This dystopian retelling of Little Red Riding Hood, follows Red, our heroine, as she travels through the woods on the way to her grandmother’s house. Time skips back and forth, every other chapter, answering readers questions about what happened to Red’s family and how the “Crisis” began to present day as she navigates the current, dangerous world full of wolves, both human and other, who would do her harm.

Red is a resourceful, smart heroine who takes no shit and isn’t afraid to do what is necessary to finish her journey safely. She set out to get to her grandmother’s house and nothing will stop her. Not a plague that has wiped out humanity, not her brother who doesn’t take anything seriously, not the military who wants to round her up and put her in a containment camp, not a prosthetic leg that aches, not villainous men out to rob and do even worse to her, nothing.

The Girl in Red was well- written, easy read. Just what I what I expected from this author. There were a few twists and turns toward the end, and I enjoyed myself immensely. Recommend.

Final grade- B

I wanted to like this one. In fact, despite the rom- com obsessed heroine, the over abundance of romantic comedy movie references and the name Tom Hanks being mentioned every other page, I forced myself to read to about 40%. I’m not sure what finally had me throwing in towel, maybe when I realized the heroine, Annie, was absolutely ridiculous and I didn’t see her getting any better, maybe it was her attitude toward the supposed hero who frankly hadn’t done anything to deserve her rudeness, or maybe it was the seven billionth time Tom Hands was mentioned… but I surrendered and gave up.

Final grade- DNF

Despite the fact that I hadn’t read the previous two books in this series, I liked the blurb and premise of two old lovers reconnecting through at dating app.

Blurb:

In the age of apps and social media, how many dates does it take to find “the one”? The author of Knocked Up and Fake Wife swipes right on love with a captivating friends-to-lovers tale.

Caitlin Pappas is a lifelong commitment-phobe. The closest thing she’s had to a relationship in the last few years was a friends-with-benefits thing that fizzled out because the guy wanted more. So when she and her best friend design a new app that promises to find “the one” in 28 Dates, Caitlin is the perfect guinea pig. Little does she know that she may have already met her match. . . .

Jonas Reeves has tried his best to move on after Caitlin didn’t want take things to the next level. Now they really are just friends . . . without benefits. Caitlin’s even a regular at his bar, The Dirty Martini. But when he learns that Caitlin plans to beta-test a new dating app on his home turf, Jonas senses a golden opportunity to win her heart. Even if he has to slide into her DMs to do it. . . .

This is more a heroine coming into her own story than the sexy romance I was expecting. Caitlin has problems with commitment, for reasons and Jonas wants Caitlin as his forever, so you can see why they had problems the first time around.

This was an okay read. It starts off with a bang, but I got bored in the middle while Caitlin was going out on dates with other men and trying to figure out what she wants her love life to look like. The ending was cute, if predictable.

Final grade- C