ARC Book Review: Juniper Bean Resorts to Murder by Gracie Ruth Mitchell

March 31, 2023March 21, 2023 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance + Mystery
Length: 368 pages
Author: Gracie Ruth Mitchell
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: March 31st, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Juniper Bean has big plans for her writing career. Swoony kisses, sigh-inducing happily ever afters—she’s going to write them all.

There’s just one problem: she can’t seem to stop killing off her main characters.

After accepting that a genre change is in order, Juniper sets out to do some research. What’s the best way to carry a dead body? How exactly does one pick a lock? Juniper is going to find out—with the unwilling help of her new roommate, Aiden.

But Juniper’s plans go haywire when she stumbles across an actual, real-life dead body—and before she knows it, she and Aiden are thrust into the middle of a murder mystery that seems suspiciously tied to Juniper’s past.

Who killed the girl in the woods? Can Juniper ever get the hang of mystery writing? And, perhaps the biggest question of all: Why the heck does Aiden look so good in a tweed jacket?

Thank you to the author for an eARC.

WHAT A COMBINATION.

I increasingly became obsessed with this story the more I read. It was a beautiful combination of romance, mystery, vulnerability and humor. My new favorite book by Gracie Ruth Mitchell.

This romance was off the charts tender. With a dash of second chance and a feeling of fate playing a role, Juniper and Aiden found each other [again]. I loved the way they bounced off of each other and how you could really see the growth in their bond as they worked together to solve a murder mystery. There were incredibly vulnerable moments from both Aiden and Juniper about how they perceive themselves and things they knew they needed to work on and it had me all misty-eyed at the end. I felt all the feels.

The mystery played out well!! It was woven in behind the romance (without overshadowing) and I was still very much intensely involved in solving the crimes. Those more intense ending scenes were exactly what I was hoping for and all of the grand reveals simultaneously broke my heart and gave me relief for the characters involved.

A really great read. I could keep gushing about all of the tiny moments I absolutely adored that came together to make this book huggable. I know this was a mix-up in what GRM usually writes and she NAILED IT.

Overall audience notes:

Contemporary Romance + Mystery
Language: none
Romance: kisses
Violence: moderate
Trigger/Content Warnings: murder, knife violence, alludes to sexual assault and rape (of a side character), loss of a mother, lack of food resources

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ARC Book Review: Divine Rivals (Iris at the Front #1) by Rebecca Ross

March 31, 2023January 10, 2023 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Upper YA Fantasy Romance
Length: 368 pages
Author: Rebecca Ross
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Release Date: April 4th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

After centuries of sleep, the gods are warring again. But eighteen-year-old Iris Winnow just wants to hold her family together. Her mother is suffering from addiction and her brother is missing from the front lines. Her best bet is to win the columnist promotion at the Oath Gazette.

To combat her worries, Iris writes letters to her brother and slips them beneath her wardrobe door, where they vanish―into the hands of Roman Kitt, her cold and handsome rival at the paper. When he anonymously writes Iris back, the two of them forge a connection that will follow Iris all the way to the front lines of battle: for her brother, the fate of mankind, and love.

When two young rival journalists find love through a magical connection, they must face the depths of hell, in a war among gods, to seal their fate forever. Shadow and Bone meets Lore in this epic enemies-to-lovers fantasy novel filled with hope and heartbreak, and the unparalleled power of love.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an ALC.

OMG READ IT.

Audiobook review: LOVED. I love that dual narration. And since this book had a letter writing element to it I was so excited that it was voiced by the two main characters for each reading of the letter experience. I thought the narrators did great and made this book even more incredible.

Consider this my new favorite Rebecca Ross book. From the first few chapters I knew it was going to be a winner. It had one of my favorite subtle romantic set-ups that I LOVE SO MUCH. The tension and chemistry between Iris and Roman was astronomical. I was smitten from the get-go.

The setting is one of those unique facets I can’t get enough of. It’s fantasy BUT with a historical elements that are an undeniable hit when combined. The warfare + meddling gods + humans just trying to survive are the kind of fantasy books I love to read. I liked the intensity factors and wondering who’s going to survive the next chapter and where the next shoe may drop. It’s all here and I’ll say it again, READ IT.

I was perfectly shocked by the ending. One of those, I see you coming, but now the HOW’S. And the OMG WHAT HAPPENS NEXT ya know? I am devastated 100 different ways and yet it was all so beautiful?! The quiet moments slayed me and the passion was magnetic.

Rebecca Ross’s best book. I said it.

Overall audience notes:

Upper YA Fantasy Romance
Language: very little
Romance: fade to black
Violence: high
Trigger/Content Warnings: loss of life, war themes, loss of a parent

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ARC Book Review: Never Vacation with Your Ex by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka

March 30, 2023December 13, 2022 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★
Audience: YA Contemporary Romance
Length: 336 pages
Author: Emily Wibberley & Austin Siegemund-Broka
Publisher: Viking Books
Release Date: April 4th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Forgetting Sarah Marshall meets Crazy Stupid Love in a YA second chance romance from fan-favorite author couple #Wibbroka!

Seventeen-year-old volleyball star Kaylee Jordan lives a life of player rankings, constant training, and a carefully curated social media full of followers watching to see if she’ll go pro out of high school like her famous mom. Her one refuge, and the thing she looks forward to every summer? The vacation her family spends in Malibu with the Freeman-Yus. This year, there’s only one problem: Kaylee and their son, Dean, dated for the past three months, and Kaylee just unceremoniously dumped him. Hoping to spare them the worst summer ever, Kaylee comes to Dean with her unconventional solution: she’s going to walk him through her rules for getting over an ex. When Dean grudgingly cooperates, Kaylee’s got her work cut out for her. But helping Dean follow her own rules starts becoming difficult when the pressures of Kaylee’s family legacy and perfect life start to feel less like a plan and more like a prison…and amid warm California nights and stolen laughs, Kaylee feels herself falling for Dean for the same reasons and some new ones. With their trip coming to an end, Kaylee has to make the complicated choice between doing what’s expected and taking a (second) chance on love.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an eARC.

I LIKED IT.

I feel kind of surprised by this one. Initially I didn’t know what I would think about it all, but in the end, I think it has a pretty good message and is set up really well for the audience (young adult!).

The pressure of perfectionism, especially in teens, was a big theme and WOW did I resonate with that. Kaylee struggling with trying to be the best volleyball player out there with the best image and everything else truly hit home. Everything in this vein was well written.

Now the otherside of that is the romance. I LOVED Dean. He was fantastic. Swoony, sweet and full of feelings. I love seeing his emotion and commitment to getting Kaylee to express some raw feelings. Kaylee though, I don’t love how she handled the whole situation. She didn’t come off in the best light and I wish she had been a little quicker to sensitivity.

Perfect beach, summery setting. Made me wish I was on a beach right this second. OH, lets talk about the PARENTS. I LOOOOOVE that there were present and active parents in this book y’all. It’s not seen enough. Even better, we saw that they weren’t perfect and made mistakes too. It was a great contrast to the young adults in the book making decisions too. A great cast all around.

Overall audience notes:

YA Contemporary Romance
Language: a little
Romance: heated make-outs

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Book Review: All the Feels (Spoiler Alert #2) by Olivia Dade

March 29, 2023May 21, 2022 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 385 pages
Author: Olivia Dade
Publisher: Avon
Release Date: November 16th, 2021
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Following Spoiler Alert, Olivia Dade returns with another utterly charming romantic comedy about a devil-may-care actor—who actually cares more than anyone knows—and the no-nonsense woman hired to keep him in line.

Alexander Woodroe has it all. Charm. Sex appeal. Wealth. Fame. A starring role as Cupid on TV’s biggest show, God of the Gates. But the showrunners have wrecked his character, he’s dogged by old demons, and his post-show future remains uncertain. When all that reckless emotion explodes into a bar fight, the tabloids and public agree: his star is falling.

Enter Lauren Clegg, the former ER therapist hired to keep him in line. Compared to her previous work, watching over handsome but impulsive Alex shouldn’t be especially difficult. But the more time they spend together, the harder it gets to keep her professional remove and her heart intact, especially when she discovers the reasons behind his recklessness…not to mention his Cupid fanfiction habit.

When another scandal lands Alex in major hot water and costs Lauren her job, she’ll have to choose between protecting him and offering him what he really wants—her. But he’s determined to keep his improbably short, impossibly stubborn, and extremely endearing minder in his life any way he can. And on a road trip up the California coast together, he intends to show her exactly what a falling star will do to catch the woman he loves: anything at all.

I FELT ALL THE FEELS.

Not mad one bit I finally decided to pick this one up. Oh my goodness, I absolutely ADORED IT Y’ALL.

I LOVED Alex. I liked his personality, the way he was boisterous and caring and all of that protectiveness over Lauren had me downright swooning. The banter was cheeky and well timed with sizzling chemistry from the get-go. I loooove forced proximity and this is present in spades.

There’s plenty of dynamics to love, grump x sunshine (where she’s the grump!), celebrities and great representation. This story had me hooked from the beginning and I flew through the audio in a day with a continual drive to see where the story would go. I took a 1/2 star off because the conflict leaned more towards miscommunication and I got a bit disgruntled.

Otherwise, this is a fantastic contemporary romance. It had too much spice for me (which doesn’t affect my rating, but wanted to note). The entire plot was stellar and I’m happy to have picked this up.

**I have not read Spoiler Alert. There were a few brief times when I was a little confused, but I don’t think it hindered my reading experience overall.

Overall audience notes: