knitplanjess's Reviews (602)

Emily Henry has done it again!!!

A book about two people in the literary industry that know the “typical” tropes & what “typically” happens. Two people that also know what they want but know that sometimes they have to set it aside to take care of the people who they love the most.

I love the banter between Nora & Charlie - it had me cheering for those two to become a thing immediately. I love the character development, the chemistry between all of the characters, and how the story draws you in & makes you feel like you are living it.

I really love Lynn Painter’s writing but overall, I cringed at certain portions of this book.

I found Olivia to be whiny, immature, and annoying at the very beginning of the book. Her level of immaturity was incredulous and I expected a miracle in order to develop her character.

Scenarios in the book were very unrealistic - 9/10 times, if a random number texts you, you aren’t going to hold a serious conversation. I love the idea of it happening, but it’s not realistic and I didn’t feel like it gave much to the story.

The story got better as it went on and I found myself rooting for Colin & Olivia. I even found myself tearing up at some points. I also appreciated that the bedroom scenes had spice without it being straight smut.

I don’t normally enjoy murder mysteries but this being tagged as a comedy is what real drew me to it.

Larkin is a theater girl who has to move to Iowa and live with her mom while she gets back up on her feet. There she joins the choir and discovers a murder!

While it took me reading to nearly the 50% mark to really hit my interest, I love that the “who-dun-it” wasn’t as easy to guess as I thought it was going to be. By the end of the book, I was surprised by the murderer and overall, I really enjoyed the story.

Thanks to NetGalley and Shortwave Media for the ARC!

I don’t generously give out 5 star ratings but this book is everything. The writing style was perfection, the flow of the story kept me intrigued, and I didn’t want to put this book down. I found myself chuckling, swooning, and crying while devouring the book in practically one sitting. (Seriously - 20% to 100% because I couldn’t put it down)

Perci Mayfield finds herself boyfriendless, jobless, and with a mother that makes her feel worthless compared to her sister. Thanks to her best friend, she sets out to find the “new Perci” and along the way find a new friend, Nate, who while pretending to be her fake boyfriend, ends up actually dating him.

The relationship between Perci and Nate was so enjoyable to read. Perci was so relatable and the family dynamics is one that I think a lot of readers could relate to as well. More so, I loved the character development over the course of the story. The family realizing how toxic that they were being, but understanding that things can change - not overnight, but realistically over the course of time.

Huge Kudos to Sharon M Peterson on your debut book - I can’t wait for future releases!
Thank you to #NetGalley and Bookouture for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Melanie is a single mom living in her hometown. Then her childhood crush and ex brother-in-law waltzes back into town and becomes her next door neighbor. Let the attraction and flirting commence!

Overall, I thought it was a cute story. I loved the interaction between the characters, but I would have also loved to see more character development. The story itself felt very predictable at times - I never found myself surprised by what happened next. The “steamy” scenes could have had a little more spice but I also had to remind myself that the characters were slightly older

It was cute but I didn’t feel the swoon-y feeling that I do with other rom-coms.

Dani’s wedding is called off when she finds out that her fiancé was cheating on her with their realtor. So she decides to buy an empty lot, build a vacation home, and call it the Spite House. Everything about the building will piss her ex off.

Wyatt is a co-worker who agrees to help with the build (not as a job related build because ethical flags are flying). And they fall in love.

Their banter was cute, the spice scenes were enjoyable (definitely not too much & borderline smut) and of course something happens that causes a misunderstanding that is later resolved with Wyatt helping save the day!

I felt that the resolution was too quick and sort of unrealistic. Cute book, but I wasn’t feeling the giddiness that I do with some stories.

Bea is happily in a relationship when she enters a contest to win an amazing wedding venue for a DEEP discount. 3 months after her boyfriend cheats on her & breaks up with her, she is notified that she has won the wedding venue. She happily accepts the prize, pays the money - all the while being woefully single.

Definitely not a bad idea, right?

I was pulled into the story and love the writing style of the author. However, the only reason why I couldn’t put the book down is because it felt like a train accident that I had to watch just to see what happened.

Bea was immature, annoying, and hopeless. Her friend Lucy was over-dramatic and constantly acting like Bea was the worst friend in the world. Andrew was a conniving snake who was trouble from the very beginning. And Oliver? Maybe one of the only characters that I liked - except he did a horrible job at showing Bea just how much he liked her. The relationships between the characters were weird and didn’t feel relatable.

The only reason why I gave it three stars - Bea’s character development and the ending of the story. Bea’s character developed into someone who grew up, gained confidence, and seemed to actually think about the decisions that she was making. I really appreciated that instead of Bea & Oliver’s relationship going from 0-100, it was a little more realistic where they allowed it bloom beautifully.

Thank you NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC for my honest review!

For starters… never before have I felt so connected to a YA teen book, but damn…

Serena Kaylor is a brilliant writer. Her writing style draws you in and keeps a strong hold on you. She created these beautiful characters and literally (not figuratively) brought them to life.

I loved that through her writing, we got the sense that Beatrice “Bea” may have been on the autism spectrum - without her actually saying so. I connected with her social awkwardness, her shyness. I loved how we were able to see into her brain and really understand who she is as a person.
Mia, Nolan, Nik, and Shelby (and ok… Ben even though he was too much in the background) were created with as much love & enthusiasm as Bea.

I loved how each one developed as a character during the course of the story. They were engaging & witty & exactly the people that you would hope to meet at camp if you were forced to go to a theater camp.
I love how the relationships formed with each other.

Easily a 4.5 / 5 star book. I deducted .5 star for the quick developing relationship between Bea & Nik at the end. I would have liked to see a little more time and development before they jumped all in. It felt like a long drawn out 0-10, then an 11-100 in a split second. I will easily give back that .5 star if she creates a sequel about their time at Oxford.

Huge thank you to NetGalley, St Martins Press, and Wednesday Publishing for this ARC for my open & honest review.