danadoesbooks's Reviews (954)

Thank you Canelo and Love Book Tours for the gifted ebook of Through the Snow Globe!  All opinions in this review are my own.

While the premise is light and silly (shake a snow globe to relive the same day over again like Groundhog Day), Through the Snow Globe is a pretty emotional read. Diana is desperately trying to save her fiancee Linus and keeps having to face the same horrible day over again. While she does get extremely frustrated, Diana learns a lot about herself and the relationships with people she loves. The ending is really sweet and Through the Snow Globe is the perfect heartwarming read for this holiday season!

Thank you Kensington and BiblioLifestyle for the gifted copy of Santa & Company! All opinions in this review are my own.

Overall, Santa & Company was a quick friendship read that wasn't very focused on Christmas.

There were so many characters to keep track of right from the beginning! I should have probably read the first book in the series but I really just needed a character list.

Also, I didn't like the frequent mentions of COVID, God, or how much things cost. It kind of killed the mood for a holiday friendship book to know that they were staying at a place that costs $1500 a night or that they bought boots that were $458.

If you are looking for a Christmas-filled story, skip Santa & Company.

Thank you Macmillan Audio and Libro FM for the ALC of Dolls of Our Lives!  All opinions are my own.

When I saw Dolls of Our Lives offered by Libro FM, I was looking forward to a nostalgic look at American Girl and even explore how the brand has aged since the 90s.  I was not aware of the podcast before starting this book so it was fitting that I was listening to the audiobook.  

I liked how the book was organized into six sections following the original structure of the six books for each doll.  It was fun to reminisce about my own experiences with my American Girl dolls and other products.  I liked learning more about the history of the company and hearing the  the brand fell short at times.  

While I overall enjoyed this book, I got to a point when it felt like it just went on for too long.  I got to about the 75% mark and probably could have stopped.

Thank you Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for the eARC of Barbacoa, Bomba, and Betrayal! All opinions in this review are my own.

I ended up listening to this one as an audiobook and I'm glad I did.  There is a lot of Spanish in this book and I liked hearing the language spoken.  As a cozy mystery, I loved the focus on food and how it contributes to the culture that Miriam is studying.  I would have loved even more of Miriam's show incorporated into the book.

The only thing I couldn't stand was her husband and his mother.  Although I haven't read the previous books in the series, it sounds like her husband makes questionable decisions at best, and his mother is absolutely horrible to Miriam.  I would rather just have her and her friends as the main characters of these mysteries.

Overall, I appreciate that the mystery deals with a current issue in Puerto Rico and that the author is able to weave important information into the mystery.  I look forward to reading the other books in this series!

Thank you Harper and NetGalley for the eARC of We Love to Entertain!  All opinions in this review are my own.

Despite being a fast-paced novel, this thriller wasn't exactly thrilling. Most of the action doesn't happen until the final 50 or so pages. We Love to Entertain could have benefited from evenly balancing the set up in the beginning with the actual thriller part at the end.  Despite this, I did end up reading it in two days so it is entertaining if you are not expecting an edge of your seat thriller.

Thank you Sourcebooks and NetGalley for the eARC of Last Night at the Hollywood Canteen!  All opinions in this review are my own.

I have mixed feelings about Last Night at the Hollywood Canteen.  At first, I was loving the murder mystery and it help up for a least three-quarters of the book.  I had no idea who to suspect as the murderer and the new information being added kept me guessing!  Unfortunately (and I'm not sure if this was just a me issue), I found the last quarter of the book kind of confusing.  I had a hard time keeping the members of The Club straight throughout the book and didn't realize how important that would be at the end when they were flinging accusations at each other left and right.  Overall, I did enjoy Last Night at the Hollywood Canteen and would be open to rereading it in order to try to understand more.

Thank you Minotaur and NetGalley for the eARC of The Last Drop of Hemlock!  All opinions in this review are my own.

I ended up reading Last Call at the Nightingale and The Last Drop of Hemlock back to back.  At first, I liked how Vivian stumbled on the mystery in the first book better than how it was brought to her in the second.  However, The Last Drop of Hemlock's mystery contained more twists and turns, making it more complex than the first one.  I also really liked that since the characters were already familiar, the author was able to share more about their pasts in the second book or leave space for more to be revealed!

The way that The Last Drop of Hemlock ends makes me very excited to see that a third book is already on the way!

Thank you SMP Romance and NetGalley for the eARC of A Guide to Being Just Friends!  All opinions in this review are my own.

When I first started reading A Guide to Being Just Friends, I realized I like the friends to lovers trope better when the two people have been friends for a long time because it makes more sense that they are reluctant to share their feelings. When two characters meet and obviously like each other but then just decide to be friends, I feel like I spend the book just waiting for them to finally get together. Their reasons for remaining friends doesn't have as much weight compared to if they had years of history.

That being said, Sophie Sullivan was able to write two amazing characters in Hailey and Wes that I didn't mind waiting for them to get together.  It's hard to compare Hailey and Wes's story with Grace and Noah's story but the third book and final book in the Jansen Brothers series brought just as much charm as the second one.  I'm sad to see this series over with but I'm excited for whatever Sullivan is working on next!

Thank you Double Day and NetGalley for the ARC of American Mermaid.  All opinions in this review are my own.

A burnt out teacher writes the next best-selling book and moves to LA to make it into a movie. The movie executives want to make significant changes to the book which the author doesn't agree with. She also complains a lot about how expensive things are even though she admits to having money now.

I read 50 pages and I am stopping. I just don't think this writing style is for me and reading about how the movie version of the book is going to make drastic changes is painful. I think I would have rather read the book that the main character wrote than the main character's experience.

Thank you Grand Central Pub for the giveaway win of Device Free Weekend!  All opinions in this review are my own.

Device Free Weekend was a highly anticipated book for me.  I love when thrillers are set on a remote island and the premise of this one seemed fantastic!  While I was entertained, I didn't love that everything is set up from the beginning.  I thought there was going to be more mystery surrounding why the friends were stuck on the island and what was happening.  Instead, the friends are placed in a situation with a high stakes decision to make.  I would categorize this book as more action than thriller.