Book Review: The Happy Ever After Playlist (The Friend Zone #2) by Abby Jimenez

GoodeyReads2 Comments

Rating: ☆☆☆☆
Audience: Contemporary romance
Length: 401 pages
Author: Abby Jimenez
Publisher: Forever
Release Date: April 14th, 2020
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

From the USA Today bestselling author of The Friend Zone comes an adorable and fresh romantic comedy about one trouble-making dog who brings together two perfect strangers.

Two years after losing her fiancé, Sloan Monroe still can’t seem to get her life back on track. But one trouble-making pup with a “take me home” look in his eyes is about to change everything. With her new pet by her side, Sloan finally starts to feel more like herself. Then, after weeks of unanswered texts, Tucker’s owner reaches out. He’s a musician on tour in Australia. And bottom line: He wants Tucker back.

Well, Sloan’s not about to give up her dog without a fight. But what if this Jason guy really loves Tucker? As their flirty texts turn into long calls, Sloan can’t deny a connection. Jason is hot and nice and funny. There’s no telling what could happen when they meet in person. The question is: With his music career on the rise, how long will Jason really stick around? And is it possible for Sloan to survive another heartbreak?

STELLAR MEET-CUTE.

Oh so much better than The Friend Zone.

What’s ironic to me is that even if I have some issues with these books, I devour them in a day. The writing is easy to dive in fast and not come up for a breath. Things move at a great pace that has you wanting more. Problems are overlooked and the flipping can’t stop until the happy ending is reached. So yes, while I gave this 4 stars, trust me, it’ll keep your interest.

I’m so happy we got a Sloan story. I liked the way grief was handled in this book. I know it looks different for all of us and I appreciated the way it was woven into this story. Sloan went through a lot (to put it mildly) and I like the way this romance came about in her life. Sweet and flirty text/phone conversations? I’m all of that modern take on romance. Jason had me smiling from moment one, and throwing a cute dog into the mix is definitely a way to my heart.

At times I thought the drama felt over worked and a bit out there. Yet, I guess that’s also part of being a celebrity. While I was frustrated with how Jason handled things, I did at least see his side of it. Sloan and Jason’s relationship wasn’t easy and that’s honestly one of the best parts of THEA. I like seeing couples have to work through things, have the difficult conversation, and really decide if this is where they want to be.

The totally cliche ending did make me incredibly happy. I like a good movie moment in a book and since I was begging this to end well, I’m smitten with how extra it was. Sloan and Jason deserve all the happy ever afters.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary romance
  • Language: often and strong (one of issues is with the flagrancy)
  • Romance: kisses / heated make-outs; a few almost scenes (with detail), and a open door scene (mild detailed, less than The Friend Zone)
  • Violence: physical
  • Trigger warnings: discussion of losing a loved one, grief and depression

Instagram || Goodreads

ARC Book Review: Chasing Lucky by Jenn Bennett

GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ☆☆☆☆
Audience: Young adult contemporary romance
Length: 416 pages
Author: Jenn Bennett
Publisher: Razorbill
Release Date: May 5th, 2020
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

In this coming-of-age romance perfect for fans of Jenny Han and Sarah Dessen, scandal and romance collide when an ambitious teen returns to her hometown only to have her plans interrupted after falling for the town’s “bad boy”—a.k.a. her childhood best friend.

Sometimes to find the good, you have to embrace the bad.

Budding photographer Josie Saint-Martin has spent half her life with her single mother, moving from city to city. When they return to her historical New England hometown years later to run the family bookstore, Josie knows it’s not forever. Her dreams are on the opposite coast, and she has a plan to get there.

What she doesn’t plan for is a run-in with the town bad boy, Lucky Karras. Outsider, rebel…and her former childhood best friend. Lucky makes it clear he wants nothing to do with the newly returned Josie. But everything changes after a disastrous pool party, and a poorly executed act of revenge lands Josie in some big-time trouble—with Lucky unexpectedly taking the blame.

Determined to understand why Lucky was so quick to cover for her, Josie discovers that both of them have changed, and that the good boy she once knew now has a dark sense of humor and a smile that makes her heart race. And maybe, just maybe, he’s not quite the brooding bad boy everyone thinks he is.

Thank you to the publisher, Razorbill and Netgalley for the e-ARC. All opinions are my own!

I’D CHASE LUCKY TOO.

This was a more mature YA book. That’s what I kept thinking every time I was reading this. The main character was a high school senior and I kept picturing her as a college girl home for the summer. Take that for what you will, I still enjoyed the book.

There’s a lot of depth to this novel. It isn’t a super fluffy YA rom-com. The further I read, the more of the inner story unfurled in front of me. And I really like what I got from it. That communication is critically important to maintaining the bonds we value.

And usually, I hate when communication is clearly an issue and a brief conversation would solve all the problems. Bennett does a great job of not making me feel this way. While yes, I got frustrated with them (mostly Josie’s mother), I also understood the pain and heartache that each of the Saint-Martin women were struggling with. Another highlight, the fact that this was also heavily about a group of women in a family learning how to be together and not let differences tear them down. I liked the way reveals and emotions came out towards the end as the real picture of everyone’s past came to light. Josie took in a lot of information in a small amount of time. Did she make some mistakes? YES. Did she also learn from them? YES. And that’s what really sold this book for me.

The trope of choice for Chasing Lucky was childhood friends. Lucky and Josie knew each other back when she still lived in town, but after moving away, lost touch. Enter Josie coming back, enter cute Lucky 2.0. I, for once, dare say, I liked the way this trope was written. There was good banter, a little bit of angst as they figured each other out again and I felt the connection between them. I WILL ALSO SAY, I have rolled my eyes at love scenes in Bennett’s previous books, this was not the case this time. Oh it was so much better, and so much more realistic. I definitely adored this story a lot more because of it.

I constantly found myself wanting to pick this book up to read it. It was a solid YA book and I love the journey this story took me on. I appreciate the sentiments that were expressed and thought the conclusion was everything it should be.

Overall audience notes:

  • YA Contemporary Romance
  • Language: some strong
  • Romance: kisses; one little detailed fade to black scene
  • Trigger warnings: someone being arrested for destruction of property; a secondary character posting and showing off a nude photo of Josie’s mother and using it for revenge; car wreck (no one is critically injured)

Instagram || Goodreads

ARC Book Review: Instant Karma by Marissa Meyer

GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ☆☆☆ 1/2
Audience: YA Contemporary Romance / Magical Realism
Length: 400 pages
Author: Marissa Meyer
Publisher: Feiwel &Friends
Release Date: November 3rd, 2020
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

In this young adult contemporary romance, a girl is suddenly gifted with the ability to cast instant karma on those around her—both good and bad.

Chronic overachiever Prudence Daniels is always quick to cast judgment on the lazy, rude, and arrogant residents of her coastal town. Her dreams of karmic justice are fulfilled when, after a night out with her friends, she wakes up with the sudden ability to cast instant karma on those around her. Pru giddily makes use of the power, punishing everyone from public vandals to karaoke hecklers, but there is one person on whom her powers consistently backfire: Quint Erickson, her slacker of a lab partner and all-around mortal enemy. Soon, Pru begins to uncover truths about Quint, her peers, and even herself that reveal how thin the line is between virtue and vanity, generosity and greed . . . love and hate.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the audio book in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own!

IT WAS CUTE.

Since I read this an audio book ARC, I wanted to mention my thoughts on the audio. I thought the narrator was great and found it to be easy listening. I kept it at 1.5x – 1.75x depending on what I was doing at the time while listening. Definitely would recommend reading it as an audio book if you enjoy that option!

I love Marissa Meyer’s books. I am a big fan of her fantasy books. Reading her first contemporary romance? ALL OVER IT.

This was a cute Beatles-inspired young adult romance. I loved the beach setting and marine ecology aspects. It felt relevant without being pushy and I learned a lot just from the setting alone. There was knowledge of rescuing, rehabilitating and releasing multiple marine animals and the center goes about achieving their ultimate goal of getting these animals back to the wild.

Prudence was our dear main character. Oh, how I struggled with her for 80% of the book. I kept expecting some more character growth from her, but felt it happened too close to the end. She leaned towards selfish and so completely single-mindedly focused that I wanted to jump in the book and tell her what she’s missing. With all of the damage done before getting to some evolution in her character it became a bit of a let down.

Quint was precious. And I’m genuinely amazed he was cool with Prudence being rude to him over and over again. I loved his interactions and banter. Quint had a great back story and was clearly devoted to helping the sea creatures in his care. I loved his nature and passion.

I did love their initial at last they kissed moment. It came at the right time and was sweet. I would have loved a longer ending with more of them because by the time I was really feeling it, the ending had arrived.

It’s overall a fun book and I’m happy that I read it. I love Meyer’s writing and will continue to read all the books by her. I’m also hoping for maybe more books with Pru’s brother, Jude (who I adored) and maybe even her friends? I thought there was some open options for more contemporaries in this world and I would love to read those too.

Overall audience notes:

  • Young adult contemporary romance
  • Language: very little and light
  • Romance: kisses
  • Violence: injured sea animals that washed ashore, someone breaking their leg from a fall

Instagram || Goodreads

Monthly Reading Wrap-Up: October 2020

GoodeyReads2 Comments

What a month!

I devoured another 31 books and can’t believe my eyes. I finished and caught up on series. Read a smattering of genres and really enjoyed my October reads!

Favorites: The Extinction Trials, the Wayfair Witches series, Kingdom of the Wicked, Empire of Storms, Code Name Helene, Enjoy the View

Least Favorites: The Guinevere Deception, Fire Study

  • Tunnel of Bones (Cassidy Blake #2) by Victoria Schwab – (☆☆☆☆)
  • The Extinction Trials (The Extinction Trials #1) by S.M. Wilson – (☆☆☆☆☆)
  • The Inheritance Games (The Inheritance Games #1) by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (☆☆☆☆)
  • Loved Up (Wayfair Witches #6) by A.A. Albright – (☆☆☆☆)
  • Lost Roses (Lilac Girls #2) by Martha Hall Kelly – (☆☆☆☆)
  • Small Spaces (Small Spaces #1) by Katherine Arden – (☆☆☆☆)
  • [ARC] Kingdom of the Wicked (Kingdom of the Wicked #1) by Kerri Maniscalco (☆☆☆☆ 1/2)
  • The Boyfriend Project (The Boyfriend Project #1) by Farrah Rochon – (☆☆☆☆)
  • Steelheart (The Reckoners #1) by Brandon Sanderson – (☆☆☆☆)
  • Rocking Out (Wayfair Witches #7) by A.A. Albright – (☆☆☆☆)
  • The Guinevere Deception (Camelot Rising #1) by Kiersten White – (☆☆☆)
  • London Prep (London Prep #1) by Jillian Dodd – (☆☆☆☆)
  • [Reread] Empire of Storms (Throne of Glass #5) by Sarah J. Maas – (☆☆☆☆☆)
  • Fire Study (Poison Study #3) by Maria V. Snyder – (☆☆☆)
  • Acting Up (Wayfair Witches #8) by A.A. Albright – (☆☆☆☆☆)
  • The Kinder Poison (The Kinder Poison #1) by Natalie Mae – (☆☆☆☆)
  • London Prep No. 2 (London Prep #2) by Jillian Dodd – (☆☆☆☆)
  • Legally Red (Wayfair Witches #8.5) by A.A. Albright – (☆☆☆☆)
  • Code Name Helene by Ariel Lawhon – (☆☆☆☆☆)
  • Swotting Up (Wayfair Witches #9) by A.A. Albright – (☆☆☆☆)
  • [Reread] A Reaper at the Gates (An Ember in the Ashes #3) by Sabaa Tahir – (☆☆☆☆☆)
  • London Prep No. 3 (London Prep #3) by Jillian Dodd – (☆☆☆☆)
  • Age of Death (The Legends of the First Empire #5) by Michael J. Sullivan –(☆☆☆ 1/2)
  • Forget Me Knot (Wayfair Witches #10) by A.A. Albright – (☆☆☆☆)
  • [ARC] Instant Karma by Marissa Meyer – (☆☆☆ 1/2)
  • If It’s Perfect (The Wedding Business #1) by Summer Dowell – (☆☆☆☆)
  • The Storm Crow (The Storm Crow #1) by Kalyn Josephson – (☆☆☆)
  • All Hallowed Out (Wayfair Witches #11) by A.A. Albright – (☆☆☆☆)
  • Holiday Heist (Wayfair Witches #11.5) A.A. Albright – (☆☆☆☆)
  • [ARC] Enjoy the View (Moose Springs, Alaska #3) by Sarah Morgenthaler – (☆☆☆☆☆)
  • Age of Empyre (The Legends of the First Empire #6) by Michael J. Sullivan – (☆☆☆ 1/2)

How was your month? Do you have a favorite book you read? Lets talk in the comments!

Instagram || Goodreads