Book Review: The Christmas Swap by Sandy Barker

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Rating: ☆☆
Audience: Contemporary romance
Length: 400 pages
Author: Sandy Barker
Publisher: One More Chapter
Release Date: October 16th, 2020
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Chloe, Jules, and Lucy meet at a Maui resort kids’ club, aged 11, forging a lifelong friendship spanning two decades and three continents.

Twenty-two years later, they decide to swap Christmases, none of them expecting the hilarity and romantic escapades that will ensue.

Chloe from Melbourne spends her Christmas with Lucy’s mum and dad in a sleepy village in Oxfordshire, England, stunned to the core when she discovers who grew up across the road from Lucy.

Lucy, who has jetted off to snowy Colorado for her dream-come-true white Christmas, is taken into the fold of Jules’s loud and brash family, discovering more about herself in a few short days than she has in years.

And Jules leaves the cold climes of Colorado to spend a balmy ‘Orphan’s Christmas’ with Chloe’s friends in Melbourne, finding that time away from her mundane life is just what she needed.

Join these three lovable women as they each get a Christmas to surpass their wildest dreams.

JUST STOP.

Oh goodness. I can’t with insta-love y’all. I will admit, I have read good renditions of it, this was not one of those.

There’s 400 pages to cover three entirely separate story lines. It was clearly not enough to actually put any angst or moments into anyone’s romance. I couldn’t get past how quickly everything was happening and wanted it to just slow down. There was no background on relationships and the love interests. All 0 to 100 faster than I could convince myself to read this book.

I wanted to like everyone, and I did for the most part. And the premise was a nifty idea. Switching places with friends to enjoy a “new to them” Christmas celebration seemed enchanting.

I’m going to keep this short because I don’t have any desire to rip into this more. It wasn’t a love story I was on board with.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary romance
  • Language: some strong
  • Romance: kisses; mentions of nights together (but no details)

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Book Review: A Sky Beyond the Storm (An Ember in the Ashes #4) by Sabaa Tahir

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Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
Audience: YA Fantasy
Length: 528 pages
Author: Sabaa Tahir
Publisher: Razorbill
Release Date: December 1st, 2020
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Prepare for the jaw-dropping finale of Sabaa Tahir’s beloved New York Times bestselling An Ember in the Ashes fantasy series, and discover: Who will survive the storm?

Picking up just a few months after A Reaper at the Gates left off…

The long-imprisoned jinn are on the attack, wreaking bloody havoc in villages and cities alike. But for the Nightbringer, vengeance on his human foes is just the beginning.

At his side, Commandant Keris Veturia declares herself Empress, and calls for the heads of any and all who defy her rule. At the top of the list? The Blood Shrike and her remaining family.

Laia of Serra, now allied with the Blood Shrike, struggles to recover from the loss of the two people most important to her. Determined to stop the approaching apocalypse, she throws herself into the destruction of the Nightbringer. In the process, she awakens an ancient power that could lead her to victory–or to an unimaginable doom.

And deep in the Waiting Place, the Soul Catcher seeks only to forget the life–and love–he left behind. Yet doing so means ignoring the trail of murder left by the Nightbringer and his jinn. To uphold his oath and protect the human world from the supernatural, the Soul Catcher must look beyond the borders of his own land. He must take on a mission that could save–or destroy–all that he knows.

STUNNING FINALE.

It’s time.

It’s time you read this series.

It is beautiful, raw, strikes so many chords and is nothing short of a magnificent story.

I love these characters and how real everything feels to me because of how the writing conveys their tale. The highs and lows and everything in between drag out all of the emotions and made me sit there and hug this book afterwards. This isn’t a happy-go-lucky story. A lot of bad things do happen, but I love the infused sense of hope that something is better out on the horizon. That we’ll get there.

You’ll never find yourself bored or dragging through any of these points-of-view. The high stakes action bouncing off of angsty moments had me gripping pages to know where things were going. I feel like even the side characters got some great spotlight and I was hooked on them by the ending too. While yes, totally hate how some things went down (without a doubt had me in tears), it all still somehow worked out in the end. That’s what I love. The loss of who/this/that didn’t overshadow where everything was leading.

This entire series took me on a such a journey and I have a hard time putting into words what the closing of this final chapter meant. An Ember in the Ashes will definitely go down as one of my favorite young adult fantasy series. The amount of dedication and work that clearly went into this jaw-dropping. I’m a fan for life and can’t wait to see what Tahir writes next.

Overall audience notes:

  • Young adult fantasy
  • Language: little light
  • Romance: kisses/make-outs; some little detailed fade out scenes (still felt appropriate for YA genre)
  • Violence: depictions of war, gory and bloody murders and battle scenes
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: loss of multiple loved ones

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Book Review: Thawing the Viscount’s Heart (Belles of Christmas: Frost Fair #3) by Mindy Burbidge Strunk

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Rating: ☆☆☆☆
Audience: Regency Romance
Length: 219 pages
Author: Mindy Burbidge Strunk
Publisher: FiveJoys Press
Release Date: November 7th, 2020
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

He detests the French. Especially the one staying in his house.

Belles of Christmas: Frost Fair
Sweet, Regency Christmas Romances

Five Christmas romances and the Frost Fair that started them all

This is the third book in the clean and sweet Regency romance Belles of Christmas: Frost Fair series.
Although this enemies to lovers romance is a stand-alone novel, the books are best enjoyed when read in order.

ANOTHER ROMANTIC TALE.

Another good installment to this multi-author series! I didn’t love book two, but this one perked me up to continue reading the stories of all these Frost Fair ladies.

I liked the turn around for this romance. It starts off on the wrong foot (and with poor assumptions), but slowly turns into some true realizations. I love that Aaron was able to look into himself about how he was treating Gabby and where his prejudices were coming from. I loved Gabby and her resiliency in the face of a lot of people who hated her without knowing her. As Aaron and Gabby came together I found myself completely invested in their relationship.

Maybe some dramatics were added in for a bit for umph, but I didn’t mind. These books have a nice magical holiday quality that I’ve really taken to. I hope to finish this series soon!

Overall audience notes:

  • Regency romance
  • Language: none
  • Romance: kisses
  • Violence: kidnapping
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: kidnapping, PTSD from war

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Book Review: The HOOK (The PAN #2) by Jenny Hickman

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Rating: ☆
Audience: YA Fantasy
Length: 350 pages
Author: Jenny Hickman
Publisher: Midnight Tide Publishing
Release Date: March 3rd, 2021
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Tomorrow isn’t promised, no matter how immortal you think you are.

In the aftermath of Vivienne’s capture, she discovers she’s destined to become one of the forgetful P.A.N. The devastating diagnosis leaves her questioning her relationships—and her place in Neverland. While on her second recruitment mission, she ignores a cardinal rule, and one of her fellow P.A.N. pays the ultimate price for her mistake.

Outrage over the death spurs Lee Somerfield’s growing rebellious faction to fight fire with fire, leaving H.O.O.K. in ashes and Neverland ripped apart from within.

Navigating new love and old secrets, Vivienne must now face the consequences of her actions … and decide if living forever is worth forgetting everything.

INCOMING.

A rant is incoming because I can’t even with this book.

First and foremost THERE WAS NO PLOT. NONE. Nothing happened.

The whole time the book focused on Deacon and Vivienne trying to bang each other but they keep getting interrupted. Or my personal favorite, they would get in a stupid argument and blow up at each other without communicating whatsoever to turn around and get back together within a chapter. AAAAAAAND the MANY instances of CHEATING that was played off as nothing. It was cheating. It should be taken seriously. Goodness gracious the rage I felt was next level.

I just couldn’t handle the level of immaturity Viv and Deacon resonated. They’re older teens (19 and 26). You would think they would be a bit more rational. I’m just begging for a little.

I am definitely not continuing this series. Even if a few side characters were okay and the only redeeming thing about this entire book.

Overall audience notes:

  • YA Fantasy Romance
  • Language: a little
  • Romance: kisses to closed door scenes
  • Violence: physical altercations, fires, gun violence

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