Summer Reading Bingo 3

Reading challenge bingo card 

Welcome to my summer bingo book series, where I post five short reviews at a time. I'm giving myself the whole summer to finish the bingo card, not just the month of June. This is my third set of reviews; you can find the first set here and the second one here.

1. Grumpy/ Sunshine. Two Truths and a Marriage by Nicole Snow. First, I confess that I'm generally not a fan of this romance trope. Perhaps it hits too close to home ~ why would you fall for a grumpy jerk just because he looks good? Ugh, guilty. Anyway. I knew I had to pick one for this challenge, so I chose the one with a bakery involved. The level of suspension of disbelief required to enjoy this novel however was too high for me, even if there were cupcakes happening. Our hero Dex was supposed to be this wildly successful businessman, but he was a big lump who couldn’t communicate properly with anyone, not his family, not the creep he was trying to impress, and certainly not Juniper. I liked Junie, but it made no sense that she was running the bakery by herself at age 24 with no business experience, when her grandmother, the original owner, was still healthy and vibrant. Why wouldn’t Nana have sent Junie off for a degree in business before retiring and handing over the shop? Dex, the cranky real estate mogul, stomps into Junie’s bakery one day and orders a million desserts (that he hates because he’s a fitness freak) for a business meeting. Of course, a fake engagement will ensue, as that makes total sense. Creepy mafia guy that Dex wants to make a deal with loves the desserts, so naturally our suave hero blurts out that he's engaged to the bakery owner. And then… and then… the mafia creep decides that he’s going to use Junie’s sweets to hide codes to cash drop locations. Like wtaf? COME ON! So absurd. Lots of hot sex and sugary puns couldn’t save this disaster from my 2-star rating.

2.  One word title. Sweet by Emmy Laybourne.  Fun, fast-paced story about a bunch of wealthy people on a cruise who go violently insane after a bad man and an evil scientist get them addicted to a sugar substitute weight loss supplement. The worst of human behavior is highlighted when these folks will do anything ~ and I mean anything ~ to get another taste of the sugary drug. We see greed, selfishness, and egotism displayed alongside the maniacal quest for superficial perfection, or what society has decided is physical beauty anyway. Body image and self esteem issues are explored as well. There’s also a love story between the two teenaged main characters, but there are no explicit sex scenes. Lots of blood and gore though! This is a horror novel. I gave it four stars.

3. Age gap trope. The Professor’s Obsession by N. Viktoria. This was a sweet story, with an interracial element as well as the age difference (older male, by 18 years), but there was no real conflict between the main characters. Everything proceeded relatively smoothly ~ whenever Marcus made a slight faux pas, Sage corrected him, and all was well. Emma, Marcus’ daughter, only needed around a minute to process their relationship. The real drama was with their colleagues, but even that resolved itself neatly. There were a bunch of editing errors, such as when Marcus went to Sage’s apartment for the first time ostensibly to make love, but the scene faded to black, and the author must have forgotten she wrote it because later there was a first sex scene AND a first visit to Sage’s apartment. Confusing! Three stars.

4. A book about a father. Between a Heart and a Rock Place by Pat Benatar. Fabulous, uplifting story of a woman who fought fiercely for her love, her family, and to control her own music and image. With Pat's every success, chauvinistic label executives and other jerks tried to get in her way and quash her dreams, but she ultimately prevailed. For most of her journey, Pat was supported by her wonderful and super talented husband Neil (“Spyder”) Giraldo, proving that great men do exist. Except for one blip, they were an unshakable team. The reason I’m putting Pat’s memoir in this category is because it is about a father ~ the moment Pat met Neil she decided he was her soulmate and would become the father of her children. He is heavily featured throughout the book, since they are a team, both professionally and romantically. And they have two beautiful daughters, though their privacy is respected, and Pat does not go into great detail about them. I awarded this book one of my rare 5-star ratings.

As an aside, I finished this book at the beginning of July 2026 and cried at the end when Pat described how the USA came together after 9/11. We don’t have much of that spirit now at our 250th birthday, just division and hate for the “other side,” which is heartbreaking. I don’t have any ideas on how to fix this; it’s just sad.

5. Title begins with J. John Gribble Is Gone by Peter James. This was a quick (73-page), twisty little mystery, "free" with Prime membership and included in the July selections. I read it while my car was getting serviced on a Saturday morning. Even though some of the story is far-fetched, the idea that we can be subject to massive, life-altering inconvenience due to a technology breach is all too believable. The setting is in England, and for whatever reason, it was more fun to imagine all these shenanigans happening in a British accent, sort of like a Monty Python skit. Four stars.

I'll return soon with the penultimate bingo card! I'm happy to have only 10 books left to close it out, as I am getting tired of some of these genres and want to read more nonfiction soon. The Benatar memoir was truly enjoyable. (I already read a book about planet formation, which I will review in an upcoming Two for Tuesday post.)