The heart wants what the heart wants, and our hearts want books.

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Before we jump in, don’t forget to join us TOMORROW, May 1 at 7:30 p.m. CST for #virtualbookclub. Participants do not need to read (or finish) Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery, but they do have to be amenable to spoilers. Click here to register so we can email you the link!

Sometimes you make a plan and it works out, sometimes it doesn’t.  Perhaps we’re forcing it a bit today, or perhaps not.  Let us know what you think in the comments.  

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away, or in February, whichever, we had our last in-person planning meeting for Heart.Wants.Books and we decided, in all of our wisdom, that we needed to share with you a title that is near and dear to our hearts to help us all celebrate the Kentucky Derby.  Fast forward several weeks and the Kentucky Derby, historically held the first weekend in May is now scheduled for Labor Day weekend, in September.  Sad. Face.  Fast forward to the week of this post, and there is now a virtual Derby happening on actual Derby Day (yup, we’re traditionalists, that means May 2, and yes, Nikki has already referred to the September date as “fake Derby Day”).  Churchill Downs is hosting a #KYDerbyAtHome party and will match up to $1 Million in donations for COVID-19 emergency relief efforts.  To aid the celebrations, NBC will have a special broadcast including the 2015 Kentucky Derby, which began American Pharaoh’s Triple Crown Run, and Churchill Downs’ first ever virtual horse race.  The Kentucky Derby: Triple Crown Showdown will be a computer-simulated Derby race featuring 13 past Triple Crown winners.  Festivities begin TODAY at www.KentuckyDerby.com and all this makes me want some Old Forester like nobody’s business. Yes, I know Woodford Reserve sponsors the Kentucky Derby, but Old Forester was a staple at my favorite Derby party so that’s what I want. Regardless, the official Derby website has cocktail recipes with both bourbons, among other libations.

Anyway, so yes, a title to celebrate the Kentucky Derby, while we are in spring and wearing more hats as we take advantage of social distancing to train our hair for less frequent washings (just me? That’s fine), we’re sticking with Tradition! [Tradition!] (yes, a la Fiddler on the Roof).  So, finally, I’d like to introduce you to The Bourbon Kings by J.R. Ward, which also makes me want to drink bourbon, just like the Derby.  We first heard about this book Fall 2018 when blog favorite Sarah J. Maas recommended Ward’s Consumed on the Today Show.   We take suggestions by authors we love and people with good reading taste very seriously, so I read Consumed and promptly suggested it to Ashley.  Then, one fateful day last spring, Ashley and I were planning a buddy read weekend (yes, this became a regular thing not so very long ago) and after evaluating our assorted TBR lists and checking for titles we could both check out from our respective digital libraries, we landed on The Bourbon Kings even though it was a trilogy.  Is this a great way to select titles?  Not always, but it generally works for us.  We don’t always love the books, but we do generally enjoy the experience of reading them together, discussing and dissecting them, and then moving on to something new, sort of like a mini book club with immediate responses.  This book though, the trilogy actually, was very enjoyable.  

The Bourbon Kings is the first title in a trilogy about the Baldwine family, which runs and owns Bradford Bourbon.  The cast of characters includes four adult children and their parents, along with the staff of their family estate, Easterly, several close friends, and other members of Charlemont Society.  As the book opens, the Easterly staff are getting ready for the family’s annual Derby Brunch to celebrate the 139th running of the Charlemont Derby.  (Yes, Charlemont, because while the settings are fictional, folks who know a bit about Kentucky realize what’s based on what, and just for info, 2020 is the 146th running of the Kentucky Derby.)  The first book is focused on the return home of Lane, the second oldest of the Baldwine children.  He doesn’t want to come home, but “he had to see his momma… that was what Southern boys did…” when their momma is in the hospital.  The story that follows reunites  family, friends, and lovers, reminds them why they left Easterly in the first place, as well as shows what they missed while away, and throws the reader into the stress and glamour only “the most important seven days on the calendar” can create for a high profile and decadently rich Kentucky family.

As we do join in the midst of party preparations, we jump in with this motley crew and the story unfolds scene by scene across the three books.  With each title, the story continues and the plot thickens.  There is a sense of mystery at Easterly, complete with lots of drama and plenty of skeletons in the closets just waiting to be revealed.  The Bourbon Kings is wild like a ride in Samuel T’s convertible and smooth like four fingers of the Bradford Family Reserve.  I’m so tempted to give spoilers, but I do believe this is a book to jump into knowing as little as possible about the plot.  By the end of the trilogy (and somewhat by the end of the first book), I wanted good things for these characters (most of them at least), and I definitely wanted to join the ones I like in the parlor for a glass of family reserve, and that dear readers, is one of the most fun kinds of books!

Because emotions can sneak up on us, and these are emotional times, be warned –  This does have open-door romance scenes, but it’s much more than a romance novel and categorizing it is hard.  We’d say it’s a Modern Southern Family Drama/Suspense/Romance. The author has admitted that her inspiration was the soap opera Dallas, but set in Kentucky. There is emotional abuse throughout and physical abuse in the last book.  The family the book centers around primarily makes bourbon, but also has ties to thoroughbred horse racing.  The characters drink a lot of bourbon, and other cocktails on occasion.  It might seem like they are alcoholics, but most don’t display the classic symptoms of alcoholism, and honey, if you had to deal with the things they are dealing with, you’d probably be drinking to forget your problems, too. 

Ashley said at some point as we were reading this trilogy that it feels like a modern day North and South (John Jakes, not Elizabeth Gaskell, although I do enjoy that as well) and she is 100% correct.  All the people are gorgeous, they have more money than they should be able to spend, and they have no idea how good they have it.  Even the staff (well, most of them at least) enjoy what they do and are relatively pleased with their positions, until the chips start to fall and the story unfolds masterfully. 

While we had theories throughout, some held, and others didn’t.  The gambit of emotions was run, and it was all real, even if it was not always relatable (yes, I’d like to take the phantom drophead for a drive please).  As we both are from the South, there are pieces we view with nostalgia that others may not enjoy as much (bourbon, horse racing, soul food, and more), or maybe you will.  In the end, it’s a well told story with an ending that could have only been improved by enjoying it with a rocks glass of Bradford Bourbon Company’s Family Reserve (and I do like a nicely tied bow at the end of a book – this was almost enough).  

These books are layered, the characters are dynamic, and the setting is strong.  This trilogy was our first and second time picking up this author and we’ll be back for more.  This is highly recommended to readers who love a good family saga.  While this story only lasts weeks, it takes three entire books to tell, and I’d love to see one more (yes, it would read like an extended epilogue, and no I don’t care).  If you enjoyed The Bourbon Kings, keep going to The Angel’s Share and Devil’s Cut.  If book one wasn’t for you, then two and three probably aren’t either.  If you like a soap opera in book form with a strong setting, solid writing, and characters who are real even if their situations don’t seem like it, this is for you. 

I think my biggest desire after finishing these books was to either lurk around them and see how the story proceeds for my favorite characters and all those connected to Easterly or to get to hang out with them as it progresses and see who they become when the new normal has set into place in Charlemont.  It also left me wanting to go to Churchill Downs and watch the Kentucky Derby in person!  Perhaps this fall I’ll at least find myself at a fun watch party!

~ Nikki

Ashley here with a few tidbits of information because I don’t have anything to add regarding the review portion of this trilogy. According to GoodReads I began reading The Bourbon Kings on 30 March 2019 and finished Devil’s Cut on 5 April 2019. That’s one thousand two hundred seventy-eight pages in 7 days. (Actually less, because there are a couple of days of my not reading while Nikki caught up. Reading and cuddling with cats was my job in California, ok?) These books brought up so much nostalgia and homesickness for me, which were big reasons why I consumed them so quickly. These books have created one of Nikki’s and my favorite ‘inside jokes.’ Upon the occasions when the Baldwines must come into contact with law enforcement, their good friend Mitch always seems to have their backs and everything under control. He’s a man of few words, Mitch, but his favorite phrase is “I gotchu” and upon every occasion that Nikki and I can possibly use it, we do, and the required response is “Thanks, Mitch.” There’s always a sense of pride and satisfaction to help a sister out.  These books also caused a lot of discussion about how some Southern gentlemen actually give some effs about what they look like, and we’re talking about stylish clothes, exemplary grooming, and impeccable manners, not body shape. Lawd ha’mercy when those men talked about their bespoke seersucker suits it makes a girl catch feelings (Nikki: and also desperately miss being able to attend church on Easter). So, while bemoaning the Adams’ lack of such Southern charm in our lives, we wondered how to instill such habits into the next generation of Southern Gentlemen. My answer was one word: cotillion. I don’t think Nikki’s littles are ready for what’s in store for them, but their future roommates and life partners will praise the day we read The Bourbon Kings. And you, dear readers, should too, as it was the impetus of this lovely little place on the interwebs called Heart.Wants.Books.

~Ashley

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Ashley IN MEDIAS RES

• Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
• Profit First: Transform Your Business from a Cash-Eating Monster to a Money-Making Machine  by Mike Michalowicz
• Ninja Selling: Subtle Skills. Big Results by Larry Kendall
• Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery

Nikki IN MEDIAS RES

• Sanditon, Lady Susan, & The History of England: The Juvenilia and Shorter Works of Jane Austen by Jane Austen
• Lift Like a Girl: Be More, Not Less by Nia Shanks
• My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

Ashley FIN

• The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan
• A Good Neighborhood by Therese Anne Fowler
•  Love on Beach Avenue by Jennifer Probst
• The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom by Miguel Ruiz
• The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
• Badd MotherF*cker (Badd Brothers #1 by Jasinda Wilder
• Tattered Loyalties (Talon Pack #1) by Carrie Ann Ryan
• Spying on the South: Travels with Frederick Law Olmsted in a Fractured Land by Tony Horowitz
• Teasing Destiny (Wishing Well, Texas #1) by Melanie Shawn
• The Kennedy Debutante by Kerri Maher

Nikki FIN

• Circe by Madeline Miller
• A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas
• The Centurion’s Wife by Davis Bunn and Janette Oke*
• I Ain’t Doin’ It: Unfiltered Thoughts From a Sarcastic Southern Sweetheart by Heather Land
•  Love on Beach Avenue by Jennifer Probst
• Broken Throne (Red Queen 4.5) by Victoria Aveyard
• More Than Words by Jill Santopolo
• Badd MotherF*cker (Badd Brothers #1 by Jasinda Wilder
• Tattered Loyalties (Talon Pack #1) by Carrie Ann Ryan
• Marilla of Green Gables by Sarah McCoy
• Spying on the South: Travels with Frederick Law Olmsted in a Fractured Land by Tony Horowitz
• Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
• Teasing Destiny (Wishing Well, Texas #1) by Melanie Shawn
• The Kennedy Debutante by Kerri Maher
• Galatea by Madeline Miller

Nikki:  Oh dear readers, this list makes me feel ever so much better than last months, but these are overall much shorter titles than last months, so the page counts do matter.  I did actually read a couple of stories in Sanditon, Lady Susan, & The History of England: The Juvenilia and Shorter Works of Jane Austen this month, so it’s back on the list.  I read these as I was being a nice reading buddy and (attempting to) patiently wait on my buddy to finish a title so we could start a book together. 

I should also admit here that I had a minor conniption early in April about the number of loans I had out from the library and the amount of titles that needed to be read for our plans for the blog.  True to my nature, I made a schedule based on my general number of pages I read on a weekday and made it happen.  Ashley and I also added three titles that were just for fun because these times feel heavy and we decided we could fit them in, mostly.  

Speaking of buddy reading, we did a lot of that this month.  As usual, we also selected some other titles of interest to one of us but not the other, and this month, as we do on rare occasions, one of us (me) took one for the team.  There was a title we were both interested in knowing about but we needed a trusted source.  Y’all, even if you haven’t read The Red Queen Series, perhaps you know the internet has strong feelings about these books, and they are on opposite ends of the spectrum.  I think I speak mostly for both of us when I say this premise is very intriguing, but the series didn’t live up to its potential.  It was just ok because of the writing and the character development but it could have been amazing.  Also readers, you know an epilogue is a big, HUGE deal to me, and the epilogue of the last book was obnoxious.  It opened more doors rather than working to close any, and only left me with more questions (mostly of the WTH variety).  So, when Broken Throne was announced I wanted it to be the epilogue readers deserved, understanding it was going to include a couple of previously published novellas.  While it wasn’t everything I wanted, it was better than I expected.  For those who have read the rest of the series and are lukewarm but still want some closure, here’s my advice: if you haven’t read Queen’s Song and Steel Scars, definitely start there, in that order, for Coriane and Farley’s backstories.  If you have read those, then start with Fare Well, then Iron Heart, and end with Fire Heart.  It is FINALLY the epilogue readers deserve, rather than that teaser in War Storm listed as an epilogue.  Ugh!  If you love The Red Queen, tell us why in the comments. We love a good bookish conversation!

~Nikki

Ashley:  I, too, feel so much better about the amount of titles I read this month. I finally finished The One Thing which I had been repeatedly checking out from the digital library since January. It was a re-read so I didn’t feel too terrible about it, but I definitely need to own a copy. I love it so much which is why it made the Books for Grads list. I did quite a bit of reading/reading plans for the Books for Grads post this month, including The Four Agreements and The Last Lecture. I had one more on my planner TBR, Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy Seals Lead and Win by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin, which has been on my mental TBR for a long while. I found a hardback copy for $2 at McKay Used Books in Nashville at the beginning of March before everything shut down, so it’s still waiting for me to get farther along than the preface.  Extreme Ownership and The Last Lecture didn’t make the cut for the post, but they were both on the short list. (I was having trouble deciding whether or not I wanted to do a top 3 or top 5 books for that post, and the fact that I couldn’t in good conscious suggest some of the ‘top books’ on GoodReads or Amazon and other book lists for the romance/dating wedge decided it for me.)

I had watched Randy Pausch’s The Last Lecture (YouTube link to the video of the 2007 lecture given at Carnegie Mellon University) at some point in the past couple of years because it came up on the internets and I had a lot of time to kill in California. It is over an hour long, you have been warned. I had suggested that Nikki watch it at some point, because it really struck me about how he talked about going back to his childhood dreams created the impetus for his adult goals, and she took it to mean read the book. Which she did last year, but I had never actually read it. I had just watched the video of the lecture. I found a copy of it at McKay the same day I found Extreme Ownership, and read the book in one sitting.  (It’s short and very giftable!) Dr. Pausch did the lecture as a farewell to the faculty and students, and friends and family, as he was facing terminal pancreatic cancer. I’m not a weeper, but there might have been some sniffles both while watching and reading (Nikki: same, same, but it was 100% worth it). It is, however, a book and lecture about hope. Everyone needs hope and to feel like they are taking control of their own life and destiny. 

Besides this collection of nonfiction, we’ve been scouring Amazon for literally free kindle books of the romantic variety, because that’s what we love to read when we feel a little out of control in life. We found quite a few this month, and we read 3 of them together (and some were still free at this writing, so click above as you’re interested)! I’m not remotely sad about that, and honestly we probably could have fit more of those in but we do try to limit schmexytimes books for the weekends so that Nikki gets sleep during the workweek (as we *may* have started one of the above titles one evening and finished it before going to sleep). 

And don’t forget, dear readers, that if you also like to read e-books for FREE, the 2 months of free Kindle Unlimited promotion ends on Thursday 30 April! Get it while you can. Because we intend on reading these free books while we have the opportunity over the next couple of months, our Reading Life Review will be very romance heavy (with a side of Harry Potter for Nikki), and quite a few of the books we have planned on sharing with you on the blog are available on KU, so please join us if you would like to read along!

Lastly, don’t forget that this FRIDAY 1 May is our first ever Virtual Book Club where we are going to discuss Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery. Sign up Here, get your favorite beverage chilling, and prepare to join us at 7:30pm Central Time.

~Ashley

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In case anyone missed it, we are quite excited about the upcoming Heart.Wants.Books virtual book club on Friday, May 1 at 7:30 p.m. CST. Click here to read the full details about why we picked Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery (and a bonus pick for re-readers) and here to register.

Oh darling readers, let me tell you how this usually goes.  A new month rolls around and Ashley is much more diligent about reading emails than I am, so she opens the Amazon First Reads email, grumbles, and forwards it to me with some delporing comment about how it’s more WWII fiction and series starters and nothing that is remotely exciting.  (Side note – we’ve only read a few selections from this service, so we could be misjudging books by their covers and marketing copy, but our reaction to the list stands.)  HOWEVER, this month, her email comment was “JENNIFER PROBST Fo’FREE” and I promptly ignored the rest of the titles (sorry authors) and “purchased” Love on Beach Avenue for $0.00 (because I’m an Amazon Prime member) a month before it releases on May 1.  THANK YOU ASHLEY! [Ashley says You’re Welcome.] If you don’t have Prime or selected another option, you can pre-order this delightful title.  

As we’ve mentioned before, if you are an Amazon Prime member, you can get one (sometimes two) pre-release editor’s pick title from the for free each month through Amazon’s First Reads program.  There are usually about six to choose from across multiple genres.  I can’t say I’ve read many, but I’m definitely happy to have a free book in my library!  

On to the title, friends, Love on Beach Avenue by Jennifer Probst is an open-door enemies-to-lovers romance that comes out on May 1.  (Yes, it’s a pre-release, and Amazon Prime members might still be able to get it if they have not already selected their April First Reads book.)  Our leading lady, Avery, is a wedding planner in New Jersey beach town and runs the family business with her two sisters.  Allie, her best friend/college roommate, calls and wants a quick destination wedding, planned by Avery.  No problem!  Her best friend’s brother, Carter, is the Man of Honor and is spending the summer with his sister and Avery to help with the wedding.  The complication – Carter and Avery don’t see eye to eye.  Drama and hilarity ensue and I adored it!  

Let’s discuss what this book is and is not.  If you are looking for a meets expectations, modern romance, Love on Beach Avenue is for you.  If you’re looking for a title that will knock your socks off, leave this one on the shelf for later.  Don’t get me wrong, this was the perfect weekend read for me in the middle of the pandemic and I’m very interested in the rest of this series (and you know where it’s headed before the end of the book).  That said, I give it a solid 3 stars and I even might reread it before reading Temptation on Ocean Drive (The Sunshine Sisters #2) because it was fun and nostalgic.  What’s nostalgic about this you ask?  Well, I worked in bridal and formalwear for six years, have helped numerous friends [Ashley points to self enthusiastically] as their wedding planner, day of coordinator/assistant, or bride’s right hand, and seriously considered starting a wedding planning business with a friend (we decided the hours did not align with our family goals), so I LOVED this glimpse into the business!  I do, however, disagree with how the dress shopping scene was handled.  Avery should have known to try on a greater variety of dresses with Allie, and it’s not uncommon for one person to find the dress and others to question their sanity before they see it on the bride (hint for brides-to-be: try on any serious suggestions from the staff and from your trusted 1-2 people who come with you – y’all if I had a dollar for every time someone thought I’d lost my mind and I found the dress…but I digress).  I’m also planning to add more from Probst to my TBR list!

~Nikki 

A not so long time ago, in a land far, far away (November 2018, California) I read a book entitled Write Naked. Nikki and I had just started REALLY getting into the buddy reading groove, and I had just learned about the glory that is the Overdrive app with Los Angeles County Library’s almost 65,000 available kindle books to check out [Nikki says you’re welcome]. I was challenged to attempt to write a little romance-y something by the aforementioned buddy [who has yet to see the little something], and I thought, hey why not read a book on the craft by a New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestselling romance author? Is it strange that the first book I read by Jennifer Probst was her one and only nonfiction title? Yes, yes it is. But, I am not remotely ashamed. I got to meet HER, the author, within those pages and how she puts so much of herself onto the words on the page. She challenges all novelists to write naked, to put all of themselves and all that their characters can be on the page for the world to see, to hold nothing back. [For clarification, I have written some romance-y, schmexy somethings. It’s just not been in the near past, and it’s not for public consumption. I do not post fan-fiction on the interwebz, even if I consume it. You get enough of my sass on this blog. For the second time this post, You’re welcome.] I’m so glad I held nothing back when I told Nikki to purchase Love on Beach Avenue fo’free.

I really don’t have anything constructive to say that Nikki didn’t already cover. Solid 3. Maybe a 3.25 for a sassy Yorkie named Lucy who reminds me of a precious teacup Yorkie named Pepper, short for Princess Peppercorn. Except instead of nipping at strangers like Lucy, Pepper loves EVERYONE and wants to jump on you, but she’s not able to jump much higher than mid-calf on anyone except her smallish human family members. Do not get excited, dear readers, Pepper does not live with me and neither do I have any smallish human family members that live with me. #AuntLife But, I love Lucy the Yorkie for another reason, she is the required four-legged companion that Jennifer Probst places in every single one of her novels. She talks about in Write Naked how she tries to have every book have a rescue pup of some sort, even if the story has nothing to do with the rescue, and I’m so here for rescuing the puppers! And the kittehs. RESCUE ALL THE ANIMALS, save them from human stupidity. 

Just also remember to rescue yourself from overwhelming emotional quarantimes and get lost in a great beachy romance read. I’d put Love on Beach Avenue on your summer reading list fo’sho. What do you prefer to read at the beach or the pool with the sun shining?

~Ashley