CHARMING AS ALWAYS.

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I love this series and how every time I’m cranky about a book slump (or a string of bad reads) this series cures me every time. These book are a delight. I love how quick they are to read but how the time moves slowly as you watch Emma grow and learn.

This had some beautiful themes of working through grief and strong friendships. I love all of these characters and look forward to continuing this series.

Overall audience notes:
- Historical Fiction
- Language: none
- Romance: flirting
- Trigger/Content Warnings: loss of a loved one (recounted), depictions of grief 

 LOL.

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This book had me snickering. I’ve been wanting to read Sanderson’s full backlist and this series has been on my radar, but I’m generally just not a middle-grade reader. This had me questioning that statement. I thought this was a lot of fun and fit the genre well. I would be able to hand this to a young kid easily.

I loved the concept and narrative. The unreliable and a bit chaotic Alcatraz brought the house down in keeping me on my toes. I enjoyed the side characters and the general concept of evil librarians (and the theme that knowledge should be available for all and not controlled by the ones at the top).

A great book and I look forward to continuing the series.

Overall audience notes:
- Middle grade dystopian fantasy
- Language: none
- Romance: none
- Violence: low 

Thank you to GetUnderlined for the free ARC.

I AM SO CONFUSED.

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This book confused me. There wasn’t enough world building for me to understand anything and I was constantly in a state of befuddlement as I tried to piece together the land, the rules, and the magic system.

The summary even mentions a romance, there is no romance. There is one kiss, with no relationship buildup.

I guess I kind of liked the side character friends Bell had?

And the writing style didn’t work for me. There was a severe lack of dialogue for much of the book and it made it hard to connect with characters.

Overall audience notes:
- YA Fantasy
- Language: none
- Romance: kiss
- Violence: low-moderate 

SO CLOSE.

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I have found myself disappointed again, and this started off so strong?! I was smitten with the plot set-up and characters. I always love a hockey aspect and this was giving me everything I was looking for…until it didn’t.

This book felt way too long. Every time I thought we were getting closer to those ending moments I would check and still have way too much time left in my book. And the third act (that came at 90%+)??? Are you kidding me??? Mike got way too upset about what happened and blew everything so out of proportion. For being so endearing for the majority of the book this was not it.

Also, WHY DID AURORA ONLY CALL HIM MIKE MARTIN? Why the entire dang book did she use his full name? Drove me nuts.

There were some good thoughts and themes I appreciated throughout. Some tough conversations and therapy positivity. I enjoyed much of this but was letdown too.

Overall audience notes:
- Contemporary Romance
- Language: some strong
- Romance: 3+ open; moderate explicit
- Trigger/Content Warnings: loss of a spouse (theme throughout), discussions of eating disorders, panic attacks, anxiety 

Thank you Berkley Romance for the eARC.

HILARIOUS.

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This book made me LAUGH and I love when that happens. Lynn Painter hands down writes some of the BEST banter and that was still prevalent here. I really loved the chemistry between Max and Sophie. And the shenanigans they found themselves wrapped up in were charming.

I did think this book had a LOT of language (especially for it being only 300 pages). It started to take me out of the story, as did the extra romance scenes towards the end. I would have rather seen more relationship development other than physical because Sophie made me want to shake her a few times.

I love how fast these books are and that they bring joy to my day. I thought the objector idea was hilarious. And I adored Sophie’s roommates. They were the perfect snarky addition. There were a lot of fantastic swoony moments and the kissing scenes were some of my favorite. There was plenty of goodness here and I will keep waiting to hear about Painter’s next book.

Overall audience notes:
- Contemporary Romance
- Language: very high
- Romance: 3+ open door; moderate explicit
- Trigger/Content Warnings: cheating 

Thank you Canary Street Press for the free book.

LONG WINDED.

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I wanted to love this, I was immediately smitten with the idea of Scotland. A man in a kilt? Heck yeah.

Well, I got that, but I also got a very long winded love letter to Scotland, which isn’t BAD, just not what I was after when I picked up a contemporary romance. I wanted some more romantic buildup, more opportunities for them to talk outside of work and the angst and tension I crave. I could have used a lot less of the tour aspects.

And then this made the romance feel very quick. I was surprised when the I love you’s showed up and was straight faced by the time the third act break-up happened. I wasn’t even mad at it, it was so expected at that point I had no emotions towards it. I felt like I didn’t get anything new.

This very much made me want to visit Scotland and find those off the beaten path places. There were some good moments between the main couple at least. I’d be curious to see what the author writes next.

Overall audience notes:
- Contemporary Romance
- Language: moderate
- Romance: 2-3 open; moderate explicit
- Trigger/Content Warnings: loss of mother (recounted) 

DID I OVERHYPE MYSELF?

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I’ve been really excited about this book y’all. After loving the conclusion to Faizal’s previous duology I knew I wanted my hands on this. But it wasn’t quite what I was hoping.

Audiobook notes: I thought the narrator did a great job, I don’t have any issues there at all. I do wish there would have been a second or third narrator for the other POV’s. There’s three POV’s in total and I continually found myself confused as to whose I was reading at that time.

The story was intriguing, and the pacing was slow. I looove found family, and I do think that was presented well. I love the mash up of personalities and loyalties and connection that this trope brings. There’s even some romantic plots brewing, I was kind of into them? I’m hopeful for book two expansion on this and some more tension.

I found myself easily able to put this down and never felt like it was grabbing my full attention. There were some good scenes and I did enjoy what we got of the characters. I loved that this was set in the same world as We Hunt the Flame too. I could definitely feel those vibes.

Overall audience notes:
- YA Fantasy
- Language: low
- Romance: kisses
- Violence: moderate 

This was repetitive and ridiculous.

MASTERMIND.

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Ohhh y’all know I loved this. It was incredible and brought so much more than I could have imagined. I LOVED how much world building happened and how this really built this book, but also built the future books too.

The romances actually took a little bit of a backseat. I wasn’t mad at all because I think the heavy plot focused helped with this one a lot. I did love the romances we got and seeing couples actually work through difficult issues and feelings. Learning to communicate better and help each other along is my favorite. I love Hunt/Bryce and Ruhn/Lidia the mostest.

I didn’t mind the switching of POV’s. It kept things moving and kept me turning pages. I actually like this style of chapter break-ups and love how everything came together. I cried, I shouted, I cheered and felt every emotion under the sun. I loved where things ended and I look forward to more!

Overall audience notes:
- Fantasy Romance
- Language: strong
- Romance: 3+ open door
- Violence: high 

1.5 stars
Thank you to Berkley for the free book and PRHAudio for the gifted audiobook.

WTHECK DID I JUST READ.

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There’s no way I would have finished this if I didn’t have a review copy to get through, it was an absolute hot mess. And since I don’t have positives to say, we’ll keep this short.

My ONE positive: The audiobook narrators were fantastic. They nailed it, loved that there were two of them for the dual POV and that had me hanging on by a thread to this story.

Y’all. I don’t even know where to begin. This book was pure chaos. Nothing made sense and there seemed to be no rules to anything?? Things would happen and I was sitting there going, but HOWW???? The romance was meh, and the entire book was really awkwardly lusty? That’s not how you bring the heat at all.

And the ending made me want to throw my book. I hate books with this set-up. With all of the low reviews already on this, I should have known. I took one for the team here, I do not recommend reading this book.

Overall audience notes:
- Magical realism fantasy romance?
- Language: some strong
- Romance: 1-2 open; with awkward misplaced innuendo throughout
- Violence: low