Tag: Reviews

Book List 2023 · Reviews

Hemlock Island by Kelley Armstrong

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Title: Hemlock Island
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Source: Netgalley. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Genre: Horror.
Trigger Warnings: Torture, death, occult.
Explicit? Not for sex. But dang this is one intense book.
Summary: Laney Kilpatrick has been renting her vacation home to strangers. The invasion of privacy gives her panic attacks, but it’s the only way she can keep her beloved Hemlock Island, the only thing she owns after a pandemic-fueled divorce. But broken belongings and campfires that nearly burn down the house have escalated to bloody bones, hex circles, and now, terrified renters who’ve fled after finding blood and nail marks all over the guest room closet, as though someone tried to claw their way out…and failed.

When Laney shows up to investigate with her teenaged niece in tow, she discovers that her ex, Kit, has also been informed and is there with Jayla, his sister and her former best friend. Then Sadie, another old high school friend, charters over with her brother, who’s now a cop.

There are tensions and secrets, whispers in the woods, and before long, the discovery of a hand poking up from the earth. Then the body that goes with it… But by that time, someone has taken off with their one and only means off the island, and they’re trapped with someone—or something—that doesn’t want them leaving the island alive.

Continue reading “Hemlock Island by Kelley Armstrong” →
Book List 2023 · Reviews

Review: Cleat Cute by Meryl Wilsner

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Title: Cleat Cute
Author: Meryl Wilsner
Source: Netgalley. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Genre: Romance, Contemporary.
Trigger Warnings: None that I could think of but if you find any let me know.
Explicit? Oh boy is it.
Expected Release Date: September 19, 2023
Summary: Grace Henderson has been a star of the US Women’s National Team for ten years, even though she’s only 26. But when she’s sidelined with an injury, a bold new upstart, Phoebe Matthews, takes her spot. Phoebe is everything Grace isn’t—a gregarious jokester who plays with a joy that Grace lost somewhere along the way. The last thing Grace expects is to become friends with benefits with this class clown she sees as her rival.

Phoebe Matthews has always admired Grace’s skill and was star struck to be training alongside her idol. But she quickly finds herself looking at Grace as more than a mere teammate. After one daring kiss, she’s hooked. Grace is everything she has been waiting to find.

As the World Cup approaches, and Grace works her way back from injury, the women decide to find a way they can play together instead of vying for the same position. Except, when they are off the field, Grace is worried she’s catching feelings while Phoebe thinks they are dating. As the tension between them grows, will both players realize they care more about their relationship than making the roster?

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Book List 2023 · Reviews

Review: Donick Walsh and the Reset-Button by Nathaniel Shea

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Title: Donick Walsh and the Reset-Button
Author: Nathaniel Shea
Source: Netgalley, I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Genre: Contemporary, YA, Romance
Trigger Warnings: Homophobia, bullying, abuse, suicide.
Explicit? No.
Release Date: August 15, 2023
Summary: Donick Walsh: king of the school bullies, secret dancer, closet-case. What’s to be done when a football injury means he can never play again? Dance in the school musical, of course! Not like he has a choice. Fingers crossed his father doesn’t find out!

Enter Michael Penrose: theatre-kid, and Donick’s former best friend. For years Michael has been the object of Donick’s ridicule simply because Michael is out and proud, and Donick is afraid.

Suddenly confronted with his old friend, Donick sinks under the weight of the guilt of his past. How can a bully make amends for all the hurt he’s caused? How can a closeted ex-high school football player make peace with the very real crush he suddenly has on a boy? And what in the world can be done to hit the reset-button on an entire life?  Donick Walsh and the Reset-Button  examines the confusing nature of what it means to forgive, the discovery of living one’s authentic self, and yes, even the joys and pains of first love.

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Book List 2023 · Reviews

Review: In the Case of Heartbreak by Courtney Kae

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Title: In the Case of Heartbreak
Author: Courtney Kae
Series: Fern Falls
Source: Netgalley. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Genre: Contemporary romance.
Explicit? Yes, but you won’t complain.
Trigger Warnings: Child abuse, gaslighting, missing child
Release Date: July 25, 2023
Summary: When his hometown crush suddenly returns his affections at a seaside celebration, pastry chef Ben Parrish must find a way to pursue his dream of moving his bakery to San Francisco – without losing the love he’s always wanted…

Ben has been baking his grandma’s cinnamon rolls at the family café for years. He’s been quietly in love with Adam Reed, his musician-slash-mechanic neighbor, for just as long. But Ben’s done waiting behind the pastry case. He’s entered a make-or-break competition to show off his own recipes. He’s going to buy his overprotective family out of the business. And he’s going to ask Adam out. TONIGHT.

Except his big plans get punched down before they even half-rise. Soon Ben is dashing down the coast to his grandma’s 80th birthday party on the beach, hiding his broken heart in Maywell Bay, California. Sun, sea, and fresh breezes should blow in something new—except they don’t. They blow in Adam Reed, grinning like a pirate and stealing the show as the musical entertainment hired by Grandma for her big bash. Grandma’s signature Heartbreak Tea is the only remedy, and Grandma’s tea could take the paint off a fence.

But there’s a burn of truth along with the booze in his bottle, and Ben has a decision to make. Can he take the sweetness in front of him, and brave the bitterness that comes after? Or is a little sea salt just what this cinnamon roll needs?

Salty cinnamon rolls? Ew. Ben would never.

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Book List 2023 · Reviews

Review: The New Town Librarian by Kathy Anderson

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Title: The New Town Librarian
Author:  Kathy Anderson
Source:  Netgalley. I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
Genre:  Contemporary
Explicit? Nearly but not quite.
Trigger Warnings:  One character exhibits harassing behaviours.
Summary: Queer middle-aged librarian Nan Nethercott, a wisecracking hypochondriac with a lackluster career and a nonexistent love life, needs to make a drastic life change before it’s too late. When she lands a job as librarian in a seemingly idyllic small town in southern New Jersey, Nan quickly discovers unforeseen challenges. Nan’s landlady, Immaculata, launches daily intrusions from below. The library, housed in the former town jail, is overrun by marauding middle-schoolers. A mysterious reader leaves distressing messages in book stacks all over the library. Thomasina, the irresistible butch deli owner, is clearly a delicious affair and not the relationship Nan craves. There’s no turning back though. Nan must come up with her own wildly unorthodox solutions to what the town and its people throw at her and fight for what she wants until she makes a shiny new life—one with her first true home, surprising friends, a meaningful career, and a promising new love.

My Thoughts:

I want to start this review by saying that I went into this book expecting it to be one genre and it ended up being completely different.

I expected romance but that is not what this book is, or rather not the type of romance I had anticipated.

It is a book about love though, and it’s a deep love I appreciate so much, because it is about a love of books, a love of readers interacting and a love of libraries.

Nan was someone who took me a little bit to love as a character, and the entire book, of course is from her point of view. She is a little judgemental at first, and very set in her ways and what she thinks she wants out of life. What I appreciate most about her, is that she does allow herself to change, because no matter what age you’re at it’s never bad to learn or turn over a new leaf.

T was a character I almost feel like the book could actually do without. I admittedly almost put down the book because she was not to my taste.

Jeremy is the one I became most attached to throughout the book, as well as the men in Nan’s bookclub.

Overall this book left me with warm fuzzy feelings.

Book List 2023

Review: Relative Fiction by Alaina Rose

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Title: Relative Fiction
Author: Alaina Rose
Source: Netgalley. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Genre: Romance
Explicit? Yes.
Trigger Warnings: Cheating
Summary: Thomas Callaghan’s return home to Starling Hills, Michigan is meant to be temporary. But he’s not ready to go back to New York City yet either—back to his three jobs, sky-high rent, and the dream he’s been running down since high school—because he’s home to care for his sick dad. Add on his tumultuous career as a romance author and crippling writer’s block and…maybe he’s ready to admit that he’s not quite happy anymore.

Enter his ex-best friend, Julia Ward, who he hasn’t spoken to in twelve years.

Julia’s stuck, her trust in herself shredded, and she’s left in proverbial and actual ruin by her cheating ex-fiancé. So she does the only thing she can do: throws herself into her corporate job. And unfortunately moves back in with her parents in Starling Hills. But seeing Thomas stirs up parts of her that she’s lost. Her fingers begin to yearn for the keyboard, like back when she wrote fan fiction and the two planned to study in New York City together and become writers.

One awkward get-together later and Thomas is desperate to rekindle their friendship, despite his lingering attraction to Julia and looming deadline for his next book. So they make a bet to see who can write 50,000 words first before Thomas returns to NYC, while studying romantic comedy films for inspiration in their writing…and in life.

As their deadline grows closer, they learn that happiness is relative and fleeting. But between the loss of a parent and career shake-ups, past secrets and new betrayals, they realize this could be their second chance and that their love is worth fighting for.

Continue reading “Review: Relative Fiction by Alaina Rose” →
Book List 2023 · Reviews

Review: In the Lives of Puppets by T.J. Klune

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Title: In the Lives of Puppets
Author: T.J. Klune
Source: Netgalley. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Genre: Sci-Fi
Explicit? No.
Trigger Warnings: The terrifying inevitable control our robot overl
Summary: In a strange little home built into the branches of a grove of trees, live three robots–fatherly inventor android Giovanni Lawson, a pleasantly sadistic nurse machine, and a small vacuum desperate for love and attention. Victor Lawson, a human, lives there too. They’re a family, hidden and safe.

The day Vic salvages and repairs an unfamiliar android labelled “HAP,” he learns of a shared dark past between Hap and Gio-a past spent hunting humans.

When Hap unwittingly alerts robots from Gio’s former life to their whereabouts, the family is no longer hidden and safe. Gio is captured and taken back to his old laboratory in the City of Electric Dreams. So together, the rest of Vic’s assembled family must journey across an unforgiving and otherworldly country to rescue Gio from decommission, or worse, reprogramming.

Along the way to save Gio, amid conflicted feelings of betrayal and affection for Hap, Vic must decide for himself: Can he accept love with strings attached?

Continue reading “Review: In the Lives of Puppets by T.J. Klune” →
Book List 2023 · Reviews

Someone is Always Watching

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Title: Someone is Always Watching
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Source: Netgalley. I received a free copy of this book for an honest review.
Genre: YA Thriller
Explicit? No
Trigger Warnings: Gaslighting, Murder
Summary: Blythe and her friends—Gabrielle, and brother and sister Tucker and Tanya—have always been a tight friend group, attending a local high school and falling in and out of love with each other. But an act of violence has caused a rift between Blythe and Tucker . . . and unexpected bursts of aggression and disturbing nightmares have started to become more frequent in their lives.

The strange happenings culminate in a shocking event at school: Gabrielle is found covered in blood in front of their deceased principal, with no memory of what happened.

Cracks in their friendship, as well as in their own memories, start appearing, threatening to expose long-forgotten secrets which could change the group’s lives forever. How can Blythe and her friends trust each other when they can’t even trust their own memories?

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Book List 2023 · Reviews

For Her Consideration by Amy Spalding

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Title: For Her Consideration
Author: Amy Spalding
Source: Netgalley. I received a free copy of this book for an honest review.
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Explicit? No
Trigger Warnings: Gaslighting, Anxiety, Depression
Summary: Since a crushing breakup three years ago, Nina Rice has written romance, friends, her dreams of scriptwriting for TV, and even LA proper out of her life. Instead, she’s safely out in the suburbs in her aunt’s condo working her talent agency job from home, managing celebrity email accounts, and certain that’s plenty of writing—and plot—for her life. But a surprise meeting called by Ari Fox, a young actress on everyone’s radar, stirs up all kinds of feelings Nina thought she’d deleted for good . . .

Ari is sexy, out and proud, and a serious control freak, according to Nina’s boss. She has her own ideas about how Nina should handle her emails—and about getting to know her ghostwriter. When she tells Nina she should be writing again, Nina suddenly finds it less scary to revisit her abandoned life than seriously consider that Ari is flirting with her. Between reconnecting with her old crew and working on a new script, a relationship with a movie star seems like something she’ll definitely mess up—but what could be more worth the risk?

Amy Spalding’s For Her Consideration is full of heat and heart as Nina learns that her story just might include the kind of love that lasts.

Continue reading “For Her Consideration by Amy Spalding” →
Book List 2023 · Reviews

Never Ever Getting Back Together by Sophie Gonzales

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Title: Never Ever Getting Back Together
Author: Sophie Gonzales
Source: Netgalley. I received a free copy of this book for an honest review.
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Explicit? No
Trigger Warnings: Cheating and gaslighting
Summary: When their now famous ex-boyfriend asks them to participate in a teen reality show, two eighteen year old girls—one bent on revenge, the other open to rekindling romance—get tangled up in an unexpected twist when they fall for each other instead in Never Ever Getting Back Together by nationally and internationally-bestselling and Indie Next Pick author Sophie Gonzales.

It’s been two years since Maya’s ex-boyfriend cheated on her, and she still can’t escape him: his sister married the crown prince of a minor European country and he captured hearts as her charming younger brother. If the world only knew the real Jordy, the manipulative liar who broke Maya’s heart.

Skye Kaplan was always cautious with her heart until Jordy said all the right things and earned her trust. Now his face is all over the media and Skye is still wondering why he stopped calling.

When Maya and Skye are invited to star on the reality dating show Second-Chance Romance, they’re whisked away to a beautiful mansion—along with four more of Jordy’s exes— to compete for his affections while the whole world watches. Skye wonders if she and Jordy can recapture the spark she knows they had, but Maya has other plans: exposing Jordy and getting revenge. As they navigate the competition, Skye and Maya discover that their real happily ever after is nothing they could have scripted.

My Thoughts:

1st things first. Female bisexual representation not being used in an exploitative way! YAY! I’m SO happy. It’s amazing, and I love it.

2nd thing. No one reacting in a homophobic way to the thought of beautiful sapphic love! Again, so so happy.

I didn’t know how much I would enjoy this book but yes, I ended up loving it so much. Jordy however? As bad as you think he is in the beginning? He gets much, much worse, just trust me on this one. It’s bad. So so bad.

His ex girlfriend’s are interesting though, and sadly their common denominator seems to be insecurities he knew exactly how to prey on. So when revenge is the order of the day against Jordy, I have to admit I was quite happy to see how it would unfold.

This book is seriously entertaining, though I would’ve liked it to delve a little deeper into the other exes not just Maya and Skye, but I was so happy to learn more about them.

Also, not everything is as it seems with the characters in this book so keep that in mind, and keep your opinions fluid.

My recommendation: Read it. Especially if you don’t like reality dating shows (I know, weird, right?)