My High Summer of reading

Well, I am happy to see you all this September as well as pleased to announce that my goals for this past High Summer readathon were met!

Yes, I finished all three books on my list, starting with Mr. Malcolm’s List by Suzanne Allain. Set during the Regency period in England, the title character is a well sought after gentleman in the marriage market. Pompous Julia Thistlewaite is in all confusion as to why he hasn’t asked for her hand yet or called upon her since their first outing.

Learning from her cousin that she failed to live up to one of the list categories, Julia vows revenge and enlists an old school friend, Selina Dalton to aid her.

Selina’s role is to make Mr. Malcolm fall in love with her and then reject him based on her own list of expectations for a suitable partner in life. Knowing only Julia’s side of the story ( and needing a chance to see a bit more of life), Selina takes up the challenge.

As it turns out, the former part of the plan is easy to pull off as Mr. Malcolm takes an instant liking to Selina and she begins to feel the same way. It’s the latter that leaves her in a quandary and Julia determined to get her way. Will love conquer all or allow confusion to reign instead?

This is a very delightfully written book and I can why it became a modest success at the movies this summer with its equally lively adaptation. I haven’t had the pleasure of watching the film yet but am in no doubt of the joy that awaits me there:

 Next up was Raquel V. Reyes’ debut novel and first in a new cozy mystery series entitled Mango,Mambo and Murder.

Our leading lady is Miriam Quinones-Smith, who has just moved from NYC to Coral Shores,an upper class Miami enclave where her husband’s family lives.

In addition to dealing with her less than charming mother-in-law(who makes Marie from Everyone Loves Raymond look mellow) and keeping up with her sweet son Manny, Miriam is also being taken to all of the major social settings in town by her good friend Alma, a top real estate agent who lives for the next business connection.

It’s at one of those events where a troubled socialite named Sunny Weatherman suddenly dies that leads to a string of similarly strange deaths that Alma is accused of causing. Determined to help her unjustly accused friend, Miriam takes up the mantle of amateur detective and discovers that it’s a role she can excel at along with the other new changes in her life.

As this is the first book in what I hope is a bounty of new cozy adventures, there’s quite a bit of table setting going on as Miriam also takes on using her food anthropology skills to star as a cooking instructor on local TV and suspicions about what her husband Robert is up with his professional and private business.

However, once everything is properly laid out on the storytelling table, Reyes treats us to a tasty literary meal(complete with recipes!). I look forward to more of these savvy and savory stories from this new Veronica Mars(a nickname given to Miriam by a local police detective that suits her to a T):

Last but far from least, I finished up with Jackie Lau’s Donut Fall in Love.

Popular actor Ryan Kwok meets baker Lindsay McLeod in a very romcom way, by knocking over a fresh of matcha tiramisu donuts that she was putting out for display.

Despite that awkward first impression, Ryan asks for her help when he needs baking lessons in order to compete on a cooking show called Baking Fail. He’s doing this as a in between gig before his next movie but also wanting to win the charity donation prize in honor of his late mother, who loved baking shows.

Lindsay agrees to this private culinary tutoring and finds Ryan to be a good student in the kitchen. 

She also knows what it’s like to deal with the loss of a parent (her dad passed away a few years prior) and adjusting to your new family dynamic, something that Ryan and his emotionally distant father are dealing with as well.

As the two of them become romantically involved, the issue of Ryan’s fame and social media following comes into play but what truly could divide them is a shared fear of loss of a loved one  and the change that comes with it which makes forming  new connections scarier than usual.

So, can they find a recipe for true love or Will their relationship be the ultimate baking fail? Despite the serious undertones here, this is a charming story of not just two people connecting but a whole host of others in their social orbit combining to make a strong emotional support system. 

Some of the best parts of the book are Lindsay finding a way to bond with her new roommate Vivian and Ryan trying to crack his tersely amusing father’s shell(turns out Ryan’s dad has a flair for social media and becomes an online sensation!). 

Lau creates relatable characters with engaging nuances that makes their situations entertainingly down to earth. If you’re in the mood for some delicious romance , Donut Fall in Love is a feast of heartfelt flavor indeed:

Thank you as always to Michelle Miller at Seasons of Reading for setting up these great readathons and I hope everyone who took part had some fun in the bookish sun here.

Yes, I’m already making plans for FrightFall in October but this year, I plan on having a murder mystery theme(the daily headlines are horrifying enough). Some more along the lines of Knives Out rather than Nighmare on Elm Street , we shall see!: