Tag: audiobook

Book Review: Lunar Love by Lauren Kung Jessen

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Rating: ★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romantic
Length: 336 pages
Author: Lauren Kung Jessen
Publisher: Forever
Release Date: January 10th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

This sweet, enemies-to-lovers debut rom-com filled with Chinese astrology will undoubtedly prove to be a perfect match with readers of Helen Hoang, Jasmine Guillory, and Helena Hunting.

Always a matchmaker, never a match…

Olivia Huang Christenson is excited-slash-terrified to be taking over her grandmother’s matchmaking business. But when she learns that a new dating app has made her Pó Po’s traditional Chinese zodiac approach all about “animal attraction,” her emotions skew more toward furious-slash-outraged. Especially when L.A.’s most-eligible bachelor Bennett O’Brien is behind the app that could destroy her family’s legacy . . .

            Liv knows better than to fall for any guy, let alone an infuriatingly handsome one who believes that traditions are meant to be broken. As the two businesses go head to head, Bennett and Liv make a deal: they’ll find a match for each other—and whoever falls in love loses. But Liv is dealing with someone who’s already adept at stealing business ideas . . . so what’s stopping him from stealing her heart too?

ALMOST WORKED.

I was up and down on this one. And then I found myself truly interested for a bit there. Until the third act made me want to put my head through a wall. With this set-up I think there could have been so many others way to create conflict without sacrificing the way the main character behaved. Liv bugged me for most of this book. She was over the top stubborn about every single step of the plot.

The premise and idea of this book is super intriguing and probably the best aspect. I loved learning about matchmaking and the intricacies of the Chinese zodiac approach to love and all of the in-between. Liv’s relationship with her Pó Po was one of my favorite parts too. Such a sweet relationship that helped Liv FINALLY open her eyes to the world around her.

For the romance I think there needed to be more too. It took me a long time to feel like this had a true romantic component to the story. With the focus on everyone dating and matchmaking, I figured there would be more of that. I just never felt invested overall into this story.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: a little
  • Romance: kisses
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: infidelity mentioned (side character), grief and loss depiction, death of a mother recounted, death of a grandparent

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Book Review: Secrets and Suitors by Joanna Barker

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Regency Romance
Length: 256 pages
Author: Joanna Barker
Publisher: Covenant Communications
Release Date: October 1st, 2019
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Reluctantly returning to London for yet another Season, shy Nora Hamilton has nearly given up hope that she will ever find the love match she longs for. After all, the one man she does harbor feelings for—her closest friend, James—has made it perfectly clear he views her as just that: a friend. With James traveling half a world away and Nora’s father pressuring her to marry for wealth and status, Nora is forced to set aside her desire for love and accept the future she has always dreaded.
Until James returns unexpectedly and Nora’s feelings once again rush unbearably close to the surface. Determined to save what is left of their friendship, Nora ignores her own heart and allows herself to be swept up in the London Season, soon finding herself the object of two very different gentlemen’s affections. Though she should be thrilled, both men come with a glaring fault: neither is the one man who holds her heart.

But there is much more at stake than heartbreak. When long-kept secrets are laid bare, Nora must face the fears that have plagued her all her life and decide what true love is worth.

THIS WAS SWEET.

I’ve made myself a mission to read Joanna Barker’s backlist and was happy to check this one off recently! I adored this friends to lovers romance. It’s just sweet. And I love sweet so dang much.

I do wish there would have been less suitors and more James, but that was my only small tidbit. I loved the character growth in Nora and learning how to be shy and strong and that those are not mutually exclusive traits. Seeing her Father and family fight to find peace and common ground again was wonderful. I love a tight family that may struggle, but you know the love is there.

A short and tender heartfelt romance and one that I really liked on audio!

Overall audience notes:

  • Historical Romance
  • Language: none
  • Romance: kisses
  • Violence: low
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: brief gun violence, loss of a sibling

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ALC Book Review: The Rule Book by Sarah Adams

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Rating: ★★★★☆
Audience: Sports Romance
Length: 368 pages
Author: Sarah Adams
Publisher: Dell
Release Date: April 2nd, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

College sweethearts meet again years later, in this highly anticipated romance and companion story to the viral TikTok sensation The Cheat Sheet.

Nora Mackenzie’s entire career lies in the hands of famous NFL tight end Derek Pender who also happens to be her extremely hot college ex-boyfriend. Nora didn’t end things as gracefully as she could have back then, and now it’s come back to haunt her. Derek is her first client as an official full-time sports agent and he’s holding a grudge.

Derek has set his sights on a little friendly revenge. If Nora Mackenzie, the first girl to ever break his heart, wants to be his agent, oh he’ll let her be his agent. The plan is make Nora’s life absolutely miserable. But if Derek knows anything about the woman he once loved—she won’t quit easily.

Instead of giving in, Nora starts a scheme of her own. But then a wild night in Vegas leads to Nora and Derek in bed the next morning married. With their rule book out the window, could this new relationship be the thing to save their careers?

Thank you to PRHAudio for the free audiobook.

HELD UP.

Honestly y’all. I was nervous about this one. But honestly, I loved it. It had all of the charm and swoon that I love and adore in Sarah Adams books. I laughed out loud multiple times at the well placed jokes and banter between Nora and Derek. The set-up worked really well and I loved seeing both of them pursue their separate passions while finding a way to reconnect.

My tiny quip is that I just didn’t understand the reason for breaking up in the first place. One small conversation could have changed the entire trajectory (which is an issue I often have in second chance romance books and it’s a me thing, BUT STILL).

I loved the forced proximity moments and hot dang Derek has a heated way with words. This is my favorite level of heat and steam and I looooved the combination. The audiobook narrators did an amazing job. I really appreciate with dual POV having two narrators.

And I am OBSESSED with how much we got to see Derek’s friend group (including Nathan!!). I know a lot of focus is usually around great female friendships (which is awesome), I just loved that this one had Derek and his friends as a prominent aspect. I loved how they encouraged and pushed Derek to move forward and make things work with Bree.

Absolutely another hit for Sarah Adams. Her books bring me such joy.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Sports Romance
  • Language: low
  • Romance: one open door; low explicit
  • Violence: low

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Book Review: Nightbirds (Nightbirds #1) by Kate J. Armstrong

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: YA Fantasy
Length: 480 pages
Author: Kate J. Armstrong
Publisher: Penguin Teen
Release Date: February 28th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

In a dazzling new fantasy world full of whispered secrets and political intrigue, the magic of women is outlawed but four girls with unusual powers have the ability to change it all.

The Nightbirds are Simta’s best kept secret. Teenage girls from the Great Houses with magic coursing through their veins, the Nightbirds have the unique ability to gift their magic to others with a kiss. Magic—especially the magic of women—is outlawed and the city’s religious sects would see them burned if discovered. But protected by the Great Houses, the Nightbirds are safe well-guarded treasures.

As this Season’s Nightbirds, Matilde, Aesa, and Sayer spend their nights bestowing their unique brands of magic to well-paying clients. Once their Season is through, they’re each meant to marry a Great House lord and become mothers to the next generation of Nightbirds before their powers fade away. But Matilde, Aesa, and Sayer have other plans. They know their lives as Nightbirds aren’t just temporary, but a complete lie and yearn for something more.

When they discover that there are other girls like them and that their magic is more than they were ever told, they see the carefully crafted Nightbird system for what it is: a way to keep them in their place, first as daughters and then as wives. Now they must make a choice—to stay in their gilded cage or to remake the city that put them there in the first place.

I LIKED IT.

I’ve been seeing this around a bit and decided to give it a go and, what do you know, it’s a solid YA fantasy. It’s got all of the hallmarks that I like in young adult books and still felt fresh enough to be a good story.

I liked this magic system and world building a lot. There’s a feminist vibe to it that I was here for and I enjoyed watching the four women come together to solve problems happening in their world. There’s definitely plenty of expansion for the next book and I’m curious how things will continue to unfurl. There’s a good complexity between religion, magic, society and more. And I SUPER loved the prohibition era take for the background of the plot.

On the romantic sides I wish there would have been more development. For a long book (nearly 500 pages) and with PLENTY of hints, tension, and flirtation, things never came to any kind of fruition. Hopefully this is a long game scenario that I’ll be happy to see in the next book.

I really liked the audiobook. I think it would have been amazing if there was a different narrator for each of the points of view, but I didn’t find it too confusing when views changed.

Overall audience notes:

  • YA Fantasy
  • Language: very little
  • Romance: kiss
  • Violence: moderate
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: physical and magical altercations, loss of life, near death experiences, recounts of torture, poisoning

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