jennireadsmaybe's Reviews (678)

Me knowing next to nothing about F1 reading this... Am I an F1 fan now? Maybe a little. LOL. In all honesty Cross the Line is a wonderful addition to the sports romance genre. Between two biracial leads, a chronically ill FMC, and a wealth of Bollywood references, Simone Soltani unerringly gives us what the genre needs. I loved that this took the brother's best friend trope and gave us a realistic reason behind the brother's issues with the couple while also showing that sometimes it's the lying and secret keeping that does more damage to a relationship. 

I've read an endless amount of grumpy x sunshine books, so it was fun to finally see a sunshine x sunshine one. They also had an established friendship that made it more believable when they finally made the move to more between them. An unrequited crush is always more fun when he ends up falling even harder than you did, and Dev certainly doesn't disappoint. Between buying a crap ton of macaroons and flying them to a different country just so she could have them, he was putting that Amex card to use. They had really great chemistry, and I wish I could've seen just a little bit more between them. A very solid debut and a new author that I will continue to read from. 

Read this if you like brother's best friend, biracial and chronic illness representation, F1, sunshine x sunshine, he falls harder, workplace dynamics, and Bollywood movies.

I fell in love with Ann Liang's writing when I picked up I Hope This Doesn't Find You last year. She masterfully weaves together prose and characters in a way that really sucks you into the stories she writes. I Am Not Jessica Chen has a romance element, but the central plot is a magical realism, Freaky Friday-esque, learning to love yourself when the world is constantly screaming at you to be somebody else. Honestly, it's the kind of story that is so necessary I don't think anything I say would do it justice. I love it with my whole being. 

Jenna Chen is struggling. She's a fully realized character that demands you care for her, even when she's making mistakes that many teenagers and adults would make. Ann Liang tackles the complexities of Asian immigrant parents' expectations and being the model minority in a digestible manner for young adults. Jenna's romance with her childhood best friend Aaron was so sweet I cried, but it doesn't take away from Jenna's journey within herself. Gah!!! I just loved this so much. I don't think I'll recover from this book for years to come. Pretty please read it with a cherry on top. 

Read this if you like books about academia, the discussion of art vs STEM, realistic and flawed young adult characters, falling in love with your best friend and yourself, stunning prose, and magical realism.

Thank you to NetGalley and Alcove Press for providing me with an ALC in exchange for my honest thoughts! 

I started and finished Single Player in one day. Between the hate to love tension between Cat and Andi and Natalie Naudus' narration, it was impossible for me to put it down! The tension between these two was off the charts from their disastrous meet cute to their first kiss. I actually got why they didn't like each other, and overcoming that dislike fit their separate character development. This is super slow burn!!! But the wait was so worth it for me. I just enjoyed these two together so much. Also, and it might be the bare minimum, I loved that Cat was constantly going to bat for Andi when they didn't like each other. Cat didn't take any of the transphobic, sexist, rhetoric from the higher ups. 

I was really wrapped up in the gaming culture setting of this book. I've always been a casual gamer, but this made me want to play so many more games. I loved all the commentary on the gaming industry: how it doesn't prioritize diverse voices and how much the limited representation affects what different communities buy and play. I wish the game they were writing for was real so I could romance all the different characters. The game is obviously a huge part of the plot, but it never felt like it bogged down the romance (I would argue it moved it along because of their arguments). 

Over all, Single Player is a stunning debut from Tara Tai (she/they)! I will definitely pick up anything they write from here on out. Pick this up if you like hate to love, work place romance, queer and trans representation (lesbian x enby), fat representation, navigating friends and family in your twenties, and video games of course!!!

This is me begging for a group of queer friends who will teach me how to play dnd!!! 

Should be required reading. 

“The Israeli government would like to destroy Palestine, but they are mistaken if they think this is really possible. Palestine is in Haifa. Palestine is in Jerusalem. Palestine is in Gaza and Palestine is in the Mediterranean Sea and Palestine is alive in the refugee camps, from Shatila to Yarmouk. Palestine is even alive and well in New York.”

I've really come to love this series for many reasons. First and foremost, I love the friend groups; whether it's The System's hilarious, chaotic nature or all the girls getting together for murder night and having a blast, I love how much they care for each other. Since the first book, you've been able to see Madison Fox's love for gaming. Every book has a word guide of different gaming slang at the beginning and all of the games feel so real. I think it's just so neat!

Fake Game really is Deer's story at the heart. She's got a whole host of things going wrong, from a hate group infiltrating her streams and someone sending her threats that become terrifyingly real, her world really is imploding. She's had a long time crush on Mr. Grump himself, Jackson, long enough that she thought it went away. He doesn't typically acknowledge her outside of streams, but when her life goes up in flames he can't stop himself from wanting to protect her. There's a ton of chemistry and want between these two opposites. Though their fake dating scheme isn't the focus, it was still a fun way to bring them together. I really liked them together especially toward the end when we got to see more of Jackson supporting her. 

Read this if you like fake dating, grumpy/sunshine, protective heroes, height differences, romantic suspense, cozy gaming, a friend groups that you want to be apart of. 

I want to move to Harmony Springs so bad! I love this little Christmas loving town and its rich, queer history. It's such a magical setting. I'm really glad I started out my holiday reading with The Christmas Pic. The conversation around AI and how it is harming artists is so important and was handled really well with the balance of Ava's Gramsta vs Jo's The Photo Truck. I would've liked a bit more at the end to explore things we learned about Ava toward the end, but it didn't harm the story overall. 

I love that all the side characters were all meddling and trying to get these two idiots (lovingly) to lovers. It's a pretty quick romance because of time constraints in the plot, but I really enjoyed their romance because they were spending so much time together fixing up the truck and getting the business up to date that they couldn't help but have these small moments of seeing each other as they really were. The third act was a bit predictable, which is pretty on par for holiday romance, and I wish that Jo could've had a bit more trust in her heart for Ava's surprise; granted, I did like the scene when Jo finally realizes that Ava does see her. 

Read this if you like Hallmark movies but you've always wished they were queer, big city fish in an out of water small town, hate to love romance, and the most queer friendly Christmas town you've ever read about. 

I'm always on the look out for LGBTQIA+ authors to support, so when I found out about Hearts and Stars I immediately ran to the ARC sign up application. Quinntessa, the narrator/FMC of the story, is a bisexual, football player. She's carrying around A LOT of trauma, a FBI agent dad that's never around, and a very reactive dog when she moves into a house falling apart at its seems in Coven, Indiana. She's moved around so much she doesn't want to risk making friends just to leave them behind, and all she really wants is a spot on the losing football team. 

I mean this in the best possible way, if I had found this on Wattpad when I was in high school it would've changed my life (who am I kidding it still kinda did and I'm in my mid-twenties now). I definitely would've realized I was queer way sooner than I did, because of Quinntessa's thoughts and feelings for ex-cheerleader, rebel with a cause Quinn. The way their feelings developed felt so honest. There's teasing, banter, stolen moments, and motorcycle rides. Another refreshing New Adult romance. I'm really looking forward to getting Quinn's POV in the next books to hear her thoughts. 

This is dark and tough to read at times but so worth it. I can't recommend it enough! Such an amazing debut!!! 

Black Sun has been on my radar for the longest time. I didn't know much about it going in, and I do think that's the way to go. Epic fantasy can sometimes fall prey to the dreaded info dump, but I think Rebecca Roanhorse did a phenomenal job of stretching out learning moments throughout the novel instead of all at once. Additionally, I genuinely enjoyed every point of view; not only was each POV necessary to the overarching plot, they were each unique and entertaining enough to jump between without wishing to skip one. I honestly couldn't pick a favorite character if you asked me to. 

There's a lot of moving parts in this. Between prophecies, politics, and magic of all kinds there's enough action and mystery to keep the pages turning. I definitely recommend an immersive reading experience with a physical and audio copy because it's got multiple narrators that capture everything so well. The world itself was so immersive and all the different settings throughout were easy for me to imagine; I could definitely see the similarities between the book and the Pre-Columbian Americas it's inspired by. I really liked the queer + trans representation and how normalized it was for our characters. 

Read this if you like epic fantasy, great world building, multiple POVs, political intrigue, ancient prophecies, magical worlds, and LGBTQIA+ characters. 

I don't know how I'm going to handle the end of this series that has come to mean so much to me. Lyla Sage is unmatched when it comes to capturing 20 something emotions/feelings. I high key relate so much to Teddy's struggle with feeling left behind while all her friends are moving on to the next thing in life. Teddy is such a fun character too. She's loud, a bit unpredictable, hot as hell, and not afraid to tell you how it is. She's honestly Gus' "worst nightmare," because he loves having a plan. But as always sometimes the best things in life are unexpected. 

My favorite part of L&L isn't the off the charts chemistry and smut (though it's amazing as usual for Lyla Sage), it's actually the soft moments as Teddy and Gus get to know each other beyond their pre-existing best friend's brother relationship. Gus gets to see just how much Teddy cares for everyone around her (especially Riley) and Teddy gets to be the one who he lets his walls down with. They're just so cute y'all!!! 

Lost and Lassoed is not just a romantic love story; it's one of familial love between parents and their kids and platonic love between two best friends. I think my favorite thing about the Rebel Blue Ranch series is that every book mentions how Teddy and Emmy are soulmates. I've been lucky enough to find the other half of my platonic heart in my best friend, and I wouldn't have it any other way.