ARC Book Review: Enjoy the View (Moose Springs, Alaska #3) by Sarah Morgenthaler

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Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 352 pages
Author: Sarah Morgenthaler
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Release Date: January 19th, 2021
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A grouchy mountaineer, a Hollywood starlet
And miles of untamed wilderness…
What could possibly go wrong?

Former Hollywood darling River Lane’s acting career is tanking fast. Determined to start fresh behind the camera, she agrees to film a documentary about the picturesque small town of Moose Springs, Alaska. The assignment should have been easy, but the quirky locals want nothing to do with River. Well, too bad: River’s going to make this film and prove herself, no matter what it takes.

Or what (literal) mountain she has to climb.

Easton Lockett may be a gentle giant, but he knows a thing or two about survival. If he can keep everyone in line, he should be able to get River and her crew up and down Mount Veil in one piece. Turns out that’s a big if. The wildlife’s wilder than usual, the camera crew’s determined to wander off a cliff, and the gorgeous actress is fearless. Falling for River only makes Easton’s job tougher, but there’s only so long he can hold out against her brilliant smile. When bad weather strikes, putting everyone at risk, it’ll take all of Easton’s skill to get them back home safely…and convince River she should stay in his arms for good.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the eARC. All opinions are my own!

BEST OF THE SERIES.

Seriously. THE BEST ONE. I LOVED IT SO MUCH. I WOULD WRITE THIS ENTIRE REVIEW IN CAPS IF I COULD.

But I understand that might annoy some of y’all so I’ll try to tame my emotions here.

OR MAYBE NOT.

I was nervous to dive in because I had *hyped* this book up in my mind. I adore Easton. I was ready for his grumpy mountain man self to mind some love. This did not disappoint. From chapter one I knew I was in for the perfect contemporary romance.

Easton and River’s chemistry was off the charts. Banter on point. Sly looks, and near kisses, heavens I was begging for them to kiss by the time we got there. I loved getting both of their stories and points of view. Add in climbing a daunting mountain and let the romance commence. I’m just still sitting here smitten with them. They bounced off each other beautifully and I really felt like they were a match. The conflict for this one wasn’t over drawn and dramatic. Fit right in and the solution had me giddy. Goodness gracious, read these books y’all.

It’s been sealed that I’m a Morgenthaler fan. I can’t wait to see what she writes next. Hot dang, I loved this book y’all. This entire review would be more gushing so trust me on this. Snowy, low steam, cute and fluffy, contemporary romance in Alaska. It’s all there folks.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary romance
  • Language: A little
  • Romance: kisses / make-outs; one love scene that is so closed door you barely realize it
  • Violence: accidents and injuries from mountain climbing (near frostbite, low oxygen levels, falls)

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Book Review: Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

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Rating: ☆☆☆
Audience: Young adult historical fiction
Length: 344 pages
Author: Ruta Sepetys
Publisher: Philomel Books
Release Date: March 22nd, 2011
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Lina is just like any other fifteen-year-old Lithuanian girl in 1941. She paints, she draws, she gets crushes on boys. Until one night when Soviet officers barge into her home, tearing her family from the comfortable life they’ve known. Separated from her father, forced onto a crowded and dirty train car, Lina, her mother, and her young brother slowly make their way north, crossing the Arctic Circle, to a work camp in the coldest reaches of Siberia. Here they are forced, under Stalin’s orders, to dig for beets and fight for their lives under the cruelest of conditions.

Lina finds solace in her art, meticulously—and at great risk—documenting events by drawing, hoping these messages will make their way to her father’s prison camp to let him know they are still alive. It is a long and harrowing journey, spanning years and covering 6,500 miles, but it is through incredible strength, love, and hope that Lina ultimately survives. Between Shades of Gray is a novel that will steal your breath and capture your heart.

INFORMATIVE.

I did find enthralled in the story, but I struggled with some pieces of it.

This was intense and informative to other parts of World War 2 that I am less familiar with. I like that it tackled the Baltic countries and what the Soviet Union was doing to oppress them and trying to make them disappear. It was heart-breaking and I struggled to read through a lot of it.

But I did feel like this lacked a plot. Lina’s painful journey was just that, a painful journey. There was a repeat of events that really emphasized how pretty this book isn’t. I wish there was a little more development with Andrius to really solidify the side romance occurring.

What I felt on another level was Lina’s Mom. The way she cared for her children and even took time to show love to those around her really melted me. The strength and resilience she gave to others clearly was in Lina as well. Lina was courageous and tough as she dealt with trial after trial.

I didn’t love how abrupt the ending was. I turned the next page and all of a sudden I was in an epilogue years later. I wish there was a bit more of a conclusion or a general sense of the situation coming to a close.

Overall audience notes:

  • Young adult historical fiction
  • Language: very little light
  • Romance: kisses
  • Violence: murder, gun violence, physical altercations; bloody/gory; depictions of wartime, abandonment
  • Trigger warnings: brief sexual harassment, loss of loved ones

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ARC Book Review: Winterkeep (Graceling Realm #4) by Kristin Cashore

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Rating: ☆☆☆
Audience: YA Fantasy
Length: 528 pages
Author: Kristin Cashore
Publisher: Dial Books for Young Readers
Release Date: January 19th, 2021
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

The highly anticipated next book in the New York Times bestselling, award-winning Graceling Realm series, which has sold 1.3 million copies.

Four years after Bitterblue left off, a new land has been discovered to the east: Torla; and the closest nation to Monsea is Winterkeep. Winterkeep is a land of miracles, a democratic republic run by people who like each other, where people speak to telepathic sea creatures, adopt telepathic foxes as pets, and fly across the sky in ships attached to balloons.

But when Bitterblue’s envoys to Winterkeep drown under suspicious circumstances, she and Giddon and her half sister, Hava, set off to discover the truth–putting both Bitterblue’s life and Giddon’s heart to the test when Bitterbue is kidnapped. Giddon believes she has drowned, leaving him and Hava to solve the mystery of what’s wrong in Winterkeep.

Lovisa Cavenda is the teenage daughter of a powerful Scholar and Industrialist (the opposing governing parties) with a fire inside her that is always hungry, always just nearly about to make something happen. She is the key to everything, but only if she can figure out what’s going on before anyone else, and only if she’s willing to transcend the person she’s been all her life.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an eARC. All opinions are my own.

LEFT WANTING.

I’m going to say it: I was disappointed in this highly anticipated release. It left me wanting many things.

First of all, there’s no way this needed to be 500+ pages. Holy wow, it just kept going and going and going with little direct focus on and overall plot. I felt spun in circles about getting to the bottom of what Bitterblue and her friends were really trying to accomplish.

This was a very nostalgic read for me. I adore the Graceling realm and had high hopes for how this world was going to continue. Even if I was let down, it was still fun to be back and to see characters I’ve missed. I did love seeing Bitterblue again. And her new love interest was sweet and I loved how their ending came about.

I enjoyed the new characters even if there were so good and bad. I also had a hard time with some of the aspects of the multiple romances. This book mostly hung out in a young adult place, but would tend to jump up to mature young adult or border new adult, but only in regards to the love scenes. It left me wondering where it was trying to go.

Lovisa was a strong addition and had a large character arc. I appreciated her resilience against what she knew was wrong even if it was hard going against those she loved. Add in some talking foxes and it was a nice whimsical touch.

Overall audience notes:

  • Young adult fantasy
  • Language: very little
  • Romance: kisses/make-outs; some mild open door scenes and closed door
  • Violence: physical, kidnapping, drownings, explosions, arson, murder

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Book Review: Adorkable by Cookie O’Gorman

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Rating: ☆☆☆
Audience: YA Contemporary Romance
Length: 332 pages
Author: Cookie O’Gorman
Publisher: Self-published
Release Date: March 31st, 2016
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Adorkable (ah-dor-kuh-bul): Descriptive term meaning to be equal parts dorky and adorable. For reference, see Sally Spitz. Seventeen-year-old Sally Spitz is done with dating. Or at least, she’s done with the horrible blind dates/hookups/sneak attacks her matchmaking bestie, Hooker, sets her up on. There’s only so much one geek girl and Gryffindor supporter can take. Her solution: she needs a fake boyfriend. And fast. Enter Becks, soccer phenom, all-around-hottie, and Sally’s best friend practically since birth. When Sally asks Becks to be her F.B.F. (fake boyfriend), Becks is only too happy to be used. He’d do anything for Sal–even if that means giving her PDA lessons in his bedroom, saying she’s “more than pretty,” and expertly kissing her at parties. The problem: Sally’s been in love with Becks all her life–and he’s completely clueless. This book features two best friends, one special edition Yoda snuggie, countless beneath-the-ear kisses and begs the question: Who wants a real boyfriend when faking it is so much more fun?

CUTE AND QUIRKY.

A quick young adult contemporary romance. Filled with friends to lovers and fake dating.

I found this to be a really easy and fast read (I listened to it as an audio book). The characters were fun, definitely high school, and made me laugh and roll my eyes.

The romance was without a doubt my favorite part. It’s usually hard for me to be smitten with a friends to lovers trope, but I adored Becks. He was precious, angsty, and I love a soccer player so all good things. I thought Sally was a mostly charming heroine. A bit aloof and clueless at times, but didn’t find her overly annoying or anything of that nature.

What I did find annoying was Sally’s best friend, Hooker. Holy cow, she would NOT leave Sally alone and it was infuriating. I would hate to be continually put on dates, at 17, JUST because I haven’t dated anyone yet. Who cares? Maybe Sally didn’t want to date? Nobody, especially her best friend (and also her Mom was in on the blind dates) should be forcing her to meet all of these guys. It’s her choice and I couldn’t handle how ignorant Hooker was.

There were a lot of pop culture references. A lot. Most landed well, but at times I felt they were forced and putting them in didn’t enhance the story. A cute, and quick read, and at least a nice change of pace from the heavy books I’d been reading.

Overall audience notes:

  • Young adult contemporary romance
  • Language: some mild/strong
  • Romance: kisses / make-outs
  • Violence: physical alteraction

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