Certain Genres for Certain Seasons? - For the Love of Dewey Thoughts

Tuesday morning

I found myself in the bookstore.  

I was on the quest! 

On the quest for a good romance novel!

I found what I was looking for.  I purchased two books that, for me at least, are not something I'd usually go for...

Romance!

Now, I'm not talking about YA romance.  No, no.  I'm talking about romance!  The genre were Debbie Macomber, RaeAnne Thayne, and Sarah Morgan inhabit the shelves.  Just to name a few authors. 

I bought 2 books from Susan Mallery: Secrets of the Tulip Sisters and Not Quite Over You.

I didn't realize that Not Quite Over You was the LAST book (to date?) in Mallery's Happily, Inc. series... I thought it was the first one.... Needless to say, I will be reading this series in the reverse order.... 

As I digress.

The question I present to you all is this: Do you have a certain genre that you favor during one time of the year? I.E. some times the best beach reads are mysteries! 

Let me know what you guys think below! You can also let us know on our IG. (Just click on the picture that matches this post up there to your left! Follow us there while you're at it!!)

Catch ya later with some new reviews!

~ Jillian

A Million Little Things by Susan Mallery - Reshelved Books

Hello Dewey Readers!

It's snowing here is Jersey and not just a little dusting this time either.  It is snowing HARD.  So what better way is there to spend a day snowed in, than with a book review that takes place near, but not exactly on, the beach?  That's right there is no better way!  It just isn't possible.  

So I picked up a copy of Susan Mallery's A Million Little Things a couple weeks ago at used book store called Footnotes, that specializes in romance novels.  It looked adorable, and as you all know, I absolutely adore the shore.  Perhaps maybe even more than books.... okay maybe not.   I guess what I'm trying to say is that I judged this book based off of the cover, bought it, and brought it home.   

Jillian hasn't read this novel.  In fact, I don't think I even talked to her about it yet, but I think that the two main characters in it our our soul sisters.  The two of us are defiantly equally both of the two characters.  We're semi-insane and definitely quirky.  (Jillian, you can have it after I give it to my Grandma.  Promise.) 

So in this novel, we meet Zoe.  Zoe recently broke up with her boyfriend after she purchased a house thinking that he and his children would move in with her, they'd marry, and have a happily ever after life.  Zoe even quit her job as a teacher, taking a different job that allowed her to work from home so that she could stay home and  theoretically raise her boyfriend's children.  But then, they break up!  And big surprise, the little fantasy that she planned her life around just didn't happen.  The back of the novel says that Zoe "is more than just single - she's alone."  But she's not really alone.  I mean, she does have her cat.  And when Zoe gets stuck inside her windowless attic early on in the novel (the door with the drop down steps got stuck) her cat was stuck with her.....

Now, the other main character we meet in this novel is Zoe's best friend Jen.  Jen has high anxiety.  Her husband is a cop who recently took a promotion as a detective, and her son (I think he's 22 months old?) will not speak.  Jen is constantly worried that something bad will happen to her husband, and is equally, if not more so, worried that there's something wrong with her son.  Everyone tells Jen that there's nothing wrong with her son, but she's so anxious and hypocondriatic that it just makes her even more anxious that no one seems to take her seriously.  Jen needs to come to the crystal shop with us and buy some lavender oil.     

Unlike a lot of romance novels, which can be sappy, cliche, and really sort of dull, Mallery draws the readers into her characters and their actual lives.  Lives that don't primarily revolve around finding and keeping a man, but I guess as one always secretly hopes, does play a role.  So Dewey Readers, I leave you with a rating of 4.5 out of 5 Coffee Beans!

Happy Reading! 

~Jessica