Month: August 2020

Top Ten Tuesdays #302: Questions

Posted August 25, 2020 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 0 Comments

Questions I’d Ask My Fave Authors Top Ten Tuesdays were started by The Broke and the Bookish and are now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, where we make lists of our top ten books (or something else!) based on that week’s prompt. The topics are provided ahead of time and can be found here. Book links bring you to Goodreads or my review. I’m actually kind of terrible with author interviews or what to say to favorite authors, so I thought I would do some groupings of questions I may commonly ask a few of them… mostly things like MORE BOOKS PLEASE? Thanks. Can you write more books like X please? I remember finishing EVELYN HUGO and just wondering what other books in the entire world compare to it? Like, it’s pretty amazing. I want TJR to somehow write more books in this same vein! I’m a huge Kate Brian/Kieran Scott fan and the SHADOWLANDS trilogy blew my mind. I would love to read more books by her in this similar style or genre. She’s written a few horror-ish ones lately that I haven’t read yet so maybe I should get on that first haha. The BEAUTIFUL IDOLS series was such a fun contemporary mystery! I would love to read more like this or even series similar to the PLL books by Sara Shepard. Alyson Noel seriously grabbed me with these ones. I couldn’t wait for the next installment. And finally, THE THOUSANDTH FLOOR – I’ve enjoyed McGee’s new series so far […]

ARC Reviews: Sunshine on Silver Lake and 10 Things I Hate About Pinky

Posted August 24, 2020 / Book Reviews / 1 Comment

I’m always so thrilled to come home to Sweetwater Springs! This series has catapulted its way into my favorites list and continues to cement that spot with each new book. This is one of the best ones too, IMO! I loved that this was both fake dating AND (kinda) second chance romance AND childhood-friends-to-more. All of my tropes rolled into one in a way that made sense! Emma and Jack were close friends (almost more) in their younger years, until Jack blew her off for her senior prom. They did reconcile and remained friends throughout their adult lives living in Sweetwater Springs, but neither one of them would take the plunge into something more. When Jack suddenly has his nephew in his care for the summer, it’s easy for him to pretend (for his sister’s sake) that Emma is his girlfriend. Naturally, things progress into more. Emma is currently struggling with turning 30 and the bad feelings it provides about her mother’s untimely passing and battle with cancer. I REALLY enjoyed both of these characters and thought their friends-to-more relationship developed incredibly naturally. As always, there wasn’t any minor drama to split the couple up and I was never frustrated by miscommunication. Rains generally does a great job of giving the characters actual problems that need to be worked through to cause the “breakup” moment in the book. This one was short-lived too. Sweetwater Springs continues to be a fun, cute setting, and I love that we keep getting introduced […]

Five on Fridays [8]

Posted August 21, 2020 / Five on Fridays, Weekly Memes / 1 Comment

Five on Friday displays the the top five things that have been on my mind this week! It could be book-related, but it may be music, movies, TV, personal life, food, etc. I’ll generally be posting these biweekly and linking up with Friday Favorites (hosted by A Little Bit of Everything, Grace and Love, and Momfessionals). Previous posts can be found here! Aldi Finds I’ve been using Instacart still for grocery delivery and pickup. I’m not into being in enclosed places with a lot of people for an extended period of time, so most of my in-person shopping is to Petco or Home Depot – quick spots where the pup can come too. There’s an Aldi in the next town over that I still haven’t been inside, but I’m loving their delivery or pickup. I’m genuinely addicted to their Mexicali dip with tortilla chips. Chris and I usually eat the whole container in one snacking session. I’m also loving the Street Corn dip but it was sold out last time. There are lots of other great inexpensive food items and dupes from Aldi. Spin Bike I went ahead and followed the at-home workout trend… a million months into quarantine lol. I have no interest in going back to my gym for a few reasons. First, there are too many people for me to feel good about going in there. Second, it’s near my office (aka 30 minutes from my house) and not worth the trip. I’m hoping to get more […]

Wednesday Wrap-Up #6 | WoW & WWW

Posted August 19, 2020 / Waiting on Wednesdays, Wednesday Wrap-Up, Weekly Memes, WWW Wednesdays / 0 Comments

I don’t like to do too many weekly memes on the blog and usually stick to TTT, but I thought it would be fun to occasionally post Wednesday memes I’m interested in. It won’t be weekly, but it’ll be fun to recap the previous week or so and talk about what books I have on the docket. It will be a combination of WWW Wednesdays and Waiting on Wednesdays (more details below!), as well as anything else I’d like to share. Waiting on…Wednesday is hosted by Breaking the Spine and asks upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating. I’m currently waiting impatiently for… The Cousins by Karen M. McManus Release Date: December 1st, 2020 From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of One of Us Is Lying comes your next obsession. You’ll never feel the same about family again. Milly, Aubrey, and Jonah Story are cousins, but they barely know each another, and they’ve never even met their grandmother. Rich and reclusive, she disinherited their parents before they were born. So when they each receive a letter inviting them to work at her island resort for the summer, they’re surprised . . . and curious. Their parents are all clear on one point–not going is not an option. This could be the opportunity to get back into Grandmother’s good graces. But when the cousins arrive on the island, it’s immediately clear that she has different plans for them. And the longer they stay, the more they realize how mysterious–and dark–their family’s past is. […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #301: Adaptations

Posted August 18, 2020 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 1 Comment

Books that Netflix Should Adapt Top Ten Tuesdays were started by The Broke and the Bookish and are now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, where we make lists of our top ten books (or something else!) based on that week’s prompt. The topics are provided ahead of time and can be found here. Book links bring you to Goodreads or my review. I’m a firm believer than any good book can become a show or movie with the right people at the helm! But there are definitely some books I read that would make PERFECT movies or shows, especially for Netflix. I always think of Netflix bringing fun rom-coms or young adult movies to our screens primarily, but they’ve expanded a lot lately to feature lots of different genres. Dimpleverse TV Show Sandhya Menon’s Dimpleverse books should definitely be made into a TV show. It’s about an interconnected group of friends, so why not? Their love stories would all overlap or take place in order like the books do. Either way, I need it. Sweetwater Springs TV Show I know I talk about this series constantly, but any cute small town companion series would make a great TV show! Netflix has had success with adapting other romance series into shows, like Sweet Magnolias and Virgin River. Truly Devious TV Show This series is like a modern-day Nancy Drew kinda thing, and I think people would love it! There are four books (one coming out soon) so it’d spread out nicely throughout a few seasons […]

Review Round Up | Aurora Burning, My Calamity Jane, and The Fell of Dark

Posted August 17, 2020 / Book Reviews, Review Roundup / 0 Comments

In an effort to cut down on posts and burnout, my Review Roundups will feature 2-4 books I’ve read or listened to recently. Sometimes they’re newer releases and sometimes they’re all backlist titles. My ARC reviews usually get the solo treatment. Enjoy the mini reviews! I enjoyed AURORA RISING enough, but I found myself constantly comparing it to ILLUMINAE. I really loved that format and despite that “disconnected” style (messaging longs, transcripts, etc.), really fell hard for the characters. Unfortunately I continue to feel disconnected from the AURORA series. It just doesn’t resonate with me like I expected or like I keep hoping. I really enjoy the characters and LIKE them, but I’m just not as emotionally connected to anyone or what’s happening. This book had some great twists though – there were a few moments that surprised and intrigued me. Even though I enjoy the audiobooks and think they’re really well done, I think that they don’t help me feel connected. The twists felt smaller hearing them instead of reading them? I don’t know why! The ending of the book was a pretty wild cliffhanger and I still was like… hmm okay I guess I’ll read the next one. And I definitely will! I’m happy to continue reading this even though it’s not my favorite series. I really did enjoy this, despite the fact that it look me two full months to read. I don’t know the last time that happened lol. I’ll blame it on the length, obviously, and my […]

The Bright Side (8/14)

Posted August 14, 2020 / Personal / Information / Etc. / 2 Comments

As we’re all going through the same global pandemic with various levels of “stay the F home,” I thought it would be fun to highlight the good things in each week, instead of dwelling on the negatives, the unknowns, and the uncertain future. I tend to do some kind of wrap-up or rundown of my week/month/etc. on Fridays each week (often linking up with Friday Favorites/Currently) so this isn’t too much of a diversion from that. ✨ Miller! More pics of my cute little baby pup. The DNA test results came back and he’s a Pomeranian (50%) / Jack Russell (38%) mix, with a random ass great-grandparent dog who is something unidentified. It’s kind of wild because he’s Pomeranian and Jack Russell on BOTH sides – it’s not like his mom was 100% Pomeranian and mixed with a Jack Russell mix for the father. So weird. Anyways, he’s a sweet boy and still just around 5 lbs. Now that he’s fully vaccinated we can bring him out into the world, which has totally calmed down the puppy blues associated with being fully stuck at home. ✨ Upload We started watching Upload during a power outage recently, since I could download them to my iPad while working at my dad’s house. We lost power from Tuesday through Saturday last week so it was a bit crazy. (Not putting that in a separate section because it’s about positive things in these posts haha.) Anyways, the concept of this is fascinating and it […]

Blog Tour: All Eyes on Her

Posted August 13, 2020 / Book Reviews / 0 Comments

I am thrilled to be hosting a spot on the ALL EYES ON HER by L.E. Flynn Blog Tour hosted by Rockstar Book Tours. Check out my post and make sure to enter the giveaway! Find the book: Goodreads, Amazon, Kindle, Audible, B&N, iBooks, Kobo, TBD, Bookshop.org Review I loved Flynn’s first book, FIRSTS (lol), and was really excited to see her transition to mystery books as well! I’ve been into thrillers a lot recently and keep adding them to my TBR. Her first book in this genre was really good so I was more than ready to dive in to ALL EYES ON HER. I was hoping to blaze through this story, as I had limited reading time over the last week or so, and her writing made that super easy to do! I always think thrillers are fast-paced for breaking reading slumps, but this had short chapters that immediately engaged me. I was so happy to binge this in basically one sitting! The story centers around Tabby and Mark. At first it seemed like they had a tumultuous relationship but mostly teenager drama and nonsense. When he falls off a cliff during their late night walk in the woods, people are left wondering if that’s what really happened. It moved through multiple people’s points of view, like Tabby’s sister, her friend, and many others who had different perspectives on their relationship and what happened. There were texts, transcripts, and news articles too, which made it feel real. Flynn wrote it so […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #300: Never Reviewed

Posted August 11, 2020 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 0 Comments

Books I Haven’t Reviewed Top Ten Tuesdays were started by The Broke and the Bookish and are now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, where we make lists of our top ten books (or something else!) based on that week’s prompt. The topics are provided ahead of time and can be found here. Book links bring you to Goodreads or my review. I do have a tendency of reviewing everything I read, with a few exceptions. Any full-length novels will probably be be reviewed. Novellas, short stories, some nonfiction, graphic novels… those my not appear here. Here are some recent reads I didn’t review. There are a lot of people discussing race and learning more about how systematic racism is far worse than most average white people realized. I always considered myself kind of hip to these issues and I’ve learned a ton in the last few months. I didn’t necessarily feel like my white thoughts are needed on Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race so I’ve highlighted and recommended it, but that’s all I felt I should do? I don’t want to review, analyze, and/or critique when it’s not my place at all. I love all of the books in the Dimple/Rishi universe and have enjoyed the couple of novellas Menon has added too. I read Love At First Fight to learn more about Pinky and her hate-to-love romance that I’d catch in the next full-length novel. Such a fun story set in an escape room! I don’t read a lot […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #299: Colors

Posted August 4, 2020 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 0 Comments

Books with Colors in the Title Top Ten Tuesdays were started by The Broke and the Bookish and are now hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, where we make lists of our top ten books (or something else!) based on that week’s prompt. The topics are provided ahead of time and can be found here. Book links bring you to Goodreads or my review. This is a fun one! I thought I’d follow the rainbow in order and then include a few more to make ten 😉