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nerdinthelibrary's Reviews (926)
3.5
content warnings: bullying, murder in a virtual world
representation: fat protagonist, chinese side character
I had heard that this was the better version of Ready Player One, and that alone had me on board because the concept behind RPO was the only thing it had going for it. I was also excited because I really liked one of Jen Wang's previous works, The Prince and the Dressmaker.
This follows a teenage girl, Anda, who joins an online role-playing game, Coarsegold Online. She meets another girl on there and they start to do missions where they kill gold farmers, people who try to cheat the game, and get paid real money for it. But then Anda meets one of the gold farmers, a poor Chinese boy Raymond whose sole income is the game, and her perspective is changed.
I really liked how this tackled different topics, particularly how it addressed the age old argument between kids/teens and their parents about online safety. The book sees the argument from both perspectives, which I thought was a nice nuanced perspective; Anda's parents are somewhat out of touch, but they also have a point.
Raymond and Anda's friendship was also really sweet. There are hints at the end that it may develop into more but I liked that it never decided to go there; my only criticism of The Prince and the Dressmaker was that the main friendship was a romance by the end.
Overall, this was a fun graphic novel with a cool concept, great art, and fun plot.
content warnings: bullying, murder in a virtual world
representation: fat protagonist, chinese side character
I had heard that this was the better version of Ready Player One, and that alone had me on board because the concept behind RPO was the only thing it had going for it. I was also excited because I really liked one of Jen Wang's previous works, The Prince and the Dressmaker.
This follows a teenage girl, Anda, who joins an online role-playing game, Coarsegold Online. She meets another girl on there and they start to do missions where they kill gold farmers, people who try to cheat the game, and get paid real money for it. But then Anda meets one of the gold farmers, a poor Chinese boy Raymond whose sole income is the game, and her perspective is changed.
I really liked how this tackled different topics, particularly how it addressed the age old argument between kids/teens and their parents about online safety. The book sees the argument from both perspectives, which I thought was a nice nuanced perspective; Anda's parents are somewhat out of touch, but they also have a point.
Raymond and Anda's friendship was also really sweet. There are hints at the end that it may develop into more but I liked that it never decided to go there; my only criticism of The Prince and the Dressmaker was that the main friendship was a romance by the end.
Overall, this was a fun graphic novel with a cool concept, great art, and fun plot.
3.5
content warnings: violence, death, murder of children, body horror, gore, animal abuse, torture, violent homophobia, rape, gaslighting
“They’d murdered together, deceived together, plotted and planned and lied together. They were criminals, the two of them, them against the world.”
I'm going to be real with you all: I bought this book because it was $8 and I had seen the movie. The movie was very meh for me (I only watched it for Tom Hardy) but the plot seemed okay so I figured, why the hell not. I'm pleased to report that this was actually quite enjoyable.
This is set in Stalin's Russia and follows Leo Demidov, an MGB agent who has always unquestionably followed orders. That is, until he is ordered to investigate his wife who has been accused of being a traitor to the nation. Believing Raisa to be innocent, Leo goes against his superiors and both are exiled. In exile, Leo begins an investigation into a killer who the state refuse to believe even exists.
The highest praise I can give this book is that it is effortlessly readable. It's entertaining and an easy page-turner, even at nearly 500 pages. A lot of the twists aren't overly original but it's so easy to get swept into the story and setting that you probably won't care.
Leo was a surprisingly good protagonist. He's the Worst at the start, murdering and torturing innocent people because he's told to. But, even before his character development, there's a somewhat admirable quality to him that Raisa remarks upon: “...he never [does] anything without believing in it. There was nothing cynical or calculating about him.”
His and Raisa's relationship is one that is kind of a guilty pleasure for me. They're both pretty awful and spend most of the book manipulating each other. But at the end of the day, there's a kind of love between them. And I'm always down for a couple being Awful Together.
The reason why this is a 3.5 instead of a 4 is because of the writing. It's not bad for the most part, just confusing. Not in an 'I don't understand the story' way, but in a 'I don't understand why you made this artistic choice' way. Certain sentences would be phrased very strangely, and sometimes for seemingly no reason words would be left out of sentences. Instead of a sentence reading "he walked to the door", it would be "he walked to door". It ultimately didn't take away from my overall enjoyment but I would be pulled out of the story every time I noticed it.
I love picking up books I'm unsure about and then enjoying them. I have read very few crime thrillers throughout my life so I have no idea how this stacks up against the rest of the genre and I'm aware that this book is riddled with historical inaccuracies, but I still really enjoyed it for what it was.
content warnings: violence, death, murder of children, body horror, gore, animal abuse, torture, violent homophobia, rape, gaslighting
“They’d murdered together, deceived together, plotted and planned and lied together. They were criminals, the two of them, them against the world.”
I'm going to be real with you all: I bought this book because it was $8 and I had seen the movie. The movie was very meh for me (I only watched it for Tom Hardy) but the plot seemed okay so I figured, why the hell not. I'm pleased to report that this was actually quite enjoyable.
This is set in Stalin's Russia and follows Leo Demidov, an MGB agent who has always unquestionably followed orders. That is, until he is ordered to investigate his wife who has been accused of being a traitor to the nation. Believing Raisa to be innocent, Leo goes against his superiors and both are exiled. In exile, Leo begins an investigation into a killer who the state refuse to believe even exists.
The highest praise I can give this book is that it is effortlessly readable. It's entertaining and an easy page-turner, even at nearly 500 pages. A lot of the twists aren't overly original but it's so easy to get swept into the story and setting that you probably won't care.
Leo was a surprisingly good protagonist. He's the Worst at the start, murdering and torturing innocent people because he's told to. But, even before his character development, there's a somewhat admirable quality to him that Raisa remarks upon: “...he never [does] anything without believing in it. There was nothing cynical or calculating about him.”
His and Raisa's relationship is one that is kind of a guilty pleasure for me. They're both pretty awful and spend most of the book manipulating each other. But at the end of the day, there's a kind of love between them. And I'm always down for a couple being Awful Together.
The reason why this is a 3.5 instead of a 4 is because of the writing. It's not bad for the most part, just confusing. Not in an 'I don't understand the story' way, but in a 'I don't understand why you made this artistic choice' way. Certain sentences would be phrased very strangely, and sometimes for seemingly no reason words would be left out of sentences. Instead of a sentence reading "he walked to the door", it would be "he walked to door". It ultimately didn't take away from my overall enjoyment but I would be pulled out of the story every time I noticed it.
I love picking up books I'm unsure about and then enjoying them. I have read very few crime thrillers throughout my life so I have no idea how this stacks up against the rest of the genre and I'm aware that this book is riddled with historical inaccuracies, but I still really enjoyed it for what it was.
1) The Sword of Summer ★★★★
2) The Hammer of Thor ★★★★
3) The Ship of the Dead ★★★★★
*) 9 From the Nine Worlds ★★★★
content warnings: violence, referenced child abuse
representation: main arab-american muslim characters, main black characters, main deaf character, main genderfluid latinx character
“My Einherjar have a saying: Some days you are the axe, some days you are the decapitated head. I like it so much, I'm having T-shirts made for the Hotel Valhalla gift shop.”
Thank god my first read of 2019 is considerably better than my first of 2018! I've been excited for this book for a million years it feels like on account of the Magnus Chase trilogy being not only my favourite Rick Riordan series, but also just one of my all-time favourite series.
9 From the Nine Worlds is a collection of nine short stories that take place in each of the worlds, each following a different major character from the original trilogy; Odin in Asgard, Amir in Midgard, Blitzen in Nidavellir, Hearth in Alfheim, Sam in Jotunheim, T.J in Helheim, Mallory in Niflheim, Halfborn in Vanaheim, and Alex in Muspellheim. Some of them were sent on quests, some of them ended up in the world accidentally, and they all have whacky adventures.
Honestly, this is exactly what you would probably expect. It's really fun, with some stories being better than others (Amir's, Hearth's and Alex's were my personal favourites). I'm also still not over the diversity of this series and I will scream from the rooftops about it until everyone who complains about a lack of diversity in books reads this trilogy.
I forgot how damn much I love Alex Fierro, and seeing him saying that seeing Mallory and Halfborn kissing made him miss Magnus had me gasping aloud because I love their relationship so much. I'm also very curious about the fact that Magnus is visiting Annabeth, because the events of this book happen after Ship of the Dead and The Burning Maze, so now I kinda hope that Magnus cameos in the next TOA book.
If you like the Magnus Chase trilogy, then you should definitely pick this up because odds are you're going to really enjoy it.
2) The Hammer of Thor ★★★★
3) The Ship of the Dead ★★★★★
*) 9 From the Nine Worlds ★★★★
content warnings: violence, referenced child abuse
representation: main arab-american muslim characters, main black characters, main deaf character, main genderfluid latinx character
“My Einherjar have a saying: Some days you are the axe, some days you are the decapitated head. I like it so much, I'm having T-shirts made for the Hotel Valhalla gift shop.”
Thank god my first read of 2019 is considerably better than my first of 2018! I've been excited for this book for a million years it feels like on account of the Magnus Chase trilogy being not only my favourite Rick Riordan series, but also just one of my all-time favourite series.
9 From the Nine Worlds is a collection of nine short stories that take place in each of the worlds, each following a different major character from the original trilogy; Odin in Asgard, Amir in Midgard, Blitzen in Nidavellir, Hearth in Alfheim, Sam in Jotunheim, T.J in Helheim, Mallory in Niflheim, Halfborn in Vanaheim, and Alex in Muspellheim. Some of them were sent on quests, some of them ended up in the world accidentally, and they all have whacky adventures.
Honestly, this is exactly what you would probably expect. It's really fun, with some stories being better than others (Amir's, Hearth's and Alex's were my personal favourites). I'm also still not over the diversity of this series and I will scream from the rooftops about it until everyone who complains about a lack of diversity in books reads this trilogy.
I forgot how damn much I love Alex Fierro, and seeing him saying that seeing Mallory and Halfborn kissing made him miss Magnus had me gasping aloud because I love their relationship so much. I'm also very curious about the fact that Magnus is visiting Annabeth, because the events of this book happen after Ship of the Dead and The Burning Maze, so now I kinda hope that Magnus cameos in the next TOA book.
If you like the Magnus Chase trilogy, then you should definitely pick this up because odds are you're going to really enjoy it.
content warnings: violence, racist comments
representation: black main character, muslim side character, minor characters of colour
The first thing you need to know is that this is in no way, shape or form a zombie book. This is a contemporary graphic novel about the employees of Jog Mobile, and the first issue (and cover) are only playing around with zombie tropes.
That out of the way, this was really fun! The characters are (on the whole) likable but not particularly memorable, at least not yet. They definitely have room to grow on me in future volumes, though. There isn't much of an ongoing plot, it's more just slice-of-life as you watch these poor people deal with the shitty customers that come through.
Honestly, this is lowkey a love letter to retail workers. It's like it's saying to every retail worker "we acknowledge your bravery and you deserve more than your shit job". In between issues there would be stories submitted about terrible retail experiences, which were mostly funny but also a bit sad because humanity is the Worst.
This was a really fun graphic novel with a nice art style, fine characters, and (unfortunately) a pretty relatable premise. Definitely one to look out for :)
I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
representation: black main character, muslim side character, minor characters of colour
The first thing you need to know is that this is in no way, shape or form a zombie book. This is a contemporary graphic novel about the employees of Jog Mobile, and the first issue (and cover) are only playing around with zombie tropes.
That out of the way, this was really fun! The characters are (on the whole) likable but not particularly memorable, at least not yet. They definitely have room to grow on me in future volumes, though. There isn't much of an ongoing plot, it's more just slice-of-life as you watch these poor people deal with the shitty customers that come through.
Honestly, this is lowkey a love letter to retail workers. It's like it's saying to every retail worker "we acknowledge your bravery and you deserve more than your shit job". In between issues there would be stories submitted about terrible retail experiences, which were mostly funny but also a bit sad because humanity is the Worst.
This was a really fun graphic novel with a nice art style, fine characters, and (unfortunately) a pretty relatable premise. Definitely one to look out for :)
I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
content warnings: violence, mentions of cannibalism
representation: vietnamese-american main character, black side character, minor characters of colour
As a nerd, this was a lot of fun to read. The story is set five years after the apocalypse and follows Victor, a reporter who has just been given a seemingly impossible assignment: go back to Long Con, the convention centre where the apocalypse originally broke out. Many apocalyptic shenanigans ensue.
This book transitions between Victor at said convention with an old friend five years ago and him in present day as he navigates the apocalyptic world. The transitions were done really fluidly and with quite a lot of skill when it came to the time jumps. But there would also be times when it would show snippets from classic geeky shows within the universe of the book, and those honestly didn't do much for me.
The characters are currently just fine, none of them really being standouts but also none of them being awful. They definitely have room to grow in future installments, though, so I'm not giving up on any of them just yet.
My favourite part of this was definitely the commentary about fandoms, specifically comic book, sci-fi and fantasy fandoms. There's discussions on how women are seen as automatically inferior in geeky spaces and get called 'fake geek girls', the way that fans feel entitled to their favourite works and creators, the sexist drawings of women in comic books, and many more.
Even though this was just some okay fun I can definitely see the future potential and am excited for what's to come.
I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
representation: vietnamese-american main character, black side character, minor characters of colour
As a nerd, this was a lot of fun to read. The story is set five years after the apocalypse and follows Victor, a reporter who has just been given a seemingly impossible assignment: go back to Long Con, the convention centre where the apocalypse originally broke out. Many apocalyptic shenanigans ensue.
This book transitions between Victor at said convention with an old friend five years ago and him in present day as he navigates the apocalyptic world. The transitions were done really fluidly and with quite a lot of skill when it came to the time jumps. But there would also be times when it would show snippets from classic geeky shows within the universe of the book, and those honestly didn't do much for me.
The characters are currently just fine, none of them really being standouts but also none of them being awful. They definitely have room to grow in future installments, though, so I'm not giving up on any of them just yet.
My favourite part of this was definitely the commentary about fandoms, specifically comic book, sci-fi and fantasy fandoms. There's discussions on how women are seen as automatically inferior in geeky spaces and get called 'fake geek girls', the way that fans feel entitled to their favourite works and creators, the sexist drawings of women in comic books, and many more.
Even though this was just some okay fun I can definitely see the future potential and am excited for what's to come.
I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
content warnings: violence, drugging, death, bullying
representation: chinese-american bisexual main character, chubby mlm main character, m/m interracial main relationship, gay side character, chinese side character
I read Not Your Sidekick by C.B. Lee earlier this year and really enjoyed it, so suffice to say I was excited to read her debut novel. It follows Kevin, a teenage boy who has just gone through a break up and makes a wish to the Sea for a companion over the summer. Morgan, a selkie, hears his wish and makes contact with Kevin.
This is an incredibly sweet book. The relationship between Kevin and Morgan was absolutely adorable, starting first in a cute friendship and then developing into more. It's (kind of) slow burn and (kind of) friends to lovers, a trope I usually love and a trope I usually hate, and I ended up really enjoying how both of them were executed here. There's a really great discussion of safe sex in here that I also really liked, especially because you rarely see those discussions happen between same-sex couples.
There's a side plot about hunters trying to find and study the selkies which added some non-relationship drama to the book. Honestly, that element didn't really have any effect on my feelings on the book; it didn't make it better, it didn't make it worse, it was just there.
I don't really have too many thoughts on this book, to be honest. It's cute and if you want a sweet romance, go for it.
representation: chinese-american bisexual main character, chubby mlm main character, m/m interracial main relationship, gay side character, chinese side character
I read Not Your Sidekick by C.B. Lee earlier this year and really enjoyed it, so suffice to say I was excited to read her debut novel. It follows Kevin, a teenage boy who has just gone through a break up and makes a wish to the Sea for a companion over the summer. Morgan, a selkie, hears his wish and makes contact with Kevin.
This is an incredibly sweet book. The relationship between Kevin and Morgan was absolutely adorable, starting first in a cute friendship and then developing into more. It's (kind of) slow burn and (kind of) friends to lovers, a trope I usually love and a trope I usually hate, and I ended up really enjoying how both of them were executed here. There's a really great discussion of safe sex in here that I also really liked, especially because you rarely see those discussions happen between same-sex couples.
There's a side plot about hunters trying to find and study the selkies which added some non-relationship drama to the book. Honestly, that element didn't really have any effect on my feelings on the book; it didn't make it better, it didn't make it worse, it was just there.
I don't really have too many thoughts on this book, to be honest. It's cute and if you want a sweet romance, go for it.
1) Saga, Vol. 1 ★★★★
2) Saga, Vol. 2 ★★★★
3) Saga, Vol. 3 ★★★★★
content warnings: violence, gore, murder, graphic sexual content, misogyny, discussions of forced underage prostitution, rape and suicide
representation: main and side characters of colour, main interracial relationship
Honestly, I don't really have too many new thoughts from the first volume to this one. The way the plot is developing continues to be interesting, the characters are well-drawn and distinct, and it's entertaining as hell.
One thing I forgot to mention in my review of the first volume is how much I love the art style. It's not the cutesy style that tends to go along with contemporary graphic novels, but it's also not the super gritty, can't-make-anything-out style that tends to go with comics like The Walking Dead. I don't really know how to describe it other than somewhere in between both of them, and I think Fiona Staples knocked it out of the park.
Now, onto a negative. I know, we're all shocked, but this is the one thing that up until this point stops me from giving this series a five-star. I really like the Alana and Marko storyline, as well as The Will storyline, but I find IV's storyline pretty boring. A lot of the time it comes off as a less interesting version of The Will's storyline and it means that I'm less engaged whenever IV's on page.
Other than that, this is still really good.
2) Saga, Vol. 2 ★★★★
3) Saga, Vol. 3 ★★★★★
content warnings: violence, gore, murder, graphic sexual content, misogyny, discussions of forced underage prostitution, rape and suicide
representation: main and side characters of colour, main interracial relationship
Honestly, I don't really have too many new thoughts from the first volume to this one. The way the plot is developing continues to be interesting, the characters are well-drawn and distinct, and it's entertaining as hell.
One thing I forgot to mention in my review of the first volume is how much I love the art style. It's not the cutesy style that tends to go along with contemporary graphic novels, but it's also not the super gritty, can't-make-anything-out style that tends to go with comics like The Walking Dead. I don't really know how to describe it other than somewhere in between both of them, and I think Fiona Staples knocked it out of the park.
Now, onto a negative. I know, we're all shocked, but this is the one thing that up until this point stops me from giving this series a five-star. I really like the Alana and Marko storyline, as well as The Will storyline, but I find IV's storyline pretty boring. A lot of the time it comes off as a less interesting version of The Will's storyline and it means that I'm less engaged whenever IV's on page.
Other than that, this is still really good.
*2.5
content warnings: violence, animal attacks, discussion of war
“Two kisses they’d shared now: one innocent and fresh, one desperate and demanding. Both intoxicating.”
This wasn't incredibly by any means, but for an author's first novella that was published nearly a decade ago, it wasn't too bad. This follows Cecily who has been in love with Luke ever since he kissed her years ago, but war has left him changed and she is expected to marry another man.
The entirety of this novella is drama, which for the most part is good. Towards the middle it got a little repetitive, but overall the 'we can't be together but god we want to' was done pretty well. Tessa Dare also has a writing style I quite enjoy; one that sets it definitively in the past, but also doesn't alienate the reader.
In a full-length novel, the romance would have annoyed me. As I said, the drama got a bit repetitive, and Luke was kind of a dick for a lot of it. But I can't deny that he and Cecily had chemistry and the steamy scenes were really well-written.
I fully intend to read Tessa Dare's full-length novels sometime in the future, but for now I'm going to have to settle with the stuff that's free on amazon.
content warnings: violence, animal attacks, discussion of war
“Two kisses they’d shared now: one innocent and fresh, one desperate and demanding. Both intoxicating.”
This wasn't incredibly by any means, but for an author's first novella that was published nearly a decade ago, it wasn't too bad. This follows Cecily who has been in love with Luke ever since he kissed her years ago, but war has left him changed and she is expected to marry another man.
The entirety of this novella is drama, which for the most part is good. Towards the middle it got a little repetitive, but overall the 'we can't be together but god we want to' was done pretty well. Tessa Dare also has a writing style I quite enjoy; one that sets it definitively in the past, but also doesn't alienate the reader.
In a full-length novel, the romance would have annoyed me. As I said, the drama got a bit repetitive, and Luke was kind of a dick for a lot of it. But I can't deny that he and Cecily had chemistry and the steamy scenes were really well-written.
I fully intend to read Tessa Dare's full-length novels sometime in the future, but for now I'm going to have to settle with the stuff that's free on amazon.
1) Saga, Vol. 1 ★★★★
2) Saga, Vol. 2 ★★★★
3) Saga, Vol. 3 ★★★★★
content warnings: violence, gore, murder, graphic sexual content, misogyny, discussions of forced underage prostitution and rape
representation: main and side characters of colour, main interracial relationship
It took a million years, but I finally got around to this. No joke, I've owned this first volume for nearly a year and never read it for reasons I can't even start to figure out. I knew the hype, I'd heard how fantastic and soul-destroying it was, and yet I never picked it up until today. And I was an idiot.
For the few people in the world who don't know, Saga follows Alana and Marko, two people from warring alien species who fell in love and had a hybrid-child, Hazel. The story is told from Hazel's perspective and it follows the events directly after her birth as her parents are hunted down by both their species, as well as other freelance mercenaries.
On the surface, this has a really generic plot, but Brian K. Vaughan's decision to set it in space and to have the characters be different alien species was a smart one because it makes it feel fresher. This first volume doesn't have many interesting plot details overall, but was still extremely enjoyable in its execution and sets up for much more in the future.
The characters are really what make this graphic novel feel more than just a one-note star-crossed lovers story. Alana and Marko are both people who have done atrocious things over the course of their lives, but seeing them together and with Hazel makes you completely forget that if things had gone differently in their lives they could have been the most awful people in existence. Their relationship is also extremely sweet, if complicated and messy.
Several interesting side characters are introduced, but easily my favourite of them all was The Will. He's a freelance mercenary who immediately endeared himself to me when he, without hesitation, murdered a guy who worked at Sextillion for employing a six-year old girl, and then tried to rescue her from her owner.
This ends on a soft cliffhanger so I'm glad that I have the second and third volume borrowed out from the library. Expect those reviews really soon because I'm going to binge this entire series if possible.
2) Saga, Vol. 2 ★★★★
3) Saga, Vol. 3 ★★★★★
content warnings: violence, gore, murder, graphic sexual content, misogyny, discussions of forced underage prostitution and rape
representation: main and side characters of colour, main interracial relationship
It took a million years, but I finally got around to this. No joke, I've owned this first volume for nearly a year and never read it for reasons I can't even start to figure out. I knew the hype, I'd heard how fantastic and soul-destroying it was, and yet I never picked it up until today. And I was an idiot.
For the few people in the world who don't know, Saga follows Alana and Marko, two people from warring alien species who fell in love and had a hybrid-child, Hazel. The story is told from Hazel's perspective and it follows the events directly after her birth as her parents are hunted down by both their species, as well as other freelance mercenaries.
On the surface, this has a really generic plot, but Brian K. Vaughan's decision to set it in space and to have the characters be different alien species was a smart one because it makes it feel fresher. This first volume doesn't have many interesting plot details overall, but was still extremely enjoyable in its execution and sets up for much more in the future.
The characters are really what make this graphic novel feel more than just a one-note star-crossed lovers story. Alana and Marko are both people who have done atrocious things over the course of their lives, but seeing them together and with Hazel makes you completely forget that if things had gone differently in their lives they could have been the most awful people in existence. Their relationship is also extremely sweet, if complicated and messy.
Several interesting side characters are introduced, but easily my favourite of them all was The Will. He's a freelance mercenary who immediately endeared himself to me when he, without hesitation, murdered a guy who worked at Sextillion for employing a six-year old girl, and then tried to rescue her from her owner.
This ends on a soft cliffhanger so I'm glad that I have the second and third volume borrowed out from the library. Expect those reviews really soon because I'm going to binge this entire series if possible.
*3.5
content warnings: discussions of domestic violence, attempted murder, cancer and loss of a loved one
representation: black chubby main character, main interracial relationship, side gay character, side character of colour, minor m/m relationship
“She was playing with fire, here. She knew that. She just hadn’t expected it to burn so good.”
I had never read a Talia Hibbert book before this one, but you can bet your sweet ass that I'm going to be picking up all of this woman's books as soon as possible after this. Merry Inkmas certainly isn't anything especially new, but that doesn't take away from how fun and cute it was.
The book follows Bailey, a barista who has a frequent customer she's dubbed Hot Coffee Guy. She's never had any meaningful interactions with Hot Coffee Guy until one night when her homeless friend, John, comes into the cafe and her boss throws him out, leading to Bailey quitting her job out of solidarity. Turns out that Hot Coffee Guy is a nice person called Cash who not only helps John get back on his feet but also offers Bailey a job - working as his receptionist. Steamy romance ensues.
The characters aren't anything special, but that doesn't make them any less endearing or fun to follow. Cash has Damage but wasn't a complete dickhead because of it, which I enjoyed. He has his moments but they're actually justified, something which doesn't often happen in steamy books. And Bailey was just an awkward, witty delight to follow the entire time. Also, Cash's family was amazing. I wish more romance books would feature families because I love them every single time.
Look, it's insanely cheesy. They've known each other for a couple months and are already in love, and that epilogue made my teeth rot, but you know that going in. It's all steam and fluff, no substance, which is exactly what I wanted from something like this. I already have another Talia Hibbert on my kindle so I'm going to be getting to that fairly soon.
content warnings: discussions of domestic violence, attempted murder, cancer and loss of a loved one
representation: black chubby main character, main interracial relationship, side gay character, side character of colour, minor m/m relationship
“She was playing with fire, here. She knew that. She just hadn’t expected it to burn so good.”
I had never read a Talia Hibbert book before this one, but you can bet your sweet ass that I'm going to be picking up all of this woman's books as soon as possible after this. Merry Inkmas certainly isn't anything especially new, but that doesn't take away from how fun and cute it was.
The book follows Bailey, a barista who has a frequent customer she's dubbed Hot Coffee Guy. She's never had any meaningful interactions with Hot Coffee Guy until one night when her homeless friend, John, comes into the cafe and her boss throws him out, leading to Bailey quitting her job out of solidarity. Turns out that Hot Coffee Guy is a nice person called Cash who not only helps John get back on his feet but also offers Bailey a job - working as his receptionist. Steamy romance ensues.
The characters aren't anything special, but that doesn't make them any less endearing or fun to follow. Cash has Damage but wasn't a complete dickhead because of it, which I enjoyed. He has his moments but they're actually justified, something which doesn't often happen in steamy books. And Bailey was just an awkward, witty delight to follow the entire time. Also, Cash's family was amazing. I wish more romance books would feature families because I love them every single time.
Look, it's insanely cheesy. They've known each other for a couple months and are already in love, and that epilogue made my teeth rot, but you know that going in. It's all steam and fluff, no substance, which is exactly what I wanted from something like this. I already have another Talia Hibbert on my kindle so I'm going to be getting to that fairly soon.