People have been talking about this book for ages. I have been meaning to reading it for ages.

I finally picked it up over the weekend, and what a delight!

We all have those horrid high school nightmares. Some people grow up when they leave school, other are still b!tchy mean girls who never moved on with life. Yeah, you know the ones.

You never know how far you can go until you hit rock bottom and can only go onwards and upwards.

I loved that Marley hit her rock bottom, got up, wiped herself off and then kicked some bottom. It did annoy my how much she focused on the one thing in school that she should have left behind, but took to the end for that to happen.

I adore the female empowerment in this story. How she and the girls she coaches learn to persevere, to life each other up not drag each other down. And I love loved loved that Marley didn't give two sh!ts about what people thought she should do, and did what everyone around her was afraid to.

In fact, she almost made me want to go for a jog - almost!

All through reading I thought of Jake Weston as being Jake Ryan to Marley's Samantha Baker (I know, Sixteen Candles, showing my age!)

This book left me smiling. It has made me want to go and read all of her books now!

ARC received for an honest review

You know when you pick up a JP book you are going to get heartfelt, wonderful story that you are going to fall in love with.

And I did with Love on Beach Avenue - though it took me a while to warm up to Carter - just like it took Avery to. Sheesh that man was frustrating!

I mean, what could be better than a wedding planner who wants nothing but to fall in love, and a man who doesn't believe in love? You know that there are going to be sparks. We knew that we would get our HEA, but boy it was a bit rough getting there for our lovelies.

Someone must have been cutting onions near me at times too, as there was definite eye leakage at times.

We have a wonderful cast of secondary characters, and I cannot wait for you to meet them, especially Lucy and Zoe.

I am really looking forward to Avery's sisters to get their stories. I think I know who they will be with, but can't wait to see how the tales go.

Copy received from Hachette Australia for an honest review

Happy 50th Book Birthday, JD Robb/Nora Roberts

It is rare for a book series to get to 50 books. It is even rarer for me to love book 50 as much as book one.

However, that is definitely the case with Golden In Death.

Darling Eve and her Roarke are back, as big and bold as ever. You would think by book 50 that I would be able to have a chance at picking the killer - but nope, even though I had an inkling this time, I was not sure of the whos and whys until Dallas revealed all.

I loved, that even though I love the secondary characters that have come to be family, this time around we are focused on Eve and Roarke - heck, the lovely Mavis only got a mention in this one!

You would think that after all these years and all these stories, I wouldn't be surprised by the cause of deaths in NYC, however I was as surprised as a first time reader - again.

And now I want to go back and read this series from the beginning - again.

Thank you Ms Roberts for giving us my favourite literary couple.
       

Copy received from author for an honest review

Get your dentist on speed dial, as Worth The Risk is so sweet, it is going to give you a toothache.

Such an adorable best friends to lovers story that will have you smiling as you are reading.

Rory and Jess are absolutely MFEO - even if they are the only two who can't see it. They are just adorableness.

However, for me - and this is just going to be a me thing - it was all too cute. I was waiting for the shoe to drop, for something to happen.

And that has nothing to do with the book, that was all about me.

I am looking forward to book 2. Thank you Lissanne for the advanced copy.

ARC received from Harper Collins Australia for an honest review

I am on a bit of a run of Australian historical fiction stories at the moment, and the chance to read a copy of new-to-me author Tea Cooper's The Girl In The Painting was too good to refuse.

Ms Cooper has given us a story with intriguingly woven storylines, told over a 50 year period that I was impatient to turn the next page.

Michael, Elizabeth and Jane's gives us a snippet of the life of our Australian ancestors. Sometimes I think that the slower paced life, sans technology would be so much nicer, so much simpler.

However lies, betrayals and intrigues surround this trio. I was messaging a friend who had already read this book as I was reading, with so many questions, so many guesses at who was who and what was what. I was surprised at the twists and turns that this story took along the way.

Wonderful characters pushed this story forward at a wonderful pace. There were also some deplorable characters that I couldn't wait to see the end of haha.

I was reading this book in my work lunch breaks, and I found myself wanting to stretch my break just a couple of minutes more, needing to know what was happening, I ended up taking it home and devouring the second half in one evening.

This was my first Tea Cooper read, and I will be searching out more in the future.

ARC received from Hachette Australia for an honest review

I was excited to start reading The Last Smile In Sunder City after I read the blurb. It is not really a genre that I usually read, however I was intrigued.

Unfortunately, the book did not hit the expectations that I had for it.

It started off with a great noir feel to it, and I could kind of picture our main man Fetch Phillips walking the dystopian, post magic world in a trench coat, cigarette hanging from his mouth and a hat slouched over his face. Except that that would be too clean for Fetch lol

I found myself skimming through patches of this book, particularly the flashback scenes. I was just completely disinterested in them.

Also, I felt that there was just too much going on, too many people/beings brought into the story. What started as a missing person/being story turned into a confusing mish mash of different creatures that I was not sure all were required.

And the the noir feel that I was enjoying just vanished.

There was nothing at all I found about Fetch that made me want to like the man. The flashbacks ( that I did read right through) were all woe is me, everyone else is to blame for my life 0 gah. Just no Fetch!

To me, this could have done with a big round of editing out the superfluous characters and a bit of streamlining, as the story did plod along, and at times I did contemplate not finishing it.

ARC received for an honest review

I have terrible bookzheimer's, and it has been a while since book 2 in this series, so me being me, I had no idea what I was diving into.

However, once I started reading, things started to fall into place in my brain and I slowly remembered things.

Now, it did take me about 20% to really get into this story, however once it did, I was all in.

Celia and Edward's relationship has changed since the island, and for me I liked where things were going.

My thoughts on Edward have turned, and whereas before I was unsure of his motives, I know that I like where he is going with things.

Revenge is a good title for this installment of the series, and now I am impatiently awaiting the conclusion. Is it May yet?

Copy of reboot received from author for an honest review

Awwwww More Than A Friend was super cute and super sweet.

I adored Tim in the first More Than book, and needed him to get away from that girl Erica. What I needed more as the story continued was for Tim to get with Scott -even if he is his best friend's little brother.

What I liked was that there wasn't too much OTT drama. I get sick of reading drama for the sake of drama. Sure, our lovelies had their hurdles to get past, however they acted (mostly) like adults.

I adored getting more of Sam and Rob and seeing how their relationship is progressing.

I really, really want Noah's story now.

ARC received via Netgalley for an honest review

Can' Hurry Love is the first Melinda Curtis book I have read, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Secrets, lies, betrayals have all come to the fore in this story of loss and finding love again.

I laughed out loud at times, and I may have shed a tear or two as events were revealed.

I adore the Widow's Club and their well-meaning meddling.

Lola and Drew's story was not always an easy road to love, but one that I enjoyed being taken on the journey with them.

I am looking forward to more in the Sunshine Valley series - please don't make me wait too long.

Copy received for relaunch of title.

I adored the bits we got of Amy in her sister's book, Fly In Fly Out, and I immediately fell in love with her in The Barbershop Girl.

I love her style, her grace under pressure and her heart.

Ben, Ben, Ben. I love him, then I loathe him, then I love him again. Well, really only hated him for a little bit, but knew what he was doing so I knew I was going to hate him eventually.

I could picture lovely Amy in all her pin up style glory, and she made me smile.

Now, Jo on the other hand, I hated the way she talked down to and treated her sister when she didn't know all the facts. I know we all fight with our siblings, but sheesh lol. I could understand both sides of the story though.

A fun, enjoyable read, and I look forward to reading more of Evie Snow's stories.