danadoesbooks's Reviews (954)

Apparently all I have been reading lately are cozy mysteries but Arsenic and Adobo is the best example of one!  Filled with food and family, Lila must solve the murder of her high school boyfriend, a food critic with a nasty reputation around town, before the police arrest her for it.

I was hooked from the opening line, "My name is Lila Macapagal and my life has become a rom-com cliché." Also, the cover is an immediate attention grabber!

Arsenic and Adobo is the first book in the Tita Rosie's Kitchen series and I cannot wait to read the second book, Homicide and Halo-Halo, coming out in February!

Thank you to Kensington Books, Gabby Allan, and BiblioLifestyle for the gifted copy of Much Ado About Nauticaling!  All opinions in this review are my own.

Whitney Dagner has left her L.A. life to move home to Santa Catalina Island.  On the island, she works with her brother to run the glass-bottom boat tours.  When a body floats under their boat, Whitney must do what she can to clear her brother's name.

Typically when I think of cozy mysteries, I think of the fall so I loved that Much Ado About Nauticaling had such a summery setting.  I really liked that the mystery isn't solved until the final few pages so it keeps you reading right up until the end!  I am really looking forward to the second book in the series, Something Fishy This Way Comes!

Thank you to Minotaur and the author for a gifted copy of Danger at the Cove!  All opinions in this review are my own.

This is the second book in the Island Sisters Mystery series.  I have not read the first one but I don't think it is necessary to read them in order.

Set in the Isles of Scilly, Evie and her sister, Margot, have been working to renovate Tregarrick Rock Hotel.  Just as they are getting closer to opening day, Margot's friend Louise shows up for a visit.  Despite Evie being wary about having a guest before the hotel is finished, Margot insists that she stays.  As a storm rolls in and leaving the island more difficult, a staff member at the hotel is found dead.  With the weather getting worse and the opening of the hotel looming closer, Evie must solve this mystery before the murderer can strike again!

One thing I learned about myself since joining Bookstagram is how much I like cozy mysteries.  Danger at the Cove does not disappoint with many twists and turns sprinkled in that keep you guessing until the very end!  Although remote, the hotel works as a fantastic setting.  It reminds me a lot of the mansion in the Clue movie.  I also love that they named the rooms after famous writers.  I can't wait to go back and read the first Island Sisters Mystery, Death at High Tide!

I listened to the audiobook of Circe and really enjoyed it!  At this point, I think I will read anything that's based on mythology!

Circe is the daughter of Helios, a titan.  Circe just wants to be loved but is constantly betrayed. When she demonstrates her power, Circe is banished to a deserted island by Zeus.  Despite being so far removed, she must still endure harsh treatment and the summoning of her family.

I like that although Circe is from Odysseus's journey, the author delves more into Circe's past and future after Odysseus.  She does not only exist in relation to his story and I like how much she is developed in this novel.

Little Black Bird is the first book in a series written by Anna Kirchner.  Set in Poland, Wiktoria is trying to hide the fact that she has telekinetic powers.  When she is hunted down by a group of local sorcerers, Wiktoria must face her powers and discover who she truly is.

I like that you are introduced to the world slowly along with Wiktoria.  A lot of fantasy novels will include large sections of info dumping where you learn so much about the world at once that it's hard to remember it all.  Kirchner does an excellent job of slowly introducing the important world details so that you remember them as you move through the book.

I also love the dynamic between Wiktoria and Artur.  As they struggle to determine if their feelings are romantic or a side-effect of the magical connection, they learn more about their true selves.  I appreciate that Kirchner includes information about the LGBTQIA+ community in Poland and despite her characters being removed from it, she includes resources for members of the community in Poland.

Little Black Bird is an engrossing urban fantasy novel full of lovable characters and I can't wait for book two!

Thank you to Grand Central Publishing, the authors, and NetGalley for the gifted copy of The View Was Exhausting!  All opinions in this review are my own.

Whitman "Win" Tagore is a famous Hollywood actress so when her ex-boyfriend starts slandering her reputation, damage control is needed to save her public persona.  Luckily, Win has Leo to rely on.  The public goes crazy whenever Win and Leo hint at a relationship together so Leo is always there to help Win spin things in a positive way.  Despite being perceived as passionately in love, Leo and Win are good friends.  However, what happens when all of the pretending leads to real feelings?

The View Was Exhausting was such a fantastic summer romance!  Despite the celebrity glamor and gorgeous settings, Win does not have it all together.  There are some heavier topics dealt with like Win still grieving the loss of her father, struggling to find her place in Hollywood when it is not kind to people like her, and struggling with the recent diagnosis of her mother.  There is real friendship between her and Leo even with the bumps in their story.

Read if you want to pretend you are also on a yacht in the south of France!

Thank you to the publisher, the author, and NetGalley for the gifted copy of The Meeting Point!  All opinions in this review are my own.

When Maya decides to surprise her boyfriend in California, she is devastated to learn that he is cheating on her from a stranger.  Now she is alone in California on her birthday.  Luckily the "Lift" driver who found her boyfriend's phone has an adventure planned for her.  As this mysterious man leads her around an adorable beach town, Maya can't help falling for him.

**Warning: mild spoilers ahead!**

I really enjoyed the first half of The Meeting Point.  It is a quick read and there is great tension created as Maya waits to meet the mystery man.  However, once it is revealed that he followed her at a distance the whole day, this story lost its charm.  I can suspend belief that she would follow his instructions but it seems weird that she is not creeped out about him after learning that.  It's also pretty obvious who Maya's mystery man really is so the end dragged out a bit.

Us Against You begins in the summer after the events of Beartown.  Backman continues to show his craft in this sequel.  I liked being able to spend more time in Beartown with some of the characters, but I missed the hockey from the first book.  Since Us Against You takes place mostly in the summer, there isn't much hockey in it until the second half.

Although there is no official release date yet, Backman revealed that the title of the third book in the series is The Winners!

Five years ago Andie Bell disappeared and her boyfriend, Sal Singh, was accused of murdering her.  Pippa (Pip) Fitz-Amobi doesn't believe that Sal's the one responsible for Andie's disappearance and she is going to use her senior capstone project to prove it.

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder is an excellent fast-paced YA thriller that I thoroughly enjoyed.  However, the audiobook is the best one I have ever listened to.  In general, I enjoy multiple narrators on audiobooks, but A Good Girl's Guide to Murder had an additional element that made it stand out.  At the end of each chapter, Pip puts an entry into her capstone project log.  Some are tape recordings where you hear Pip switching on the tape and can hear her interviewing another person, voiced by another narrator.  Other entries are phone calls which start off with a phone ringing and a change in audio so you can tell they are talking on the phone.  These little additions made this audiobook so much more engaging.

That Way Madness Lies is a collection of short stories edited by Dahlia Adler and based on William Shakespeare's plays.  This collection reimagines the tales in various ways like setting them in modern times and adding LGBTQIA+ representation.  In Adler's story "I Bleed", Shai is able to get justice for Shylock from Merchant of Venice.

It is no surprise that "Shipwrecked" by Mark Oshiro, the retelling of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night was my favorite story.  Twelfth Night was the first Shakespeare play that I read and has always been my favorite.  Oshiro's queer retelling brought this tale of twin identity mix up into the modern age.

I recommend alternating between the comedy and tragedy stories.  The book is set up with all of the comedies in the first half and the tragedies in the second.  I enjoyed both but some of the tragedies are dark and very true to the original plays.  Samantha Mabry's Macbeth retelling, "We Fail", still haunts me!