Tag: Book Review

Book Review: Friends Don’t (Fall in Love #1) by Leah Dobrinska

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 280 pages
Author: Leah Dobrinska
Publisher: Self-Published
Release Date: July 11th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A heartfelt and hilarious romantic comedy, loosely inspired by While You Were Sleeping.

As the oldest of three sisters, Poppy Kasper doesn’t remember a time when she wasn’t the glue holding her siblings—and their lives—together. So moving across the country to Cashmere Cove, the hometown of her new boyfriend, is completely out of character. Add in the fact that said boyfriend is leaving for a months-long pro-golf tour, and it’s enough to make Poppy question her sanity. But it’s fine. Everything’s fine. She can still be a good sister from a distance, and she’ll keep the spark in her relationship alive with calls, texts, and old fashioned love notes. See? Fine.

Quiet and serious Mack Bradley is used to playing second fiddle to his famous younger brother, especially since his own reputation was ruined nearly a decade ago. He’s made his peace with his circumstances, but when his brother begs him to show his new girlfriend the Cashmere Cove ropes, and then ups the ante with an even bigger request to stand in as her pen pal, Mack finds himself thrown into the path of the effervescent Poppy Kasper. She’s his foil in every way…she also makes him feel things he’s never felt before.

A summer of pranks, late-night swims, and stargazing finds Poppy and Mack forging an unlikely friendship—one built on laughter and pushing each other to see life in a different light. But when Poppy’s relationship with Mack’s brother unravels, will she leave town? Or is there another reason for her to stay?

After all, friends don’t fall in love…do they?

(Friends Don’t is the first book in the Fall In Love series, which follows three sisters as they find love after moving across the country to the small town of Cashmere Cove, Wisconsin. This is a closed door romcom with plenty of sizzling chemistry and romantic tension, but no spice.)

ADORED.

A highly enjoyable sweet romance y’all. I had such a good time reading it and already adore the set-up and characters and am excited for the next book!

I thought Poppy and Mack’s friends to lovers romance worked well. You could see the chemistry from the start and the banter had me smiling. I looove the way heat was included without spice (it is in the sweet category!). I felt this romance and the connection between them. I was just as desperate as them to get to that first kiss. I also liked the way the third act was handled. It came off as a necessity while allowing for growth and new understandings.

The small town plot was one of my favorites. I loved all of the back country vibes and I absolutely loved that Mack was an electrician. Way to show off a career I don’t think I’ve ever seen in a romance novel. There were a few minor plot / writing quirks that I didn’t jive with, but it didn’t ruin the book in any way for me. This was exactly what I needed and I loved Poppy and Mack’s story!

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: very little and light
  • Romance: kisses
  • Violence: low
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: loss of a parent (recounted), parental abandonment (recounted), cheating (previous relationship)

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Book Review: Safe Harbor (Scoops Series #1) by K. Sinko

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Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: YA Contemporary Romance
Length: 310 pages
Author: K. Sinko
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: June 20th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Melanie’s twin brother made a life-altering mistake, and now her entire world is about to change.

After years of getting straight A’s at Garrison Prep so she could have a shot at getting into Yale, Melanie’s parents announce they are moving to Haverport, a small beach town off the Connecticut coast, to give her brother Duncan “a fresh new start.”

Skeptical that anything will actually change at home, Melanie decides to spend that summer before her senior year working at the local ice cream shop, Scoops By The Sea, where she meets Calvin—tall, broody, and pretty much on a mission to make Melanie’s training absolutely miserable.

Yet while her job and the people at Scoops were meant to be a distraction from her life that was falling apart, Melanie finds them to be a lifeline in the torrential sea of terror she faces at home. And even if Calvin may seem reclusive, Melanie soon learns what it means to truly open up her heart and share the pain that torments her, especially when disaster completely shatters her life once again.

Safe Harbor is a sweet young adult romance featuring the intensity of two people falling in love for the first time, a pack of fiercely loving co-workers that feel like family, and a small town that has an obsession for festivals, fireworks, bonfires, and 32 delicious flavors of ice cream.

INCREDIBLE BOOK.

It took ONE brief scene on a video to convince me to download this. And then it took my only a few chapters to be completely hooked and emotionally invested in this story. I LOVED IT.

It’s complicated. Deep. Hard to read at times and will bring out all sorts of emotions. While occasionally frustrated with Melanie, I completely understood that she is SEVENTEEN and dealing with some really heavy stuff (check trigger warnings). I love that Calvin was the perfect love interest for her. Someone to talk to, to be there, and to calm the chaos. It was swoony and sweet and this brought out all of the quintessential summer reading vibes that I have been seeking.

I adored the found family groups at Scoops and I’m now excited to read other stories in this series. It was beautifully written, captured all of my attention and now I need everyone to go read it too.

BUT BRING TISSUES.

Overall audience notes:

  • YA Contemporary Romance
  • Language: a little
  • Romance: make-outs
  • Violence: moderate
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: a sibling dealing with substance abuse/addiction (alcohol), death of a loved one

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Book Review: The Final Gambit (The Inheritance Games #3) by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: YA Mystery + Romance
Length: 400 pages
Author: Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Publisher: Little, Brown Books
Release Date: August 30th, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Avery’s fortune, life, and loves are on the line in the game that everyone will be talking about.

To inherit billions, all Avery Kylie Grambs has to do is survive a few more weeks living in Hawthorne House. The paparazzi are dogging her every step. Financial pressures are building. Danger is a fact of life. And the only thing getting Avery through it all is the Hawthorne brothers. Her life is intertwined with theirs. She knows their secrets, and they know her.

But as the clock ticks down to the moment when Avery will become the richest teenager on the planet, trouble arrives in the form of a visitor who needs her help—and whose presence in Hawthorne House could change everything. It soon becomes clear that there is one last puzzle to solve, and Avery and the Hawthorne brothers are drawn into a dangerous game against an unknown and powerful player.

Secrets upon secrets. Riddles upon riddles. In this game, there are hearts and lives at stake—and there is nothing more Hawthorne than winning.

STELLAR FINALE.

Don’t you love when you finish a series and realize how much you’ve enjoyed it? Hallelujah this was the case here. What a fantastic YA mystery series.

I LOVE THESE BROTHERS. If I could get spin off books of everyone I would be in bookish heaven. I love Jameson, Grayson, Xander and Nash for in a hundred ways and will protect them at all costs.

The puzzles and games sprinkled throughout were intense to watch unfold. I am continually in awe at this author’s ability to craft such intricate enigmas. I love that I don’t quite know where each answer will lay and who’s on what side.

I do wish there was a touch more romance. I appreciated the growth from Jameson that I really needed to feel more connected to the relationship between him and Avery. They had some really sweet moments though!!

Short chapters make for a fast pace that had me binge reading this needing to know what happens next. I liked the conclusion a lot and how Avery ended up handling the inheritance and defeating the nemesis that came from the past.

Overall audience notes:

  • YA Mystery
  • Language: a little
  • Romance: kisses
  • Violence: med-high
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: weapons violence, kidnapping, recounted murder

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ARC Book Review: First Impressions of You by Gabriela Graciosa Guedes

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Rating: ★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 330 pages
Author: Gabriela Graciosa Guedes
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: August 25th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

It is a truth universally acknowledged that an immigrant woman, in possession of no green card, must be in want of a husband.

Luiza Bento will do anything in her power to stay in the United States, except follow what everyone seems to consider the best strategy: a marriage of convenience for the green card.

She’s determined to find a job that will get her to stay, but finding an acting job as a plus-size Latina is hard enough. One that will sponsor her visa? Almost impossible.

After months of working at a theme park, an opportunity to audition for their theater department finally comes around. The only problem? She’s starring opposite Winter Davis, a high-and-mighty snob, who seems to think his past as a child star makes him better than everyone.

How can they play long-lost friends madly in love if their first impressions of each other were anything but friendly?

Brazilian author Gabriela Graciosa Guedes’s debut, FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF YOU, is a modern-day Pride and Prejudice retelling set in Los Angeles, with a theme park as the backdrop.

Prepare to fall in love with your next brooding book boyfriend in this delicious slow burn filled with banter and steam! 2023

Thank you to the author for an eARC.

IT WAS OKAY.

I feel like this hit that middle ground of reads for me. I liked some things, and did not like others. Lets get into it.

What I struggled with was the surface level feeling the book gave me. And the chaotic drama that I never got on board with. The beginning felt forced between Winter and Luiza and when the relationship started I just wasn’t into the chemistry between them.

The setting is fun with the Movieland concept and performing shows. I enjoyed Luiza as a main character. She felt authentic and was someone that I wanted to cheer on and hope that they got what they were after. Luiza was passionate about being an actress and I loved that for her. Things do wrap up well and I admit the second half was better. There’s some good quotable confessions from Winter and you get to see his soft side break through.

It very much is a Pride and Prejudice retelling and I liked noticing those aspects too.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: some strong
  • Romance: 2-3 open door; low-moderate explicit

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