Tag: goodeyreads

Monthly Reading Wrap-Up: May 2025

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May was a rough one y’all. Almost gave a book one star and had THREE two star books which is generally underheard of for me. Two were new to me authors so at least I tried some new authors??

Some of these reviews are already out and others will be out in the future!

  • Broken Souls and Bones (Stonegate #1) by LJ Andrews
  • [ARC] The Enemy’s Daughter by Melissa Poett
  • What If I Never Get Over You by Paige Toon
  • To Steal from Thieves (Thieves & Kings #1) by M.K. Lobb
  • Watch Me (Shatter Me: The New Republic #1) by Tahereh Mafi
  • The Things We Water by Mariana Zapata
  • [ARC/ALC] Cruel is the Light (Cruel is the Light #1) by Sophie Clark
  • Silver Elite (Silver Elite #1) by Dani Francis
  • As You Ice It (Appies #7) by Emma St. Clair
  • [ALC] Not Safe for Work by Nisha J. Tuli
  • Even if It Hurts (Huntley Square #1) by Molly Barlowe
  • [ARC/ALC] The Knight and the Moth (The Stonewater Kingdom #1) by Rachel Gillig
  • [ARC/ALC] Rules for Ruin (The Crinoline Academy #1) by Mimi Matthews
  • [Short Story] The Six Deaths of the Saint (Into Shadow #3) by Alix E. Harrow
  • The Geographer’s Guide to Romance (Love’s Academic #2) by India Holton
  • The Long Way Home (Magnolia Parks Universe #3) by Jessa Hastings
  • A Curse Carved in Bone (Saga of the Unfated #2) by Danielle L. Jensen
  • The Q by Beth Brower
  • [ARC] The Friendship Fling by Georgia Stone
  • A Guarded Heart by Heidi Kimball
  • All We Lost Was Everything by Heidi Kimball
  • Enchanted Kingdom (Enchanted Kingdom #1) by Tricia Wentworth
  • [ARC/ALC] The Beautiful Maddening by Shea Ernshaw
  • Scot and Bothered by Alexandra Kiley
  • Rewind it Back (Windy City #5) by Liz Tomforde
  • Love Sick by Deidra Duncan
  • Caught Stealing (Southern Sports Sweethearts #1) by M.J. Padgett
  • [ARC/ALC] A Forgery of Fate by Elizabeth Lim
  • Can’t Get Enough (Skyland #3) by Kennedy Ryan
  • [ARC] The Listeners by Maggie Stiefvater
  • [ARC] Call of the Loon by K. Sinko
  • The Floating World (The Floating World #1) by Axie Oh
  • It’s a Love Story by Annabel Monaghan

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ARC Book Review: The Listeners by Maggie Stiefvater

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Rating: ★★★
Audience: Historical Fiction
Length: 400 pages
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Publisher: Viking
Release Date: June 3rd, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

#1 New York Times bestselling novelist Maggie Stiefvater dazzles in this mesmerizing portrait of an irresistible heroine, an unlikely romance, and a hotel—and a world—in peril.

January 1942. The Avallon Hotel & Spa has always offered elegant luxury in the wilds of West Virginia, its mountain sweetwater washing away all of high society’s troubles.

Local girl-turned-general manager June Porter Hudson has guided the Avallon skillfully through the first pangs of war. The Gilfoyles, the hotel’s aristocratic owners, have trained her well. But when the family heir makes a secret deal with the State Department to fill the hotel with captured Axis diplomats, June must persuade her staff—many of whom have sons and husbands heading to the front lines—to offer luxury to Nazis. With a smile.

Meanwhile FBI Agent Tucker Minnick, whose coal tattoo hints at an Appalachian past, presses his ears to the hotel’s walls, listening for the diplomats’ secrets. He has one of his own, which is how he knows that June’s balancing act can have dangerous consequences: the sweetwater beneath the hotel can threaten as well as heal.

June has never met a guest she couldn’t delight, but the diplomats are different. Without firing a single shot, they have brought the war directly to her. As clashing loyalties crack the Avallon’s polished veneer, June must calculate the true cost of luxury.

Thank you to Viking for the gifted ARC.

WHERE WAS THE PLOT?

Oh y’all, this book tested my will to live. I have a very hard time DNFing ARC’s because I feel obligated to get it done (and I secretly think, maybe the next chapter will be better!!). I have read and enjoyed multiple books for MS and was looking forward to her adult debut. ALAS, what in the world was this???

The general concept of following a hotel overrun by FBI agents during WWII is interesting. It did make me feel curious to know about more hotels and situations that happened in this time period.

BUT. This book lacked any sort of direction or true story line. And I think there’s supposed to be some kind of magical realism component? It was so faint that I hesitate to call it that. AND, the romance takes up approximately 3% of the book so please don’t pick it up thinking it’s even a sub-plot. I almost would have rather just taken that piece all of the way out.

At around 80% or so things picked up marginally but at that point I had checked out.

Overall audience notes:

  • Historical Fiction (with a dash of magical realism)
  • Language: low
  • Violence: low
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: racism, Nazis, ableism, suicide attempt

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ARC Book Review: The Beautiful Maddening by Shea Ernshaw

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Rating: ★★★
Audience: NA Fantasy Romance
Length: 304 pages
Author: Shea Ernshaw
Publisher: Simon Teen
Release Date: June 3rd, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Shea Ernshaw comes a haunting romantic contemporary fantasy about a teen navigating her family’s love curse that blooms with their enchanted tulips every year.

Seventeen year-old Lark Goode wants only one to escape her small town of Cutwater and the history of her family name. It’s a history that began during the Dutch tulip mania of 1636, when Lark’s ancestor stole the last remaining tulip bulbs and fled to America. But when the tulips bloomed on American soil, madness sprouted from their snowy white petals.

The madness was love.

Now, generations later, the Goodes remain cursed—the unnatural flowers outside their home causing locals to fall helplessly in love with anyone carrying Goode blood in their veins. While her brother embraces the strange power, Lark wants nothing more than to be free from it.

But when she meets a boy who seems unaffected by the family curse, Lark finds herself falling headlong into a feeling she’s spent her whole life trying to avoid. Yet, all curses and magic come with a price, and the town of Cutwater soon sinks into a dangerous sickness tied to Lark and the ill-fated tulips.

To save the town, Lark will need to sacrifice everything—even true love—to break the spell. Because in the Goode family, love has a way of destroying everything.

Thank you Simon Audio for the gifted audiobook and Simon Teen for the ARC.

UTTERLY BORING.

Y’all. If you catch me reading a Shea Ernshaw book from this point on please take it out of my hands and throw it across the room. I have read five book and enjoyed two and those are not good bookish odds in my mind.

I was really bored with this plot line. There wasn’t anything to it. Mysterious flowers, a dark family past, and an attempt at new love that doesn’t even end in what I considered a satisfying way. I struggled to get through the audiobook and it was under nine hours. NOW the narrator was great, no issues there, it was the book.

This is missing an edge of any sort. And better expansion of thoughts and themes.

Overall audience notes:

  • NA Fantasy Romance
  • Language: mild – moderate
  • Romance: vague open door
  • Violence: mild

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Book Review: Old Flames and New Fortunes by Sarah Hogle

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 384 pages
Author: Sarah Hogle
Publisher: G.P. Putnam
Release Date: April 2nd, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A steamy second-chance romance about a magical florist’s unexpected reunion with her high school sweetheart as she fake dates his soon-to-be stepbrother.

A small, magical town tucked away in rural Ohio, Moonville is the perfect place for flora fortunist Romina Tempest to expand her shop, where she uses the language of flowers to help the hopeful manifest their love lives. After giving up on her own big romance eleven years ago, at least she can bask in the promise of others’.

So, when the shop’s potential financier shares news of his wedding, Romina jumps on the opportunity to discuss buying the business. What better place to negotiate a deal than at a wedding, even if she has to fake-date her chaotic colleague Trevor to get an invitation? But all hell breaks loose when she discovers Trevor’s soon-to-be stepbrother is none other than Alex her high school sweetheart. Her greatest love. The boy who, eleven years ago, broke her heart, and who now thinks she and Trevor are dating. 

What starts as an innocent misunderstanding becomes a week-long fake dating scheme, as Romina resolves to make Alex pay for breaking her heart. The only issue? She can’t deny their still-burning connection. Caught between proving to Alex what he lost, and coming clean and risking her business, Romina must decide whether giving Alex another chance means going back on herself, or finally releasing her hold on the past.

CUTE AND QUIRKY.

I enjoyed this one so much. I loved all of the flower content and the whole plot set-up. The magical realism was at just the right level to add to the story without overwhelming it. This was a good second chance romance that brought some heated tension and angst, and some solid jealousy moments too.

There’s a lot of quirky side characters and sub plots that made me laugh. This book balanced not taking itself too seriously while covering some heavier topics too. There was a lot to work through for Romina and I loved where she landed in the end.

I thought a big third act full of nonsense was on the horizon, but pleasantly it was handled really well and with meaning. Unfortunately afterwards the last quarter of the book dragged on too long. I think things could have been wrapped up quicker with the same emotional hit.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: moderate
  • Romance: 2-3 open door
  • Violence: low
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: grief from a break-up that also involves a child

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