aftereliza's Reviews (946)

Rachel Ryan is a copywriter at a marketing agency, finding no luck in love and still living with her best friend from University in a two-bed in London. Rachel starts the story writing New Year's Resolutions to improve herself and her life when she realises she dislikes how much copy she has to write about vegetables, how Anna is due to get engaged to her boyfriend of four years any day now and she will inevitably have to move out, and how all her exes have either been douches or dull as dishwater since her cheating ex-boyfriend Jack from University. Everything changes when Jack starts working at the same company and they end up having to manage projects together, on top of the fact that she's recently single and her most recent ex-boyfriend is stalking her, begging to get back together and not taking her no for an answer. With a fun group of people at her job and friends, we can see how Rachel attempts to complete her resolutions, but with added complications along the way.
I absolutely loved this novel. Rachel Ryan was a fun, fiery protagonist and her cast of friends were multi-faceted and well developed. While the way they were described or characterised at the start may have felt a little trope-y, Starkey truly fleshed them out into complex characters with flaws, individual goals and it made them more realistic and human. It made me want to be a part of her friend group, meet up at The Hope every Friday night and partake in their fun.  
My favourite parts of the novel were Rachel's animosity with Jack at work, which brings up old insecurities and that was really interesting to delve into and see how it all broke down back at university. I also loved her catch ups with Greg, which started out as the gay-best friend trope, but really developed it further into a meaningful, supportive friendship, with only a touch of flamboyance. I also really loved her friendship with Will, Anna's boyfriend, and Tom, his roommate, because in every friendship group, there are always individual relationships that are different from the group dynamic and I was really pleased to see how Starkey showed those. 
All in all, this book was a breath of fresh air in the contemporary rom-com genre. It took age-old tropes and situations, everything from enemies-to-lovers, fake relationships, the GBF, forced proximity and all, and spun them in new, funny and original ways. The main character had a strong personality to her but she still developed over the course of the book and you can see her developments through the resolution lists that preface chapters. I would shout about this book from the rooftops and recommend it to all my friends who would love a substantial feel-good romcom with a strong female protagonist, a great and supportive friend group, three love interests and real character development. 
I have to say a great big thank you to Jen from Embla Books @emblabooks for including me in this book tour and giving me a chance to read and promote this incredible book through @NetGalley. This book was gifted, but the review is completely honest, I loved it just that much. I look forward to the rest of the blog tour leading up to the pub day and reading what everyone else has to say about it!

One Night Only is a fun premise about how you never think you'll see your one night stand again, but then the world ends up being a lot smaller than you expect. Sarah and Declan end up meeting at a bar, sleeping together and then going their separate ways, just shortly before Sarah's friend's wedding. When Sarah arrives at the venue in a rural town in Ireland, she comes face to face with Declan, but now as the brother of the groom. Cue a series of meet-cutes, more heavy flirting, and secrets that come out about both of their pasts. Would their fateful meeting be enough to start a relationship or would it end there? 
Walsh does her very best to write new takes on existing rom-com tropes and to keep the reader on their toes. I think she developed realistic character flaws, made their interactions interesting and fiery, and filled out the supporting cast really successfully. The narrator did a fantastic job, with excellent Irish accents and distinct voices. I would definitely recommend this to any romance and rom-com lovers, as the characters were funny, when placed into tricky situations and in dialogue, but genuine and sweet when around each other and it made me swoon. 
QOTD: What is your favourite rom-com? I can never get over The Proposal.

This book had me hooked from the start to the very end. I loved that TJR gave us little hints and teased us along the way with foreshadowing and then I got to see how the full picture came together right at the end and no sooner. The characters were loveable, each with their own distinct personality, flaws, and goals and it just made you root for them all the more. June’s story broke my heart, especially when there were parallels to Nina. I feel like if I knew these characters in real life, as people, I would be very proud of how far they’ve come from the start. 

This is absolutely THE summer read of 2021. It’s perfect for sitting at the beach, staying up late and rising early. It makes you laugh, cry, and feel a lot more than you ever expected. I loved the vintage touches and throwbacks to the 50s and 60s and it feels like there’s a whole lot more story to tell with Kit, Hud and Casey especially. While I haven’t read Daisy Jones yet, I am 10.% confident in saying this is TJR’s masterpiece, her best work to date!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Review - The Authenticity Project by Clare Pooley @clare_pooley⁠ ⁠ This book lulls you into a false sense of security by pretending it's just a sweet little book about a notebook pulling a community together but it ends up looking into a lot of messy problems people come across in life, with plenty of plot twists, surprises and heart-wrenching moments. I absolutely loved how unique all the characters were and how they were all struggling trying to live up to expectations, whether the expectations were their own or someone else's of how they should live. It just goes to show that no matter how bad you think the situation is, talking to someone else could help you get it out or ask for help to resolve it. It's an important message to keep in mind and remind yourself of on a regular basis. It's easily one of my top books in 2021 and it will be a firm staple on my shelf that I will be recommending to anyone and everyone.⁠ ⁠ This book is definitely one you need to have a nice cup of tea with, despite the fact that you'll be so engrossed in it that it will inevitably go cold. Otherwise, make your way to a cafe like Monica's, where someone can keep your mug topped up in regular intervals. ⁠ ⁠ QOTD: If you were writing an entry, what's something you'd write about? I think I would be somewhere between Monica and Alice, I have big expectations about where I should be or how I should present myself IRL and online, but very little idea about how to get there.

This was a really sweet book from two perspectives, Vera, who's racing towards a big deadline for her business launch and Cal, the guy who picked up the phone when she called customer service for her website issues. They talk on the phone for over 9 hours that first day, while Cal worked tirelessly day and night on fixing complex issues with the website before the big convention for Vera's debut, all the while dealing with his own family issues and while Vera feels the pressure from her family for this business venture to succeed and from her brother to date his best friend. The story of Vera and Cal is a fast-paced series of conversations over the phone and text, with one key email, and it takes place over the course of a week.

It's really fascinating to think about our conversations online and how they could be fateful and connect us to the right people. It was also about standing up for yourself, trying a variety of things before you find that one thing that's your calling and making sure you have the right kind of support from the people you care about most. I loved the plot and the trope, though some of the conversations seemed unrealistic and didn't read like how people talked. I will say that there was no shortage of miscommunication which I found slightly annoying due to the characters' awkwardness and inability to communicate clearly. I'd recommend it to anyone who loves a light-hearted, fast-paced romantic comedy, especially with conversations over digital means.