lisaluvsliterature's Reviews (4.19k)

 I’d been interested in reading this one since before the publisher sent it to me to read for the Gateway committee I am on. And really this did not let me down. It kept my interest throughout the story. I wanted to know how much was just imagination, how he was feeling because of what had happened, or if there was a real monster. And it was great how the author made the grandparents and father and mother the bad guys, just like they would be to a teen in that type of situation, but then also made me realize that maybe they weren’t as bad as they seemed at first. Or at least with some of them. I liked the way the author kept some twists and turns on what or who was actually behind all of the things happening. There was a bit where Virgil thanks a teacher for making something a safe space for him, and I really loved that part, and know that as an educator, I try to do my best to make the library, or my classroom in the past, a safe space for students who need that. This is one I definitely enjoyed! 

Oh my gosh, I loved this book so much! And it was also a perfect timing to read it as I just got back from my trip to Scotland a little over a week before starting it! Now, if only I’d started it sooner, I’d have known to ask about puffins while I was there. Instead what I was surprised by was the number of seagulls everywhere. Yes, I realized Scotland was pretty much an island, but I just didn’t think about seagulls in the cities like that. But I digress from my book review.

The dedication at the beginning of the book was perfect, it described me in a nutshell:

For every wallflower who is looking for a reformed rake to sweep her off her feet.

Yep, I am a wallflower, and yes, I’d love to find my own reformed rake. While Casey’s pretty much complete innocence isn’t exactly me, her lack of dating and the length of time since kissing someone was so similar I completely got what she felt and how she dealt with things. There was also a line later on in the book about how she’d been “so good at school” which again is me. I loved school, because I was good at it I think. Then I got into the real world and it wasn’t as easy for me. While I knew what I wanted to do, dreamed of being a teacher because of my love of school, like Casey I also didn’t really fall in love with what I was doing until I got my library job, and she interviewed for a new job at the end of the book. One that fit her nerdy side.

And then there is Gareth. Swoon. I want my own Gareth for sure! He had so much more depth than you might expect for someone considered a bit of a playboy by those around him. And I like how he didn’t really play into that stereotype for most of the book, it was just the background we were given on him and what others thought about him. I liked how he took his time to give into Casey’s request for help with her virginity, and how he realized just how much he felt for her as the time went on. Their sexy times were perfect and I loved how they fit the story just right.

As usual the author has brought a world to life with wonderful supporting characters both from books past and hopefully future books. The banter both between Casey and Gareth, as well as with their friends and family made everything exactly the way I love in a good rom-com. And while Gareth’s family may have had issues, I loved that even with the craziness of Casey’s family, how they reacted to her dating Gareth, they were a good supportive family in the end.

Loved this one and can’t wait for more of these characters we’re getting to know!

 This was a quick, easy read. Although at times the art details got to be a little bit more than I was looking for, sometimes I was really interested and intrigued by them as well! And I liked the characters, although there honestly wasn’t a lot of drama between our couple. Which makes sense for a short little novella like this. I look forward to reading more in this series and getting to see other characters we might have met get their own HEA. And I did like how the author put the scavenger hunt questions and answers at the end so I could go back and Google it all quickly and easily! 

 

If you are looking for a light, drama free romance, this is the read for you. While I’ve really enjoyed the two others that I’ve read in this lighter romance series by Aleatha Romig, unfortunately I didn’t really enjoy this one as much. It had all the standard complications, age-gap being an issue, older brother maybe not being happy with the relationship, is there an ulterior motive for him to be with her. But all of those things were very simple and while I know I always say I don’t like drama for drama’s sake, this was a little too easy for how everything just worked itself out. Yeah, I feel that is more real life in some ways, but in fiction, I need a little bit of a reason why the couple has to work for it to work out. I need something to make me want to keep reading to see if things will work out. Instead I was kind of bored and never really wondered if they would work out. I know a romance will have an HEA, it’s the definition of the genre, but again, I need a tiny bit of angst or wondering to keep me turning pages. This one I skimmed through the last 50% just to be able to finish to review, and hoping for something that would make me surprised.

As I said at first though, if you want a very easy, very light read, with some steamy bits, this would be a good read for you. 

I adored this adventurous romance, that somewhat reminded me of a favorite movie from my 80s childhood, Romancing the Stone! While the one right before this didn’t work for me, I definitely was glad I’d read a bit of it, as one of the characters in this, Winter, was best friends with the character from that book. So when we got her background and had her talking with those characters it clicked. I loved that Winter was able to hold her own and show Logan that she wasn’t some “bombshell” unable to hang with the boys in the jungle like he assumed from his first look at her. The characters in their expedition group were fun or at least fit the roles they filled perfectly.

Personally, the whole thing with the bugs and snakes, no thanks. And having to wear clothes that completely covered all your skin to stay safe from them, in the jungle heat? Yeah, I could not do that at all! But finding the lost city was exciting and so perfect. There were a few things that happened that totally matched up to what you might see in an Indiana Jones movie or similar types of movies.

The way the two characters both figured things out in the end was realistic, even if I do think that Winter’s reaction to his asking for her phone number was a bit out there, I think she would have realized what he was doing. But maybe not after all the craziness they’d just survived. And the way they reunited in the end was perfect for me, and I like how they got their HEA and handled their long distance relationship as it progressed.

I have read the first book in this series, and the one that comes right after this one, and enjoyed both, so I hope to read the rest when I have time!

 

This one took me a bit to get into. Because it was kind of hard to like either of the sisters as they were both so hateful to each other. Even searching for the one that was missing didn’t necessarily get me intrigued. However, once Sutton reappeared, I was hooked. I needed to know if she was faking it the way Casey thought, or what exactly was going on. I liked the way the author wove bits and pieces of the family’s history and even just history itself into the story in flashbacks, diaries, and the things that were happening. There was so many little misleading details here and there it kept me guessing throughout the rest of the story. The final climax was a bit different than I had expected, and added an element of the supernatural/voodoo to the story that was unique in my opinion. And I was unsure where it would go from there, but I do like the way the author ended up taking it.

The author’s note at the end was also good to read and filled in some holes for me. Overall I really enjoyed this, my only issues were a bit of getting started, and maybe I would have liked some more about what happened in the end or how it happened maybe? 

 This was such a good book. It went in totally different ways from what I expected from reading the blurb. I also learned a lot and have some research to do into the history about if that Chinese PR thing is true or not. I liked how real it was. I like how May had to come to terms with the fact that she wasn’t as open and supportive of her best friend as she’d thought she was. I really feel this would be a great read/addition to the award nominees for next year, so I really hope it makes that final cut! 

The publisher reached out to me about reading this during June/Pride month, and while it actually was published in May, I said okay and fit it into my review schedule for the end of the month. When I picked it up, WOW! I was hooked! And then when it got into the story back in the “normal” world, I was definitely interested just as much to go along for the ride with how the characters behaved and acted when things happened.

There was so much that was good in this book. I loved the archaeological adventures themselves, just learning more about things I knew tiny bits about was fun. When a book makes me go do my own research outside of the story to learn more about something, I know it is good! I loved how Tennessee, or Tenny, would create lists to try to help make decisions on how he should handle things, those were always fun to read. I liked how he handled things too. With his ex cheating on him, the new friends he made to try to get over that, all of those were perfect and what I feel were real ways to deal with those issues. 

While there was one time I was a little irritated with how he dealt with a disappointment, I reminded myself he was a teenager still, and then yeah, it totally made sense how he reacted. I loved that the author made him so real. That he cried when it was obvious that is something his character would do in that situation. That he needed to be alone to deal with things, etc. How he reacted and dealt with his father when things changed but how he also still kept that grudge there, whether he wanted to or not, that’s real. 

I definitely will be recommending this for next year’s Gateway Committee, that I won’t be on because I don’t have enough time to read all the books like I thought I would. And while I hate that it took me so long to get to this, the end of June, I think it is the perfect review to wrap up Pride month! And I’m so excited that it is going to be a series. I can’t wait to learn about more unknown historical people or stories!

This one sounded good when I first heard about it, so even though I don’t read a ton of this type of book anymore, I signed up for an advanced copy. And I ended up really enjoying it! While it is a little long, I know that is the way adult novels like this tend to be. And I do wish there had been a little bit more with the horror events actually shown on the pages of the book.

But, I liked how we got all the different viewpoints and aspects of the story told in methods such as regular fiction, interviews, letters, etc. It was easy to tell which character we were following along with at each chapter, not just because of the chapter headings, but also because the things in their lives or what they were doing was different enough to remind you who it was.

The idea of the island was definitely creepy. And I can’t imagine not blowing the whole thing wide open. But I get the reason that the people didn’t want to, even if it did sound crazy, it made sense. There was one point where I thought maybe the people on the island could have been behind Willow losing her son, but I think maybe that was just as it happened, and not quite as conspiracy seeming as certain details might have made it seem possible. 

Definitely one I’m recommending to my family and friends who are Stephen King or Dean Koontz fans, although as I mentioned before, the horror could have used a bit more page time for my personal tastes.

So, I’d heard such good things about this. Then the first time I picked it up, I was a little bored and unsure if I would go on. Well, I stopped at the wrong spot, because if I’d just started the next chapter, I would have been hooked! Because the second time I picked it up, I totally started to see what the reviews I’d skimmed before were talking about.

The love story was so good, but it was also so much more than that. Clementine in the present day was still reeling from the death of her aunt that she had been so close to. Her aunt had left her apartment to Clementine, which while wonderful in one way, it also had so many memories it was hard for her to deal with being there. And the morning she woke up and there was a strange man in the apartment, wow! That was crazy! But how it all unfolded with the things her aunt had told her about the magic in the apartment, well that was unique and so good! There were things I wondered about why one didn’t reach out to the other in the time between, but it made sense when I thought about it, as well as when the characters worked those things out for themselves. 

The times that the two of them got to spend together in the apartment were perfect with banter and time spent together just the way I’d want to get to know someone myself. Then there were the little connections between the two when they didn’t really know the one they ran into, or at least one of them didn’t, and those were special too. And then when they had to reconnect in the present day, wow, it was perfect. Nothing was too overdramatic like so often happens, it just really seemed real for those moments.

Finally, I didn’t quite see what Clementine decided at the end coming until she did, but it made sense and tied in perfectly with Iwan/James’s journey as well.

A wonderful book, so glad I made the time to fit this e-galley into my reading schedule!