lisaluvsliterature's Reviews (4.19k)

Last year I read a book by this author that I really enjoyed called Don’t Go To Sleep. So when this historical fiction horror story about a serial killer family in Kansas was sent to me, I was extremely eager to read it.

Overall there was a lot of interesting bits to this story. I can’t believe living this close to where all the actual history of the Bender family happened, that other than a few very small stories on the news recently about an anniversary or something, I didn’t know much about this story. I liked how at the beginning of each chapter there was a snippet from real news stories when it was all going on. To be fair, there wasn’t exactly a complete record of these events to give a lot more to the story, which I think gave this author a lot of openings to write his story the way he did.

The story was really about Warren coming into his own, growing up. As the youngest son in a family where he’d also been quite a few years behind his other brothers, he’d kind of had things easier and not only did he not feel like he was capable of as much as his brothers, no one else in the family saw him that way either. There was a lot of interesting history and even geography type of facts told as he traveled to try to find his father who had left to find a friend of the family who hadn’t shown up when he and his infant daughter were supposed to. So this was also a bit of a survival story, as Warren had to remember how to survive in the wilderness. Of course he’d always had his family to do all the actual work, so even though his father and brothers had shown him what to do, it wasn’t ingrained and something he had practice at doing.

Warren had a lot of issues going on with himself to deal with as well. First he totally had social anxiety, didn’t like to be around a lot of people, and didn’t know how to always talk to strangers or even people he knew. He seemed to be a bit of a germ-a-phobe as well. And finally he had this voice inside of him telling him to do horrible violent things to people. Even his own family members. Just to see the gory results. To be fair, I feel like that last aspect didn’t need to be part of the story? But maybe it was just to show that it could be easy to do those things or to give empathy to the Benders? I don’t know. I feel like there were other parts the author had in the story that showed that well enough without this extra bit.

There was a lot of excitement in this story. A tornado, bandits trying to rob him, stampeding buffalo herds, the Benders themselves, and just getting lost too. There was code breaking, solving a mystery and using clues to try to find the Benders. I could see my students enjoying this one for sure!

This was another fun fake dating romance, my first by another author that I’ve wanted to read for a while, and was glad to get the chance to read this early! I also know I now need to at least go back and read the first book in this series. While I’ve never seen the Runaway Bride movie with Julia Roberts, I imagine this has similarities to that story in some ways.

Boy did this book start with a major hook of an opening. I mean having someone show up when you are covered with jelly from trying to get one of your former engagement rings off, and having to suddenly assure them you are getting engaged because it would hurt your newly found father’s public image. And then having a stranger just happen to be walking down your street that you are able to actually pull over and rope into this fake engagement scenario, and that stranger is actually your newly found sister’s best friend that you kind of sort of know.

Matthew was someone I could have fallen in love with myself. He was funny and sexy and definitely such a good guy, with some moves! He was there for Josie in all the ways, letting her go with what she wanted, but also pushing her to make sure she was doing what she wanted and not just what everyone else wanted. And he was real. The secret that he had, well, it wasn’t a horrible one, not even one I’d kind of guessed might be what was going on. Also, not a third act break up, even with what happened on their supposed wedding rehearsal/day.

Even Josie’s father had a moment at the end that made him not someone to completely hate or never forgive. And I liked that. The characters in this small town were a blast as well. I loved Josie’s Grandpa Moe and his neighbor Otto. And as I mentioned at the beginning, I need to go back and read book one to get more of this small town and the characters. My only issue was that it might have been a little longer than needed overall, and there were a few small parts I feel might have been not needed. However since I can’t really think of what they were specifically after I finished, I still gave it 4.5 stars!

I always enjoy a good competition YA romance, as well as the whole grumpy-sunshine trope being one of my favorites. I also enjoy the cultural stories like this one. It was easy to feel for Juliana and how she felt she had to do what her mom wanted her to do. Not only was there the usual Asian family pressure to be winning at everything, but the whole contest itself had been founded by her own father, who had passed away, and now she felt she had to win because of that.

But also Juliana had the pressure of knowing that her older sister had been kind of kicked out of the family or disowned by her mother for getting pregnant and dropping out of medical school. As the middle child she also felt the pressure to do what she could to help her younger sister not have to face the pressure as much. However that meant she would kind of get on her sister to try to get her to do what their mother asked as well.

The boy she ends up on the project with, Garrett, is someone she has a history with. She’d thought at camp when they were younger, that they’d really connected. But something had happened on the last day, and he’d told her he didn’t want to be her friend anymore. So going to him to get his help with this was a big leap of faith for her. Unfortunately Juliana still let her mother’s biases get in between the two, because she didn’t tell her mom she was working with Garrett. She lied about who she was working with.

In the end there is more to this competition than what it seems. Juliana also gets to know more about the people in the community that her mother doesn’t consider “their people” the more she spends time with Garrett at the community center and gets to know those people. She learns things about her father she didn’t know because of the competition, things that look bad for him, but may not be the more she thinks about it. And she of course will learn why Garrett turned away from her all those years ago.

I really enjoyed this one, couldn’t put it down, sped right through it once I picked it up. Can’t wait to purchase it for my school library so my students can enjoy it as well!

I love how the author has given us a bit of a later in life love story. Both characters have had a first marriage and lost their significant other due to divorce or death. One has kids, one is floundering and unsure where to go at this point. The story takes place in a small town with a fun cast of supporting characters. 

Willa is reserved, still dealing with her husband’s death, she’s unsure how to move about in this new world and new reality. She married pretty young, against her parents’ wishes, and her life never became the steady, safe one they’d always wanted her to have. Now she’s kind of trying to move on, to start a new life on her own, with the luck of her great-aunt’s home in this small town. The first job opportunity that might actually help her get on her feet comes along, but it’s not an easy one. The antics with trying to come up with “sexy” recipes for this influencer’s cookbook is so much fun. Even as I could feel the stress Willa was dealing with to complete it.

Then there is Hudson. He’s the flirty divorcee, with two grown kids, because he also got married at a young age. He’s a few years younger than Willa, but also at a point in his life where he thinks he wants to be. But as he gets to know Willa, and learn about her life, he does start to wonder about a few of his own misses in his life. However he is a giver, he’s there to help out anyone, and so that has always come first, like raising his kids when his wife left them. His family is a blast. His daughter and his mom, and even his dad. All of them just want him to be happy, and of course are shocked when it seems he’s interested in this new woman on the island. 

The romance progresses at a slow pace, both attracted, but Willa unsure and not wanting to accept help, and Hudson worried about scaring her away if he moves too fast. When Willa visits her family, it makes sense why she feels the way she does. But I love how she makes her decision on what to do next. 

Another thing I loved about the story is that we don’t get that third act break up really. There is a bit of the disaster we need to move the story along of course, but the two of them are able to figure that out, and then we have other things to worry about messing up their relationship, or them figuring out what they are going to do and how they can move on.

Another sweet romance, with a little bit of spice from Cathy Yardley.

My 2nd second chance romance read in a row! But once again I loved it! It was almost perfect! I loved the way the CD player was giving Sam flashbacks, but not flashbacks exactly because they are actually new memories of what might have been if she’d only given in and kissed Damon on that one night back in high school. As someone who thinks back a lot of times to certain moments where I wish maybe I’d made a different decision, it is nice to get this look at what or how things might have been better in some ways, but also there are things in Sam’s life (or my own life) that would not be the same, things that could change how the happiness level could be.

Of course as you’d expect, at first the changes seem to be wonderful. Even if they turn what Sam calls “Alt-Sam” into a bit of a different version of herself. She says and does things that our heroine can’t imagine actually doing. Which obviously are partly probably from the changed decisions, as well as just the fact that this Alt-Sam thinks or chooses differently. Of course things don’t keep going smoothly. And of course Sam can’t really tell anyone about these “visions” she’s having. Or when she does, her friend thinks she’s hallucinating and needs an intervention.

Then things get a little crazy back at home where Sam has gone to help her grandmother get ready to maybe move to a senior community. First, right before the hurricane comes in and hits, Sam’s mother shows up out of the blue. And now Sam has to face the issues she has with her mom leaving her. But as you can expect, there is more to that than the story that Sam has always believed and been told by her grandmother. She finds herself falling again for Damon outside of the visions too. I mean he really is such the perfect guy for her, other than he lives there, and she lives in Paris with her whole pilot career. Not to mention the huge change in her life in the visions, that take away some of her most important parts of her current life and she has to decide maybe she didn’t choose wrong after all, but can she make any new decisions that might work out now?

A fun story, definitely recommend!

I loved the sound of this second chance romance when the publisher reached out to me and so I was very excited to read it. And it did not disappoint!

I really got Georgia’s feelings about losing friends as they went on to different stages of their lives. I think I had this same connection with another character just recently in another book. But in a way she kind of was letting them, or expecting them to do that. She didn’t want to need them. Based on her past with her own mother, and even things with her father, she knew it was just better not to be needy. In her mind and experiences, it had made people leave her because she was too much. In fact that is part of what she felt split her and Eli up.

Eli was someone you could tell from the first actual point he showed up at the airport had made some changes in his life. It wasn’t just that he seemed so different to Georgia, I mean, yes, it was, but there were just a lot of clues laid into his actions that definitely kept me thinking about what had probably been going on for him. It was also obvious he was coming to make amends, not only with their friend Adam, but also with Georgia.

I loved how they finally gave in. How both of them supposedly handled keeping it just for that short time. But Eli stepped up, he really did prove that he was there and was there to be part of her life again. And the paper rings, those were the neatest thing. I loved that she’d kept them all that time. It’s totally something I would do. I even have silly notes from high school from people, so I got that. But what those rings turned into, what the surprises that came with them at the end were, I didn’t see that coming, but oh did I love that! This romance was so good. It didn’t work out perfectly without any mistakes or any heartbreak or trying to figure things out. But it worked out with the characters having to figure out where they’d went wrong on their own, and make their own lives ready.

I can’t finish this review without talking about the hilarious wedding curse that their friend Adam and his fiance Grace were dealing with. So many hilarious things, and you can’t even imagine how insane some of these things that went wrong were! The crazy DJ they went to check out to replace the original one they had. The cabins they stayed in for the wedding, the cake tastings and then incidents, TWO!, with the final cake. Not to mention the way they got their HEA and the epilogue of the story was so unique and fit perfectly.

This is my first book by this author, I’d wanted to read the first one, but didn’t get around to it, now I know I will have to, so I’ve added it to my audiobook wishlist to enjoy as well. And I’ve seen there is a novella to read, so that is on my TBR too now!

What I’ve really enjoy about this series is just how real the characters are. Especially how Nellie is not at all timid or careful about how she enjoys herself and her dating life. I know this might be off putting for some people, but for me, it worked. And the banter and hilarious innuendos and puns that the characters engage in had me laughing as I was sitting in my doctor’s office waiting room. 

This is the second book, and so I will do my best not to spoil anything, although I will say I thought it was going to be the conclusion, but no, we have at least one more book to finish up this story, and I was not expecting that! Another not cliffhanger exactly, but I wouldn’t call it a HFN this time really either. So be prepared. I knew as we got closer to the end, even as some things looked like maybe they were falling into place for a real relationship, more than just a FWB relationship, I could tell not everything that would need to be settled for that to be HEA was there yet.

Nellie is still enjoying her time with both of her FWBs, Ben – her former professor, and JP, her best friend’s older brother/her nemesis. However her dad is still being a real jerk, and ooh, I hated him so much in this one, even more than the first book if it was possible! We did get a bit of a different look at his latest wife Kimberlee, and maybe have to give her a little bit more credit and like her a bit more. And of course her friend Anne-Marie was her usual gossipy, hilarious debutante self. Even if there was one point that she did something that made Nellie unsure of their friendship. 

JP also became someone Nellie actually got to know better, through both of them dealing with personal issues, and talking instead of just the physical aspects of their relationship the whole time. It made JP a little more lovable for me. Even if I had been rooting for him the whole time anyway. Because I could tell that he felt more than just the basic physical feelings Nellie had for him. 

I don’t remember much about Nellie being neurodivergent discussed in the first two books, but maybe I just skimmed over it? Any way, there was a lot to do with that in this story. And it makes sense that she is based on how her life has been and how she deals with situations. 

There were some new characters we met in this story that I adored, and I loved how they kind of came into her dealings with her dad at the end too. It was the perfect bit for her, even if her dad still didn’t give her any credit at first. Between those humorous bits as well as all the hilarious banter between JP and Nellie, especially about what she promised him in order to get him to do a favor for her, I found myself laughing quite a bit and speeding through this one!

I’m not always a huge fan of age gap romances, but to me the age gap in this isn’t a huge one that bothers me. And of course if anyone can write it in a way I’ll love, it is going to be Helena Hunting. I started out listening to the audiobook, and I will definitely say that both narrators did a great job! I ended up switching the e-galley at about 60% because with not driving to work every day, and riding a lot of places with family members, I wasn’t listening as much or as quickly as I needed to. However, once I started the e-galley, I finished in basically one day. 

I love all the characters in this series of course. Getting time with the Rix and Tristan from the first book, If You Hate Me, since Rix was sort of Hammer, or Aurora’s roommate, was a lot of fun. In fact, we had another secret dating type of story with this one, so that couple had definitely some great insight into what Aurora and Hollis were going to deal with if they kept it a secret. All the little inside jokes the “Bad A– Babe Brigade” had from what we knew from the first story also made for some hilarious spit-take moments for several of the characters. We also get little insights into some of the other possible future couples, or at least the hockey team player that we’ll hopefully get to see HEAs for sometime in a future book.

Aurora and Hollis were definitely both lusting after the other, and both knowing it was wrong, not because it really was, but because of issues with Aurora’s father. First with him being Hollis’s best friend, and second because his one rule for Aurora’s dating was not to date a hockey player. It was easy to understand why Aurora worried about his rules, but then when we learned a bit more of what really happened when her parents had switched custody of her, things made more sense for her. I liked also that Hollis knew sooner that he needed to come clean with her father about their relationship, even if he let her talk him into waiting. Her reasons definitely made sense, even if they shouldn’t have made up their mind. 

I didn’t agree with the time Aurora got upset with Hollis after finding out he’d met with his ex. First of all, the timing should have made it not a big deal. What with everything that had been going on at the time with her other date, and him pushing her away. So that bugged me a bit. Also, this is a me problem, the picture of her on the cover of the book doesn’t look like she has long enough hair that she would be wearing the type of scrunchies that she was wearing, or that she would need one very often. But that’s just me, and not at all a real issue with the story, lol. Because I love the cover, so I can’t believe I’m even saying that!

Another great addition to the new hockey world, with ties to the original hockey world from Hunting. I am ready to maybe have a little bit different trope in the next book, not a secret dating type. I can see at least one enemies to lovers story in the works, which I can’t wait for that. And I hope we also get a chance to see Aurora’s dad get a story too! I mean, he’s not that old since he was such a young father!

I’ve loved the books by this author that I’ve read and was excited for this adult romance, I especially love when there are cultural aspects that are new to me and I get to learn about them, in this case, the same time that our hero Evan is learning about them.

In the end I adored this book! Although it was in 3rd person, which is never my favorite, it had so many great moments, and so much emotion. It definitely seemed at first as if Dalisay was being a little bit too picky or rude. But I love the way that Evan jumped right into the Five Stages. The story was totally one where the two characters had that inkling, that little thought that this was going to be their person, even if you wouldn’t call it love at first sight.

I fell in love with Evan pretty quickly. Starting with how well he took the news that he didn’t get the job he thought he was going to get. It was still realistic how he felt when Dalisay edited some of his work without him asking her to do that. When we got more from Dalisay though, we learned that was just how the work ethic had been for her back in her country. It’s the way I’ve kind of always felt at work, that yeah, I want to get my stuff done, but I want to help others too. I think part of that is from the middle school philosophy I firmly believed in as I began teaching. But that’s off topic, so let’s get back to the book.

All of the friends and family characters in this book added so much to the story as well. As someone like myself who didn’t know the Five Stages, it was fun how the author let me find out what each one was along with Evan as the story progressed and he learned them from his friends or from Dalisay or her family. The second stage, ugh, I was so irritated with Dalisay, but in the end it made sense why she did what she did. Especially when it came to grand gesture time, but I won’t spoil that for the reader! So many parts of the different stages led to hilarious laugh out loud moments for me. Like the kid’s birthday party with the clowns, and Evan’s reaction to them. There was a part with a seagull trying to get Evan’s ice cream cone too. And the ice skating scene was adorable and sweet. Oh my gosh, and the trip to the zoo with Little Luis!

There was a lot of emotion as well. Dalisay thinking about how her family would handle her not sticking to their traditions. How Evan’s family acted when she met them, wow, his family was not what I was expecting, and they made me mad! Of course we had the side story of Dalisay’s sister Nicole and how she had her own secret, and what happened when she tried to finally be open with her family about it.

And I guess I didn’t figure that we’d have some of the steamy scenes we had, as I am mostly used to reading this author’s YA books in the past. But it wasn’t as steamy/explicit as some of my favorite authors are, just wasn’t closed door either. Not saying this wasn’t a good part of the book! I liked the way it all happened, that Dalisay didn’t immediately want to jump into that physical relationship. It took her a bit to be ready for that. That part made sense to why she had the issue when he tried to move the relationship to an even more serious level. Even if I was mad at her for that.

In the end the grand gesture and the way it all was wrapped up and settled into the HEA was perfect for me, and so romantic. Loved this book so much, all the cultural info, I want someone to do the Five Stages with me, lol! And Evan was such a wonderful guy, I’d totally want him for a book boyfriend as well!