Bloom Where You Are Planted | Lease on Love by Falon Ballard

Lease on Love by Falon Ballard was definitely a book I picked up because of bookstagram (Instagram accounts devoted to books by readers and book lovers) (feel free to follow me by the way @cinderellasbookshelf). I had come across a couple of great reviews and was influenced to read it. I ended up finishing it quickly and found it to be relatable because of the main character's journey, while also bringing something refreshing to the romance/fiction genre.

Sadie Green was ready for the promotion she so rightly deserved. When she is passed over for the job and subsequently fired, she is left wondering where she will go from here let alone where she will live knowing that she won’t be able to afford paying her rent. After accidentally mixing up a dating and find-a-roommate app, Sadie meets nerdy but reclusive Jack Thomas. Jack is in need of a roommate and offers Sadie a chance to live with him in his Brooklyn brownstone that comes with great amenities, a garden that Sadie sees potential in, and all under an incredibly low rent cost. How could she refuse? As Sadie begins to rebuild her life through her own flower business, and Jack gradually opens up to Sadie and her friends, it’s possible their budding relationship as roommates could develop into something more.

This book was entertaining and I really liked the banter between all the characters, especially through their group text messages. I also liked how compared to a few other romances, Sadie’s friends are as part of the story along with her relationship with Jack, that they do not feel sidelined to being supporting characters completely in the background. Another thing I liked was how the story followed Sadie’s career change from a stable corporate job to doing something she genuinely loved and wanted to pursue despite some doubts. It was pretty inspiring I have to admit and gives hope for anyone that it’s never too late to do what you dream of doing. 

I don’t really do rating because they can be subjective, but if I had to rate this book I would give it a 3.75/5. And the reason for this is because while I liked it, I didn’t love it as much as I hoped. Sadie was frustrating sometimes and a little too snarky for me, but I also had empathy for her because of what she had been through. There were things she could have handled differently. Her snarky-ness was annoying after a while, but also felt more of a defense mechanism and a way of overly expressing what was on her mind just to get it out there and for anyone to run now if they didn’t like her and that made me also feel sorry for her. So, I felt conflicted between whether I liked her or not. I also wanted to know more about Jack. I liked how he and Sadie slowly opened up to each other, but I would have liked what was revealed about him to have happened maybe a little sooner than later.

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In the Midnight Hours of Uncertainty and Fear | The Night Shift by Alex Finlay

"The sheep spends its life worried about the wolf, only to be eaten by the farmer." 

I will admit that while reading The Night Shift by Alex Finlay, I went into full on “Detective Cinderella” mode trying to solve the case alongside the rest of characters because I was that absorbed with the story. This is a thriller that feels both fresh and nostalgic, and perfect for fans of Riley Sager.

The Night Shift begins on what is already an inauspicious night on the eve of Y2K at a Blockbuster Video store in Linden, New Jersey. The entire staff is murdered, with the exception of one survivor. The police quickly make an arrest until the suspect flees, leaving the case cold. Now, fifteen years later in the same town another murder occurs at an ice cream parlor, eerily too similar to what happened at the Blockbuster, that again leaves one survivor. What follows is an intense investigation into both cases that bring together the lives of three people: Ella Monroe, the survivor of the Blockbuster massacre,  Detective Sarah Keller, who is assigned to the latest case, and Chris Ford, the initial suspect’s younger brother from the first murder.

There are a number of things I want to say, but that would be getting into spoiler territory. What I can say is that this is such a great thriller filled with twists, turns, and suspicious characters that it will have you guessing until the very end. The chapters are short so the pacing was fast adding to the intensity of the story leaving you hanging on where it could go next. 

My only criticism is that I would have liked to have seen some of the characters fleshed out more, especially Ella. We only get an idea of who she is now in the present day, but I would have liked to have gotten to know more about her and how she got to this point in her life since the incident. I feel like there was more that could have been explored than the short snippets we got of who she is now and who she once was before. 

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Love and Marriage | Cleopatra and Frankenstein by Coco Mellors

I was eager and curious to read Cleopatra and Frankenstein by Coco Mellors just by the title alone knowing nothing yet about the plot. Although Cleopatra and Frankenstein are not the actual characters of Mellor’s debut novel, they still seem like a mismatched couple to imagine. And that alone is already an indicator for what this book had in store for its two main characters, Cleo and Frank.

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