Book Review: The Rules of Mistletoe by Taylor Epperson

December 11, 2024November 8, 2023 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★
Audience: Contemporary Holiday Romance
Length: 203 pages
Author: Taylor Epperson
Publisher: Self published
Release Date: October 5th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

She’s got a list of rules and he’s about to break them all.

Rules for my future boyfriend (husband):

3. He always opens doors for me
6. He has to lean (like in While You Were Sleeping)
8. He has a good relationship with his mother
11. He loves watching romcoms and thrillers (because I have excellent taste in movies across a variety of genres)

I, Holly Nelson, have been dreaming about the perfect romance my entire life. You know the kind: guy and girl have an adorable meet cute and slowly, over the course of the movie, fall madly in love. I have spent hours of my life watching romcoms and I now have a list of qualities and rules for my perfect man.

I finally found him, but I haven’t figured out how to get him to notice me. Instead, I’m stuck with Drew Rossi.

Andrew (Drew) Rossi doesn’t fit a single item on my list and yet he’s coming home with me for Christmas, posing as my boyfriend. He breaks every single one of my rules, well, except for maybe #5, because he does have an arm full of tattoos. But Drew is not my perfect guy, and we both know it.

This fake relationship started because of a misunderstanding, but when Drew agrees to help me land my dream man & he agrees to follow my rules, I reluctantly agree. We don’t actually like each other, so what could go wrong?

FLOUNDERED.

I wanted to love this, instead I really struggled with multiple aspects and unexplained plot points that were never resolved. Why the list? Why did we never get more true details about it? Those are the beginning of the questions I have.

There’s plenty of holiday cheer and I like seeing big families come together for the holidays. I will say there were a few cute moments between the main couple and it is dual POV which is always a nice bonus in a romance.

The third act aspects also didn’t quite make sense. I felt like there was an imbalance of “heavy” topics and the “light Christmas rom-com” vibes that I thought this book was going for.

Overall audience notes:

Contemporary Holiday Romance
Language: none
Romance: kisses
Violence: low
Trigger/Content Warnings: recounting loss of a mother, mentions of cheating (in the past)

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Book Review: Locked in Pursuit (Electra McDonnell #4) by Ashley Weaver

December 10, 2024September 22, 2024 GoodeyReads1 Comment

Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Historical Mystery + Romance
Length: 272 pages
Author: Ashley Weaver
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Release Date: May 14th, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

The fourth instalment in the delightful series following safecracker Electra McDonnell fighting Nazis at every turn as World War II looms over London.

Safecracker Ellie McDonnell hasn’t seen Major Ramsey―her handsome but aloof handler in the British government―since their tumultuous mission together three months before, but when she hears about a suspicious robbery in London she feels compelled to contact him. Together they discover that a rash of burglaries in the city all lead back to a hotbed of spies in the neutral city Lisbon, Portugal, and an unknown object brought to London by a mysterious courier.

As the thieves become more desperate and their crimes escalate, it becomes imperative that Ellie and Ramsey must beat them at their own game. Fighting shadowy assailants, enemy agents, and the mutual attraction they’ve agreed not to acknowledge, Ellie and Ramsey work together to learn if it truly takes a thief to catch a thief.

I AM OBSESSED.

Gooooood heavens I am upset that I am caught up on this series because I NEED THE LAST BOOK. I loved this installment!! It was another amazing addition. I am loving Ellie and Ramsey’s journey. I love all of the mystery. I love the family members and friendships. There is not one bad thing I have to say about this book. I JUST WANT TO BEG EVERYONE TO GO READ IT.

I won’t say much else since this is the fourth book in a series. The progressive character arcs and overall plot line has been fantastic though. Each book has my full attention and I love how quick of a read they are. It’s a series I didn’t know I needed and now can’t stop thinking about.

Overall audience notes:

Historical Mystery + Romance
Language: low
Romance: kisses
Violence: moderate
Content Warnings: WW2 themes, gun and weapons violence

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Book Review: Curses and Other Buried Things by Caroline George

December 9, 2024November 8, 2023 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★
Audience: Contemporary/Historical Mystery
Length: 384 pages
Author: Caroline George
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Release Date: October 10th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Blood holds all kinds of curses. Seven generations of women in Susana Prather’s family have been lost to the Georgia swamp behind her house. The morning after her eighteenth birthday, she awakens soaked with water, with no memory of sleepwalking. No matter how she tries to stop it, she’s pulled from her safe bed night after night, haunted by her own family history and legacy. Now, the truth feels it’s only a matter of time before she loses her mind and the swamp becomes her grave. Unless she can figure out how to break the curse. When she isn’t sleepwalking, she’s dreaming of her great-great-great-great-grandmother, Suzanna Yawn, who set the curse in motion in 1855. Her ancestor’s life bears such similarity to her own that it might hold the key she seeks. Or it might only foretell tragedy. As Susana seeks solutions in the past and the present, family members hold secrets tighter to their chests, friends grow distant, and old flames threaten to sputter and die. But Susana has something no one else has been able to the unflagging belief that all curses can be broken and that love can help a new future begin. Based on her own family history, award-winning novelist Caroline George’s latest novel is a staggeringly beautiful work of hope.

OH SO SLOW.

The themes in this book were really good. I liked the commentary surrounding trauma, grief and breaking generational barriers and cycles that are harming those present. When there was finally some communication, those conversations were great.

My issues are with the pacing. Good heavens I felt like this book never went anywhere. Every little bit was some progression but otherwise it was like I was reading this day in the life that I wasn’t all that interested in.

I don’t really have much else to say. This one just wasn’t for me and I’m not going to spend anymore time on it.

Overall audience notes:

Mystery
Language: a little
Romance: kisses; low innuendo
Violence: high
Trigger/Content Warnings: lynching, loss of loved ones, racism, mental health struggles, mentions of teen pregnancy and rape

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Book Review: The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year by Ally Carter

December 8, 2024October 17, 2024 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Holiday Romance
Length: 304 pages
Author: Ally Carter
Publisher: Avon
Release Date: September 24th, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Knives Out gets a holiday rom-com twist in this rivals-to-lovers romance-mystery from New York Times bestselling author Ally Carter.

The bridge is out. The phones are down. And the most famous mystery writer in the world just disappeared out of a locked room three days before Christmas.

Meet Maggie Chase and Ethan Wyatt:
She’s the new Queen of the Cozy Mystery.
He’s Mr. Big-time Thriller Guy.
She hates his guts.

He thinks her name is Marcie (no matter how many times she’s told him otherwise.)

But when they both accept a cryptic invitation to attend a Christmas house party at the English estate of a reclusive fan, neither is expecting their host to be the most powerful author in the world: Eleanor Ashley, the Duchess of Death herself.

That night, the weather turns, and the next morning Eleanor is gone.

She vanished from a locked room, and Maggie has to wonder: Is Eleanor in danger? Or is it all some kind of test? Is Ethan the competition? Or is he the only person in that snowbound mansion she can trust?

As the snow gets deeper and the stakes get higher, every clue will bring Maggie and Ethan closer to the truth—and each other. Because, this Christmas, these two rivals are going to have to become allies (and maybe more) if they have any hope of saving Eleanor.

Assuming they don’t kill each other first.

IT’S A VIBE.

I liked this one! I don’t think it had the same break-out five star feel AC’s previous book did but I had a hoot listening to this one. I loved the winter and holiday vibes and even though I haven’t seen Knives Out, I understood the assignment. There was also a Clue-esque feel to it that I liked too.

And I am a sucker for a dual POV romance with some very specific types of reveals and this one had those (!!!). I swooned so hard and I loved the hate to love dynamic between Maggie and Wyatt.

It’s a quick read and I felt like it fit the holiday atmosphere well. The mystery came together in the end well and I look forward to more books by this author.

Overall audience notes: