lisaluvsliterature's Reviews (4.19k)

I was listening to the audiobook, it was hard to follow with all the jumping back and forth, which I get after watching the tv show was the point.  But I may just try to read the book at some point instead of listen.

yeah, this one is not for me, it was recommended to me by my sister, but eh, not going to finish even though I bought it.

Again, this was good.  But one thing these books do is make me see how I need to just completely start my stories over, and that leads me to not wanting to do that.  And doubting myself when I start even trying to outline or even pants my way through a new story.

It was a fun idea, and the meme to beat back in the day. But probably won't finish reading this one.

Again not sure if I'm going to continue trying to finish any of the stories I've started writing, or edit the one I've finished, or if I'm going to just be content to be a reader.

Not sure if I'll be finishing this one.  Not sure if I'm going to continue writing or just enjoy reading.

Just don't know when I'll get back to this anthology.

 

After enjoying the Not Your Average Hot Guy series by one of my favorite authors, I was excited when the publisher reached out and approved me for an e-galley of this from Netgalley. It was a quick read, and I really liked it! While I know that it was kind of a take off from the movie Mr. & Mrs. Smith, which I’ve never seen, I enjoyed the different takes in a lot of it. The witches and the hunters that were enemies but for the two main characters, Savvy and Griffin to fall in love thinking they’d have to hide their secret identities from each other. It also reminded me a bit of the Buffy and Angel romance, except those two knew who the other was.

I loved the setting, and the world building, and the whole baba yaga thing was fun since I recently read the book, Into the Forest, with all the short stories about her. The connection between Savvy and Griffin was so perfect. I giggled at her friends accusing him of having a magic you-know-what. And her agreeing, lol. And the way he fell for her was very romantic and perfect.

One thing about the world I loved was the familiars. That was so neat! I want my own familiar, although I’m not a witch, so, I’ll have to settle for my dachshund pet dogs. Savvy’s friends Brie and Elle were a lot of fun as well. It was amusing for me since I’d just finished another book with a best friend named Brie. Griffin’s brother and buddy Diego were also fun. And while I know this is a standalone, and probably everything was wrapped up at the end, I think it’d be fun to have a series where we get to see these friends and family members find their own HEAs. 

The “meet cute” in this story was a perfect prelude to how this whole relationship was going to go. I loved so much about how all they did was basically irritate each other, but that was just their personalities and the way they behaved. In a way Dallas was a bit like his brother Duke that we met in The Secret Roommate. Both were kind of prickly in how they dealt with people. But Dallas was his own person too. A family of football players, hmm, sounds a bit like the Gronkowski family of athletes?

It was so much fun seeing Dallas and Ryann together and how they got to know each other as well as fall in love. There were definitely the steamy bits that I loved to read Sara Ney’s books for. And as you might have guessed from my review so far, all the snarky banter and laugh out loud moments she brings to her stories as well. Also, all the side characters that some we know will be in future stories, like the two youngest twin brothers. I can’t wait for both of their stories. We also got a few characters, besides just Duke, that if you’re a Ney reader you know from other stories.

And then, there was the Jake Ryan moment. I could just see it and hear the song as I read that bit.

The only complaint I had was that I don’t think Ryann would have been quite as inclined to believe the video/picture of Dallas at the end that got released to the press. I feel like she would have felt she knew him better than that. But it is a story and we need a darkest night. And I loved how Dallas fixed it all up!

Another great story from this author and I can’t wait for the rest of the brothers to get their own HEA.

I always love retellings, and I was excited for this villain tale. I haven’t read the other Disney Villain series that Disney has out, so I guess I was unsure just how this one would end up. I will say that I wished a little for a bit different ending, however it fit into what this story has always been and I guess how this series is going to go. I assume that the future books in the series will be other characters.

I’ve read some other retelling of Cinderella where we get a chance to feel for the stepsisters and see them in a different light and root for them. And we do get the chance to root for them in this one, to empathize. However, they do definitely do the things we think of from the movie/story, and do fit into the wicked/ugly stepsister category by the things they do. Even if they have reasons for why that you can kind of sympathize, they still go as far as expected from villains.

This was a fun story, with so many things I wasn’t expecting, different takes and details that I think really fleshed out these characters and the world they lived in perfectly. I look forward to reading more in the future, and am curious to see which villains will get the next story!