Book Notes: November 2, 2022 - Contemporary Romance

 Welcome back for another round of book reviews and a writing prompt! I hope you'll find something interesting in today's post. I'm going to jump right in...

Book Review: Runaway Tide (Seaglass Inn #2) by Julie Carobini

Runaway Tide by Julie Carobini
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Just Not My Thing, I Guess

I really wanted to just dive into this book and enjoy it. The plot was good, and the setting well-crafted. But the characters were a pain to read. Some of the action seemed implausible to me. And the constant and persistent inability of the MCs to simply talk to each other was painful to wade through.
This was also marketed as an inspirational romance, but other than a few prayers thrown around here and there, there wasn't much evidence of spiritual growth in either of the MCs. I like to see that in an inspirational fiction book.
Having said that, this does read something like a Hallmark movie, so if those are your jam, you might enjoy this book.

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Book Review: Goldie & the Billionaire Bear by Catelyn Meadows

Goldie and the Billionaire Bear: A Clean Billionaire Fairy Tale Romance by Catelyn Meadows
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Nice Premise But...

This book came across to me as super-fairytale-ish, which wouldn't be so bad, normally. But when a story is set in the modern era, for me to enjoy a fairytale type plot, there's got to be a certain level of believability.
Another thing I found off-putting were the odd similies. There were several which created odd, unromatic word pictures and totally pulled me out of the story. The book may have been edited, but a good content edit would've eliminated most of those. Also, using three words to indicate the same color in one sentence was a bit much...jet black or pitch black would've been plenty description. The epilogue was also not my cuppa.
If none of the things that bothered me will bother you, and you love sweet, clean, fairytale romance, then I think you may enjoy this book.

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I feel kinda bad reading through these. I've read more books in the contemporary genre since I've read these and I'm pretty much convinced I've read a whole lot worse than these two. Sometimes, a book just doesn't resonate with me because of the mood I'm in. 

So now I'm asking myself, "How accurate are reviews, really?" Something to ponder later, perhaps...

Just Keep Writing: Wednesday Whimsy - NaNoWriMo Edition

If this is your first time participating in this kind of writing exercise, you're in for a treat. If you've done this with me before, just keep scrolling for the prompt.

Rules:

1. You can use any/all of the words and/or the photo in the prompt below to create a unique written work. Fiction or nonfiction, poetry or prose, even lyrics are acceptable.  
2. Please keep the material you write clean (ie. nothing R-rated or worse) if you wish to share the link to your work here, as well as if you link back to my site. I strive to keep my site free of such things. My readers know and expect this. I respect your right to write whatever you feel you need to write. And you're free to use my prompts. But if your material is graphic, I'd rather not view it, and most of my readers will not wish to. 
3. Have fun! This type of exercise is perfect for growing in the writing craft, or for helping through a rough patch in your current WIP. If you're looking to push your author limits and you normally write in nonfiction prose, try a whimsical collection of lyrics. If you normally write poems about real life events, try your hand at a fanfic. Give yourself some room to explore.

Don't forget to leave a link to your creation (unless you're writing graphic material) so my readers and I can check out your work. I'd appreciate a link back to this post to help me reach more readers, but it's not required. 

Photo by Vlada Karpovich This week, I've chosen photos from Vlada Karpovich's gallery on Pexels.com. You can check it out by clicking here.

Thanks so much for taking time out of your day to visit my blog. I hope you found something interesting or useful here. If you did, come back tomorrow to get another three-word prompt. 

Now, I gotta get back to writing!

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