Nah you guys. This was from beginning to end a hodge podge of other of Lamb's works.

A character who is overweight (check) a mysterious family secret that really isn't secret if you have any critical thinking skills (check) a family that has names for all of their food (check) a family that somehow is making the best food or cake ever (check) a woman who is in love with a 6 plus foot man with barely any personality (check) a comment on CPS (check) children who have been abused (check). I liked Lamb's "My Very Best Friend" because she at least moved all parties to Scotland which made things interesting. This was written in 2017 and it just reads so poorly I didn't know what to do with it besides feel aggravated and relieved when I finished. 

I also did not like Olivia, she seems to be a victim of her own worst self at times and I had zero sympathy for her when she had her family and estranged husband ready to help but she was all, my pride, my pride. Don't keep going on about having $8 in your bank account and dealing with a terrible boss when you don't have to! I just...I am pulling my hair right now.

I can't say much about other characters because they are not developed at all. And I swear Olivia's nephew issues reminded me of another book of hers but I was too tired to look it up. 

I also shuddered at the HEA we get cause I have so many comments on it, but will wait until below to discuss in spoilers.

Trigger warning: Depicts incidents of physical abuse of a child

So this one was my least favorite out of my Cathy Lamb reading spree. I think the problem is that the main character (Grenadine) doesn't even sound similar to the headstrong girl and then young adult we hear about via CPS reports and then court proceedings. I think that Lamb didn't think that through enough when she set this up. She wanted I think to have a book about a wife in hiding from her soon to be ex and had a whole story about her past. It didn't help that we also get narratives from an unseen killer in this one and it doesn't take too long to figure out who this may be and why it's important to Grenadine. I also thought the romance was pretty meh. I also loathed, loathed Grenadine's temper and how she talked and threatened people. It wasn't funny or anything like that to me. There's also comments about how she gets grossed out thinking about a woman in that way, but she's fine with lesbians (yeah that happened...twice in this book). All in all I was glad to put this one away. 

"What I Remember Most" follows Grenadine Scotch Wild who is in hiding from her husband Covey. Covey is apparently the head of a similar type Enron business and has tied Grenadine up in his financial shenanigans. Grenadine is trying to hide from Covey and also come up with money to pay her divorce attorney and her possible criminal attorney if the case goes to court. Grenadine has only $500 and her car and the art supplies she took. After being told no in several towns about possible work, Grenadine ends up in the town of Pineridge and gets work at the local bar/restaurant and then eventually at a furniture maker business as well. We also have Grenadine thinking often of the parents she recalls from her memories, but she never saw again after she was 7. 

So Grenadine as a child was all spitfire. I loved the parts showing via other people (police reports, CPS reports, court proceedings) what a fighter she was. Your heart also breaks for her though when you find out how she split through the cracks and eventually was in one foster home after another. She holds onto her art (which seems to be mixed medium collages) through her childhood and adulthood and then marries Covey. This is where Lamb looses me though. We are shown how Grenadine has a good bullshit detector after what she has been though so the Covey thing made zero sense to me. Also I didn't like Grenadine much as an adult living in Pineridge. I thought she was nasty and her temper and remarks to men and women at the bar she was working got old after a while. People saying they come in to watch the show were gross too. How about the owner telling people from the start no harassment of her staff? I guess it was done to make us tee hee about it. I did not. 

I also thought all of Grenadine's relationships were shallow. We just have her eventually meet Cleo and her daughter and then they are calling each other soul sisters. I don't even want to get into that nonsense plot with Cleo cause it didn't even work in the book. I forget though that Lamb always has to have some senseless tragedy though in her works.

Grenadine's love interest Kade was a no go for me. His backstory made zero sense, and the supposed attraction was lame. 

We have the usual case of some of the women and men in this town being eccentric. The thing with the snake guy creeped me out and that's all I am saying about that. 

The writing was okay. I liked the parts actually looking at Grenadine's past and the present stuff was boring. The narratives with the unseen killer could have been edited out. 

The setting of Pineridge seemed like the typical Oregon town that Lamb likes to write about. Everyone knows each other and likes each other and they embrace the eccentricities of all. The police also totally turn a blind eye to crimes if you cook for them or give them pie. I seriously remember this as a thing that happened in "Julia's Chocolates" and something else I am blanking on too.

The ending didn't work for me. I just thought it didn't work. We have Grenadine acting out of character with regard to Covey (no confrontation or anything) and then we have the story go on too long with the reveal of what happened to Grenadine's parents. And then the book just kept going. 

Trigger warning: References to rape

So this was just okay to me. I think the biggest reason why I couldn't give it more than 3 stars was that the whole big just got so bogged down in the Russia plot, the sister dealing with a serial killer case (yep) and then the heroine's constant repetitions to herself to keep a secret that I just didn't care in the end about any of the characters after a while. There were some bright spots, but a couple of things that happened stuck in my craw (the outing of two men via video was gross to me and it being hailed as great was not okay) and I just felt myself getting annoyed. Also too many of the characters in this book sounded similar to previous Lamb characters in "Such a Pretty Face" and "If You Could See What I See". I read this immediately after "My Very Best Friend" and felt let down.

"The Language of Sisters" follows Toni Kozlovsky. She and her family immigrated from Germany after escaping from Russia decades earlier. Toni is a crime reporter and has two sisters, Valerie and Ellie. Valerie is a prosecutor and Ellie designs pillows that are sought after. We find out that Valerie is happily married with two children. Ellie is newly engaged to a man that her family finds wanting. And Toni is dealing with a devastating loss. When Toni realizes she can't keep up with writing about crime, she seeks to get a job at a new magazine that will take about people's homes. While dealing with this Toni is fighting to not get into a relationship with one of her neighbors while also remembering her family's past in Russia and the secret she was told to keep by her parents.

Not too much to say here except I found Toni lackluster. Her romance with Nick also sucked. There was nothing there to grab onto. We hear how great he is, but since Lamb only references them sleeping together and him discussing books in a general way with her, I had nothing else to go on. The men in most of Lamb's books tend to not be very developed, and Nick was not. We also have the whole thing with Toni and her sisters able to "talk" to each other in their heads. Toni needed a lot of hand holding and help and I get that with her past everyone was trying, but I thought she needed therapy.

We have the usual eccentric characters in this one though they are all Toni's neighbors on the dock where she lives on her tugboat. And of course her family. I was able to keep the family straight for the most part. Though the twin sisters and them being hyper sexual got old quick. Same with Ellie and her need to breathe in a bag and talk to herself and her heart like a character that did something similar in "Such a Pretty Face." 

The writing was okay, but the story took way too long to be told. The parts going back and forth to her family in Russia took forever to get to and then I was just bored after a while. It takes a while to get to Toni's father and grandfather being taken away and then what befalls the family after that. 

The setting of Oregon was good, we have references to places or people from her other books that was nice to read about. 

The ending was kind of ridiculous (sorry) with the whole serial killer case and the fallout from that. And I thought the trip back to Russia didn't seem quite realistic either, but what do I know, I have never traveled there. 

Trigger warning: Rape

Dealing with some repairs at my home since Monday so since Sunday evening I have gone on a Cathy Lamb reading binge. I am also almost done with the two Clare Mackintosh books I have right now as well. I should have just kept up to date with reviews, but honestly hit a wall of not wanting to post any of my reviews. So today I am sucking it up and getting caught up.

First up, "My Very Best Friend." So I read Cathy Lamb years ago. I got annoyed by one of her books so badly though "If You Could See What I See" that I just stopped insta-buying her like I have before. So here's the thing about Lamb, her books are mostly comfort romance reads. Usually the heroine will have a dark past, she will fall for a very tall guy with broad shoulders, they will have hot sex (that won't really be described), someone will die, and then they will still (heroine and hero) have a happy ever after. I am always puzzled by Lamb being considered chick lit though, her subject matters are often not breezy enough to be chick lit.

On another note, I do love it best when her books all tie together though. So in some of her books will be references to the characters in her other books. This one though, I believe stands alone. The main reason why I didn't give this 5 stars though is the book gets quite repetitive towards the last 100 pages when the heroine's very best friend returns. 

"My Very Best Friend" takes place in 1990. The main character, Charlotte Mackintosh is about to return to her childhood home in Scotland. Charlotte and her mother left Scotland after the death of Charlotte's father when she was just 15 and she has stayed in touch with her best friend Bridget through letters. Now that a tenant that was renting her family's cottage has died, and Charlotte's mother is off in South Africa, Charlotte is the only one left to return and see about assessing the cottage and getting it ready for sale. Charlotte is also thinking it's a good time to return to Scotland since she hasn't heard from Bridget in a long time and is worried about her. Charlotte though when she returns finds that the home is in bad shape, she's dealing with an awful case of writer's block, and she is starting to think romantic thoughts about Bridget's brother Toran. 

So "My Very Best Friend" deals with some heavy issues. We have Charlotte still affected by her father's death and her wallowing at times in happier memories of her family and her three best friends, Bridget, Toran, and other childhood friend. The four kids often spent every day together. Charlotte we find out is a scientist, but also secretly writes time travel romance novels and is quite successful. Charlotte has been hit with a case of writer's block though and starts to wonder what is next for her. Charlotte is quite logical and I thought Lamb did a great job of slowly revealing Charlotte's first marriage and the supposed visions from her paternal grandmother about her life. 

Lamb typically includes a group of women that get together in her books and this one is no exception. Charlotte is invited to a group that meets weekly and for the most part everyone is great, except for a narrow minded nasty woman. 

The romance between Charlotte and Toran was a nice slow burn. I thought Lamb did a great job of showing off Toran more than she usually does with the heroes in her book. We get to find out about him via Charlotte's remembrances and also what he tells her. We find out that Toran and Bridget had a excessively religious father who beat them and berated his wife. Toran also provides insight into Bridget who is not in Scotland and that they are both looking for.

Lamb via letters though is where she shows the heart of most of the characters. We have Charlotte's letters to Bridget through the years and Bridget's letters back. We also after a time get to see letters that Bridget wrote to Charlotte and never sent. Those were heart breaking. We find out what drove Bridget from the family home years ago and we find out why Toran is so desperate to find her. I am not going to lie, the last part of this book had me in tears Sunday night. I went through a lot of tissues. 

I thought the flow of the book was pretty good up until we get towards the last 100 pages. I think Lamb got too repetitive (which is always a problem) with going over the same ground via the towns people and how Bridget was her best friend and her very best friend. 

The setting of this book is not typical for Lamb. Usually her books take place in Oregon so it was fun to see her move things from Washington state to Scotland. I was intrigued about Scotland, but didn't see enough things to have me feel it was Scotland except for some dialogue here and there. And also in the attitudes of the village towards the end of the book. 

The ending was bittersweet and I really enjoyed it. 

Yeah, I know you are like well this looks like a good book, well it was except for a whole murder subplot that put it in a different category in my mind. It also at times didn't feel realistic with what I would imagine would happen in real life with regards to Jeanne's trial for assault of her ex boyfriend. I think I was highly amused by certain parts of the book and at times thought that Lamb had some bad messaging in here. 

"The Last Time I Was Me" follows Jeanne Stewart who packs up her life in Chicago. She has just blown up her career by giving a talk telling the audience that their lives are meaningless she travels west towards the ocean. She has it in her head maybe she is ready to end things, but she stops in at The Opera Man's Cafe in Weltana, Oregon and ends up staying there for days drinking and eating pancakes. 

Lamb rolls out Stewart's story slowly. I liked Jeanne a lot, though at times I found her selfish. You read about the fact that she had something horrible happen to her which turned off any thoughts of marriage or children. That her mother was the one light in her life and when she died, things got dimmer. But, I didn't like how Jeanne avoided her brother, his family for years due to her loss. I can't imagine doing that. We also see Jeanne dealing with the ramifications of assaulting her ex-boyfriend (Slick Dick as she calls him) and the realization that he was never the love of her life, but she kept seeing him because it was a way to pass the time.

What was intriguing in this book is that Jeanne is going to anger management training for assaulting her ex and through that she meets a lot of other misfits. And we even get a love story in this one with Jeanne opening herself up to something new. 

Jeanne deciding that Weltana is a good place to stay and buying a home that she plans to fix up brings her into contact with some migrant workers that live in the area who are being taken advantage of by the local slumlord who has the workers living in really bad conditions and abuses them in other ways. I don't know how realistic it really is that no one would have reported the guy or that so many in the town would have just watched from afar as it all went on. 

The other characters all had quirks. If you have read a Lamb novel before it's a given. So I just rolled with it. I thought Jeanne's romance with the Governor was realistic, but wanted more of it though. It seemed at times that it wasn't that developed. 

The writing was good though at times I had a hard time with it. For example, we find out early on there's a murder that Jeanne is involved in and even though I disliked the character and what they did, the whole thing didn't sit well with me. Lamb writing it though that you should be okay with it and trying to make it funny felt a bit off. And the civil trial that Jeanne had to deal with I thought was funny, but once again was highly unrealistic on how a jury would find things in the end. The flow was good though at one point I was wondering how many things were going to get thrown at Jeanne in this one. 

The ending I thought was pretty sweet. Jeanne gets a HEA and she even steps up to be more involved in her brother's life.