lisaluvsliterature's Reviews (4.19k)

I adored this book. I was hooked from the very start! Now as I go back through Goodreads I see it only got like a 3.5 star rating average. I didn’t look through what the complaints or reasons for the low rating are, but I just have to say that I loved it. There was so much for Maggie to learn in this. And I wonder if people said she was an unlikable character because she only thought of herself, etc. That was a big point to the story. And honestly, knowing teens, and knowing that I can often do this myself, a lot of people only think of how things affect themselves. It’s hard not to. The way she had to learn to change this, as well as how it all happened was fun and kept me turning pages and not wanting to put the book down to do anything! I also wish I could know sometimes what people were thinking at certain times. Wondering how off I was about how people were feeling about situations. This was a lot of fun, and I definitely recommend it!

I ended up enjoying this quick, easy read. The characters had good background stories and issues. And some of that was really unique I thought. Alex’s ex was interesting, I liked how it played out. Eva’s family was also very interesting and really added a lot of different aspects to the story. I liked all the characters and really how they handled situations made a lot of sense. I did have a few issues with some of the writing maybe being a little simple or maybe awkward at times, but it wasn’t in any way that messed with the story. That mostly came for me from the fact that I’m trying to work on my own writing and so I notice the things I have to work on myself in other books because I’m so used to looking for them. I think I would read more by this author in the future!

Oh my gosh, I totally adored this one! First of all there was Noah’s niece Gennie. Her foul mouth was so shocking at first, but so hilarious by the end. Even as she learned to tone it down. Reminded me a lot of the little boy in the series by Tara Sivec. I was laughing at Gennie’s hilarious comments and thoughts, especially those about the chickens, lol. There were so many great characters besides the main ones, but I have to talk about the main couple first of course!

While I did get a bit irritated with Shay towards the end in how she kept thinking that she had “forced” Noah into choosing a relationship with her, I got it. And I like the way the author didn’t make that the actual big climax event, even if it was part of it. But reading/listening to her and her reasons for why she felt the way she did was really great. It honestly even made me think about some of my own stories I am writing, and made me realize I need to go a little deeper with some of the characters’ back stories, because this was really good.

And then there was Noah. Sigh, fanning myself. I want my own Daddy Bread Baker, as Shay’s friend Jamie called him, lol. A tall, bearded, quiet, yet take control kind of guy, in the bedroom, and to take care of his woman. The bedroom, or a few other locations, scenes were soooooooo hot! And what he had for his proof at the end? And what Shay learned from that proof? Loved it.

All Noah’s friends were great on the farm. Shay’s friends were great. Different things that were mentioned about how exhausting the beginning of the school year is for teachers, so so true! The townspeople and how they talked to and about Noah were annoying and made me angry, exactly how they should have. And then there was Shay’s ex, when he showed up again. Just wanted to smack him so hard! We had a few events that ramped up the tension, I won’t say what they were, don’t want to give them away.

But yes, I loved this one so much! I’ve read other books by this author in the past, but it has been a while. And now I’m definitely on track to get back to reading more by her!

And finally, the narrators were great, they definitely added to this story and make it one that is worth listening to for sure!

I really liked a lot of the stories in this one! Honestly there were only one or two that I didn’t quite get or care for after reading that much. While the other books might have been aimed at a bit younger readers, I feel like this might have had some more adult stories in it. But that could just be my opinion. Here are my quick thoughts about each story in the book.

Sans Soleil – This was short and not bad, but I did kind of wish for a bit more explanation for what happened at the end. However the moral of the story as the author put in the little notes at the end was definitely there.

Dusty Loves – I really liked this kind of retelling or different take on the Romeo and Juliet story.

Unicorn Tapestry – this was another really good story that I liked. It reminded me of the Unicorns vs. Zombies book in some ways.

A Ghost of an Affair – Another story that I really loved! It had a ghost romance but it was done in such a sad kind of way with just a short time for the couple to be together. But I liked it!

Dark Seed Dark Stone – An interesting story as well. I noticed a lot of the stories had the three sisters, and the one the story was about just didn’t fit in with the others.

Dragonfield – This story had a dragon and also a hero that wasn’t really quite a hero until made to be.

The Sword and the Stone – another fun re-imagining of the King Arthur story, and I liked it a lot as well!

The Sea Man – This was one that kind of made me think the stories were a little older than past collections in this series. But it was good and I liked the way the story went.

Memoirs of a Bottle Djinn – This had some good parts, although the ending was another that was kind of eh for me. And also a bit of a story that seemed a little older like I mentioned before.

Peter in Wonderland – This had some fun takes on a retelling of Alice in Wonderland. But it also was a little confusing at times in what was happening, and things happened really quick. Which I know has to be that way for a short story, but it left me a little bit unsatisfied with the story overall.

After all the stories there were poems to go with them in a little section at the end. As I’m not a big poetry reader, I didn’t really read them all. But I think they were probably perfect for the stories they went with.

Okay, for a novella, only 32 pages, this was perfect. Gave me just enough that I was hooked and wanted to know what would happen to our main character Susie. But it also didn’t leave me hanging in a way that I was anxious and impatient to know what would happen next. It wasn’t a cliffhanger really. Not a must read before book one, but definitely something good to read before. If you get the e-book of End of Story, this is at the back, so you can wait to read it then instead of buying it on its own like I did.

I loved this story! There was a little magical aspect to the story that was really unique and new to Kylie Scott stories that I’ve come to know and love, and it only made me love this even more! I was hooked from the start. Now I did read the little prequel before I got this, and the prequel does come with the full book once you get it. I do have to say this short and sweet prequel was perfect in that it had me hooked and wanting more, but it wasn’t necessarily one that I was left disappointed I didn’t get more. Of course that could be because I read it right before I was able to read this one, lol.

The characters, let’s just say I loved them all! I loved big old Viking-ish Lars. I mean it was understandable why he and Susie would be a little awkward around each other at first after all her ex was Aaron and that relationship hadn’t ended great, because of Aaron, not Susie. I adored Susie’s BFF Cleo. And then other than the ex-hole Aaron, Lars’s brother and friends were great fun as well. While I loved how Lars’s family was a close family, it took a minute to be completely okay with his mom. I mean she took her own time welcoming Susie, because of her own friendship with Aaron, the ex, and his mother. Now Susie’s family, well, there was a reason for why she felt the way she did about marriage and relationships in general, and they were a big part of it.

The setting was great. The building of their relationship was great. The sex was great. The banter between the two was great! And I loved Susie’s quirky personality. The divorce certificate was such an interesting way to get all of the story rolling, and keep them going in their building a relationship. While nothing was ever said or necessarily pointed out, I really wonder if the cat that showed up at their house, who Lars named Kat, had any kind of magical-ness or other extra with what was going on.

And I love how the big dramatic final event went exactly the way it did. How the one of them that might have gotten upset in many stories knew to trust the other, and handled it the way they did. I sped through this book with every free minute I had to read, and I was left smiling and loving the latest romance from Kylie Scott!

This was another book sent to me by the publisher for the Gateway Readers Award committee that I’m on. I really liked this one. It was a historical time and a culture that I didn’t know a lot about. It was set during the time of the American railroad expansion and how the Chinese came over and helped with so much of it. It also had some parts actually back in China, talking about when they bound girl’s feet so they would be more attractive to the men. While for the most part there wasn’t anything surprising in the story, it definitely had a lot of things I didn’t know or realize in details about that time period. Definitely recommend this one!

The PR company reached out to me about this one as part of a promotional event where they were doing an Instagram live with the authors who wrote “unlikable heroines”. The synopsis of the story sounded good, so I signed up to read and review. And yeah, the first chapter of the book introduces us to a main character that is definitely unlikable. I mean she’s just come from sleeping with the boyfriend of her understudy, and she is going on and on about how she is all that and Broadway’s next big star. So it was with a little relief that she got a bit of karma that led to the next part of the story.

For me it also started a little slow because it was in third person, and I tend to prefer my romance in first person whenever possible. But as the story progressed I got more used to it and being able to tell which character was currently telling the story in their way. One thing that was great about the story was all of the characters. I loved our hero and heroine by the end of the story. Even with how Erika started out as unlikable, I grew to understand her and also really like her as she went through the growth her unfortunate accident had caused her to have to deal with. Now, I had a little trouble picturing Christof at first. I’m guessing he’s maybe supposed to look like Henry Cavill in the pictures I’ve seen from The Witcher. But his look and his goofiness didn’t quite match up for me at first. Again, though, as the story went on, like with Erika, I really did get to like him as well. And the connection between the two was hot! There were a few extremely steamy scenes for sure.

And the other characters in the town as well as especially Christof’s band mates made the story completely a success. I wouldn’t even mind getting a story for some of them to have their own HEAs if that was something the author was thinking about doing. Because his sister Sibylle was a hoot! I also liked how the whole thing with his ex, Gillian, was wrapped up in the end. The solution to the problem to save the opera house was great as well. Although I needed to know how she got those things out of the fire without anyone else getting their hands on them!

Glad I read this one, and hope to have time to go back and read the author’s other book at some point as well.

So it’s been quite a while since the second book in the series came out. And at the time I thought some things weren’t quite wrapped up, and I’d hoped for one more book at least. So I was very excited when I heard about this one coming out. And overall, besides a little bit of time spent remembering the first two books at the beginning of this one, and a little rushed feeling at the very end of the book, I really liked this third book. I have to say towards the end I also wondered if this might be leaving an opening for another book. As with the second book, I feel this wrapped things up, but that we could still see another book and there would be more to read and enjoy, even if it seems the major villains might be gone.

There was a lot of action you might say in this book. Lots of intrigue into where all the Belles had gone, and how they were still be used against their will. And then there were the Beauty Trials themselves. Once or twice I will say there were some things that happened that almost seemed not explained, or jumped to without a lot of context for what was happening. But there were also a lot of twists and turns and unpredictable things that kept my attention as I turned pages to finish in less than two days.

And I have to also mention that once again, the same thing I noticed with the first two was the vivid and beautiful, if sometimes horrible scenes of this world that the author painted with her words. Definitely a series I can continue to promote with my students and will be excited to share this new addition to the world.

I really liked this one! The characters were perfect! It was a perfect example of a grumpy/sunshine/enemies to lovers story. Greer was a fun character, well a grumpy fun character in other books in the series and it was great getting to know him. And then there was Stevie who was also a fun single mom, but had her own past to deal with. Now I have to say that I was a little unsure she’d feel the way she did about the sexy times after her past, and that threw me off a little.

However it was hot as can be when they got together. Although again, that first time, I was a little unsure if I was going to like Greer after he basically did what most real life men do in those kind of situations. It wasn’t a she comes first kind of situation like is usual in romance books. So that made me a bit unsure at first. But he did make up for it, and made up for any doubts I’d had. And I loved Macie. I mean we already know her from her Aunt Scout’s story with Miller. But she was perfection in how she dealt with Greer.

I might be a reader of few words this review, but I ended up loving this and speeding through it as it just kept me smiling and rooting for the two. And the epilogue is soooo cute!