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emilyisoverbooked's Reviews (1.38k)
W O W.
I’ll be honest… when I saw this as a Book of the Month choice, I quickly decided that it wasn’t for me. I was wrong.
Once There Were Wolves is part contemporary fiction, part thriller, part ode to conservationism. It was vivid, haunting, beautiful, and profound. The stories of twin sisters Inti and Aggie were so unique and captivating that I just couldn’t put this down over the weekend. My favorite part of this book was that Inti has a syndrome called mirror-touch synesthesia, where she feels everything she sees another being feel. It took this book to an entirely new level and created such an exceptional point of view. Did I cry over wolves? Yes, yes I did. I know that I will be thinking about this book for some time to come.
This book has major trigger warnings, so please check before reading!
I’ll be honest… when I saw this as a Book of the Month choice, I quickly decided that it wasn’t for me. I was wrong.
Once There Were Wolves is part contemporary fiction, part thriller, part ode to conservationism. It was vivid, haunting, beautiful, and profound. The stories of twin sisters Inti and Aggie were so unique and captivating that I just couldn’t put this down over the weekend. My favorite part of this book was that Inti has a syndrome called mirror-touch synesthesia, where she feels everything she sees another being feel. It took this book to an entirely new level and created such an exceptional point of view. Did I cry over wolves? Yes, yes I did. I know that I will be thinking about this book for some time to come.
This book has major trigger warnings, so please check before reading!
I absolutely LOVED The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead, so I was really excited to read this book. I was expecting to be completely captivated by another one of Colson's works, but unfortunately I just couldn't get into this one. I do appreciate the story setup and Ray's character, and did like the ending. I will definitely still be buying Colson's books in the future... this one just wasn't for me.
Thanks to Doubleday and NetGalley for the ARC!
Thanks to Doubleday and NetGalley for the ARC!
“You think you’ve been lying to me, but you’ve just been lying to yourself this whole time.”
Stella owns Lovelight Farms, a Christmas tree farm that is currently hemorrhaging money and can’t seem to catch a break. Stella decides to see if her luck can change when she enters an influencer’s contest with a monetary prize. The only problem is, she wrote down that she bought the farm with her boyfriend, which she doesn't have. Enter Luka, Stella’s BFF for over a decade. Of course he’ll fake date her. But will there also be something more?
This was a swoon-worthy friends-to-lovers romance with literally the best setting ever for a holiday romance: a Christmas tree farm. Luka and Stella’s love ran deep through their friendship, which was clearly becoming something more throughout the book. I love how they were there for each other during the difficult moments, had so much affection for each other, and just felt at ease with each other since they were friends for so long. Luka’s family is hysterical, because large Italian families are obviously the best ever. Can’t wait to read Beckett and Layla’s stories!
Stella owns Lovelight Farms, a Christmas tree farm that is currently hemorrhaging money and can’t seem to catch a break. Stella decides to see if her luck can change when she enters an influencer’s contest with a monetary prize. The only problem is, she wrote down that she bought the farm with her boyfriend, which she doesn't have. Enter Luka, Stella’s BFF for over a decade. Of course he’ll fake date her. But will there also be something more?
This was a swoon-worthy friends-to-lovers romance with literally the best setting ever for a holiday romance: a Christmas tree farm. Luka and Stella’s love ran deep through their friendship, which was clearly becoming something more throughout the book. I love how they were there for each other during the difficult moments, had so much affection for each other, and just felt at ease with each other since they were friends for so long. Luka’s family is hysterical, because large Italian families are obviously the best ever. Can’t wait to read Beckett and Layla’s stories!
“Life-altering moments spanned from a few seconds to decades. It was part of the magic of life. Of living.”
The Spanish Love Deception is a debut romance from Elena Armas, and starts out with workplace tension between our MCs Lina and Aaron, then goes into fake dating and a sister’s wedding in Spain. The fake dating and tension between the characters is well done, and I enjoyed seeing their romance blossom over the second half of the book. The overall story is a cute idea, albeit very The Hating Game. However, there was significantly more sexism in the workplace in this book, and the workplace scenarios at the beginning were dragged out for quite awhile, extending this book to 479 pages. This was the main issue our buddy read had… none of the men stood up for Lina when she was experiencing some pretty awful situations at work… even our main man, Aaron. Aaron also refused to work with Lina right when she started at the office, and was pretty demanding when they finally got together later in the book. I get that the author might want to make him more unlikable for the enemies-to-lovers storyline, but his actions just made their relationship a bit more unpalatable. This was more of a “like” book for me, but it did win the Goodreads Best Debut of 2021 award.
The Spanish Love Deception is a debut romance from Elena Armas, and starts out with workplace tension between our MCs Lina and Aaron, then goes into fake dating and a sister’s wedding in Spain. The fake dating and tension between the characters is well done, and I enjoyed seeing their romance blossom over the second half of the book. The overall story is a cute idea, albeit very The Hating Game. However, there was significantly more sexism in the workplace in this book, and the workplace scenarios at the beginning were dragged out for quite awhile, extending this book to 479 pages. This was the main issue our buddy read had… none of the men stood up for Lina when she was experiencing some pretty awful situations at work… even our main man, Aaron. Aaron also refused to work with Lina right when she started at the office, and was pretty demanding when they finally got together later in the book. I get that the author might want to make him more unlikable for the enemies-to-lovers storyline, but his actions just made their relationship a bit more unpalatable. This was more of a “like” book for me, but it did win the Goodreads Best Debut of 2021 award.