’t really like about this novel. There were several different plots going on at once and sometimes it was obvious that you were reading the main plot. Sometimes the author would tell you outright that you were in the past. And sometimes at some point you would figure out for yourself that you were reading a passage that was not happening in the present, and the main characters were not actually the people you were reading about on those pages. I don’t mind a story that jumps between past, present, and even future events, but what made me not enjoy this so much was the fact that sometimes we found ourselves in the past or present of other realities. And some of the realities were so similar that it made it hard to keep track of which passages were part of the reality that the main characters were in, and which ones were the side plots. 

Sometimes, you would think you were reading from a certain character’s perspective only to find out that no, you weren’t. It really interrupted the flow of the story in my opinion. I found myself questioning what I was reading often, and not in a good way. I think I would have enjoyed the story a lot more if the author had picked one way to exercise our brains. I think the back and forth between past and present, this reality and that reality, and both of those elements combined, was what made me slowly lose interest. It wasn’t that bad for the entire book, it started to get more and more jumbled around in the second half of the novel. So, yeah, the first half of the book was pretty decent, then it got messy in the second half.

Then there is the title of this novel. I find that it makes you think that ‘the’ Book of Accidents is going to be important and prominent. But it isn’t. It plays a very small part in the overall plot of the book. I think the author could have come up with something better. 

Finally, I’m just going to say it, I think the character Edmund Walker Reese was redundant. I think you could have taken that character out of the story and it would have been exactly the same. He wasn’t needed and he didn’t add anything to the story. The fate of Nate could have reached its conclusion in another way, he didn’t need to have that moment of redemption in order to go through that door. 

I think this could have been a better story. I think the author got a little carried away. It’s like he wrote this book based on a bunch of different ideas that he had, and he couldn’t pick one so he just tried to write all of them into one story. I think that if he separated some of his ideas and organized them better he could have written two or three better novels utilizing different parts of this story. Edmund Walker Reese and his obsession with numbers and murder could have been one book on its own. I am actually disappointed that the story didn’t get into him very much at all. Jed, his alcoholism, how he went about researching and writing his novels, the tragedy with his family, that could have been a book. And then the main plot with Maddie, Nate, and Oliver could have been a separate book, if it were thought out better. So even though this book got great reviews, it is not something I would read again or recommend.

Pucking Sweet by Emily Rath

Fiction

I knew I was going to love this book before I read it. I did some serious speed reading when I was getting through Pucking Wild and its accompanying novella, because I was anticipating this story so much. And I did not disappoint myself. I loved this novel just as much as I was hoping I would.

The poly relationship in this story felt exactly right to me. Three is the magic number in my opinion, any more than that just feels like a little bit too much, but I am not going to rain on the love parade that consists of anyone in a poly relationship involving more than three persons. We have our female main character, Poppy, and the two men she finds herself equally attracted to and can’t decide between. On the one hand, she has an honest and open relationship blossoming with a man that she has known for a few years, but who has only now confessed his feelings towards her. He is direct with her, telling her exactly how he feels and what he wants from her. But then she finds incredible passion between herself and the team’s potential public relations nightmare, a man who seems to have never had a serious, loving relationship with a woman, a real playboy. By all rights they should abhor the other, but there really is a fine line between love and hate. After these two have what was meant to be a one night stand they can’t deny that there is something chemical drawing them towards each other. You really get the best of both worlds in this story. 

I have to go on a rant about the side plot, that being all the drama between Poppy and her family. The way Poppy was treated by her entire family made me so furious. Her younger sister was bratty and a bit narcissistic. Her mother was prude, withholding, demanding, and controlling. Her father just didn’t seem very aware or observant regarding anything that was going on with his family, he was fully focused on his political career. Why have four children if you aren’t going to know their likes and dislikes, or pay attention to any of them? The brother, who didn’t make much of an impact at the beginning, turned out to be a huge jerk too. He was a bully who loved to run his mouth, but at least someone shut it for him in the end. The only sibling who didn’t seem like they were mistreating Poppy was the oldest sister, who was only mentioned briefly in the beginning. If she managed to stay out of all this drama, then good for her. It seems like she accomplished what Poppy should have done years ago and ignored her overbearing, manipulative, snotty, Kennedy-esque wannabee of a family. 

I can’t recall from memory all the times I have gasped aloud or shouted in surprise or glee over something that I had read in a book. You could say that not a lot shocks me, or that the moments are so few and far between that they are lost to time and memory. But I did gasp at a huge plot twist that happened towards the end, I screamed when I read it. However, after this one line no more mention was made of it, and it was kind of a big deal. Think relationship ending, perspective altering twist. Even though there were several other more pressing matters occurring at the same time that may have needed immediate attention, I was surprised that no one brought this one confession up after the other matters were taken care of. That one line is really going to bother me. I am hoping that the novella that we were promised will include a chapter that covers what went on here.

Speaking of that third novella, it was supposed to come after this book. It is listed in the indexes of both Pucking Ever After Volumes One and Two, which says to me that the author was committed to writing it. But it has not been released and I cannot find any information hinting at a release date. Pucking Strong does have a release date, August, and I already pre-ordered it, but there has been no word on whether or not the third novella is coming out before, after, or not at all. Maybe the author decided not to write a novella starring these particular characters? Maybe she was in a scramble to get this latest installment out and had to put Pucking Strong Volume Three on hold? I do hope that I get to read that novella one day, and I really hope that the one cliffhanger I was personally left on is addressed. Until the news drops on that, I just have to wait until September to read about the boys in Pucking Strong. I fear that I may have gone a little overboard with this blog, but I do tend to do that when I really enjoy a book. Next week, I have a thriller that I want to tell you about.

Pucking Ever After Volume Two by Emily Rath

Fiction

This novella has one more chapter than Ever After Volume One, but is about twice as thick. The author decided to put a little bit of extra care into these stories, in my opinion, and I am all for it. I think that overall you will notice a big difference in tone here. Volume One was mostly playful and sexy, Volume Two is serious, powerful, and heart stirring. 

If you aren’t interested in a heavy read, maybe you should skip this one. I would say that every single one of the chapters in this novella touches on a serious issue or plays through a tense situation. The one serious topic, which required two chapters of plot, involved a life threatening medical issue with Tess. While I myself did not relate to the issue at all, and was not disturbed by what I read, the author was right in putting a warning at the beginning of the novel for anyone who might be sensitive to the issue.  As for the other situation that required two chapters worth of narrative, it was less dramatic, not life threatening, but a delicate issue none the less. It focused on our moody, tight lipped Caleb, and the solemn Ilmari. These two chapters were more about longing and heartache, and they ended up being sweet and romantic and the guys worked through their issues. These two chapters ended up being my favorite in this novella. 

Having finished this novella I fell right into the third novel in this series. If you want to find out who the love interests are in that book, come back tomorrow.

Pucking Wild by Emily Rath

Fiction

We get introduced to Rachel’s best friend, Tess, in the very beginning of Pucking Around. I could tell just from that first chapter that Tess was going to be a main character later on, even though we barely get mention of her throughout the entirety of the first book. This story started off right where Pucking Around ended. 

Tess is having a cute moment with Ray’s forward Ryan, dancing, flirting, conversing with a comfortable banter. They have explosive chemistry, despite their age difference, vastly contrasting lifestyles, and the ban Rachel has put in place forbidding Tess from hooking up with any of the hockey guys. Oh, and on top of that Tess is married, albeit separated from her husband, and has sworn off men and serious relationships. Tess doesn’t need or want another complicated relationship right now, but Ryan wants her badly and he will do anything and everything to make her his.

There was a lot of drama in this novel, a very different sort than what we saw in Pucking Around. Rachel thought she was getting too much of a good thing, Tess doesn’t think she deserves anyone that wants to be good to her. Rachel shies away from relationships because of her celebrity connections, Tess doesn’t want a relationship because the last one she had resulted in her being legally bound to a cheating, abusive spouse. The tension in Pucking Around makes you gleefully anticipate what is going to happen next. In this story, you feel tense and anxious as you turn the pages, wondering how much more of the story involves the situation getting worse before it gets better. I did have anxiety as I was reading some of the chapters when it seemed that things were going to turn out badly, all of them involving confrontations or ultimatums between Tess and her ex husband. The man seemed to possess every terrible quality a human could have, he was narcissistic, arrogant, entitled, cruel, threatening, and smug, and I could go on. I don’t understand how a person as bubbly as Tess got involved with him to begin with. 

If you don’t mind being a little frustrated and a little worried, but hopeful as you root for the good guy, this is the perfect romance for you. And it’s just the start of this series. This is only novel two of what looks like is going to be at least a five part series, full of supplemental reads in the forms of novellas and short stories. This author is in the process of creating what I expect to be a much loved fictional universe.