Tag: audiobook

Book Review: Two Wars and a Wedding by Lauren Willig

GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★
Audience: Historical Fiction
Length: 435 pages
Author: Lauren Willig
Publisher: William Morrow
Release Date: March 21st, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

From New York Times bestselling author Lauren Willig: a dramatic coming-of-age story with a dual timeline and a single heroine—a bold and adventuring young woman who finds herself caught up in two very different wars on both sides of the Atlantic.

September 1896: As an aspiring archaeologist, Smith College graduate Betsy Hayes travels to Athens, desperate to break into a very male-dominated field and find work at some of the world’s most famous excavation sites. In the midst of the heat and dust of Greece she finds an unlikely ally in philanthropist Charles, Baron de Robecourt, one of the few men who takes her academic passion seriously. But when a simmering conflict between Greece and Turkey erupts into open warfare, Betsy’s archaeological sites become battlefields and she falls into the grim and heroic task of nursing the wounded. As the world around her is irrevocably changed, Betsy finds her heart pulled in multiple directions.

June 1898: As the Spanish-American war begins, an older and wiser Betsy Hayes is searching for her former best friend Ava, who she last saw in Greece during the Greco-Turkish War. She believes that Ava might be with the Red Cross headed to Cuba, so Betsy herself joins the Red Cross and follows Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders straight to the heart of the fighting. As she enters the war zone, dark memories of her last war resurface and her need to protect old and new friends intensifies.

With an unforgettable cast of characters set against two often overlooked but dramatic periods of history, Lauren Willig spins a compelling and heartwarming story about friendship, falling in love at the most inopportune moments, and fighting for what is right.

Thank you to BiblioLifestyle and William Morrow for the gifted copy.

A LOT OF NOPE.

I was hopeful when I started this one, and then quickly things soured and I struggled to finish it. Really should have just put it down.

With a combination of cheating + surprise pregnancy (of which I HATE cheating tropes) this was never going to be redeemed afterwards. I spent most of this book angry and upset at how things were going. Stylistic wise I think many more options could have been used for a better book.

I liked some small pieces such as the male POV we got. As one of the love interests he was fine (and wasn’t cheating) and I liked his chapters. There’s some interesting historical information that I didn’t mind as well. This is a little known topic for me and I liked broadening some of that knowledge.

But I honestly wouldn’t recommend this. First and last book by this author.

Overall audience notes:

  • Historical fiction + romance
  • Language: a little
  • Romance: vague fade to black
  • Violence: high
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: war themes, major loss of life, blood/gore depiction, pregnancy and childbirth, cheating

Instagram || Goodreads || The StoryGraph

Book Review: Georgie, All Along by Kate Clayborn

GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 352 pages
Author: Kate Clayborn
Publisher: Kensington
Release Date: January 24th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Longtime personal assistant Georgie Mulcahy has made a career out of putting others before herself. When an unexpected upheaval sends her away from her hectic job in L.A. and back to her hometown, Georgie must confront an uncomfortable truth: her own wants and needs have always been a disconcertingly blank page.

But then Georgie comes across a forgotten artifact—a “friendfic” diary she wrote as a teenager, filled with possibilities she once imagined. To an overwhelmed Georgie, the diary’s simple, small-scale ideas are a lifeline—a guidebook for getting started on a new path.

Georgie’s plans hit a snag when she comes face to face with an unexpected roommate—Levi Fanning, onetime town troublemaker and current town hermit. But this quiet, grouchy man is more than just his reputation, and he offers to help Georgie with her quest. As the two make their way through her wishlist, Georgie begins to realize that what she truly wants might not be in the pages of her diary after all, but right by her side—if only they can both find a way to let go of the pasts that hold them back.

Honest and deeply emotional, Georgie, All Along is a smart, tender must-read for everyone who’s ever wondered about the life that got away.

LOVED THE HERO.

I think maybe this was a bit over hyped for me? As denoted by the four star rating. I did enjoy this a lot. I feel like there were little things here and there that weren’t my favorite.

Levi though? I LOVED HIM. I love the bad boy vibes + a super soft inside. He melted me many times over and his character was just my favorite. Loved everything about him!! Georgie was great too. I don’t remember having any major complaints either. I enjoyed seeing her work through a lot of things and finding where she wanted to land after some big life changes.

Occasionally I felt the romance was put too much on the back burner with other storylines and I wanted to get back to everything Levi and Georgia. Their interactions were the amazing. With some grump and sunshine, forced proximity and a small town, Clayborn really put together a great romance. This is the first by the author I’ve read (I DNFed her first book) so now I’m hopeful for reading another!

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: some strong
  • Romance: open door
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: estranged family, brief mentions of drug use, childbirth, emotional child abuse, alcohol consumption, loss of a mother mentioned

Instagram || Goodreads || The StoryGraph

Book Review: The Three Lives of Alix St. Pierre by Natasha Lester

GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Historical Fiction
Length: 432 pages
Author: Natasha Lester
Publisher: Forever
Release Date: January 10th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

1943.  After spearheading several successful advertising campaigns in New York, PR wizard Alix St. Pierre comes to the attention of the U.S. government and finds herself recruited into a fledgling intelligence organization.

Enlisted as a spy, Alix is sent to Europe where she is tasked with getting close to a Nazi who might be willing to help the Allied forces–but there’s also the chance he might be a double agent.

1946.  Following the war, Alix moves to Paris and takes a position as head of publicity for the yet-to-be-launched House of Dior. But when a figure from the war reappears and threatens to destroy her future, Alix realizes that only she can right the wrongs of the past and bring him to justice.

The Three Lives of Alix St. Pierre is a thrilling, sumptuous work of historical fiction told in three timelines: before, during and after WWII. This completely immersive story takes readers from the dangerous, intrigue-filled rooms in Switzerland where elites of both sides mingled and schemed during the war, to the glamorous halls of the House of Dior in the golden age of French fashion and journalism.

IMMERSIVE.

Another great read by Natasha Lester. Consider me invested in all future historical fiction books by this author because they are captivating and heartfelt and make me feel all the things.

I loved the combination of spy thriller + fashion + an orphan trying to survive. Alix is forced to be reckoned with and I loved that she always knew who she wanted to be. The path was never straight and the highs and lows that came with many tough decisions that had to be made in order to live to the next day.

The romance here is also super swoony. I loved the connection and how it utterly ripped my heart out before putting it back together. There’s actually multiple romantic lines here and I liked how each one of them interacted with Alix at that time they were present.

I think the pacing got me a tiny bit and occasionally I wished things were moving a little more. Besides that though, I loved the audiobook and look forward to the next one!

Overall audience notes:

  • Historical Fiction
  • Language: a little
  • Romance: closed door
  • Violence: very high
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: WW2 themes, murder, high levels of war crimes depicted, loss of life, mentions of sexual assault, blood/gore depiction

Instagram || Goodreads || The StoryGraph

Book Review: The Neighbor Favor by Kristina Forest

GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 416 pages
Author: Kristina Forest
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: February 28th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

In this heart-fluttering romance by Kristina Forest, a shy bookworm enlists her charming neighbor to help her score a date, not knowing he’s the obscure author she’s been corresponding with.

Shy, bookish, and admittedly awkward, Lily Greene has always felt inadequate compared to the rest of her accomplished family, who strive for Black excellence. She dreams of becoming an editor of children’s books but has been frustratingly stuck in the nonfiction division for years without a promotion in sight. Lily finds escapism in her correspondences with her favorite fantasy author, and what begins as two lonely people connecting over e-mail turns into a tentative friendship and possibly something else Lily won’t let herself entertain–until he ghosts her.

Months later, still crushed but determined to take charge of her life, Lily seeks a date to her sister’s wedding. And the perfect person to help her is Nick Brown, her charming, attractive new neighbor, whom she feels drawn to for unexplainable reasons. Little does she know that Nick is an author–her favorite fantasy author.

Nick, who has his reasons for using a pen name and for pushing people away, soon realizes that the beautiful, quiet woman from down the hall is the same Lily he fell in love with over e-mail months ago. Unwilling to complicate things even more between them, he agrees to set her up with someone else, though this simple favor between two neighbors is anything but–not when he can’t get her off his mind.

MEH.

This got off to a slow start for me. I usually love epistolary romances but these emails went on a bit long for me and the abrupt ending made my head tilt. When Lily and Nick run into each other again I was hoping to vibe off of their chemistry, and I’m not sure that I ever did.

There’s some cute scenes and it’s a good slow burn. I liked Nick helping Lily find a date and the fun things they went and did together to. Yet Nick, CONTINUALLY kept pushing Lily away and I got CONTINUALLY frustrated that it kept happening for the sake of stretching out the plot.

I did like the meddling sisters and their books are something I’m somewhat interested in giving a go (I’m hopeful we get those stories too!). I loved that Lily worked in publishing and enjoyed seeing her pursuits there and finding the niche she could settle in long term.

Kind of meh for me, but I do see that it could be a hit for others.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Lanugage: some strong
  • Romance: a couple open door; moderate explicit
  • Violence: low
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: cheating (side character), alcoholism mentioned, car accident mentioned

Instagram || Goodreads || The StoryGraph