lisaluvsliterature's Reviews (4.19k)

Now this fourth installment was packed with action from the very beginning to the very end! There were tons of twists and turns and so many new details about the zombie parasite or whatever it is that this author brings in this world. And not only is there a ton of action, we get to see the world outside the little bitty Louisiana town that Angel lives in when they must go to New York City to rescue some of the zombies we know and maybe love. For a change, I have to say that I felt some similarities between Angel and myself. For instance, the stubbornness about having other people pay or do things for you, and how it can make you feel like they are looking down on you or not believing you can do something, even if they don’t even mean it that way. And then when she’s walking in NYC with the others and complaining about how her short legs can’t keep up, it totally reminded me of visiting my sister who lived in NYC and her walking so fast, only her legs weren’t that much longer than mine, she was just completely a NYC native at that point.

With all the stuff going on, some traitors, who maybe later we found weren’t actually traitors. And then some that Angel or others trusted until people tried to point a finger at them, and it was hard to know for sure. So many possible double agents, or then again maybe they weren’t! One character mentioned how they’d felt like they didn’t want to “be here” basically be alive, but it didn’t mean he was suicidal, and I get that. I have feelings all the time that I just don’t want to do things anymore, life specifically, but I also am not suicidal. So that really spoke to me.

Something happens late in the story that means we learn a huge load of info on the zombie parasite and how it continues to affect its hosts. We also get histories of Pietro and other older zombie characters and that is fascinating to learn as well. It got really dark with some of the ways the bad guys were treating the zombies they’d managed to lock up. It was horrible and so sad. But again, we learned so much more about their “medical condition” as Angel called it with her dad, as well as other people that had to be let in on the secret in this book.

In the end we have some new zombies that will for sure feature in future stories. As well as Angel who has been doing so well with her new life, finds something that her addictive personality might be able to use to slide back into some old habits. That end of the book made me eager to get started, and I’ll do that in May!

Once again it was a fun and funny romance from Aly Stiles as part of this Work for It series in the SmartyPants Romance books. This was a quick and hilarious read. There were tons of laugh out loud moments, and lots of great characters, including our main couple, Val (short for Percival) and Larinda (called Larry at times!) Larinda is a country singer who has always been connected to a big name male country star and wants to break free and do her own type of music. Of course the record company wants to keep her doing what is popular and not what she wants. Sound like anyone? Val is a pretty much unknown music producer who we met in the last book by Stiles in this series, as the brother of Nash’s girlfriend, Paige. 

Family for both of the main characters definitely made them who they are, as well as making what they wanted to do hard at times as well. Val’s family sucked, as we know from his sister’s book and exactly what they did to him. Larinda’s family loves her and is supportive, but can be meddlesome, even if not in the way she always thinks they are. Then we get crazy Chad back, and at times he kind of stole the scenes he was in. And honestly, there was something about Larinda’s ex, the big country superstar, that was reminiscent of Chad for me. For instance the way he would say things like “let’s hashtag this out!” And other stupid things he said or did. 

Now one thing that I had a bit of an issue with is that it almost seemed like we skipped some of their getting to know each other. And I can’t remember if maybe that was in the last book, Play Smart, and I just don’t remember it as much since I was reading that for Nash and Paige. Other than that, this was a quick, funny read, and I look forward to more I hope in this series from this author!

I got this ARC at AASL last October. Wasn’t sure if I would end up getting into it as fantasy can be hit or miss for me. But once I picked it up and had some time to read, I did get into it. This book is a mix of fantasy and some science fiction. But also with the author’s note at the beginning relating it to some historical issues, it has a bit of a historical fiction aspect to it as well, from knowing that I guess.

Ruying is our main character and she lives in a world with magic, that has been invaded by people from a world with science and technology that came through a rip in the sky. The guns and bombs and technology from this other world was able to defeat Ruying’s kingdom, even going so far as to almost enslave them by making them addicted to something called opian, I’m guessing an opium like drug. Only certain people in Ruying’s world have magic, and even with that, they all have different or somewhat different abilities. Ruying’s power is death. She is able to reach out and see a person’s life force, or qi is what she calls it I think. She can then pull it away from their body. Other than one time when she was a child and was drowning and trying to save herself, up until the beginning of the book, she’d only ever brought some people to the brink of death and then been able to save herself or get away to save herself.

Her childhood friend Baihu, who seems to be a traitor, working for the Romans from the other world, he wants her to help him, to use her power to help his cause to rebel or at least get their lands back from these people. She refuses him, not wanting to kill anyone. Until one day when she sees one of the Romans stop and give a coin to another orphan in her town, and for some reason she decides she can steal his bag of coins that he has let his attention drift away from. But it goes wrong and she must run and then almost kills the man’s guard as she escapes.

It turns out the man who had given the coin to the orphan is one of the ruler of the other world’s grandsons, soon to possibly be the ruler. And now that he’s seen her, and what her power is capable of, he decides he wants her for himself. He wants to use her powers to save their two worlds from going to war. After he captures her, he convinces her to work for him. To kill for him, in exchange for keeping her family and friend safe, as well as in an effort to promote peace between their people.

But can Ruying trust Antony, the grandson of the ruler of Rome? Does her really only want peace? Her sister, Baihu, all of them tell her there is more to Antony than she sees. That he is evil. There is supposed to at least be a sequel to this one, so I’ll be eager to see how it goes now that she’s found out what he is up to and has made a decision on how to handle it.

I was unsure at first if I would get into this, and the science/magic aspects were a bit jarring in their match up at times for me, but I get what the author was going for and I was drawn into the story and wanted to know what was happening and how things would line up. So I did enjoy this story.

I will make a note that I recently fell down the Goodreads review hole on this one and there are a lot of people complaining about the romance aspect between Ruying and her captor, Prince Antony. I’m going to side once again on the fact that this is fiction. I think teenagers are smart enough to know that a romance that is intriguing to read in a book doesn’t translate to a real life romance. Same issue that people get in a big fuss over Twilight about. I do not agree with what I’ve read about the author supposedly reaching out and saying things to reviewers. That’s not a good look and will cause issues for them in the future. So while I hope that there will be another book, I also hope the things that people are saying about how the author has behaved are either not as bad, or that the author will stop this behavior.

Just didn't really like the meet-cute, seemed to quick/unrealistic. Also had trouble liking who was going to be the male love interest from the start, and couldn't see how he would redeem himself.  Just wasn't working!

I really enjoyed the little novella that came before this, The Boy Next Door. It was my first introduction to this author, but I knew I was hooked from the beginning. And right away with this one, I was hooked again. I love how the character is open with her sexuality and how the author definitely calls out the slut shaming. But also the author doesn’t make it seem as if everyone is now okay with this type of sexuality, because no, most of the world isn’t, even when people say they are.

Nellie is a fun character, she’s enjoying life and honest about what she wants. Unfortunately she has to rely on her father who when he offered to pay for her school, only asked that she spend some time with him, go to a couple events. Her father is kind of a rich jerk. But soon she finds out that her father wants more from her to continue paying for her school and her living expenses. While Nellie wants to be a forensic investigator her father wants and almost expects that she will change her mind and become a lawyer.

However Nellie’s enemy/first partner, also her best friend’s brother JP, is one reason she does not want to do that. Not to mention that she knows herself and that she doesn’t think the way that lawyers think. Her mind is more analytical as the career she has chosen. When her carefully laid out plans to avoid her father’s demand that she take the LSAT fall through, she first tries to keep it from him. Of course that doesn’t work. And he wants her to study with JP for the test.

Of course she fights doing that as well, avoiding him as much as she can. When things come to a head, the book doesn’t end in a way I’d thought. I guess I’m so used to series where each book is a different couple. This series will be all Nellie’s story, because we’re left with her kind of in between what happened with JP and also what has happened with a “Hot professor”. That part isn’t for me, so I’m hoping/assuming at the end of the series she’ll end up with JP? But who knows! The next book is hopefully this summer so we’ll see where it goes.

It doesn’t end on a cliffhanger, more of a HFN. So be prepared!

Boy was I sooooooo ready for a new book from Amy Daws and she did NOT disappoint! I’d definitely been intrigued by the mountain men uncles to little Everly that we met in her last book, and when I heard her next book/series would be about them I was psyched! We started with Wyatt. A true grumpy mountain man. Known for only his grunts and the fact that he wants to be a father. While we don’t get the reasons why he doesn’t just want to get married and have kids at the beginning, throughout the story it is filled in quite a bit, and it totally makes sense. And then there is Trista, the woman who wants to be a surrogate, but doesn’t want to be a mom, based on her own family life, which we learn about very quickly and even more details throughout the story as well.

The story starts off with a chapter from Everly, Wyatt’s niece, as well as finishing up with a chapter by her as well. So we get to see her matchmaking machinations as she starts with trying to find the perfect surrogate for her uncle, one she thinks that he might actually fall in love with because the two just seem so perfect for each other, at least to Everly. Wyatt, along with his brothers Calder and Luke can’t ever seem to say no to their niece, and so he gives his 13th interview for a surrogate to this woman Everly met outside the clinic that told him they couldn’t find anyone for him. In a way, the meet-cute in this story was between Everly and Trista, lol.

Each chapter begins with a little checklist of how many animals are on the mountain, as well as how close they are to the pregnancy, or after she is pregnant, how many weeks it has been. Now Wyatt is not really a fan of animals, and doesn’t want any on his land, even though he has a barn that is perfect for it. He does have a goat named Millie, that Everly had convinced him to get. And Trista brings her pot-bellied pig, and soon other animals from the rescue where she works begin making their way up as well.

As usual the author keeps you laughing and adoring all the characters, both the main couple as well as all their friends and family. She gives you some emotional times, as well as the steamy times, both in the bedroom and many times outside the bedroom. I feel like even though Trista kept pushing back, the way that Wyatt finally figured out what he wanted and how to try to get Trista to see what she really wanted as well was perfect and real. They talked when they needed to, even if sometimes it took a little stubborn refusal from one, but in my opinion, nothing unrealistic or just for drama.

I’m left so excited for the next brother to get his HEA, I won’t say which one, although the author has said who in the epilogue/end of the book section. Although, knowing the author, we might be waiting another year! Boo hoo! For now I’ll just wait for Passionflix to get her next book finished being turned into a movie, One Moment Please, even if they did skip my favorite in the series, Next in Line.

This story had so much that was perfect for representing how things feel for you as a teenager, but also totally incorporated today’s social media issues, as well as having fun with social media aspects as well. It also had so much nostalgia for me in that it reminded me of the times I visited my younger sister when she moved to NYC. The subway fun, walking around and feeling alone when even surrounded by other people, but not in a bad way necessarily! All the places, the High Line, the parks, you name it. And the wonderful food choices! Even Fitz’s relationship with her sisters was something that was real and emotional. I have had my own times when I felt like my sisters were doing things without me. Although for me it was the opposite, because it was my two younger sisters.

This book has a lot of different things going on, but in such a good way, it was real, like life is. And when it is a teenager dealing with a lot of this, it makes things seem even bigger more disastrous at times. We had the fake dating trope, but also there was the aspect of how social media can become such a part of a teen’s life (or anyone these days) and cause relationship issues or even in Fitz’s case, issues with how she saw herself and what she thought she had to do in order to be successful or “perfect”. As I mentioned above there was even family issues for Fitz, feeling left out with her older sisters, her parents not seeming to realize she was serious about the fashion and not going to eventually go into something more “serious” like medicine or teaching, etc.

And oh did I adore Levi! I was so frustrated that Fitz couldn’t see he was actually interested in more than just the fake dating, and how she didn’t even get that when she talked to his ex the one time. Of course I know this is a teen story, and teens don’t always see what’s right in front of them. To be fair I don’t always see that either, lol. But Levi, his planty-nerdiness, was just so adorable! And I totally get why she was swooning over it, even if she was only doing it in her own head and not sharing it with him. It frustrated me at how Dani treated her and yet she still kept thinking there was a chance with her. Again, yeah, I know, teen, drama for a story, actually was realistic.

This was a really great story, one I can’t wait to share with my students. As it has so much in it. Besides what I’ve mentioned above, it also has the LGBTQ+ representation with both Fitz and Levi being bi. Dani being a lesbian, as well as I believe one of Fitz’s sisters also has a partner that is a woman. I liked how Fitz always referred to characters as first as they in her thoughts until there was a clear statement of their pronouns and from then on she would switch to those if they happened to be a she/her or he/him, or stick with the they/them as appropriate. I also enjoyed her time at the Pride Parade at the beginning of the story, and getting a bit of an inside glimpse at that from her being there and what she saw even as she searched for Dani to try to fix things.

This book was definitely a sweet romantic/fake dating story for me. The characters were good, the storyline was what you’d expect too. One thing that might have made it even better would be getting Vincent’s POV as well. As it was though, the author did a great job of not making him someone that was unlikable at any point, at least not for me. It was obvious he was interested in her from the start, even if as Amerie noticed those things, but just pushed it aside that it couldn’t be real.

Another thing about the characters that I really liked is that they were a little more established than sometimes you see in a romance. Amerie had a pretty big career that kind of fell apart after some family issues made her miss an event and caused it to not go perfectly. Vincent had been successful in more than one career, leading up to his current one as an astronaut. The one maybe unlikable thing about him could have been the mansplaining he did at times. Amerie was totally annoyed by it, and I kind of wish maybe she’d called him out on it more? But then I also see that it could be considered part of what made Vincent who he was? And really his mansplaining was kind of like Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory, because it was often very scientific or technical things that no one really knew usually. But they weren’t always things anyone would have cared about.

And wow with his mother! I get how she was upset and worried about her son being an astronaut. And I understand it had to do with what had happened to his brother. But the whole giving him her ring for him to propose? That was sooooooooo crazy and out there! And I still can’t believe the way Amerie took that bit. But it all worked out in the end, and I feel the author made sure the majority of the ways people reacted made sense and was realistic.

A sweet fun read for sure!

Once again I was left thinking how much of a genius Meghan Quinn was several times as I read this book. It’s like the things she comes up with, both the crazy out there hilarious little debacles and banter, as well as just the perfect situations and backgrounds, even as they may fit into the standard tropes and such, they are still unique and different enough that I look forward to finding out just what she can come up with every single book. Of course the characters, Maggie and Brody were perfect as well. 

First of all, there was the way Maggie would sleep, and how Brody woke up with her head on his lap on the mornings even before they were doing more than a fake dating relationship. I mean, who comes up with that, let alone does anyone actually do that? Because OMG I was dying laughing! And all the bad situations Brody kept getting into, the snake, getting sick on the boat, the spear fishing. He couldn’t seem to escape getting into these sticky situations every single chance he could, and so often at no fault of his own. 

Secondly the chemistry between Maggie and Brody was off the charts as always with Meghan Quinn’s characters. Several scenes that had me fanning myself for sure! Even just ones where Brody teased Maggie and kind of left her hanging, yeah, I felt that too! The connection between them was perfect, and when they decided to go for the relationship, the way he made his mind up about her brother was so realistic and perfect in my opinion. I even loved how while there may have been that third act breakup moment for this story, it made sense in how and why it happened. Although maybe Maggie was a bit over the top for not giving him a chance to explain. I was extremely happy that the author didn’t do one of those things that made us wait and pine for a long time like she has done in the past. (I’m talking about you, Knox and Maggie– 8 years!)

And third, I have to mention that again I love love love all the supporting characters in this story. I mean Maggie’s brother when he found out mostly being worried that Brody would no longer keep him as his number one. And of course Maggie’s friend that we know from The Way I Hate Him, and the time we got to spend with her and her hunky Hayes. The wedding party was full of great characters, especially the twin brothers Hudson and Hardy that I hope get their own books too. 

Now this is supposed to be part of the Almond Bay series, but I think this one is with a traditional publisher so is titled a little differently and not listed that way. But our characters are connected to them, and we get to spend some time with those other characters in this book. I did also check with the author and I guess this will be the first one in a new series as well! And when I finished the book, I have a feeling who the next book might be about. Another winner from Meghan Quinn, and now I guess another series from her I will be devouring as she writes them!