Month: September 2023

Book Review: A Winter in New York by Josie Silver

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A WINTER IN NEW YORK by JOSIE SILVER

RELEASE DATE: October 3, 2023

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

After reading A Winter in New York by Josie Silver, all I want to do is eat gelato. And after you read it, you will too.

The book follows Iris in her first year living in New York after previously living in London. She has left an abusive relationship behind, and is still grieving the loss of her mother. The one constant in her life is the secret gelato recipe her mom had made her her entire life. As she attends an Italian festival, she finds a door that looks familiar. Turns out, it’s the gelato restaurant from her mom’s past, the source of the secret gelato recipe.

Enter Gio, the handsome widower, and son of the gelato owner. There’s been a family tragedy, and they don’t have the recipe…but Iris does. What follows is the gradual falling in love between these two lost souls as they work to find the lost recipe.

While I really liked this book, the characters were amazing, I felt the secrets Iris kept from Gio were kept for much too long, and I felt the ending was very rushed. I feel like Silver could have drawn it out a little bit more. However, that minor gripe aside, the book was an emotional rollercoaster. It had me smiling, crying, and sighing at the romance of it all.

Josie Silver is one of my favorite romance authors and look forward to reading her books every year. I was not let down with this book. It had every element I love in a Silver book: realistic characters, realistic problems, a tad of a tragic background, overcoming grief, romance, and hope.

A Winter in New York is the perfect addition to your holiday TBR list.

Book Review: The Takedown by Carlie Walker

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THE TAKEDOWN by CARLIE WALKER

RELEASE DATE: October 3, 2023

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Thank you NetGalley and Berkely for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

The Takedown by Carlie Walker is a wonderful romantic suspense meets romantic comedy. The characters are rich, and the chemistry between Sydney and Nick is palpable, and one of the best buildups I’ve read in a romance this year.

Sydney is a CIA operative, and the FBI has pulled her from duty because her sister is marrying a Boston crime lord. It’s her job to get close enough to his bodyguard, Nick, to find out where the next big hit is going to be. Oh, and under no circumstances should she fall for the target. Simple, right? Maybe not.

The plot has so many twists and turns it keeps the typical tropes (enemies to lovers, there’s only one bed, etc.) feeling fresh. The comedy is also real, and I found myself chuckling aloud. More importantly, the relationship between Sydney and her sister, Calla, was touching, and probably my second favorite part only to the romance.

I devoured this book in a day, and I highly recommend giving it a read. Since it takes place during Christmas, you could even add this to your December TBR.

Book Review: Friends Don’t Fall in Love by Erin Hahn

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TITLE: FRIENDS DON’T FALL IN LOVE by ERIN HAHN

RELEASE DATE: OCTOBER 17, 2023

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Friends Don’t Fall in Love by Erin Hahn is a friends to lovers romance for the ages. The story is about Craig and Lorelai, who are best friends and fall in love. Craig is a country music writer and producer, while Lorelai is a former country music star who is now unpopular.

While the first person present narration is not my favorite, I could get over it and really enjoy the story. Craig and Lorelai’s relationship felt so natural and I could root for them through the book.

The third act break up is always painful, but this one wasn’t, and I think it is because of the friendship they have.

If you like friends to lovers tropes in romance, you should really give this one a try. Bonus points for celiac representation. I always like to see authors adding in personal touches and using their platform to raise awareness of things like this.

Book Review: Love, Holly by Emily Stone

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LOVE, HOLLY by EMILY STONE

Release Date: September 26, 2023

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Love, Holly by Emily Stone is a holiday romance that doesn’t completely revolve around the holiday season. We see three different Christmases, but the book is about so much more than that. It is about family, fate, and learning to accept things you may not believe.

Holly meets Jack during a pit stop as she and her sister are driving to a family Christmas getaway. There’s an instant connection. However, something causes them to lose contact after that first meeting. Three years later, Holly is part of a Dear Stranger letter exchange to help lonely people during the holidays. When she reads this year’s letter, she immediately feels a connection and knows she needs to find the letter writer.

What follows is a heart-wrenching story that made me cry several times at multiple parts of the book. The characters are so genuine; they leap off the page, and their heartbreak is my heartbreak. You can’t help but root for Holly and Jack and Emma as the book progresses. I never wanted to stop reading. In fact, I stayed up way too late finishing the book because I needed to make sure everything turned out okay.

If you enjoy holiday romances and books that make you believe in fate, this book is definitely for you.

Book Review: As Long As You Love Me by Marianna Leal

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AS LONG AS YOU LOVE ME by MARIANNA LEAL

Release Date: September 12, 2023

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for this honest review.

As Long As You Love Me by Marianna Leal is a perfect example of two of my favorite romance tropes: enemies to lovers and fake dating.

Catalina is the perfect immigrant. She is getting good grades and staying out of trouble to achieve her goal of working and staying in the US. Her primary competition is the campus heartthrob, Gabriel. When Gabe proposes Catalina pose as his girlfriend at his brother’s wedding, she agrees, only if he steps back from the job. He agrees.

What follows is a whirlwind of events that leads to the inevitable: is the relationship really pretend anymore? And when an emergency crops up with Catalina’s family in Venezuela, will their relationship last?

I truly enjoyed this book. Catalina was a great protagonist, and Gabe was an amazing love interest. I loved how Gabe was always there for Cata, even if she didn’t want him to be. The characters in the book were well-developed, and their love story felt well-paced and realistic.

If you’re a romance reader and you enjoy these tropes, you should definitely read it.

August 2023 Reads

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An interesting concept with a lot of world building in a short amount of time. The last quarter of the book was the best part with the connection between Binti and the Meduse becoming change and interesting. I may need to read more.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Wasn’t really what I was expecting. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t really men sitting around and talking about the adventures the Time Traveler went on. I think I would have liked the story much better if it weren’t a second hand account, and we were entrenched in the story.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

This series is amazing. I loved this book as much as the first one. It was nearly impossible to put down. The entire thing was very romantic. The flashbacks, the current timeline. It’s a TJ Klune book, so of course I cried. I can’t wait to read the next book in the series.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

This book didn’t feel eighty years old. It read very modern. Even though a lot of the book was telling rather than showing, there was still a lot of suspense. I was really happy to see how faithful the movie adaptations were to this short novella.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Blake Crouch books are so intense. I constantly have that worried feeling in my stomach as I read. This book was no different. I had so much anxiety as the ploto sped ahead, and I couldn’t read fast enough to find out what was going on. It was impossible to step away from this book. I will definitely be finishing the trilogy.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

I regret waiting so long into my life to read Slaughterhouse-Five. I actually listened to this book at 1x speed. I was enthralled. The way Vonnegut writes is beautiful and heartbreaking. What a beautiful way to examine PTSD in WWII soldiers.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

So. Cute. So. Good. It was a quick read. I really liked the story and the characters. Reading this book made me smile.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

A very good retelling of the Twelve Dancing Princesses. The story was very original while also maintaining the spirit of the original. I honestly couldn’t figure out what was going on and I loved it. Can’t wait to read the sequel.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Very good, very funny. I loved all the widows. They made me smile. It did surprise me that we were able to hear the erotic stories, I thought the title was merely ironic, but it wasn’t terrible. I loved how the story was also a true crime murder mystery/thriller. It surprised me when the book took that turn, but I didn’t hate it.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

At first I wasn’t sure if I was going to like this, but then the plot picked up and I really ended up enjoying it. It was hard to tell when they were in the virtual world or not, but that didn’t really affect the book experience for me.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

The constantly changing POVs made listening a little difficult at the beginning, but it became easier. The story was so moving. Who knew you could have a deep message about identity, being a trans teen, and humanity all while involving aliens and donuts?

Rating: 4 out of 5.

This book made me laugh out loud. Vera was easily my favorite character. She was hilarious. I loved all the characters, and the story really evolves into a found family story. For the longest time, I thought there really wasn’t a mystery, and genuinely didn’t see the end coming.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

My first Brandon Sanderson book. Very interesting concept, and impressive world building made this short novel a joy to listen to. For such a short book, I was impressed how much I knew about the world, the characters, and how invested I was in the outcome of the book.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Turns out, I’m not a fan of Asimov. This book was pretty dull. I read about 95% before I just set it aside. It was a lot of old men sitting around and talking about stuff that would have been more interesting to see rather than hear about.

Rating: 2 out of 5.

What a book. Never have I read a book set in a post-apocalyptic world that had such a feeling of hope for humanity. Yes, we had the prophet, but the sense of comradery between the characters and the people they encountered was such a breath of fresh air. Yes, it was sad, but there was so much hope. The characters were all amazing, and there wasn’t one section I dreaded reading. The whole book was very well done.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

What a tense book. At one point I had to stop what I was doing and put my head down, I was so stressed out about Jay’s survival. Everything that could go wrong, went wrong. The book was very intense. Lots of body horror, so if that is not your thing, I would skip. Especially since the description of Jay as a “man” is very loose, since he is seventeen years old. Ultimately, the book was a story of a father and a son, and their relationship.

Rating: 4 out of 5.