lisaluvsliterature's Reviews (4.19k)

From the beginning of this book I was definitely enjoying the story and characters. Since I had just finished binging Never Have I Ever, I was really in the mood for more of this culture. I loved how the astrology was so much a part of the story for these characters. It made me wish I had such a mom/auntie to do that same for me. 

Madhuri was definitely understandable in her reluctance to believe in astrology and star charts. But it was easy to understand also why Arjun would be so much more ready to accept it, especially as the connection to his culture and a family was something he was missing in his own house. Arjun’s family life was hard to read about. And I guess it showed how good he was and how much he really loved Madhuri that he never really blamed her for taking things for granted. Although honestly she didn’t really ever take her family for granted, just the whole astrology thing, and the family “curse” of falling in love with their first love forever. 

It could just be my own bitterness at never falling in love that made me a little irritated she fought that so much. However, that way she did act was something that would be a little annoying for me in any other story, so between that and the fact that Arjun made her wait a bit at the end, I did mark down to a 4.5 stars here on my blog instead of the full 5 I’ll give it on the other sites. 

But in the end, I was left with a smile on my face, and just wishing I could see the costumes and the dances described in the books. I’m also left wanting to really find some Bollywood movies to see more of this type of dance for sure!

While the title never really was anything specifically named in the book, it definitely worked with Alice’s love and bit of an obsession with Agatha Christie. The mystery was one that played out perfectly, and there were a lot of twists and turns. And while I had a bit of an inkling about who it actually ended up being in the end, it wasn’t something that was just plain to see, and like I said, lots of twists and misdirections. There was a lot more than just the mystery though, the characters had lives with lots of other things to worry about. Now, one thing I think wasn’t really ever explained was just why the police department was so quick to blame the first victim. Why they didn’t really expand their case. I feel like them being corrupt is something else that needed some explaining. And maybe that happens in the second book? But I would like to read it. This was a possible nominee for the Gateway committee and I definitely could see it doing well on that list!

This one was good, although not as hilarious as the first one, Shame on You. The narrator again kind of reminded me of Sarah Michelle Gellar, but had some times her voice was a bit weird like in the sexy scenes, or else occasionally paused between lines that shouldn’t have been paused between. There also was a bit of the miscommunication that I know had to be a part of the story, but was a bit annoying. However I like the way the author handled the characters dealing with it and realizing it wasn’t done in maliciousness. Another fun story by Tara Sivec.

This was one I listened to for the Gateway committee I’m on. I really ended up enjoying it! It was an interesting concept, although some of it I don’t quite get how or why things were the way they were. But it had to be to fit the story. One of the characters’ names was Hadley, which is my niece’s name, and not as common, so that made me smile every time I heard it. I’d wanted to read this author for a while, and I know now I will probably read others in the future!

I LOVED this one! It was so good! It started out with a perfect thing about her not being able to write her romance books anymore for the same reason I feel like I can never finish any of the ones I start! I also loved this dating show, even though I am not normally a fan of them. I still wish, just like I did with the connected book, The Soulmate Equation, that there was an actual DNA dating service like this. So many funny parts, the Bart Simpson tattoo, the love of the pop music group, the banter, all of it was so good! I could go on and on, but just know this will be one of my favorite books of the year!

This book hooked me from the start! I loved so many things about it: the banter, the hilarious situations they found themselves in, the supporting characters, all of it! I’ve come to expect I will love those things from the other books I’ve read by this author, and it’s great to know she’s continued to not disappoint!

It started off with a majorly big crazy event when Ensley gets kicked out of the country club where her best friend is getting married because of the wicked stepmother of the bride! However the man who comes to her rescue, Drew, is perfect. While he doesn’t come off as much of a grump at first during their escape to the maintenance shed at the country club to get out of the rainstorm, as he goes back to the real world and we see his interactions with his employees and others at his vet clinic, wow is he a grump!

Now while I liked Ensley’s idea to go help him out, the miscommunication in her taking the job was a little unrealistic IMO, but that’s okay I guess since it led to the little misunderstanding that was the big darkest night point of the story. Even though you know that I am not a fan of those types of miscommunications, so that did make me drop the rating here on my blog to a 4.5 from the 5 stars I will put on review sites. I loved the vet clinic, although I could never work at one because of how sad I would be with the animals who were hurting. But it was neat to have that as part of the story. And I did love that the owner who kept calling about her dog she was worried about was a dachshund owner, because I get that!!! lol I might be a little over-concerned about my dogs. Oh, and I also was not a fan of how Ensley’s “favorite” boss talked about the new boss, not really giving it to her straight.

I enjoyed the look into Ensley’s sisters’ lives too, and I’m hoping, I think that the other books in the series will be their stories? The next book looks like it is for sure. A wonderful new book from J.J. Knight and I’m looking forward to reading the e-galley of the second one that I have soon!

I have loved this series from the very beginning and I was so excited when I heard this book was finally here! And really it did not fail in wrapping up the series. Now, the only complaint I had was that it maybe seemed to be a bit shorter than the others? I feel like it only took place over a few days, which is probably correct. However, it was full of action, and we finally got to learn just what Sera was bringing to the table with her abilities, and what had happened to bring her to this group.

I can’t talk a whole lot about what happened, as a lot of it will be spoilers for the rest of the series. However we do get some great looks at Ms. Stranje and her background and feelings in this one, with a few chapters from her point of view. I definitely liked how they wrapped up Ghost’s story. Although I do feel like there was one loose end left open, and I know this is supposed to be the final part of the series. And not only was there a loose end, I almost feel like we could get branch off books from where all our different characters from the past books are ending up.

A good ending to one of my favorite series though! 

Once again I adored the latest story by Hazelwood! She has a way of making it so I don’t hate the age gap that is normally a total turnoff for me in a romance. Not that it was a huge age gap, although one thing, the article Jack wrote, made it seem at first like it might be.

Also, as usual, the author hooked me from the first page! She has a way of making it so that I’m interested in the characters right away and can’t put it down. I of course loved that Elsie was a Twilight fan, even if her reasons and mine weren’t quite the same. I never thought of Alice and Bella together. I loved the story for the way it was, even if there were points when I myself was a little hot for Jacob, although that could have been more the movie than the book. And I also didn’t think New Moon was the best movie or book. Not to mention I also disagreed with her take on blond guys, as I’ve always been more attracted to them. Especially Draco Malfoy! However all the pop culture references made me love it along with the science.

One thing these books do make me think about though, is how I loved science, I mean I was a science teacher for 17 years, but I don’t feel like I was ever as smart as these characters. I kind of wish I was and had gone into academia like they did. Now, I got vibes of not liking her advisor from the start. He definitely was pretty bossy and didn’t treat her like he respected her. And it was interesting when we learned just who the person she was up against for the job, George, really was. I liked how that played out. And I liked how Elsie not only reacted in a way that was realistic, but she also realized how she reacted was so against her beliefs and made sure to make up for that.

I enjoyed the bit with characters from the first book too. I loved how she mentioned Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory when she was talking about physicists winning the Nobel prize, lol. I also liked the aspect of a main character having diabetes and how it affected her life. With my mom recently having to start taking insulin, not the same type of diabetes, but still, it kind of was something that was a familiar topic for me right now.

Another wonderful story from this author. And I don’t care if people say all her stories are too similar. I love them no matter what, and I love that I am pretty sure any book I pick up by her will suck me in and make me laugh, cry, smile, and just be happy.

This one grabbed me from the start! And it was soooooo good! I could barely put it down, even though I did have to set it aside for a blog tour review book for a day or so. But once I picked it back up I hated anything that took me away from it. It was so much about how society would deal with the leading up to knowing something like a comet was coming and would destroy the Earth.

Yeah, there are movies about that type of thing, and so some of it was seen throughout the book that was like it. But also there were these portals that showed up and that was a different bit of plot. One thing I was curious about was that the people who supposedly sent the portals were humans and were trying to save the people of Earth. At least that is the way it came across. But I wondered if they were from the future, how did they survive the comet?

The way the story was told we had no idea what would actually happen to the people once they crossed through these portals, or vertexes as they were called. The main character had so much going on her life. Between family issues with her parents, and her brother, and then her best friends, one who was now her boyfriend. So many unexpected things happened. Things with her brother. Things just in the world in general. And then when the comet hits at the end, wow, that was a huge surprise! I won’t give away what happened, but I will mention there is a sequel and I do need to know what happened.

Also as I looked this up online, I see that it was possibly published earlier, so I guess maybe I could find a copy of the second book and see? But I prefer to wait and get an updated version when it comes out. A fun yet intriguing and somewhat original end of the world type of story!

Okay, so when I first read the synopsis for this book, I knew I had to read it since I am going on my Outlander tour in July. Nothing quite so immersive as this one, I mean I won’t be wearing the costumes, just normal clothing, but still, this book was the perfect read as I prepared to go on my trip. And by the end I really was even more excited for my trip!

It was fun to see Willa’s life before she headed to Scotland, all the little celebrity interviews and such were funny. The other characters in her life, and those she met along the way in this story were great. First there was Gabe, her best friend’s brother, who was also being sent on the Outlander experience. The reason that she ends up more into Finn, the hot Scot, was a bit of a surprise, but one that played out well in the storyline.

Then there were all the other people who had signed up for the experience. Their love of the tv show was perfect, and seeing how Wilma had to try to know what she was talking about was fun. In all honesty, I’m not sure I’d sign up for what they ended up doing, I mean, they were basically running a farm, something that would be pretty close to what the people did day to day in the show, well, not all of them, but through some of the seasons and some of the people. Now there was one part where one of the characters mentioned that she was looking for her own Jamie, had even kind of run off from her fiance for this trip because she wasn’t sure if he was perfect enough for her. And the way the other characters explained to her that Jamie wasn’t real, he was fiction, there was no perfect man like that, love was more than just the perfection of that character. That was great.

Throughout the story there was a lot of miscommunication between Finn and Willa, and at times it was a bit frustrating. Especially when there were so many times that the two of them seemed to know just how to connect with the other one, saving the farm, relating to family issues, etc. And the story did seem a little long at times, like maybe some things could have been left out, or not gone on for as long. But the way the story ended, with the grand gesture, and Willa figuring out what she really wanted, with a little help from The Rock, was perfect. And I loved all the extra at the end, as well as the epilogue. I also really liked the author’s note at the end, definitely a lot of fun.

And even with the little discussion about how there is no real Jamie Fraser, I still wish I could meet my own Scottish hero in a kilt when I go on my Outlander tour in a few weeks.