Tag: book tour

ARC Book Review & Blog Tour: For Butter or Worse by Erin La Rosa

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The Ripped Bodice (signed copies) || Bookshop.org || B&N || Amazon

Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 368 pages
Author: Erin La Rosa
Publisher: HQN
Release Date: July 27th, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

They go together like water and oil…

All chef Nina Lyon wants is to make a name for herself in the culinary world and inspire young women everywhere to do the same. For too long, she’s been held back and underestimated by the male-dominated sphere of professional kitchens, and she’s had enough. Now, as co-host of the competitive reality TV series The Next Cooking Champ!, she finally has a real shot at being top tier in the foodie scene.
Too bad her co-host happens to be Hollywood’s smarmiest jerk.

Restaurateur Leo O’Donnell never means to get under Nina’s skin. It just seems to happen, especially when the cameras are rolling. It’s part of the anxiety and stress he has come to know all too well in this line of work. So nothing prepares him for the fallout after he takes one joke a smidge too far and Nina up and quits—on live TV.

To make matters worse, the two are caught in what looks like a compromising situation by the paparazzi…and fans of the show go absolutely nuts. Turns out, a “secret romance” between Nina and Leo may just be what their careers need most.

Now all they have to do is play along, without killing each other…and without catching feelings. Easy as artisanal shepherd’s pie. Right? 

Thank you to HQN for the eARC!

DELECTABLE.

I didn’t have any wild expectations going in for this and found myself completely wrapped up this story. I wouldn’t call it enemies to lovers, but more a rival angle. There’s fantastic banter that made me laugh and were such great quips. The spark definitely ignited as Leo and Nina got to know one another.

And how did they get to know one another? FAKE DATING Y’ALL. Another beloved trope that I loved the execution of. I thought all of the dates dove deeper into each layer of their budding relationship. I liked how they got to know one another, apologize for past grievances and work together to save their restaurants.

I did find the last 10/15% a little slow. I liked that Leo’s anxiety was addressed and he was able to work on that for himself and that Nina found a new path for her career to move to. I don’t mind some time away, but it did go on just long enough that I was wondering where the grand finale was finally going to take place.

Different from a lot of books recently, this one focused on cooking over baking. I loved that and it made me continually hungry and in need of a personal chef to make some of these grand meals for me. I loved the outside plot that didn’t overtake the romance but helped push it forward. The side characters (family and friends) were wonderful and added a perfect touch too. A seriously great read and I look forward to more!

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: some strong
  • Romance: multiple open; med/high explicit
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: anxiety, panic attacks (on page), sexism, bullying (including cyber)

AUTHOR BIO:

ERIN LA ROSA is a writer living in Los Angeles. As a writer for BuzzFeed, she frequently writes about the perils and triumphs of being a redhead. Before BuzzFeed, Erin worked for the comedy websites Funny or Die and MadAtoms, as well as E!s Fashion Police, Wetpaint, and Ecorazzi. Erin has appeared on CNN, Headline News, Jimmy Kimmel, and The Today Show on behalf of BuzzFeed. She is the author of Womanskills and The Big Redhead Book.

Author Website: https://www.erinlarosacreative.com/
IG: https://www.instagram.com/erinlarosalit/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/erinlarosalit
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/erin.larosa 
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@erinlarosawrites

And for fun, some recipes from the chef’s themselves!

Instagram || Goodreads || The StoryGraph

ARC Book Review & Blog Tour: The Dachshund Wears Prada (Paws in the City #1) by Stefanie London

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Rating: ★★★☆
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 336 pages
Author: Stefanie London
Publisher: HQN
Release Date: May 3rd, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

How do you start over when the biggest mistake of your life has more than one million views?

Forget diamonds—the internet is forever. Social media consultant Isla Thompson learned that lesson the hard way when she went viral for all the wrong reasons. A month later, Isla is still having nightmares about the moment she ruined a young starlet’s career and made herself the most unemployable influencer in Manhattan. But she doesn’t have the luxury of hiding until she’s no longer Instagram poison. Not when her fourteen-year-old sister, Dani, needs Isla to keep a roof over their heads. So, she takes the first job she can get: caring for Camilla, a glossy-maned, foul-tempered hellhound.

After a week of ferrying Camilla from playdates to pet psychics, Isla starts to suspect that the dachshund’s bark is worse than her bite—just like her owner, Theo Garrison. Isla has spent her career working to make people likable and here’s Theo—happy to hide behind his reputation as a brutish recluse. But Theo isn’t a brute—he’s sweet and funny, and Isla should not see him as anything but the man who signs her paychecks. Because loving Theo would mean retreating to his world of secluded luxury, and Isla needs to show Dani that no matter the risk, dreams are always worth chasing.

Thank you to the publisher for an eARC.

CHARMING.

I gratefully enjoyed this more than I hoped for, even if a few things took it down here and there.

I really liked Isla as one of the main points of view. She was optimistic and full of light. I was willingly cheering her on through the ups and downs of trying to be a good caretaker and parent to her sister and finding a new path after losing her job. Isla’s resilience knew no bounds and I was proud of what she accomplished.

Theo was the other point of view (YAY for double points of view in a romance!). More gruff around the edges and unwillingly to see past his own walls, he took some warming up to see his soft side. I ADORE the grump/sunshine trope and thought this was an excellent execution of that.

Mixed thoughts towards some of the plot. I think there was almost too much focus on other things and at times I noticed a repetitiveness to the inner dialogue about varying situations. It took me awhile to feel invested in the romance because I thought things jumped off too quickly since the focus kept turning to other matters.

The conflict had me shaking my head a bit as well. It was heavily hinted throughout buuuut still. I guess I just hoped it would work a bit differently or there’d be a spin on it that I could get behind. While that wasn’t the case, I did absolutely LOVE the grand gesture at the end and the sweetness that followed. FYI this was steamier than I expected and there’s a few scenes, easily skippable if you prefer that like me!

Also yes, the dog, Camilla, is feisty and lovable and played a good sized roll. I loved her spunky vibe and how incredibly touching she could be. Pulls at your heart strings for fellow animal lovers!

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: a little strong
  • Romance: multiple open door
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: recounting loss of parents (car wreck), parental abandonment, grief, brief mention of suicide ideation, loss of a grandparent

AUTHOR BIO:

Stefanie London is a USA Today Bestselling author of contemporary romance. Her books have been called “genuinely entertaining and memorable” by Booklist, and her writing praised as “elegant, descriptive and delectable” by RT Magazine. Originally from Australia, she now lives in Toronto with her very own hero and is doing her best to travel the world. She frequently indulges her passions for lipstick, good coffee, books and anything zombie related.

Author Website
Instagram: @stefanielondon
Facebook: @London’s Lovelies

BUY LINKS: Bookshop.org || Harlequin || Barnes & Noble || Amazon || BAM

Instagram || Goodreads || The StoryGraph

Bookish things: I went to SJM’s World Tour!

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Y’all. I finished KoA in about a day all things said and done. And now I’ve almost finished reading it a second time to tab and note all of my favorite/critical parts. My review will be up soon!!

NO KINGDOM OF ASH SPOILERS BELOW, PROMISE!

Now on to better things…my hubs (who I just adore, he’s my mate and totally judges me when I call him that) took me to the SJM event in Houston. It was such a great time! I got some great swag (pictures below), got to hear from Sarah about ToG, ACOTAR, and new books coming out in the next few years! She was incredibly funny, and there was even a live proposal they helped orchestrate.  I took a lot of notes. So here they are!

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Signed book, pin, and a print from Charlie Bowater (also received a tote bag!)

General Stuff about the Throne of Glass Series

  • She’s been writing this book since she was 16, but it was pretty different from our version now. For instance, Rowan & Aelin weren’t together, but she was writing fanfic smut about them going behind their current partners back enough that she decided to make sure they did end up together. (This re-write started in 2008).
  • KoA’s final page count was around 1008 pages, but the specific glue that was ordered to bind the books couldn’t hold anything above 1000. Bloomsbury worked around the clock to play with margins, headers, etc. to cut it down to the 984 pages it is now.
  • SJM thought it was absolutely hysterical that we liked Tamlin after reading ACOTAR. And she’d have to fake it every time she met someone at a signing, etc. Thinking to herself, just wait!
  • There were originally a handful of endings for ToG, but in 2013 on a vacation in Costa Rica in the Monte Verde Cloud Forest she burst into tears when they came over the summit and knew exactly what the last line would be.
  • Aelin as a character never did what SJM wanted her to do. Only Rowan was a solid character she could count on.
  • SJM absolutely loves Lysandra and mentions that all the women in ToG are uniquely strong.mvimg_20181027_192735
  • She never cried more than when writing a critical scene for Manon in Koa.
  • Guys, she married her first boyfriend. They met when they were 18, and she feels like she can write love stories because she truly has that in her life.
  • Anytime they’re are eating scenes in the books you can safely assume she’s either eating or thinking about eating.

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