ALC Book Review: Jilted by Vi Keeland

May 13, 2025April 29, 2025 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 266 pages
Author: Vi Keeland
Publisher: Bramble
Release Date: May 6th, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

From #1 New York Times bestseller Vi Keeland comes a brand new slow burn, swooning romance where 27 Dresses meets The Hating Game.

Weddings. I spend every working minute talking and writing about them, when just the thought of one makes me want to scream. After my fiancé abandoned me at the altar last year, my dream job at Bride magazine has turned into a reoccurring nightmare.

To add insult to injury, the bridezilla at my latest assignment, somehow roped me into filling in for a missing bridesmaid. Of course, I had to get paired with the most gorgeous groomsman. Wilder Hayes is perfect—except when he opens his mouth and we end up bickering all evening. That is, until the coat closet incident.

At least I’ll never have to see him again. Or so I think… Until I walk into work on Monday and find out Wilder isn’t just a jerk, he’s also my boss’s son. And I’ll be spending the rest of the season working with him at every single wedding I cover this year.

Can the jilted bride and the man who is afraid of love find a way to heal each other?

Thank you to MacMillan Audio for the gifted audiobook.

THAT’S A NO FOR ME.

I had been warned before listening to this that it might not work for me. I went in level headed and admittedly did like it for the first 50%ish. The bones of the plot were good. The MMC was a rugby player and uber charming. I didn’t mind the FMC, all is hunky-dory.

But after the halfway mark things went downhill. So much so that I’m quite confident this is the only book I will read from this author. I’m good with that. I didn’t like the heaviness of the spice and the third act??? NOPE. One of my most frustrating tropes.

Overall audience notes:

Contemporary Romance
Language: moderate
Romance: 4+ open door; high explicit
Content warnings: cheating (not the main characters), Parkinson’s disease, loss of a parent (recounted)

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ALC Book Review: Enigma by RuNyx

May 1, 2025April 11, 2025 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Dark Academia Romance
Length: 463 pages
Author: RuNyx
Publisher: Bramble
Release Date: April 29th, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A new breathtaking tale of unforgettable romance, set in a dark academia world of secret societies, lush suspense and sizzling sensuality, from RuNyx, the New York Times bestselling author of Gothikana.

Salem Salazar comes to Mortimer University to get to the bottom of her sister’s mysterious death. There, obsessed with forensics, she discovers there have been a lot more unexplained deaths on the campus. Her search leads her down a dark and dangerous path to a secret society and to Caz.

Cazimir van der Waal is in her way and another mystery to unravel. Is he just an art student, a man living a double life, or a murderer? While also at the university seeking answers for another death, Caz has a lot more to him than meets the eye.

Secret forces are at play in Mortimer and no one is safe. As Salem tries to go under radar and Caz tries to block her path, somehow, they both end up in the crossfire of a powerful, secret society. They are forced to work together to discover the truth or risk losing their lives.

In this magnificent, steamy dark academia romance from RuNyx, sparks will fly, rivals will become lovers, and terrible secrets will be unleashed.

Thank you to MacMillan Audio for the gifted audiobook.

WELL THAT WAS INTERESTING.

I read dark fantasy fairly often, I like dark fantasy, I liked dark academia, but I’ve neve read a dark romance. And this email caught me in a mood and that mood wanted to try this author out. Will I read another one?? I don’t think so, even though I did like this book.

What I loved circled around all of the mystery and atmosphere. This is quintessential dark academia and I loved the vibes. It felt haunting and the suspense elements alongside the secret societies are what I expect and what I like when I pick up a dark academia book (though this is being tagged as fantasy and there’s no fantasy elements FYI).

And I will say there were pieces of the romance I did like. I am who I am and I love a good jealousy moment so those worked for me. The spice though? Yeah, that’s not for me. And there were more scenes than I had anticipated needing to skip which took me out of the book often too.

I do think this wrapped up things well for a standalone and that you got the overall answers you needed. I loved that there was a epilogue at the end to get that happy ever after feeling. This book had good writing and story telling, and I’m not upset that I tried it out.

Overall audience notes:

Dark academia romance
Language: strong
Romance: 5+ open door
Violence: moderate – high
Content warnings: child exploitation, grooming, death, dubious consent, non-consensual drugging, murder, sexual assault and trauma, suicide

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Book Review: Finlay Donovan Digs Her Own Grave (Finlay Donovan #5) by Elle Cosimano

March 9, 2025March 8, 2025 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Cozy Mystery + Romance
Length: 320 pages
Author: Elle Cosimano
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Release Date: March 4th, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

From New York Times bestseller and Edgar-Award nominee Elle Cosimano, comes Finlay Donovan Digs Her Own Grave—the hugely anticipated next installment in the fan-favorite Finlay Donovan series.

Finlay Donovan may have skeletons in her closet . . . but at least there’s not a body in her backyard.

Finlay Donovan and her nanny/partner-in-crime, Vero, have not always gotten along with Finlay’s elderly neighbor, Mrs. Haggerty, the community busybody and president of the neighborhood watch. But when a dead body is discovered in her backyard, Mrs. Haggerty needs their help. At first a suspect, Mrs. Haggerty is cleared by the police, but her house remains an active crime scene. She has nowhere to go . . . except Finlay’s house, right across the street.

Finlay and Vero have no interest in getting involved in another murder case—or sacrificing either of their bedrooms. After all, they’ve dealt with enough murders over the last four months to last a lifetime and they both would much rather share their beds with someone else.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for the gifted audiobook.

THE SERIES CONTINUES.

I’m grateful I got a chance to listen to this book rather than digitally read because I am simultaneously over this series and need to know how it all ends, you know? I have no idea if the next book is the finale, but one can hope.

I still enjoy Finlay and her humorous ways. And blessed be that she FINALLY let Nick in on a few very important aspects of her life.

There is the same song and story of Finlay’s ex-husband being caught in the investigation cross fire but it did take him out of a lot of this book so I wasn’t too upset.

I ended up liking Mrs. Haggerty and the book club. She took no talk back and her pestering ways grew on me.

It’s another quick read with all of the things you’ve come to expect from this series. I’m just hitting that wall (as I usually do with long cozy mystery series) where the will to continue is waning.

Overall audience notes:

Cozy mystery
Language: low
Romance: fade to black
Violence: moderate
Content warnings: murder

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ALC Book Review: Our Infinite Fates by Laura Steven

March 8, 2025February 25, 2025 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★
Audience: NA Fantasy
Length: 352 pages
Author: Laura Steven
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Release Date: March 4th, 2025
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

The Invisible Life of Addie La Rue meets This is How You Lose The Time War in this fantastical love story that defies death as two souls reincarnate through the centuries.

They’ve loved each other in a thousand lifetimes. They’ve killed each other in every one.

Evelyn remembers all her past lives. She also remembers that in every single one, she’s been murdered before her eighteenth birthday by Arden, a supernatural being whose soul―and survival―is tethered to hers.

The problem is that she’s quite fond of the life she’s in now, and her little sister needs her for bone marrow transplants in order to stay alive. If Evelyn wants to save her sister, she’ll have to:

1. Find the centuries-old devil who hunts her through each life―before they find her first.
2. Figure out why she’s being hunted and finally break their curse.
3. Try not to fall in love.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for the gifted audiobook.

A BIT BLAND.

I am an Addie La Rue fan so jumping onto reading this. I did think the audio production was good and I enjoyed the narrator. No qualms there. I more or less had issues with the storyline.

The whole premise surrounding the I have to kill you to save you was fine, until the repetitiveness of the story drove me wild. Over and over again Evelyn asks Arden why are you doing this and over and over again Arden saying you just have to trust me. Without a stronger mystery plot holding everything together it felt like I was going in circles.

Some of the flashbacks were interesting and I didn’t mind the writing style. There’s a fated quality that works out well enough. I would try another book by this author.

Overall audience notes: