Tag: audiobook

Book Review: Cursed Crowns (Twin Crowns #2) by Catherine Doyle and Katherine Webber

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: YA Fantasy Romance
Length: 512 pages
Author: Catherine Doyle & Katherine Webber
Publisher: Balzer + Bay
Release Date: May 9th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Twin queens Wren and Rose have claimed their crowns . . . but not everyone is happy about witches sitting on Eana’s throne.

Cool-headed Rose sets off on a Royal Tour to win over the doubters, but soon finds herself drawn to the Sunless Kingdom. Here secrets are revealed about those closest to her, and Rose finds her loyalties divided.

Meanwhile rebellious Wren steals away to the icy north to rescue their beloved grandmother, Banba. But when she accepts King Alarik’s deadly magical bargain in exchange for Banba’s freedom, the spell has unexpected – and far-reaching – consequences . . .

As an ancient curse begins to arise from the darkness, the sisters must come together and unite the crown. Their lives – and the future of Eana – depend on it.

Break the ice to free the curse,
Kill one twin to save another.

I LIKED IT.

I know that may not seem like much but I kind of tore book one down but still wanted to give this one a chance and thought the development was much better.

One of the things I love most is that these sisters actually work together. There’s care, love and taking care of one another. Rose and Wren don’t always see eye to eye but I appreciate that that strong sister bond is always holding them together.

The romances swooned it up a bit more too. I finally got on board with Rose and her leading man. There were some good twists there that I like for the future story too. Wren’s was good, and then left me head scratching by the end. I don’t know if the added love triangle was actually necessary, crossing my fingers it makes sense.

I liked the story more and the magic, world building, etc. The action is kicked up a notch and the plot thickens. I look forward to book three.

Overall audience notes:

  • YA Fantasy Romance
  • Language: none
  • Romance: implied closed door
  • Violence: moderate
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: loss of loved ones, battle themes, reincarnation, kidnapping

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ALC Book Review: The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center

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Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 336 pages
Author: Katherine Center
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Release Date: June 11th, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

She’s rewriting his love story. But can she rewrite her own?

Emma Wheeler desperately longs to be a screenwriter. She’s spent her life studying, obsessing over, and writing romantic comedies—good ones! That win contests! But she’s also been the sole caretaker for her kind-hearted dad, who needs full-time care. Now, when she gets a chance to re-write a script for famous screenwriter Charlie Yates—The Charlie Yates! Her personal writing god!—it’s a break too big to pass up.

Emma’s younger sister steps in for caretaking duties, and Emma moves to L.A. for six weeks for the writing gig of a lifetime. But what is it they say? Don’t meet your heroes? Charlie Yates doesn’t want to write with anyone—much less “a failed, nobody screenwriter.” Worse, the romantic comedy he’s written is so terrible it might actually bring on the apocalypse. Plus! He doesn’t even care about the script—it’s just a means to get a different one green-lit. Oh, and he thinks love is an emotional Ponzi scheme.

But Emma’s not going down without a fight. She will stand up for herself, and for rom-coms, and for love itself. She will convince him that love stories matter—even if she has to kiss him senseless to do it. But . . . what if that kiss is accidentally amazing? What if real life turns out to be so much . . . more real than fiction? What if the love story they’re writing breaks all Emma’s rules—and comes true?

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for the audiobook and St. Martin’s Press for the ebook.

THIS FILLED MY SOUL.

Audiobook thoughts: The narrator was incredible. I mostly listened to this and I looove the way Patti Murin brought Emma to life. I felt like I was a part of this story in all the best ways. Highly recommend listening to the audiobook!

I needed an automatic win kind of read and I just knew this would deliver, and it did that and so much more. Gosh I loved this book. It speaks to the soul of every lover of romance everywhere. The themes are woven in with care and love and EVERYONE NEEDS TO READ THIS BOOK OKAY?

I adored Emma and Charlie. From the moment they met you could see the connection between them. I looooved the banter and humor. I laughed so many times and could not stop smiling. Even had some teary eyed moments because the story was as deep as it was light. The perfect combination of both was balanced throughout this book.

You know a romance is good when you love BOTH characters. And while there’s a good moment or two where you want to shake some one, it doesn’t matter because every thing felt authentic. The build up of decision making and past issues made the entire book feel real and a true nod to taking the lemons life gives you and squeezing out whatever lemonade you can.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: low
  • Romance: kisses
  • Violence: low
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: mentions of divorce, mentions of cancer, loss of a parent (recounted)

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Book Review: Feather (Angels of Elysium #1) by Olivia Wildenstein

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Urban Fantasy Romance
Length: 486 pages
Author: Olivia Wildenstein
Publisher: Twig Publishing
Release Date: January 16th, 2020
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

It was supposed to be a quick mission. The only thing quick about it was how rapidly I failed.

With only a month left to earn her missing feathers, twenty-year-old Leigh embarks on a trip to Paris to meet her newest project, twenty-five-year-old Jarod Adler, leader of the Parisian Mafia and the worst kind of sinner… a Triple.

If Leigh can get Jarod to accomplish a single act of kindness, she stands to win 100 feathers, more than enough to complete her wings and ascend to Elysium, the land of angels.

What she doesn’t count on is Jarod’s dark charm costing her feathers.

She’s dead set on saving him, and he’s dead set on destroying her.

Until he realizes destroying her wings is also destroying her heart.

A heart he longs to hear beat only for him.

Trigger warnings: graphic sexual scenes and a difficult ending. Not recommended for Young Adults.

IT WENT THERE.

I’ve heard about this book in passing and I’ve been enjoying this author’s newest series so time to do some back list diving. AND OH MY GOSH. I still haven’t recovered from that ending!!!! I am emotionally DISTRAUGHT.

I enjoyed a lot of this. Though I think I tend to struggle with Wildenstein’s FMC’s. One again Leigh was a bit too meh for me. I wish she had more of a backbone. I know there’s supposed to be this big contrast between Leigh and Jarod, but something was missing from that aspect. Otherwise I loved the romance. It has forbidden written nicely all of it and I AM HERE FOR IT. They had good chemistry and for spice fans, this personally went past my spice line, but to each their own!

The plot is well crafted and I’m grateful for the explanations of world building and magic system. It helps make the ending make more sense too. I’m curious how the politics of it all lay out. I couldn’t put this book down and must find out what happens next.

Overall audience notes:

  • Fantasy Romance
  • Language: strong
  • Romance: 4+ open; high explicit
  • Violence: high
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: graphic violence, murder, suicide, physical and weapons violence

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Book Review: The Secret Service of Tea and Treason (Dangerous Damsels #3) by India Holton

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Historical Fantasy Romance
Length: 368 pages
Author: India Holton
Publisher: Berkley Books
Release Date: April 18th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Two rival spies must brave pirates, witches, and fake matrimony to save the Queen.

Known as Agent A, Alice is the top operative within the Agency of Undercover Note Takers, a secret government intelligence group that is fortunately better at espionage than at naming itself. From managing deceptive witches to bored aristocratic ladies, nothing is beyond Alice’s capabilities. She has a steely composure and a plan always up her sleeve (alongside a dagger and an embroidered handkerchief). So when rumors of an assassination plot begin to circulate, she’s immediately assigned to the case.

But she’s not working alone. Daniel Bixby, otherwise known as Agent B and Alice’s greatest rival, is given the most challenging undercover assignment of his life— pretending to be Alice’s husband. Together they will assume the identity of a married couple, infiltrate a pirate house party, and foil their unpatriotic plans.

Determined to remain consummate professionals, Alice and Daniel must ignore the growing attraction between them, especially since acting on it might prove more dangerous than their target.

NEW FAV.

I think this is my new favorite of the series! It was a lot of fun and I looooved that it had the fake marriage because we’re undercover agents trope.

I really felt the romance and chemistry between the main couple. It’s a delicious slow burn that you can feel. And I especially loved having dual POV, it rounded out the story all the more. The plot is full of the same antics that we’ve seen before. It made me laugh a good amount. I like that these books don’t take themselves too seriously. It makes for that lighter romantic read I’m craving.

Fantastic audiobook as usual. Lovely fantasy + historical vibes that is my favorite combination. These are a joy to read!! I love how light hearted they are and they are so dang quirky. It works perfectly in the world Holton has created.

Overall audience notes:

  • Fantasy Historical Romance
  • Language: some strong
  • Romance: 3-4 vague open door
  • Violence: moderate

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