Typewriter Beach

 

MEG WAITE CLAYTON

Stats: Trade paperback, Harper, expected publication 7/1/25.

How acquired: Won in a Goodreads giveaway.

(Goodreads synopsis below.)

My thoughts: When I first started reading, I was immediately captivated by the writing. I love Old Hollywood, old movies, the stars. With the young Isabella being an aspiring actress, and Leo being a blacklisted screenwriter, there was a lot of name dropping. And to my surprise, it bothered me a little at first. When the author would mention someone real, Garbo, Hitchcock, Bergman, and give an anecdote that I’d not ever heard before, I would wonder if it was true, or was the author taking poetic license. From what I could gather, the author did a lot of research, especially about Hitchcock and blacklisting, but even so, how much was true and how much was for the sake of this story? But once I got really settled into the dual stories – Iz and Leo in 1957, Iz and Leo’s granddaughter, Gemma, plus neighbor Sam, in 2018 - I was totally riveted and along for the ride, no longer caring how much was true and how much was not.

Wonderful, realistic characters. Vivid descriptions of Carmel.

Achingly beautiful.

Synopsis from Goodreads:

1957. Isabella Giori is ten months into a standard 7-year studio contract when she auditions with Hitchcock. Just weeks later, she is sequestered by the studio’s “fixer” in a charming little Carmel-by-the-Sea cottage for a secret rendezvous. There, she is awoken by the clack and ding of a typewriter at the cottage next door. 

Léon Chazan is annoyed as hell when Iz interrupts his work on yet another screenplay he won’t be able to sell, because he’s been blacklisted. But soon he’s speeding down the fog-shrouded Carmel-San Simeon highway, headed for the isolated cliffs of Big Sur, with her in the passenger seat. 

2018. Twenty-six-year-old screenwriter Gemma Chazan, in Carmel to sell her grandfather’s cottage, finds a hidden safe with a World War II-era French passport, an old camera with film still in it, two movie scripts, and a writing Oscar that is not in her grandfather’s name—raising questions about who the screenwriter known simply as Chazan really was.

Next Year in Havana (The Perez Family, Book One)

 

CHANEL CLEETON

Stats for my copy: Trade paperback, Berkley, 2018.

How acquired: Through BookCrossing.com.

(Goodreads synopsis below.)

My thoughts: I loved this book so much. So much! More than I anticipated. The characters are so well written, and the descriptions of Cuba are evocative. The author really makes Cuba come alive, like a separate character of the book. The narrative moves back and forth between Elisa’s story in in 1958, in the midst of the revolution just before Fidel Castro takes over the presidency, and her granddaughter Marisol’s story in 2017, as she travels from her home in Florida to Cuba to find a place to spread her grandmother’s ashes. The only negative thing I can think of is that Elisa and Marisol aren’t particularly indistinguishable from each other; the author’s voice doesn’t really change and at times I would momentarily have to remind myself whose story/which time period I was in. But the writing is so wonderful that it’s a fairly minor complaint.

I know who Castro was, of course, but I didn’t really know much about him. In 1959, Elisa falls for a revolutionary, Pablo, who is a friend of Castro, and staunchly supports him in his bid to overthrow the president, Fulgencio Batista. I was a little confused because everything I did know about Castro was that he was bad, so I didn’t quite understand why Pablo was so supportive of him in the beginning. And I knew absolutely nothing about Batista. I found it all so fascinating that on my next trip to Barnes & Noble I searched for books on the revolution. There were only three books under Cuba, none focused on Batista and/or Castro. One about Che Guevera, and I’ve already forgotten what the second book was about. I chose Cuba: An American History, by Ada Ferrer, which looked to be the closest to what I wanted.

But I digress. There are books that are good, that are novels. And then there are books that wonderful, that are literature. NEXT YEAR IN HAVANA is literature, and I’m very eager to find the rest of the author’s books, especially WHEN WE LEFT CUBA, about Elisa’s sister.

Goodreads Synopsis: After the death of her beloved grandmother, a Cuban-American woman travels to Havana, where she discovers the roots of her identity--and unearths a family secret hidden since the revolution...

Havana, 1958. The daughter of a sugar baron, nineteen-year-old Elisa Perez is part of Cuba's high society, where she is largely sheltered from the country's growing political unrest--until she embarks on a clandestine affair with a passionate revolutionary...

Miami, 2017. Freelance writer Marisol Ferrera grew up hearing romantic stories of Cuba from her late grandmother Elisa, who was forced to flee with her family during the revolution. Elisa's last wish was for Marisol to scatter her ashes in the country of her birth.

Arriving in Havana, Marisol comes face-to-face with the contrast of Cuba's tropical, timeless beauty and its perilous political climate. When more family history comes to light and Marisol finds herself attracted to a man with secrets of his own, she'll need the lessons of her grandmother's past to help her understand the true meaning of courage.

Touch of Smoke

KARISSA LAUREL

Stats for my copy: Trade paperback, Red Adept Publishing, 2019.

How acquired: Received from the author for review.

First line: The day I left Evansville, I twisted my rearview mirror until it reflected the ceiling of my daddy's '61 Apache and not the road behind me.

My thoughts: Isn't that cover gorgeous?

The paranormal aspect of this romance unfolded very slowly, and I loved the way that happened. Rikki has returned home to Evansville after being away three years. Arriving in town, she's greeted with a little hostility and a lot of hurt from her friends and family over the way she took off. She's here to face her demons and get some answers about the death of her best friend. The narrative jumps back and forth between the present and the past. We follow Rikki apprehensively greeting her mother, her friends, and her former love, Owen, who she blames for Mina's death. In between those chapters, we go back three years and follow Rikki as she first meets and falls for Owen. There are hints about the paranormal aspect sprinkled throughout the two narratives, and we gradually learn more about Owen and his abilities. And when it's finally revealed just exactly what Owen is, or rather why Owen is the way he is, it was quite a departure from the usual paranormal tropes.

Owen is also former military, which ticks one of my boxes, and I was quickly enamored with him. And I really liked Rikki as well. Watching their relationship slowly develop was fun.

“I'm named after my dad.”

"Was he hoping for a boy?”

I balled a fist. “Were you hoping for a fat lip?”

Along with a little humor there's a bit of brooding and plenty of angst without dipping into depressive.

But the ending threw me a little. The narrative is in first person POV from Rikki, and the logical part of my brain couldn't understand how Rikki could be telling us the story at the point. Unless there will be a sequel or a second book. We don't necessarily get an HEA, but there is the possibility of one so that didn't bother me.

Overall, I enjoyed this romance from a new to me author. Her other books, based on the synopses I read, sound a little intriguing but not something I would normally choose to read, not being a big fan of mythology, but I liked her writing here well enough that if I come across them I'm very likely now to pick them up. And I do hope that there will be another book about Rikki and Owen, or at least set in their world. I'd gladly read about Luke next.

Goodreads synopsis: Three years ago, Rikki Albemarle watched her best friend die at the hands of a supernatural evil. Certain she was slated to be the next victim, Rikki fled her small Smoky Mountain hometown, vowing to never come back. Plagued by nightmares and knowing she's the only one who believes Mina's death was no accident, Rikki returns with hopes of finding answers and holding the killer accountable.

Rikki is convinced the key to unlocking the secret of Mina's death lies with Owen Amir, the alluring young army vet who once claimed her heart. But the deeper Rikki digs into Owen's past, the more she's torn between the urgings of her heart and her memories of him on the night Mina died.

After falling further into the rabbit hole, Rikki lands at the feet of an ancient and powerful evil determined to finish what it started years before. To survive, she'll have to make a decision: believe Owen is the monster she always feared he might be or trust him enough to stay and fight for a second chance at love.