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Book Review: The Ex Vows by Jessica Joyce

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Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 400 pages
Author: Jessica Joyce
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: July 16th, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Estranged exes must stick close together to save their best friend’s wedding after a string of disasters in this swoony and steamy second-chance romance.

Georgia Woodward lives by her lists, none more so than the one about her ex, Eli Mora. It’s full of the ironclad dos and don’ts they’ve been following since she returned to the Bay Area after their cataclysmic breakup five years ago.

With the wedding of their mutual best friend, Adam, looming, and them about to step into their roles as best woman and man, Georgia’s never needed it more. She refuses to threaten their tight-knit friend group with her messy—and still very present—feelings. The rules on that list will keep her cool, calm, and compartmentalized.

What’s not on her list? Eli arriving from New York with a new rule-breaking attitude or the all-inclusive venue burning to the ground, leaving the bride and groom in dire straits. Nor does she anticipate Adam asking her and Eli to help him make a miracle happen. Together.

As Georgia and Eli rush up to Napa Valley to pull off the perfect wedding, their old chemistry comes back in technicolor. Somewhere between cake tastings gone wrong, disastrous DJ auditions, and Eli’s heated attention, Georgia starts recognizing the man she fell in love with before. And if she lets herself break her rules, she might find what they’re building isn’t the something old that ruined them—it’s a chance at something new.

I LOVED IT.

This is one of my new favorite second chance romances. I loved the anxiety rep with Eli. That was easily some of the best moments for me.

I didn’t know how I would feel about the wedding antics but I think the side characters set the right vibe for all the shenanigans, and while they were ridiculous I started to love them too. I loved the subtle flashbacks and seeing the communication start to flow.

The banter and tension were fantastic. Gosh I was just smitten with Eli. And I loved seeing growth from Georgia too. And the paper rings??? ARE YOU KIDDING ME.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: moderate
  • Romance: 3+ open door
  • Content Warnings: parental abandonment and divorced recounted, anxiety and panic attacks

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Book Review: Love How You Love Me (Boys of Riverside #2) by Gracie Graham

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Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: NA Contemporary Romance
Length: 392 pages
Author: Gracie Graham
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: May 31st, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

All I wanted for so long was to remember the car crash that killed my mother. Like it might somehow chase away the guilt and grief that followed her death.

But now I remember, and everything has changed.
I should be relieved.
Instead, I’m angry at the world. My mother. Father. And especially the boy who stole my heart and crushed it beneath his palm.
Everyone warned me to stay away from Atlas Scott–the bad boy football star, with a reputation for trouble.
Maybe I should’ve listened.
But our bond was seemingly unbreakable, forged in the fire of tragedy.

Until it wasn’t, and everything fell apart.
Now the memories that haunt me are so much harder to manage on the heels of heartbreak.
Graham, my best friend, is, once again, picking up the pieces while I search for vindication in all the wrong places.

Because there’s only one catalyst for healing and redemption.
Love.

HERE FOR THE DRAMA.

Oh my goodness. I binged the first book and this one back to back and I have zero regrets. I loved the high level of drama and the NEED I felt the entire time reading that I had to know what happens next. This was the angsty tension filled love triangle I didn’t know I needed and I will now be forever recommending it to others.

I loved the continuation of this story. I thought the plot points came together well and I left feeling satisfied with part of the story and excited for the continuation of the other. This does finish Mackenzie’s romance and who she ends up with. There’s plenty of swoon and quotable moments and I will ABSOLUTELY be continuing this series.

Overall audience notes:

  • NA Sports Romance
  • Language: moderate
  • Romance: one closed door
  • Violence: moderate
  • Content Warnings: loss of a father from suicide, mentions of drug/alcohol addiction, attempted assault, gambling addiction, underage drinking

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Book Review: A Darker Shade of Magic (Shades of Magic #1) by V.E. Schwab

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Fantasy
Length: 416 pages
Author: V.E. Schwab
Publisher: Tor Books
Release Date: February 24th, 2015
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

From #1 New York Times bestselling author V.E. Schwab, return to the beginning of the phenomenal Shades of Magic series with A Darker Shade of Magic, now in a brand new trade paperback edition

Kell is one of the last Antari—magicians with a rare, coveted ability to travel between parallel Londons; Red, Grey, White, and, once upon a time, Black.

Kell was raised in Arnes—Red London—and officially serves the Maresh Empire as an ambassador, traveling between the frequent bloody regime changes in White London and the court of George III in the dullest of Londons, the one without any magic left to see.

Unofficially, Kell is a smuggler, servicing people willing to pay for even the smallest glimpses of a world they’ll never see. It’s a defiant hobby with dangerous consequences, which Kell is now seeing firsthand.

After an exchange goes awry, Kell escapes to Grey London and runs into Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations. She first robs him, then saves him from a deadly enemy, and finally forces Kell to spirit her to another world for a proper adventure.

Now perilous magic is afoot, and treachery lurks at every turn. To save all of the worlds, they’ll first need to stay alive.

WHAT A GEM.

This is a reread review.

I haven’t picked this up since 2017 and thought, why the heck not with book four on the horizon. And I actually remembered a lot?? Which is amazing and shows how much this book holds up. I think it’s an incredible series starter and that the magic system and world building is flat out COOL. I love the whole concept and set-up.

Not to mention, the CHARACTERS. Kell, Lila and Rhy are well built and I am immediately drawn in and connected to their story. I love a complicated villain like Holland and the way interactions between everyone is just spot on.

Plot wise things drag a little here and there, but I already know where the set-up is going so it was fun to revisit the beginning.

Overall audience notes:

  • Fantasy
  • Language: some strong
  • Romance: flirting
  • Violence: high
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: slavery, attempted rape, self harm for magic, blood/gore depiction, torture, weapons violence

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ARC Book Review: It’s Always Us (The Abandoned Brothers #3) by Stacy Williams

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Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 476 pages
Author: Stacy Williams
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: October 7th, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

What if you give your whole heart away? Do you ever really get it back?

Lex has just been going through the motions for years, trying to let go of the one man she can’t seem to forget. When she finds herself getting ready to take on a life she’s never wanted, she realizes she’s stuck in the same place she was at sixteen—heart stolen and fully belonging to another. Now, Lex is determined to move forward and finally face reality—life without him.

But when the past returns, making declarations she’d never thought she’d hear again, will Lex take a chance to finally go after what she’s always wanted?

Mark has been living the high life…at least, that’s what the media believes. Reality is, he’s spent the last eight years thinking of the one who promised to love him always. For Mark, time has passed and damage was done, but he just can’t convince himself that her devotion wasn’t real. When time is running out—or so he thinks—he takes a shot to find out once and for all if her words were honest and true.

When the fun-loving, professional quarterback makes his play, will he find that the hope he’s held onto is everything he needed it to be? What if it’s so much more than he ever could have imagined?

It’s Always Us is a touching love story that reminds us when all hope is lost…love lasts.

This story is part of a series but if you don’t mind a few spoilers, it can be read as a stand-alone.

Thank you to the author for an eARC.

THE JOURNEY.

This book made me have to stare down some things I don’t generally like when I’m reading a romance book. But the pure chaos of this journey and the up and down roller coaster had me flipping page after page never able to guess where this story would turn next. And that had it’s own wonderful quality too.

I loved how much Mark and Lex showed that soul mate level quality of connection. How when you feel like you’re hitting the end of what you can handle, love finds a way. Love creates a path. Love finds a way to fight with you.

Both characters had a lot of walls they had to hit a few times over before they found a way around. I loved the supporting cast and how they helped Mark and Lex get through their journey’s. The ending came together so sweetly and squeezed my heart strings.

This book has been a long time coming for this series and I loved all the truths it held and the satisfying conclusion it was for the all three brothers.

Overall audience notes:

  • Sports Romance
  • Language: moderate
  • Romance: closed door
  • Violence: low

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