Tag: macmillan audio

ALC Book Review: The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center

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Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 336 pages
Author: Katherine Center
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Release Date: June 11th, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

She’s rewriting his love story. But can she rewrite her own?

Emma Wheeler desperately longs to be a screenwriter. She’s spent her life studying, obsessing over, and writing romantic comedies—good ones! That win contests! But she’s also been the sole caretaker for her kind-hearted dad, who needs full-time care. Now, when she gets a chance to re-write a script for famous screenwriter Charlie Yates—The Charlie Yates! Her personal writing god!—it’s a break too big to pass up.

Emma’s younger sister steps in for caretaking duties, and Emma moves to L.A. for six weeks for the writing gig of a lifetime. But what is it they say? Don’t meet your heroes? Charlie Yates doesn’t want to write with anyone—much less “a failed, nobody screenwriter.” Worse, the romantic comedy he’s written is so terrible it might actually bring on the apocalypse. Plus! He doesn’t even care about the script—it’s just a means to get a different one green-lit. Oh, and he thinks love is an emotional Ponzi scheme.

But Emma’s not going down without a fight. She will stand up for herself, and for rom-coms, and for love itself. She will convince him that love stories matter—even if she has to kiss him senseless to do it. But . . . what if that kiss is accidentally amazing? What if real life turns out to be so much . . . more real than fiction? What if the love story they’re writing breaks all Emma’s rules—and comes true?

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for the audiobook and St. Martin’s Press for the ebook.

THIS FILLED MY SOUL.

Audiobook thoughts: The narrator was incredible. I mostly listened to this and I looove the way Patti Murin brought Emma to life. I felt like I was a part of this story in all the best ways. Highly recommend listening to the audiobook!

I needed an automatic win kind of read and I just knew this would deliver, and it did that and so much more. Gosh I loved this book. It speaks to the soul of every lover of romance everywhere. The themes are woven in with care and love and EVERYONE NEEDS TO READ THIS BOOK OKAY?

I adored Emma and Charlie. From the moment they met you could see the connection between them. I looooved the banter and humor. I laughed so many times and could not stop smiling. Even had some teary eyed moments because the story was as deep as it was light. The perfect combination of both was balanced throughout this book.

You know a romance is good when you love BOTH characters. And while there’s a good moment or two where you want to shake some one, it doesn’t matter because every thing felt authentic. The build up of decision making and past issues made the entire book feel real and a true nod to taking the lemons life gives you and squeezing out whatever lemonade you can.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: low
  • Romance: kisses
  • Violence: low
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: mentions of divorce, mentions of cancer, loss of a parent (recounted)

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ALC Book Review: I Wish You Would by Eva Des Lauriers

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Upper YA Contemporary Romance
Length: 305 pages
Author: Eva Des Lauriers
Publisher: Henry Holt
Release Date: May 21st, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

In this drama-filled love story, private confessions are scattered on the beach during a senior class overnight and explosive secrets threaten to tear everyone apart, including best friends (or maybe more?), Natalia and Ethan.

It’s Senior Sunrise, the epic overnight at the beach that kicks off senior year. But for Natalia and Ethan, it’s the first time seeing each other after what happened at junior prom―when they almost crossed the line from best friends to something more and ruined everything. After ghosting each other all summer, Natalia is desperate to pretend she doesn’t care and Ethan is desperate to fix his mistake.

When the senior class carries out their tradition of writing private letters to themselves―what they wish they would do this year if they were braver―Natalia pours her heart out. So does Ethan. So does everyone in their entire class. But in Natalia’s panicked attempt to retrieve her heartfelt confession, the wind scatters seven of the notes across the beach. Now, Ethan and Natalia are forced to work together to find the lost letters before any secrets are revealed―especially their own.

Seven private confessions. Seven time bombs loose for anyone to find. And one last chance before the sun rises for these two to fall in love.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for the ALC.

LEAN INTO IT.

I knew going into this that it would be drama with a capital D. Honestly, knowing that going in allowed me to enjoy it more. I wasn’t overanalyzing everything and rode this rollercoaster in style.

Audiobook notes: The audiobook was fantastic. It’s a dual POV story with two narrators which worked wonderfully. Definitely recommend this format.

Anyways, this is a concentrated timeline of about 48 hrs with a few flashback chapters here and there. It kept the pace fast and I did find myself continually wanting to pick it up so I could see what spectacle was going to occur next.

There are some good moments of growth towards the end. And I didn’t mind the main characters. Yes, it’s filled with miscommunication but I also tried to remind myself these are 17/18 year old’s and I’m glad they worked things out in the end.

Overall audience notes:

  • Upper YA Contemporary Romance
  • Language: moderate
  • Romance: one closed door scene; mild innuendo throughout
  • Violence: low
  • Content Warnings: mentions of inappropriate teacher/student relationship, homophobic remarks, cheating (off page), divorce, underage alcohol use

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ALC Book Review: The Trail of Lost Hearts by Tracey Garvis Graves

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Rating: ★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 304 pages
Author: Tracey Garvis Graves
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Release Date: March 26th, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

New York Times bestselling author Tracey Garvis Graves takes readers on a life affirming journey, where two lost souls find the unexpected courage to love again.

Thirty-four-year-old Wren Waters believes that if you pay attention, the universe will send you exactly what you need. But her worldview shatters when the universe delivers two life-altering blows she didn’t see coming, and all she wants to do is put the whole heartbreaking mess behind her. No one is more surprised than Wren when she discovers that geocaching―the outdoor activity of using GPS to look for hidden objects―is the only thing getting her out of bed and out of her head. She decides that a weeklong solo quest geocaching in Oregon is exactly what she needs to take back control of her life.

Enter Marshall Hendricks, a psychologist searching for distraction as he struggles with a life-altering blow of his own. Though Wren initially rebuffs Marshall’s attempt at hiker small talk, she’s beyond grateful when he rescues her from a horrifying encounter farther down the trail. In the interest of safety, Marshall suggests partnering up to look for additional caches. Wren’s no longer quite so trusting of the universe―or men in general―but her inner circle might argue that a smart, charismatic psychologist isn’t the worst thing the universe could place in her path.

What begins as a platonic road trip gradually blossoms into something deeper, and the more Wren learns about Marshall, the more she wants to know. Now all she can do is hope that the universe gets it right this time.

Thank you Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for the audiobook.

WISH I HAD KNOWN.

Some might find this *spoilery* regarding a specific trope. Read at your own discretion.

I know there’s plenty of discord over whether or not tropes should be included when discussing a book, but y’all, this is prime example number one why I appreciate them and how I wish just one review I happened to scan through had mentioned the surprise in this one.

It made me feel like things could have been handled better. With only a week together and confessing a lot of things about yourself, but not feeling that reciprocity (and calling the MMC out on it) to then being secretive yourself? I don’t know, didn’t work for me.

This was a super quick (less than 9 hours) audiobook and I will say, I LOVED the narrator. I had no issues with the production or anything of that nature. My issues are about the book themselves.

And I was really loving all of the outdoorsy content that after the halfway point just disappeared. I feel like a little more length within the book would have allowed some deeper exploration of feelings and combining what felt like two different halves of this book.

Overall audience notes:

  • Contemporary Romance
  • Language: low-moderate
  • Romance: 2-3 brief, low explicit open door
  • Violence: low
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: loss of a fiancé, infidelity, loss of a sibling, brief mentions of gun violence, birth scene

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ALC Book Review: A Tempest of Tea (Blood and Tea #1) by Hafsah Faizal

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Rating: ★★★☆
Audience: YA Fantasy
Length: 352 pages
Author: Hafsah Faizal
Publisher: Farrar, Straus & Giroux
Release Date: February 20th, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

From Hafsah Faizal, New York Times–bestselling author of We Hunt the Flame, comes the first book in a hotly-anticipated new fantasy duology about an orphan girl and her crew who get tangled in a heist with vampires, perfect for fans of Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows.

On the streets of White Roaring, Arthie Casimir is a criminal mastermind and collector of secrets. Her prestigious tearoom transforms into an illegal bloodhouse by dark, catering to the vampires feared by society. But when her establishment is threatened, Arthie is forced to strike an unlikely deal with an alluring adversary to save it—and she can’t do the job alone.

Calling upon a band of misfits, Arthie formulates a plan to infiltrate the dark and glittering vampire society known as the Athereum. But not every member of her crew is on her side, and as the truth behind the heist unfolds, Arthie finds herself in the midst of a conspiracy that will threaten the world as she knows it. Dark, action-packed, and swoonworthy, this is Hafsah Faizal better than ever.

Thank you Macmillan Audio for the ALC.

DID I OVERHYPE MYSELF?

I’ve been really excited about this book y’all. After loving the conclusion to Faizal’s previous duology I knew I wanted my hands on this. But it wasn’t quite what I was hoping.

Audiobook notes: I thought the narrator did a great job, I don’t have any issues there at all. I do wish there would have been a second or third narrator for the other POV’s. There’s three POV’s in total and I continually found myself confused as to whose I was reading at that time.

The story was intriguing, and the pacing was slow. I looove found family, and I do think that was presented well. I love the mash up of personalities and loyalties and connection that this trope brings. There’s even some romantic plots brewing, I was kind of into them? I’m hopeful for book two expansion on this and some more tension.

I found myself easily able to put this down and never felt like it was grabbing my full attention. There were some good scenes and I did enjoy what we got of the characters. I loved that this was set in the same world as We Hunt the Flame too. I could definitely feel those vibes.

Overall audience notes:

  • YA Fantasy
  • Language: low
  • Romance: kisses
  • Violence: moderate

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