Recent Reads

Any Trope But You by Victoria Lavine (2025)

Margot is a romance author facing backlash after her "Happily Never After" document is released to the public.  She heads to Alaska to work on a murder mystery and there she meets Forrest, who helps run the resort with his father.  Although there are sparks, both try to avoid an entanglement, until it becomes impossible not to.  This was a cute read that managed to mix in some serious topics; I enjoyed the way the author played with romance tropes and how Margot couldn't escape them.  Forrest did seem like the perfect guy and they kept finding themselves in some cliche situations.  I liked how Forrest really seemed to understand Margot and they bonded over their family members being ill.  But while there was a lot of tongue-in-cheek humor at romance novels, I wish this one hadn't succumbed to some of the more tired romance tropes, like the third-act break-up.  Overall, though, this was a fun read!  4 stars

The Family by Naomi Krupitsky (2022)

Sofia and Antonia are best friends growing up in NYC in the 1930s and 1940s.  Their fathers are both also in the mafia.  When Antonia's father "disappears" one night, their lives are forever changed.  I thought this was an interesting read - Antonia and Sofia are so different but forever linked by their fathers' jobs.  The story follows the girls from childhood to marriage and motherhood.  Their relationship ebbs and flows through the years, especially after Antonia's father's disappearance, and we see the girls questioning the family business and their roles in it and also what they envision for their own lives.  The third-person POV allows us to be with both girls and also other characters as the book goes on, and the writing style is quite elegant and ethereal.  That being said, I often had to stop and remind myself which character I was reading about and the story moves quite slowly.  4 stars

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