I wanted to really like this book. While the plot was your typical friends to lovers romance trope it was overall enjoyable. However, towards the beginning of the book the authors had the main character, Molly, explaining why she was uncomfortable with a male roommate and in doing so the authors insinuated anyone who is gay, a lesbian or bisexual is attracted to everyone of that gender. This is a harmful stereotype the LGBT community faces and while I don’t think the authors intended to include a stereotype in their book, they did. It also skewed any other time the authors mention/referenced being gay, which seemed odd to begin with because they did not include a character from the LGBT community. All of this made the book kind of uncomfortable, because it was something I had in the back of mind the entire story.

Most the books these two authors write I find enjoyable, but this book makes it clear they need to work on not having negative stereotypes in their books and include a more diverse cast of characters. I don’t know if any of the books they have written include any diverse characters. One positive aspect of this book, is I will now be taking a more critical eye to the books these women write in the future and need to rethink my recommendations of them.

Overall, I give the book three stars, but will not be rereading.

I really wanted to like this book. I've seen it all over TikTok, but unfortunately, I don't think it lives up to the hype. I liked the storyline, and the characters were fine, but my main issue is the author summarizes the story instead of describing it. The author tells not shows, and it left me wanting more. This book did not have enough details or depth to the story, and everything felt very surf level. Even the parts of the book I liked did not have enough detail. The relationship in the book felt very realistic, and the author includes real-life conversations such as Alexa asking Drew if she would be the only black person in the room. These conversations would only be a sentence or two and then never were brought up again. This book had a lot of potential, but overall just fell flat. I give it 2.5 stars.

I highly recommend the Daughter of the Pirate King duology to all YA readers who love Pirates of the Caribbean. Daughter of the Siren Queen was a good finish to the series. While I do still have some unanswered questions, particularly pertaining to the relationship between Alosa’s father and mother, the author creates a strong story and is not afraid to write darker scenes. When I first started this series, I was afraid the author would would not right a true pirate book, with softening the harsh pirate life. The author did not do this and was not afraid to write ruthless characters emerged in a life of crime and death. The siren aspect of this story was gripping, but I do wish the author dived deeper into Alosa’s siren and it’s difference from other sirens. If the author wants to write an entire siren series, I would definitely pick that book up! I give the series 4.5 stars and recommend to many other readers who enjoy the ya genre!

I really enjoyed this book. It is an own voice's book. The main character Stella is an autistic woman who is looking to find love and finds it in a Vietnamese man name Michael who works as an escort. The author did a great job allowing readers to really see how autistic people think and feel. This book is sex-positive and sex worker-positive. The author never shames Michael for being a sex worker, and Stella never shames Michael for being a sex worker. I loved this book. It was very spicy and graphic. If that's not something you enjoy reading, I would not recommend this book to you. Overall, I give this book 4 stars, and I cannot wait for the author to release the next book in the story.

Helen Hoang wrote an excellent spin-off in the Kiss Quotient series. This book follows Michael's cousin Kai, an autistic man, and Esme, a single mom living in Vietnam. Kai's mother attempts to matchmake and brings Esme to the United States in hopes of Kai and Esme falling in love. Esme is an incredibly likable protagonist, and Kai is a complex man who tries to keep people emotionally distant in an attempt not to get hurt or hurt others. There were several plot holes in the story compared to the first book in the series. Hoang never says what Kai does for a living, but does insinuate that he is rich and owns his own company. Stella doesn't know this and never learns, but assumes he is poor the entire book. It feels like a weird thing to add; but then never address. Stella also does not tell Kai she has a child for the entire book. I think it would have made a more compelling story to tell Kai earlier. The author also manages to oversimplify the US immigration processes, but mainly towards the end of the book. Hoang just skips over the entire process; despite talking about it for a majority of the novel.

Overall, I give this book 4 stars and can't wait to read the sequel.

I was surprised at how much I liked enjoyed this book. After seeing it all over TikTok, I was worried that the book would be a modern teenager playing pirate, but that was not the case. This is a pirate novel. Alosa is a pirate captain who runs a crew of female pirates under the flag of her father, the pirate king. Alosa is a strong character, who is constantly underestimated by her male counterparts. She is sent undercover by her father to find a map hidden by a pirate rival. There is a romance with a rival pirate and supportive female crew. If you like Pirates of the Caribbean and YA novels this book is for you. I give it 4.5 stars!

Maniscalco wrote an excellent follow-up to the first book in this series. She manages to recreate the magic found in Stalking Jack the Ripper. Audrey Rose grows as a character, and Thomas Cresswell is far more likable in this book than in the first novel! Audrey and Thomas head to Romania to attend a forensic school, where they are met with a thrilling mystery surrounding Dracula. The mystery was exciting and hard to crack. I like that while Audrey Rose and Thomas have good deduction skills and are skilled in forensic, they are fallible and make mistakes throughout the cases, making the mystery hard to solve. The relationship between the two main characters also grows with each book developing off the last rather than a stagnant relationship. Overall, I give the book 4 stars and can't wait to read the next one in the series!

When I first saw this book, I was very excited to read it. The cover is absolutely gorgeous, and it pulled me in right away. The storyline seemed very interesting, but it's not the story I thought it would be. When I first started reading this book, I did have to take a break after 100 pages; because it was sad, and I wasn’t in the right frame of mind. The story talks a lot about purity culture and the oppression of women in society. I was intrigued by the story right away and was captivated by the first couple of pages. Overall, I don’t know if I liked the book as much as I wanted to. This is mainly because of how the plot developed.

I could’ve never guessed the ending of the story, and is so different from what I would've thought. The author also doesn’t create a lot of situations for the reader to connect with secondary characters. I often forget about them and would not remember their backstories until it’s brought up again. There are only a few exceptions to this.

The author also doesn’t create a sense of time in this book. Time is clearly passing because the characters are training and strengthening, but how much time passes is very unclear. Also, new recruits are continuously coming into the location, so that creates a lot of confusion; because I thought the purity test only occurred twice a year. The characters start as neophytes but somewhere become novices. The timeline doesn’t make a lot of sense.

By the ending of the book, I had multiple questions. Not questions that will be answered in the next book; instead questions caused by possible plot holes. I also do not understand what the Death Strikes look like; whatever, I’m picturing in my head is not how they physically appear. The author doesn't do a good job of describing what they look like and how they move, and this created a lot of confusion for me throughout the story.

This book wrapped up very quickly and easily. However, there is another book in the series, and this feels unnecessary. The author adds the possibility of a future conflict at the very end of the novel, but she wrapped up the conflict so quickly, the future conflicts feel inauthentic.

While this book isn’t bad, it’s also not what I thought it was gonna be. It just took a random turn 3/5 of the way in, so I don’t like it as much as I anticipated. I also don’t dislike it; it’s just really different. I’m giving the book 3 1/2 stars. Mainly because I don’t know where the story is going, and I'm not sure it needs to continue in another book

The Marriage Game is only okay. Layla is a likable character who wants to change her life by starting her own business and finding her Wesley. However, Sam, the book's hero, is unlikable. While Sam has a hard exterior but a good heart, I don't think the author intended for Sam to be unlikeable. The relationship between the two characters often led to uncomfortable banter or comments. Sam surrounds himself with friends who are rude and unlikeable and is still in those relationships at the end of the book. Sam was so unlikable that I wasn't rooting for his and Layla's relationship, and I would not have forgiven Sam if I was Layla.

The author also wrote several legal scenarios that are unrealistic. Most of these scenarios are major plot points of the book. I like realism in my contemporary romance. Layla's parent restaurant Michelin Star, felt unnecessary because the reader never got that back story. The restaurant's poor location doesn't make a lot of sense because they should have been extremely busy during lunch hours if they are the only restaurant in the surrounding area.

I enjoyed Layla's family, and all of the dates were very funny. They were honestly the best part of the book. I give the book 3 stars. I wanted a really cute Desi romance, and I didn't get that.

Excellent book. I listened to the audiobook and the narrator did a great job. The romance between Felix and Ezra wasn't my favorite, because it wasn't developed enough. Felix is a great character trying to figure out his gender identity. The author wasn't afraid to write about problems within the LGBTQ community and demonstrates that the community is not a monolith. Felix experiences transphobia from both within the LGBTQ community and from without. I give the book 4.5 stars and will definitely be reading other works by Callender.