One of these books is probably going to be a favorite of the quarter, if not of the year, one of these books is perfect for fans of The Bachelor, and one of these books was not for me, but might be for you. Read on to find out which book is which.
Love, Lies, and Cherry Pies
by Jackie Lau
I finished this book two weeks ago and have put off writing this review since. I really wanted to like this book, but unfortunately for me, I have realized (through reading this book) that if I think one of the characters is TOO mean or judgmental toward the other character and cannot figure out ANY reason that the other character would like them, I can’t buy into the romance. And that’s really what happened here. Emily is very opposed to dating Mark because her mom keeps talking about him and she’s just not interested in her mom setting her up with this man. So when they meet at her sister’s wedding, she takes everything he says in the worst way and continues to judge him. She does that during the entire first half of the book. The second half is better, but unfortunately, with the set up we got, I just wound up not really enjoying the reading experience overall. I would say that you should pick this up if you like:
– unlikeable female main characters
– adulthood is hard (millennial angst)
– very involved family members
– misunderstandings
– the meta concept of the main character being a writer
Savor It by Tarah DeWitt
I loved this book so much. I think I’ve been pretty clear that I’m currently obsessed with books that have kids in them and I’m not really sure why. But anyway, this book features a single “dad,” in that Fisher has custody of his niece because her mom died (I think in a car crash?) and he’s dealing with grieving her, but also now he’s lost his job and is being sent to a small town in Oregon to help organize the new restaurant his old boss is opening there. Fisher winds up moving next door to Sage for the summer and Sage has a literal farm of animals. Her animals are such a delight. And Sage herself is pretty fantastic.
Essentially, the plot is that Fisher has to work on opening this restaurant and Sage needs a partner for this weird situation where this small town has a competition that’s got like a physical component, a trivia component, and maybe something else? Honestly, I can’t even pretend that I understood exactly what was happening. But the thing is that what this plot gave us was Fisher falling in love again with cooking, learning to parent his niece, and falling in love with Sage. And it gave us Sage letting Fisher and his niece into her heart, learning to love without the promise of tomorrow, and her falling for Fisher. I also am already obsessed with the follow up to this, which should be a second chance of a divorced couple that already has my attention.
I’m not doing a good job at all of explaining why this book was so good, but just know that it WAS and I can’t wait to have a physical copy on my shelves.
Here for the Wrong Reasons
by Annabel Paulsen & Lydia Wang
I love watching The Bachelor, which is why I can never seem to resist a book like this when it drops. Here for the Wrong Reasons does, for the most part, seem to get The Bachelorright and I loved that aspect. I probably could have done with a little more of some of those parts, actually, but this book does a good job trying to maintain being a romance where the lead of the show and the romantic leads in the book don’t overlap.
Krystin and Lauren are very different and they each came on the show for different reasons. Lauren is here to get more followers. She also knows she’s a lesbian, but she’s been comfortable staying in the closet and feels like financially it’s a smarter choice for her. She’s also got this idea of herself that she’s hard to love and that if people get close to her, they won’t love her, but she’s so careful to keep her walls up that it’s an interesting concept. She comes on the show ready to put on a persona and get far enough into the show that she’ll get a follower count boost, but not so far as to risk being the one to hurt the lead. The problem she didn’t see coming was Krystin.
Krystin is a horse girl. She’s literally a Rodeo Queen of… Montana or something. I already forget that part and let’s be honest, it’s not particularly important. Anyway, she’s never really had a serious relationship but she has, for some reason, decided that she MUST go on this show to find true love and she’s definitely there for the right reasons. Only… Now she’s accidentally kissed Lauren and liked it?
This book is such a fun time, but at the same time, I would have liked a little more depth. For example, it makes a big deal that Josh (was that his name? I can’t be bothered to check.) is the first Ashkenazi Jew to be a Lead, but then there’s literally nothing about his Jewishness that’s ever discussed. And, if we’re being honest, I could totally see The Bachelor doing that, but I feel like if you want to include that in the book, then maybe make one of your actual leads Jewish? But also, I feel like I’m nitpicking trying to explain to you why this book is a four star and not a five. Regardless, I would definitely recommend if you are also a Bachelorfranchise fan. This was a fun time.
Closing Thoughts
I hope you got some good information out of these reviews, if nothing else! Let me know if you have read or want to read any of these three books and what book you would most recommend based on my love of Savor It!
xx
firewhiskeyreader 