Welcome to Litsy!

I don't think this is Butler's best, but it's still a pick for me. His characters are always so real and his books are never even slightly pretentious. (Not that I don't like pretentious novels, of course. I often do.) I think my criticism of this one is that there were a few too many plot points and not enough character development. Having said that, I read it incredibly quickly (for me! I'm slow!) and found it engaging.

At the start of the weekend I realized I wasn‘t enjoying any of the books I was reading and bailed on them all which was so not like me. I made it through 50% of this audiobook before admitting that I just didn‘t care about any of it- the characters, the plot, the fact that nothing they did made sense to me. I thought about continuing because I have liked Butler in the past but I was honestly relieved when I gave myself permission to stop.

I made it to page 106. Charlie and Vivian were married for 4 years 40 years ago and they have now reunited. In the 100 pages I read, their reunion was problem free and without any meaningful postmortem of their lives. When Vic‘s adult daughter meets Charlie, she says hey, I hear you have a drinking problem, let‘s open these expensive bottles of wine and drink them. I just didn‘t like the characters or the way this book was written. #hailthebail

Somehow I can get to the library embarrassingly early and still sit behind a big furry hat. (It is zero degrees so I‘ll give the lady a pass)That said, it was about the conversation with the author, Nickolas Butler - which was so powerful, vulnerable and just plain cool. He is such a regular guy, I love his work.

💘 𝑩𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝑹𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒘 👨‍🦳👩‍🦳

𝐀 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐊𝐢𝐬𝐬 is an entertaining & charming second chance love story. Author 𝐍𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐬 𝐁𝐮𝐭𝐥𝐞𝐫 imbues it with insight, credibility, & appreciation of his flawed but completely credible, mature characters. Have they grown enough to forgive, respect each other's needs, & keep their union from imploding this time? ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This story was so good. So deep and light at the same time. How to deal with a lost love... Forty years later.

Full five star review: https://lsmoore49.blogspot.com/2025/02/a-forty-year-kiss-by-nickolas-butler.html

Pub day!! Love this local-to-me author, and the book is a delight, a slow and steady rekindling.

I could listen to him speak all day and can‘t wait to read this book!

I'm sorry to say that I simply didn't find this book to be very good. Granted, it's the third in a series. The stories stand alone, but there were references to previous stories, like many mystery series. I would have bailed if it weren't a mystery. I wanted to know whodunit, but the ending fell flat for me. It simply wasn't very creative or well-written, in my opinion.

⭐✨/⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
#readyourbookshelf #JumpStart2025

Charlie and Vivian were married, briefly, forty years ago. Now Charlie wants to find his way back into Vivian's heart. But has too much time passed? Can they overcome hardship, addiction, and secrets?

This is not my usual kind of reading, but I won an ARC and I'm so glad I did. A refreshing love story about mature adults, and beautifully written. I dogeared pages with quotes I liked (hey, it was an ARC, so I can do that!) Highly recommended.