Publisher: Macmillan

Recent Reads: No Exit, Stay Awake, and Anon Pls

Posted January 9, 2023 / Bite-Sized Reviews, Book Reviews / 0 Comments

I’ve read a few books at the end of last year (that didn’t really involve the holiday season) and just wanted to share some quick thoughts, so we’re here today with mini reviews (part two!). NO EXIT was a wild ride. Lots of people have recommended it for a super addicting thriller that you can’t put down, which is exactly what I needed at the time, so I finally decided to give it a go. I picked it up from BOTM and hopefully will be able to watch the movie soon to finish up the overall ~experience.~ As I was reading I kept wondering how it was possible that this book could go on and on based on the promise – I had no idea what could possibly happen…and I really just kept reading until I found out. I think I expected something else in some ways? But it was overall quite a thrilling read. Like many others, I won’t share any details to spoil it. Just know that there are more twists and turns than you could imagine possible. Very creepy, good book to read in the dead of winter! I didn’t realize when I first added this book to my TBR that Megan Goldin wrote one of my recent fave mystery books (THE NIGHT SWIM). Such a pleasant surprise that her second book STAY AWAKE was just as fun of a read. The premise was unlike any other mystery/suspense book I’ve read before. The main character has amnesia where […]

Holiday Novella Reviews: The Santa Suit and The Christmas Concierge

Posted December 7, 2022 / Book Reviews, Review Roundup / 0 Comments

Story This was a random choice this year after having been on my radar since it was released last year. When I decided to read 7 books in 7 days again, it was an easy selection due to its size (and audiobook on Scribd to switch between!). The story centers around freshly divorced Ivy heading to her newly purchased farm property in a small town. Her realtor turned handyman turned love interest Ezra is present throughout the novel. Ivy finds a gorgeous vintage Santa Suit in the attic with a heartbreaking Christmas wish from a child written on a piece of paper in the pocket. She decides to track down the writer of the note and try to figure out what happened that Christmas back in the day. Along the way, she meets and befriends a lot of people in the town who help her on her quest (and beyond – everyone is quite friendly). The story was cute and cheesy, which is what I tend to expect from holiday books in most cases. Wintery Setting & Holiday Feels I love a southern small town romance with Christmas vibes! There was a cute Christmas market setting that I really enjoyed and totally wish was fleshed out more. The farm property was well-known (due to its previous owners) for its lights and Christmas cheer, so it was nice when Ivy got into the spirit with decorating. Overall, decent Christmas vibes but a short novella – so a little hard to get […]

ARC Reviews: The No-Show and The Wedding Season

Posted May 12, 2022 / Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Oh man. This was such a fascinating reading experience and not what I was expecting at all. THE NO-SHOW story centers around Siobhan, Miranda, and Jane, as they all date Joseph Carter. They each suspect him of cheating or think he’s hiding something when he doesn’t show up for their Valentines Day plans. The story alternates between their three perspectives, so I expected this to be some kind of John Tucker Must Die story (like Cristina said in her review!) where they all figure out what’s happening and go for the jugular with this dude. Overall… that was kind of masterfully written. I shouldn’t have doubted Beth O’Leary like I initially did. The first 3/4 of the book was honestly a little tough to get into. I mean, this dude is dating three women. Why would I want to read that? Who am I supposed to root for as a couple? Are the girls going to get together and seek revenge? Well, without spoiling anything, things certainly changed in the final act. I got very unexpectedly emotional and it was not a light or girl-power-filled “rom-com” like I thought it would be. I’ll leave it at that! It’s hard to fully review this without majorly spoiling where things go. I think this was definitely worth the read and in the end, I REALLY enjoyed it. I think I could have rated it a bit higher but it was not the most fun to read for the first half or so. I […]

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 […]

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 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 […]

Review Round Up | A Vow So Bold and Deadly and All the Tides of Fate

Posted July 23, 2021 / Book Reviews, Review Roundup / 2 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 the first two books in this series but my mind was a blank when starting this final book in the trilogy. Even worse? All of my book recap websites didn’t have a summary for book two! I was able to piece everything together pretty well from spoilery reviews at least. Usually I get very sidetracked and unmotivated to read fantasy books, especially this year. I’m so behind on my challenge that I’ve been focusing on quick contemporary books or mysteries. However, VOW really kept my attention. I was always interested in reading it and didn’t feel like putting it down every two seconds to check my phone. Reviews for third or final books can be challenging because I don’t want to give everything away from the first two, but I’m going to hope most people reading this review read the first two books. I won’t say anything major though. The character in the last book who was very terrible is on the path to redemption, in a way, in this book. I didn’t remember the gory details from book two but remember thinking “since when is he like this?!” All in all, a very interesting character arc there. I liked getting all four character’s POVs […]

Review Round Up | Finlay Donovan is Killing It, The Girls Are All So Nice Here, and The Ex-Talk

Posted May 21, 2021 / 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 was so fun and refreshing – exactly what I needed! I’ve been intrigued by the cozy mystery genre, or at least “lighter” mysteries that focus heavily on the amateur sleuth and her personal life, but none have fully hit the mark. They’ve either been not-good in a compulsively readable way, or just straight-up not great in general. This one hit the mark for me in so many ways. Finlay is a struggling romantic suspense author and she finds herself caught up in a murder mystery, along with her babysitter-turned-roommate, Vero. They have a fun relationship – I loved how quickly Vero worked with Finlay to figure out what was happening, even getting involved with some extremely elicit activities. Like many mysteries like this, the crime/murder is a main point of the book, but you learn even more about the main character and their personal life as they try to figure out what’s going on. Finlay is dealing with her shitty ex-husband and his new perfect fiance while trying to be a single working mom of two cute kids. I enjoyed seeing how she attempted to balance it all and how Vero stepped in to help her… in more ways than one. I won’t spoil too much […]

Five Star ARC Reviews: It’s Kind of a Cheesy Love Story and Float Plan

Posted March 18, 2021 / Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Thanks to Morgan, I read MEANT TO BE years ago. She thought I would like it based on my questionnaire for Secret Santa (I think?) and sent it my way, and she was totally right. I have completely slept on her other books since then though and clearly that’s a damn shame. IT’S KIND OF A CHEESY LOVE STORY obviously caught my eye because I love pizza more than most things in the world. A girl is born in a pizza parlor’s bathroom and she’s given free pizza for life AND a job when she turns sixteen. Begrudgingly, she accepts both, and spends her Friday night in Hot N’ Crusty instead of with her group of ~popular~ friends that she doesn’t necessarily fit in with anymore (did she ever?). I truly adored this book – it had all of the elements I’m looking for in a YA romance. Beck is trying to figure out what to do with her life but not in the traditional ways within the genre. Sure, she’s not sure yet about college or future jobs, but she’s trying to find herself among her friends and new work group. She has a secret obsession with a sci-fi show and a few other pieces of herself that she’s hiding from her friends, which is creating a wedge between them that only grows when she finds common interests with her HNC pals. It was lovely to watch her grow closer to Julianne and the others through movie nights and […]