Book Review: An Improbable Season (Unexpected Seasons #1) by Rosalyn Eves

July 12, 2024June 3, 2023 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★
Audience: YA Historical Romance
Length: 352 pages
Author: Rosalyn Eves
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Release Date: April 25th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

For fans of Bridgerton, a YA Regency romance by Rosalyn Eves about three teenage girls, their big dreams, and a London Season gone awry.

When Thalia, Kalliope, and Charis set off to Regency London for their first Season, they each have clear goals–few of which include matrimony. Thalia means to make her mark among the intelligentsia and publish her poetry, Charis hopes to earn her place among the scientific elite, and Kalliope aims to take the fashionable ton by storm. But this Season, it doesn’t take long for things to fall apart. Kalli finds herself embroiled in scandal and reliant upon an arranged marriage to redeem her reputation, Thalia’s dreams of publication are threatened by her attraction to a charming rake, and Charis finds herself an unexpected social hit–and the source of a family scandal that her heart might not survive. Can this roller-coaster Season find its happily ever after?

An Improbable Season is a voicy, swoony regency drama about falling in love–with another person, with new opportunities, and with yourself.

GREAT DRAMA.

This book had a wonderful balance of drama without feeling over the top. I think the Bridgerton vibes were on point and I liked the entire book. Honestly I would have loved even more to have separate books for each character because I enjoyed each story so much and having even deeper background exploration would have been awesome.

I liked that each romance had a unique perspective and plot. It was easy to keep everyone separate and enjoy each point of view change. It was cute and I especially loved the sister relationships. They weren’t this easy going, not accurate portrayal, but a lovely realistic story that I could completely get behind.

There’s good character growth and finding your passion and paths. I liked seeing each woman overcome their mistakes and find what works best for them. I look forward to seeing who the next book will focus on!!

Overall audience notes:

YA Historical Romance
Language: little
Romance: kisses; light innuendo
Violence: low

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ARC Book Review: The Calculation of You and Me by Serena Kaylor

June 20, 2024June 8, 2024 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★
Audience: YA Contemporary Romance
Length: 304 pages
Author: Serena Kaylor
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Release Date: June 18th, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A calculus nerd enlists her surly classmate’s help to win back her ex-boyfriend, but when sparks start to fly, she realizes there’s no algorithm for falling in love.

Marlowe Thompson understands a lot of things. She understands that calculus isn’t overwhelmingly beautiful to everyone, and that it typically kills the mood when you try to talk Python coding over beer pong. She understands people were surprised when golden boy Josh asked her out and she went from weird, math-obsessed Marlowe to half of their school’s couple goals. Unfortunately, Marlowe was surprised when Josh dumped her because he’d prefer a girlfriend who was more romantic. One with emotional depth.

But Marlowe has never failed anything in her life, and she isn’t about to start now. When she’s paired with Ashton Hayes for an English project, his black clothing and moody eyeliner cause a bit of a systems overload, and the dissonant sounds of his rock band make her brain itch. But when she discovers Ash’s hidden stash of love songs, Marlowe makes a desperate deal to unleash her inner romantic heroine: if Ash will agree to help her write some love letters, she’ll calculate the perfect data analytics formula to make Ash’s band go viral.

As the semester heats up with yearning love notes and late nights spent with a boy who escapes any box her brain tries to put him in, Marlowe starts to question if there’s really a set solution to love. Could a girl who has never met a problem she couldn’t solve have gotten the math so massively wrong?

Thank you to Wednesday Books for the eARC and LibroFM for the audiobook.

A BIT OF A LETDOWN.

I loved the authors previous book and it had made me all the more excited to pick this one up, and I’m not quite sure what to do about my thoughts.

My biggest issue was that for 90% of the book it was focused on the FMC getting back together with her ex. This left very little room for the new relationship to form and for a spark of true chemistry to be there. I was so tired of the constant focus on her ex.

I did like the general themes. I loved the acknowledgment of the power of romance books and how we can all love in our own ways and how important that part of our selves is. I liked the tight friendship group for Marlowe and a realistic family life too.

Overall audience notes:

YA Contemporary Romance
Language: low
Romance: kisses

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ARC Book Review: Into the Fire (Into the Churn #2) by Hayley Reese Chow

May 23, 2024April 26, 2024 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: YA Sci-Fi
Length: 380 pages
Author: Hayley Reese Chow
Publisher: Whimsical Publishing
Release Date: May 21st, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

The finish line was only the beginning.

Champion race royalers Ezren Hart and Foster Sterling never dreamed winning the Belethea Race Royale and solving their teammate’s murder would only be the start of their troubles. With legal proceedings taking an unfortunate turn, accusations of a sham race, and a divided Belethea of warring ideals, they find themselves in the middle of a storm once again.

However, when a mysterious private investigator shows up at their doorstep with news that Ezren’s long-missing father’s life hangs in the balance, she doesn’t hesitate to chart their course to the incendiary moon of Otho despite Foster’s misgivings. But after political violence separates the pair before they even get off the ground, Foster scrapes together a crew to go after her.

While Ezren and Foster race toward Otho, the growing ripples of corruption bring the system to the brink of war with the two of them balanced on the tipping point. As they run, drive, and fight across an explosive land scarred with bullets and death, they’ll have to decide what sacrifices they’re willing to make for a dangerous discovery in a world prepared to silence their voices forever.

Because on Otho, there are no winners—only survivors.

Thank you to Whimsical Publishing for the eARC.

LOVE.

I am just smitten with this duo y’all. I adore Ezren and Foster and I can’t tell y’all how much I LOVED that they WORKED TOGETHER. Bless the fact that there wasn’t ridiculous drama between the main couple. There was still tension and romance, it was just formulated differently and I was able to fall in love with them more because of it. The outside forces caused the chaos and had me gripping my kindle needing to know who made it out alive.

I liked the continuation of the story too. There’s a bit more politicking and interweaving of keeping friends close and enemies closer. I liked the switching sides and the newly added characters too. I love the found family and tight knit friendships. I love the high level of action and seeing the expansion of the world and systems. I felt lots of emotions and loved seeing the familial reconnections woven throughout too.

This was a full story (not a standalone though, definitely read book one first, which I also loved), but there was some room to continue as well. I would definitely read the next book.

Overall audience notes:

YA Sci-Fi
Language: low
Romance: kisses
Violence: moderate
Content Warnings: gun violence, near death experiences, volcanic eruption

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Book Review: Flowerheart by Catherine Bakewell

May 6, 2024April 9, 2023 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★
Audience: YA Fantasy Romance
Length: 352 pages
Author: Catherine Bakewell
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: March 14th, 2023
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Perfect for fans of Margaret Rogerson and Tamora Pierce, this standalone YA debut is a stunning cottagecore fantasy romance about a girl with powerful and violent magic, which she must learn to control—or lose everything she loves.

Clara’s magic has always been wild. But it’s never been dangerous. Then a simple touch causes poisonous flowers to bloom in her father’s chest.

The only way to heal him is to cast an extremely difficult spell that requires perfect control. And the only person willing to help is her former best friend, Xavier, who’s grown from a sweet, shy child into a mysterious and distant young man.

Xavier names a terrible price in return, knowing Clara will give anything to save her father. As she struggles to reconcile the new Xavier with the boy she once loved, she discovers their bargain is only one of the heavy secrets he’s hiding. And as she hunts for the truth, she instead finds the root of a terrible darkness that’s taken hold in the queendom—a darkness only Clara’s magic is powerful enough to stop.

MEH.

I admit the beautiful cover sucked me in, even though I had friends give this book the same rating I just did. I was still hopeful. OH WELL.

The general idea of this book was fine. And the characters were also that, just fine. Setting, magic, world building. FINE (see where I’m going with this?). The entire book needed much more expansion of all the ideas. Too many things felt small or rushed for the sake of completing the story in one book and I don’t think the overall plot was strong enough to carry it through.

I liked the romance. It was a kind of cute second chance trope that caught my attention. Things moved super fast (my usual issue in standalone fantasies), besides that though, I did like how things wrapped up. It was a good ending and I was happy to see some necessary things resolved.

Darn you gorgeous cover artists.

Overall audience notes: