a_stylish_bookworm's Reviews (1.53k)

This was a great debut thriller. Sloan is always lying and ends up being a nanny to a couple that seems to have everything. She got this job through her lies .

The story is entertaining and kept me interested. I will say that this book's plot felt too similar to The Last Mrs. Parrish so the twists was something I was expecting. 

The ending was just a bit unrealistic for me. 

Thank you @gallerybooks for a copy of the book.

Thank you @berkleyromance @prhaudio for a copy of this audiobook. 

This was just so much fun!! This was a tribute to book lovers and total You've Got Mail vibes. I love that it is Ryan that is the romance book lover and not Josie. The banter and hate is just perfection. 

I adore the messages exchange between Josie and RJ and how they connected. 

I am not a fan when a story focuses on someone's attribute the whole story and they did that with Ryan's height. I swear I heard about his height in every chapter. 

Karissa Vacker and Brandon Francis brought the fun and the tension to life.

DNF at 5%. I was not expecting magical realism in this story and it didn't feel right in this setting. I lost interest once that was introduced. 

Thank you @atriabooks for a copy of this book.

This was fun novella with theme of second chance romance set in a small town. It was cute and I wanted more depth. It's always tough with a novella to get more character development. 

Savannah Peachwood and Sebastian York are some of my favorite narrators and did a great job.

I have never seen Kristen on Top Ched but was familiar with who she was and was curious about her memoir. It was interesting to hear about a female working in the restaurant industry and how male dominated it is. 

I love her hard work and dedication to the craft and would love to try Arlo restaurant one day. 

This was a fun rockstar romance between Alessandra and Fish. They meet at a party and have an instant connection, unfortunately, Alessandra is moving away for school and Fish is in a popular band. 

I liked that they kept in touch and their convos were great. It was just a little too sweet for me and they went from acquaintances to boyfriend and girlfriend so quickly. 

I did like how supportive Fish was on Alessandra's career as well. It was fun to see other characters from her other books play a part in this story. 

Andi Arndt and Tim Paige did a great job on narration. 

Thank you @hambright_pr for a copy of the audiobook.

This was a fun retelling of Mulan. I liked the setting of the ranch and the shenanigans that Mulan got in. I liked that Mulan was such a strong FMC and had to fight the patriarchy of Shang's family. Her relationship with her family was also endearing. 

Mushu, Mulan's cousin, gave the book so much humor. Changs family was chaotic and some were more lovable that others. I liked that Chang was also trying to fight the stereotypes of what a man or woman should be doing. 

I am not a fan of insta love and this felt like that a bit much with them spending a few days together at the ranch. 

Thank you @hyperionbooks @netgalley for a copy of the book.

I always appreciate a story with family drama. Duc Tran, who owns a chain of Vietnamese sandwich shops, is retiring and passing his inheritance to his kids through a year long challenge to make their sandwich shop profitable. 

Duc has 5 children, a younger 2nd wife and the mother of his kids left the family many years ago. The story is told in the 5 kids POV as they take on the challenge and at the same time goes through a growth journey as well. 

There's a bit of a mystery on where did Duc go and also where is the mother of the kids. In addition to the 5 kids's timeline, we also have Connie, Duc's current wife and the Duc's lawyer/friend's POV. 

I enjoyed the past story between Duc and his friend and how their struggles as immigrants. The themes of the story about family, rediscovering your roots and self discovery was well done. 

With so many POV, I felt I did not get to know any of the characters too deeply. I did enjoy Vyvy Nguyen and David Lee Huynh's narration. 

Thank you @atriabooks @simon.audio for a copy of the book.

This was a fun thriller with major crazy ex-girlfriend vibes with Jane. She is over the top obsessed with Colin who she believes is her soulmate. Her actions are totally questionable and even more so when she befriends Colin's GF, Zoe. 

The thriller is twisty and entertaining. Michelle H. Lee did a great job on the narration. 

Thank you @macmillan.audio @minotaur_books for a copy of this.

Thank you @prhaudio for the audiobook. 

I saw a clip of Oprah in tears meeting Ocean Vuong because of this book so I was curious about it. This was a beautiful book about people living on the fringe and the life they have. Hai is 19 year old addict that dropped out of medical school and is done on his luck when he meets Grazina who is an elderly living along. She invites him to live with her in exchange for care. I love their relationship and how he understood her. 

The found family theme is strong throughout the story with Hai's coworkers at the fast food restaurant. Each side character added so much depth to the story. I adore Sony and how everyone took care of him.

The story is very sad with themes of poverty, drug use,Alzheimer's and broken family. Voung does a great job still making it hopeful despite these themes. 

James Aaron Oh did a phenomenal job with all the voices of each character and brought all the characters to life.