Happily Ever After by Elizabeth Maxwell (2014)

I love a book that leaps off the shelf at me at the library and asks me to take it home. This book was misshelved while I was looking for something else and it leapt into my hand. 

Sadie Fuller is a single mother, and a romance novelist who writes erotica under a pseudonym. Meanwhile, she's raising her daughter, dealing with her gay ex-husband, and dodging the PTA. When she runs into her newest romantic lead at Target, things get interesting. But not in the way that you might think. 

It's a fabulously original unexpected story with rich, realistic characters in a magical situation. So much quiet, dry humor. I love a scene when her ex forbids her to do something, then they pause to laugh hysterically at the thought of him forbidding her to do anything. 

Funny, realistic and delightful. I love a book where I'm not even done with it and I'm already looking for more work by the author. A total hidden gem, ala Tuscany for Beginners or Nancy's Theory of Style. Adorable.

The Perfect Fit by Louise Kean (2007)

Subtitled "Fat-Free Dreams Just Don't Taste the Same", I picked this up at my favorite junk shop (Practical Collectables and Antiques) in Two Harbors. 

We meet Sunny Weston after she has shed a good amount of weight and is taking up with her longtime work crush who finally notices her. But guess what? Things are not everything she thought they would be when she was thin. Then, she meets a mysterious man (while saving a child from kidnapping). 

The story is not the point here, nor is the romantic relationship or the characters. What's fascinating about this book is Sunny's own relationship with her body and her weight loss. This is some of the best writing I've ever read on a woman's relationship with her body and her weight. Fascinating. It's unsurprising that the author used her own weight loss as inspiration for this novel--her story is so incredibly well-told and authentic.

Hugo & Rose by Bridget Foley (2015)

Rose has been having the same dream every night since she was a child, about a beautiful island and adventures she shares with Hugo. As a married mother of three, her life changes irrevocably when she sees a man working at a fast food restaurant who looks just like Hugo, and who recognizes her as well.  

Fascinating blend of fantasy and realistic fiction that reminded me of the British movie Paperhouse. Intriguing and original, and perfect for anyone who ever woke up from a dream and wanted to get right back into it.

Single, Carefree, Mellow by Katherine Heiny (2015)

It's been a while since a collection of short stories has grabbed me as much as this collection did.  

Fabulous characters and really interesting meditations on the nature of love and infidelity and unrequited love and inappropriate relationships. Amazingly insightful and funny to boot.

Us by David Nicholls (2014)

David Nicholls is quickly turning into an Author I Adore. I loved his One Day (book AND surprisingly well-done movie) as well as The Understudy, so I was looking forward to his newest novel.

Us is about Connie and Dan, a long-married couple whose son is graduating. They have a Grand Tour planned when Connie tells Douglas that she doesn't want to be married anymore. But they go on the trip anyway, and, unsurprisingly, things go awry. A lovely meditation on marriage and love, featuring flawed characters and realistic situations.  Nicholls has such wonderful insights into emotion and love, and he has such marvelous, humorous turns of phrase. Like:

"Other people's sex lives are a little like other people's holidays: you're glad they had fun but you weren't there and don't necessarily want to see the photos. At our age too much detail leads to a certain amount of mental whistling and staring at shoes, and there's also the problem of vocabulary. Scientific terms, though clinically accurate, don't really convey the heady dark intensity, etc., etc. and I'd like to avoid simile of metaphor -- valley, orchid, garden, that kind of thing. Certainly I have no intention of using a whole load of swear words. So I won't go into detail, except to say that it worked out pretty well for all concerned, with that pleasant sense of self-satisfaction, as if we'd discovered that we were still capable of performing a forward roll. Afterwards we lay in a tangle of limbs." (p. 71)

Honeymoon Hotel by Hester Browne (2014)

I love Hester Browne's work. She writes lovely, light, romantic and funny fiction. Her characters are fully developed and her relationships are realistic (and don't focus solely on the romantic ones, but all the relationships in our lives).

Rosie is a wedding coordinator (events manager) at a posh London hotel who organizes her life the way she does weddings. All is well and good until the son of the owners pops back into the picture with his California ways and shakes up her worldview.

Romance, light misunderstandings, work-life balance and professional fulfillment ensue. And romance, too.

Sweetshop of Dreams by Jenny Colgan (2014)

I warn you: I'm about to use the word "sweet" WAY too many times. The word totally looks like gibberish to me now. But it's the perfect word.

Sweetshop of Dreams is a typically charming novel by Colgan, who used to write witty chick lit, but who has now taken to writing sweet (but not sickly sweet) novels set in various sweet locations (cupcake cafes, chocolate shops, and now a sweetshop). 

The story:  Rosie's mother asks her to go and visit her great aunt and sell her defunct sweetshop and pop her into a home. Rosie meets a whole bunch of interesting characters and finds her way to romance (leaving behind her non-committal, mama's boy, but sweet longtime boyfriend, who recovers quickly.) 

Very sweet. Not life-changing but full of wonderful characters, and lots of charming meditations on the emotional, nostalgic response that people have for sweets. As someone who definitely has those, it hit the sweet spot for me. (Hee.)

The Blue Castle by Lucy Maud Montgomery (1926)

As a longtime lover of the Anne of Green Gables stories, I can't believe I had never heard of this novel.  I finally read about it in the lovely booklovers' catalog Bas Bleu and immediately requested it from the library (sorry, lovely catalog--I promise to buy it soon!).

Montgomery's only novel for adults (though at my library, it's cataloged as YA), The Blue Castle is about Valancy, a 29-year-old mousy spinster living with her overbearing, unkind family and dreaming of life in her beautiful, imaginary Blue Castle.  When Valancy learns that she has a fatal illness, she decides to stand up for herself with her family and do what she wants to do--including getting a job, asking a man to marry her and finding her Blue Castle in real life.  

I utterly loved this novel, and would put it right up there with my favorite romances of the early 20th century, such as Daddy Long-Legs and I Capture the Castle.

I always love a quote about houses: 

"Would you like a house like that, Moonight?" Barney asked … "No," said Valency, who had once dreamed of a mountain castle ten times the size of the rich man's 'cottage' and now pitied the poor inhabitants of palaces.  "No.  It's too elegant.  I would have to carry it with me everywhere I went.  On my back like a snail.  It would own me -- possess me, body and soul.  I like a house I can love and cuddle and boss."

Me too!

Pride and Pyramids by Amanda Grange and Jacqueline Webb (2012)

How can you not love a Pride and Prejudice retelling which is essentially P&P combined with The Mummy? 

Pride and Pyramids finds Elizabeth and Darcy married with five (six?) children and in search of a bit of adventure.  Their cousin proposes a family trip to Egypt to join him on an expedition to Egypt to find an abandoned tomb. There's also a story about a restless Egyptian spirit and a little mystical element. 

Nice depiction of well-loved characters, a setting that is original, and lots of good characters. Quite fun!

666 Park Avenue by Gabrielle Pierce (2011)

I picked up this book at a charming used bookstore in Winona called Paperbacks and Pieces, and I picked it up purely for its fabulous design.  The cover is not only gorgeous, but has fabulous texture.  Even the edges of the pages and chapter design is really striking and original.

That said, I finally read it, and found it to be way more fun than it should be. Jane Boyle, architect living in Paris meets swoony and rich Malcolm Doran, has a whirlwind romance and goes to NYC to live with him and his rich and influential family on Park Avenue. Only problem is, she discovers that she's a witch, and they want her power. Pierce sets up her world and the mythology very well, and creates a very suspenseful story filled with very well-drawn supporting characters. 

Followed by two sequels: The Dark Glamour and The Lost Soul, both of which I enjoyed every bit as much as this one.  I finished The Dark Glamour and literally immediately picked up The Lost Soul, which is really saying something as I have a very short attention span for series.  Delightful.

Meet Me At the Cupcake Cafe by Jenny Colgan (2013)

Back in the days when I couldn't pass up a British chick lit title, Jenny Colgan was one of my very favorite authors.  She'd been a bit off my radar for a few years, though apparently she'd kept writing--including a Doctor Who novelization, interestingly enough.

I happened upon her new title in our catalog and requested it for old times' sake.  Like the heroines of her books, Colgan has grown up.  It's just lovely to read a good, dishy novel about a woman in her thirties.

Issy Randal gets laid off from her office job, gets ditched by her ex-boss/secret lover, and decides to use her severance money to open a cupcake cafe in her charming neighborhood of Stoke Newington.  Issy loves to bake and was taught by her grandfather, who is growing senile in a nearby care facility.  Recipes sent to her by her grandfather are interspersed through the book (and look quite tempting). 

Colgan's great gift is her characterizations--every character is drawn beautifully, from her bossy nurse roommate Helena to her employee, single mother Pearl, to her baker grandfather and everyone in between.  And the inevitable romantic interest?  Surprisingly imperfect.  Meet Me at the Cupcake Cafe is lightly and dryly funny, while at the same time very heartfelt and moving.  Just lovely. 

I've recommended this to tons of people, and I hate that the title sounds so twee.  It's much more substantial than it sounds, although it really is .... delicious.

An Inquiry into Love and Death by Simone St. James (2013)

This is the second of St. James's books that I've read and although this felt like a slower starter, it was ultimately just as satisfying as The Haunting of Maddy Clare. 

Like The Haunting of Maddy Clare, this novel is set in England after WWI. Jillian Leigh gets notification that her eccentric uncle has died and she has to go to the village where he was working as a ghost hunter to go through his things. 

Meanwhile, there's a ghost to catch and her uncle's murder to solve, and a handsome but unreliable Scotland Yard inspector to help out. St. James's novels are dark and melancholy and romantic and give a lovely feel of the time after WWI. And the ghost stories really are scary. All so good!

The Haunting of Maddy Clare by Simone St. James (2012)

This is a lovely ghost story/love story/historical novel.

Sarah Piper is a lonely soul, working in London in the years after the first World War when she gets an unexpected assignment from her temporary agency--to assist an author and ghost hunter. They travel to a small village to track down the ghost of Maddy Clare and both love and mystery ensues.

The haunting itself is quite dark and violent and she writes quite unsparingly about the emotionally turbulent years after the war.  The story is excellent and the romance is lovely. Fun fact for Downton Abbey fans: the ghost hunter Alastair is a dead ringer for Matthew Crawley and if you squint a bit, his assistant Matthew could be mistaken for a slightly more broken Mr. Bates.

Quite lovely.

Charlotte Street by Danny Wallace (2011)

Jason Priestley (not that Jason Priestley) is a little lost. He's writing for a free newspaper, living with a friend above a shop and dealing with his ex getting on with her life. He helps a girl on the street with her packages and ends up with her disposable camera and tries to solve the mystery of who she is through the pictures. 

The word stalking is used in the description but it's not quite like that.  The plot itself is quite lovely and complex and it has vivid characters--even the most minor characters are fully drawn and memorable.  This book is also filled with great self-deprecating humor like this:

"The girl with the quiff and the bottle of something blue was standing before us, staring. She had a burly friend in a denim miniskirt either side. Oh, God, I thought. There are three of them. And three of us. What if they bully us into relationships?"  (p. 118)

Priestley also spends a fair amount of time contemplating the I Saw You columns in newspapers.  I loved this lovely line: "These small moments, never said out loud, as formed and perfect as sweet little haikus, romance and longing carved out in the dust of a grubby city." (p. 144)

If you loved the quirky humor, the romance from a man's POV, and the vivid London setting of One Day by David Nicholls, you'll love this book as well. 

To the Moon and Back by Jill Mansell (2011)

Oh, I just adore Jill Mansell. She's my favorite writer of the moment. I love her complex, realistic characters, her complicated family and romantic relationships, and her light and dry humor. And I adore the British setting--with just enough realistic details to make me all nostalgic for London. Sigh!

Oh, did you want to know what this book was about? Here you go: 

Ellie lost her husband tragically and suddenly a year ago. Tony, her handsome, actor father-in-law convinces her to move into his lovely flat in Primrose Hill. Ellie makes friends with her kooky neighbor Roo, and gets a job as an assistant to the handsome investor Zack. She starts to date her late husband's best friend and things ensue. With Mansell, though, it's really about the charm of the writing and the characters more than any plot details. Plus, I think Jill Mansell writes people falling in love better than anyone else I've ever read. Lovely!

Getting Rid of Matthew by Jane Fallon (2007)

Unexpectedly charming novel about a woman whose married beau leaves his wife for her and she finds out that's not what she wants after all. She hatches a complicated plan to get him off of her hands which includes making up a new persona to befriend his wife and convince her to take him back.  Surprisingly good character development, this novel successfully avoids many of the cliches in chick lit. Very enjoyable!

One Day by David Nicholls (2001)

British, witty and charming novel about two friends who hook up after university and then have a Harry and Sallyish friendship. The novel checks in on their lives on the same day every day for twenty years. Great characters, insightful, realistic relationships. Really, really well written and lovely. Love this quote: “At the best of times she feels like a character in a Muriel Spark novel -- independent, bookish, sharp-minded, secretly romantic.”

As Seen On TV by Sarah Mlynowski (2003)

In this chick lit, a twenty-something girl moves to New York finds herself starring on a reality television show. Refreshingly, it focuses on the character's family and work life as much as (if not more than) it does on her romantic relationship. The author has a nice ear for dialogue and has created a very likable and fairly self-effacing narrator.  See also Milkrun.  Better than average chick lit, the charm of this book is in the frenzied and hilarious inner monologue of Jackie, romance novel editor and recent dumpee.

Would I Lie To You by Sheila Norton (2003)

Brit chick lit about a young woman who is cleaning houses in order to provide for her young daughter and herself. While cleaning one client's house that doesn’t need cleaning, she starts using his computer to write a tv script. But the real story here is with her friendships, her romancesm and her funny, lightly snarky interior monologues.

I Did (But I Wouldn't Now) by Cara Lockwood (2006)

Chick lit about a woman who married a musician (who turned into a rock star) and as she gets a divorce, hides out with her good friend in London. Let's see: Good, handsome, funny, smart, blah blah friend. Hmm. Predictable, but still fun thanks to the delightfully bitter heroine.