Wolf caped girls and women, ax carrying woodsmen, and trees that seem to have feelings, can’t wait!
🐺🏹
I used spicy Ranch
Monday, May 31, 2021
Reading Update: 15%
Saturday, May 29, 2021
Review: Hang the Moon
Hang the Moon by Alexandria BellefleurMy 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.
His teeth sank into his bottom lip, a smile flirting at the edges of his mouth. On anyone else, that smile would’ve been dangerous. The sort of smile that got Annie to do ill-advised acts after a first date. But this wasn’t a date and this was Brendon, her best friend’s baby brother. He was harmless.
Brendon Lowell's childhood dream was to be Hugh Grant, he loves rom-coms and he loves matching people with their One True Pairing. So much so, he developed a dating app, OTP, to help people find their perfect person. While his app is helping, the new data shows that people are feeling disillusioned with apps and online dating, not believing in romance is possible anymore, hurting his bottom line and his heart.
Annie Kyriakos is one of those disillusioned people and just so happens to be Brendon's childhood crush. Annie has been friends with Brendon's sister Darcy since they were kids and she decides to make a surprise visit to Darcy in Seattle before she breaks the news that she accepted a promotion and job in London. Annie hasn't seen Brendon in eight years and is surprised and a little flustered at how well he grew-up.
Brendon and Annie are a little bit of opposites attract, a little bit of second-chance, a little bit friends-to-lovers, and a whole lot of romantic heat.
“And I’m going to change your mind. Romance isn’t dead, and I’m going to prove it.”
Laughter burst from between her lips. “You can try.”
His mouth twitched. “Do or do not, Annie.”
Alexandria Bellefleur's Written in the Stars, was my favorite contemporary last year and I was highly anticipating this one. We met Darcy's brother Brendon in the first of the series and had brief mentions of her bestfriend Annie, here they end up spending time together as Annie's surprise visit is badly timed as Darcy is on vacation and Brendon steps-up to show Annie around Seattle until Darcy is back. As with the first, Bellefleur highlights Seattle and gives us a setting that we can feel and appreciate, adding to the ambiance of the story. She also gives our leads friends and lets us sit in that friendship. Here, she also gives a look at how friendships evolve over time and how that can be a good thing and something makes us mourn for what was. I admired how it was shown that Darcy getting caught up in her new romantic relationship made Annie feel a little sad for losing a part of her friendship with Darcy and how it was changing. This gave depth to Annie and added even more emotion to the story, creating a more filled out world. Brendon's friendship with Margot (friend of Darcy's significant other, Elle) also was an enjoyable additive.
A fun day with a funny, attractive guy. It didn’t change the fact that she wasn’t looking for love. Not with anyone; certainly not with her best friend’s baby brother who didn’t know her.
Friday, May 28, 2021
Reading Update: 10%
Top five most anticipated book of 2021 and Mac and cheese
❤️💃🏻❤️
Uses Almond milk!
Wednesday, May 26, 2021
Review: The Marriage Game
The Marriage Game by Sara DesaiMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
2.5 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.
Layla Patel is going home to San Francisco after walking in on her social media reality star boyfriend in bed with two women and her throwing his stuff out of their apartment is recorded and goes viral. Home to her family's Spice Mill Restaurant where her mother's tough love and father's hugs will help her get her life back on track. She's planning on using the office above her parent's restaurant to start her own business but when her father has a heart-attack and the previous tenant her dad had rented to doesn't get the news that Layla will now be using the office, she's forced to share with a man that annoys and attracts her.
Sam Mehta is all work and taking care of his sister after an incident leaves his sister Nisha in a wheelchair and him blaming himself. He knows legally the office is his but there's something about Layla that brings out his protective side and other emotions.
It's an opposites attract and a marriage game.
Relationships were for men who could protect the people they loved. Not one so focused on his career that he hadn’t seen the danger until it was too late.
The Marriage Game was a story that started off rom-com, light, and funny but unfortunately, never provided the depth I was looking for. Layla has a big loving family and while there were a lot of characters thrown at me in the beginning, I thought the author did a good job introducing them and giving them enough of an initial spark that I could separate them from each other. The problem I started to have though, was that towards the middle and end, the more important secondary characters were never given any depth. Layla has a loving relationship with her father but after their first scene, he disappears for the vast majority of the book. He comes back in towards the end and the scenes he was in made me wish we had seen him even more because of the emotion he brought. I felt the same way about Sam's sister Nisha, she's the catalyst for Sam's personality and we hardly get any scenes with her and Sam, it was such a wasted opportunity to provide the story with depth and emotion.
Layla laughed, a real belly laugh that ended in a snort. It was the best sound in the world. Why did it have to come from the woman who irritated him the most?
Monday, May 24, 2021
Reading Update: Page 1
❤️🌮
Have a great week, everyone!
Loved this, yum!
Sunday, May 23, 2021
Review: How to Survive a Scandal
How to Survive a Scandal by Samara ParishMy 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.
The stranger leaned against the shack walls, and a blond lock of hair fell over his forehead. Deep blue eyes, the color of a twilight sky, stared into hers. He was not the sort of man she was acquainted with. He wasn't pretty or refined; he was granite and rock.
How to Survive a Scandal starts us off with a scandal, Lady Amelia Crofton is found in dishabille, alone in a cabin with Mr. Benedict Asterly by her father, fiance, and Lord Karstark. Benedict had found Amelia unconscious in a broken wheeled carriage on the road during a snow storm, so he brought her to a cabin and was working to warm her up. Lord Karstark is a gossipy old thing and Amelia's fiance since the age of five, the Duke of Wildeforde, hates scandal and now wants nothing to do with Amelia or the scandal. Benedict is a footman's son (he's also the grandson of the Marquess of Harrington but Amelia doesn't know that right away) but to save Amelia's reputation he offers for her and we have our forced marriage of convenience.
Perhaps she wasn't so frigid and dispassionate. Perhaps it was a mask to hide her fragility. He'd been there. He understood.
I enjoyed how this started right away with the scandal and throwing our two leads together right away; the reader learns the characters as they learn each other. Amelia had the traits and personality of what one might think of an aristocratic woman of the time, she's snobby and worried about society. I didn't mind this at first, as I love to go on growth journeys with characters but, except for the very very end, Amelia doesn't lose her need for society's validation. Benedict does more of the changing and he grows to accept his aristocratic side and see how some benefits can come from it. He is an engineer and a partner in a firm that builds steam engines and we get some story of how he's working to close a deal with Americans to build engines and how that will supply the town with jobs. This is during the time of the Peterloo Massacre and while I liked how the author showed the class clashing and upheaval that was starting to manifest, I thought Benedict did more changing than Amelia and that took away some feelings of coming together cohesiveness in their relationship.
He wasn't the fine and graceful gentleman his mother had wanted, or that Amelia was used to, but that was fine. She liked him just the way he was.
And that unexpected acceptance had begun to heal wounds he hadn't cared to admit he had.
Since the marriage of convenience starts early, I was looking for some slow burn tension and while they had some moments, I can't say I really felt the emotion between the two. Their personalities never fully gelled for me and even though there is an orgasm scene for Amelia, this is a bedroom door shut romance. I usually like at least a peak in and without their personalities giving me an emotional connection, Amelia and Benedict never really came together for me.
The end wraps-up with a surprise inheritance that was a little disappointing to me, it took away more opportunity for Amelia to show some growth and the story-thread about the Americans and steam engines being hastily dealt with to the side. There are some secondary characters that drew my interest (the foreman Oliver should definitely get his own story) and I'm sure everyone is going to want to know what is going on between the Duke of Wildeforde and Benedict's partner in the firm Fiona. This had some compelling elements but unfortunately, felt pretty bloodless to me.
Thursday, May 20, 2021
Reading Update: 30%
Feeling very decadent this Thursday with some shrimp and risotto and a side of scandalous caught in a compromising situation.
Hope everyone’s Thursday is as delicious as mine ❤️
Doubled paprika, a bit time consuming but so good
Wednesday, May 19, 2021
Review: Cruel Beauty
Cruel Beauty by Rosamund HodgeMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
1.5 stars
I was raised to marry a monster.
This month's TBRChallenge theme was Fairytale/Folktale, no surprise, my pick was a beauty and the beast theme. I'm a sucker for this trope but this one also came along with some Bluebeard, Faust, and Greek and Roman mythology. Cruel Beauty is the story of Nyx, a teenage girl just turned seventeen that is being forced to marry the Gentle Lord. The world building relies heavily on Greek/Roman mythology, to the point that I would call this a sampler of all that mythology. It almost felt like this was 20% original story and the rest retold mythology; a lot of the time I felt like stopping this book and going to read the mentioned mythology story.
And my future husband—the Gentle Lord—was the prince of demons.
This is all told from Nyx's point-of-view and we learn that her mother couldn't bear children so her father made a Faustian bargain with the Gentle Lord, a deal that ended up killing the mother but she delivered twin daughters but one of the daughters must marry the Gentle Lord when she turns seventeen. Nyx is raised to be that daughter, with her father training her in the Hermetic arts created by the organization the Resurgandi, so that she can defeat the Gentle Lord, avenge her mother, and save their city. A city placed in the darkness under a false sky because 900 years ago a prince made a bargain with the Kindly Ones, demonish beings. Did I fully understand the Resurgandi and Hermetic arts with the plan to find all the hearts in the Gentle Lord's castle? No. No I did not. It was not fully developed enough or weaved into the fabric of the story well enough, which I blame on all the mythology constantly interjected and used as a substitute for original story.
If he is a prisoner, then he could be an ally.
Nyx arrives at the castle early in the story and that is where the Bluebeard theme creeps in with the castle ever changing, locked doors, and 8 previous wives. Nyx's husband is Ignifex, the Gentle Lord and there is a weakly formed love triangle with Nyx finding Ignifex sexy but finding his shadow, Shade, sweet. I found each relationship having the development of a true young adult vibe (Nyx and Ignifex have sex but you'll have to read the line twice to make sure you caught that is what they did, firmly shut door), but hey, this is young adult so I'll give some leeway to less maturity emotions and development, just wish it had been written better.
“She was exactly like you. She was brave enough to risk anything for what she wanted, and she knew a little too much of the truth.”
If you're familiar with any of the fairytales and folklore I mentioned, not to mention the clues that can be found in the all the mythology mentions, you'll have an idea what the secret or bargain involves that keeps Nyx's homeland in the dark and what needs to happen to break it. I still felt the ending was disappointing as it felt rushed together but I think that all lies in the fact that I had none and felt no emotional connection to Nyx or other characters and was not invested in the romance between Nyx and Ignifex. I just couldn't help feeling like all the mythology included broke the story up, instead of feeling like it was absorbed into it; not enough original content or character and emotional development for me.
Tuesday, May 18, 2021
#TBRChallenge: May Fairytale/Folklore
After two months of posting my challenge review late, I'm determined to get this one on time! This #TBRChallenge is set-up by @SuperWendy (blog). Besides the theme months, this is a pretty relaxing challenge. On the third day of every month participants are encouraged to use the hashtag TBRChallenge and discuss the book they plucked from obscurity. I decided to make a personal rule that a book had to be in my TBR for at least 5 years.
May's theme is Fairytale/Folklore. I'm kind of (absolutely completely) a sucker for the beauty and the beast theme, so I knew I'd at least have some books on my tbr that would fit for this month. Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge was the first book I came to that I already had my Kindle (woo-hoo for catching the $1.99 sale years ago). I put it on my tbr in 2014 and I still remember all the hype this had during that time. Plenty of people have talked about how it is a beauty and beast theme, so checkmark. I'm about 20% in already and it is loaded with Greek and Roman mythology also. The writing style feels a bit informal but I think it matches the young adult tag I've seen people give it. Looking at friend reviews I also see raving 5 stars to raving 1 stars, books that have such a divide are always interesting to read. The beginning has thrown a lot of information in the form of folklore for the world building, I'm hanging in there but I'm going to need it to even out soon.
Can't wait to see if there are other beauty and the beast fans out there like me and all the other fairytale/folklore picks for this month!
TBRChallenges:
Monday, May 17, 2021
Review: To Catch an Earl
To Catch an Earl by Kate BatemanMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
3.3 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.
She’d been afraid he’d take one look at her with those piercing blue eyes of his and see right through the demure wallflower she played in public, to the reckless criminal beneath.
Second in the Bow Street Bachelors series about three men that went to war together and now own a gambling club, To Catch an Earl, features Alexander Harland and Emmy Danvers. You could easily pick up this story without reading the first (The Earl is Mine), as this has a pretty narrow focus on Alex and Emmy. The hero from the first barely makes an appearance and in fact, I kept wishing for more scenes between the three friends as they are supposed to be the connecting thread within the series. Their gambling club doesn't get much screen time, which could be a blessing as the Regency sub-genre is over-saturated with that setting, but I missed a lodestone to feel like I was grounded in this series' world.
They were truly on opposite sides of the law now, the Runner and the thief.
This starts off with a prologue introducing us to our heroine Emmy and her crush on Alex. She knows he's about to go off and fight Napoleon so she decides to dance with him at a masquerade ball and they end up kissing and having that instant attraction/connection that has her (and her scent) lingering in Alex's mind even four years later when the story continues in chapter one. Our hero Alex's role as a Bow Street Runner has been given the mission to find the Nightjar, a thief that stole jewels and left a black feather. Nightjar hadn't been active for four years and then suddenly they commit another theft. Emmy's father was the Nightjar, as a displaced French aristocrat he wanted to steal all the stolen French crown jewels and give them back to the Bourbon monarchy when it is restored in France. He ends up dying, hence the four year inactivity, but then a man named Danton begins to blackmail Emmy's remaining family, her grandmother and brother Luc, claiming he will ruin the family's reputation by naming her father as the Nightjar unless they steal three jewels for him and give him the French royal jewels. Emmy's brother Luc lost his foot in the war, so it's up to Emmy to steal the jewels.
He couldn’t allow himself to feel anything for her. She was a criminal and he was sworn to uphold the law.
I was all in for this dynamic but the cat and mouse game I anticipated was instead muted in favor of a focus more on Emmy and Alex's sensual feel. For the most part, Alex knows Emmy is the Nightjar from just about the beginning of his investigation, she's “caught” at the midway point of the story. Emmy also is a very reluctant thief, she sometimes thinks about how she likes the adrenaline junkie emotions of stealing but she's pushed into it and doesn't want to be doing it. The villain Danton blackmailing them barely gets any screen time until the end, which makes any danger feelings that angle could have provoked nonexistent. Alex has some angst about being attracted to Emmy, he knows she's the mystery masked woman he kissed and she's the Nightjar, because a moment in the war had him hesitating to kill a woman and she ended up killing people because of his hesitation. Emmy's angst should obviously come from Alex is trying to arrest her but that's, for the most part, ignored and she even does things to get his attention.
“I want you again, Emmy Danvers. And I want to take my time.”
I can't say I ever really felt their roles as runner and thief but they did have some hot potato moments. As I mentioned earlier, I felt like the action plot was pushed to the side in favor of sensuality and this couple definitely had some of those moments. I did feel the crackle, tension, and heat between them but it was hard for that to support the whole story. I enjoyed Emmy's grandmother pushing her towards Alex, the secondary romance between brother Luc and Sally, and the brief glances at Alex's friendship with Sebastien. I thought Emmy's love of feelings and words from other languages that can't be translated to English could have been a fun quirk but it was interjected awkwardly (not to mention all the smelling/sniffing going on) and sometimes used as the only building friendship interaction between her and Alex. The ending also had some ungainly feel to it with Alex wanting to marry Emmy to give her protection and then the sudden “I love her” moment. This didn't quite deliver on what I was looking for but if you're looking for a couple that strings their sensuality throughout the story, Emmy and Alex will give that to you.
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