😂
Can't think of a better way to spend my Saturday reading about childhood rivals, who maybe had a quick almost thing in high-school, and now are neighbor nemesis.
Plus bees and honey!
Have a great weekend!
Saturday, August 13, 2022
Friday, August 12, 2022
Listening to your recs
So you know what? Time to dive in!
Next week is going to be my impromptu Andrews week. I'm starting with #4 in the Hidden Legacy series.
Is this crazy of me, have any information I should know before I start?
Can't wait to discuss these books with you all!
Review: Thank You for Listening
Thank You for Listening by Julia WhelanMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
3.7 stars
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
“Just giving you the last word.”
Sewanee was an aspiring actress who found her way to being an audio book narrator, staring off in the romance genre. Becoming more cynical and losing the ability to believe in happily ever after, Sewanee left romance and started narrating different genres under her real name. When she gets the offer to return to romance and narrator the last story by the romance author who started her career, she finds she can't turn down the money because of how much it would help with taking care of her grandmother. The narrating job also comes with working with Brock McNight, a highly popular and mysterious male romance narrator. As Sewanee gets to know Brock more through their text message conversations, they start to develop a friendship that feels like it could lead to more.
This all on the heels of a romance trope-y night in Las Vegas that included an only one hotel room, one night only offer, and mysterious hot stranger named Nick. Is hidden identities and second chance romance next?
It was novel, having this strong a connection with someone she'd never seen.
Thank you for Listening is a book that has been getting a lot of buzz and I was excited to dive in. I enjoyed how the longer page count, 400ish, gave the opportunity to the author to lay the ground work for her characters and story. I would say the first 28% was set-up, introducing readers to Sewanee, we meet her bestfriend Adaku who is finally getting her big break in acting, a journey that they started off together but an accident that caused the loss of one of Sewanee's eyes (it's revealed around 50% what happened) derailed her career. We also meet Mark who while also Sewanee's friend they work together in the audio book narrating business and BlahBlah, Sewanee's grandmother. A good chunk of the first half and middle is dedicated to Sewanee emotionally dealing with her grandmother's continuous slide into dementia. It brings up the fractured relationship she currently has with her father and how she feels he's putting the responsibility of BlahBlah's care on her and how her grandmother needs to move into a better care unit in her nursing home, hence Sewanee needing more money and deciding to return to romance book narrating.
“Well, hello.” His voice came through her phone.
And, also, simultaneously, across the night air.
In the beginning, along with Sewanee's character set-up, we get her one night in Vegas with a mysterious Nick. The initial attraction, sexual tension, and by-play between the two delivered all the tingles but after Nick disappears the story leaned a lot into Sewanee's life issues and I started to feel like I was bait and switched into a women's fiction story. However, I kept thinking of the reviews I had read about the story and the tags of romance genre, just as I was about to adjust my thinking of what kind of story this was, the second half came in with the romance. We get a first surprise reveal of Nick being the nephew of the romance author, who passed away and the author who's book Sewanee is voice narrating and then at around 70%, if you're a frequent romance reader the obviously reveal of how Brock and Nick are connected. This reveal brings in more of Nick's character and we get his backstory to help flush him out. This is told in first person pov from Sewanee but it works and I thought the author pulled off having the reader feel like they knew and could “see” and “feel” Nick's character emotions and thinking, not something that is always apparent in first person pov romance.
If everything was real, then why did she feel duped?
With the identity reveals, Sewanee of course feels confused, has the emotional issues of dealing with her grandmother's continued deterioration, and the question of what she wants to pursue career wise in her life, so we get her running off to Italy to spend time with her mother. With so much focus on Sewanee and the issues she's dealing with, you can see where there's a strong women's fiction vibe and I would probably weigh the scales in that genre's favor but the romance does deliver, mostly because we do later get more on Nick, the number of romance check-list hits (rolled up sleeve forearm!), and the pretty fantastic chemistry between Sewanee and Nick. These two were definitely sweet and sexy.
Some of the pacing and tone didn't always work for me, mostly because of how I didn't think it was a completely smooth transition between that first half/middle women's fiction and second half romance mish mash. This did have a full experience feel to it, in regards to journeying with Sewanee; if you like Kate Clayborn's stories you should definitely pick this up.
Sunday, August 7, 2022
Reading Update: Page 1
This has a night in Vegas, two audio book narrators falling in love, and trust building back up.
I'm expecting some hot tension word play 🔥
Happy Sunday, all!
These were really good, loved the flavoring. I did add the hot sauce because the marinade was little sweet.
Saturday, August 6, 2022
July Reading Round-up
I was up early this morning, so I thought, why not do a quick little round-up of what I read last month. I haven't done one in a while so I went to my tags and clicked on Monthly Roundup to refresh the ol' memory on how I formatted them. Y'all. My lying blog is telling me I haven't done a post like this since 2017???? I know that can't be right! One-hundred percent I just forgot to tag when I did this last. What year is it??? Lol. I forgot to tag is my new excuse. Oh you thought I forgot to do what you asked me to do? WRONG. I just forgot to tag it! Search into the ether.
July is my Recommendations month and Holidays in July, which rudely butted out my TBRChallenge pick. I'm taking my baseball trip at the end of this month, so I'm locking myself in my house until then and going to try and get read everything I have scheduled (this is more than likely a lie and I will never get everything read I scheduled for this month). ARCS, TBRChallenge, and my personal monthly theme of Single titles is on tap for August!
I'm also starting to build up my tbr list for September and October, because we all know what comes next.....HALLOWEEN BINGO! Break out those pumpkins 🎃
As always, a huge thank-you to friends and fellow readers for all the recommendations throughout the years. It may take me years to get to the recs, but they're always on the tbr. Also, even if I didn't rate them high, I appreciate each and every rec! I love expanding my reading horizons and keeping my reading fresh with books I might not otherwise have picked up.
*Click on book cover to read my review
If I didn't write a review, link will take you to GoodReads page
RECs
3.5 stars
3 stars
2.5 stars
2 stars
1.5 stars
HOLIDAYS IN JULY
3.3 stars
2 stars
ARCS
3.7 stars
3.5 stars
3.3 stars
2 stars
How did everyone's reading month go?
Friday, August 5, 2022
60%
Spring took Regan's hand in hers and squeezed it gently.
💗 I love these two friendship that is building. Women support, swoon-y in its own way!
Thursday, August 4, 2022
30%
Surrendering to the urge to touch her, he used the tip of his finger to slowly trace the swells of her breasts above the corset. When her breath caught, he leaned over and placed a fleeting kiss first against her lips and then base of her throat. Inhaling the faint remnants of her perfume, he husked out, "You're a scandalous wife, Regan Carmichael Lee."
Reading Update: Page 1
Finishing up the Old West series and so ready for the last Carmichael sister to get her happily ever after. I've had a soft spot for Regan since she was first introduced ❤️
Happy reading, all!
Review: Second Chance Spring: A Novel
Second Chance Spring: A Novel by JoAnn RossMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
What the hell was Lily Carpenter doing in Honeymoon Harbor?
Second Chance Spring is the story of a second chance romance between guarded Lily and Burke, a NFL QB who she broke up with by text. I wasn't aware it was a part of a series, Honeymoon Harbor, when I started it and because of how much series characters play a part in this one, that greatly impacted my enjoyment. Burke is living in New York, where he's the starting QB for the Gotham Knights and trying to figure out if he wants to become a free agent, sign with the Knights again, or retire. He gets a call from his brother that their mother was in a car accident, so he rushes home only to find that Lily, the woman he dated for three months and was already starting to think was the one, now lives in his hometown.
And now that day had come. It was time, she knew, to face the music.
After having a horrible childhood where her mother, father, and grandmother played tug of war with her through the courts, Lily changed her last name when she was eighteen and tries to live a guarded single life. When she met Burke at a charity function they instantly were attracted to each other but she warns him right away that it can only be hook-ups between them and when Lily starts to have deeper feelings for Burke, she breaks up with him and runs. Bouncing from town to town, Lily remembers how Burke talked about his hometown and how she fell in love with it through his words, so she decides to stay a few months there, only to end up staying and building roots and relationships with everyone. Now two years later and Lily and Burke are coming face to face again.
But the one thing Burke knew was that nothing was going to interfere with him coming up with a game plan to win Lily Carpenter.
If you're a frequent reader of the Honeymoon Harbor series, you'd probably enjoy all the past characters that make up Burke's family (his mother and father are the novella couple that start off the series) and the townspeople that are at length shown in the beginning. As a new reader, it was overwhelming with so many characters, especially when I was just trying to get to know Burke and Lily. A big chunk of the beginning was more small-town and family fiction as everyone came in and out of the picture. It's mentioned that Lily has a big secret, something to do with not wanting to be recognized by the press and that is why she's fighting hard to stay away from Burke and around 50% she reveals what it is. It has to do with her past and how damaging it was to be in the news, honestly, something that didn't feel like too big a deal to me as a reader and obviously to the characters in the story. Burke shrugs it off, along with the friends Lily has made in the town when she tells them about her past. It was such a non-entity that was supposed to be the block and angst keeping Lily and Burke apart but pretty much flopped as a reveal because of how it wasn't a big deal and not really dealt with again.
But just then, in that very special moment, seated on a quilt, sharing tacos with the man she loved, she was living her best life.
The second half has the reveal done with and Burke and Lily tentatively try to bond again and I thought here was where the romantic relationship between the two was really going to get going and while they spend more time together finally, there was also a secondary romance taking place and more of that small town, family fiction eclipsing Lily and Burke. There wasn't much to their relationship on page emotional development, more of a condensed stop and go showing of their foreplay, fade to black bedroom scenes, and then some more sexual by-play. Then the ending gives a rushed resolution that even when it's supposed to be the romantic wrap-up to how these two are going to work out being together the story seems to be more concerned with Burke's career. I typically love details to characters and story but this had too many characters in it, all those little details began to feel pointless, trivial, and really slowed the pace down for me. Again, if you're a Honeymoon Harbor reader, you'd probably enjoy this a lot more than me as a newcomer because you would know these characters and care about them. I wanted to get to know Burke and Lily but they were often playing second fiddle in their own book and neither character gave me an emotional connection, which definitely lead to their romance feeling perfunctory. This wasn't about the heat and emotion of a singular romance but rather a broad look-in at the characters of Honeymoon Harbor and a small-town, family fiction vibe.
Monday, August 1, 2022
Reading Update: Page 1
I'm celebrating with a summery salad and romance
🌞📚🥗
It's a second chance romance, and are y'all ready, after they broke up Lily felt lost so she moved to Burke's hometown because she loved how he made it sound.
😂 What a move!
Problem is now NFL QB Burke is coming back home to take care of his mom for a while.
Burke thought Lily was The One and Lily broke up with him by text.
I'm sure he'll have a total normal reaction to her living in his hometown. 🤭
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