Book Review: Dear Emmie Blue by Lia Louis

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Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 320 pages
Author: Lia Louis
Publisher: Atria
Release Date: July 14th, 2020
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

At sixteen, Emmie Blue stood in the fields of her school and released a red balloon into the sky. Attached was her name, her email address… and a secret she desperately wanted to be free of. Weeks later, on a beach in France, Lucas Moreau discovered the balloon and immediately emailed the attached address, sparking an intense friendship between the two teens.

Now, fourteen years later, Emmie is hiding the fact that she’s desperately in love with Lucas. She has pinned all her hopes on him and waits patiently for him to finally admit that she’s the one for him. So dedicated to her love for Lucas, Emmie has all but neglected her life outside of this relationship—she’s given up the search for her absentee father, no longer tries to build bridges with her distant mother, and lives as a lodger to an old lady she barely knows after being laid off. And when Lucas tells Emmie he has a big question to ask her, she’s convinced this is the moment he’ll reveal his feelings for her. But nothing in life ever quite goes as planned, does it?

Filled with heart and humor, Dear Emmie Blue “beautifully captures the heartache and frustrations of carrying our teenaged selves with us wherever we go” (Anstey Harris, author of Goodbye Paris) that is perfect for fans of Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine and Evvie Drake Starts Over.

MY HEART.

Well this book turned me into an absolute puddle and is now my favorite Lia Louis book to date.

I absolutely loved Emmie’s story and the progress she made in loving who she is and where she is and recognizing the love around her. Having to walk through a lot of personal fires to get to where she is at the end had me cheering her on the whole way.

And that romance??? OMG. I was a misty eyed woman reading those last few scenes. Even if you realize what’s happening it’ll still squeeze your heart in the most beautifully painful ways. I love how those things worked out and that Emmie got to know the WHOLE truth of things. It only made the ending that much sweeter.

A fantastic audiobook that I couldn’t put down. A story that will melt your soul and I cannot recommend this one enough. I’m not big on backlist reading, and I am grateful I dove back for this one!!

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: a little
  • Romance: kisses
  • Violence: low
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: slut shaming, victim shaming, sexual assault of a minor, cheating

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Book Review: Book of Night by Holly Black

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Rating: ★★☆
Audience: Urban Fantasy
Length: 320 pages
Author: Holly Black
Publisher: Tor Books
Release Date: May 3rd, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

#1 New York Times bestselling author Holly Black makes her stunning adult debut with Book of Night, a modern dark fantasy of shadowy thieves and secret societies in the vein of Ninth House and The Night Circus.

In Charlie Hall’s world, shadows can be altered, for entertainment and cosmetic preferences—but also to increase power and influence. You can alter someone’s feelings—and memories—but manipulating shadows has a cost, with the potential to take hours or days from your life. Your shadow holds all the parts of you that you want to keep hidden—a second self, standing just to your left, walking behind you into lit rooms. And sometimes, it has a life of its own.

Charlie is a low-level con artist, working as a bartender while trying to distance herself from the powerful and dangerous underground world of shadow trading. She gets by doing odd jobs for her patrons and the naive new money in her town at the edge of the Berkshires. But when a terrible figure from her past returns, Charlie’s present life is thrown into chaos, and her future seems at best, unclear—and at worst, non-existent. Determined to survive, Charlie throws herself into a maelstrom of secrets and murder, setting her against a cast of doppelgangers, mercurial billionaires, shadow thieves, and her own sister—all desperate to control the magic of the shadows.

With sharp angles and prose, and a sinister bent, Holly Black is a master of shadow and story stitching. Remember while you read, light isn’t playing tricks in Book of Night, the people are.

TURTLE.

This might be the slowest book I have read in a long dang time. And not in a good way. Within the first few chapters I was worried this wasn’t going to be a great read for me, and unfortunately that was the case.

With terrible pacing came a plot that did have some good twists. I was surprised by a few things that were intriguing yes, but a major lack of dialogue left me desperate for more. Not to mention, lack of world building with info dumps. A 300 page fantasy book is a hard task to accomplish without some guides. I also don’t know why there were flashback chapters??? They didn’t add much of anything to the storyline.

Vince was probably the best person here. I liked him. He was an enigma I wanted to put together and carried much more of the story than I expected.

I just really struggled to read this. It was a fight and I think the ending should have pulled more emotion out of me, but I can’t see myself picking up the next book. Not one I’d recommend. Stick to Black’s The Cruel Prince series.

Overall audience notes:

  • Urban fantasy
  • Language: some
  • Romance: closed door
  • Violence: high
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: multiple blood/gore depictions of gruesome murders, self harm to get magic, child abuse, general violence, depression and grief, panic attacks, anxiety, gun violence, drugging

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Book Review: Hidden Waters (Tattered & Torn #3) by Catherine Cowles

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Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Romantic Suspense
Length: 394 pages
Author: Catherine Cowles
Publisher: Pagesmith LLC
Release Date: June 21st, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

My family tried to break me. But, somehow, I made it out alive, even though the wounds from that survival are forever carved into my bones. Now, my only wish is for…normal. To know what it’s like to have friends, a job, a home.

The last thing I want is for my new roommate to see the scars I’m so desperate to keep hidden, especially not the ruggedly handsome man who steals my breath and sends my heart into overdrive.

But something tells me that Beckett has demons, too. I see it in the shadows haunting his gorgeous eyes and the way he looks at me with gentle understanding.

As our unlikely friendship becomes so much more, forces from my life slink out of the shadows. And we could both lose everything we’ve fought so hard for—down to our very last breaths.

NEW FAV.

I am LOVING THIS SERIES Y’ALL. Who knew we were in my romantic suspense era? I love the way Cowles formulates these small town romantic stories and I am here for it alllllll.

I adored protective alpha Beckett. Give me all the who did this to you moments. But also the you can do this moments too. I LOVE that Beckett strove to protect Addie, and also gave her the tools and confidence she needed to move forward in her life and to work through her past. The chemistry and connection between them was instant (but not in an insta-love way). I loved the progression from friendship to more.

The suspense kept me on edge!!! It’s kind of obvious where the drama angle would come from, but how it all worked out left me flipping pages so fast. I love this dash of mystery and intrigue. The characters coming together to take down evil and love always finding its way back to each other.

This series is amazing and I can’t wait for the next book!

Overall audience notes:

  • Romantic Suspense
  • Language: some strong
  • Romance: two brief open door
  • Violence: high
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: gun violence, domestic abuse, child abuse, murder, physical altercations, assault

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Book Review: The Do-Over by Bethany Turner

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Rating: ★★★☆ (3.5)
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 320 pages
Author: Bethany Turner
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Release Date: March 15th, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

When McKenna Keaton walks into the boardroom of Wallis, Monroe, and Burkhead, she expects to be named senior partner. Instead, she learns she’s being investigated for embezzlement. To wait out her unpaid leave, McKenna sublets her Upper West Side apartment and goes home to Durham, North Carolina, to save money. Saving face is going to be another thing entirely, but she assumes her problems will blow over soon.

While living in her childhood hometown, McKenna learns about a family curse that—if real rather than imagined—could suggest she has less than a year to live. This information is troubling (of course!), but it’s the reunion with former classmate Henry—Durham’s favorite son—that flips her world upside down. Henry is now a celebrated documentarian, back in town to premiere his latest masterpiece. Vulnerable to (and desperately needing) a distraction as her life falls apart, McKenna begins seeing the shy nerd from high school in a whole new light.

As she waits out the results of the investigation and wonders if her literal life is hanging in the balance, McKenna debates her future and questions her past. She might survive it all in one piece—but a new love and a newly-examined life might be the only things that can save her.

ENJOYABLE.

This was my first Turner book and I don’t think it’ll be my last. I really enjoyed this story and all the different nuances it held.

With a, we knew each other in high school and are now reconnecting, trope (one of which I didn’t know I’d love), I was wrapped up in this romance. It’s very fast paced and at times I could have used a bit more. Yet, it held some sweet moments. Some where I wanted to shake the characters, but a happy ending for all.

I liked that McKenna had a lot of opportunity for growth. She’s very much stagnant in HER mindset and making people understand that’s who and what she wants to be. While nothing wrong with that, I loved that she found ways to reconnect with her sisters, slow down a bit, AND still accomplish professional goals she was after. The bit of mystery with her career was a nice added touch.

There was a big theme of family history here and I’m not sure I’ve read much of that as a subplot. I really liked the background and passion McKenna’s Dad and Henry had for telling stories from the past. This plot wove well into the full story and I thought it was a unique writing choice.

I struggled with the conflict, that’s mostly why I took off that last 1/2 star. Just became frustrating and drawn out a bit too long. It was a fantastic audiobook and still a solid read and I look forward to more!

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: none
  • Romance: make-outs
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: false accusations resulting in loss of job

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