Reviews: The Boyfriend Project + Last Train to Key West

The Boyfriend Project (The Boyfriend Project #1) by Farrah Rochon

pub 6/9/2020 by Forever
Contemporary Romance
Received ARC from pub for review

⭐⭐⭐ 3 stars | My absolute favorite part of The Boyfriend Project is, without a doubt, the friendship and the crazy circumstances under which they all meet. Samiah Brooks finds out she's being catfished and cheated on by her boyfriend through Twitter of all places and when she goes to confront him, she meets two other women he's also duped, London and Taylor. Their epic confrontation goes viral online but rather than to let this drag them all down, they go on to become good friends and make a pact to spend the next six months investing in themselves instead of worrying about dating. Which is exactly when seemingly perfect Daniel Collins shows up at her job. The chemistry between them in undeniable but she's determined to focus on developing the app she's always dreamed of creating. She's this extremely motivated, ambitious developer working at a fast-paced startup and determined to give back to the community. I loved all these qualities about her and it certainly gave me flashbacks to when I worked in start-ups and was usually one of the few women developers in the room. The aspect of the book I struggled with the most was actually the conflict. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed Samiah and Daniel together but the conflict simmering in the background just seemed overly complicated and didn't interest me.  I kept wondering, does something like this really happen? It felt a bit much when the introduction was pretty out there to begin with.

Do I recommend? I do! I liked the book overall and I can only assume we're going to get books for each of the women, which I would be very interested in reading.

The Last Train to Key West by Chanel Cleeton

pub 6/16/2020 by Berkley
Adult Fiction - Historical
Received e-ARC from pub for review

⭐⭐⭐ 3 stars |  First things first, The Last Train to Key West is not a companion novel to Next Year in Havana or When We Left Cuba, although a name in this book may sound familiar. Secondly, I love Chanel Cleeton's historical fiction and how she's able to immediately pull me into the story. And lastly, this particular novel wasn't as strong as the two aforementioned books but I still enjoyed it. It follows three very different women whose lives unexpectedly converge through the infamous hurricane that hit Florida in 1935. There's Mirta Perez who is navigating her new (arranged) marriage to a man she barely knows. Elizabeth Preston has traveled to Florida from New York for a last-ditch effort to save her once wealthy family. And Key West-native Helen Berner wants nothing more than to escape her life. Each woman was so compelling that I could easily have pictured them having their own book. And I think that was ultimately the problem for me. There are these three intriguing stories and we bounce between them over the course of a holiday weekend. It felt too short! I want more time with each character and wish it had extended beyond those few days. I understand this was the author's intent and she purposely chose this natural disaster to be the backdrop of her book. But I genuinely wanted more.

Do I recommend? I do! If you enjoy Chanel Cleeton's historical fiction and are in the mood for a quick read, this is a good one to pick up from the library.