Publisher: Self-Published

Series Review: Crowns of Nyaxia

Posted August 7, 2023 / Book Reviews / 0 Comments

(These titles are too long to include in the blog post title.) I surprised everyone on Threads when I put vampires last on my “fantasy creatures” ranking. Honestly it’s because I’ve basically only read TWILIGHT? I can’t think of many other vampire books I’ve actually read lol. Regardless, the hype was getting to me with this series! I read the first book on a whim a few days after I checked it out from the library, also on a whim. I wasn’t expecting to see it on the shelf! I thought it would be something I’d read on Kindle Unlimited when I did my annual “one month of KU” subscription to read a few things before cancelling. Once Jamie posted about loving it and reading it in 24 hours, I decided to just go for it. Yes, it delayed me finishing the ToG series yet again but it was worth it. I ended up also subscribing to KU so I could read it on the go, and then I figured I’d start the second book while I had the subscription. I was advised to actually read the novella (#1.5) in between the books so I went for that first, and then launched into the official second book. I’m sorry in advance for how this review is mostly built around a comparison to FOURTH WING, but hear me out. I basically heard about these books at the same time. Both were popular romantasy series getting SO much hype out of nowhere. […]

Review Roundup | Practice Makes Perfect, The Risk, and No Good Tea Goes Unpunished

Posted August 4, 2023 / Book Reviews, Review Roundup / 0 Comments

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT had a lot to live up to. I fell head over heels for WHEN IN ROME and was pretty certain its companion sequel wouldn’t match up. My sister marked this one as her favorite of the two but she predicted that I’d love WIR more. Surprisingly, both ended up being five-star reads for me! (But yes, if I had to pick, Amelia/Noah are my peeps and edge out Will/Annie just a bit.) I thought Annie would annoy me a bit based on her characterization in WHEN IN ROME – she’s treated like a little angel who doesn’t swear and keeps track of her siblings cursing. Let me just say: she has so much more under the surface, and all of those little things I thought would annoy me weren’t really accurate. Will definitely had me from the beginning – I loved learning more about him and his childhood. I think I would have liked a LITTLE more there but it was good overall… There was a lot of telling instead of showing in regards to his background (and some things later in the book I won’t spoil). The two of them embark on a “fake dating” journey but more like “practice dating” – Annie wants to be less boring so she can land a husband and start the rest of her life. Will is simply just bored hanging out as a bodyguard in Rome, Kentucky… can’t fault him for that! I really loved watching their relationship develop […]

Holiday Reviews: A Season for Second Chances and Window Shopping

Posted December 1, 2022 / Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Story When Annie’s life goes off the rails and she loses her spark, she decides to take on a role essentially housesitting for an elderly woman who will be away from her beachside home for the winter season. Annie moves to the cute little town to watch over the house and keep it running, rent-free, from the fall through the spring. She has to contend with the woman’s nephew, though, who is trying to sell the property to a developer. Naturally you can imagine the Hallmark movie moments that occur from there! Overall, this was a super cute story with a low-key, breezy plot. I loved the setting, cast of quirky locals, and the easy (not truly “easy” but more like drama-free) romance. Wintery Setting & Holiday Feels Beachside holiday or winter books can be really fun – I know that I personally love visiting the beach and going for a walk whenever I visit Maine, regardless of weather. Having a cute seaside town transition into a little Christmassy village in England? Love those vibes. Because the book didn’t take place strictly in December or around the Christmas holidays, it wasn’t quite as Christmassy as it could have been… BUT it was super cute to see how the town went crazy for other fall holidays like Halloween and Thanksgiving. This was the perfect book to read in November to kick off holiday reads on a lighter note. Overall I definitely recommend this one for your first holiday-ish read of the season, […]

ARC Reviews: A Dangerous Year, The Key to Everything, and The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett

Posted November 6, 2017 / Book Reviews / 0 Comments

I immediately saw comparisons to Ally Carter’s books, plus a little bit of Pretty Fierce by Kieran Scott, when I first saw this book on Goodreads and Netgalley. I was definitely intrigued, as I love the whole teen-spy genre. Add in the fact that this takes place at a Connecticut boarding school and I was HERE FOR IT. I have a lot of mixed feelings about this book. There were some potentially problematic sentences that really rubbed me the wrong way, and I initially felt that this book would definitely be under the three-star mark as a result. The author said things like “hooker red lipstick,” which is rude, and didn’t understand how something like Man Crush Monday or Woman Crush Wednesday worked. I know that one is small potatoes but it still definitely bugged me as I was reading. If you’re going to write for teens and about teens, you should run those passages by a couple of them. The cab driver said his name was Steve and the MC thought, because of his accent, it should be more like “Tariq or Malik.” And one other thing that bugged me, more in terms of the MC as a friend or human: Aside from those things, the book was sub-par until the very end. The last 10% was an absolute whirlwind. I thought I had everything figured out pretty early on, but there were a LOT of twists. The ending was definitely a cliffhanger too, so I’m really curious to […]

ARC Review: Out on Good Behavior

Posted June 10, 2016 / Book Reviews / 2 Comments

I am too sad that this series is over. New Adult can be truly hit or miss for me. I find that I’m not a fan of a lot of drama and angst between the couples. I’m prettttty much here for the college-aged-setting and sexytimes. I really love Dahlia’s books in general, but she pretty much slays at NA. She has a great mix of the hot stuff, the relationship development, and most importantly – FRIENDSHIP. The saddest thing about this series is that I don’t have the ability to hang out with Lizzie, Cait, and Frankie anymore. I love them so much. Between the dirty jokes and the fact that they’re always there for each other, they are legit #squadgoals. I’m going to miss them. The previous two books had a lot of family feels and issues brought in, but this one had almost zero. It’s really not a big deal and I didn’t notice that much when I was reading… but it’s odd in hindsight. Samara had the issue of her parents and telling them she’s gay but that wasn’t at the forefront. We heard a little about Frankie’s parents but no interaction with them at all. The relationship between Sam and Frankie was really sweet. Frankie is known in the previous two books for doing whatever she wants with whoever she wants, so it was clear she’d need some character development for her to be monogamous. She didn’t change herself for a girl though – she made […]

Review: Right of First Refusal

Posted April 13, 2016 / Book Reviews / 2 Comments

Dahlia Adler has literally never let me down. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed all of her books (and now I have officially read ALL of them) and I can’t see it changing any time soon. This is the second in her Radleigh University NA series and I liked it even more than the first book. Every book by Dahlia is so well-rounded, covering every important topic in a young person’s life, without feeling like it’s “too much.” This book had strong friendships, romance, family issues, and – of course – a few sexytimes. Every single thing you could want in a book, really. Our main girl Cait was fierce and I fucking loved it. She wasn’t afraid to go after what she wanted and be super intense doing what she loved: playing lacrosse. I LOVED that she prioritized it above a lot of other things, because it shows how dedicated she was. She never let anyone tell her otherwise; she didn’t care if they didn’t get it. I really loved how strong she was. Friends & family Lizzie (from book one) and Frankie (book three coming next, eeeeek) were, as usual, fantastic, supportive friends. They had Cait’s back, even when she kept things from them to protect someone else. I love their relationship so, so much. I could probably go on about it all day. Their personalities are so distinct and fleshed out. I have to say though, the best part is the constant sexual innuendos 😉 Those are my people! Her sister, Cammie, […]

Review: Last Will and Testament

Posted December 13, 2015 / Book Reviews / 4 Comments

Oh, Dahlia. I don’t think you’ll ever disappoint me. *knocks on wood* This was another fantastic story by her. It had all of the wonderful features of her young adult books with quite a bit more sexytimes added. I’m not a person who goes into books blind; I always refresh my memory on the synopsis before starting. I definitely did NOT do that with this book, so I was really caught off guard by the beginning of the book! Lizzie finds out that her parents have been killed in an accident and she becomes the legal guardian of her two younger brothers. They move back up to where she’s attending college and she tries to get her grades back on track. Meanwhile, she starts falling for her TA. I definitely haven’t read a book – especially not an NA book – with the whole parents/guardianship thing. I liked that the concept was unique overall, even though the student-teacher forbidden romance part was not. Speaking of that, I could really feel their chemistry. WHEW. I don’t generally like those books, but this one felt real and organic. And also, holy shit, those steamy scenes were… eeeeek. I LOOOOVED Lizzie as a character. She did what she wanted, she spoke her mind, she stuck up for herself, and owned her sexuality/sexual experiences. I loved that so much. She was really brazen, which I’m honestly not used to reading, so it was refreshing. (I feel like so many main characters are timid or […]

Review: The Deal

Posted October 21, 2015 / Book Reviews / 2 Comments

This book was exactly what I needed at the time. I had recently finished a few “heavier” books with stronger sci-fi/paranormal or just plain crazy themes… so I wanted something relatively mindless and fun. I’m so happy that this book delivered that for me! Hannah is coerced into tutoring the school’s egotistical hockey star, Garrett, in exchange for his help in getting her crush to notice her. The two of them end up moving beyond the “fake relationship” stage into something much more. Two of my favorite tropes were here in full-force: slow-burn and hate-to-love. Garrett is cocky and annoying to Hannah at the beginning, but the two of them clearly have banter-filled chemistry. I loved getting inside both of their heads, as this book alternated between their two points of view. Some New Adult books with the guy’s point of view tend to annoy me, at least at first. Garrett was a typical NA guy in the beginning: very focused on how hot she was and all sorts of bullshit about her tits and ass. I generally don’t like reading it, but usually see some good character development that enables me to look past that stuff in the beginning. This book was one of those, thank god. As I said, the hate-to-love romance trope is usually full of banter, teasing, and sarcasm. Their chemistry oozed off the pages from the very beginning of the book. If you’re looking for a steamy New Adult that doesn’t have as much drama and has […]

Review: Scoring Wilder

Posted November 5, 2014 / Book Reviews / 2 Comments

The character development was pretty good. The main character, Kinsley, was honest and funny. I loved that the book started the summer before college when she had just moved into the Rookie soccer house on campus. The reader is able to watch her develop friendships rather than picking up in the middle of a character’s life/high school career. The humor between characters in this book was certainly my style. Like Boomerang, this was a fun and sexy New Adult book that I enjoyed. I don’t like the ones that are too angsty. Kinsley and Becca’s friendship was on point for me. I kept highlighting funny parts because they sounded exactly like my friends in all of their interactions. I loved the three main characters: Kinsley, Becca, and Liam. That dynamic really worked for me and we learned a good amount about each of their lives. There could have been a little more characterization but there was enough to work with and really enjoy the three of them. Yes, this book was sexual as hell. So much swooning over Liam Wilder, holy shit. I don’t normally read New Adult so I’m always surprised about how much sex is actually in the books, but this one wasn’t all about that. There was a good balance. The biggest thing I liked about this book was how readable and entertaining it was. I just smiled a lot and enjoyed myself. Sometimes that’s all you really need from a book! Some of the humor was kind […]