ARC Book Review & Blog Tour: For Butter or Worse by Erin La Rosa

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 368 pages
Author: Erin La Rosa
Publisher: HQN
Release Date: July 27th, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

They go together like water and oil…

All chef Nina Lyon wants is to make a name for herself in the culinary world and inspire young women everywhere to do the same. For too long, she’s been held back and underestimated by the male-dominated sphere of professional kitchens, and she’s had enough. Now, as co-host of the competitive reality TV series The Next Cooking Champ!, she finally has a real shot at being top tier in the foodie scene.
Too bad her co-host happens to be Hollywood’s smarmiest jerk.

Restaurateur Leo O’Donnell never means to get under Nina’s skin. It just seems to happen, especially when the cameras are rolling. It’s part of the anxiety and stress he has come to know all too well in this line of work. So nothing prepares him for the fallout after he takes one joke a smidge too far and Nina up and quits—on live TV.

To make matters worse, the two are caught in what looks like a compromising situation by the paparazzi…and fans of the show go absolutely nuts. Turns out, a “secret romance” between Nina and Leo may just be what their careers need most.

Now all they have to do is play along, without killing each other…and without catching feelings. Easy as artisanal shepherd’s pie. Right? 

Thank you to HQN for the eARC!

DELECTABLE.

I didn’t have any wild expectations going in for this and found myself completely wrapped up this story. I wouldn’t call it enemies to lovers, but more a rival angle. There’s fantastic banter that made me laugh and were such great quips. The spark definitely ignited as Leo and Nina got to know one another.

And how did they get to know one another? FAKE DATING Y’ALL. Another beloved trope that I loved the execution of. I thought all of the dates dove deeper into each layer of their budding relationship. I liked how they got to know one another, apologize for past grievances and work together to save their restaurants.

I did find the last 10/15% a little slow. I liked that Leo’s anxiety was addressed and he was able to work on that for himself and that Nina found a new path for her career to move to. I don’t mind some time away, but it did go on just long enough that I was wondering where the grand finale was finally going to take place.

Different from a lot of books recently, this one focused on cooking over baking. I loved that and it made me continually hungry and in need of a personal chef to make some of these grand meals for me. I loved the outside plot that didn’t overtake the romance but helped push it forward. The side characters (family and friends) were wonderful and added a perfect touch too. A seriously great read and I look forward to more!

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: some strong
  • Romance: multiple open; med/high explicit
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: anxiety, panic attacks (on page), sexism, bullying (including cyber)

AUTHOR BIO:

ERIN LA ROSA is a writer living in Los Angeles. As a writer for BuzzFeed, she frequently writes about the perils and triumphs of being a redhead. Before BuzzFeed, Erin worked for the comedy websites Funny or Die and MadAtoms, as well as E!s Fashion Police, Wetpaint, and Ecorazzi. Erin has appeared on CNN, Headline News, Jimmy Kimmel, and The Today Show on behalf of BuzzFeed. She is the author of Womanskills and The Big Redhead Book.

Author Website: https://www.erinlarosacreative.com/
IG: https://www.instagram.com/erinlarosalit/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/erinlarosalit
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/erin.larosa 
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@erinlarosawrites

And for fun, some recipes from the chef’s themselves!

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ARC Book Review: Master of Iron (Bladesmith #2) by Tricia Levenseller

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Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: YA Fantasy Romance
Length: 336 pages
Author: Tricia Levenseller
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Release Date: July 26th, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

In Master of Iron, the conclusion to Tricia Levenseller’s exciting Bladesmith YA fantasy duology, a magically gifted blacksmith with social anxiety must race against the clock to save her beloved sister and stop a devastating war.

Eighteen-year-old Ziva may have defeated a deadly warlord, but the price was almost too much. Ziva is forced into a breakneck race to a nearby city with the handsome mercenary, Kellyn, and the young scholar, Petrik, to find a powerful magical healer who can save her sister’s life.

When the events that follow lead to Ziva and Kellyn’s capture by an ambitious prince, Ziva is forced into the very situation she’s been dreading: magicking dangerous weapons meant for world domination.

The forge has always been Ziva’s safe space, a place to avoid society and the anxiety it causes her, but now it is her prison, and she’s not sure just how much of herself she’ll have to sacrifice to save Kellyn and take center stage in the very war she’s been trying to stop.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for an advanced copy audiobook.

ABSOLUTELY LOVED.

Tricia Levenseller books are some of my absolute favorite YA reads. She is an auto-buy author for me and once again, has hit it out of the park. I was a bit neutral after the first book in this duo, but this ending, AMAZING.

I loooooved Ziva. The social anxiety rep here feels so spot on and I could relate 1,000 different ways to how she was feeling talking to others, making friends, and being assertive when the time came. Ziva showed great character growth and the ability to listen and learn how to communicate with those she loved.

The ROMANCE. SO DANG SWEET. I adored Kellyn. I liked that they got a lot more time together and that there were legitimate relationship struggles they worked through. It was authentic and I liked how both parties learned to COMMUNICATE and lean on one another as a bond of trust deeply formed. Oh my gosh they were just the best y’all. And some well placed pet name use had me swoooooning.

There’s also a beautiful sister relationship here. Temra and Ziva have one of the tightest connections I have read about. And I liked they way they were always there for each other and also could say, I can do this myself, too. There was a great give and take and acknowledging ones’ place in the world.

Within all of this greatest was a solid plot of action and battles. I love that I felt like nothing overshadowed one plot aspect over the other. There was balance between the romance, the big plot, friendships and subtle quiet moments. I devoured this book and anxiously await Levenseller’s next great read.

Overall audience notes:

  • YA Fantasy Romance
  • Language: a little
  • Romance: mentions of closed-door
  • Violence: medium
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: murder, war themes, kidnapping, physical and magical altercations, torture

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Book Review: The Atlas Six (The Atlas #1) by Olivie Blake

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Rating: ★★★☆
Audience: NA Dark Academia
Length: 375 pages
Author: Olivie Blake
Publisher: Tor
Release Date: March 1st, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

The Alexandrian Society is a secret society of magical academicians, the best in the world. Their members are caretakers of lost knowledge from the greatest civilizations of antiquity. And those who earn a place among their number will secure a life of wealth, power, and prestige beyond their wildest dreams. Each decade, the world’s six most uniquely talented magicians are selected for initiation – and here are the chosen few…

– Libby Rhodes and Nicolás Ferrer de Varona: inseparable enemies, cosmologists who can control matter with their minds.
– Reina Mori: a naturalist who can speak the language of life itself.
– Parisa Kamali: a mind reader whose powers of seduction are unmatched.
– Tristan Caine: the son of a crime kingpin who can see the secrets of the universe.
– Callum Nova: an insanely rich pretty boy who could bring about the end of the world. He need only ask.

When the candidates are recruited by the mysterious Atlas Blakely, they are told they must spend one year together to qualify for initiation. During this time, they will be permitted access to the Society’s archives and judged on their contributions to arcane areas of knowledge. Five, they are told, will be initiated. One will be eliminated. If they can prove themselves to be the best, they will survive. Most of them.

THIS WAS ODD.

I’m not really sure what to do with this read. On one hand I enjoyed it. On the other, I’m not quite sure about what I did enjoy.

This is a slowww read. And (mostly) not in a bad way. I don’t mind when fantasies take their time as long as things keep progressing. But at some point this switched over to where I felt like I wanted to skim (which I did).

The characters are divinely unique and I loved that. I hated and loved them for a myriad of reasons. Heavily character driven books are my jam. Though I did wonder why everyone was sleeping with everyone? It just didn’t seem necessary or really adding anything.

Plot wise, I needed more. It wasn’t working for me. There wasn’t enough development of WHY all of these people were together. Not until the last quarter did I start to connect some dots.

I stand undecided on reading book two. I think I’ll probably wait to see some friends reviews first. Or I might try the audio to move through it quicker.

Overall audience notes:

  • NA Urban Fantasy + Dark Academia
  • Language: some strong
  • Romance: multiple vague + closed door + innuendo
  • Violence: low
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: cheating, near death experiences, extortion, suicide ideation, suicide, alcohol consumption

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Book Review: Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé

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Rating: ☆☆☆☆
Audience: YA Thriller
Length: 432 pages
Author: Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Release Date: June 1st, 2021
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Gossip Girl meets Get Out in Ace of Spades, a YA contemporary thriller by debut author Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé about two students, Devon & Chiamaka, and their struggles against an anonymous bully.

When two Niveus Private Academy students, Devon Richards and Chiamaka Adebayo, are selected to be part of the elite school’s senior class prefects, it looks like their year is off to an amazing start. After all, not only does it look great on college applications, but it officially puts each of them in the running for valedictorian, too.

Shortly after the announcement is made, though, someone who goes by Aces begins using anonymous text messages to reveal secrets about the two of them that turn their lives upside down and threaten every aspect of their carefully planned futures.

As Aces shows no sign of stopping, what seemed like a sick prank quickly turns into a dangerous game, with all the cards stacked against them. Can Devon and Chiamaka stop Aces before things become incredibly deadly?

With heart-pounding suspense and relevant social commentary comes a high-octane thriller from debut author Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé.

THE BLACK, QUEER THRILLER YOU NEED.

I am shook and completely freaked out by this book. I’ve never seen Gossip Girl or Get Out, but close friends have said it’s a great combination of both. I loved the academic setting, the twisted story, and how intense the ending was.

The two main characters, Chiamaka and Devon were amazing. I loved both of their POV’s. Both perspectives gave different sides to ultimately the same story. I was endeared by both of them and as the a creeping sense of dread swarmed my mind as the pages went on I couldn’t put this down.

Full of the nuanced, obvious and threatening realities of racism and supremacy. It was incredibly well written and I am in awe of what this author will write next. The relevant exploration of haunting themes will leave you speechless.

I loved the epilogue and the ending in general. I was invested in both story lines and love how Chiamaka’s and Devon’s story never overshadowed one another. Even with a bit of a slow start for me, it ramped up in the second half. For not a huge thriller fan, this is one where I’ll be shouting READ IT to anyone who’ll listen.

Overall audience notes:

  • YA Thriller
  • Language: strong
  • Romance: kisses to closed door
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: racism, homophobia, public outing, loss of a parent, murder, car accident, stalking

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