Confessions of a Former Puck Bunny is the fourth book in the adult sports romance taking shots series by Cindi Madsen. This book was a lot of fun. Each of the books in the series can be read as standalones. I have not read the first three books, but I have a feeling that I will really enjoy them after reading this one.

Confessions of a Former Puck Bunny has everything I am looking for in a sports romance. Great characters, witty dialogue, hot hockey players and a wonderful romance woven throughout. This novel twisted all kinds of tropes for me. There is a tutor, but in this case the tutor is the hockey player and the former puck bunny is the tutor-ee. I love a college romance.

Lindsay and Ryder jumped off the page for me. I love Cindi Madsen's romances because they seem to come alive before my eyes. I have a confession to make along with Lindsay...I loved reading about all of her hockey player kisses. Confessions of a Former Puck Bunny was everything I was looking for in a romance...and more.

The Bride Test is the second book in  The Kiss Quotient series by author Helen Hoang. I loved The Kiss Quotient, so I was super excited to read The Bride Test, and I have to tell you...I loved this book EVEN MORE! The Bride Test is a romantic comedy about two characters that will make you fall head over heels in love with them.  Helen Hoang is now a must read author for me because she knocked it out of the park two times in a row and I am just a little bit in love with her books and characters and romance. This book is everything I want in a romance, and is one that I will easily revisit time and time again just to fall in love once more with Khai and Esme. The books are each standlones but they are linked to characters from the other books. For example, Khai is Michael's cousin.

In The Bride Test, we meet our main characters Khai and Esme. Khai, just like Stella from The Kiss Quotient, is also on the autism spectrum, and he does not think he is capable of feeling romantic love for someone. So when his mom sets him up, he knows it is doomed for failure. Insert Esme. Esme is a hard worker from a poor part of Ho Chi Minh City, so when a well-to-do woman offers her the chance to marry her son in America, she knows she has to give it a shot for her family. Helen Hoang has a fantastic way with characters. I am not really sure how she does it, but I have fallen in love with all of her characters, both primary and secondary. Everyone is so fantastically developed, nuanced, unique and still so darn relatable that I think it is almost impossible to not fall in love with them. Esme is lovely. She tries so hard to get to know Khai and to do things for him that she thinks he will appreciate. She starts out with the intention of doing it to make her fall in love with him, but watching her fall for Khai warmed my heart. And Khai is great as well. I really enjoyed a deep dive in getting to know him throughout the story. He is an awesome guy!

The Bride Test is like sunshine and smiles in a novel. I enjoyed every page of this novel from start to finish, even the ugly and tough parts. It is one of those books that will put a smile on your face, no matter your mood. I also love that The Kiss Quotient series features characters that are on the autism spectrum. Helen Hoang handles this beautifully, Khai and Stella, though both on the spectrum, are nothing alike. This was perfect because it added a realistic element to their relate-ability, because being "on the spectrum" can mean and present itself in so many different ways. Not everyone on the spectrum is the same or acts the same. I am excited to read about more characters like Khai (and Stella from The Kiss Quotient) in romance novels! Overall, this romance was a ton of fun and super satisfying! I would recommend it to everyone because this book was easily one of my favorite reads of the year in the contemporary romance category. It was just so cute and romantic! The secondary characters were also great. This time around, I really enjoyed Quan, Khai's brother. I hope the next book in this series is about him!

I Hate You, Fuller James is a standalone young adult contemporary romance by Kelly Anne Blount. I really enjoyed this book. It was exactly what I was looking for at the moment, which is a lighthearted fun romance that made me smile. I Hate You, Fuller James was filled with great characters and a heartwarming relationship. I think it is perfect for fans sweet romances reminiscent of early 2000s teen rom coms, which are pretty much my favorite feel good movies.

In I Hate You, Fuller James we meet out main characters Wren and Fuller. (obviously) I loved Wren, and I really, really loved that her Grandfather who has Alzheimer's was living with her family. That was an unexpected element of the story that I really loved. In fact, both Wren and Fuller's families play a decent size role in the plot of this book, which I really appreciated. I loved seeing happy family units represented in young adult high school contemporaries, because we don't get to witness that too often. Yes, each family had struggles, but they faced them together.

The plot of I Hate You, Fuller James had plenty of classic elements that I enjoy reading in YA romances like Tutoring, high school mean girls and bets, but the storyline did not feel overdone. Particularly with the bet aspect, it was a new take on the trope. Instead of a fake relationship trope- this book has a a fake bet trope. Wren is super smart, so when the star basketball player on her uncles high school basketball team is failing English, he enlists Wren to help tutor him in private. Not wanting to upset the team that Fuller might not be able to play, they have to keep the arrangement under wraps. Watching Wren progress from vehemently hating Fuller James to becoming friends with him was a wonderful progression that made me laugh, made me smile and just made me flat out happy.

If you can't get enough of young adult contemporary romances, then you will want to check out I Hate You, Fuller James. This is a well done spin with plenty of classic elements that left me smiling and satisfied. I really enjoyed this book and I can't wait to read more from Kelly Anne Blount. I think you will fall for Fuller James!

Terraformer is a young adult science fiction/ dystopian novel by Colleen Houck. Terraformer is not like the typical books that I normally read. I don't read too many science fictions stories anymore, but I enjoyed this book, and it makes me want to venture outside of my comfort zone and read more dystopians and sci fis. (leave me recs of your favorites in the comments below!)

In Terraformer, our main character Astra boards a ship with her parents to travel to a distant planet, Crillain IV. The planet was supposed to be barren when they arrived, but instead they found it full of all kinds of plants, and covered with a lush forest. The world descriptions were interesting. The book is set in the future and there are heavy themes of pollution and waste that have destroyed our planet. But they were in for a big surprise on Crillain IV. The plant aspect of the story felt a little reminiscent of the movie, The Happening. (but don't worry, I enjoyed Terraformer a lot more than The Happening) When Astra wakes her parents are both gone and she is on this foreign planet pretty much by herself. (her brother is also there but he was acting strange pretty much from the moment that Astra wakes up.)

The romance starts pretty quickly in this story, which you all know I appreciated. There is a love triangle in Terraformer, between Astra, Thane and Jax. It seemed like everyone in this cast of characters had their own secrets. Some were surprising and some felt a bit contrived, but I enjoyed seeing how the secrets would fit into the overall plot. Terraformer is a science fiction, with some mystery elements woven in. The mystery of the planet, the mission they were on, and why people were turning up dead was what kept me reading. I also enjoyed the romance, but it didn't capture my attention as some of the other plotlines. Overall, this book was fun and felt like a good young adult science fiction that is all too relevant with the environmental themes. This was a good book. I enjoyed stepping out of my norm and now I am in the mood for some more young adult sci-fi with strong romantic elements.

Bottom line: If you are a fan of science fiction and romance, you will enjoy Terraformer.

This was a hard one for me to rate. On one hand I enjoyed the characters and the plot and I’m super interested to see where it is going to go next. But on the other hand...I had several major issues with the world building. The main character seems completely shocked when magical creatures show up but she has been trained with magical weapons her whole life and she knows the location of an otherworld bar. Many things just didn’t add up for me, and others were just stated out of no where with little to no context given.

So this is about a 2.5 for me right now. I am def going to continue reading and I think the series will get better as the world expands but so far I like the other series by this author more. Great characters and I know the romance is going to be great in future books in the series so I think this one will only get better from here.

A Peculiar Peril is the first book in the young adult fantasy series, titled Misadventures of Jonathan Lambshead by Jeff VanderMeer. A peculiar Peril, lived up to its' name. It was...peculiar. In a good way. It felt like a mashup of a nature focused Alice in Wonderland, mixed with a dash of Hitchhiker's Guide to the galaxy humor. This was a long book clocking in at over 650 pages, but it was zany, and weird and completely interesting.

In A Peculiar Peril, we meet our hero- Jonathan Lambshead who along with his two friends as he is cleaning out his deceased grandfather's house. In the house they discover all kinds of things, including a portal to another world. This world is a wonderlandian place where animals can talk and plants come to life. There Jonathan and his friends go on a quest full of evil and secret societies that manage the portals between worlds and of course monsters and big bad's that want to wreak havoc. Not to mention a crazy new world. There is a lot going on in this journey, and I will admit that at times, the world was over my head. There was so much to keep track of that I did find myself getting lost a few times, but overall the story was interesting enough that I just kept going. And things got easier to track and follow as the story went on.

There are tons of characters that we meet along the way, and each of them have their own signature brand of weirdness. Not to mention secrets! For example, we get to meet a version of Napoleon in this story. But not all of Napoleon- no, we only get to meet Napoleon's head.  This is a story that unfolds little bit by little bit in terms of information. This is very much a portal fantasy where the main characters are dumped into a new world and have to figure things out for themselves, and the readers do to. But Jeff VanderMeer made it work. 

If you are a fan of the weirdness of Through the Looking Glass, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, then I think you will really enjoy A Peculiar Peril. I am not sure if this is going to be a duology or part of a longer series, but I am here for the rest of the ride. I am so glad that I read this book, and that I stuck with it through my early confusion. Stick with it, and get ready for a zany ride!

Jagger is an adult romantic suspense novel and is the first book in the Steele Shadows Investigations series by Amanda McKinney. I have not read too many suspense novels lately, and I forgot how much I enjoy them. especially when there is a steamy romance attached to the plot. Jagger really hit the spot for me. I can't wait to continue on with the Steele Shadows Investigation series. if you are a fan of suspense and thriller stories, I think Jagger will be a great addition to add to your TBR list.

In Jagger we meet our main character, Max Jagger, who is a former Navy Seal turned homicide detective. I have been super into all things true crime lately, so I  love a good suspense fiction novel every now and again. (and maybe more often now that I remember how much I enjoy them) so this was really more of a character driven question for me. Would I enjoy the characters and the overall plot. And the answer to both of those questions is yes. Max is the epitome of a brooding main character with a dark past, and like most brooding characters, I fell instantly in love with him and wanted to uncover all of his deep dark secrets. Max thinks there is more than meets the eye with his newest murder case. Sunny Harper was found holding a bloody weapon over the dead body, but Max doesn't think everything is adding up. 

Sunny Harper's name cracked me up. She is so not sunny in disposition. She is stubborn as all get out, and I loved that about her. The mystery was the primary plotline in this book, but as Max and Sunny worked together (somewhat reluctantly) there was a great romance simmering in the background. While I do wish it took center stage a little more, I can appreciate that it was secondary to the actually murder and killer that was on the loose. Bottom line- if you are a fan of suspense stories featuring a murder mystery with a romance plotline woven in, then Jagger is going to be a novel that you will want to check out! I really enjoyed it. 

3.5/5 stars

The Year of the Witching is a supernatural fantasy by debut author Alexis Henderson, which releases later this month. If you are a fan of dark tales, The Year of the Witching is one you do not want to miss out on. The Year of the Witching enchanted me right from the first chapter. It was a deeply atmospheric read that stuck with me long after I had finished the book. I went into this book thinking it was going to be a bit scary and dark. Oh it was all of that and more. There are some moments and scenes in this book that were downright terrifying. But beyond that, Alexis Henderson deals with the witch trials and feminist themes so deftly. She is certainly an author that I would like to read more from.

In The Year of the Witching we meet Immanuelle, who is biracial. This immediately puts a target on her in the small town of Bethel where she is from. Immanuelle just wants to fit in, so she does her best to stick to the rigid puritanical societies’ rules and not draw attention to herself. But when she finds herself in the darkwoods and encounters spirits of past witches she is set off on a different course.

The land of Bethel and it’s inhabitants came to life before my eyes. Alexis Henderson has a way of crafting vivid images with her prose. IN atmospheric books, the writing makes or breaks the story for me, and here the writing style was a smash hit for me! Watching Immanuelle learn not only about a side of her mother that she didn’t know about before, but also watching her learn of the town and it’s past and seeing her sort out right and wrong for herself was such a powerful part of her character’s progression. I loved the growth I saw in Immanuelle. And when you add in the witchcraft element you have all the workings of a wonderfully creepy story. I loved the completely realistic bitter feelings of the witches. Seeing their anger at their past oppression was a new element to this story that I really enjoyed and took it in a new direction for me. All in all, The Year of the Witching was a powerful read that I really enjoyed. But maybe don’t read this one right before bed.

Ten Days with the Highlander is the first book in the contemporary romance Love Abroad series by Hayson Manning. This book was a quick read that completely hit the spot if you are looking for a romantic romp that will make you smile. I loved the banter between Georgia and Callum, and I really enjoyed the story. This one is short enough to be read in one quick sitting and just long enough to feel like more than a novella. 

In Ten Days with the Highlander we meet Georgia, who is in Scotland on a business trip to try and buy a Scottish Hotel and Callum who is the grumpy owner of said hotel who is determined not to sell it to a "tourist company". I loved perky Georgia and snarky jaded Callum, and I really enjoyed watching the two of them erode each other's defenses. Even though this book was on the shorter end, their romance didn't feel rushed or "insta lovey". It was a great progression. 

Overall, this book is perfect if you are looking for a lighthearted read. There wasn't a ton of depth or serious themes covered. It was pure frivolous fun in the best way. I really enjoyed this book and I am super interested in continuing on with the Love Abroad series and with Hayson Manning books in general. This one put a smile on my face and I can't wait to discover more of her characters and stories. 

The Lost City is a young adult fantasy and is the first book in the The Omte Origins series by Amanda Hocking. The Omte Origins series is set in the same world as Hocking’s Trylle trilogy and Kanin Chronicles. I read and really enjoyed the Trylle Trilogy years ago, back when I first started blogging, and I had every intention of continuing on with the Kanin Chronicles but my TBR was out of control and I never got around to them. When I saw the Lost City was coming out, set in the same world featuring a different creatures- the Omte, I knew this was the perfect opportunity for me to segway back into this world. This is a new series, and can be read without having read the others. Amanda Hocking does a great job explaining the world for new comers, so I never felt totally lost. And it reminded me of how much I enjoyed the world of Trylle. Now I want to do a re-read and go back to discover the Trylle Trilogy as well as read the Kanin Chronicles. (let me know in the comments if you would like to join me in a Trylle world readathon!)

In The Lost City, we meet Ulla who is abandoned as a baby in a city made up of Kanin inhabitants. Ulla sticks out like a sore thumb. I loved that the book started out with the story of how Ulla was found by the foster parents that raised her. That added a nice bit of context for the story. Soon though, she sets out to work at an internship at the Mimirin. Here Ulla comes to learn some secrets of her heritage that she was not expecting. I will say that while I enjoyed the plot of The Lost City, some parts felt a bit slow to me. There is a lot foundation building and setup happening, which made me really excited for the next installment, but also a little bored at times while reading. Overall though, I enjoyed the story and I loved Ulla. Ulla was my favorite character for sure. I loved how rational she was with her decisions and actions.

If you are a fan of young adult fantasies, set up in richly imaginative worlds, then the world of Trylle is one that you certainly will want to visit. I loved it in the original Trylle Trilogy, and The Lost City has the same imaginative flair that I have come to love and expect from Amanda Hocking’s books. I think the next book is going to be even better now that we have gotten the intro and set up out of the way. I am expecting more action in the next book because of that. This was a fun start to a series that I am very much looking forward to continuing when the next installment is released. Not to mention, it made me want to revisit Trylle and re-read/read the past series set in this world.