Blog Archives - Alyce Caswell - Author

Alyce Caswell - Author

All's Well that Merriwells

29/6/2024

Never Wager with a Wallflower (The Merriwell Sisters #3)
by Virginia Heath

Galahad Sinclair is ready to pour his funds into a leisure establishment in London. The problem? He's bought the building right next door to the orphanage that Venus Merriwell feels extremely passionate about. Venus has had it with men betraying her. What she doesn't expect is her changing feelings for Galahad - or that he's been hiding the real reason for pursuing a connection with her.

I've loved every book in this series and so I'm sad to see it end, because its strength was the amusing array of characters connected to the Merriwell family. I also enjoy reading about a hero who makes mistakes and has to make it up to the heroine... so naturally, I enjoyed Never Wager with a Wallflower! I will say that there were some long passages that lingered inside characters' heads. This bogged things down a bit. Can't honestly remember if this was an issue in the previous books, though.

Rinse & Repeat

19/6/2024

Before We Say Goodbye (Before the Coffee Gets Cold #4)
by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

With these books, you always know what you're going to get - a charming cafe where charming stories are played out. At this point though... it's becoming repetitive. The second book gave us more information about the ghost. The third book gave us a different cafe, whose owner works very differently. But this fourth entry goes back to a time we had already passed by and doesn't offer anything new. More of the same. I suppose for some readers that's not a problem. I am hoping that the next book reenergises the series, though admittedly it doesn't matter if it doesn't... because sometimes you do just need more of the same. More healing fiction.

Uncontrollable Sobbing: Round 3

19/6/2024

Before Your Memory Fades (Before the Coffee Gets Cold #3)
by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

I was a bit uncertain about the change in scenery, but turns out it was an excellent idea. I adore Cafe Donna Donna as much as its Tokyo counterpart. As usual, some stories were better than others, though I noticed there seemed to be more focus on characters intending to commit suicide which is... a lot for a reader like me, especially when you've struggled with suicide ideation throughout your life. I note that Kawaguchi likes to end his books with the saddest stories, so that you weep afterwards... I am starting to feel a bit resentful of this, because it seems like an attempt to hide a book's flaws with a big (and very memorable) surge of emotion. That all said, it was still an enjoyable read.

More Tales in Time

19/6/2024

Tales from the Cafe (Before the Coffee Gets Cold #2)
by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

Despite feeling some trepidation, I took the leap and ordered all of the books from this series on Amazon - so I could read them as soon as possible. Sorry to the library books that hoped to see me...

Now this is what I was hoping for when I picked up the first book. The issues I had with Before the Coffee Gets Cold are not present here - the writing feels more like paragraphs from a novel instead of stage directions, and the stories were all poignant and didn't cause me to react negatively (as I did with Kei's story). What really makes this novel is Kazu and her story. It's heartbreaking. It's beautiful. And she gains so much development throughout the stories presented here, even though she doesn't travel to the past.

Worth the Wait? Perhaps

17/6/2024

Before the Coffee Gets Cold (Before the Coffee Gets Cold #1)
by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

I reserved this book at the library and waited for a copy in growing anticipation. 12 weeks later... I had my chance!

The premise is so fascinating and so is the setting. There's definitely a lot of food for thought here, though I can't say I agree with it all (Kei's story feels off, especially when written by a man), and while I enjoyed my reading of Before the Coffee Gets Cold, I was very aware of its limitations. The prose read like poorly adapted stage directions (which makes sense when you know the story began as a play). The cafe's rules are very obviously designed to work in a theatre. This all said, I was still emotionally invested and emotionally destroyed by the end.

I spent today recovering from fatigue on the couch, so after finishing the book I immediately sought the movie adaptation - which I feel was much smoother since it wasn't constrained by a stage-inspired setting. I believe I also spoiled myself for the second book while watching that... and I liked that story, so I may read the sequel.

An Author's Doll's House in Maine

16/6/2024

Charming the Highlander (Pine Creek Highlanders #1)
by Janet Chapman

Grace Sutter is fulfilling her sister's dying request - taking her nephew to meet his strange father in her hometown - when she is in a plane accident and stranded on a snowy mountain with Greylen MacKeage, a laird who was uprooted from medieval Scotland and has been adjusting to modern ways. Surviving their precarious situation is one thing. Surviving each other is quite another.

This is clearly a product of its time. A heroine who is a totallyindependent woman but needs a big strong man to help her out. Fear of weapons of mass destruction. Consent that is incredibly dubious. I tried to recall if I'd read better romance novels from the early 2000s. The Bridgerton books, the first that sprang to mind, were also very dodgy... fortunately, romance novels have come a long way in 20 years. But even then there were love stories that developed properly, instead of whatever was going on here. Kissing and intimacy scenes did not feel natural at all; Grace and Greylen acted like dolls that the author was mashing together, whether they liked it or not. It was weird and off-putting.

I realise that this was Chapman's first book and she is no longer here to defend herself, but I doubt I'll be checking out the rest of her work.

Almost Picture Perfect

10/6/2024

A Scot in the Dark (Scandal & Scoundrel #2)
by Sarah MacLean

Alec Stuart became the Duke of Warwick through a series of unlikely mishaps (he was seventeenth in line!) and unfortunately this means he has inherited a ward - and she is in a storm of scandal. Lillian Hargrove posed for a nude painting because she believed the artist loved her. But now he's going to expose her to all of London. She wants to run. Alec wants her to wed... anyone but himself.

I have a weakness for Scottish heroes and I enjoy historical romances that contain an interesting plot alongside the burgeoning relationship, so I am more than satisfied with this ex-library book that I picked up for $1! And it's in hardcover to boot. I did find Alec to be a little toooo stubborn at times, but that aside this was a fun read that has made me want to check out MacLean's other books.

Ghosts and Ghosted

8/6/2024

The Man Who Didn't Call by Rosie Walsh

Sarah and Eddie meet and have a wonderful seven days together - and for Sarah, this short amount of time is enough to fall in love. She is sure Eddie feels the same way. So then why doesn't he answer her messages or calls, even though he promised to keep in contact? Where has he gone? Sarah's friends think she's wasting time trying to find out. But Sarah has to know - what happened?

I think I'm becoming a tad jaded, but it seems that nearly every British women's lit book I pick up lately is depressing AF and deliberately lays red herrings while preparing a secondary twist (which you know is coming, so you sigh and ignore the aforementioned red herrings). It's...tiring. That all said, this is a solid book and Walsh's prose is experienced and easy to roam through.