Jeanette Escudero’s The Apology Project is a Fresh Update to Romcom Fiction

Author Jeanette Escudero is new to women’s fiction readers. She has written romance novels under the pen name Sidney Halston. Her women’s fiction debut is nothing short of a stellar introduction into her style of storytelling. 

She writes funny, smart, career-oriented women who are relatable. They are not the virgin heroines that every man wants. They are not chasing after men to make their life complete. Even though there is a romance in The Apology Project, it still gives the female protagonist agency and not make her a typical woman in a romcom. 

It’s no wonder this was an Amazon First Reads pick for July. Amazon has been on a winning streak with recent successes such as: The Mixtape and Have We Met. Lake Union senior editor Chris Werner–who used to work at Montlake perfecting romance novels for release–gave this story his attention, so you know readers are in good hands.

I read The Apology Project in one sitting. Here is my review: 

Forgive the cover and buy this romcom for the humor, romance, and real-life current events influences.

Amelia Montgomery quits her job, as a lawyer, after a disagreement with her boss over a case. This incident is a stretch of real-life behavior, especially since she has a good job and is almost forty, but it’s fiction, so we’ll go along. She is such a lawyer, she cross-examines everyone, even in casual everyday conversations. 

The romance is pleasantly the right level of spicy. Amelia has been career-obsessed ever since high school; it sounds like. After she quits the firm, and with encouragement, she decides to have some fun. All it takes is wine and a good-looking stranger, John Ellis to get her in enough trouble to hold your interest for the rest of the book. 

She treats her one-night stand like a mechanic who just restored an engine then fondled a Gucci bag without washing his hands first. John is the perfect gentleman. After following their romance, you’ll have sexlife fomo.

The Apology project Amelia embarks on reads like a 12-step program for cancel culture victims. She goes through a list of people from her past. Some go swimmingly, and others not so much. 

The ending is not at all what I expected, but in a good way. And sounds like there might be a sequel. This is a surprisingly fun and quick read. Not a single page bored me.

For more on this author, go to her website www.jeanetteescudero.com

If this review piques your interest, head over to Amazon to purchase the book right now on presale https://www.amazon.com/Apology-Project-Novel-Jeanette-Escudero-ebook/dp/B08TWV388T/ref=sr_1_2?crid=3ATIXMHQ54O6E&dchild=1&keywords=the+apology+project&qid=1625405491&sprefix=the+apology%2Caps%2C180&sr=8-2

Scream reading app

I learned about this new app from LaceyBookLovers on Youtube. This is a growing trend to produce these apps that charge you for stories in short increments. My main issue with this one is that they are offering chapters of books on this site that has the entire book for sale at $4.99 on book retailer websites.

Hopefully, the gullible public sees this scam for what it is and rejects this money grab. However, the bigger issue is the growing trend to deliver short length stories for a price. Short stories have been around since the beginning of storytelling. The difference is, we used to read them in magazines or newspapers, etc. where we were paying for more than just the short story.

With the rise of self publishing, this creates opportunities for entrepreneurs, looking to capitalize off of the booming industry, to overcharge unfastidious customers, leaving them paying four times the price for a book they could have purchased–in its entirety–on one of the book retailer sites.

The emergence of virtual coins for stories concept, has become popular online. It’s seemingly innocuous idea gives the impression that this pay to read option is cheap. The Scream app has coins that can be purchased in bundles:

60 coins $2.99, 100 coins $4.99, 300 coins $14.99. There are more purchase options for you to buy. I’m not sure how much each chapter cost in coins but, for example, there are a lot of self published books on here. Most of the self published are sold on retailer sites such as Google and Amazon for 4.99. That’s the whole book. I imagine–since you would be reading a few chapters at a time–it will cost you more than five dollars in the end, if you purchased the whole book, in chapters, on this app.

Scream reading app is currently offered to I-phone users. It is owned by Crazy Maple Studio. The app came out this month and has eleven reviews in the Apple store so far. On Linkedin.com Joey Jia is listed as the CEO of Crazy Maple Studio. This is the same company that owns Chapters: Interactive Stories.

Dead to Me Final Season Update

Season three is on its way to fans. Netflix recently confirmed that the cast has returned to set to start filming the final season for their dark comedy hit. Linda Cardellini said on Twitter, “So excited for a season 3! Congrats to @thelizfeldman and to our entire hardworking @deadtome family. Big thanks to everyone who watched. Love to you all.”

No trailer has been released yet for the final season. As of July 6th, the Twitter account for Dead To Me pinned the following message, “Read the room, fucko! the third and final season of Dead to Me is coming soon,” with a clip from a previous season.

If you are not one of the millions of people who have already watched and fallen obsessed with this series, take the weekend to binge the last two seasons. It’s worth your time.

Your Next Fave Show

We have yet to see the big craze in TV shows for this decade. Seinfeld in the 90s, Sex And The City in the 00s, Grey’s Anatomy is in its seventeenth season. But there has been no recent show that speaks to women and our experiences in the 21 century. I am on the hunt for the new craze that has a strong female lead with a relatable lifestyle.

Dead to Me is a strong contender, but with there only being three possible seasons, it wouldn’t have the impact to be in the conversation. Then there is Grace and Frankie which weaves real-life issues families, specifically–women of a certain age–experience into their storytelling in a relatable and humorous way. This popular Netflix original is set to film its final season in the summer on 2021.

Annie Murphy from Schitt’s Creek stardom will return to the small screen on June 20 in Kevin Can F**k Himself on AMC. This has the potential to be a strong contender with female viewers however, AMC is not too familiar with targeting and catering to a female audience.

It will be interesting to see networks and streaming services release their lineups for the upcoming season.