The Seven O'Clock Club by Amelia Ireland

In a perfectly ordinary building, four strangers who couldn't be more different meet for the first time. Their skepticism of this new kind of grief therapy—and the unnervingly perceptive group leader—means they're all wary, but as the weeks go by, they find themselves returning again and again, pulled to work toward healing, even if it means first facing the pain head-on.

 

A sharp-tongued lawyer who has no intention of letting down her walls, a fragile young woman looking for a place to belong, a musician at the top of his game who's one drink away from losing it all, and an interior designer facing the crumbling of her picture-perfect life—this unlikely group slowly opens up, not only to the possibility of a happier future but to friendship, change, and even romance.

 

When a shocking revelation reveals the real reason they were chosen for this group, it shakes the very foundation of what they thought they knew. What began as a journey designed to heal turns out to be a much greater test of friendship, strength, and love as they realize happiness is just outside the door...if they're brave enough to seek it.

 Publisher: Berkley |Genre: Literary Fiction | Source: Publisher | Rating: 2.5

When four strangers from four different walks of life are brought together in a grief support group, Genevieve, the leader of the group is determined to prove that an experimental treatment will help heal their broken hearts. Although resistant at the start, they soon find themselves trusting each other as they reveal pieces of their lives. Just when they start to feel as though they’re being helped through their grief, someone reveals a secret that will rattle everyone to their core.

Just a note before we get into the review. I don’t want to spoil this book so I’m going to give my thoughts on the book without diving into too much of the plot.

On to the review, I was intrigued by the premise: four very different strangers untied in grief and sharing their very personal stories in hope of healing their wounds. This could have been a beautiful story of processing grief and healing from loss instead the execution fell a bit flat.

There’s four characters (Victoria, Mischa, Freya, Callum) who are at different stages and ages in their lives. They’re from vastly different backgrounds, vastly different personalities, and vastly different experiences. They each share their own POVs in rotating chapters, but instead of having four vastly different voices, they blend together to the point I had to go back and read the chapter heading so I knew which character I was reading. It would have improved plot had each character had their own voice instead of the author just telling us they were this way or that way.

There are also plot inconsistencies. There’s an event that happens in the book that we’re told, in great detail, should not have been able to happen, yet there’s another event that’s pretty much the same that was never brought up when these situations were discussed. A few other things occurred that wasn’t addressed but I don’t want to spoil anything so I’ll leave it at that.

I also feel as though this book was a little too long and repetitive. 368 pages felt a bit much given that not a lot of different things were happening. It could have easily worked as a novella or a short story given the way it ended.

Overall, this could have been a moving, beautifully written story of healing but, sadly, it was underwhelming and underdeveloped. I’m having a hard time finding something to recommend about this one, which is disappointing because I was expecting to love this one.

A Proposal to Die For by Molly Harper

Jessamine Bricker loves a plan. Contingency plans and pros-and-cons lists are her love language, and because of that, her proposal planning business is thriving. But with rent costs rising at her office building, Jess jumps at the chance to plan a proposal between her snobby high school classmate, Diana, and her very wealthy boyfriend, Trenton Tillard…the Fourth.

 Roped into joining Diana’s ”pre-bridal” retreat at the exclusive Golden Ash resort, Jess hopes to fade into the background, get some work done, and maybe find some time to unwind. Their first day is anything but relaxing: Diana is furious about the mountain spa’s lack of cell phone reception, the couple next door argues constantly, and Jess swears she just saw a drug deal go down. To top it all off, she’s warned to stay out of the woods by the gruff and sexy chef, Dean Osbourne. Is this a retreat or a horror movie?

As Jess tries to do her job while placating the bride-to-be and her increasingly over-the-top demands, she spends more and more time with the resort owners, finding herself much more in tune with the laid-back Osbourne family than her social climbing “boss.” Between a meditation garden-related drowning and Jess’s discovery of a body in a sauna, it's clear that deadly secrets abound at the Golden Ash. Now it’s up to Jess to unravel the mysteries here in the mountains—before all her plans are cancelled…permanently.

Publisher: Berkley |  Genre: Cozy Mystery/Romantic Suspense/Murder Mystery | Source: Publisher  | Rating: 4

A cozy mystery from Molly Harper? Yes, please!

I have been a fan of Molly Harper’s writing from the moment I first stepped foot in Half-Moon Hollow so when I received an invitation to read an ARC of her new mystery I jumped at the chance and, I must say, I wasn’t disappointed.

Jessamine Bricker is a fantastic proposal planner with a booming business but there’s a problem. The building she’s currently in is going up for sell and unless she finds a way to raise the money, she’s at risk of losing her business. So, when Diana, her former classmate, approaches Jess to help her wealthy boyfriend, Trenton, plan an unforgettable proposal, Jess can’t refuse. While Jess knew Diana wasn’t going to make things easy, she wasn’t expecting to be roped into a ‘pre-bridal’ retreat at wellness spa on a remote mountain with no cell service, iffy guests, and grumpy chefs. When she discovers a body in the meditation garden, she finds herself growing closer to the staff at Golden Ash, particularly the grumpy chef, Dean. Although when a second body turns up, Jess starts to wonder what secrets the Golden Ash is harboring.

I’m going to be honest, I love Molly Harper’s paranormals but I often struggle with her contemporary novels. While I was eager to read this one, I was a little apprehensive but I’m happy to report I was hooked from the start of this one.  Everything I love about Molly Harper’s writing (the quirky yet realistic characters, the snarky banter, the unique plots, fun dialogue, and different yet believable mystery elements) is in A Proposal to Die For.

I liked Jess; she seemed like a friend you would invite over for tea and a chat. The same thing could be said for the owners/staff of the Golden Ash. Dean was also an interesting character but I would have liked a little more of him on the page.  Diana and her friends were extremely over the top and rather annoying.

There is a romance aspect to the book between Jess and Dean. I think they worked well as a couple, they’ve both been through some things in their pasts and they can understand what the other is going through and what they need to do work through their issues. While I liked them as a couple, I would have liked them to have more time developing their relationship on the page.

The mystery, or rather mysteries, was interesting. A lot of Molly Harper’s paranormals have a mystery aspect to them that’s worked into the overall plot and I did feel that is how this one was presented as well. While it wasn’t formulaic in the approach, it did have a similar feel. Unfortunately, both mysteries were easy to work out the who and why but it didn’t take away from my enjoyment of the plot.

I’m not sure how to label this one. It’s listed as a ‘cozy mystery’ but I don’t feel as though it fits as Jess wasn’t really acting as a amateur sleuth. While she did ask a few questions, I didn’t really see it as her actively searching for clues. It had elements of ‘romantic suspense’ and ‘romantic comedy’ but it was light on showing the actual romance. Molly Harper is calling it her first foray in the world of ‘murder mystery’. I feel as though it’s an amalgamation of the genres yet it worked.

While I truly enjoyed this one, I had a few issues. The pacing, at times, was a little uneven. The book opens with the discovery of the dead body in the sauna, which has been the trend in mystery books as of late, then goes back several weeks. Rather than jumping straight into the action, there’s a lot of setup and introductions that bogged down the plot. It did pick up in the middle and keep a decent pace. The ending also felt a little rushed. Given the nature of one of the mysteries, I honestly thought this would be a series and that mystery in particular would be a series arc instead of suddenly concluding.

Overall, this was a fun read that I enjoyed. Personally, I would have liked to have this as a series. I think some aspects (the romance and the one mystery) would have benefited from having more time to fully develop on the page.