Romance Archives

Book review: The Other Bridget by Rachael Johns

November 16, 20243 min read

I hadn’t sought out The Other Bridget by Rachael Johns when it was first published because I assumed it would be too ‘romancy’ for me. I’m not a fan of romance novels though I certainly churned through Sweet Dreams books at high school, my grandmothers’ Mills & Boons in my late teens / early twenties. And… I LOVED Bridget Jones’s Diary (the book) when I first read it over 24 years ago. I remember it vividly as I was living overseas and borrowed it from a colleague, reading it cover to cover late at night, cackling all of the way through.

I went to hear (and see) Rachael speak when she visited my hometown recently with a friend (who told me how much they adored The Other Bridget). I hadn’t known too much about it but hearing Rachael talk about THIS Bridget Jones – a librarian – and her references to a love of reading and books of all genres I decided to get a copy. And yes, I did so despite its length as I tend to whinge about any book that’s over 400 pages and this is almost 500 pages-long. But surprisingly it didn’t drag at all. I practically inhaled it in two evening (bathtime) sittings – both extended as I didn’t want to put it down.

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Book review: The Work Wives by Rachael Johns

November 5, 20222 min read

The Work Wives by Rachael Johns is the latest standalone by the popular West Australian author. I enjoyed much of this novel about two women – work friends, but very different and at very different stages of their lives.

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Book review: Meet Me in the Margins by Melissa Ferguson

December 12, 20213 min read

What a delightful read this was! It’d be easy to say that it’s predictable… which it kinda is, but I went into it expecting that. Wanting that. I needed a happily ever after.

The blurb suggests it’s You’ve Got Mail meets The Proposal. I’m not entirely sure how it relates to the latter other than being about the book industry but it also reminded me of The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary, in which love grows from notes left between two people sharing a an apartment – albeit at different times so never meeting.

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Book review: How to Mend a Broken Heart by Rachael Johns

May 9, 20213 min read

There’s often a bit of a discussion online in relation to the use of ‘women’s fiction’ to group books that mostly target female readers. I’ve got a long-buried post about the weirdness of it, given that we don’t say ‘men’s fiction’. And quite frankly I’d be insulted if many of my favourite crime fiction novels or thrillers were labelled thus. In some ways I’m torn about the issue*. I know some male readers and reviewers who do read books predominantly about women and women’s issues but at the same time recognise books like How to Mend a Broken Heart by Rachael Johns predominantly target female readers.

And here Johns offers us two leads for the price of one, with her latest novel centred equally around a mother and daughter at very different stages of their lives. She also introduces an older woman, who I very much enjoyed meeting.

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Book review: Escape to Curlew Cottage by Joanne Tracey

April 7, 20213 min read

I’m always nervous when I read a book by someone I know. Let alone someone I see as a friend. Thankfully every time I read one of Joanne Tracey’s books I come away a little agog – that someone I know could create something like this. Something magical. Something that makes me care. And something that makes me cry.

Escape to Curlew Cottage is loosely linked to Wish You Were Here, which I read in 2016. I spent much of last year in my self-absorbed little bubble so missed two books Tracey released in 2020, but her warm style of writing, her development of very real and likeable characters and yarn-spinning ability was exactly as I remembered. Although I didn’t remember that until I started reading…. if you know what I mean.

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Book review: Spirited by Julie Cohen

July 15, 20202 min read

Julie Cohen’s two most recent books, Together and (The Two Lives of) Louis and Louise have both made my very short ‘favourite books of the year’ listing when released.

I knew her latest, Spirited was a little different and, as it combines a couple of elements I usually avoid—historical fiction and the supernatural—I was a tad nervous. And though it’s set in the 1850s its themes resonate today. Cohen’s books are often hard to describe but I saw this from a fellow author on Twitter and it seemed apt.

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Book review: The Sight of You by Holly Miller

June 26, 20204 min read

The most important thing you need to know about The Sight of You by Holly Miller is that I bloody loved it. Like LOVE loved it. I randomly picked it off my overflow TBR pile (on the trolley in my bathroom) not entirely sure what I was in for. Although if I’m honest I was probably slightly worried by the mention of premonitions as I’m not a fan of the illogical in my reading.

But… oh my god, I was smitten from the get-go. By Miller’s writing. By her characters. I was in love. I note a quote from Beth O’Leary inside the book and think it’s reminiscent of her book (I also loved) The Flatshare, which offers readers a growing relationship from both a male and female perspective. This does the same and Miller’s written it in a way that Joel and Callie are funny, charismatic and likeable as individuals; so as a couple who perfectly complement the other, they’re addictive.

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Book review: Riverstone Ridge by Mandy Magro

November 13, 20192 min read

I’ve not read any of Mandy Magro’s books before though heard of the Far North Queensland-dwelling author who has over a dozen novels to her name.

This appealed as it sounded as if it included some suspense and though I don’t read ‘romance’ I don’t mind romantic suspense. (Or apparently books featuring ‘romantic elements’ which I hadn’t realised was a sub-genre of some sort!)

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