morganthebee's reviews
452 reviews

Friends. This book. This. Book. Oof. I cried so many times, but it was so worth it.

Whenever You’re Ready focuses on the relationships between best friends Michal, Mia, and Jade and their close-knit (but a bit estranged for present-day Mia and Jade) friendship, and Jonah, Jade’s twin and Michal’s boyfriend. The story goes back and forth between present day and the past, so we’re witness to both the development of their relationships as children and young adults and the relationships in present day, three years after the loss of Michal to cancer as the remaining three embark on a road trip the best friends planned but weren’t able to go on before she passed.  

We see Michal in the past, but also see how integral she is to the relationships between the other three, and how their grief at losing her has shaped them in the intervening years. They’re still grieving, and while they all love each other deeply there are unresolved issues that affect their relationships. The present-day parts of the story really delve into this and we get to see them working through these issues, hurts both inadvertent and intentional, and their grief not only over the loss of Michal but also over the strain within their own relationships. It’s all handled extremely well, and the characters are complex and flawed and just so real.

The road trip itself is an exploration of Jewish history, including some uncomfortable moments that delve into the issue of antisemitism, but also of racism within Judaism, particularly in the American South. I’ll admit that as a gentile I don’t have a lot of knowledge of Jewish history and this could have been heavy-handed, but Katz handles this with a deftness that never felt like it was lecturing while informing and acknowledging the complicated history, and particularly how that affects biracial and multiracial members of the community like Jade and Jonah, and to an extent Mia, although she isn’t Jewish.

I will admit I was a little worried after the first couple of chapters, when there was a lot of texting and the journey hasn’t yet begun, as I struggled with the formatting (which may be changed by the time this actually releases, so it's possible this will be moot) and figuring out who was who and whose perspective we were seeing from. After that, though, I was hooked. 

I received a free ARC from NetGalley, but my review is unbiased and left voluntarily.

I've loved everything else I've read by Lee Winter, and I dig sci-fi, fantasy, and superhero stories in general (I wouldn't call this a romance, although there is a spicy scene), so I went into this with high hopes. Maybe too high. Shattered wasn't necessarily a bad book, I don't regret listening to it and never had a moment where I was ready to quit, but it is heavy handed with the social commentary and just not the story quality I expect from Winter—so much so that even Abby Craden's always lovely reading couldn't bring the rating up for me.

Anyway, long story short: Winter's writing was great, Craden's narration was great, the story was meh for me.

Hers for the Weekend is book 3 in the Carrigan's Christmasland trilogy. I've read book 1 (Season of Love) but not book 2 (For Never & Always, I may get to it eventually I think, but it's a MF relationship and I'm a sapphic girl, so I haven't yet). I don't feel like I missed anything skipping book 2, but I'd highly recommend at least reading book 1, because there's a lot that won't make sense or be as clear as the characters and their relationships are introduced and developed there, then fleshed out here in book 3.

Now, on to the book: I have to admit that fake dating is one of my favorite tropes. Throw in found family, only one bed, a tattooed MC, a bit of an ice queen, and a ton of chemistry and I'm sold. Now, while there is a ton of sexual chemistry, there's not a lot on page: this is a closed door/fade-to-black romance. 

We first met Tara (and most of the other characters) in Season of Love, where she came across as a bit of an uncaring ice queen. She's still a bit of that, but we discover that she actually cares a whole hell of a lot and a lot of her persona is rooted in some deep-seated insecurity and some imposter syndrome. Holly is a bit of a new arrival, but both she and Tara have had crushes on each other for a while. She keeps her feelings close to the chest and avoids getting too close to others, but when Tara is invited to her ex fiancé's wedding and she doesn't want to show up alone/single, so the two decide to solve both of their problems by going together as a couple.

The story develops at a nice realistic pace, although there were parts where it felt like there was a lot going on. When you include so many tropes you also add lots of room for predictability, but all of the tension and conflicts were very believable. There are a lot of side characters but they're so great, and just as loveable as they were in the first installment. I wanted more at the end, it felt like Greer was like "now how do I end this?" and rushed through it, but overall this was a really enjoyable read. Oh, and I love the cover!

I received a free ARC from NetGalley, but my review is unbiased and left voluntarily.

I’m not a TV person in general, and I am especially not a reality TV person. I went into the Hot Summer audiobook just wanting to check off a box on a reading challenge and not expecting much, but I was pleasantly surprised and ended up really enjoying it. I really liked Cas and Ada, as well as all the other contestants (well, other than the one that we’re not supposed to). The spice was nice, and the pacing was great up until closer to the end, where it seemed to come off the rails a bit for me.

I didn’t love the premise behind the reason Cas was there, it didn’t really make sense to me, but suspension of disbelief and all that. There were also some phrases and things that were a bit repetitive, and I found myself wanting the author to shake that up a bit. Overall it was a cute story, though, and a good summer read (or listen, in my case).