Genre: Young Adult

ARC Review: The Suite Spot

Posted April 8, 2022 / Book Reviews / 0 Comments

I really loved FLOAT PLAN so I had pretty high hopes for THE SUITE SPOT. These books were both similar and different from each other and therefore perfect companions. I could spend this whole review comparing the two books and sisters but I’ll try to keep it (mostly) about this one. When Rachel is fired from her job at a fancy boutique hotel in Florida, she and her daughter Maisie aren’t sure what’s next. She receives a lead from a friend that a guy on a small Ohio island is looking for someone to run his brewery-centered hotel/glamping spot. When her “boyfriend” disappoints them once again, she decides to take the plunge and the job. Mason, the owner of the place, wasn’t fully up front with her when he offered the job – the cabins aren’t even built yet and the brewery is barely done. He’s mourning the loss of a few things/people in his life too and remains pretty guarded around Rachel and Maisie. I adored the small island setting AND brewery hotel storyline. I would 100% stay at a glamping resort like this one! Small town vibes are my favorite to read and this setting had the perfect little town of people to flesh that out. Maisie was super cute and Mason was an excellent love interest. I like how this series so far has been very heavy on the family feels and/or overcoming some kind of grief or loss – taking relationships and romance slowly after disappointment […]

Review Round Up | Kamila Knows Best and Finlay Donovan Knocks ‘Em Dead

Posted April 1, 2022 / 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’m enjoying Farah Heron’s books a lot! This book, like the first one I read by her, made me so hungry! This time for biryani instead of beer and bread. In KAMILA KNOWS BEST, she is struggling to balance everything in her life. She loves her job at a small accounting firm run by her father and family friends, volunteering for party planning and with an animal shelter, and hosting elaborate weekly Bollywood movie nights for her friends. She has a ton on her plate and still manages to take on more. Kamila was a…challenging character to get along with for me. Her actions and the fact that she constantly cut people off, assuming she knew what they were going to say about her, was so frustrating. I know that her father and Rohan sometimes acted like they knew what she wanted and assumed things when they shouldn’t, but she totally did the same thing to them too. Aside from those frustrating moments, she otherwise had a fun personality and generally wasn’t afraid to be herself… I just struggled to LIKE her a lot of the time. The ending was so cute and I love the way everything wrapped up. The romance was top-notch for most of […]

Blog Tour Review: Killing Time

Posted March 11, 2022 / Book Reviews / 0 Comments

More purchase links: Bookshop.org // B&N // Amazon Books-a-Million // IndieBound // Google Play // Kobo // Apple Books Book Review KILLING TIME immediately sparked my interest – any time a mystery/thriller includes a true crime podcast element, I’m there. I’m also always excited to read books set in Connecticut. This one ticks both of those boxes. I didn’t realize right away that there’s a “past” and “present” back-and-forth throughout the story too, which was really intriguing. I kept wondering how the two timelines would connect. I have to admit that I didn’t love the main character, Natalie. She was kind of frustrating to read about because she dove headfirst into things without thinking. She definitely ignored red flags all over the place. Her mom was arguably even worse to read about. She was extremely strict. I assumed from the beginning that this connected to her past that we were reading about in alternating chapters, but it didn’t make it any easier to read. It made it harder to stay focused on reading and it took me longer to read than I hoped. The setting and references to Connecticut places were definitely some of my favorite parts of this. The ending of the story was pretty fast-paced after a major THING happens and I was intrigued to see what would happen. It was hard to put down – I was super tired and literally fell asleep with my Kindle in my hands because I didn’t want to stop reading. About the Author Brenna Ehrlich is […]

Review Round Up | Of Princes & Promises and Reckless Girls

Posted February 25, 2022 / 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! This series continues to baffle me a little bit. I enjoyed this book a similar amount to the first one. I was really hoping it was the characters from book one that prevented me from loving it but that turned out to not be the case here. If I were to read this without knowing Sandhya Menon wrote it, I’d be shocked to learn that she did. It just does not have the same feel as her other books, like the Dimple/Rishi universe. I think it’s mostly because she writes the characters as posh boarding school kids and her writing style feels weird as a result, like she’s trying hard to be fancy or something? In any case, this story followed Catarina and Rahul. She’s the pretty rich girl who rules the school and Rahul is the socially awkward kid whose family doesn’t even include him in public photos (his cousin stands in). The two of them had a ~moment~ after the school dance and Rahul is dying to capitalize on this. Catarina starts to “train him” to be a prince instead of a frog; she wants to make her cheater-ex-boyfriend jealous at some important events with a transformed Rahul on her arm. They acquire a magical […]

ARC Review: Wish You Were Gone

Posted February 18, 2022 / Book Reviews / 0 Comments

I’ve loved Kieran Scott (also known as Kate Brian) for many, many years. Her PRIVATE series has been on my list to reread (or at least finally complete) for YEARS. I hold that series up with GOSSIP GIRL and THE A-LIST as some of my favorite addicting series about rich and/or terrible teenagers. As Kate Brian, she blew me away with the SHADOWLANDS trilogy (some of the first reviews on my blog!). She also wrote a fun mythology-based trilogy a number of years ago that I really enjoyed as Kieran Scott. Since then, she wrote two horror/mysteries (that I haven’t gained the confidence to read yet) and a fun political-ish YA thriller. I love that she’s taken a turn writing adult mystery/thrillers because honestly it seemed right up her alley. WISH YOU WERE GONE is her adult fiction debut. It follows a family rattled by the sudden death of the patriarch. Emma and her son, Hunter, hear a crash one night and discover that her husband, James, has crashed through the garage and died. They both know he was probably drunk at the time. Her daughter, Kelsey, rushes home to see what’s happened. Turns out, James wasn’t the best guy and has more secrets than he can count. The story alternates between multiple characters, including Emma and her kids, to really understand who James was. There’s an interesting power struggle between Lizzie and Gray, Emma’s two best friends who don’t really get along, and Gray’s husband (James’ business partner). This […]

ARC Review: Weather Girl

Posted February 16, 2022 / Book Reviews / 0 Comments

I’ve fallen HARD for Rachel Lynn Solomon and her writing. If you’re still somehow sleeping on her near-perfect contemporary books (both YA *and* adult, y’all), you are missing out. She writes such lovely romances with great, complex characters and a good amount of diversity. She has another hit with WEATHER GIRL. I stayed up until 2am reading 90% of the book in one sitting. I just couldn’t stop. This one hits hard in a few areas but managed to also make me smile and actually laugh out loud to myself a few times. I really love that she’s able to balance the tough stuff with the gooey love stuff. Our MC, Ari, deals with depression (like her mom) – while medication and therapy help, she has a ton of “Dark Days” still and struggles with feeling like she’s going to repeat her mother’s history. Is anyone ever going to love all of her, including the dark parts? Will all of her boyfriends leave when things get tough, like her dad did? Ari and her coworker, Russell, decide its time for their bosses to stop making their work (at a Seattle news station) miserable – they plot to get them back together after divorcing. Needless to say, cute single dad Russell (who, by the way, provides some excellent fat rap for a male MC!) and Ari hit it off and start falling for each other. They had sooo much chemistry (which was further emphasized with some very steamy scenes) and I […]

Review Round Up | The Hawthorne Legacy and You’ll be the Death of Me

Posted February 2, 2022 / 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 was super excited to start this book right away when it was released. I am very particular about what books I buy so it was a big deal to head to B&N on release day and snag this one. For whatever reason, I put it aside on and off over the course of multiple months. I think it’s primarily because I was doing a ton of reading in bed and therefore needed my Kindle with a backlight. As it got closer to the end of the year, I knew I had to crank through and finish it off to reach my reading challenge. Every time I sat down to read this book, I wondered how it was possible I kept putting it down and not reading it for weeks! The short chapters and overall plot make this book super addicting and hard to stop reading once you start. This book picks up soonafter the first, THE INHERITANCE GAMES, ends. Avery has inherited a multi-billion dollar empire, mansion, and all of the family drama that comes along with it, out of the blue. She didn’t know the billionaire who left it for her but quickly finds out how much he loved puzzles and riddles. His will and […]

ARC Review Round Up | When You Get the Chance and Bad Luck Bridesmaid

Posted January 19, 2022 / 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 will never not request a new Emma Lord book! I adored her two previous releases and therefore had high hopes and expectations for this one. I’m not a big fan of musicals or theater-oriented books, generally speaking, so I wasn’t entirely sure Millie or the premise would be for me. However, the whole concept of Millie trying to track down her mother and figure out who she is? That’s right up my alley. That factor plus the author made this an easy NG request. Yet again, Emma Lord nails it. This book was a really nice reading experience. Millie was a bit much (with her drama and Millie Moods) but every time she crossed the line to “annoying,” she would fall back to the “endearing” side soonafter. She definitely had a flair for the dramatic but that was a fun part of her personality in the end. I like how Oliver balanced her out and how naturally they moved away from enemies. Books like this make me wish I liked NYC more – what a fun place to grow up and have the freedom to explore. (I get too nervous in the city lol). The search for her mom (basically a spin on Mama Mia, apparently […]

Blog Tour Review: Love at First Spite

Posted January 7, 2022 / Book Reviews / 0 Comments

More links: BookShop.org // Harlequin // Books-A-Million Powell’s // Signed Copies through Third Place Books Book Review Dani moved to Seattle for her fiance, only to find him cheating on her with the realtor of the house they just bought together… the one that he did not include her on the paperwork for, despite their agreement. She quickly learns that Sam is not who she thought he was and is happy to cut her losses on him. When she finds that realtor getting comfortable in the house as she gathers her things, she wonders how she can make his life as miserable as he’s made hers. The small vacant lot next to the house is the answer: she decides to build a vacation home with her cousin, Mia, and new landlord, Iris to spite him. Noisy construction, blocking his view of the water, and a potential revolving door of guests at the Airbnb… all to piss off Sam. She partners with the mysterious, grumpy architect, Wyatt, at her firm to get the project off the ground. The two start falling for each other as Dani struggles to keep the nature of the project secret from him. This book was extremely addicting, especially toward the beginning. I was eager to keep reading and see how Wyatt would slowly open up to Dani. I thought they had some good chemistry, although not necessarily right off the bat – certainly no “love at first sight” here. Wyatt is grumpy and standoffish at work so it was nice […]

Holiday Reviews: The Christmas Pact and The Twelve Dogs of Christmas

Posted December 27, 2021 / Book Reviews, Review Roundup / 0 Comments

Story I decided to listen to this on a whim when I ran out of podcasts on December 22nd – I had a lot of Christmas errands to run and knew the 2 hour runtime would be something quick and easy to bolster my holiday reading AND Goodreads challenge. I ended up enjoying it quite a bit! Riley Kennedy and Kennedy Riley work at the same publishing house and constantly receive each other’s emails. When they finally meet at the company Christmas party, they end up making a Christmas pact: Kennedy will go to Riley’s Christmas Eve to show her mom she DOES have something exciting in her life, and in exchange, Riley will go to Kennedy’s brother’s wedding after New Years. I thought the chemistry was actually well-done (very THE HATING GAME!) in a novella. I usually struggle with plot development due to the length and find there to be too much instalove, but this felt just right for me. I loved the characters and their families: they slotted into each other’s lives nicely. Wintery Setting & Holiday Feels Yes, there’s a smattering of Christmas and a mention of New Years but in a novella, not a ton of time to develop holiday feels. It has a company holiday party, Christmas Eve and morning (briefly) celebrated… and that’s about it. The setting is upstate NY so there’s some snow too! Overall The ending was a bit silly but I enjoyed it – it kind of made sense! There were […]