Tag: library book

Book Review: I’m Not Charlotte Lucas by Kasey Stockton

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 240 pages
Author: Kasey Stockton
Publisher: Covenant Communications
Release Date: February 7th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Northern California girl Charlotte “Charlie” Lucas has two great loves: Diet Coke and Pride and Prejudice. But her passion for Regency classics is tempered by a very real fear: Charlie is terrified of having to endure the fate of her namesake—spinsterhood. Despite her best attempts to maintain a modern sensibility, she can’t say no when an elderly neighbor asks Charlie to attend a charity ball with her grandson. Blind date or not, Charlie is powerless to resist the allure of a real-life ball. Soon it’s clear that she will struggle to resist the charms of her blind date too.

Liam Connell is every bit the swoon-worthy leading man, straight out of Charlie’s daydreams. But he’s completely unattainable—his last girlfriend was a gorgeous actress and a far cry from Charlie’s world. So after a magical evening with Liam, Charlie is ready to get back to reality, even if her best option right now is a former boyfriend who wants to give it another shot. Unfortunately, despite imagining she’ll never see Liam again, he seems to be everywhere. How is a lady to move past a fantasy when life suddenly seems to be imitating fiction to an alarming degree?

WELL.

I wanted to love this. But I had the hardest time finding common ground with the FMC. She spent so much time comparing herself to everyone, knocking herself down and not listening to anyone around her. By the time things started to change it was really late in the story and I was already ready for it to be over.

Liam and Charlie did have a lot of cute moments. I liked the quiet scenes they had together and some sweet kisses too. Liam was swoony and was clearly enamored with Charlie and I wish Charlie would have seen that sooner.

I did like the audiobook and secondary characters too. It’s not a bad story by any means, I just didn’t connect with some aspects. I’ll still be reading Kasey Stockton books.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: none
  • Romance: kisses

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Book Review: Warrior Girl Unearthed by Angeline Boulley

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: YA Mystery
Length: 400 pages
Author: Angeline Boulley
Publisher: Henry Holt
Release Date: May 2nd, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Perry Firekeeper-Birch was ready for her Summer of Slack but instead, after a fender bender that was entirely not her fault, she’s stuck working to pay back her Auntie Daunis for repairs to the Jeep.

Thankfully she has the other outcasts of the summer program, Team Misfit Toys, and even her twin sister Pauline. Together they ace obstacle courses, plan vigils for missing women in the community, and make sure summer doesn’t feel so lost after all.

But when she attends a meeting at a local university, Perry learns about the “Warrior Girl”, an ancestor whose bones and knife are stored in the museum archives, and everything changes. Perry has to return Warrior Girl to her tribe. Determined to help, she learns all she can about NAGPRA, the federal law that allows tribes to request the return of ancestral remains and sacred items. The university has been using legal loopholes to hold onto Warrior Girl and twelve other Anishinaabe ancestors’ remains, and Perry and the Misfits won’t let it go on any longer.

Using all of their skills and resources, the Misfits realize a heist is the only way to bring back the stolen artifacts and remains for good. But there is more to this repatriation than meets the eye as more women disappear and Pauline’s perfectionism takes a turn for the worse. As secrets and mysteries unfurl, Perry and the Misfits must fight to find a way to make things right – for the ancestors and for their community.

From the New York Times bestselling author of Firekeeper’s Daughter comes a thrilling YA mystery about a Native teen who must find a way to bring an ancestor home to her tribe.

PASSIONATE.

Another beautiful and immersive culture packed read where I feel like I am taught so much and still have so much to learn.

The mystery surrounding some suspicious characters was also intriguing and had me wondering what was happening and why. Those aspects were great and intriguing. I enjoyed Perry as a main character too. She’s hardened and kind and I liked seeing her characters progression throughout the story.

What I struggled with was the overall plot. Even reading at 3x on audio I felt like things were moving slowwww. There were a lot of small scenes that didn’t feel gathered into the entire plot and I spent a bit of time just waiting for anything to happen.

That being said, still a solid read. And I look forward to Boulley’s next book.

Overall audience notes:

  • YA Mystery
  • Language: moderate
  • Romance: closed door
  • Violence: high
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: mentions of teen sex, abduction, mentions/recounts of sexual assault, murder, underage drinking, theft

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Book Review: The Duchess Takes a Husband (The Gilded Age Heiresses #4) by Harper St. George

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Historical Romance
Length: 335 pages
Author: Harper St. George
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: May 23rd, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A scandalous arrangement between a London rogue and an American duchess leads to lavish stakes.

Despite her illustrious title, Camille, Duchess of Hereford, remains what she has always been—a pariah. Though her title means she’s technically accepted by London Society, the rebellious widow with her burgeoning interest in the suffrage movement and her American ways isn’t exactly high on every hostess’s guest list. But Camille starts to wonder if being an outcast is not without its perks when the tantalizing answer to her secret fear appears in the shape of Jacob Thorne, the illegitimate son of an earl and co-owner of London’s infamous Montague Club.

Jacob is used to making deals with his club members—he’s just not accustomed to them being beautiful women. Nor have the terms ever been so sweetly seductive as Camille’s shocking proposition. To finally buy his own club and gain the crucial backing of investors, Camille offers Jacob the respectability of a fake engagement with a duchess. In return, the tempting widow has one condition: she wants Jacob to show her if it’s possible for her to experience pleasure in bed.

The lure of such a bargain proves too delicious to resist, drawing the enterprising rogue and the wallflower duchess into a scandalous game and an even more dangerous gamble of the heart.

NICE CONCLUSION.

First of all, who else is obsessed with every cover in this series?? Because SAME.

Any who, I liked this story more than I was expecting from the initial plot set up (I’m just not a fan of benefits situations & the spice was past my personal preference too). What I did love though was the exploration surrounding Camille’s back story and trauma. I loved how Jacob approached everything and the entire time there was a sense of comfort and safety.

There’s not really a larger plot here and I think that’s where I got distracted. Why I LOVE heavy focused romances I missed out on something more moving along in the background. I did love the glimpses of the previous books heros/heroines and where they were in life now. This felt like a good wrap up to the series with some swoony feels and tender moments.

Overall audience notes:

  • Historical Romance
  • Language: moderate
  • Romance: 3 open door; high explicit
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: domestic and emotional abuse recounted

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Book Review: The Last Word by Katy Birchall

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Rating: ★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 384 pages
Author: Katy Birchall
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Release Date: May 2nd, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A young journalist puts her career––and her heart––on the line when her former work nemesis is hired in her newsroom, for fans of The Hating Game and Beach Read .

Harper Jenkins is at the top of her game. A brilliant, determined journalist with a well-known knack for getting tight-lipped Hollywood stars to open up to her, Harper loves her job as Celebrity Editor at a newspaper’s glossy weekend magazine and has the best contacts in the business.

But when her awful boss hires talented reporter Ryan to be the new Features Editor, Harper is furious. Because the two have met a decade ago, they were interns at the same publication, where they fell into a whirlwind romance…until Ryan betrayed Harper, and they never spoke again.

Thrown together in a busy newsroom, their dynamic is a disaster from the start. They can’t agree on anything and bicker constantly―Ryan can’t bear how chaotic and messy Harper is; Harper finds Ryan’s condescending nature infuriating. They clash over who’s writing what article, and fight over who’s going to which event.

Yet as they’re forced to spend more and more time together, Harper realizes she may have misjudged Ryan and can’t help but feel a spark growing between them. Long buried feelings start to resurface and, when they’re thrown together on a romantic press trip abroad, their chemistry comes to a head.

But all is fair in love and magazines, and with the news that layoffs across the department are imminent, Harper is left to who will get the last word?

NOPE.

I became increasingly frustrated with this book the longer it went on. There was a reprieve in the middle for a bit where I felt like things were finally jiving and then it lost me all over again.

I hate cheating that can clearly be circumvented in books. And you can tell me multiple reasons why it’s “fine” and it will still bug me. I didn’t like it and wish the FMC of all people would have thought better.

Ryan was occasionally fine. He was pretty sweet and I liked seeing his emotional side too. Some of the flashback moments were cute.

History repeating itself did not work for me. Nor did the poor enemies to lovers banter. It was childish and a bit stilted.

I enjoyed the authors previous book but now I’m hesitant to pick up the next. We’ll see.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: mild
  • Romance: fade to black
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: cheating (main couple), brief mention of death of a loved one

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