lisaluvsliterature's Reviews (4.19k)

Maybe too much description for me?  Anyway just wasn't getting into it, and since the publisher sent it, but I did not request it, I don't feel I need to finish if I'm not enjoying.

Just not really liking the main character.  Plus I've decided 2024 is my year of not wasting time on books I'm not enjoying.

This is my first book by this author, but I’ve wanted to read her for a while. And this was the perfect one to start with too I think! Now, I’ve only been to Disneyworld, never Disneyland, so I didn’t realize it was not Cinderella’s castle at both parks. Sleeping Beauty was one of my favorites, maybe even more so than Cinderella? So it was fun to have this story where our characters ended up being dropped into the world of that fairy tale.

Stella and Reece first get a weird glimpse in the castle of the scene at the beginning of the movie when Maleficent shows up and curses Princess Aurora. But then they get back to their own time and can only assume it was some kind of weird immersive experience with actors and such. The leave, but then when Reece can’t find his phone and they go back to find it, they get lost into that same corridor only this time they end up in the fairy tale a week ahead of all the big happenings when the prince meets Aurora.

They realize they have to make sure the story goes the way it is supposed to, because now Prince Philip, or Phil as he is going by so that people don’t “know” he is the prince, has met her. Reece convinces him to keep it a secret, which he also wants to do. Over the week Stella stays in the tree home with the three fairy godmothers, or who Rose/Aurora thinks are her aunts. And Reece stays with the prince. They meet up every day, keeping it especially secret from the fairies, and the two get to know each other. Reece and Stella barely knew each other, but had issues with each other, and of course they also get to know each other.

Stella’s pessimistic view of romance, caused by her boyfriend recently breaking up with her before prom, is something she must fight to help keep this story on track. Reece knows the story by heart because his younger sister loves the movie, but he’s got his own family issues. In the end it’s a sweet romance, rom-com, fairy tale. My first book by this author, and now I know I need to read more!

So when the author was posting about how this was going to be the spiciest book she’d ever written, I was all like, nah, what about Darren and Charlene in Pucked Love? But guess what, she was correct! If you follow the author you’ve see that she spent some time before the release of this book knitting little pickles. If you read or listen to the story as I did, you’ll understand why! And there isn’t really any safe bit of the story before it gets hot, nope the very start of the book is a scene that had me fanning myself and probably blushing a little bit. 

This is definitely an enemies to lovers story. Beatrix (Rix) and Tristan do really hate each other. While Rix has good reason for it, the way Tristan treated her when she was younger, Tristan’s reasons for it are definitely ones that make him a pretty big a-hole. However when the two of them decide to get the hate-lust attraction out of their systems, it only seems to make it go deeper, so that they need more. Especially for Tristan more than even for Rix. 

As they decided to keep it on the down-low from their other roommate who is not only Tristan’s best friend, but also Rix’s brother, the two of them got to know each other. Even though he’d always been prickly and a bit of a dick, Rix began to see that Tristan could and did have a soft caring side, epsecially for those who were important to him. While they tried to keep their own friends with benefits situation quiet, both of them were constantly confronted with Flip’s own extreme playboy behavior as he brought puck bunnies home night after night, sometimes more than one at a time. 

Halfway through I was definitely on the edge of my seat as things seemed to be going mostly well, and I just didn’t know how the author was going to break the couple up or throw a wrench into this almost perfect world they were living in. I knew it would probably have something to do with when Flip found out. And while it did, that doesn’t mean that even figuring that out would make things all better. While I understood Tristan’s reasons for the things he did and why he pushed Rix away, it was also frustrating that he didn’t realize he was behaving the exact same way as the person who had caused him to feel that way.

In the end I loved how we now have another group of characters that I enjoy spending time with and can’t wait to see how their own stories can play out. Who will get their HEAs and how. 

I listened to the audio-e-galley, and I know there will be changes. The narrators were perfect, although this male narrator does make me cringe sometimes with his female “voice” in certain situations. He’s just got such a “manly” voice it almost doesn’t work for that. Another thing that my little midwestern American ears noticed was how they said Toronto. I asked the author and I know that it was done the way it would be said by those who live there, and I like that! I definitely wouldn’t have gotten that from reading. So I recommend listening if you get the chance. Although there were a few times I pulled into work in the morning in the middle of one of “those” scenes, or turned on the car when I was leaving after work and had to make sure my volume was down so people near my car wouldn’t hear that same scene start back up.

This series is a lot of fun, and the different stories and characters are all over the place, meaning there is probably a story for everyone here who enjoys sweet romance. 

Now this story had a lot of potential, just like the last one in the series that I read. I did like the setting, and I loved learning the things about the coffee that Carter told Cara about. However, at first Cara was a little unlikable of a character. It was hard to feel sorry for her with the things that happened because of how she reacted to them or thought about those things as they happened. And while I liked how her friend would call her out and hand it to her with no sugar-coating, her friend was a bit unlikable at times too.

When we found out why Carter had broken up with Cara before, I really got over any issues I’d had with him because then it made a lot of sense what he’d even done to her since their reconnection at the beginning of the story. And then there was Carter’s sister, who was upset with Cara because she thought that Cara had done the breaking up. Once again that character was a little unlikable. And even after things were straightened out, I still wasn’t sure just how much I liked her.

A good story, just some issues with the likability of some characters, as well as the writing was a little off in some places. Like maybe the author switched some things when they edited but left part of the original lines in? Or maybe comparisons or sayings that didn’t quite make sense, maybe trying to not be too cliche? And as with the last one in this series, I also was made to think I need to go ahead with my own writing again, finish my own stories and get them out there.

This was one of the ARCs I picked up when I attended the AASL conference back in October last year. I planned to be done with this earlier this week, but then my week got kind of busy with bringing home an extra dog for a house guest mid-week. Otherwise I would have sped through this much quicker as it was really a story that kept me on the edge of my seat. I didn’t realize it is also supposed to have a sequel until I went to post my review and saw it listed as part of a duology.

We get a bit of the story about why the world is the way it is due to climate change. And then that explanation leads into the Snowglobe background. The main character is Chobahm, who has always been told that she is kind of a ringer/doppelganger for one of the Snowglobe’s biggest stars, Haeri. Chobahm’s family lives outside the Snowglobe, in fact, the only way to see the show is for those who live outside the dome. Inside the dome you are someone who is either an actor, or a director most likely.

I really liked the way the tv shows worked with the Snowglobe, especially the more we found out about them. It was such a different way to have a reality tv show. In fact, they even had a murderer as part of the show at one point. Or a woman who had her own show and was a murderer. That retired actor now lived in the city outside of the Snowglobe where Chobahm lives. And she is an outcast, no one likes her or trusts her because they saw her murdering on her show. Because yeah, these are “reality” shows, and what you see happening is what is actually happening to the “actors.” Chobahm dreams of being a director, even has her own ideas for shows. She’s applied to be in the film school, but has just received her latest rejection when the book starts.

On a day that this murderer/actor comes up and asks her to do her a favor, other things start to happen. She is approached by a famous director, the one who directs Haeri’s show, to come in and take over for Haeri so that the show can continue. Because according to the director, Haeri committed suicide, and they have nothing to wrap up the show. Director Cha offers that once they are able to wrap up Haeri’s show in a year as if she decides to go out of the Snowglobe, then Chobahm can direct her own show, her dream.

Of course no one can know that she isn’t the real Haeri. Only the director, Haeri’s mom, and Haeri’s grandmother know the truth. So once Chobahm is in, she must become Haeri. Good thing it was her favorite show to watch and she has a pretty good idea on how to act. But she soon learns not everything is great in this world. She witnesses the director killing another actor. She sees just how Haeri’s mother and grandmother actually treat her. And there are other connections in the Snowglobe that seem to be in on secrets with Haeri that now she must figure out.

Not to mention there are these mirrors that are more like portals? And she accidentally falls into one, and stumbles into some places that she isn’t supposed to be. Bonwhe, the president’s son ends up being in some of those places, and one is even his bedroom. He also has a tie to the original Haeri that Chobahm must try to figure out in order not to give it away. But it seems he was trying to help Haeri get away from Director Cha and the abuse that she was suffering from.

When a stranger seems to know what is going on, and Chobahm thinks maybe Haeri isn’t actually dead, she is blindsided and shipped away, only to be replaced with yet another lookalike. And soon the whole story gets even more twisty. As one twist is revealed, the story moves on for more and more. While I kind of wondered if some of the twists might be the actual behind the scenes story, it was definitely done well.

The ending wrapped up in a way that I thought it was the end, but also was left with a few things needing more, as well a little extra at the end called “The Awakening”. So I can definitely see how there can be a sequel, because that needs to be addressed. Not to mention the criminals didn’t actually get their punishment yet, or if they would even end up just getting let off of any charges. I’ll be eager to read a sequel to this, and will definitely be purchasing this for my students to read!

I loved the idea of this series and have already read one last month, Wake Me Up Before You Cocoa, by an author I’d read before. This one was from a new author to me. I liked the idea behind the story, and the small town had a lot of cute characteristics and fun characters. But there was so much going on. I felt like there were a lot of things that came between the two and at times it seemed like the part in the synopsis about them them working together on the Valentine’s Ball was in the background. 

Drinda’s store and what she’d done with her little part of the franchise was really unique and even though I don’t drink coffee, I think I’d have enjoyed visiting her store for the baked goods! There was a mention of how she had mugs on the wall that people could buy, but it was just talked about at the beginning a few small details and then we didn’t hear anymore about it. I’d have liked maybe for that to play into the story more? There were also some things that seemed just out of place or like they didn’t fit exactly at times. 

And while I wanted to love the couple, I did love Drinda for sure, the fact that Ford wanted a stay-at-home wife and so wouldn’t consider any woman with a job? Yeah, I know these are sweet romances, but that’s just so old fashioned, and even if he did kind of come around in the end, those are the types of guys that most women I know would not be interested at all from the first moment the guy said that.

On that note, I think one couple we meet in the story is from a book that the author has set in this same small town, and I might like to go back and read it! So not a bad story overall, just wasn’t super perfect for me.

I’ve enjoyed other books by this author, and this one was good as well! There was a lot that really made me angry for our main character. The fact that Brynn was the one who got suspended for a fight she tried to break up, one that with her disability caused her to have to go to the hospital ER, was just wow. I couldn’t believe that a school could be that blind to it. The fact that it was a private school though, really filled in the issue and then I could see how things might go that way.

Brynn’s history with friends and how they’d treated her either once they knew about her disability, or how they soon decided they were inconvenienced by it, totally made sense in why she didn’t tell her friends or even her last boyfriend. How no one at school had any idea what she dealt with. It made sense that she kept it to herself. And she had built a whole new persona about not being sick. But all of that pressure, then breaking up with her boyfriend because of a remark he made about not understanding or wanting to have to be sick like that all the time, all of it piled up on top of Brynn. And when things got crazy at school, it was like she exploded. Not only at the people at school, but at her family. Her father had the same disease, so while he understood what she was going through, he had to also make her see that maybe she was giving up. Maybe she hadn’t fought for what was right, what she wanted/needed.

There was a lot about this story that I liked, and I think I’ll probably recommend it for my state’s reading award, as I think the point of view of someone with this type of a chronic disease, as well as how the pandemic affected them is something that there are teens this will either resonate with as they see themselves in the character, or else it could help show those who have no idea what this is like a bit of walking on someone else’s shoes.

Another great book by Bethany Mangle.