If you want a book that will make you feel so light and happy, this is the one. I read this book so fast because I needed it. There’s been a lot of heavy things going on in the world and this was what I needed. There’s a really sweet romance but kind of felt like instant love. Not my favorite but that’s okay, it was just so sweet. I loved that Liz was learning to stand up for herself and really speak out. I found the actual fact that this small town was so obsessed with Prom really hard to believe. The fact that you won money was also a stretch, to me. Regardless, it was such a fun story and I loved all the friendships in this book! 

 This was a sorta buddy read with Dini. I got sick with COVID and she just flew through this. I totally understand though because I did the same when I was up to reading again. This is such an important book. It’s about something so much deeper than what the cover kind of gives off. I loved Felix from the beginning and felt so protective and really got angry with so many people in his life. Ugh, I hate that kids have to go through this everyday. I will never understand and I hope I can just teach my child to love and accept all. We are all humans and that’s ultimately all that matters!! Regardless, there were times this was so hard to read. Not because of the writing but the actual content is so intense and very sad. I could never give this book justice in a review because there are just too many important things. I’m not sure what I can say to really hit home how important this book is though. I highly recommend it. Just be prepared to really feel the rage and injustices of this world. 

 I haven’t read any other books by this author, and I didn’t read the first book. I saw this as a ‘Read Now’ option on Netgalley. I saw the words “TWO ENEMIES” and I had to read it. I’m so glad I did because this was a really quick and fun read!

I got a lot of vibes from Jane Austen and Shakespeare in this one. We have two families that are enemies and rivals. Carys and Tristan are from each side of the families that don’t get along. All their lives they have disliked each other and constantly try to outwit each other. Carys is not your typical girl that fits into the tons mold. She is outspoken, outrageous with her outfits, and doesn’t care what people think of her. She has a past romance that is still haunting her. For this reason, she is dead set on never being married. Meanwhile, Tristan is the complete opposite and Cary’s thinks that Tristan hates her. It was so much fun seeing them try to get a rise out of each other. They say, it’s a fine line between love and hate, right?! I loved seeing how they are constantly trying to keep up the facade that they hate each other but deep down they don’t. They are not similar on the surface but under the surface they have so much in common.

I know there are characters from the first book. I haven’t read that one yet, but I plan to. I loved so many of them, especially her brothers. I really loved the relationship that Carys has with her brothers. Tristan’s aunts were hilarious, and I loved their meddling ways!

The pacing flows so well that it was a very easy and quick read. I think that Bateman did a fantastic job with the tension in this book. There are so many swoon-worthy moments!! The plot was interesting, but I felt like it was all mashed together at the end. The villain of the book kind of just gets away without any real repercussions and I didn’t love that. He’s slimy and I think he deserved worse! I adored the addition of the animals and how they contributed to the plot too.

Overall, I had so much fun with this one. I had a hard time putting it down and it was much needed after a chunky fantasy. I loved the enemies-to-lovers aspect. I liked the fact that these rivals are trying to change and do better. I have a feeling there’s more ways these rival families will end up coming together in the future. I can’t wait to read more from this author!

Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for an e-arc of this book. All opinions and thoughts are my own! 

 

I didn’t know about this book until Orbit put it on my radar. I looked up the blurb and thought it sounded very interesting. I buddy read this with Julie and I’m so glad we did. I think buddy reads are just the way to go about reading.

Anyways, this was something different, and I enjoyed it. It’s a fairytale/Regency/fantasy romance. There’s kind of a lot going on but it’s not hard to follow at all. In my opinion, it reads more like a YA than an adult. The romance is also very clean but an enemies-to-lovers. Although, I think that Elias took it a bit too far at times. It does turn very quickly and then you kind of fall in love with him. Once you start to delve into his character more, his behavior becomes a bit more understandable. There’s a lot going on there and I love where his heart is.

Dora was a character that I’m still not sure I completely connected to. It kind of makes sense since she’s missing the emotional side of her soul. On the other hand, her comebacks and snark are top-notch. The way she doesn’t Elias get away with anything was very entertaining. The romance was very sweet, and I think a lot of people will enjoy that.

The friendships are the stars of the book. We have two close friendships between Dora and Vanessa and Elias and Albert. I loved how much they took care of each other and championed each other. They do hit some snags but the way they make each other better is great to see. I think that’s a great friendship when you can challenge each other and grow. There are many social issues that this book focuses on too.

Speaking of Albert, he still might be my favorite. That’s all.

The plot of this book was a bit disappointing for me. We start this book off great and it’s moving at a fast pace. When we get about halfway is when I started to get more YA vibes. The last 1/3 of the book was too fast and the story was rushed. We get almost no world-building and things just happen too quickly. It was kind of like whiplash. It’s very undeveloped and it would have probably been a five-star read for me, if not for that.

Overall, I enjoyed the story and the characters. I think the plot needed some work, especially that last chunk of the book. I did like it enough to keep going with the series. I love how different it was, and the enemies-to-lovers aspect was done really well.

Many thanks to Orbit for providing me with an e-arc via Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own! 

 

I’ve had this book on my shelf for over a year. I read Shadow of the Gods last winter and really enjoyed it. I figured that I would need to start collecting his backlist and give them a go too. I read Hunger of the Gods a couple months ago and it was brilliant. I then talked Dini (I’ve linked her review) into buddy reading this with me and we jumped in. I am so glad that I picked this up because I will now be buying the rest of the series to continue.

I’m not even sure how to start this. Gwynne’s books are so full amazing characters, world-building, and a lot of surprises. I will start with the actual pace of the book. It was a bit slow going but I didn’t feel like it took me a long time to read. I made pretty good progress, but the actual plot takes a while to get going. Given this is the first in a series, so that’s always something that I aspect. There’s several POV’s, just like his other books and I really enjoyed them. He’s actually really good at balancing out his character POV’s, even with so many of them. Funny, this is actually his first book. I didn’t even realize this was a debut, until the end! The plot itself has a decent amount of world-building with a lot of political intrigue. There’s a lot of moving pieces and it’s actually not very hard to follow. It’s one of the things that I love about Gwynne’s books! I never feel like there’s a ton of info dumping and I don’t get lost in the descriptions. It’s quite easy to follow.

The characters are what make this book! I will now think of Gwynne, when I want to read about characters with a lot of depth, and awesome character arcs. I will always be weary of falling in love with characters when it comes to any epic fantasy. All the same, it’s so hard to hold back! Gwynne has a way to weaving in these side characters that make such a huge impact. You don’t even realize it until later when you are fearing for their lives. I remember a couple of times when Dini and I were getting really upset about some of them and becoming a bit aggressive in our revenge plots. haha!

I think there’s a lot of things that are moving to make some really epic moments further in the series. I would have loved a little more insight about the actual magic that’s at play. I’m still quite in the dark, which could be on purpose, but I would have loved to understand it better. I am being a bit nit-picky here because I have his newest series to compare to.

Overall, this was such a great start to the series. There’s a lot of amazing characters and I cannot wait to see where they go in the series. I’m only mildly terrified for them, haha. I hope to get more clarity about some of the magical elements! Even though, it was a slower paced fantasy, it’s very easy to read. I’m definitely excited to jump into the next one asap! 

 

This book starts where we left off in book one. I’m happy to report that it was just as funny as the first book, maybe even more.

One of the best things about this series is the friendship between Finlay and Vero. Very is hilarious but so is Finlay. They get along so well but in this book we kind of see their friendship go much deeper. Vero has some problems, which I figured out right away. I think that Finlay was just hoping to stay in the dark until she couldn’t. It was quite obvious. We still don’t really have Vero’s story in this book but I’m hoping it will come to light in the next book. The banter and wit these two have make for such an entertaining read.

There is a bit of a love triangle, still. I’m not much for those but I think that Cosimano handles it really well. Finlay is still trying to get her life together and she’s kind of at a crossroads in many aspects. What makes more sense than have to figure out the love part too. Of course, I totally think she needs to stick with one guy in particular, but I won’t say who!

This book is really fast paced! There’s so much action and so many different things going on that it makes it hard to put down. Before you know it, the book is over. It’s so much fun and it’s kind of over the top and no at all realistic. I think that’s what I love about it though. It’s just the perfect book to get away, try to get out of a rut, or even a good palate cleanser between heavy books.

I highly recommend this series!! They can get a little gross in the details and you wonder what the heck they are thinking, a lot. It’s just a great time though and the humor is top notch! I cannot wait for the next one!!

 

Christina Lauren are one of my favorite duos. I don’t know how they do it, but their books are so fun. This one was a bit different and unique. If you love the Wild West, then I think you will love this one. If you don’t love Westerns, I still think you will enjoy it. It was so fun and fresh!

As I mentioned, this is very different for them! It was a romance wrapped in a mystery, with a treasure hunt. Not only that, but we also have second chance romance, which is always fun. I wasn’t sure how it would work, but they blended it all together very well. In fact, I would go as far as to say, this is less about a romance novel and more about adventure.

One of the things that I really loved about this was the treasure hunt. Figuring out the puzzles and clues was really cool, and I loved how Leo and Lily bonded over it. There’s a group of them that think they are on just a fun adventure, but it quickly turns into more. There’s a moment in this book that had me shocked!! I did not see it coming and that’s impressive with a romance. I loved Nic and Walt so much. Nic was hilarious and Walt was like a teddy bear.

The romance was sweet and was kind of predictable. I was a little bit let down with how much of a backseat their romance takes in this book. Just a heads up for all my romance lovers out there. I am a bit fan of Leo, and he was such a great MC. Another surprising aspect was how quickly the communication between them was. It was so refreshing to see characters actually clear the air early!! Thank you, CL for giving us something unexpected with that!

Overall, this was such a unique and fun read. The pacing was fast and there are several genres that they mashed together. I think it worked really well and the clues were fun. The romance was sweet, even if I wanted a bit more of it. There are some surprising elements and twists that I think readers will also appreciate. It was a great adventure, and I cannot wait to see what they come up with next!!