This round gives me my second completed horizontal line – bingo!

Romance:

The Cinema at Starlight Creek by Alli Sinclair

I don’t read genre romance books at all, but I do read a lot of books that contain romance, particularly historical fiction. I’ve picked The Cinema at Starlight Creek for this category because it contained romance within both timelines of its story, yet the romance was not cliché or contrived, nor was it the only point of the story.

The main issue Alli tackles in The Cinema at Starlight Creek is that of inequality and discrimination within the film and television industry. There are some powerful examples woven into both narratives, and I will admit that many caught me by surprise – and I don’t mean that in a good way. The double standards, the games of sabotage, the blatant discrimination towards women: lower wages, lower conditions, yet higher expectations when it came to body size and shape, modesty and chaste behaviour. In Claire’s circumstances, she had to fend off on the job hostility and bullying from a man who was disgruntled at her getting the position she was in over him. I liked how the author gave Claire and Lena different career paths but within the same industry, effectively demonstrating the widespread nature of these issues.

Against this backdrop, romance blooms for both women.

Read my full review here.

For 2019, I’m teaming up with Mrs B’s Book Reviews and The Book Muse for an even bigger, and more challenging book bingo. We’d love to have you join us. Every second Saturday throughout 2019, we’ll post our latest round. We invite you to join in at any stage, just pop the link to your bingo posts into the comments section of our bingo posts each fortnight so we can visit you. If you’re not a blogger, feel free to just write your book titles and thoughts on the books into the comments section each fortnight, and tag us on social media if you are playing along that way.