I'm so tired of reading books that went viral online and then they don't live up to the hype. It took me weeks to finish this book. WEEKS! And [image]
I'm so tired of reading books that went viral online and then they don't live up to the hype. It took me weeks to finish this book. WEEKS! And in 450 pages, NOTHING HAPPENED!
I'd write a proper review, but like I said, I'm tired....more
Bradley and Celine used to be best friends when they were younger, but after a fight they became total strangers. Now, in high school, the two of themBradley and Celine used to be best friends when they were younger, but after a fight they became total strangers. Now, in high school, the two of them are competing in an outdoor course with the prize being a scholarship. Despite hating each other, they need to work together and trust each other so they can both get what they want.
After loving books 1 and 3 of the Brown sisters series, I was really excited to read this book. To my surprise, it just kind of got worse the longer I listened to it. It started off not great with annoying characters, and then got better when the two main characters grew together. But then the end was convoluted and just, well, bad. It made me sad because I think I should have given up on the book earlier and not just continued on. I love Talia Hibbert's books, usually. This one just seemed to be a miss for me....more
The Bromance Book Club series is so fun, I love all of these characters. This fifth book is about Colton and Gretchen, who hooked up at a mut 4 stars
The Bromance Book Club series is so fun, I love all of these characters. This fifth book is about Colton and Gretchen, who hooked up at a mutual friends wedding only for Gretchen to leave Colton behind. Now, months later, she needs his help to get on the board of a charity foundation.
I really enjoyed listening to this book. Colton and Gretchen had great banter. It also delved into tough subjects without getting too heavy and I appreciate that. I loved revisiting all the characters and I am very much hoping the cheese man gets his own book.
If you want a fun romance series with lots of humor and heart, this is the one for you....more
When Toni was a young girl, she was dropped off at her father’s bar with only a guitar. There, she met her childhood friend Seb, and the two 3 stars
When Toni was a young girl, she was dropped off at her father’s bar with only a guitar. There, she met her childhood friend Seb, and the two of them planned to leave together. But when Seb turned eighteen, he left Toni behind. Now, about seven years later, Toni has made a name for herself in the indie music scene. But when she auditions for an up and coming band The Lilly’s, she is reunited with Seb again.
This book had a lot going for it, rock star romance, second chance romance. But it really fell kind of flat for me. I loved all of Toni’s portions of the book, but I strongly believe Seb’s POV could have been cut all together. That with slow placing and more than 400 pages, the kiss of death for me. I listened to the audio and pretty much same opinion, female narrator great, male one awful. Plus, sex scenes in a book shouldn’t make me verbally say out loud “ew”.
Had this book been shorter with a faster pace, I think I would have loved it. But every little thing felt dragged out and took away from my overall enjoyment....more
Joy has been secretly in love with her best friend Malcolm for years. When Malcolm invited Joy to meet his new girlfriend, Summer, and Sum 4.5 stars!
Joy has been secretly in love with her best friend Malcolm for years. When Malcolm invited Joy to meet his new girlfriend, Summer, and Summer’s friend Fox, Joy has her reservations. After years of not getting along with Malcolm’s girlfriends, she doesn’t have much to look forward to. But Fox has his own plan in mind: he and Joy pretend their falling for each other…
You ever read a book and wonder why it’s not more popular? That’s how I feel about this one. It’s got the vibes of the film My Best Friend’s Wedding, a fake dating trope, and everyone is isolated in a cabin in the woods. All of that, plus more than one character being asexual? This book has it all. I loved Joy as a main character, she had great confidence without it coming across as arrogant.
This book navigated complicated male/female friendships in a very real way. And our hero was a grump who had sweet feelings for the heroine! Seriously, I got such warm and fuzzy feelings when I was finished reading this book. It was exactly what I needed at just the right time....more
The fourth book in the Bromance Book Club series, we get the story of the Russian hockey player Vlad, and his marriage of convenience to Elen 3 stars
The fourth book in the Bromance Book Club series, we get the story of the Russian hockey player Vlad, and his marriage of convenience to Elena, his childhood friend. When Vlad came to America to play for the NHL, he married Elena so she could come to the states and go to college. But Vlad never told Elena how he truly felt about her, and six years later she wants a divorce and to return to Russia.
Marriage of convenience is usually one of my favorite tropes in the romance genre, but this one lacked the usual angst and pining we often see with this trope. I thought Vlad was sweet and I would love to see more romances heroes like him. I thought Vlad and Elena lacked chemistry and all of their miscommunications seemed really trivial (and I am someone who doesn’t mind miscommunication in her romance). It was also the last minute danger at the end thrown in for dramatic effect (?) that made me roll my eyes. The moments with the other men were fun, but this is probably my least favorite book in this series so far....more
A Schitt’s Creek inspired romance of a fallen Hollywood It girl who is sentenced to a small coastal town and the grumpy fisherman who is d 3.5 stars!
A Schitt’s Creek inspired romance of a fallen Hollywood It girl who is sentenced to a small coastal town and the grumpy fisherman who is drawn to her.
My first ever Tessa Bailey who I’ve been meaning to read for several years (don’t come at me, I know). I never picked her books up because every time someone recommended them to me, it was followed with “her characters are the best dirty talkers” or something to that effect. And… that doesn’t really interest me. I am an angst romance gal, I’m not really here for the spice. I don’t judge others for loving it, I am cheering you on. That’s just my reading tastes.
I really enjoyed the first half of this book, but overall felt the pacing was really off. Brendan went from hating Piper and being awful to her, to in love with her in like two seconds flat. I need a little bit more development than that. The second half did bring some angst in, mostly from how Piper was dealing with her own insecurities and I enjoyed that. But everything was resolved VERY quickly and honestly, I wanted Piper to get more apologies from those in her life who made her feel shitty. We got almost no groveling from anyone but Brendan and that rubbed me the wrong way.
A very cute and spicy book inspired by Schitt’s Creek, I enjoyed it but maybe my expectations were too high of Ms. Bailey and I’ll need to try something else by her in the future....more
A cute romance about a high school coach and an older woman, single mother. This Well Met series is honestly so fun and I enjoy getting los 3.5 stars
A cute romance about a high school coach and an older woman, single mother. This Well Met series is honestly so fun and I enjoy getting lost in some mindless entertainment while reading this series. And while I enjoyed this book a lot, I have a feeling I won’t remember much about it once time passes....more
Tiffy needs a new, cheap place to live as soon as possible, and Leon needs to make some money quickly. So Tiffy answers the ad for Leon’s fl 4 stars!
Tiffy needs a new, cheap place to live as soon as possible, and Leon needs to make some money quickly. So Tiffy answers the ad for Leon’s flatshare: the rules, Tiffy is there evenings and weekends, Leon there during the day since he works the night shift. And what starts as a few notes back and forth quickly develops into something more.
The Flatshare is a book I’ve heard about for years and have been meaning to read, but just never got around to it. While I think most would classify this as women’s fiction, it really was a great novel that covered tough subjects in a sensitive way. It was so cute to follow along as Tiffy and Leon wrote each other notes, starting as strangers, then friends, then more.
All of the stuff with the ex-boyfriend Justin was surprising and confusing at first, but that makes sense because it was probably exactly those things for Tiffy to experience. But the side story of Leon’s brother Richie was my favorite and he was such a fun character, I hope there’s more of him somewhere in O’Leary’s books....more
The story of Alexis the café owner and Noah, her former hacker best friend. When Alexis gets hit by a bombshell about family she never kne 4.5 stars!
The story of Alexis the café owner and Noah, her former hacker best friend. When Alexis gets hit by a bombshell about family she never knew about, Noah does what he can to protect his best friend from potential harm. Even if that means working on himself and joining the Bromance Book Club…
I really liked this one! But found family is a trope I adore and this whole book fit that so well. Friends to lovers isn’t normally my favorite but this one just worked for me. The parts with Beefcake the cat were hilarious, and the group scenes with the men as well. But mostly, I felt this book was great because of all the parts with Alexis getting to know her family and Noah overcoming his grief from his dads death. I was glad to read a romance novel that was more than just the love story, it made it so much better....more
Hannah Brooks doesn’t look like she can take down a man twice her size, she looks more like a kindergarten teacher or the girl next door, but 4 stars
Hannah Brooks doesn’t look like she can take down a man twice her size, she looks more like a kindergarten teacher or the girl next door, but that’s what makes her a perfect bodyguard. The ability to blend in and seem non-threatening. So after her boyfriend breaks up with her (right after her mom dies) Hannah is ready to escape into her next assignment. Jack Stapleton is a well known celebrity thanks to his blockbuster superhero movies, and he needs a bodyguard who can also pretend to be his girlfriend. And Hannah is the perfect woman for the job.
I’ve only read one other Katherine Center book and I enjoyed it, so I pretty much got what I was expecting when I dove into this one. A cute romance (that is not at all steamy or spicy) but more focused on character development and along the lines of “women’s fiction”. I love the idea of a female bodyguard romance and this book delivered a good one.
The banter between Jack and Hannah was the best part of this book, you could really see the friendship they had slowly grow into something more. I normally am not big on celebrity romance but this one really worked because it didn’t cover Hollywood or fame and I appreciated that. We got two people dealing with the pain of their past and working together to try and make their future better. All the subplots with the side characters also were done really well and I liked seeing how all of those played out or got resolved.
Katherine Center is a great author and I think I need to make an effort to read more of her backlist in the future. She hasn’t disappointed me yet and her books are a nice break from reality....more
Taking place in the present, and ten years earlier (with a smidge of in between), this is the story of Chani and Gabe. Ten years ago, writer 4 stars!
Taking place in the present, and ten years earlier (with a smidge of in between), this is the story of Chani and Gabe. Ten years ago, writer Chani spent three days with movie star Gabe working on a story to help his career. Ten years later the two meet again for another story and old wounds are reopened.
This is one of those books where you have to tell yourself not to judge it by the cover (because to me, this book cover is truly awful) and just read it and enjoy. Second chance romance is one of my favorite tropes, and this was a good one. I don’t always love celebrity romance but this one was done really well, portraying Gabe more as a human than a star. Chani I liked for the most part, sometimes she could be a bit cringe, but I tried to give her grace with that.
Normally this would have been a four star read for me, but I have one little thing that annoyed me. All of the “then” parts the characters had insane chemistry… that just wasn’t present for the “now” parts and I thought that was kind of weird. Had that been maintained I think this would be a perfect book. Overall a great read and if you love audiobooks, this one was well done in that format....more
This is one of those books where when I was reading it, I enjoyed it. But when I would think about it after, I noticed a bunch of things I 3.5 stars
This is one of those books where when I was reading it, I enjoyed it. But when I would think about it after, I noticed a bunch of things I didn’t like or didn’t make sense.
I thought Astrid was such an intriguing character in the first book Delilah Green, so I was excited to read this one. But after I finished reading, other than a bad mother and some anxiety we really didn’t learn much about her. And the same with Jordan other than a terrible ex-wife, we didn’t really get to know Jordan either. And the romance was seriously lacking, it was tension and then suddenly together. It didn’t develop well for me. And the whole tv show plot was just so random and didn't fit well with the book as a whole. I honestly would forget about it until it was brought up.
I will say the book kept my attention the whole time and I enjoyed it while I was reading it. But like I said, it’s one of those books where when you sit down and really analyze this book there were a lot of issues.
ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review ...more
I was really excited for this book and I thought I would love it, but it really didn’t work for me. The writing style was difficult for me to 2 stars
I was really excited for this book and I thought I would love it, but it really didn’t work for me. The writing style was difficult for me to get into and the story was so incredibly slow (and yet nothing seemed to be happening at the same time). Maybe I’ll try another one of Dade’s books in an audiobook format in the future, but not anytime soon....more
When her car breaks down in the middle of nowhere, Alexis gets a tow from an unexpected and handsome stranger. Flash to the next day and she’s fleeingWhen her car breaks down in the middle of nowhere, Alexis gets a tow from an unexpected and handsome stranger. Flash to the next day and she’s fleeing his house after a one-night stand. But Daniel has gotten under her skin and Alexis goes back for me. The problem is, the two of them live in very different worlds and Alexis doesn’t know how Daniel would fit in hers.
I ended up loving this book and I did not expect to. I listened to the audiobook on the recommendation of a friend (thank you, Christy!) and I was really very hesitant to pick this one up because I actually hated The Friend Zone. It has two incredible narrators (Julia Whelan and Zachary Webber) and they really brought this story to life for me.
I really loved the relationship between Alexis and Daniel and how it developed. It was the story of two unlikely people who found something beautiful. And although I loved them, I was frustrated at times reading the book because I just wanted to shake Alexis and her choices. I understood why she made them, but the plot point of her being almost “ashamed” of Daniel and his life just seemed so elitist of her. I get that it was her background I just wanted her to wake up sooner.
Also I loved the little things the author threw in from her regular life. It was obvious the dog in the book was based off of the one she posts on tik tok. The author also owns a cupcake chain called Nadia Cakes (which are delicious, I’ve had them) and she references them in the book. That combined with a wonderful sense of humor just really made this book come together for me as whole and I am glad I gave this author a second chance....more
An odd romance, but a very cute one. Astra, a librarian recovering from an awful divorce, loves to visit the Christmas market in the city e 3.5 stars
An odd romance, but a very cute one. Astra, a librarian recovering from an awful divorce, loves to visit the Christmas market in the city every year. And every year Jack is there at the bakery waiting for Astra to visit, the problem is she never remembers him (because of Christmas magic). But this might be the year she finally does, and Jack will get the chance at the woman of his dreams.
I enjoyed this romance, it was very cute. I’m not huge on the holiday romance trope but wanted to give this book a chance. It’s one of the few times I’ve read a librarian in a romance book where the author didn’t get the entire profession completely wrong and that was to refreshing to read. And the romance between Jack and Astra was unique and fun, I just felt it dragged on a bit too long and could have been a little bit shorter. There were some last minute dramatics I didn’t care for and I think the book would have been perfect without them.
An arc was provided by the publisher via Netgalley ...more
Pastry chef Liv Papandreas gets fired from her job when she drops a thousand dollar cupcake on a customer and then walks in on her boss sexu 4 stars!
Pastry chef Liv Papandreas gets fired from her job when she drops a thousand dollar cupcake on a customer and then walks in on her boss sexually harassing an employee. Her boss proceeds to black ball her in the restaurant industry and Liv sets out to take him down. Her unlikely ally is Mack, friend of her brother in law, who wants to help Liv take down her old boss. But they will both need help from the entire bromance book club.
How sad is it that while reading this book, it felt like a fairy tale that men would believe women when they were harassed and immediately leap to their defense, no questions asked? I know there are good men out there, but I was shocked by this in the book and that made me sad that I even have that doubt.
I thought Liv and Mack were excellently paired, the jaded pastry chef and the romantic hero at heart. Their banter was a lot of fun and the build up of their romance and relationship worked really well. I also enjoyed the side characters a lot, except maybe I am sensitive but all of the torture jokes from The Russian were not funny to me at all, it felt like an insensitive caricature of a culture. And I worry about that man’s intestines with all the cheese/farting incidents he has.
Filled with humor and heart warming moments, the bromance book club series is turning out to be a win for me and I am excited to read the rest of the series....more
Believe me when I say no one is more shocked by my rating of this book than I am because I thought this was going to be a slam dunk. Several 2 stars
Believe me when I say no one is more shocked by my rating of this book than I am because I thought this was going to be a slam dunk. Several people, online and in person have told me how much they loved this book and I was very excited to read it.
I find it hard to put exactly into words what didn’t work for me, I can’t really explain it. Mostly I don’t care for the technicalities of social media marketing or STEM which were two main subjects. Nothing against them, they just don’t interest me. And I felt a lot of this book was endless tedious conversations between three characters that just went on and on instead of a plot that drove the story forward. Basically a lot of dialogue and no action.
I’m really sad I didn’t love this because normally I love Penny Reid books. I’m just going to pass this off as a fluke and hope I enjoy the next one I read....more
PhD candidate Phoebe returns to her childhood home to clean it up a bit while working on her thesis. Phoebe is obsessed with true crime and 3 stars
PhD candidate Phoebe returns to her childhood home to clean it up a bit while working on her thesis. Phoebe is obsessed with true crime and is analyzing it for her dissertation. There’s just one problem, she is convinced her next door neighbor Sam is a serial killer. As time goes by Phoebe gets to know Sam more and finds out he’s much worse, a genuinely nice guy who is interested in her.
Maybe it’s just me, maybe it’s the release of Dahmer on Netflix, but the whole obsession with the true crime genre thing is not the cute and quirky personality trait that people think it is. If you have a genuine interest that’s great. But I am a bit over it at this point. Once I got through the beginning of this book, it got much better in terms of the story. I much more enjoyed it when Phoebe was getting to know Sam, when she was reconnecting with old friends and her brother, etc, than when she thought Sam was a serial killer.
Second half of the book was way better than the first and I liked this book but I think ultimately this book isn’t memorable and was just okay for me....more
Needing a fresh start and to get away from the Boston cold and her ex-husband, Annabelle takes a job working for her best friend in Phoenix, 4 stars
Needing a fresh start and to get away from the Boston cold and her ex-husband, Annabelle takes a job working for her best friend in Phoenix, Arizona. Upon arrival her bestie found Annabelle a place to live through her husband in a pool house attached to a mansion with a grumpy landlord. Based on all the cranky notes she receives from her landlord, she assumes he’s a curmudgeonly old man. But she soon finds out Nick is a young man who suffered a strong at 35 and is afraid to leave his home.
I enjoyed this book way more than I thought I would. The beginning was pretty slow with a lot of exposition about Annabelle’s job and Nick not wanting to leave his home. But it made sense for where the story ended up going the pacing was just off a little bit. I really liked Annabelle as a quirky heroine, except her problem with being late it wasn’t cute but more rude to me. But her love of art, how she handled things at her job and her hijinks were all fun. Nick was a great brooding hero but I honestly think he needed way more therapy than what we saw in the book (and not PT which he had enough of).
Throughout reading I was very invested in what happened to the characters and wanted to know what happened next.
ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley ...more