definitely, possibly, maybe

when estranged husband and wife, mark and nicole, make a devil's bargain, they both will pay a price. the thing is the price of reuniting, even if it's for duty's sake (on his part) and for a baby (on hers), might be worth paying. in a duke like no other , mark and nicole need to learn who they've each become in the ten years since their disastrous marriage. they're older, wiser, and still as in love with each other as ever. as much as they try to deny this or willfully not see what is right in front of them. i enjoyed their reunion, i liked both mark and nicole as characters. i was also so frustrated by the misunderstandings that lay between them. i struggle with these second-chance stories because i often find the reasons for the original falling out to be so stupid that i can't understand how the characters let it harm their relationship so irrevocably. it probably has to do with the fact that i consider holding grudges a waste of energy. and like sure ...

l. penelope's song of blood and stone  is an epic fantasy filled with poetry, danger, magic, betrayal and a love so powerful it overcomes every obstacle. when jasminda meets jack she believes he's out of his mind. but when he risks his life to keep her safe, something no one has ever done for her, she returns the favor. trapped in the middle of a burgeoning war, jack and jasminda escape one set of dangerous circumstances for another. and when the truth of jack's identity is revealed, the feelings that have developed between these two are even more complicated than the differences in the color of their skin and their ability to use magic. as the politics and danger surrounding them grows, so does the depth of their feelings for each other. and having it all means risking it all. but the reward could mean everything. there is so much i loved about this book. i love the relationship between jasminda and jack. i love the themes of racism, of identity, of otherness tha...

we met aerialist trix lane in pretty face , where she had a terrible boyfriend who affected her relationships with everything, including her self-esteem. she'd dumped him by the end of that novel, but the impact of his manipulative behavior still affects trix in making up . when she's suddenly bumped up to the lead role after the lead has a terrible accident during a performance and the original understudy leaves for australia, trix isn't sure she'll be able to perform. even worse lee magasiva rolls back into town and into her life taking a makeup artist job on the crew and a room in the company quarters she's currently housing in. once lee and trix get past the misunderstandings that put them at odds when they were younger, they just need to overcome trix's anxities, not just related to her job, but also her relationships. lee's also figuring out his next steps career-wise and the relationship that blooms between him and trix impacts where he wants to...

merrilee campbell has long been convinced that her book boyfriends are better than the real thing. but now that she's starting the school year at a co-ed school, she's not opposed to trying out the real boyfriend thing. but figuring out what romance is and what is real in bookish boyfriends   is trickier than she thinks. so is fitting into a school where the headmaster and some students seem to have it out for her. following merrilee's travails is the stuff pure entertainment is made of. whether she's convinced her life is romeo and juliet  reincarnated or pride and prejudice   book allusions and callbacks abound, and as a recovering english lit major i loved them. **bookish boyfriends will publish on may 1, 2018. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/abrams kids (amulet books) in exchange for my honest review.

part three follows the jump...

it's totally fitting that riverdale  takes on carrie: the musical. and the musical parts are the most enjoyable parts of the show this week. maybe i miss glee.  because there's also a lot of stuff i dislike. well anything with hal cooper and chic. and also the black hood. and mama blossom. i dislike these characters intensely. and while i'm glad we get a break from archie's godfather storyline, i'm not excited about the return of the black hood threat. like not at all. with the a plot focused on the musical, there was still some good incremental progress made in all the main storylines. but not enough for this to not feel a bit like treading water. archie continues to bounce between his father and hiram lodge. cheryl's family life is still awful. alice continues to bounce between hal and f.p. i don't know. it feels like these storylines take two step forward and one step back and it's a little frustrating. is it bad that i'm hoping that...

while iron princess doesn't exactly pick up where we left off in savage prince , there's a very good reason for this. we finally get to meet our hero, whose name i will not reveal because what's the fun in that. and what we learn? well, he's just as *bad* as mount. the kind of bad boy who has this unique moral compass who you can root for. even when they do bad things. temperance is up to the challenge. she goes toe to toe with this man. she's not afraid to fight for the people she loves. she will fight mount. she will fight this man. and she will also fight for him. and that might be the most terrifying and exhilarating thing of all. for me, getting to really know our hero made a world of difference in how i feel about the series. i need to be able to connect with the characters to really root for them. so having to be at arm's length from one of the leads for the entirety of the first book was really hard for me and definitely lessened my enjoyment of...

so my favorite thing about say you'll remember me , there's no motorcycle club to be seen. hooray! you must wonder why i kept reading them if i hated the theme so much. it's because i love her characters. i love reading her stories because i really care about the characters who inhabit them. and this time hendrix and ellison (drix and ellie) are perfection.  she's the governor's daughter. the good girl who believes in what her father stands for. she believes that politics is all about making things better for those who need it. she's not jaded. he is a juvenile delinquent who was just released from a special program after pleading guilty to a violent crime. a crime he did not commit. the experience has profoundly changed him. before he used sex and drugs and music to avoid his problems. now he's trying to stay on the straight and narrow.  and part of that is to be the governor's poster boy for his rehabilitation program. from the moment ellie a...

ash princess is definitely the kind of young adult fantasy. theo has been tortured and abused since her mother's death and the new regime took power. but when they take things a step too far, theo finally loses it. this is a story of the girl who never rocked the boat suddenly realizing that she has nothing left to lose. and she's going to get her power back. but this involves making hard choices. dark choices. there's action and some adventure. a little romance but nothing that overpowers the story. there's a sequel so things do not end here. the pacing starts off a little slow, mainly because there is a lot of worldbuilding, but once the action really picks up this isn't a problem. **ash princess will publish on april 24, 2018. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/random house publishing group.(delacorte) in exchange for my honest review. 

the latest her majesty's most secret service novel, when a lady desires a wicked lord , turns its focus on egyptology. alexandra quinn is renowned for her skill in decoding hieroglyphs. the last thing she expects is for the work to turn dangerous when word gets out that she is in possession of a map that will lead to a cavern filled with egyptian treasure. when her ex-love, fellow egyptologist benedict weston, viscount marlsbrook, saves her from a ruffian's attack. he explains their mentor has been killed and that alex holds both the object he ws killed for, and the ability to decode the clues left behind in one of the murders. but alex isn't willing to trust benedict so easily. they parted ways years ago when he decided that money was a more powerful motivator than love. he has his reasons, and it never feels like he explains them properly to her, but in the end, all's well that ends well. finding himself in alex's presence again and r...