Eve Koguce's Blog, page 3

No Happier State by Will Tinkham

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


In no way would it be an exaggeration to say that Will Tinkham is one of my all-time favourite authors. Once I open his book, I can’t stop reading. His skill to weave ordinary people’s lives into the canvas of big history is unparalleled. By doing this, Will Tinkham highlights what we often forget. Every life, no matter how insignificant it seems when viewing it separately, gains meaning in the global picture.

Pêche Appleton might not be important. Yet, her life is fascinating to follow. As are the lives of her friends she shares happy, sad, and tragic moments with.

Pêche sells figurines of ‘important men’ – she calls them sculps – using a site of national significance for her marketing purposes. As it happens, Pêche lives in Keystone, South Dakota, where, all through the years of the Great Depression, Mount Rushmore National Memorial is being built to commemorate the memory of the greatest presidents of America. At the times of the Great Depression and then the years of World War II, Pêche is doing better than most. True, not because her sculp-selling business is striving. Pêche dabbles in prospecting for gold. And that allows her a little more freedom, which she shamelessly uses depicting great American men in all sorts of compromising positions. Jefferson-and-the-Slave-Girl series isn’t a hit with every tourist who shuffles to her makeshift display counter at the foot of what would soon be a ‘Shrine of Democracy.’

Pêche’s husband Ernie is good at quite a few things. He is a local baseball star, he has a remarkable memory for selected historical dates, and he is capable of loving the girl he met when they both were twelve until his last breath.

Steinke – originally Steinkeller but turned ‘Stinky’ due to an Ellis Island registration worker’s misplaced humour – is a rare man who gets through the Depression times without losing his job. And all because he ‘got the goods on Gutzon.’ Yes, that very same Gutzon Borglum, the sculptor who created the Mount Rushmore National Memorial. Steinke’s lucky streak ends, though, when the Japanese drop bombs at Pearl Harbour and American citizens with certain origins are announced to be enemy aliens and sent to internment camps. It doesn’t help him that he is the son of a German father and a Jewish mother.

Then, there is Bad Glove Hand, a Lakota Sioux who, seeing the place sacred for his people defaced by a ‘white man’, chooses to try his luck in Hollywood. I’m afraid, after reading this book I won’t be able to call a certain American president other than ‘Rawhide’ and, Mr. Tinkham, this is solely your fault!

“No Happier State” by Will Tinkham is about many things, big and small, important for whole nations and every person individually. I could probably write a whole book about this incredible novel, but reading the original will bring you incomparably more literary enjoyment.



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No Happier State

Keepers by Cheryl Burman

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


“Keepers” by Cheryl Burman is heartfelt women’s fiction set against an intriguing historical backdrop. In my book, the irresistible combination.

Raine wants to be good at her office job and for her father to get better so that their family can be the safe harbour it used to be. Instead, she finds herself a wife and a mother, and her relationship with her husband is nothing like what she witnessed between her parents.

The setting of Australia in the 50s is absolutely charming. It isn’t picture-perfect. Raine lives in a migrant camp, the temporary housing arrangements far from what anyone could call nice and cosy. Learning about the Nissen huts the Australian government used in those camps was a very educational experience. I even looked up the construction on the Internet to better visualise it.

Yet, Raine’s life isn’t solely about the hardships of living in a prefabricated steel structure originally designed for military use. She wears pretty dresses to the solicitors’ office where she works and meets for lunch in cafes with her sister. Besides, after an unfortunate incident with a rude neighbour when more pleasant neighbours showed up like knights in shining armour to save her from disgrace, her life has an added flavour of activities more suitable for the young than daily hospital visits and typing legal letters. Now Raine has a company with whom to go to local dances and other amusements.

I felt a connection to Raine due to the similar experiences I had to live through when I was young. Seeing how your family, which always was like a stronghold against the world, at the same time being a self-sufficient world itself, crumbles under the hardships of illness and the turbulence of economics is what makes you grow up too fast.

Raine is a remarkable character with many facets. She is strong and also vulnerable. She is patient but with the temper of a lioness who when facing injustice or danger snaps ferociously at the enemy or at her lion alike. So often strong women are portrayed in a one-dimensional manner, and I find it confusing. Having been raised by too undeniably strong, incredibly brave, and resilient women, I don’t find them in the way independent women are often presented in movies and literature. They weren’t harsh and bitter, denying the need to have someone around who would take care of them. They were sharp-tongued when provoked. Even so, the things they said to those who tried to offend them were full of wisdom rather than petty venom.

Raine is like my mother and my aunt. She doesn’t declare that she detests love. Yet, she isn’t the one to pursue marriage as the sole goal of her life. When trapped by the circumstances to make a decision she hadn’t planned to make so early in life, she faces it determined to do what’s best for everyone. And when her husband’s decision threatens to ruin her life and its consequences drag her through unbearable hardships, she acts not only with her own interests at heart.

Reading about Raine’s struggles, alone, in a house not fit to be run by a mother with a small child alone, not now and most certainly not in the Australia of the 50s, I told my husband that if he’d done what Raine’s Teddy had done, I wouldn’t have taken him back. By the way, he said that I would have been right. But what will Raine do once she pushes her way to the point when she is finally given a chance to make up her mind?

In my eyes, Raine is the quintessence of a woman. She is capable of being a loving wife, a devoted mother, a courageous human being, and a capable office worker. Still, she makes her choices following her heart.

“Keepers” by Cheryl Burman is an unputdownable story I won’t soon forget.



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Keepers

The Moonshine Murders: The Jailer's Daughter Mysteries by Joy York

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


They claim that teenagers are wild. After reading this book most of those who say that will change their minds. Lily takes the definition of ‘wild’ to a whole new level.

“The Moonshine Murders” by Joy York is the second book in the Jailer's Daughter Mysteries, but it can be read as a standalone. Sufficient background is provided as to the relationships between the main characters, their families and friends. But the mysteries in book one and book two aren’t connected.

Lily’s father is shot. Of course, Lily is worried about him, but it’s not that it comes as a complete shock. He is a county jailer and a deputy sheriff after all. His job is dangerous, and Lily knows that anything can happen to him. Besides, her family lives even not next door but ‘next wall’ from the jail, and the only thing that separates them from prisoners is a metal door. Yet, even Lily’s mother who cooks for convicts calls them ‘boys’, so Lily’s somewhat light-hearted attitude towards the whole situation is understandable.

It seems that Lily is more affected by the chance to start a new investigation than by her father lying in hospital with his life hanging on a thread. But maybe it is a sort of coping mechanism, and the teenage girl needs to keep her mind occupied not to dwell on her family tragedy.

As the book title implies, the mystery revolves around the illegal operations with moonshine. Distilling spirits has always been a good source of income for opportunistic people who aren’t afraid to break the law. Deputies of a rural county in Mississippi get ambushed while on the call about the illegal moonshine operations on a local farmer’s property. Lily’s father gets shot but the farmer who called the authorities gets killed. Teenager Lily believes that she is better equipped to find the culprits and solve the mystery than the police and the FBI.

Lily’s behaviour is absolutely outrageous. Sometimes it seems that she doesn’t have a danger compass and doesn’t understand that the situations she drags herself and her friends into could end tragically. To be honest, I wouldn’t have liked to have such a friend when I was her age.

Still, Lily’s recklessness makes the plot race at a head-spinning speed. I kept turning the pages and read the book in a few sittings before bedtime. I liked that along with the main mystery a personal secret unravelled, which came as a complete surprise for me. Also, reading about moonshine makers, I remembered a brief ‘dry law’ period in the 80s, and how even in my family we had a contraption for making ‘apple wine,’ which we then stored in huge glass bottles in our summer house.

I appreciated the ending of the book for drawing the readers’ attention to the implications of Lily’s thoughtless behaviour.

Both books in the Jailer's Daughter Mysteries are action-packed and full of big and small mysteries. There are moments when my heart leapt with fear for Lily, Christi, and their friends. But I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of traipsing across country lanes, and small towns and even trudging through the wilderness in the American state of Mississippi with reckless teenagers who kept getting themselves in life-threatening situations. I hope the author plans to write more books in this setting, which I will devour with great pleasure.



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The Moonshine Murders: The Jailer's Daughter Mysteries

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Intangible things are powerful. We don’t see them, but they can steal one’s peace of mind, bring trouble, and they can also kill. Prejudices are invisible. Yet, they root deeply in people’s minds and it takes years or even decades to pull them out. It is easier to destroy a physical thing, no matter how durable. To pull out a prejudice that was nurtured and encouraged for a long time is practically impossible.

“To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee is about the power of intangible things. At least that’s what I saw in this story. People are prone to cultivating prejudices. It begins in childhood when the imagination runs wild, having no guide marks of experience to rely on. When we are little, we see the world as a mysterious place full of enigmas. And we are still completely fearless, having not experienced failure, pain, disappointment, and true fear, and jump head first into solving them.

The book begins with three children trying to solve the mystery of their neighbour’s house. Scout, Jem, and Dill are fascinated by ‘Boo’ Radley whom no one in the town seems to have seen for years. And since grown-ups are reluctant to shed light on what happened in that family, children become obsessed with unravelling this secret. They do silly things and end up in pseudo-dangerous situations, which seem frightening only when you are little. Adults scold them, but it doesn’t stop them from persisting in their investigative pursuits.

As the story progresses, another mystery comes to the forefront. A man is accused of rape. The court has to determine if it is true. Yet, it seems that for everyone in Maycomb, Alabama it isn’t a mystery at all. They aren’t waiting for a verdict. They are expecting the accusation. Because of the deeply rooted prejudice, the trial is a form without content. Everyone knows the result, but still, cannot resist attending. The folk of Maycomb don’t need the law, the system, or the procedures of a fair trial to tell them what to think. The prejudice ingrained in them has already issued them all the answers.

And against this predictability, which hangs grim and pressing as a dark cloud which will inevitably bring thunder and a devastating downpour, Atticus Finch’s character stands out like a ray of light, too bright to look at without hurting one’s eyes – and readers’ hearts.

It was heartbreaking to follow a decent man’s struggle which was lost before he began fighting. It is especially painful, for, sadly, similar stories repeat across the decades and continents, with their participants belonging to different groups but with the gist remaining the same. One can fight for justice, but one can never win against prejudice.

A black man accused of raping a white woman could never be justified in the Southern Alabama in the 1930s. The elements vary across times and places, but the result of such situations remains the same. I find the real power of this novel in this truth, which can be fully conceived only if one looks at the story from a wider angle.

Only one moment in the book fell flat for me. I can’t explain it. I understood what the author wanted to show with it. It is logical and works well for the story. Yet, it didn’t ‘get under my skin,’ for the lack of other explanation. Maybe because I was a participant in a similarly acute episode, involving people similarly blinded by a similar prejudice. The outcome of that incident was also favourable as it is the book. But the reasons for me getting away unharmed were different. I don’t think there is any added value to trying to analyse it in a book review. It did make me think again about certain things I’ve gone through in my life. And still, for some reason, the episode as it is narrated in the book didn’t work for me.

It would be a futile effort to retell the plot of the book so much talked about and which millions of people have read. Besides, like any great story, it gives something different to every person who reads it. To me, “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee is about the things that stretch far beyond its story and its characters. To me, this book is about a sad truth that doesn’t change despite all the efforts made to change it. Blinded by prejudice, people know without learning, judge without trial and investigation, and issue a death sentence without remorse or mercy.



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To Kill a Mockingbird

Cannery Row by John Steinbeck

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


It took me a while to get to writing the review of "Cannery Row" by John Steinbeck. Still, having sat down to do it today, I feel that my impressions are as fresh as they’d been back in September when I’d read the book.

"Cannery Row in Monterey in California is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream." I read the opening lines of the novel at the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas, California when I visited it with my family in June 2024. The words, framed in a photograph, ran over the view of the Monterey Bay with small, old-fashioned vessels dotting the water surface. I remember standing there reading the words and peering into the picture and thinking that once I return home from our USA trip, I’ll get the book and read it.

John Steinbeck captured my reader’s soul with “The Grapes of Wrath”, the story that also shattered my heart into pieces. “Of Mice and Men” left my heart bleeding. And “East of Eden” planted the seed of reflections that would stay with me until the moment I lose the ability to reflect.

The impact of “Cannery Row” was completely different. It isn’t a story. It is a glimpse into the world hidden from the eyes of ‘decent citizens’, a burst of emotions, fireworks that turn the dark skies into magic for a few moments and then fade forever – from memory too.

On the way to Monterey Bay Aquarium, I stopped to take a picture of I can’t even remember what. Probably a palm or a flag of California with its cute bear caught my eye. And then my husband exclaimed, “What are you photographing there? Look, it’s Steinbeck!” I turned and saw that I was standing next to the writer’s bronze bust. We then walked to the Cannery Row Monument right behind it.

"It is the hour of the pearl—the interval between day and night when time stops and examines itself."

With these words, I would describe “Cannery Row” itself. In this Steinbeck’s novel, time has stopped forever. It stopped amidst the canneries working in full swing, Ford Models T cruising the street, people rushing about their business. And all this against the backdrop of the turquoise waters of the picturesque Monterey Bay.

The characters of the book are numerous and colourful. It is pointless to try to describe them. The author has done it with unsurpassed skill.

Mack and his friends exist in their own reality. We call them homeless, but the home they have created for themselves in a storage shack on an unoccupied land plot in a way is more ‘a home’ than many a mansion of the rich. Mack and other drifters like him are happy with the arrangement they made with the local grocery store owner Lee Chong to live in "The Palace Flophouse", not caring about the taxes, legal issues, and other cumbersome things ‘decent’ people must bother themselves about.

One day, a brilliant idea dawns on Mack. He decides that he simply must do something good for a great guy Doc. Doc is a marine biologist and he owns Western Biological Laboratories. And Doc often does something good for Mack and the boys.

Mack’s idea turns into a disaster of epic proportions. His and the boys’ attempts to make a gift to their friend are, in equal measure, funny, sad, grotesque, and touching.

I think that “Cannery Row” should be read without expectations. You will be surprised anyway. No one can say if that surprise will be pleasant or otherwise. Yet, with the classics, it is always worth checking for yourself.



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Cannery Row

Genavine's Hell by Jupiter Rose

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


After escaping one hell, Gena finds herself in another. In “Genavine’s Hell”, book two of the Life of Genavine series, Gena continues her struggle to keep her people alive and find the answer to the question: how the world has turned into part dystopian, part supernatural chaos?

Trapped in a strange, sinister place, surrounded by snow and ice, with the winter getting harsher every day, Gena and the remaining members of her team – those who have survived the events of book one – don’t plan to give up. The area swarms with supernatural dangers of all kinds. Enemies seem to hide even in the walls of the house. Familiar enemies lurk under the forest cover, some coming to Gena’s doorstep to spit out their ultimatums and threaten to destroy everyone she loves. Unknown creatures who don’t look friendly at all close ranks around Gena and the survivors.

And if all of the above isn’t enough to make anyone, no matter how tough, give up, Gena is torn by her personal dilemmas. Two different sides of her nature, neither of which she has learned how to control yet, fight for dominance. She is afraid of her ‘evil’ side, not understanding it to embrace it. At the same time, she is unsure of the value of her ‘good’ side, doubting its purity because of the existence of the ‘evil’ one. Besides, Gena realises that she is in love with two men, and if she chooses one of them she wouldn’t be completely happy and would likely make the man he chooses unhappy too.

In book two of the series, the wild ride continues. There are surprises and shocking moments aplenty. Foes turn out to be friends and those everyone believed were enemies prove to be the opposite. Danger dawns on Gena and her people from unexpected places and in unfamiliar forms. Help comes from those whom Gena would kill without batting her eye only yesterday.

Yet again the survivors are forced to leave the place they have only begun to call home. Yet again they are at risk of being killed on the road – and also at the destination. And when the relief comes, offering them an opportunity to finally live a peaceful life, it turns out to be not without a catch.

Will Gena find a place where her people would truly be safe and content? Will she find peace within herself to live her life happily? I guess we’ll find out in the next book.



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Genavine's Hell

A Pack of Wolves by P.L. Stuart

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


While I was reading the fifth instalment of the epic fantasy masterpiece of a series – The Drowned Kingdom Saga by P.L. Stuart – the thought struck me that after this one, only two more books in Othrun’s story will be left. And even though I’m burning with impatience to find out how the author wraps up the life of one of my favourite characters in modern literature, this thought scared me. What will I be looking forward to after Othrun’s destiny is told in full? So far, following the fate of an arrogant, stubborn, suffering from world-saviour syndrome royal bastard has been a riveting, totally engrossing literary adventure. And I’m not ready to say goodbye to it.

Well, enough with the lyrical – Othrun would not have appreciated it anyway. I’d better share my impressions about the book.

In “A Pack of Wolves” Othrun’s pack becomes smaller. When he arrived in Acremia, he was very young, almost a boy. But the people, the kings who have become his friends and allies, were much older. So, the time has come for Othrun to part with those who had seen and also facilitated his ascension to the throne of his new kingdom Eastrealm. Although not an old man yet, Othrun feels his age. He has fought many a battle. Most of those battles he has won, thus having deserved the fame of the great warlord of Eltnia. He knows about war and isn’t afraid of it. Yet, he isn’t ready for the battle that awaits him, for he’ll have to fight against the foe he doesn’t want to destroy.

In book five of the saga, more secrets are revealed, and the readers find the answers to the questions they have been asking themselves since reading book one. I appreciate how the author unravels the knots he has been masterfully tying throughout the story from the beginning.
My favourite part of the book is the audacious mission Othrun undertakes to save someone important to him. It reminded me of Othrun’s self-discovery quest in book two “The Last of the Atalanteans”, where he had to test himself through humiliation and humility. In my opinion, that quest had been a sort of salvation for him. And although what he did – saved King Wely and helped to restore him on the throne – didn’t make him a good man, it did make him a better one. A better version of himself, if you will.

After leaving his great home kingdom behind, buried forever under the waves of the merciless ocean, he never stopped perfecting his battle skills. Othrun has fought and killed, and the need to kill his enemy was never an obstacle but rather a sacred duty. Yet, the day has come when if he kills the one who challenged him, he will lose. But defeat is not an option since the people he has sworn to protect would suffer. It is probably the toughest dilemma Othrun has ever faced in his turbulent life full of seemingly lost cases which led him to glory.

In “A Pack of Wolves”, Othrun’s sons – legitimate ones – are around the same age their father had been when he had fought his first battles. His oldest son, named Othrun after him, is a good man. One might say the kind Othrun himself has never been. He is decent, honest, and kind. He respects his duty towards his legacy and his kingdom. Yet, I was surprised having realised that I don’t like him. In a dialogue about his future, he is asked: “What’s the point of being a king, if you can’t make the choices you desire?” That question didn’t make me think about Othrun the younger. Instead, it helped me understand his father better.

The reason why Othrun has risen to power and stayed at the top, against the odds which were various and plentiful, was that he has always made the choices he truly desired. His deepest, most sincere and all-encompassing wish has always been to become a great king, respected, feared, and admired. True, he had moments of doubts and moments of heartache, grief, and pain. He wasn’t always proud of the things he did. But he would have never been satisfied – ‘happy’ doesn’t seem a fitting word in this context – had he made different choices which wouldn’t have led him to the position of a great king.

“A Pack of Wolves” inevitably takes the readers closer to the finale of the Drowned Kingdom Saga. The author’s skill in building a battle scene is unparalleled. On the pages of his books, war isn’t solely about bloodshed. It isn’t even only about tactics and strategies. Wars are initiated, planned, and fought by people. And when something is about people, a human factor always plays a huge role both in the process and in the outcome.

Othrun knows that wars begin much earlier than a battle begins and the first blood gets spilled. A war starts with two people disagreeing with each other, and soon, they pull others into their dispute. First, advisors and, in Othrun and his enemy’s case, their families, then those who will lead people to battle, and finally, the soldiers who will die and those who will remain at home waiting for the news, devastating or otherwise.

For the first time in his life, before leading his army into battle, Othrun is forced to think as a man and not as a war general. Is he capable of such a fundamental change? And is he ready to face the consequences if he isn’t?

After finishing “A Pack of Wolves”, I’m back to the state I’ve gotten used to since I read book one of the saga – waiting impatiently for the author to share the next book with us.



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A Pack of Wolves

Her Secret Desire by Kathryn Hunt

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


How open are we to the things deviating from the accepted norms? Do these deviations inevitably hurt someone or do we react this way out of habit, because of our inability to look at the situation from a wider angle?

I was asking myself these questions while reading “Her Secret Desire” by Kathryn Hunt. And I must admit that even when I finished, I don’t have definite answers to them.

Heather is a wife and a mother. She has three wonderful sons, a loving husband, and overall, her life is happy. Sometimes, though, the wheel of routine feels a bit too much and the urge to add something to her life that would be only hers becomes overwhelming. Some might say ‘Find a job!’ but stay-at-home moms know that it would only add to the everyday rollercoaster, with someone else doing what she used to do for her family.

When Heather meets Meg, a woman who recently moved to Texas from New York and opened a bookstore, the deeply buried thoughts and desires move closer to the surface. Her life becomes complicated, for she doesn’t know if it is possible to combine two sides of herself without losing one of them.

I liked how gently the author deals with a sensitive topic. The story isn’t only about the attraction between two women. It also presents the readers with a more complicated dilemma bisexual people face. I also appreciated the inclusion of Meg’s backstory. It has added depth to the plot and expanded the dilemma Heather faces. Even if you disagree with Heather’s choices, I believe the author has done an excellent job of presenting the characters of her story in a way that makes it impossible to condemn them outright.

If you enjoy sensual reads where the scenes of intimacy are an addition to the story rather than its centre, “Her Secret Desire” by Kathryn Hunt is a great choice for you.



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Her Secret Desire

A Curse of Mist and Shadows by Laura Maybrooke

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


If you are in the mood for a good old epic quest with surprises in every chapter, a versatile set of characters – think a tiny faerie who can’t hold his tongue – and the unknown evil which seems impossible to defeat, this book is for you.

It was exciting to return to the world of the Silver Elven dragonmistress, Dulcea Lightbringer, and vampire lord Krath from the Dulcea’s Rebellion series. Since I loved the first trilogy, I was glad to ‘meet’ Dulcea and Krath again on the pages of “A Curse of Mist and Shadows”, even though they aren’t the main characters of this story. Especially since the protagonist Garth proved to be no less interesting.

Garth is half-elf and half-human, but apart from this and the fact that he looks like a full-blooded elf, his life is calm and boring. Until the moment he takes something that isn’t his, having no idea what role this object will play in his life and the fate of the whole world.

Because of the object he’s taken, Garth is forced to flee from his hometown, and his adventures begin. If one can call the chain of scary happenings and mythical occurrences adventures. Running away from his pursuers, it isn’t long before Garth realises that something more dangerous is happening around him. The land that Dulcea Lightbringer and vampire Krath had liberated from the great evil willing to subdue it is on the verge of collapsing under the thumb of another formidable foe. Garth has never seen himself as a hero, but it is probably the trait of a true one – not to be overjoyed at finding out the fate of the world rests on your shoulders.

There are dragons again in this book. But they are really frightening, so very unlike the creatures from the Dulcea’s Rebellion books. The scenes where they bring chaos and destruction to their chosen goal are bone-chilling.

Garth must find the answers to a lot of seemingly unanswerable questions. Why are strange dragons set on destroying? Who orchestrates the sinister occurrences the devastating consequences of which he sees in many places along his journey? He also has to embrace his elven heritage and face who he is.

Garth isn’t without flaws, and it gets him into trouble with the people he meets on his journey and who become his friends and more.

I wonder what’s in store for Garth and also other characters, so I’m looking forward to reading the next book in the series “A Dread of Blight and Ruin.”



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A Curse of Mist and Shadows

The Game: A Hot Friends to Lovers Romance by Eve M. Riley

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Whether you are rich or poor, whether your career has taken you to incredible heights or keeps dragging you down, when it comes to love, all this doesn’t matter. Feelings have the power to sweep you off your feet and turn your life upside down.

In “The Game” by Eve M. Riley, neither Anna nor Adam are focused on their love lives. Maybe it is because, for both of them, this part is pretty much a disaster. Anna’s last relationship just ended with a loud bang that in addition to leaving a taste of bitter disappointment threatens to keep bringing trouble. Adam gave up on women a decade ago.

Yet, when these two meet, a spark ignites as if of its own accord and promises to turn into an unstoppable fire.

Anna’s and Adam’s lives could not be more different. She is rich, successful, and popular. He is a struggling entrepreneur on the brink of losing his business. It seems that they cannot have anything in common. So, when Adam, as a result of a string of events, ends up being Anna’s ‘plus one’ at a high-end event, anyone would think it would be their first and last meeting. It turns the other way round, though. Even though both Anna and Adam don’t plan to be more than friends, fate has other plans for them.

I liked the setting of this book. Set against the upscale New York City venues, the love story between two likeable characters acquired an additional charm. I also enjoyed musing about how deeply social media infiltrated our lives and how easily it can change a person’s circumstances.

Steamy scenes and an insight into a corrupted and sinful big tennis scene in Russia add an edge to this romance novel. Even though “The Game” is a part of the series, it can be read and enjoyed as a standalone. Some of the other characters from previous books of the series are introduced in this story, and they are so intriguing that I believe readers might want to dive into other books straight away.

I was given an ARC of this book by the author and leave this review voluntarily.



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The Game: A Hot Friends to Lovers Romance