Genre: Women’s Fiction

POV: 3rd Person

Sensuality: Subtle

Violence: N/A

Format: Digital

Source: A digital ARC courtesy of Harlequin via NetGalley

My Grade: A

Pamela Morsi is a recent discovery and I now have several of her books on my TBR pile (or its digital equivalent). When I saw that her July 2010 release was available for request at NetGalley, I literally squealed with delight. My enthusiasm was not misplaced. The Bikini Car Wash is a perfect romantic summer read.

Following her mother’s death, Andrea Wolkowicz quits her corporate job to move back to her small hometown. Andi’s twin sister Angelica – or Jelly – was deprived of oxygen at birth. As a result, she has special needs, and will never be able to live independently. Now that their mother is gone, Andi wants to help her dad look after Jelly.

The decision to move home was easy. Finding a new job is not. After months of searching, Andi decides the only way for her to earn money is to be self-employed. As luck would have it, her father’s still owns the premises of his old car wash business. But there’s a problem: thanks to the machinations of Hank Guthrie, a city alderman and one of the Big Business Owners in Plainville, the lot is under a preservation order. This seriously limits the possibilities to run any business other than the one originally on the lot: a hand car wash which can hardly compete against today’s cheaper, automatic varieties.

After her plans to open a coffee shop are rejected, Andi decides her only option is to re-open the car wash, albeit with a twist: she and her staff will hand wash cars wearing nothing but bikinis. The The Bikini Car Wash inevitably provokes both outrage and amusement in Plainview. With half the town campaigning to have her closed down, and the other half cheering her on, Andi is surprised to find support from an unlikely source: Hank Guthrie’s son, Pete, the current CEO of Guthrie Foods and Andi’s secret high school crush.

The Bikini Car Wash is a wonderful, feel-good book. It’s billed as Women’s Fiction, but it could also be described as Contemporary Romance. The focus on the romance element is stronger than it was in Red’s Hot Honky-Tonk Bar, the other book I’ve read by Pamela Morsi. The characters are complex, and the plot has a few unexpected twists.

I adored Pete Guthrie. He’s one of the best examples of a beta hero that I’ve come across. His relationship with his controlling father was brilliantly done. Hank Guthrie is an inveterate womaniser, ruthless in business, and disappointed in his son. Pete is determined not to emulate Hank, and has done his best to become a very different man to the one his father wanted him to be. As a result, they frequently clash.

Andi is a strong heroine. She’s funny, intelligent, and cares about people. When Hank and his cronies try to intimidate her into closing her business, she refuses to back down. What Andi lacks, though, is the ability to view her parents’ marriage through anything but rose-tinted glasses. She’s convinced herself that theirs was the perfect marriage and that she will settle for nothing less. Needless to say, Andi’s perception is skewed, and she is shocked when she discovers the secret her father has been keeping for over forty years.

Walt, Andi’s father, is another excellent character. His relationship with Andi’s mother was complex, and the author doesn’t take the predictable route in the depiction of their story. He’s fiercely supportive of both his daughters.

The absolute winner in this book, though, is Jelly. She provides some much needed comic relief to what is, at times, a sad story. Her obsession with Law and Order and constant use of phrases from the show made me laugh out loud. On occasion, Jelly’s simplistic world view is more accurate than that of her more intelligent family members. Pamela Morsi paints a vivid and convincing picture of what it’s like to live with a learning disability, and what it’s like for their caregivers.

I loved The Bikini Car Wash and I can highly recommend it to all readers looking for an absorbing, and ultimately uplifting book to read this summer.

Genre: Psychological Suspense/Women’s Fiction

POV: 1st Person (told from the alternating points of view of the two main characters)

Sensuality: Subtle

Violence: There are some disturbing scenes but most of the violence occurs off page

My Grade: A

I’ve been a fan of Dorothy Koomson’s books since I read My Best Friend’s Girl four years ago. Her novels are often labelled as chick lit although I would classify them more as general fiction or women’s fiction.

The Ice Cream Girls is the first of Dorothy Koomson’s books to be released in hardback, and marks an exciting new departure for her as a writer. I’ve been looking forward to it since I read the intriguingly vague blurb on her website. Given how much I’d enjoyed her previous books, I had high expectation of this one, and it more than surpassed them. This is a creepy, cleverly constructed tale of psychological suspense which kept me turning the pages until the very end.

As the story of The Ice Cream Girls contains plenty of twists and turns which I’m loath to spoil, I’m going to be deliberately vague in my description of its premise. Pretty teenagers Serena Gorringe and Poppy Carlisle – one black, one white – become embroiled in the most notorious murder trial in decades. Based on a photograph of the girls posing nonchalantly in bikinis and eating ice cream, the press dub them The Ice Cream girls. The photo becomes synonymous with the trial, presenting a stark contrast between the youth and beauty of the girls and the hideousness of their alleged crime.

One of them is sentenced to life in prison, while the other is acquitted on a technicality, and returns to live in a society which believes her guilty. She struggles to carve a life for herself in spite of her past. She succeeds in marrying a nice man and having two gorgeous children. However, she is aware that her present happiness is built on lies and deceit. Plagued by panic attacks, she struggles to maintain a semblance of normalcy while living in daily expectation of her precarious house of cards coming crashing down around her.

After twenty years in prison, the girl who was convicted is released on parole. Shell-shocked and institutionalized, she’s regarded as a pariah by both her family and the world at large. Determined to prove her innocence, she wants to track down her former co-defendant and force her to set the record straight about what really happened that fateful night.

The Ice Cream Girls is a masterpiece. Dorothy Koomson excels at characterization and this is very much a character-driven story. It is told from the alternating points of view of both Poppy and Serena. As each have their own distinct voice, it’s easy to keep track of who is narrating. The book also contains flashbacks which are deftly woven into the story. I’m not fond of flashbacks in general, but I think this book represents one of the best examples of their clever use that I’ve ever read.

For fans of subtle psychological suspense, I can highly recommend The Ice Cream Girls. It’s only February but I already have a book to include on my Best of 2010 list.

(I believe Dorothy Koomson’s books can be hard to find outside Europe, but they are available at The Book Depository.)

Other Reviews of The Ice Cream Girls:

Chick Lit Reviews – 5 out of 5

Genre: General Fiction/Women’s Literature

POV: 1st Person

Sensuality: Kisses

Violence: Mild

My Grade: B

The Sinful Life of Lucy Burns by Elizabeth Leiknes is a charming tale well-told. I hesitate to use the term “quirky” but it fits this story.

When Lucy Burns was eleven, her older sister was hit by a truck and died. Ellen was revived by paramedics but remained in a coma. To save her sister’s life, Lucy writes a desperate letter “To Whom It May Concern”. Soon after sending her letter, Ellen wakes up from the coma. When Lucy receives a reply from the mysterious “To Whom It May Concern”, little does she know that she’s made a deal with the Devil.

Every birthday thereafter, he grants Lucy her heart’s desire. Lucy wishes for big breasts and beauty, for popularity and academic success. The Devil fulfils all her wishes, but there is a catch. After Lucy graduates from High School, she receives a visit from a strange woman. She says she is to be Lucy’s mentor and help her fulfil her side of the bargain she never realized she’d made. Lucy is to be a facilitator to Hell. She is to guide wicked souls to the Devil’s portals and leave them to their fiery fate. If Lucy refuses to cooperate, her sister, Ellen, will die – as she was meant to have done eight years previously.

Lucy’s new role is not without its perks. In return for cutting all contact with her family and friends, Lucy is given untold riches and ageless beauty. For nineteen years, Lucy guides bad people to their untimely demise. At first, she’s taken in by the glamour of her new lifestyle and revels in her ability to attract any man she desires. But she is not allowed to have a relationship with them and female friendship is discouraged. Despite her wealth and good looks, Lucy leads a lonely life. She longs for a husband and children of her own and to reconnect with the family she left behind all those years ago.

A chance at salvation comes from an unlikely source. When Lucy’s pop idol, Teddy Nightingale, tells her of a loophole whereby she can get out of her deal with the Devil, Lucy jumps at the chance to secure her freedom. In order to achieve this, she must achieve three goals: facilitate 54 souls to their death before a certain date; find someone to replace her as a facilitator to Hell; and “take out a target”. This loophole is not without risk. Should Lucy fail to meet her goals, she’ll face a fate far worse than death.

The Sinful Life of Lucy Burns is an original story. Lucy proves to be a surprisingly likeable protagonist. There is a romantic subplot which is well done, but the main focus is on Lucy and her attempt to regain control over her life. She’s forced to examine good and evil and if it’s even possible to tell them apart at times.

At 167 pages, this book is very short. I felt a couple of plot threads were left hanging. Perhaps if the book had been a little longer, these loose threads could have been satisfactorily resolved. Apart from that, I found The Sinful Life of Lucy Burns to be an engaging read and one which I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend.

Other Reviews of The Sinful Life of Lucy Burns:

Janet at Dear Author - B+

Trashionista – 5 out of 5

Avidbookreader – B+

The Book Smugglers – 8 out of 10

One Reckless Summer is the first book I’ve read by Toni Blake and it’s the start of a new series set in Destiny, Ohio. It’s a blend of contemporary romance and women’s fiction. Reminiscent of Robyn Carr’s Virgin River, it made for a pleasant read.

Jenny Tolliver is the quintessential good girl. She’s a respectful daughter, a former cheerleader and homecoming queen. She went out with the “right” boys and eventually married the “right” man, sacrificing her dream of becoming an astronomer in the process. Now she’s recently divorced from her cheating ex-husband, who had the temerity to tell her she was sexually repressed and therefore the cause of his affair.

Jenny is sick of being good. So she quits her sensible teaching job and moves back to her hometown of Destiny. She intends to spend the summer recharging and deciding what to do with the rest of her life. Living in her old house on the lake, she remembers Mick Brody, the town bad boy and object of Jenny’s secret teenage fantasies. The Brody’s lived across the lake and couldn’t have been more different from her family. Jenny’s father is chief of police in Destiny; the Brody’s tended to be on the other side of a jail cell door.

One night, Jenny rows across the lake to have an unimpeded view of the stars. It’s Brody territory but she doesn’t expect to meet anyone as the Brody’s are supposed to be long gone. Consequently, she’s flabbergasted when she encounters none other than Mick Brody himself. Throwing away a lifetime of good intentions, Jenny and Mick have hot sex and she realizes she’s not the staid, repressed person her ex claimed she was. What follows is a summer of secrets and passion, with Mick hiding something which has the potential to destroy their new-found love.

One Reckless Summer is a light read and reminiscent of Susan Wiggs and Robyn Carr’s books. It has a nice cast of characters, a sweet romance, and just enough poignancy to add a bit of depth and prevent it from being forgettable fluff.

Although I liked it quite a bit, I found Jenny exasperating. When Mick asks Jenny to keep his secret, she promises him she’ll do so, but then promptly tells her best friend and later her father. I was annoyed she never confessed to Mick that she broke her promise to him by blabbing to Sue-Ann. She only admits to telling her dad when Mick confronts her about it. The dishonesty bothered me quite a bit as there was no reason for it and it hardly represents a fortuitous start to a serious relationship.

The romantic subplot involving Jenny’s dad and Anita, the bar owner, was nicely done. Mick’s secret was heart-wrenching and added a touch of gravity to an otherwise upbeat book. We get glimpses of potential future couplings and I plan to read the next in the series. If you’re looking for a light summer read, One Reckless Summer could be for you. Grade: B-