Tag: ali hazelwood

Book Review: Deep End by Ali Hazelwood

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 464 pages
Author: Ali Hazelwood
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: February 4th, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A competitive diver and an ace swimmer jump into forbidden waters in this steamy college romance from the New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis.

Scarlett Vandermeer is swimming upstream. A Junior at Stanford and a student-athlete who specializes in platform diving, Scarlett prefers to keep her head down, concentrating on getting into med school and on recovering from the injury that almost ended her career. She has no time for relationships—at least, that’s what she tells herself.

Swim captain, world champion, all-around aquatics golden boy, Lukas Blomqvist thrives on discipline. It’s how he wins gold medals and breaks records: complete focus, with every stroke. On the surface, Lukas and Scarlett have nothing in common. Until a well-guarded secret slips out, and everything changes.

So they start an arrangement. And as the pressure leading to the Olympics heats up, so does their relationship. It was supposed to be just a temporary, mutually satisfying fling. But when staying away from Lukas becomes impossible, Scarlett realizes that her heart might be treading into dangerous water…

OKAY I GET IT NOW.

This wasn’t really on my radar because I figured the spice would overwhelm my enjoyment of the book but a friend read it and her review convinced me that I needed to go for it and I DID AND I LIKED IT A LOT Y’ALL. The book, not the spice, I still skipped that.

BECAUSE, the story was so dang solid. It really was more than the spice. I was hooked on this plot. I LOVED getting all of the swimming/diving knowledge about competitions, practices, etc. I know very little and this is why I love unique sports romances.

And Scarlett with her mental health moments and therapy? Also in love. As an athlete in another life it was incredibly relatable and I loved seeing her move through that journey. SWEET LUCAS. Good heavens. I think the duet narration in the audiobook sold him x1000 for me. Every single moment and interaction between them was incredible.

I could have used a little less of Pen (Penn? Audiobook problems). She kept popping up and adding another dash of drama that I don’t think the book needed. Otherwise though? I’m not even a little bit mad I picked this up. It was amazing.

Overall audience notes:

  • Sports Romance
  • Language: strong
  • Romance: y’all I stopped counting
  • Violence: low
  • Content warnings: death of a parent (recounted), depiction of trauma and PTSD, bullying

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ARC Book Review: Bride by Ali Hazelwood

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Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Paranormal Romance
Length: 416 pages
Author: Ali Hazelwood
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: February 6th, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A dangerous alliance between a Vampyre bride and an Alpha Werewolf becomes a love deep enough to sink your teeth into in this new paranormal romance from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Love, Theoretically and The Love Hypothesis.

Misery Lark, the only daughter of the most powerful Vampyre councilman of the Southwest, is an outcast—again. Her days of living in anonymity among the Humans are over: she has been called upon to uphold a historic peacekeeping alliance between the Vampyres and their mortal enemies, the Weres, and she sees little choice but to surrender herself in the exchange—again…

Weres are ruthless and unpredictable, and their Alpha, Lowe Moreland, is no exception. He rules his pack with absolute authority, but not without justice. And, unlike the Vampyre Council, not without feeling. It’s clear from the way he tracks Misery’s every movement that he doesn’t trust her. If only he knew how right he was….

Because Misery has her own reasons to agree to this marriage of convenience, reasons that have nothing to do with politics or alliances, and everything to do with the only thing she’s ever cared about. And she is willing to do whatever it takes to get back what’s hers, even if it means a life alone in Were territory…alone with the wolf.

Thank you to Berkley for the eARC.

DEVOURED.

Good heavens. This was enthralling. I love Ali Hazelwood’s writing style and moving into urban/paranormal fantasy was an absolute hit for me. The well placed banter and jokes had me laughing out loud and the romance had be utterly swooning.

I loved the slow burn. It dragged out just as it should and kept me itching for more more more (don’t worry, there’s plenty of payoff). I adored Misery and Lowe. Misery was a great heroine who I loved seeing find her home. Lowe was the best grumpy Alpha that held me attention the moment he stepped on page. I LOVED this entire cast. Even the antagonists were fantastic. A truly well written group of characters who all brought this book to five stars.

The plot was engaging and I liked the world building. It’s very light, but just enough that you get a grasp of the different dynamics and politics between Were vs. Vampyre vs. Human. I love that it feels like there’s still plenty of places to explore (hello second book with a couple I can’t wait to read). There’s a nice level of suspense and that driven need to keep those pages flying.

I loved it so much. READ IT.

Overall audience notes:

  • Paranormal Romance
  • Language: some strong
  • Romance 4+ open door
  • Violence: moderate
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: kidnapping, murder, mentions of loss of parents, parental abandonment

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ARC Book Review: Check & Mate by Ali Hazelwood

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Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: NA Contemporary Romance
Length: 368 pages
Author: Ali Hazelwood
Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s
Release Date: November 7th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

In this clever and swoonworthy YA debut from the New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis, life’s moving pieces bring rival chess players together in a match for the heart.

Mallory Greenleaf is done with chess. Every move counts nowadays; after the sport led to the destruction of her family four years earlier, Mallory’s focus is on her mom, her sisters, and the dead-end job that keeps the lights on. That is, until she begrudgingly agrees to play in one last charity tournament and inadvertently wipes the board with notorious “Kingkiller” Nolan Sawyer: current world champion and reigning Bad Boy of chess.

Nolan’s loss to an unknown rook-ie shocks everyone. What’s even more confusing? His desire to cross pawns again. What kind of gambit is Nolan playing? The smart move would be to walk away. Resign. Game over. But Mallory’s victory opens the door to sorely needed cash-prizes and despite everything, she can’t help feeling drawn to the enigmatic strategist….

As she rockets up the ranks, Mallory struggles to keep her family safely separated from the game that wrecked it in the first place. And as her love for the sport she so desperately wanted to hate begins to rekindle, Mallory quickly realizes that the games aren’t only on the board, the spotlight is brighter than she imagined, and the competition can be fierce (-ly attractive. And intelligent…and infuriating…)

Thank you to Penguin Teen for the eARC.

NEW FAV.

Alright, I absolutely adored this. Couldn’t put it down. Binge read this beauty. Ali Hazelwood definitely has a spot in the upper YA & NA category.

While at times I was frustrated with Mallory, I could honestly see how warped her thoughts had become because of her past. This felt very true to the age group as well and I liked seeing the up’s and down’s of her decisions. I ESPECIALLY loved her sisters and Mom. I love a close family, flawed and all. Not one person had it all figured out, but they had each other and I found myself misty eyed when they were all able to come together and reconnect.

The roooomance. Oh, it was sweet. Perfectly swoony. I LOVE NOLAN. He is this cinnamon roll hero that just needed someone in his corner. I loved the banter and the build. I was chomping at the bit to see them kiss. I loved seeing Mallory and Nolan argue and work together and all the things that make that fated connection last.

All of the chess things went way over my head (I have only a basic understanding of the game), but I never found it overwhelming Mallory’s character arc or the romance. It added great balance and I liked learning so much about competitions and ratings and how the whole system works.

This was a gem of a read and I hope there’s more YA/NA books in the future!

Overall audience notes:

  • Upper YA/NA Contemporary Romance
  • Language: some strong throughout
  • Romance: light innuendo throughout; one fade to black
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: loss of a father (recounted, drunk driving), cheating (recounted; side character), estranged family members

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Book Review: Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood

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Rating: ★★★★☆
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 400 pages
Author: Ali Hazelwood
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: June 13th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

The many lives of theoretical physicist Elsie Hannaway have finally caught up with her. By day, she’s an adjunct professor, toiling away at grading labs and teaching thermodynamics in the hopes of landing tenure. By other day, Elsie makes up for her non-existent paycheck by offering her services as a fake girlfriend, tapping into her expertly honed people pleasing skills to embody whichever version of herself the client needs.

Honestly, it’s a pretty sweet gig—until her carefully constructed Elsie-verse comes crashing down. Because Jack Smith, the annoyingly attractive and broody older brother of her favorite client, turns out to be the cold-hearted experimental physicist who ruined her mentor’s career and undermined the reputation of theorists everywhere. And that same Jack who now sits on the hiring committee at MIT, right between Elsie and her dream job.

Elsie is prepared for an all-out war of scholarly sabotage but…those long, penetrating looks? Not having to be anything other than her true self when she’s with him? Will falling into an experimentalist’s orbit finally tempt her to put her most guarded theories on love into practice?

BETTER THAN I HOPED.

After book two I went into this with low expectations, no pre-ordering, nada. And HALLELUJAH this was something I really enjoyed.

I absolutely adored Jack. He was a swoony love interest. I wish I had a physical copy to highlight many passages where he let out all the feels. I loved the way he pushed Elsie to choose herself and to see herself as someone of worth. Elsie and her super people pleasing ways hit me too. I could relate to that a lot and thank heavens she broke that unhealthy cycle. I loved watching her growth.

The academia politics and scholarly drama was all very interesting to me. It floated well in the background letting the romance shine but I still wanted to know what would happen with Elsie and her quest for a new job and the security she craves (and deserves). Truly a great rom-com. I laughed, cheered, swooned and fell in love with Jack and Elsie!

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: strong
  • Romance: 3-4 open door; high explicit
  • Violence: low
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: sexism, chronic illness (Type 1 Diabetes), death of a parent recounted

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