Tag: small town

Review: In The Weeds by B.K. Borison

Anna and AlexisLeave a comment
A Kindle rests on a desk flatlay with a cactus pillow, cloud wrist rest, and cactus print envelope.

Alexis:

Now that the weather is warming up, I’m reading more fun romance books. In The Weeds is the second book in the Lovelight series by B.K. Borison. I reread Lovelight Farms, the first book, this past Christtmastime, and I’m glad my library got the second book!

In The Weeds follows Beckett, a farmer on Lovelight Farms, and Evelyn, a woman he had a one-night stand with during a work trip and can’t stop thinking about. 

Romance books set in small towns with a fun cast of characters are my favorite. Lovelight Farms has become one of my fave romance books, and In The Weeds is such a cute sequel! The town is such a great setting, and I love the reccuring characters.

Beckett is grumpy and a man of few words, but he also has an army of cats and begrudgingly adopts an orphaned baby duck. Evelyn is described as a ray of sunshine. She’s bubbly and connects with everyone around her, and I liked their dynamic. 

Beckett also has a noise sensitivity/sensory issues, and I really appreciated the representation. 

While Lovelight Farms is still my favorite in the series, I enjoyed In The Weeds, and I’m looking forward to reading the third one—Mixed Signals!

Review: Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe by Heather Webber

Anna and AlexisLeave a comment
A paperback copy of Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe is being held up in front of a stretch of toes in the sand on the beach.

Alexis:

Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe follows two main characters: Anna Kate and Natalie. When Anna Kate’s grandmother passes away, she returns to her family’s hometown, a small Alabama town called Wicklow, to take over Granny Zee’s cafe. She’s only planning on staying for the summer, but she has some long-time family drama to unravel.

Meanwhile, Natalie returns to Wicklow with her young daughter after her husband dies in a tragic accident. While she’s working on gaining her independence, she has to live with her parents, and try to reconcile with her mother, who never got over Natalie’s brother’s death. 

I enjoyed this one! It was the perfect beach read. Webber’s writing flows well, and I found myself impressed by how well she handles such a large cast of characters. Wicklow is charming, and the people fun and quirky (think Stars Hollow in Gilmore Girls). I especially enjoyed reading from Anna Kate’s POV as she bakes pies and learns about her family. The themes of grief, losing a family member, and reconnecting with family are resonant throughout the book.

Midnight at the Blackbird Cafe is considered magical realism, but unlike some other magical realism books I’ve read, I would consider this one lightly magical realism; the cafe and pies are the only real elements. 

While I think Webber’s dialogue is overall written very well, there were definitely some melodramatic speeches that weren’t very realistic. I also wanted to get to know the two love interests better; I feel like their characters sputtered out too much by the end. And there was a weird tie in with a cat at the end that was strange and not entirely explained. Lastly, there was also a reference that Natalie was a part of the Daughters of the Confederacy (yikes!)

Other than that, I think if you’re looking for an easy, heartwarming book set in a charming Southern town with lots of descriptions of pie, then I’ll think you’ll enjoy this one.

VERDICT: ⭐⭐⭐💫/5