Tag: berkley books

Book Review: The Hollywood Assistant by May Cobb

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Rating: ★★★
Audience: Thriller
Length: 416 pages
Author: May Cobb
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: July 9th, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Offered a dream job in Hollywood with a famous director and his actress wife, an insecure woman becomes their personal assistant where their secrets and lies place her in the crosshairs of a murder investigation.

Cassidy Foster is heartbroken, stuck in life, and getting a little too obsessed with plants. Then when a well-connected friend becomes sick of Cassidy’s moping and gets her a gig with famous Hollywood couple, Marisol and Nate Sterling, Cassidy jumps at the chance to move to sunny L.A. The Sterlings are warm and welcoming. A perfect couple. All Cassidy has to do is be available a few hours a week for errands. In return, she has access to luxury. Designer clothes. A sparkling pool. Great pay. When Nate takes interest in her, asking her to read scripts he’s written, Cassidy thinks this could be the key to kickstarting her writing dreams. As their business relationship grows, so does their attraction. Nate is sexy, talented, and Cassidy can’t believe her luck. Clearly, Marisol doesn’t know what she has. Maybe that’s why the two are always fighting when they think Cassidy isn’t around. But Cassidy learns she was hired for a different purpose. The Sterlings aren’t the perfect couple. Marisol isn’t the perfect wife. And when one of them is found dead, Cassidy becomes the perfect suspect.

Thank you to Berkley for the finished copy.

WELL.

Do thrillers and I not compute? I want to love them. For whatever reason I now struggle. I think the fact that every main character and the bigger side characters are all just people doing bad things, until one of them dies, and then it’s figuring out who finally snapped. While I love a formulaic romance, it’s not working for me in this genre.

I was only surprised by one thing and it was one of the twists towards the end. I thought it was a good moment and saved me from giving this two stars. I also would like to know why so much of this book was our FMC sneaking around watching people bang? It happens WAY too often and it was weird and awkward and cringy.

The audiobook was well done and I’m not upset I tried this author, I just also think this won’t be an author I pick up again.

Overall audience notes:

  • Thriller
  • Language: moderate
  • Romance: multiple brief voyeur type scenes
  • Violence: moderate
  • Content Warnings: murder, stalking, infidelity recounted

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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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Book Review: You, with a View by Jessica Joyce

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 352 pages


Author: Jessica Joyce
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: July 11th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Two weeks on the road… stuck in a car with your high-school enemy.

Noelle Shepard is grieving the loss of her beloved grandmother when she discovers decades-old photos and letters that hint to a forbidden love in her gram’s past. Needing to know the full story, she creates a TikTok video appealing for information – and it goes viral.

Through her video, she manages to track down her grandmother’s secret love, Paul, who offers to take her on the honeymoon road-trip he and Gram planned but never got to go on.

Noelle jumps at the chance to make this one last connection with her grandmother. There’s just one problem – Paul’s grandson is Noelle’s frustratingly handsome high-school rival Theo.

And Theo has to come, too.

It’s only two weeks. Surely Noelle can survive that long? But with one car between them – and often only one bed – it doesn’t take long for things to heat up…

REAL GOOD.

I loved this audiobook and I loved this story. It was incredibly well put together. The road trip worked well and learning more about Noelle’s grandmother and her love story really squeezed my heart.

And the romance?? Immaculate banter and chemistry. They really had things going for them from the beginning. I adored Theo and was smitten by how much he cared. The third act made me a little cranky and I also got thrown by the random psychic reading that influenced the plot way too much for me?

Otherwise though, a solid romance read. The side characters were incredible. One of my favorite aspects was that Noelle had a supportive and loving family. I don’t feel like that’s seen very often in adult romance and I loved the support. I look forward to more books by this author!

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: strong
  • Romance: 3-4 open; moderate explicit
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: loss of a grandparent, strained family relationships

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Book Review: Naked in Death (In Death #1) by J.D. Robb

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Rating: ★★★
Audience: Romantic Suspense
Length: 381 pages
Author: J.D. Robb
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: July 1st, 1995
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

In the year 2058, technology completely rules the world. But for New York City Detective Eve Dallas, one irresistible impulse still rules the heart: passion…

Eve Dallas is a New York police lieutenant hunting for a ruthless killer. In over ten years on the force, she’s seen it all—and knows her survival depends on her instincts. And she’s going against every warning telling her not to get involved with Roarke, an Irish billionaire—and a suspect in Eve’s murder investigation. But passion and seduction have rules of their own, and it’s up to Eve to take a chance in the arms of a man she knows nothing about—except the addictive hunger of needing his touch.

MIXED.

Well I gave this series a chance. And I think I liked it enough to try one more book? To be determined.

One of my turnoffs in this one is that everything felt too sexual for me. Just the entire vibe of the book and the main couple getting to things in this book as well that I spent a bit of time fast forwarding my audiobook. I don’t know if it’ll continually be this way, but that was my biggest bleh about it all.

I did love the general set up. With the futuristic things and Eve solving murders. That is cool and reminds me of plenty of shows like NCIS, CSI, etc. I think that could be interesting to see how things develop over multiple story lines.

The romance hasn’t hooked me yet. I needed more from them. By the end I was charmed by Roarke (and his accent on the audio). A protective type who also let’s Eve just be. That’s my kind of hero.

Anywho, I’ll probably give it one more go and see where this takes me.

Overall audience notes:

  • Romantic Suspense
  • Language: strong
  • Romance: multiple open door scenes
  • Violence: high
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: child sexual abuse recounted, incest, rape, murder of sex workers, gun violence, blackmail

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