Once and Again by Rebecca Serle

 

Imagine you had a silver ticket that allowed you to take back one thing in your life.  Maybe a mistake?  Or the death of a loved one?  A chance to change the future.  But you can only use it once.  What if something more worthy of a take back happens after you've used your silver ticket.  But also what would you be giving up.  Would it change the way you live?  It's a blessing and a curse.

That's the case with Lauren.  She's known since a young age that she has a silver ticket - all the women in her family do.  Hers is locked in a safe at her parents place.  Lauren spends her days working as an accountant and going for treatments to help her have a baby with her husband Leo - something a silver ticket can't solve.  They don't have a lot of money because every penny goes towards treatments.  These treatments are beginning to weigh on her marriage.

It's tough to say more without giving the store away.  I really don't like when a story has aspects of magic or fantasy.  At first when I read about the silver ticket I didn't think this book was for me.  But I gave this story five stars.  I don't often give books five stars.  Even four stars are pretty reserved.  But this book really got me thinking.  I even discussed it with my husband last night over dinner.  Was there anything we would take back in our life?  Fortunately, the answer was no.  But it was an interesting conversation.  

I highly recommend Once and Again.  I think it would be a great pick for a book club as there is lots to discuss and debate about this book.  The only thing I found odd that wasn't really explained is that she calls her father "Dad" and her mother "Marcella".  It seemed odd.  But it really is such a minor thing and definitely didn't take away from the story.  It's just something that puzzled me about why the author chose that.

The Bookstore Diaries by Susan Mallery

 

The Bookstore Diaries is the story of the relationships of two sisters, Jax and Ryleigh.  Jax has been divorced for over a year now from Harris.  The relationship just wasn't meant to be but at least they have two beautiful children from the marriage.  Her and Harris work very hard at continuing to show up as a family and be good parents.  Jax has her work - she owns a bookstore, her kids, her sister and a pet Parrot named Ramon.  Life is good and she is definitely not looking for love.

Ryleigh, on the other hand, is very much looking for love.  Her clock is ticking and she wants a family.  After a recent breakup she's thinking maybe she needs to move cities.  There's very limited single guys in this town.  She hangs out with one single guy, Alex.  But his wife just passed away a year ago.  Ryleigh is just helping out.  Moving cities means not being near her sister, her niece and nephew,  and also Alex and his son Noah.  But she needs kids of her own and maybe she needs to sacrifice all her current relations to get it.

I really enjoyed The Bookstore Diaries.  I always love Susan Mallery books.  I did find this one a little bit too long and a little bit like they were going over the same thing over and over again.  But don't let that discourage you from reading it because it is a great story.  I really loved Ramon the parrot.  He quotes a lot of books and seems like a very cool bird.  I enjoyed reading about him.

I'm Not the Only Murderer in my Retirement Home by Fergus Craig

 

Carol is excited for a new beginning.  She's spent decades in prison for murder.  Seven times she murdered people - maybe more.  They all deserved it.  But now she's ready for a new life at a fancy new retirement home.  She's off to a good start - joining clubs and making friends.

But it doesn't take long before people figure out who Carol is and when a murder happens it's easy to figure out it must be her.  Except it isn't her and she's going to need the help of some friends to prove it wasn't her.  

This was a fun reader.  I don't typically read murder stories unless it's a cozy mystery (no blood and guts).  Something about a bunch of 75 year olds killing each other in a retirement home that didn't feel too gruesome.  I enjoyed reading I'm Not the Only Murderer in my Retirement Home.   I could definitely picture a sequel that I think I would enjoy too.  I also didn't figure out who did it until the end.  It really was a good mystery.

This Made Me Think of You by Libby Page

 

Tilly is still feeling very lost after losing her husband Joe.  She's filling her days working at publishing celebrity memoirs.  She hasn't been able to read since Joe got diagnosed.  One day a call from a local bookstore interrupts her bleak days.  This guy says he has something for Tilly from Joe but that can't be true because he's been gone for six months now.  

Here at Book Lane book store Tilly finally finds a glimmer of hope.  Joe has left her 12 books - one for each month - to help her get out of her reading slump but also get her life back.  These books inspire Tilly to travel and expand her community.  What a beautiful gift for Joe to leave for her.

My first impression of This Book Made me Think of You is that I really loved the cover.  I really enjoyed the story too.  I loved reading about Tilly's travels and her book reading.  I definitely got a little teary at times too.  This story is definitely for book lovers.  

Cross Your Heart and Hope He Dies by Jenny Edler Moke

 

Juliette is just trying to save her publishing company with the tell all book of the year from Warren Ellingham when he surprisingly falls dead at a flashy event.  The police think it's a heart attack but one of the last things she heard him say was how the doctor thinks he's got a great heart Juliette knows there's more going on than meets the eye.

Juliette prefers to work alone and solve this mystery - thank her parents for making her independent to a fault.  She also prefers her sexual partners to be non-committal as well.  Her friend Kate keeps trying to set her up with a dud of a doctor but he's boring and only wants a long term commitment.

Cross Your Heart and Hope he Dies is all mystery with a dash of spicy romance.  I really enjoyed this book and found it a fast read.  I really liked the characters.  After reading the book I found out there was a 1st book that was hinted at in the book but I definitely think you can read it stand alone.  I'll be adding the first book to my bookshelf soon.

My Favorite Holidate by Lauren Blakely - THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS!!

 

Heads up - this review will contain spoilers.  

I don't think I'm giving much away by saying My Favorite Holidate has a happy ending.  I think that's a given.  I never write reviews with spoilers but this one I think I need to in order to give a proper review.

My Favorite Holidate  is my final read for 2025 and I did really enjoy the story.  Fable has just broken up with her boyfriend in the worst way - at Thanksgiving dinner she walks in on him getting it on with the caterer.  She's pretending it didn't hurt but it did.  To make matters worse her sister is marrying his cousin at Christmas time and they are both in the wedding party.

Wilder is Fable's billionaire boss.  He owns the football team she works for and much much more.  When Fable happens to be in the office when Wilder's aunt is trying to set him up she throws herself out there and says she's his date for the wedding.  Luckily Wilder is not upset and game to play pretend dating until the new year.

Even though I did enjoy this story here's where I feel I have to spoil things.  Things get hot and heavy between Fable and Wilder quickly.  But they both have such doubt that the other one likes them back.  Like so so much doubt.  It's in nearly every other sentence.  Here they are having very spicy sex together and still doubting how the other feels.  It was a little over the top - the doubt and the sex. 

Don't let that stop you from reading My Favorite Holidate.  I really did enjoy the story but I admit to doing a little skimming over some spicy scenes.  I was also happy with the ending.

The Holiday Mix Tape by Liberty Stowe

Erika with a K has just bombed a work presentation that she's not sure she can come back from.  When opportunity presents itself in the form of a mysterious invitation from her Aunt Josie to visit Kentucky.  Getting out of Chicago seems like a great idea right now.  It's Christmas and Erika needs a change of scenery.

What she finds in Blitzen, Kentucky is a town in desperate need of a new fire truck and some Christmas spirit.  With a town named Blitzen Erika quickly comes up with ideas for an old fashioned Christmas that might just save this town but first she has to get everyone on board with these ideas from an outsider.  

Erika also finds Kourt with a K in Blitzen.  Well she doesn't really find him as much as she hits him with her car but it's faith.  All the signs are pointing to the fact that they should be together but are they actually a match?  He doesn't seem interested.

At the beginning of this book was a warning that this book is spicy.  It almost scared me off as I don't love over the top spice.  Then I got hooked into the story and the characters.  No spice.  Then BAM - zero to 100 level of spice around 75% through.  It's spicy as in not suitable for young readers but not too bad and not too much.  Appropriate story amount of spice.  The one thing I did find different that I don't remember reading in other books is reading spicy scenes from a male perspective.  That was definitely different.

The Holiday Mix Tape is a great holiday read with just the appropriate amount of spice.  I definitely recommend it if you enjoy holiday stories.  Also, I will add that I really enjoyed the ending and it tied up very nicely.