The only reason I am taking a half star off is because the constant clothing descriptions (while I understand why they were important) just seemed EXTREMELY excessive and also inaccessible for folks who aren't "sitting on $800M"  or have a knowledge of designer clothes. Otherwise, I loved this book.

If you don't like pop culture references, you won't like this book. If you like them (or can at least handle them) and are looking for a contemporary book exploring a complex relationship, this is for you. Don't let the cover fool you, even if it's giving Inheritance Games vibes!

We are following Magnolia Parks, London society's IT girl. Her latest relationship ended and she's back in a cycle with her on again/off again guy, BJ Ballentine. BJ broke Magonlia's trust and heart years ago, but they're going to see where their relationship could go. You learn about their entire friend group, end up rooting for both sides, and the ending will break you.

I will admit, I did kind of guess the ending, but talked myself out of it. So even though I guessed it, I could not anticipate the exact way the twist was going to land and it landed SO well. I instantly ordered the other two books. I would highly recommend it.

Freida honestly does it again for me. I adored the first book, was a little nervous the series would be a bit repetitive, but I was WRONG. I would definitely check the content warnings before reading, but if you can handle The Housemaid, you'll really enjoy this book as well.

We follow Millie, who is in NYC properly, not a suburb, as she goes to school for social work, dates a lawyer, and still works for the upper class. After getting fired from her latest gig, a man named Douglas Garrick contacts her for help. However, Douglas's wife, Wendy, seems to be trapped in the upstairs room. Mille, of course, thinks this woman needs her help ASAP.

Millie doesn't necessarily want to hurt Douglas and wants to help Wendy escape, but without Enzo around to help Millie, she's stuck between a rock and a hard place. Can she save Wendy or will her string of helping women end with Douglas?

I could not predict the majority of twists in this book, I was left wondering what happened until the VERY last page. I cannot recommend this book enough for thriller lovers.

This series has an absolute chokehold on me. Not a day goes by where I don't thinks about some of the scene throughout the series. For Court, however, this was a little chaotic for me. There is so much traveling, so much action, and I feel like a lot of questions for a book that felt like the initial end of the series, which is why it loses a star for me.

We are following Grace and the usual crew as they have to rescue the kids of Katmere Academy from Hudson and Jaxon's dad, Cryus. Eleven kids vs the entire Vampire court/army, what could go wrong...? This book has the most travel out of any book in my opinion. Grace learns more about her role as Gargoyle Queen, but her people don't necessarily respect her. Grace also goes through another journey of learning she's more than just a gargoyle, which I feel like takes this book from a magical realism book to a true fantasy book (which I LIKED but others don't).

The chapter titles hit every time (they always make me laugh), but if you don't like puns, dry humor, and pop culture references, this won't be the book (or series) for you.

I overall really enjoyed this book; however, the ending was a bit too much information thrown at you all at one, without a ton of processing time, and I feel like I needed more time to process the information before new information was continuously given. Otherwise, I really enjoyed this.

We are following Bree Matthews as she moves to UNC Chapel Hill for an early college program with her BFF Alice Chen. Bree wanted to do this because her mother graduated from college here. Her mother recently died and Bree has to try to come to terms with her death while moving forward with her life.

However, Bree discovers she's not an average kid anymore when she stumbles upon a demon attack. Bree gets sucked into a magical world of the Order and the Knights of the Round Table. However, there's another faction that also uses magic, but is terrified of the Order. Bree belongs to boh of these worlds after partnering up with an Order member to try and figure out why her mother died.

I cared about every character, thought it was pretty fast paced, loved the world building, and cannot wait to read more!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. If you don't like pop culture references, the Bachelor, or your cliche fairytale, this isn't the book for you. BUT if you love (or don't mind) all those details above, I would highly recommend this.

This is a contemporary re-telling of Cinderella, with less of the sadness that comes with the original story. In the original story, the step-mother and step-sisters are atrocious, but that's not the case here. 

We are following Cindy, a SHOE designer, as she goes back home to California after graduating from Parson's in NYC. She's going back to nanny 3 of her younger step-siblings. Her step-mother supports her, while also producing the biggest show of their time: Before Midnight. When some contestants drop out of Before Midnight, another producer, who seems like a fairy godmother to Cindy, steps in and brings Cinder and her 2 step-sisters onto the show.

The suitor of the show? Someone Cindy actually had a cute run in with. If you know the story of Cinderella, you know where this is going! The only reason this loses a half star for me is I did not like how the suitor acted at the end of the book. It didn't really make sense with his character from the rest of the book and still bugs me, but I would still recommend this book!

Thank you to Camel Press for an ARC of A Half-Baked Murder.

4/5 stars.

Part of the reason for a high star rating for me is that I could relate to Chloe immensly. She's a 28 year old who just left Paris, her dream location where she was working her way up to be a pastry chef, to take care of her grandmother with cancer. It's a complete change she wasn't expecting in her life and I feel like I'm in that same headspace.

Chloe discovers that she can cook cannabis-infused pasties and they help her grandmother with pain relief! Her aunt Dawn loves the pastries too and convinces Chloe to open a cannabis cafe. This is the first cozy mystery I've read where the shop is not open during the mystery and the entire backstory for that was interesting. However, Aunt Dawn is the prime suspect in a murder in this small town. Chloe has to juggling adjusting to her life in the states, taking care of her grandmother, and helping to clear Aunt Dawn's name.

Why I took off a whole star was for 2 reasons: first, there was a random subplot starts like 6 hours into the book that (while it was cute) felt clunky and unnecessary, slowing the pace of the book for me. Second, the ending of the book when a suspect is clear just left a bad taste in my mouth, especially considering this a modern day book? I don't fully know how to explain it, but I just think the reasoning seems a bit archaic considering what we know about the character.

Overall, I enjoyed the pacing, characters, learning about the town, and the action in this book considering it's a cozy mystery. The audiobook narrator was great so I would recommend either a physical or audiobook copy of this book!

Thank you to Feiwel & Friends for the advanced listener copy. For me, I would instantly recommend the physical copy of this book and not the audiobook. I did not feel like the audiobook narrator changed voices enough, I found myself confused over who was talking, and that took away from the experience. If you are considering reading this, I would not recommend the audiobook.

HOWEVER, I would recommend this story overall. Kalynn was masterful in her retelling and that kept me listening to the story. This is a retelling of the classic tale of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, but as a queer, bipoc romance (at least, that is what I got out of it.)

We follow Gabriel Utterson, who in this story is a boy we follow from ages 15-17 as he studies in London, first in medicine then in law. Gabriel becomes enamored with Henry Jekyll, a boy he meets in school and in his boarding house. However, after an incident in the medical school that causes Gabriel to switch to law, Henry disappears and strange occurrences begin to happen, including a person named Hyde appearing to come and go from the Jekyll house as he pleases.

I loved the ending, but this was pretty slow paced in the middle. I would give the audiobook a 3/5 stars, but would recommend the physical copy of this book.

Thank you to the publisher and Lesley for an ARC of The Mistress Next Door.

This is definitely a slow-burn thriller that starts and ends with a bang. I was very engaged in the beginning and end, but the middle was a bit hard to get through.

We are following Harriet as she has sneaking suspicions about her husband. However, that's not her only mystery. Someone is also leaving her threatening notes about the past. Not to mention, Harriet has 3 children at home and just lost her nanny, while trying to start up her small children's clothing business.

There are some jumps in time in the book that personally did not seem necessary. I also saw very few twists coming, the majority of those were due to hidden clues (of course) but some seem plucked out of thin air?

I enjoyed the overall story, the characters, learning all about the neighborhood, and I thought the overall world was fascinating. 

Expanding in the Jasmine Guillory Wedding Date universe, we are focusing on Maddie's mom this time around: Vivian Forest. Maddie gets an opportunity to work fo the Duchess in England over Christmas break and invites her mother along. Vivian joins and meets a stunning member of the queen's staff: Malcom Hudson. The two hit it off and navigate the ups and downs of a vacation (and potentially long distance) relationship.

For me, this was lacking the usual subplots that I love in Jasmine Guillory's books. HOWEVER, I did almost tear up during some of the Vivian/Malcom interactions, and loved reading from an older perspective of a MC in this universe.

I would definitely recommend. I feel like you could read this one at any time, but reading this series in order does help. Others in the series don't have as much flexibility as Royal Holiday does to me.

Definitely check content warnings before reading this book.

As a HUGE thriller/mystery reader, this was wonderful.

It was a page turner, read in one sitting. I couldn't figure out all of the twists along the way and enjoyed the entire ride. 

We follow Millie, someone who just got out of prison from an unknown reason as she gets hired by the Winchesters: Nina, Adam, and their daughter Cecelia. She has to navigate all of their requests and relationships with each person, while trying to figure out why the house is constantly a mess.

This does have multiple perspectives which I was surprised by but thoroughly enjoyed. It will definitely keep you up reading until all of your questions have been answered.

Can't wait for the second one!