#Berkley Publishing

[jtargaryen18]

THE BERKLEY OPEN SUBMISSION PROGRAM IS BACK!

aka what I'm doing today. They've offered this before but I didn't have a novel ready and now I do. In case one of you do too...

The Berkley Open Submission Program is back! The program will open on March 18 at 9am ET, and please note only the first 1,000 submissions will be accepted.

The Berkley Open Submission Program allows writers to submit a ten-page sample of their completed manuscript, no agent needed. We are looking for full-length adult novels in the following genres: romance, women’s fiction, mystery, suspense and thrillers, horror, science fiction, and fantasy.

Read More!

[triviareads]

ARC Review of Isabel and the Rogue by Liana De la Rosa

Rating: 4.25/5 Heat Level: 3.5/5 Publication Date: June 4th

Premise:

Isabel Luna is conscripted by Mexican officials to spy on possible French sympathizers while she and her sisters are in exile in England. She keeps running into Captain Sirius Dawson, who is also tasked with a similar mission, and the two of them agree to work together despite Isabel being a bookish wallflower, and Sirius being a rake.

My review:

This book has everything I have wanted from recent historical romances: The characters are diverse and the heroine is a woman of color from Mexico who has indigenous ancestry, the plot is centered around political intrigue complete with spy shenanigans, it brings an international perspective beyond England, and the romance is the perfect blend of sweet and sexy.

There is no space for ignorance in Isabel and the Rogue; where other historical romances gloss over British colonialism and the imperialism of the era, this one confronts them head-on. The prevailing attitudes of the British upper-classes that we tend to blindly accept as historical romance readers do not escape the scrutiny of the Luna sisters. It's 1865, France has invaded Mexico, and President Juárez's government is in exile, which is why the Luna sisters are sent to safety in England. They face a great deal of judgement within the ton, and there's a conversation early on about the perception of anything non-European being "backwards" and English superiority. I recall a similar conversation in Ana María and the Fox where an equally ignorant white woman espouses racist and imperialist sentiments, and our heroines quickly set them straight.

There is another discussion during an event at the British Museum about priceless cultural artifacts and Britain's willingness to take them from their homes in the name of "protection", but far less willing to aid the people of these lands. As someone who has seen countless Indian artifacts behind the glass walls of the British Museum and the V&A among others, I don't think any of this comes across as preachy, but rather, I applaud how Liana De la Rosa was extremely pointed while writing these dialogues.

If the strong anti-imperialist themes weren't reason enough to engage with this book, I would also recommend it because of the romance itself. I really enjoyed the build-up between Sirius and Isabel; both are initially weary of each other— Isabel because the first time they met, Sirius was seducing another women on the desk she was hiding under (lol), and while Sirius does find Isabel attractive, he does not know her very well and nor does he receive much encouragement from her. Isabel considers herself the "forgotten" Luna sister, both as a point of pride and chagrin, and she uses this to conduct her spying activities. Sirius on the other hand uses his social acumen to charm men and women (especially women; you get the sense he actually isn't much of a rake at all and seduces mostly for the sake of his job) into getting him information for the Home Office.

Things start to heat up as they Sirius and Isabel both set their eyes on the same possible French sympathizer. What's really funny to me is just how much of an abject failure both of them are at espionage initially, BUT because they keep meeting while spying, they get to know one another a lot better. Add a suitor into the mix and what we get is an inordinately jealous Sirius, which leads to my favorite seduction scene in this book.

The sex:

SPEAKING of seduction, I loved the build-up in attraction between Sirius and Isabel; for all that Isabel is the shy, quiet sister, she certainly has no qualms about expressing her desire, starting with a classic STOP SQUIRMING moment while they both hide under a desk of the person they're spying on and she's in his lap. Obviously she doesn't stop, as she shouldn't. Liana De la Rosa has definitely increased the heat levels (and number of sex scenes I think) in this book compared to Ana María and the Fox.

They also have a thing for clandestine encounters because the next time they meet, he's dragging her into a back room in the British Museum and eating her out while demanding to know if she's actually into her suitor, a possible sympathizer, or she's just encouraging him for the sake of motherland. And look, Sirius might not be much of a rake, but he's a smooth smooth man who says things like "Do you need to be soothed? You know I can give you what you need" and I'm completely inclined to believe him, and so is Isabel.

Overall:

I adored the note this book ended on; it wasn't what I was expecting but I thought what Sirius eventually does to reunite with Isabel was so romantic and pretty unique as far as historical romances go, since they tend to be very Britain-centric and fairly patriarchal. I would strongly recommend this book to any historical romance reader, and I'm looking forward to bratty-younger-sister-who-knows-way-more-than-she-should Gabby's romance with the Duke of Whitfield!

Thank you to Berkley Publishing and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

[whimsicaldragonette]

Blog Tour: The Bump by Sidney Karger

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Publication Date: June 1, 2024

Welcome to The Bump Blog Tour with Berkley Publishing Group. (This Blog Tour post is also posted on my Wordpress book blog Whimsical Dragonette.)

Synopsis:

Two men expecting a baby via surrogate go on the road trip of a lifetime in this hilarious and poignant novel by Sidney Karger, author of Best Men. Wyatt Wallace is a practical, super organized director of TV commercials. Biz Petterelli is a child-actor-turned-magazine-writer who thrives on spontaneity. Though polar opposites, they are fully committed to their relationship and their life in Brooklyn with their dog, Matilda. They’re also about to have a baby together. And they’re freaking out. They’ve both dreamed of becoming parents, but now that it’s happening, they’re doubting everything. Their baby is due in a few weeks and instead of flying to California just before the birth as planned, Biz has a better idea. They could use one last hurrah, along with some serious “us-time” to mend the issues they’ve been having lately—before they get tied down by fatherhood and its impending responsibilities. So the daddies-to-be load up their 1992 Volkswagen Cabriolet and embark on an epic cross-country babymoon. They attempt to recharge at the beach in Provincetown, stumble through their impromptu baby shower in Chicago, and endure a Star Wars -themed wedding in Colorado before heading west for the baby.   But when they take several unexpected detours, old wounds are reopened and secrets spill out that could change their relationship for better or for worse, forcing the couple to reexamine the meaning of family while building their own. After all, what’s a road trip without a few bumps along the way?

My Rating: ★★★

*My Review below the cut.

My Review:

This was good, if a bit over the top for me. It was campy in a way that just doesn't appeal to me because it didn't really feel authentic and I could never get behind the characters 100% even though I did find many parts amusing.

What I really did appreciate was the topic. Road trip? Been done. Two men on a save the relationship road trip to reconnect before their baby is delivered? I haven't seen that before. If it had been slightly less over-the-top and I'd found the characters more relatable, I would have absolutely loved it.

As it was clearly intended to be a humorous and somewhat campy road trip, the situations and characters encountered, including Wyatt and Biz's family members and friends, were all over the top to the point that they felt like stereotypes. But then sometimes they would break through the stereotype and feel more real, and that I did enjoy.

It was told in alternating POV style, but for some reason whenever we were in Wyatt's POV and Biz said something, the dialogue tag would be Wyatt saying how Biz felt about it. The same happened in Biz's POV when Wyatt spoke. It was really strange and kept taking me out of the story because it didn't make sense for the characters to know what the other person was thinking, so maybe it was all assumptions? But it happened just about every time anything was said.

Wyatt and Biz also argued and were resentful and childish toward one another for the entire book. I was hoping they'd work things out, and a couple times thought they might, and then they'd revert to sniping at each other. It didn't give me a whole lot of confidence about their ability to handle actually raising a child together. The way it's told it's as if seeing the baby delivered magically fixes everything, cue the adorable 6 years later epilogue.

I liked it enough to continue to read the whole book, however, and I think it will appeal to a lot of people. Especially those who enjoy campy over the top humor.

*Thanks to NetGalley and Berkley for providing an early copy for review.

[atinybooklover]

How To Sell A Haunted House by Grady Hendrix is easily one of my favorite haunted house books.

Thank you Berkley for my ARC, all opinions are my own.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Full Review on my blog:

[doodlesink]

Guilt and Ginataan by Mia P. Manansala -- A Book Review

Happy Tuesday!  Guilt and Ginataan by Mia P. Manansala is a corntastic cozy.  See what I thought about the 5th A Tita Rosie’s Kitchen Mystery.  Happy Reading!

https://bibliophileandavidreader.blogspot.com/2024/11/guilt-and-ginataan-by-mia-p-manansala.html

[perfectionistwannabe]

Book Review: The Stranger I Wed

Harper St. George brings to us a new spicy Gilded Age romance series with The Stranger I Wed. Pub Date: April 23, 2024 Synopsis New to wealth and to London high society, American heiress Cora Dove discovers that with the right man, marriage might not be such an inconvenience after all. . . .Cora Dove and her sisters’ questionable legitimacy has been the lifelong subject of New York’s…

[lilibetbombshell]

[amarachireads]

New Release Tuesday!!

There are so many good romance books coming out today and i’m so excited. I’ve read the first 3 and i loved them. They were each such different romances. Historical romance Steamy Jewish main characters Get it here Contemporary romance Black romance Cute read Get it here Romantasy Enemies to lovers Slow burn Get it here Billionaire romance Single father Steamy read Get it here

[sandythereadingcafe]

REVIEW

A DAWN OF ONYX (The Sacred Stones 1) by Kate Golden at The Reading Cafe:

'a fun fantasy, in a unique world '

[danielleurbansblog]

Review: Lovelight Farms

Synopsis: Two best friends fake date to reach their holiday happily ever after in this first romantic comedy in the Lovelight series. A pasture of dead trees. A hostile takeover of the Santa barn by a family of raccoons. And shipments that have mysteriously gone missing. Lovelight Farms is not the magical winter wonderland of Stella Bloom’s dreams. In an effort to save the Christmas tree farm…

[prose-mortem]

ARC Review of Summer Reading by Jenn McKinlay

4/5 Stars

I absolutely loved Summer Reading and am considering changing my birthday plans to Martha's Vineyard, because the author made it sound so quaint and relaxing! I enjoyed this so much!

Our story starts when our FMC, Sam, accidentally knocks a cute guy's (Ben's) book out of his hands on her ship ride to Martha's Vineyard. Sam is going to be watching her 14-year-old half-brother (Tyler) for the summer while her parents travel abroad and will be trying to establish a strong sibling relationship with him. While dropping her brother off for summer robotics camp, Sam discovers that the cute guy she inconvenienced on the ship is actually the new local library director (and her best friend's boss). As Sam's BFF, Em, deals with the potential of serious illness and Sam's feelings for Ben grow more complicated, Sam has to face her fears about repeating the past and dealing with her own childhood trauma. Sam is a chef who has been passed over for a promotion at her high-end city job and is strapped for cash… and ideas for how to sustain herself for the future. Sam fears that Ben will reject her when he finds out that the reason she doesn't like to read is because she is dyslexic and struggles to absorb written material that isn't accessible to people with her diagnosis. Can an introvert and an extrovert, a book lover vs. a movie lover, and a successful director vs. an in-between-jobs couple make a romance work? As Sam tries to help Ben unravel the mystery of who his father is, she begins to discern between accepting what people have thrown at her in the past and truly claiming what she deserves.

There are so many things to love about this book:

Our FMC is dyslexic and I learned SO much about dyslexia from this book. The book is also written in a dyslexia-friendly font and makes words bold instead of italicized to increase accessibility for dyslexic people.

Sibling relationships are explored just as much as romance, and I found that entire arc fascinating and adorable.

I saw in the back of Summer Reading that Sam's best friend Em is getting her own book?? I am so hyped for that because I really related to her health challenges and want to see which direction she chooses to go with her life. If this turns into a whole series, I'm in it for the long haul.

The MMC makes mistakes, but overall he is extremely thoughtful and finds ways to bridge gaps between his and Sam's special interests. I do wish that he had clarified exactly how he would deal with stressful situations in the future, but his re-entry into Sam's life was pretty dramatic and entertaining. I think this works so well because Sam and Ben are not actually opposites. They both adore storytelling- Sam just needs to engage with content in a way that is accessible for her while working through her emotional wounds from a childhood that was hateful toward dyslexic people

Even though some parts of the book are sad, they are necessary for good storytelling. I've seen people asking why there is no lawsuit since Sam's workplace that basically fired her and didn't promote her seemed to discriminate against her for being dyslexic. While I think that would have been satisfying, the fact is that some people just want to move forward with their lives. Sam is also dealing with intense shame surrounding her diagnosis, so it makes sense that she is not in the headspace to jump into a legal fistfight. Maybe in a future book, this could be explored? Either way, I am satisfied with how things turned out. I would also love to find out what happened with the cookbook Sam was writing! The recipes in the back of the book look amazing, and I'm going to have to try them out.

All in all the author, Jenn McKinlay, jumped at the opportunity to make this book so much more than a romance, which is what really hooked me. I love it when authors take the time to develop an MC's relationships outside of romantic love and really delve into the side characters and backstories. I read this in a single night and I'm as invested in this story as I am in the Delilah Green series. Thank you to Netgalley, Jenn McKinlay, and Berkley Publishing for my ARC of this delightful read!

[thegirlwiththelantern]

Yet More 2024 Romance Books

We do have some holiday books herein. Some Halloween-y. Some Christmas. Unfortunately I only found one Hanukkah book that I personally found appealing. Something Cheeky by Thien-Kim Lam | 04 / 03 / 24 – Avon Zoe Tran is living her best life, designing plus-size lingerie at her own award-winning clothing boutique, when suddenly her college best friend reenters her life. Derek Bui is offering a…

[whimsicaldragonette]

Blog Tour: Love at First Book by Jenn McKinlay

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Publication Date: May 14, 2024

Welcome to the Love at First Book Blog Tour with Berkley Publishing Group. (This Blog Tour post is also posted on my Wordpress book blog Whimsical Dragonette.)

Synopsis:

When a librarian moves to a quaint Irish village where her favorite novelist lives, the last thing she expects is to fall for the author’s prickly son… until their story becomes one for the books, from the New York Times bestselling author of Summer Reading . Emily Allen, a librarian on Martha’s Vineyard, has always dreamed of a life of travel and adventure. So when her favorite author, Siobhan Riordan, offers her a job in the Emerald Isle, Emily jumps at the opportunity. After all, Siobhan’s novels got Em through some of the darkest days of her existence. Helping Siobhan write the final book in her acclaimed series—after a ten-year hiatus due to a scorching case of writer’s block—is a dream come true for Emily. If only she didn’t have to deal with Siobhan’s son, Kieran Murphy. He manages Siobhan’s bookstore, and the grouchy bookworm clearly doesn’t want Em around. When Siobhan’s health takes a bad turn, she’s more determined than ever to finish her novel, while Kieran tries every trick in the book to get his mother to rest. Thrown into the role of peacemaker, Emily begins to see that Kieran's heart is in the right place. Torn between helping Siobhan find closure with her series and her own growing feelings for the mercurial Irishman, Emily will have to decide if she’s truly ready to turn a new page and figure out what lies in the next chapter.

About the Author

Author photo from author's website here.

Jenn McKinlay is the award-winning New York Times, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly bestselling author of several mystery and romance series. Her work has been translated into multiple languages in countries all over the world. She lives in sunny Arizona in a house that is overrun with kids, pets, and her husband’s guitars.

My Rating: ★★★★

*My Review Below the Cut.

My Review:

I enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would at first. For the first quarter or so I thought it was cute but kept getting pulled out of the story because the language felt clunky and kept tripping me up. I kept running into phrases like "she threw off the throw" which are grammatically fine, but sound really weird. And the language in general felt a little bit simple or juvenile.

But then, around a third of the way through, the story hooked me. I fell in love with the characters and the language stopped tripping me up. I don't know if the story found its groove and flowed more smoothly, or if I just stopped noticing it because I was too focused on what was happening in the story. Either way, from that point I loved it.

And that ending! I cried, like a lot. More than I've cried at a book in quite a while. I wasn't crying at the romance for a change, but for the story as a whole and the relationships between all the characters.

I think I would place this more in the category of 'character discovers herself' rather than strict 'romance.' It's a romance, sure, but that's not all it is and it's not always even the driving force. The romance is just a piece of what drives Emily to reinvent herself into the person she was always meant to be.

I would also recommend reading with a box of tissues beside you.

*Thanks to NetGalley and Berkley for providing an early copy for review.

[cosybookclub]

Tita Rosie's Kitchen Mysteries

When Lila Macapagal moves back home to recover from a horrible breakup, her life seems to be following all the typical rom-com tropes. She's tasked with saving her Tita Rosie's failing restaurant, and she has to deal with a group of matchmaking aunties who shower her with love and judgement. But when a notoriously nasty food critic (who happens to be her ex-boyfriend) drops dead moments after a confrontation with Lila, her life quickly swerves from a Nora Ephron romp to an Agatha Christie case.

With the cops treating her like she's the one and only suspect, and the shady landlord looking to finally kick the Macapagal family out and resell the store front, Lila's left with no choice but to conduct her own investigation. Armed with the nosy auntie network, her barista best bud, and her trusted Dachshund, Longanisa, Lila takes on this tasty, twisted case and soon finds her own neck on the chopping block…

[doodlesink]

The Knife Before Christmas by Kate Carlisle -- A Book Review

Happy Tuesday!  The Knife Before Christmas by Kate Carlisle is a festive cozy mystery.  Stop by to learn more about the latest A Fixer-Upper Mystery.  Happy Reading!

https://bibliophileandavidreader.blogspot.com/2024/10/the-knife-before-christmas-by-kate.html

[lilibetbombshell]