September 2023 Reads

Fun retelling of The Little Mermaid. I loved the family aspect, for both Ariel and Eric, and the music aspect. The downside to books about music is the music isn’t real. Ariel and Eric were great together.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

I really enjoyed this book. The romance between Matt and Roisin felt natural. The Friends to Lovers was so warm and cute. I didn’t like Joe at all. He felt slimy from the beginning.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

I reviewed this book here.

I reviewed this book here.

Very interesting story, but also very tragic. Listening to Floyd’s life, I at first thought, “man, of course this dude was trapped.” Also, the use of the word “cave” to describe where he was trapped felt very generous. I would have described it as “tunnel.” But the real tragedy is how everyone bungled his rescue. I think if the media didn’t become involved, and outside people, Floyd would have been rescued.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

I reviewed this book here.

This book reminded me of the show Cold Cases, which I loved. The duel timelines was a great storytelling aspect. I enjoyed the detective and his partner. The pace was good, and the whole thing had me at the edge of my seat. Minus one star because I figured out the whodunit and the motive pretty early on. It was pretty heavy handed foreshadowing.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Spooky, romantic, and set in Mexico during the Mexican-American war, a time period I would love to know more about, this book was nearly impossible to put down. I would describe it more of a historical fiction with a friends to lovers trope that happens to be spooky rather than horror, but that didn’t bother me one bit.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

I really enjoyed this short retelling. I liked the new perspective. It was really unexpected in many ways, and I loved the freshness of this novella.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

I liked Jill Duggar’s honesty, in the ways she felt comfortable in opening up. While I’m sure there is a lot more she could have said, but while I look forward to her being ready to do so, what she wrote was still upsetting. I wanted to punch Jim Bob in the face by the end.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

I reviewed this book here.

I reviewed this book here.

Book Review: Love, Holly by Emily Stone

Book Review

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.