Bookish Mewsings: Well Met by Jen DeLuca & Pretty Guilty Women by Gina LaManna

Along with my mini reviews, I am linking to both Book Beginnings, a meme in which readers share the first sentence of a book they are reading, hosted by Gillion Dumas of Rose City Reader and Friday 56 hosted by Freda of Freda's Voice, in which readers share a random sentence or two from page 56 or 56% of the book they are reading.

This has been a long week. The adrenaline that propelled me through these last couple weeks of show preparation and the performances this past weekend, has died off, leaving me feeling exhausted and extra tired. I have barely gotten any reading done, and I have not had any time to get online. Hopefully life can return to some semblance of normality--at least until the holidays. In the meantime, I wanted to share a couple of my fall reads with you as I continue to catch up on posting my reviews before the year is out. 

Well Met (Well Met, #1) by Jen DeLuca

Berkley, 2019

Romance; 336 pgs
Source: NetGalley

Book Beginnings:

I didn't choose the wench life. The wench life chose me.

Friday 56 (excerpt from 56%):

When had my daydreams drifted away from the beefcake in a kilt and toward the slim pirate in black leather, with dark moods and perplexing smiles? 

My thoughts:

The opportunity to help her sister and her teenaged niece after her sister’s accident, could not have come at a better time for Emily whose own life is in transition. She did not anticipate having to volunteer at the local Renaissance Faire with her niece, however. It doesn’t seem like it will be so bad at first. At least not until she meets Simon, the man in charge of the volunteers. Simon takes the Renaissance Faire very seriously. It is his brother’s legacy after all. Simon and Emily butt heads right from the start. He seems uptight and she is more lighthearted. While the two do not seem to care for each other in their real life personas, once Simon dons his costume, it is as if he is a different person—and Emily cannot help but flirt back. Still, she wonders which persona is real. Is it all an act or is there something growing between them?

This was such a fun read, and I loved every minute of it. This enemy to lovers romance is swoon-worthy and charming, as well as smart and funny. Emily has been through a lot as has Simon. Both are well-developed characters whom I fell in love with myself. I wanted so much for them to have their happy ending. I enjoyed their Shakespeare banter and playful teasing. I cried with them, both in sadness and joy, laughed with them, and wish I could jump right into a Renaissance Faire myself (I think there is one nearby in the spring . . . ). Well Met is one of those novels that left me with a silly grin on my face at the end.

Have you read Well Met? If so, what did you think? If you haven't, does it sound like something you would want to read? 

Pretty Guilty Women by Gina LaManna

Sourcebooks Landmark, 2019

Crime Fiction/Thriller; 336 pgs
Source: NetGalley

Book Beginnings:

"Hush, little baby, don't say a word. . ."

Friday 56 (excerpt from 56%):

If only she'd started her hangover routine sooner.

My thoughts:

This was a fun one as well, but for different reasons. The tag line for the novel describes it well: “Four Women. Four Confessions. One Murder.” Written from the perspectives of all four women, the reader gets an intimate look into their lives, both in the present and through flashbacks into their pasts. Emily is a lost soul, losing herself in alcohol and meaningless sex; Kate has money—but it can’t buy everything; Ginger feels like her family is falling apart, certainly her relationship with her daughter, and this holiday she saved so hard for isn’t turning out as well as she hoped; and then there is Lulu who dearly loves her husband, but is afraid he may be straying. Emily, Kate and Ginger were college roommates of the bride’s and are both looking forward to and dreading their reunion. Lulu is a family member of the groom’s. Right from the start, the reader knows someone was murdered. Exactly who died and why is the ultimate question, along with by whose hand.

Pretty Guilty Women is one of those books that once you start, it is hard to stop reading. I needed to know what was going to happen next. I liked the glimpses the author gave us into her character’s lives. It was impossible not to feel for all of them to some degree, although Kate was perhaps the hardest for me to relate to. They are all at low places in their lives.  Each of the characters (mostly) grows in this novel, including coming closer together, adding hope to their despair. I thought the mystery itself was well played out and thoroughly entertaining.

Have you read Pretty Guilty Women? If so, what did you think? If you haven't, does it sound like something you might like? 

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Be sure and tell me what you are reading and are up to!

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