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Showing posts from January, 2020

strictly literary: an everyday hero by laura trentham

this emotional read finds three broken souls learning about how to open their hearts and trust that the world isn't out to ruin everything. greer finds herself back in her home town under less than glorious circumstances. forced to work with rebellious teen, ally, and compelled to help wounded veteran and former classmate, emmett, greer learns that success can come in many forms and what you think you want out of life can take unexpected paths. connecting with others, helping them, actually might help her heal the broken pieces of her soul. and the comfort she finds in a family that she chooses is possibly the biggest comfort of all. an everyday hero  is a heartwarming story of new beginnings. **an everyday hero will publish on february 4, 2020. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/st. martin's press in exchange for my honest review. 

strictly literary: don't read the comments by eric smith

this young adult story tackles the toxicity of gamer culture from both racial and gender perspectives, but while it highlights all the terrible things that can happen, it also shines a light on the incredible friendships and community that can spring from sharing the love of a game. don't read the comments  is sweet and poignant in all the right ways. both divya and aaron grow through their connection, and this gradual shift in their points-of-view about what they want out of life and how they hope to achieve their goals is really well-done. i truly enjoyed reading this. **don't read the comments will publish on january 28, 2020. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/inkyard press in exchange for my honest review.

superbly suspenseful: whiteout by adriana anders

this thriller starts off with a bang and the action doesn't stop. while the series is set up in the novella deep blue , whiteout is the first full-length installment in the series. the novella does help in providing some context to the world that the characters are inhabiting and the kind of dangers they're facing. but the setting does some of that too, the fact that this takes place in antarctica and that the characters are brought to the brink of human endurance is very well done. the romance builds as the characters get to know each other through all that they survive, and when things finally ignite, it's not out of nowhere and feels as if it has been given an organic amount of time to grow, which is generally a challenge in a suspense story. ford and angel are in for a ride, and what they find in each other is worth it. but anders doesn't shy away from making them work for it. the story continues to weave threads that will clearly be taken forward in future bo

seriously romantic: the last real cowboy by caitlin crews

so i'm not usually a fan of the virgin begging her brother's best friend to take her virginity stories, and the last real cowboy  is actually one of those stories. but amanda kitteridge and brady everett have chemistry and baggage in spades that lends some emotional heft and some solid backstory that lets you move past the trope if you aren't a fan. i did want to basically kill brady's entire family. and when amanda finally puts them all in their place it was so well-done and just perfectly timed. no wonder the guy thinks he can't be with anyone, his entire family is filled with toxic jerks. i didn't read the brothers' books, and you don't really need that to understand the dynamics here, but i'm not tempted because i hated the brothers so much and can't imagine spending a whole book with them. presumably they aren't as toxic in their own stories. anyway, in the end, i enjoyed this. **the last real cowboy will publish on january 28, 2

seriously romantic: firecracker by kelly jamieson

firecracker  kicks off a new, non-hockey related series from kelly jamieson. the first book finds newly widowed arden lennox moving back to chicago after her life fell apart in arizona. she's starting from scratch and determined to go at it alone. but to her great dismay she still needs her family to support her and finds herself living in her brothers' apartment building. she's living there rent-free and she needs to put up with her younger brother's best friend, tyler ramírez working on the remodel. arden has no idea that she was tyler's boyhood crush. and the grown-up version of arden still makes him go all heart-eyes over her. tyler is very protective, in part due to a childhood incident that explains his personality, but this rubs up against arden's newfound independence. the sparks that fly between them are too big to ignore. i love jamieson's books, and this one is no exception. **firecracker will publish on january 28, 2020. i received an adv

seriously romantic: scot under the covers by suzanne enoch

enoch's wild wicked highlanders series continues with scot under the covers . the scot in question, aden mctaggert is a delightful character. he's strategic and thoughtful and sexy and fun. he appreciates the challenge miranda harris brings into his life. the villian of this piece is particularly awful, but miranda's brother matthew is kind of a villain too. and while everyone tries to make his actions "better" there's really no excusing his choices or his decision to throw his sister to the wolves, which is what he does in essence. miranda is just lucky that aden is there to protect her and that the mctaggerts band together in face of adversity. **scot under the covers will publish on january 28, 2020. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/st. martin's press in exchange for my honest review. 

seriously romantic: mermaid inn by jenny holiday

this charming start to a new series finds eve abbott returning to matchmaker bay, where she learns that she's unexpectedly inherited her aunt's inn, the titular  mermaid inn . she's eager to get out and go back to toronto, namely because matchmaker bay is the site of her greatest heartbreak that she's really not over even though it's been 10 years and they were teenagers at the time. sawyer collins had his reasons for doing what he did. and let's be honest, he was a total jerk in how he destroyed his relationship with eve. but his reasons, they were honorable. and guy has a lot of baggage. including basically becoming his younger sister's guardian at the age of 18. this is a second-chance story, and it's well established that i don't love a second-chance story. but i do like jenny holiday books, and this one is well worth the read. **mermaid inn will publish on january 28, 2020. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of grand central publis

strictly literary: tweet cute by emma lord

when two rival students end up in a twitter war over their families' rival restaurants, a surprising rapport evolves between the two, especially given their very different philosophies about school. but underneath their differences, they find they have a lot in common. tweet cute is a charming romantic comedy. pepper and jack are both funny and smart, and the story has just enough emotional depth to make it more than fluff. this was an enjoyable read, just the perfect way to spend an afternoon. **tweet cute will publish on january 21, 2020 . i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/st. martin's press (wednesday books) in exchange for my honest review. 

seriously romantic: the best man problem by mariah ankenman

full disclosure: i'm mariah's agent, and yes i'm going to tell you all the reasons i love this book. but i would have loved this book no matter what. in part, because it has a "trapped by a blizzard" scene and those are totally my jam. like honestly one of my favorite tropes even though it is a totally absurd thing to have happen. the best man problem  continues the mile high happiness series, with lilly and lincoln's story. lilly is the uber-organized, lead planner amongst her group of friends. she's so tightly wound that, when a one-night stand opportunity lands at her feet, she takes it. the truth is she could use a little release. except, of course, the guy she assumed was from out of town and would never see again, it moving into town and is the best man for one of her client's weddings. and that is a line she's not willing to cross. again. because, well, the last time she crossed it, it sort of blew up in her face. but the wedding is

seriously romantic: headliners by lucy parker

the london celebrities series just keeps getting better and better. sabrina carlton and nick davenport were secondary characters that literally sparked off the page in the delightful the austen playbook , headliners  is fully their story. and just utter perfection. this enemies-to-lovers story works because at the deepest level, both nick and sabrina are so similar. they understand each other's actions and motivations so well, it's why when they strike out at each other they know how to cut deeply. nick is still in the doghouse for selling out sabrina's family laundry, even though when he finally does get to really apologize for it, he didn't really intend for things to go down the way they did. and there were mitigating factors. he still feels bad about it, and sabrina forgives him because by that point she can see that he regrets it. and while she says she wouldn't have crossed the line he did, the reality is that under certain circumstances, she might have.

surely supernatural: wolf gone wild by juliette cross

set in new orleans,  wolf gone wild  kicks off a new paranormal world for the stay a spell series, in a city filled with magic and blood and sex. mateo is cursed, a werewolf who can't shift, is a werewolf in trouble. he's lucky to have as much control as he does over his wolf. but he's beginning to see a point where that control will snap. so he seeks out one of the savoie witches who rule new orleans. specifically the one they say is a hex-breaker, evie. from the moment they meet there's a spark of connection. mateo knows it. evie knows it. and so does mateo's wolf, alpha. so here's what you need to know about mateo. for a werewolf, he's seriously a good guy. there's none of that hyper or toxic masculinity. he's gentle and even-tempered. he's a creative soul who makes metallic sculptures for a living. his wolf, alpha is a total horn dog. and the contrast between the two is both startling and hilarious. this story is atmospheric and s

seriously romantic: tough guy by rachel reid

it's no secret that i adore the game changers series. i have re-read heated rivalry over 9 times since it's release last year. and i released in march. so we're talking me re-reading basically once a month. i'm about due for another re-read to be honest. ryan price had a short, but memorable appearance in heated rivalry . and in tough guy  we see the man behind the mask. by all appearances, ryan is an actual tough guy. he's big and burly. he's an nhl defenseman whose primary job is to fight the other team's fight guy. ryan is those things, but he's also deeply anxious. insecure. socially awkward. and kind of into femme guys. when he re-encounters fabian salah, it's an actual blast from the past. he stayed with fabian's hockey-mad family while at a training camp. and fabian happens to be kind of a femme guy. unlike the rest of his family, fabian also kind of hates hockey. he didn't hate ryan though, remembering him as one of the few n

strictly literary: the whispers of war by julia kelly

perhaps, when i tell you this is another world war ii story, you groan, "not another one." and when i tell you it's set primarily in london, you say, "seriously, another one?" because let's face it, there are so many historical/women's fiction stories set during world war ii and at least 65% of them are set in london.  but, the whispers of war , focuses its story on three friends, one of whom is german, but who emigrated to england well before the war. marie is no nazi sympathizer, she is not conflicted about the jews or about what is right or wrong about the war. she is a kind, sweet, shy young woman. she loves her aunt and uncle, and does her best to keep her head down.  but anti-german sentiment is high in england, and the issue at the heart of this story happens to be the very real threat of internment for german citizens. assigned threat levels by the british government, marie is classified a level b threat, so while she is not immediately

strictly literary: echoes between us by katie mcgarry

somehow katie mcgarry always leaves me with a good book hangover. her characters and the things they overcome always hits me right in the feels. sawyer and veronica go through so much in echoes between us . they ache and grow and change and love. nothing about their lives is easy. they start off with all these assumptions about one another, but as the layers of misunderstanding peels back, what they discover is just so precious. it's just beautiful and heartwarming and so, so angsty in the best possible way. in ways i adore. there's a hint of the mystical, the extraordinary, but it's grounded too. what sawyer and veronica endure is life at its most implacable. but they survive. they power through it. they give each other the strength to make it through in ways that are just so beautiful to read. i just loved this story. loved the characters. loved their struggles. loved all the freaking feelings. **echoes between us will publish on january 14, 2020. i received an