jennireadsmaybe's Reviews (678)

While You We're Sleeping meets The Proposal in the best way in The Catch. Amy Lea is truly a forced to be reckoned with when it comes to having influencers in her books. Normally, I shy away from books with influencers because they feel very contrived, but each book in this series had me wishing the fmcs were real people I could follow. When Mel ends up stuck in an abandoned BnB with Evan and his cousin, she thinks her only chance at breathing life back into her socials is ruined. Evan is grumpy, judgmental, and hates her. Yet, after a boating trip goes awry she finds herself to be the only person there to make sure he's taken care of in the hospital. So what if telling hospital staff that she's his fiancée leaves the two stuck in a fake engagement arrangement? 

Character wise Mel is very much a mirror ball girl. She is doing whatever it takes to keep herself relevant in a social world that is leaving behind her private nature while also worrying for her brother after the previous death of their father. She is a caretaker by nature; though, many don't look past her socialite seeming exterior. Obviously, I loved her. 

Don't even get me started on the Mel x Evan slow burn romance!! I was obsessed from their meet cute. I love opposites attract especially in a small town setting. It's always so much fun, and Amy Lea definitely served up a tension filled, hot romance between the two. I also love that she made it clear that Evan liked Mel for who she was with her love for fashion and beauty. He liked seeing her dressed up! And obviously his feigned hatred for Mel was deliciously revealed to be a lie. Chef's kiss imho!!! 

I love how Amy Lea demonstrated the different ways that grief can affect people. Grief isn't a clear cut, one size fits all scenario. This showed not only in Mel and her brother but Evan and his family. It made it all the more authentic when reading. 

Another series I'm sad to say goodbye to :( But I know that big things are in store for Amy Lea and I can't wait to see them. 

How You Get the Girl is a heartwarming sapphic romance between a high school basketball coach and the former WNBA star that she's had a crush on for years. The slowburn romance mixed with the practice dating had me hooked. I couldn't stop reading and rooting for them to get together. I absolutely, 100% loved that they both jumped to take care of each other while they were struggling. It was such a stunningly realistic portrayal of what romance should look like.

Like everything I've read from Anita Kelly, HYGTG hit me right in the feels. Julie's struggles with her sexuality and her inexperience with romance and sex was handled so well. She's a character that feels like a warm hug. Elle's journey through the foster care system as she takes care of her niece was also handled with so much care. I teared up at so many point in this book because of how deeply I loved the characters. 

I'm sad to say goodbye to the Love & Other Disasters universe, but I am also so excited to see what's next for Anita Kelly!!

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for providing me with an E-arc in exchange for my honest thoughts <3 

The Ladies Rewrite the Rules is a sweet, mostly low stakes, historical romance. For some reason I had convinced myself that this was a f/f book; alas, it was not. I did generally find the characters likable though they did seem to suffer from a lack of development. Of course, this was a fairly short book coming in at under 300 pages so that along with the quick, almost rushed, plot makes sense. I was intrigued by the synopsis, a second son creates a list of well off women for other second sons to peruse until they can find a wife, only the women on the list find out and seek revenge. Once the plot pick up on that which the title implies (the ladies rewriting the rules, obviously), I did like the sequence of events. I was a bit turned off by the perspective as it would quite randomly focus of characters that while a part of the plot were not central to the love story. 

Overall, The Ladies Rewrite the Rules is a short and sweet historical romance that I would recommend for anyone looking to start out in the genre.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for providing me with an E-Arc in exchange for my honest thoughts <3 

I fell in love, first, with Nora's audacity (she strips at her dad's funeral to prove a point folks)! Nikki Payne's character work is phenomenal. Whether we're talking about Nora and Bear or any of the side characters, they felt complete to me. I was living in the story with them. 

I couldn't put this down!! I was reading during every single free (and some not so free) second I had. Nora and Bears messy journey to love was as intense as it was beautiful. There were so many outside factors that should have kept them from each other, but they couldn't help it. I wholeheartedly believe they are soulmates. They would find their way to each other in any time. 

Y'all this was slow burn but in the very best way. You could cut the tension between them with a knife. Oh yeah... and only one tent!?!? Bear is my new favorite book boyfriend. Like, sir, do you realize the feelings that you've made me have? I love love loved this so much <3

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for providing me with and E-ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts. 

Bride demonstrates Ali Hazelwood's innate ability to create fmcs that are entirely too relatable to the average reader. Misery is a blunt, black cat adjacent, dark humor loving badass. Being in her head was both unlike anything I've ever experienced and so similar to Hazelwood's previous fmcs. I found her backstory extremely intriguing, because though it's similar to other characters in Hazelwood's backlist, it's also so separate because of the fantasy element. 

The first 40% is a slog to get through, but once you do it picks up quite quickly. When the plot picked up, I was thoroughly invested to the point that I read 200+ pages before going to bed. The dynamics between vampyres, werewolves, and humans were interesting especially with the addition of a collateral and the political heavy nature of the relationships. 

Ali Hazelwood sat down and wrote the horniest scenting scene I've ever read. It truly unlocked a part of my lizard brain. Then throw in the sexual nature of vampyre feeding, I was a freaking mess. Also, I would be remiss if I didn't scream from rooftops about the fated mates twist in here. I thought it was such a unique way to combat the different species understanding of both romance and desire. I'm genuinely so excited to see if she will continue with other standalones in this universe she's created.

Thank you to Afterglow Books and NetGalley for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for my honest thoughts. 

The (Fake) Dating Game has the fun, wholesome vibes that I've come to expect from Timothy Janovsky while simultaneously surprising me with how spicy it was in comparison to his previous works. The game show aspect was very unique, but I found myself wanting more of it. The romance, though fake-dating lite, was what kept me reading. I wanted to know what came next for Holden and Leo as they inevitably fell for each other. Was it insta-love? Yes. Was it still delightful? Yes. 

This book had me crying into my pillow. The depiction of grief, especially as the book went on, was so hard-hitting. It shows us that grief doesn't start and end during the immediate aftermath of loss. Grief sticks with us years down the line when our dreams are coming true, when the person we're becoming isn't the person we thought we would be. Janovsky pulled me in to Holden's buried grief until I couldn't stop the tears from falling. 

What I've loved about Janovsky's previous works was that he wasn't afraid to make his characters unlikable. I think because of that Holden felt flat to me. His character growth wasn't satisfying enough to me. I could relate to his grief, but he read like any other twenty-something struggling in the post-grad x paying off student loan debt era of their life. 

I had to mull over my thoughts on this for a little while. S.T. Gibson has the magnificent ability to destroy me with their words. I have sat on the ending lines of this book and pondered the possibilities. I hurt so deeply. Laura and Carmilla are deeply embedded into my psyche. Their academic rivals is the exact brand of "I can't stand the idea that we are equals but you are the only person who has ever challenged me to become better" that I have unknowingly been searching for my whole life. I was swept up by their relationship with not only each other but with De LaFontaine as well. They both approached her in such similar yet different ways. Gibson's ability to balance both love and toxicity is enthralling. 

An Education in Malice, to me, is a masterclass on the dark academia atmosphere. I walked through the hallowed halls of Saint Perpetua's College, sat in on De LaFontaine's poetry classes, and anxiously experienced the plague of dark magic. It was perfectly gothic and hauntingly romantic. My only complaint is that I wish it could've been longer. I so desperately want to continue turning the pages of this wonderful book. 

vera gallagher wants one thing, well maybe two things if you count mateo eden. unfortunately, her long time crush on mateo eden seems to stuck in the unrequited territory, so she's focusing on the other thing: normal. for four years, vera's life was anything but normal. everything before that is too painful to remember. she wants to spend the rest of her life free from the past, even if that means she's to broken for mateo to notice her. 

i am a mateo eden stan first and foremost. since indigo ridge i have been counting down the days until we would get his book. we met vera in crimson river, and she was a character that you couldn't help but root for. though i couldn't help but wonder how she would get from where she was at the end of cr to the events in sable peak, i didn't doubt that devney perry would get it done. i was right!!! sable peak is a beautiful look at love, loss, trauma, healing, and like all the books in the edens series, what it means to be a part of a family.

i loved every minute of this!!! but i am also so deeply sad knowing this is the end of the edens :( i can't wait to see what's next for devney perry <3