Monday Mini Reviews: A Pair of Excellent Reads

Each week I feel like I'm falling further behind as my TBR continues to grow.  I read in any free moment I have, and luckily I have enjoyed some fantastic books.

 All The World Can Hold takes place immediately after 9/11 and is such a throwback to that time period.  Three separate stories unfold on the cruise ship: Fanny and her husband are taking Fanny's mom, brother and his girlfriend on a cruise for her mom's 70th brithday.  Fanny has always felt like she must hold things together and live up to her mom's expectations.  There are a lot of things unspoken between the various members of this family, and Fanny tries to ignore the horror she witnessed on 9/11, unwilling to let herself feel any emotions about it.  

Doug, a former star of a Love Boat style television show is on board the ship, reuniting with some fellow castmates who seem to have bad feelings toward Doug, even though he can't remember anything that might have happened to make them feel so negatively about him.

And Lucy is on the cruise after being invited at the last minute by her roommate.  She has blown off her job search for a few days, needing a break from the stresses she is feeling about needing to find a good job.  She's looking for work in the tech industry, not really sure about a new start-up company called Google.  

These three stories were all compelling and I enjoyed this one a lot.

Romcoms have been a go-to for me this past year that I've had a lot of success with.  This was a JBH book club pick this year and hit just the spot for me. 

Cassia and her family run a Fated Love business, seeing people in past lives as couples and helping them find each other again. There's the need to suspend disbelief, which I was OK with.

And once I could look past that, I enjoyed this story so much.  Cassia has been looking for a man for the past decade. She's known his name, but has never been able to find him. She's nearing forty and would like to find her Mr. Right.  When Ellis helps her after a bike accident, the two have a steamy night together. But Cassia can't let it go any further.  She's been fated to someone else, after all. 

And when Ellis leads her directly to the man she's destined to be with, Cassia is sure she's on a path to happily ever after.  Except she can't stop thinking about Ellis.

This is such a good romance.  I loved Ellis and I loved Ellis and Cassia together.  I'm happy that Goo has a backlist I can enjoy as well.