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Review Round Up | The Night Swim, Admission, and Recommended for You

Posted November 13, 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 forgot to cancel BOTM and ended up with a rogue credit to use. The very small synopsis on the website seemed addicting and up my alley (I mean, any book about a true crime podcaster will win me over). However, after I selected it and headed to Goodreads, the heavier subject matter (that I usually avoid- sexual assault and rape) became apparent. It’s out of my wheelhouse and comfort zone, generally speaking, but I decided to go with it anyways. I’m really glad I did! Yes, it was hard to read at times, especially because both stories or “timelines” in this feature sexual assault. It was a super addicting book that I never wanted to put down, which is huge for me in 2020. Actually, all three of the books here did that for me! The main character, Rachel, is visiting a small beach town in North Carolina to follow a rape trial for the third season of her podcast. While there, a former local tracks her down and leaves mysterious messages for Rachel, begging her to solve the mystery of her own sister’s rape and murder 25 years prior. The two stories were similar and because intertwined in ways I didn’t see coming. Overall, really […]

Review Round Up | Love Your Life, Forever With You, and Well Played

Posted November 4, 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’ve had both good and bad luck with Kinsella books in recent years – she can be super hit or miss. Sometimes the characters are just quirky enough, sometimes they’re over-the-top and annoying with it. This book was an interesting reading experience because it REALLY toed the line. I was tempted to DNF because good lord was Ava annoying… but I’m glad I kept going! My biggest issue with the story is that Ava and Matt were basically in love right away on their retreat, without knowing anything about their “real lives” outside. Kinsella didn’t do a good job of building up my investment in the relationship while they were in Italy so that I would CARE about them when they were home. If I didn’t see all the good things up front that made them want to keep trying, why should I care if they’re together? Their relationship was truly frustrating at times and her blindness to it all was even worse. Ava was frustrating and Matt was just okay for me. It seriously took a while but I was thoroughly enjoying myself around the 70% mark lol whoops. They had so much stuff to work through – I truly didn’t think this book would have […]

Review Round Up | Summer at Lake Haven, Today Tonight Tomorrow, and Then She Was Gone

Posted October 14, 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’m always thrilled to return to Haven Point! I started this one and then realized there was a prequel novella about the leading man’s sister that should be read first, so I paused and finished that up quickly. Ian is in town for his sister Gemma’s wedding. He rents a house next to Samantha and she’s immediately smitten with his two cute kids. The kids, in turn, are smitten with the puppies she’s temporarily taking care of! Ian and Samantha get off on the wrong foot but they grow to be friends (and then more) throughout the story, of course. I’ll be honest – they were super dry and boring. Their conversations were repetitive and offered too much information about Ian’s research on salmon (yup). I was always a bit tired of them talking, which isn’t what you need from main characters you’re supposed to be rooting for in a romance! As always, the charming Haven Point setting won major points for me. The two of them were on Lake Haven and went hiking to see some waterfalls, which led to some nice scenery descriptions. The rest of the town and the Helping Hands group were always excellent too. I won’t spoil the ending, but it was […]

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 […]

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 […]

ARC Reviews: The Mall and Paradise Cove

Posted July 13, 2020 / Book Reviews / 1 Comment

This was so good and exactly what I needed, yet again. My reading mojo was really off for a few months in the beginning of the year, so I decided to read what was calling to me: THE MALL. I enjoyed the Jessica Darling series enough and was so curious to read more by Megan McCafferty. This book was exactly what I wanted it to be; it felt like all the best parts of the JD books. I was born in 1991 when this book takes place so others who were teens around this time may relate to the mall culture even more, but it still made me super nostalgic. It’s weird to classify this as “historical fiction” but hey, it’s not contemporary technically! I used to enjoy the mall when I was in middle school through some of high school, so I can definitely relate to all those feels overall. It made for a really fun read. I don’t want to say too much about the plot because the synopsis of the book is extremely limited to basically what happens in the first two chapters… This book is super focused on friendship with light romance and a whole lot of ~finding yourself~ without feeling cheesy. Cassie thought she had her summer and life all planned out, but everything goes to hell on her first day working at the mall after a six-week quarantine from having mono (a little too close to home when I was reading this in early […]

Review Round Up | Date Me Bryson Keller, Four Days of You and Me, and The Boyfriend Project

Posted June 24, 2020 / Book Reviews, Review Roundup / 1 Comment

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! Oh man, this book was EXACTLY what I needed. I’d been struggling with reading during quarantine (and honestly was behind on my challenge BEFORE too) so Chris suggested I take a break from the book that was taking me forever and putting me in a slump, and read something quick and fun. I was able to sit down and read DATE ME, BRYSON KELLER in one sitting on a Monday night and it was exactly the kick in the pants I needed to read more and finish April stronger. The story is about a dare that popular guy, Bryson Keller, takes on at the end of their senior year. He vows to date one person per week until spring break, based on whoever asks him out first on Monday morning. He shows up late to school and royally messes up Kai’s morning, so he randomly spits out “date me, Bryson Keller” and to his surprise, Bryson says yes. Kai is a closeted gay teen who really just wants to experience having a boyfriend and see what it’d be like to hang out with Bryson all week. Needless to say, sparks fly between the two boys and it was THE CUTEST. I was literally squealing multiple times throughout […]

Reviews: Killing November and Hunting November

Posted May 20, 2020 / Book Reviews / 1 Comment

I have to say, Dahlia’s review on Goodreads is what really made me make sure to push KILLING NOVEMBER up on my TBR. To be fair, I haven’t read THE CONSPIRACY OF US (yet) but the PRIVATE part? Yes please. I miss that series and continue to put off reading it for various reasons. I decided to dive into this one when I saw my library had a digital copy coming available soonish, and it was ready at the end of January. I thought I would lump my review in with the sequel, which was due to come out a few months after I read book one. So here we are! I was intrigued and confused SO much at the beginning of this novel – it was completely fascinating to try to figure out what the hell was going on. No electricity, so much secrecy about everything… damn. I would have run for the hills the moment I arrived there (although it sounds like that would’ve been impossible)! The main character, November, ends up at this boarding school and is told by her ex-CIA father that she’ll be there for a few weeks while he goes to “help” her Aunt Jo with something. The place has no electricity and technology, is shrouded in secrets (the location is literally like Hogwarts and hidden somehow in the mountains), and has the sketchiest teenagers I’ve ever read about. Her roommate, Layla, is one of the oddest ones initially and it was so wild […]

Review Round Up | Beach Read, A Deadly Inside Scoop, and The Summer of Impossibilities

Posted May 4, 2020 / Book Reviews, Review Roundup / 1 Comment

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! Woo, boy. I had HIGH expectations for this book. A few bloggers/booktubers I follow closely loved this one (and Madalyn told me I’d love it) so I was really preparing to be wowed. And I totally was. This book exceeded my lofty expectations. January, a romance writer, and her college nemesis and literary fiction writer, Gus, end up neighbors in a sleepy Michigan beach town for the summer. January is getting through the death of her father and all of the secrets she’s learned in the wake of his passing, all while trying to clear his house (and second life) and write a new book. She’s not feeling very romance-y at the moment and when her and Gus meet up, they decide to swap genres for the summer and see if that breaks their writer’s block. Naturally, they get closer throughout the summer, and take each other on genre-relevant field trips so the other person really learns what they should be writing about. I LOVED that this book was very much a typical romance book (and sort of a love letter to the genre) while also managing to invent new tropes. Who knew that TWO grumpy main characters could be so perfect?! Usually you have one grumpy and […]

ARC Reviews: The Honey-Don’t List and The Happy Ever After Playlist

Posted April 16, 2020 / Book Reviews / 1 Comment

I’ve said it many times before that I came aboard the Christina Lauren train pretty late – I started reading their books with THE UNHONEYMOONERS, which seems to be their first full departure from the straight-up romance novels they were writing earlier. They’ve shifted toward rom-coms with evidently less sexytimes. I’ve seen a lot of people move away from their books as a result, preferring their earlier works, but I enjoyed their latest releases (the first and only books I’ve read by this pairing). THE HONEY-DON’T LIST centers around characters dealing with a “if-Chip-and-Joanna-Gaines-had-major-issues” kind of situation. The married couple in question, Russell and Melissa, became famous through their design skills and have been only increasing in popularity over the years. When Russell starts misbehaving and creating a potential PR nightmare, their two assistants have to wrangle everything and keep them on track during their book tour… a book about marital advice, nonetheless. Carey and Jim have different reasons for working with these two and dealing with the trainwreck, and also have very different feelings about how to do everything (at first). This was cute and enjoyable – another “just what I needed” read for me. I’ll say that I definitely thought this was going to be a bit more enemies/rivals-to-more but that element was practically nonexistent. There was a tiny bit of friction for like three chapters but I found that Carey and James quickly became friendly and more. The two of them were pretty meh overall too… They […]