Georgia finds out her fiancee has been keeping a huge secret from her, a week before her wedding. She discovers this secret while at her last bridal dress fitting and runs home, dress and all, to her family's vineyard. Looking for the comforts of family and home, Georgia instead finds that Ben's secret isn't the only one waiting to be let out.

I thought this was OK. I read it quickly, and enjoyed the bits of knowledge about wine-making, but found Georgia to be a fairly shallow character. The romance aspect of the book irked me, and everything ended up a bit too perfectly. Fine for a day at the beach or a night on a porch.

Reading this book was like eating a big ol' fast food meal. It goes down real tasty, but when you think about why you liked it, you feel sort of bad. Whatever. It was basically a ridiculous plot revolving around a hot, older, rich man falling for a quirky intern and boning her brains out. The sex scenes were pretty hot.

I listened to the audiobook, and Wil Wheaton's narration is spot on. I've upped my overall review of the book to 4 stars because I had a damn good time listening to this during my daily commute. I still wish Cline had done more with this, because I think he really had something with the

idea of the government using video games to secretly train an army to fly drones

.

Let's be honest. I LOVED [b:Ready Player One|9969571|Ready Player One|Ernest Cline|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1406383612s/9969571.jpg|14863741]. It is my favorite audiobook of all time, one I press on any willing soul who'll listen. So, Armada had a lot to live up to. I had fun reading it and I'm super looking forward to hearing it narrated by [a:Wil Wheaton|37075|Wil Wheaton|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1356706649p2/37075.jpg] (same narrator as RPO).

That said, I think the reason I LOVED Ready Player One versus my more lukewarm reaction to Armada is related to the type of video gamer I am. When I do play video games (which is rare post-N64) I like puzzle solvers, RPGs, or "second lives." These type of games don't rely on reflex or other players much like in RPO which is set in a fictional reality called the Oayses. I think gamers who enjoy massive online games, like World of Warcraft, or those who like first person shooters and games like X-Wing Rogue Squadron or Mech Warrior will LOVE Armada.

Still super enjoyable, I was so pleased when I could say "I got that reference" and I loved how Cline was tweaking his nose at the "Video Gamers save the world" tropes prevalent in pop culture. I just wanted more; more depth, more character development, and more time.

I'll save the rest of my thoughts for after I listen to the audiobook.

Thank you to Read it Forward for the free copy of Armada!

Imagine a fairy-tale version of Eastern Europe, where small hamlets edge an evil Wood and a wizard named The Dragon broods in a tower.

The Dragon takes one maiden from Agniezka's village every ten years. No one knows why and when the girls return after their ten years of servitude they only say The Dragon never touched them and they swiftly move away to new lives away from the village and the wood.

Agniezka is one of the Dragon-Year girls, but everyone knows that beautiful, patient, and talented Kasia will be the one he takes. Except he doesn't.

Despite her clumsiness, her unkempt hair, her messy clothes, the Dragon chooses Agniezka. Feeling scared and unprepared, Agniezka doesn't understand her role in the tower, nor why she was chosen. The Dragon doesn't seem to need her as a servant, and when he does summon her all she does is irritate him.

That is, until Agniezka discovers she may in fact have powers of her own.

I really enjoyed this tale. It is a trope-defying fairy tale, where the leading lady discovers she has powers, but that her powers are at the best when she is herself and does things her way. The romance, which is slight, is built on mutual respect.

And man, the Wood is CREEP-TASTIC. I won't say too much, but think of a demonic possession that can happen just by breathing the air. No thank you.

Highly recommend.



An enchanting fairy tale for adults. Full review to come.

Delia and Paul have been together for ten years. They have a delightfully goofy old dog named Parsnip, a lovely house, and are comfortably happy. Delia loves Paul and is ready for marriage. She even has the ring picked out and the money saved to buy it, and so goes ahead and proposes. While out celebrating their engagement, Delia receives a text message from Paul, but it isn't for her. It's for his secret lover.

Thus launches a delightfully quirky romance story about a woman who decides comfortable isn't quite good enough for her anymore. There's a crazy boss, a charmingly annoying reporter, and a fun cast of supporting characters.

What kept me from LOVING this was

the sort of creepy friendship Delia develops with an online troll who turns out to have a heart of gold. Really? Also, the take down of her her shady boss and her shady new job took up way more time then developing her relationship with the guy she ends up with.

To be perfectly honest, if this book wasn't set in Milwaukee I'm not sure how I would have liked it. The overall arc of the romance was a bit shallow and I wanted a bit more depth to the main characters, chef Lou and the "Sardonic British transplant" Al. They were really cute and I rooted for them, but found a bunch of things a little too unbelievable

especially the fact they both are okay with hiding what they do for a living while 'dating' and how quickly Lou goes from being engaged to her shitty fiancee to being over it. Yes, he's shitty, but he's almost too shitty to make it believable that she was with him in the first place.'

That said, Reichert excels at making Milwaukee seem like a culinary delight, a place everyone should want to visit, or maybe even stay. She describes the pretty, shiny version of Milwaukee that we all wish it could be every day.

I'm curious to see how Non-Milwaukee and non-native Wisconsite's will review this book, because I'm certainly biased.

I would recommend for a quick read while camping or commuting.

Maybe I need to try harder to become "one with the universe," but this did not speak to me. I wasn't very inspired by the assignments nor the illustrations. And call me juvenile, but to title a chapter "Start yourself on Fire!" just made me laugh and think what if someone ACTUALLY set themselves on fire because of this book?!

An intriguing start to a new series, there were many things I loved about The Highway Man, and a few details that irked me.

There was a refreshing difference to this romance, including Farah's job at Scotland Yard and the fact Dorian is the one with a damaged heart, body, and soul (and huge sexual hangups).

Slight spoilers ahead, but if you didn't realized this straight off, please.

What I didn't like was the absurd notion that Farah doesn't realize who Dorian is. He remembers her and can identify her as an adult instantly, but throw an eye patch on this guy and she has no clue. Seriously?

I think the overall love story would have been more satisfying for me if the characters had known each other better (not just based everything off a couple of weeks as children).

Still, a lot of fun. Recommend for those who also love [a:Sarah MacLean|1598076|Sarah MacLean|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1216068049p2/1598076.jpg]'s books.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC.

Finally, Zoe Stone sister to Wyatt and Emily from previous books, has the house to herself. Trouble is, she's lonely, broke, and can't admit she might not be able to take care of it all herself. When she offers to let a friend of Wyatt's room with her for the summer, she figures all Forestry Agent Parker will need is a room and her skills as a private pilot.

When she mistakes Parker for her blind date and lays a smoochie on him at the door, sparks fly. Zoe's summer may be interesting then she could have hoped for.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

A super fun audiobook for the work commute. Ansari did an excellent job narrating, and I found his insights into Modern Romance thoughtfully researched, cited, and explained. I've also read [b:Dataclysm: Who We Are|21480734|Dataclysm Who We Are (When We Think No One's Looking)|Christian Rudder|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1407763834s/21480734.jpg|40787528] and found that a lot of the topics covered felt quite similar.

Worth a listen!