Karina Halle - The Royals Next Door

Piper Evans: elementary school teacher by day–avid romance reader and anonymous podcaster by night. She has a quiet, reclusive life, taking care of her mother, who lives with mental illness, avoiding her regrettable ex, who bartends in town, and trying to make inroads in the tight-knit island community that still sees her, five years in, as an outsider.
And she’s happy with how things are–really–until British royals rent the property next to hers and their brooding bodyguard decides she’s a security threat. Piper quickly realizes that one person’s fairy tale is an ordinary woman’s nightmare as a media frenzy takes over the island and each run-in with Harrison Cole is hotter and more confusing than the last. But beneath Harrison’s no-nonsense exterior lies a soft heart, one that could tempt a woman who’s sworn off attachments into believing in white knights.
But when Piper finds herself smack in the middle of a royal scandal that rocks the island she’ll need more than Harrison’s strong arms to shield her–she’ll have to do a little rescuing herself. With careers, hearts, and friendships on the line, Piper and Harrison will have to decide what they’re willing to give up for a chance at their own happily ever after.

Comment: When this book came out, some readers (in the several platforms I follow) had commented the idea of using the obvious reference to Harry and Meghan's decision to move to the US wasn't the best, but now I've read this book - clearly based on that situation, but not ABOUT that - I can say I actually had a great time reading and I did like the protagonists.

In this story schoolteacher Piper is not having a great afternoon at work, even though vacations are almost here, and when she travels home her path is blocked by this incredible guy who claims he is the bodyguard of the royals Edward and Monica, who left England for a small island on Canada, to stay out of the spotlight. Well, to try. Many people on the island are happy with this situation and they like being close to the royals, but it's Piper and her paranoid mother who will be their neighbors and that will certainly mean a lot of hassle, Piper thinks. However, the close proximity to Harrison, the bodyguard, is not only challenging but fun, and Piper can't help but liking to spend time with him... the problem is, at some point the royals will go back home, and Harrison too...

Somehow, the less positive comments I had seen made me think the book would be one of those stories where the neighbors would complain about the royals or the story would highlight the negativity about what that entails for a small community, but I was immediately surprised by how fun and mostly light this was, in the sense that the royals aren't seen as bad or too entitled, not is this the kind of story where it's some people against others. In fact, the story is mostly about the romance between Piper and Harrison and was certainly rooting for them.

Piper is a likable heroine because she is funny and entertaining but she is also living with her mother, who has some kind of paranoia and mental issues, and Piper feels it's her duty to help and be there for her. How not to applaud this decision? I also liked how she was a practical person but still open to the idea of falling in love and while her interest in Harrison wasn't as practical nor "planned", I also felt so happy they made a connection and were interested in one another. It's not, perhaps, the sweetest of romances, but it was still rather rewarding.

Harrison was, of course more mysterious, but once he and Piper started established a pattern - at first it was some wariness from her and duty from him - and started being friends among the sometimes silly situations they saw themselves in, I found their relationship to develop into something that was more than sweet, it was starting to feel solid and with the possibility to be lasting. I was really into the whole idea their were becoming more than just casual or neighbors. Of course the idea Harrison would leave when the royals would felt a tricky obstacle but the author found a good enough way to make this work.

The royals here are an obvious inspiration as I've said, but that is it. Apart from the obvious, they are characters who sometimes interact with the protagonists but it's not meant for the attention to be on them. In fact, it's almost as if they are a prop to justify the doubts in the relationship between Piper and Harrison and how could they think about the future when only the notion the royals would leave is certain. I also got the idea the royals were just motivation and not an attempt by the author to really use their presence or what they represent to advance the plot, or to imply a "message" or something.

The mental health issues addressed in the character of Piper's mother were interesting. The idea is also not to use this character as the embodiment of an issue, but I think it was thoughtful enough to write this character in a way that can be a possible vision of what her issues are, and not as if this is the only idea one can have of people who have paranoia or what we perceive as such. I was also surprised by how simple the resolution of this issue was, but to be fair, this is clearly a romance and sometimes in romanceland things happen more easily than in real life...

As the story was reaching the end, I was quite happy with how things happened and apart from some personal preferences, most of the story developed in an entertaining manner. I really liked the cute evolution of the protagonists' relationship and the promise of what their life could be. There's a minor issue related to Harrison's family that I feel wasn't explored well enough but, all things considered, this was a very satisfying story.

Grade: 8/10

Karina Halle - DarkHouse

There’s always been something a bit off about Perry Palomino. Though she’s been dealing with a quarter-life crisis and post-college syndrome like any other twentysomething, she’s still not what you would call “ordinary.” For one thing, there’s her past which she likes to pretend never happened, and then there’s the fact that she sees ghosts. Luckily for her, that all comes in handy when she stumbles across Dex Foray, an eccentric producer for an upcoming webcast on ghost hunters. Even though the show’s budget is non-existent and Dex himself is a maddening enigma, Perry is instantly drawn into a world that both threatens her life and seduces her with a sense of importance. Her uncle’s haunted lighthouse provides the perfect catalyst and backdrop for a horrific mystery that unravels the threads of Perry’s fragile sanity and causes her to fall for a man, who, like the most dangerous of ghosts, may not be all that he seems.

Comment: RL has been busy but I'll try to catch up with my comments.

This book was the choice picked for this month's reads in the book club I belong to. This is the first book by the author I've tried and although the concept of this book intrigued me and the little glimpses of possible romance too, the overall story wasn't as wonderful as I expected.

In this book we meet Perry Palomino, a 22 year old who doesn't like her job but hold on to it because the economy is bad. Perry has always been a strange girl, she has weird and realistic dreams that make her see things and she is aware she is mocked and was before in school. One day, while visiting an abandoned lighthouse in her uncle's property, she has vivid experiences that scare her and led her to Dex Foray, a cameraman to a show who looks for ghosts and weird things to film. They share a creepy experience inside the lighthouse and later on, after they got out alright, Perry writes about it in her sister's blog. Suddenly everyone is talking about Perry and eventually Dex shows up again and proposes a job to Perry, so they can film and present a show about ghosts. But what about the lighthouse, does it have any secrets they should uncover? And will Perry accept this new challenge just when her boss offered her a promotion?

Overall, I liked the book's ideas and what it was supposed to portray. But I have to say the plot wasn't as amazing as I imagined and I struggled a bit to finish reading. Often, we read books we can't let go, no matter how much we spend with it and how busy we might be: we just need to keep reading. Then, we have the books we know we are supposed to read but any excuse is enough to make us stop for a while. I had to push myself to read, not that it was so bad I couldn't stand it, but I didn't feel very motivated to read and find out more.

To be honest, the plot was not something I felt much interest in. The book is also labeled horror, many scenes are certainly supposed to be scary and creepy and I guess they are, in a way. But these things aren't things I usually read or look for or truly appreciate so I didn't have much will to take time to read about them, I was counting the time to get to the the better parts and therefore the interest of the plot and the more horror details were things I didn't fully felt captivated by.

Perry is an intriguing main character, I liked her approach to life, the fact she was bullied and not always someone you would spend time getting to know but, as always, she hid an amazing personality and temperament. I think my issue with her is that apart from that I had a difficult time to feel empathy towards her. Her liking to spend time with her younger sister's friends, her willingness to go alone to a dark place and her attitude towards some reality notions were down points for me. But overall, she is likable enough and I feel intrigued by how much she will grow up...but some of her choices still seem very teenage style and that puts me off.

Dex is a very interesting counterbalance to Perry, he's a decade older, his interests are different, he has a girlfriend, he has a mysterious past...all intriguing yes, but also a little bit too much because it's hard to get a grip on who he really is.

His relationship with Perry is what made me want to keep reading an if I ever go on, their connection will be the reason too but it wasn't enough yet.

I liked the tension between them, the obvious link, the looks they give one another, but nothing is too obvious and they don't jump each other. I like the idea of a slow burn romance but... with 9 books I think it will be just a bit too long, especially if I don't feel interested in the horror and plot parts.

All things considered, this is quite the journey but to think the author is taking so long and will create a lot of drama before things solved and on top with a horror themed narrative...I don't think I'll read more very soon. Yes, many readers say it only gets better and I can understand how by the way this story develops but to have to go through so many not appealing scenes puts me of. Well, it's still interesting and it might work for many.

Grade: 6/10