Rosh's Reviews

AUTHOR: Melissa Ferguson NARRATOR: Karissa Vacker GENRE: Cozy Mystery + Romcom PUBLICATION DATE: February 17, 2026 RATING: 3.5 stars. In a Nutshell: A cozy mystery plus romcom. (Yes, you read that right.) Contains all the ingredients of both the genres, which works both for and against the book. Had the potential to be a book about books, but doesn’t deliver in that regard. Decent characters of varying ages, decent mystery, average romance. Still, works well if you want a light-hearted entertainer. Plot Preview: Twenty-seven-year-old Penelope aka Pip is happy in her high-stress job as a personal assistant to popular mystery author Hugh Griffin, and by extension, to the Magnificent Seven – a group of seven authors including Hugh who write in different genres but band together for cross-promotions and brainstorming. When Pip organises a book cruise featuring the Magnificent Seven and their fans, the last thing she expects is for one of the seven to be found murdered on the second day of...

AUTHOR: Clodagh Murphy GENRE: Romance. PUBLICATION DATE: September 6, 2025 RATING: 3.75 stars. In a Nutshell: A romantic comedy filled with the Irish festive spirit. Forced proximity trope. A good balance of comedy and emotions, though it never gets too intense. Nice characters, though a few are a bit too pushy. Sweet romance, with a teeny bit of steam. A heartwarming read with only a few misses and eyerolls. (Coming from this Grinch, consider this a compliment.) Recommended. Plot Preview: When her boyfriend breaks up with her just a few days before Christmas, Mary McBride longs for a morale boost with her loving family back in Dingle. So she books a last-minute flight from New York to Ireland, hoping to surprise her family. When she reaches home, she discovers that her family had the very same idea, and they have gone to New York to surprise her. Worse, they entered into a house-swap agreement, and Mary has to handle the grumpy Evan Prentiss, who wants his temporary house all to himse...

AUTHOR: Katherine Center GENRE: Romcom PUBLICATION DATE: July 11, 2023 RATING: 2.75 stars. In a Nutshell: A contemporary romance-drama featuring a FMC with an unusual medical issue. Good characters though a tad too peppy and/or self-centred at times. Interesting use of the medical diagnosis. Most of the book was great as per the genre, with a good balance of rom and com. But the final quarter had too farfetched a situation. Still, not a bad option, especially considering the kind of plots we usually get in this genre. Plot Preview: Twenty-year-old Sadie is poised for the big change in her lacklustre career as a portrait artist: she has placed in the top ten finalists in one of the biggest portrait competitions. Unfortunately, life brings to her another big change, a catastrophic one. Just a few weeks before the finals, she has to undergo an emergency medical procedure and subsequently, gets diagnosed with a “possibly-temporary-but-we-can’t-say-for-sure” condition commonly known as face...

AUTHOR: Emily Henry GENRE: RomCom PUBLICATION DATE: May 3, 2022. RATING: 1.5 stars. In a Nutshell: A steamy romcom about two book lovers. The ‘book about books’ factor tempted me, but this turned out to be absolutely not my kind of read with its overdependence on tropes and needless spice and an abundance of clichés. I should have listened to my friends’ warnings about this book. 😬 Outlier review yet again. Plot Preview: Thirty-two-year-old Nora, a literary agent whose life revolves around books, hates that she is destined to be the cliched career-loving city girl whom men ditch in order to find their true soulmate. But she is dedicated to her work and to her younger sister Libby, and for the latter, she can do anything, including going to the small town of Sunshine Falls for a month-long getaway. The last person Nora expects to run into in a place so far from New York is her nemesis Charlie, a brooding editor from back in the city. The two keep bumping into each other… ( You can f...

AUTHOR: Sally Thorne SERIES: The Improbable Meet-Cute, #3 GENRE: Short Story PUBLICATION DATE: January 23, 2024 RATING: 3 stars. In a Nutshell: Finally a story that has a “meetcute” as promised. Gets a bit too cheesy in its dialogues, but after reading two 1-star duds in this series, this came as a huge relief. Will work well if you are looking for quick and mindless fun. (The word “mindless” is crucial to remember!) Plot Preview: Rosie has always felt second best to her talented and smart elder sister Bree. They are still very close to each other. To celebrate Bree’s latest promotion, Rosie books an expensive package at an elite day spa, ready for a day of pampering. One of the treatments involves entering a shell-shaped flotation tank. The last thing Rosie expects is to be locked inside her tank. When firefighters are called to open up the shell, one of them seems to have a dreamy voice, a corny sense of humour, and a high flirtation quotient. Will this “Dreamboat” turn out to be t...

AUTHOR: Katherine Center NARRATOR: Patti Murin GENRE: Romantic Comedy PUBLICATION DATE: June 11, 2024 RATING: 2.5 stars. In a Nutshell: A fun romcom with an entertaining premise, but mixed feelings about the lead characters as they are so toxic. Liked the secondary characters much better than the main pair. The first half is much stronger than the second half. Slightly outlier review coming up. Plot Preview: As Emma Wheeler is the sole caretaker for her dad, she has willingly put aside her dreams of becoming a screenwriter for more than a decade. But when her friend and agent calls her with the opportunity of a lifetime, and a chance to work with her idol, acclaimed screenwriter Charlie Yates, Emma cannot resist. With her younger sister Sylvie stepping into the carer’s role, Emma flies to Los Angeles, hoping for the chance of a lifetime to convert into a memorable work experience. What she didn’t expect is that Charlie Yates didn’t even know about her arrival, and is adamant that he ...

  AUTHOR:  Chrissie Harrison GENRE: Romantic Comedy RATING:  3.5 stars. In a Nutshell: A romcom with some serious and emotional themes built into the narrative. I liked the themes, but had mixed feelings about the ‘rom’ and the ‘com’, partly due to my reading preferences. On the whole, a good debut novel. Plot Preview: Ever since the death of his fiancée Katie three years ago, thirty-two-year Drew has not dated. Furthermore, his elevatophobia has worsened after the accident, which means that he uses the stairs to reach the ninth floor office of Park Productions, where he works as an accountant. However, when he is compelled to use the elevator one day and is almost on the verge of an panic attack, he hears a female voice saying, ‘Be Careful.” Is he just imagining the voice, or is it Katie’s ghost watching out for him, or is just someone playing a prank?  Hannah, another employee of Park Productions, suffers from severe social anxiety. This, coupled with several bad r...

AUTHOR: Bella Osborne GENRE: Romantic Comedy RATING: 2.5 stars. In a Nutshell: An imperfect Christmas story. Could have been really good had the characters behaved better. Not my favourite Bella Osborne work by far. Story Synopsis: Blythe is desperate to sell just one more house this month so that she can set a new record at the real estate firm she works with. So she bends the truth just a teensy bit when she sells a home in the picturesque little town of Holly Cross to city dweller Sam. Sam hates Christmas, so he is unaware that he has purchased a residence in the centre of the most Christmassy village of the country. Needless to say, as Christmas draws near, Sam is the Grinch who might jeopardise Holly Cross’s chances of winning a Christmas village competition. Now Blythe has to do some quick reparations as she is the one to blame. The story comes to us in the third person perspective of Blythe and Vicky – Blythe’s best friend. I admit, I was looking for light fluff when I picke...

AUTHOR: Pepper D. Basham SERIES: Skymar, #2 GENRE: Romantic Comedy, Epistolary novel. RATING: 3.75 stars. In a Nutshell: Quite similar to the first book of the series, in both good points and the not-so-good points. I liked the first one better for the bookish bits. A fun read, if you are okay with the never-ending emails and postscripts, and with the repeat of the formula from Book One. Story Synopsis: The youngest Edgewood sibling, twenty-three-year-old Penelope, has just landed on the beautiful island of Skymar for a three-month internship with the local Darling House Theatre. As a lover of musicals, she brings with her boundless energy and a tendency to burst into song, both of which are somewhat unnerving to the serious theatre owner, Matt Gray, though his brother Alec seems fascinated by the American whirlwind. Penelope starts her venture with her whole heart, but deep within, she longs to be taken seriously, as most people around her seem to focus only on her clothes and her chi...

AUTHOR: Pepper D. Basham SERIES: Skymar, #1 GENRE: Romantic Comedy, Epistolary novel. RATING: 3.75 stars. In a Nutshell: A cute epistolary romance between two book nerds. Sweet storyline, loveable characters, loads of bookish trivia, predictable, Christian. (Only the last feature caught me by surprise.) The epistolary part is exaggerated though – no one will write such elaborate emails to their family members. Still, a fun read. Story Synopsis: Thirty-year-old Izzy Edgewood is an introverted librarian who prefers the company of her books to romance. While she does want to meet her Prince Charming, she hasn’t found anyone who matches up to the fictional men she adores. When her well-meaning but meddling cousin Josephine sets up an account for Izzy on a dating app, Izzy is horrified. However, she is even more stunned when the app connects her with Brodie, a fellow LOTR lover and one as family-oriented as Izzy is. The only downside is that Brodie lives an ocean away, on a small island ...

AUTHOR:  Suzy K Quinn GENRE: Romantic Comedy-Drama. RATING: 4.75 stars. In a Nutshell: The greatest, sweetest, cutest, saddest, “awesome-est” love story ever told! I am in luvvvvvv! PSA  – This isn't the kind of romcom you think it is.  Story Synopsis: If you see the blurb on Goodreads and Amazon, you will notice that the plot has been kept absolutely vague. So if the author wants you to discover the story for yourself, who am I to spill the beans and spoil the fun? No synopsis this time. My lips are sealed. Now, the problem is that without a synopsis, I am having a tough time writing my usual detailed Bookish Yays and Nays. So with such a hazy “synopsis”, all you will get is equally fuzzy reasons. Hopefully, they will be enough to convince you. Bookish Yays: 😍 Callum. I can’t and won’t tell you who Callum is. But just know, he deserves one entire YAY! 😍 The plot. Guessable, and yet, so very original!  😍 The blurb says: ‘YOU WILL CRY WHEN YOU READ THIS!’ I hardly...