"In this house we don’t give dead beat dads a pass and we don’t give asshole heroes a pass. Fuck both of them, this book was trash

This was a hate read.

I’ve yet to read a goodreads choice nominee that wasn’t complete garbage.

Instead of a review, as there are plenty out there, I’m just going to list all the shitty things this hero did to the heroine, I’m sure this will be long.

-Constantly disparaging her for wearing make up and doing her hair. Telling her she looks better without it like she even needs his opinion.


-He hides her luggage with all her warm clothes and proper footwear, forcing her to wear the same clothes not suited to the wilderness. Then keeps hiding them when he sees she’s struggling. Even after he apologizes for being shitty to her he still hides her luggage and makes her feel bad for wanting her stuff.

-Right after he meets her, and is basically doing her dad a favour bringing her to him, he flies the plane recklessly, deliberately swooping in order to make her airsick and to scare her. He just met her and decided he didn’t like her so as a true professional pilot, he decides to be cruel to her.


-Rushing her to leave for a plane ride and then shaming her for wanting time to get ready because he was supposed to deliver medicine to a sick child and it was urgent. Except he never told her what they were doing and she had no idea someone needed medicine urgently. Yet he still shamed her for it and for wanting to put make up on. What an absolute dick. No one should ever be in a relationship with someone so deeply callous and cruel.

-Makes constant cruel and disparaging ‘jokes’ about her, trying to make her feel small and not good enough but don’t worry, they are just jokes.

-mocks her for asking for soy milk, when she explains she has a dairy allergy, he rolls his eyes and continues to mock her and calls her high maintenance in front of a cashier to humiliate her, for no reason.

Note to the narrator, Sault Ste Marie is not pronounced salt saint Marie, it’s Sue. Obviously she was not Canadian, no Canadian would embarrass themselves with that pronunciation. 😬

This was book 13 in my read Canada challenge."

"Dark Iceland #1
Snowblind by Ragnar Jónasson
Narrated by Will Damron

Rookie policeman Ari Thor Arason will be good at his job, I think. Outwardly he has a calm, serious demeanor and gets down to the job he's meant to do, now that he's actually been hired by a police department. He had been a theology student but realized that wasn't for him and now he's glad that he has pursued this new career path.

Ari is really bad at relationships, though. His live in girlfriend, Kristen, is still back in Reykjavik and things are rocky between them (I'm Team Kristen all the way). In her last year of medical school, plus working at the local hospital, plus her medical studies, Kristen is very busy. So when Ari tells her he's taken a job in the remote town of Siglufjörður, without discussing it with her first, it does not go down well. Ari is mad at Kristen that she's putting her studies first, that she won't even travel with him to the new location, that she's not totally supportive at this huge change in their lives, that she doesn't dote on his every whim. So Ari practically ghosts Kristen, that'll teach her!

Sometimes it's better to NOT get to know the inner thoughts of a main character because you would like them better not knowing their every selfish, whiny, poor me thought. I'm not complaining, Ari's immaturity is interesting and funny to me, I'm in awe of his inability to see Kristen's side in any way and that he thinks she's being a meanie for not supporting a move that would blow up her years of study and work. I can only hope Ari grows up eventually but, for now, he puts his foot in this and other relationships really, really well.

Siglufjorour is supposed to have nothing going on. No need to lock doors, everyone is in everyone's business, work will probably be the same old boring thing every day. There is a local theater group though and a highly esteemed elderly writer has an accident that kills him. Then other things happen, bad things. Turns out that the accident might not have been an accident. So the hunt is on for a killer and this isn't the first time someone has killed in this community but that's something that isn't spoken of, despite the tendency to gossip in this town.

It's fun reading this with Jayme and we have several more books in this series to go. Now that we have started, a brick wall couldn't stop us from reading/hearing one after the other. I know I gripe about Ari but I'm hoping we'll get to see him grow up, he needs to grow up, and I look forward to seeing where his future (and Kristen's) take them.

Pub January 31, 2017

Thanks to my library and Libby for this audiobook."

"Just One Bite by Miranda Rijks
Narrated by Kymberley Cochrane

All eyes are on celebrity chef Brittany Cole and she knows it. She has regular shows, a magnificent home, money, fame, a handsome husband and adorable daughter and she must be on her best behavior, at all times. But, behind the scenes, Brittany is more than doing it all, Her husband travels, he doesn't always seem up front about things in their lives, his parents are always critical of everything about Brittany and there are so many women who seem jealous of Brittany's life. Her "friends" are really employees or co-workers and there are not enough hours in the day to get things done.

Plus there is Brittany's past and guilt she'll never live down. Hopefully most of that is behind her, she's had therapy, she's all good now, isn't she? But on one of her most hectic days, when the nanny doesn't show and her boss is yelling at her as usual, Brittany yells at her four year old daughter in a grocery store, the incident is videoed, and it's all posted online. But, what really happened isn't posted, instead a deep fake that is much worse than just yelling, is posted.

Brittany is now viral and it is not good. Things get worse when there are more videos of Brittany being a horrible mom and the world is against her now. With a marriage that was already shaky, this marriage is going to blow big time. Things continue downhill, there is a body, there are police, and Brittany appears to be the terrible mom she never wanted to be.

I'd never be in Brittany's place because of no fame, no kid, no riches, etc, but if I was in Brittany's place, there is so much I would have done differently than Brittany did. I yelled, NO!, more than once but Brittany wasn't listening. She even knew she shouldn't do what she was doing and did it anyway. But it's all entertaining from my standpoint and it's impossible to see how Brittany is going to untangle herself from this tremendous mess. Spotlighted is that AI and deep fakes can destroy lives and that we can't believe what we see online. And also, there is a line to draw when it comes to success when it means handing over the raising of your kid to others. But that is easier said than done when we aren't all rich like Brittany. This is my first time listening to Kymberley Cochrane and she did a fine job with the narration. She even sounded just like AI when she needed to do so, which is somewhat disturbing.

Thanks to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for this ARC"