the hating game – GoodeyReads

Birthday month was a success! Lots of great reads, and plenty of holiday books too.

Favorites of the Month (there were a lot!): When You Get the Chance, The Fastest Way to Fall, Echoes and Empires, The Hating Game, The Flight Girls, Aurora’s End, A Cross-Country Christmas, The Song of the Marked, The Off-Limits Rule, The Inadequate Heir, A Twist of the Blade, and Cytonic

Least Favorites: Jade Fire Gold, What Are Friends For?, Lovelight Farms, and A Convenient Christmas

[ARC] When You Get the Chance by Emma Lord
[Novella] ReDawn: Skyward Flight (Skyward #2.2) by Brandon Sanderson and Janci Patterson
Jade Fire Gold by June C.L. Tan
The Fastest Way to Fall by Denise Williams
[ARC] Echoes and Empires (Echoes and Empires #1) by Morgan Rhodes
The Great Hunt (The Wheel of Time #2) by Robert Jordan
[Reread] The Hating Game by Sally Thorne
The Flight Girls by Noelle Salazar
Gilded (Gilded #1) by Marissa Meyer
What Are Friends For? (Love in Fenton County #1) by Sarah Sutton
[ARC] A Song Among the Silence (The Rhythmist Cycle #1) by Julie Janis
Aurora’s End (The Aurora Cycle #3) by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
A Cross-Country Christmas by Courtney Walsh
The Song of the Marked (Shadows and Crowns #1) by S.M. Gaither
[ARC] The Roughest Draft by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka
Lovelight Farms by B.K. Borison
Vespertine (Vespertine #1) by Margaret Rogerson
One Way or Another by Kara McDowell
[ARC] Edgewood by Kristin Ciccarelli
[Reread] The Off-Limits Rule (It Happened in Nashville #1) by Sarah Adams
The Inadequate Heir (The Bridge Kingdom #3) by Danielle L. Jensen
Duke, Actually (A Princess for Christmas #2) by Jenny Holiday
[Novella] A Holiday by Gaslight by Mimi Mathews
A Twist of the Blade (Shadows and Crowns #2) by S.M. Gaither
A Convenient Christmas (Isn’t It Sweet #1) by Jody Holford
[ARC] Beyond the Lavender Fields by Arlem Hawks
[Novella] Christmas in Love by Karen Thornell
The Burning God (The Poppy War #3) by R.F. Kuang
Cytonic (Skyward #3) by Brandon Sanderson
A Very Grumpy Christmas by Jerica MacMillan
These Broken Stars (Starbound #1) by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner
[Novella] Merry Hearts (Poplar Falls #4.5) by Amber Kelly

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Top 10 Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I’ve Read That I’d Like in My Personal Library

August 27, 2019August 26, 2019 GoodeyReads

Ohhhh this post hurts my heart.

Why?

BECAUSE I JUST WANT THESE BOOKS IN MY LIBRARY.

I am counting any books that I don’t physically own. A couple of these I have digitally or as an audio book. I really want the physical books so I can stare at the pretty covers all day.

Air Awakens Series by Elise Kova

Air Awakens | Fire Falling | Earth’s End (5 stars – RTC) | Water’s Wrath (5 stars – RTC) | Crystal Crowned (5 stars – RTC)

I don’t think I will ever not shout about this series. IT’S AMAZING. AND THE COVERS ARE SO BEAUTIFUL. I only own these on my Kindle, and I desperately want them as physical books. Anyone want to do a book trade? (I am absolutely serious).

Arc of a Scythe Series by Neal Shusterman

Review for only the second book (third book will be out in November): Thunderhead

This series is INSANE and makes me worry every time I read about it. I never want a world like this, but I do love them as a book!

The Winternight Trilogy by Katherine Arden

I have reviews for the last two books: The Girl in the Tower | The Winter of the Witch

OH MY GOODNESS. Top 10 favorite all-time series. And I read it from the library. All I want are these books y’all. Seriously.

The Bone Season Series by Samantha Shannon

I know this series is far from completion, but I really enjoyed binge reading these 2 years ago. Book four is hopefully being published in 2020. YAYAY.

Falling Kingdoms Series by Morgan Rhodes

I only have reviews from the last two books: Crystal Storm | Immortal Reign

This was an amazing series! Lots of POV changes, ships sailing, trickery, death and tender moments. And I really love these covers.

Alexander Hamilton and Grant by Ron Chernow

Not gonna lie, the only reason I want these is proof I read two 1,000+ books in a month. These were also fantastic history books, but yes. I would love proof *shrugs*.

Mistborn Series by Brandon Sanderson

The Final Empire | The Well of Ascension | The Hero of Ages

My hubs and I both loved these so much that we want them for our personal library (we listened to them through Audible). We’re slowly growing our Sanderson library.

The Hating Game by Sally Thorne

I LOVED THIS ROM-COM. It was the first one that really got me onto rom-coms. I have picked up a great handful since then.

The Great Library Series by Rachel Caine

Ink and Bone | Paper and Fire | Ash and Quill | Smoke and Iron

I am so excited for the last book!! This series is a bit different than I usually go for and it’s probably the reason I’ve really enjoyed it.

The Bridge Kingdom Series by Danielle L. Jensen

MY FAVORITE BOOK. AND I DON’T PHYSICALLY OWN IT. UGH. But, I’ve listened to it twice and flippin’ think it’s fantastic. So there’s that. You should read it too.

What books do you want for your library? Are any of these already on your shelves? Lets talk in the comments!

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Top 10 Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday: My Favorite Tropes

August 20, 2019August 19, 2019 GoodeyReads

I found this topic easy and hard all in the same breath. I also could think of more tropes I DON’T like easier than I could come up with tropes I DO like. When I’m reading a great book I honestly don’t notice many tropes (besides the first one below). After the fact and seeing other reviews I realize how many tropes were actually present in the plot. But you better believe I notice when tropes are done poorly, making them stick out like a sore thumb.

So after a lot of thought, I’ve come up with some that I remember that I love. Not in any order, except for the first one because ENEMIES TO LOVERS ALL THE LIVE LONG DAY.

I added some covers of books that remind me of the trope, it’s definitely not an exhaustive list!

Enemies to lovers

OH MY GOODNESS. This is really my one and only ultimate trope and it never gets old. NEVER.

Someone being secretly royal

I’m looking at you Throne of Glass.

A romance that begins with one of them undercover

And no, not in a bad way. I’m thinking along the lines of The Kiss of Deception and The Traitor’s Kiss. That moment when the reader knows what’s going on, but they don’t yet and the fall out leads to a passionate kiss. YES.

Families with a lot of siblings

Big families (Dance of Thieves – Ballenger clan) are great. I love all of the banter between siblings. SO FUN.

Forbidden romance (star-crossed lovers)

UGH WHY CAN’T THEY JUST BE TOGETHER FOREVER?

Parents who are still alive (at least one)

I like a present parent, what can I say?

When a legitimate villain does a good thing

I’m a sucker for a bad guy who makes one good move in their time.

A good partnership with fantastic banter

I LOVE when the banter is off the charts between a working friendship. These are some great examples.

Squad goals

Squad 313, Night Court, Court of Terrasen, Skyward. This is without a doubt one of the greatest tropes ever.

Royalty living in exile, running away

Banished royalty gathering a group to take back their throne? YESSSS.

What are some of your favorite tropes? What about least favorite? It was fun seeing how many tropes are in one book! Lets talk in the comments!

Book Review

Book Review: The Hating Game by Sally Thorne

April 11, 2019April 11, 2019 GoodeyReads

Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
Audience: Contemporary romance
Length: 384 pages
Author: Sally Thorne
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Release Date: August 9th, 2016
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Nemesis (n.)
1) An opponent or rival whom a person cannot best or overcome;
2) A person’s undoing;
3) Joshua Templeman.

Lucy Hutton and Joshua Templeman hate each other. Not dislike. Not begrudgingly tolerate. Hate. And they have no problem displaying their feelings through a series of ritualistic passive aggressive maneuvers as they sit across from each other, executive assistants to co-CEOs of a publishing company. Lucy can’t understand Joshua’s joyless, uptight, meticulous approach to his job. Joshua is clearly baffled by Lucy’s overly bright clothes, quirkiness, and Pollyanna attitude.

Now up for the same promotion, their battle of wills has come to a head and Lucy refuses to back down when their latest game could cost her her dream job…But the tension between Lucy and Joshua has also reached its boiling point, and Lucy is discovering that maybe she doesn’t hate Joshua. And maybe, he doesn’t hate her either. Or maybe this is just another game.

ASDFGHJKL; SO CUTE I HAVE NO WORDS.

I get it. I TOTALLY GET THE HYPE for this book. Y’all. This & Josh and Hazel in the last few weeks? I’m on a contemporary romance roll.

My favorite portions of a romance book is the banter. I LIVE FOR BANTER. Witty and amusing lines that make me laugh and say: you know you love each other. Lucy and Josh were top notch at this. I thought it was clever and cute to have them play games the entire book as they really got to know one another.

The sexual tension was off the charts. It was so intense and all I could do was flip page after page (causing me to stay up til 2:30 AM…) to find out what would happen next. This story immediately grabbed my attention and it was easy to keep going.

I obsessed over the fact that Josh has loved Lucy from day one. Saying he had one more weekend to win her over? Y’ALL *cue hand over heart, smitten look*. Never being the nice guy? IT’S OK JOSH. LUCY’S GOT YOU. The way she threw down to back Josh was a solid way to put a cap on some things.

One thing that did bother me was Lucy’s obsession with how good Josh looked. She was relentless in commenting on it and it got a bit old. I also did not need to keep hearing about his serial killer eyes. That was a tad weird. I get it, he’s gorgeous, but I felt that could have been dialed down (especially because she commented to herself how she was saying this too often!?) Josh was also a biiiiit intense at times. Lucy would comment on being afraid of him, and I don’t think anyone should feel that way about a partner.

Overall audience notes: