Tag: viking books

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: Never Vacation with Your Ex by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: YA Contemporary Romance
Length: 336 pages
Author: Emily Wibberley & Austin Siegemund-Broka
Publisher: Viking Books
Release Date: April 4th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Forgetting Sarah Marshall meets Crazy Stupid Love in a YA second chance romance from fan-favorite author couple #Wibbroka!

Seventeen-year-old volleyball star Kaylee Jordan lives a life of player rankings, constant training, and a carefully curated social media full of followers watching to see if she’ll go pro out of high school like her famous mom. Her one refuge, and the thing she looks forward to every summer? The vacation her family spends in Malibu with the Freeman-Yus. This year, there’s only one problem: Kaylee and their son, Dean, dated for the past three months, and Kaylee just unceremoniously dumped him. Hoping to spare them the worst summer ever, Kaylee comes to Dean with her unconventional solution: she’s going to walk him through her rules for getting over an ex. When Dean grudgingly cooperates, Kaylee’s got her work cut out for her. But helping Dean follow her own rules starts becoming difficult when the pressures of Kaylee’s family legacy and perfect life start to feel less like a plan and more like a prison…and amid warm California nights and stolen laughs, Kaylee feels herself falling for Dean for the same reasons and some new ones. With their trip coming to an end, Kaylee has to make the complicated choice between doing what’s expected and taking a (second) chance on love.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an eARC.

I LIKED IT.

I feel kind of surprised by this one. Initially I didn’t know what I would think about it all, but in the end, I think it has a pretty good message and is set up really well for the audience (young adult!).

The pressure of perfectionism, especially in teens, was a big theme and WOW did I resonate with that. Kaylee struggling with trying to be the best volleyball player out there with the best image and everything else truly hit home. Everything in this vein was well written.

Now the otherside of that is the romance. I LOVED Dean. He was fantastic. Swoony, sweet and full of feelings. I love seeing his emotion and commitment to getting Kaylee to express some raw feelings. Kaylee though, I don’t love how she handled the whole situation. She didn’t come off in the best light and I wish she had been a little quicker to sensitivity.

Perfect beach, summery setting. Made me wish I was on a beach right this second. OH, lets talk about the PARENTS. I LOOOOOVE that there were present and active parents in this book y’all. It’s not seen enough. Even better, we saw that they weren’t perfect and made mistakes too. It was a great contrast to the young adults in the book making decisions too. A great cast all around.

Overall audience notes:

  • YA Contemporary Romance
  • Language: a little
  • Romance: heated make-outs

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ARC Book Review: With and Without You by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka

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Rating: ★★☆ (2.5)
Audience: YA Contemporary Romance
Length: 384 pages
Author: Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka
Publisher: Viking
Release Date: April 19th, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

#Wibbroka is back with another swoony YA–this time tackling long-distance relationships, in a novel based on their own romantic history.

If high school seniors Siena and Patrick were a superlative, they’d be the Couple Most Likely to Marry. They’ve been dating for three solid years, and everyone agrees they’re perfect for each other. But with college on the horizon, Siena begins to wonder whether staying together is the best idea. Does she really want to be tied down during possibly the most transformative years of her life? So she makes a decision to break up with Patrick, convincing herself it’s for the best. Before she can say the words, though, he beats her to the punch: his family is moving out of state. Caught off guard by the news, Siena agrees to stay with Patrick, believing their relationship will naturally fizzle out with time and distance. But over a series of visits throughout the school year, Siena begins to see a different side of Patrick–one that has her falling in love with him all over again. 

Thank you the the publisher and Netgalley for an eARC.

LETDOWN.

I am a huge fan of Wibberley and Sigemund-Broka. Read and enjoyed all of their previous books. This is the first time I have felt truly MEH about how this entire book went.

This relationship in crisis trope did not play out well. Siena complained entirely too much and kept pitying Patrick at every turn when she should have just BROKEN UP WITH HIM. Stop making ridiculous excuses. It also really bugged me that rather than communicate (since they’ve been in a relationship for 3+ years), she instead decides she wants to sleep with him for the first time even when she acknowledges she’s not in a good place for it. I could give you a list of more instances of Sienna making me want to toss my kindle.

Some of the second half was better. I’ll give it up to that. A few times there was some good communication. And I liked Patrick a lot! There wasn’t enough build up around his character so often he felt very bland, but he seemed sweet and I liked that we got some passion out of him by the end.

There’s more ridiculous miscommunication issues in the last quarter and I can’t say I was even all that happy with the ending. I felt there were enough red flags on both sides that I fell off the wagon of being behind this relationship.

Overall audience notes:

  • YA Contemporary Romance
  • Language: some strong
  • Romance: complete closed-door
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: gaslighting, gray-area cheating

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