I was lucky enough to snag an e-ARC of this book and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I found the tone refreshing yet believable for how someone Poppy's age would react to the situation they found themselves in. I also appreciated the inclusion of the internal debate she went through in deciding whether or not she was going to keep the baby and how it was portrayed in a way that it is ultimately up to the person carrying the baby what they wish to do.

I agree with the other reviews that the romance between Rhiannon and Poppy seemed a bit rushed and, in some ways, to come out of nowhere. We knew the attraction was there, at least on Poppy's side, but besides the casual flirting there was no indicator that Rhiannon felt the same way. That said, there were also multiple conflicts in the story, which I felt was more believable especially given how fast paced their romantic relationship was.

Also Poppy's internal struggle, while believable, also seemed to become a bit of a crutch to add more unnecessary drama to the story. She also had a bad habit of lashing out at all the wrong people and the pregnancy hormone excuse can only be used for so many before it's gets a bit tedious. She always apologized because she recognized that it wasn't fair but it still happened a lot. The only one she never apologized too (rightfully) was her mom who...whew that woman was a piece of work. For someone who thought she knew everything about everything, she was sure quick to add more stressors to her pregnant daughter's life which anyone who has every had a baby will tell you is a big effing no-no.

Overall, this was a sweet romance about learning to be comfortable with your own choices, realizing your family can be found and not the one you're born into, but also realizing that sometimes you can forgive family for past hurts (not her mom btw that was still unresolved at the end). I would highly recommend this book for anyone who wants a quick sweet romance read.

Well, this the first book of 2021 to make me cry. So, there's that.

This was a beautiful story about three women who learned that life doesn't have to be what others set up for them. Emilia was our main narrator, with Poppy's voice occasionally breaking in, but we got to know Lucy as well. While she took a bit longer to be endeared to, ultimately I grew to love her just like I did the other second-born daughters.

I loved hearing the descriptions of Italy, and want to go there for vacation now. I also appreciated Poppy's optimistic outlook on life, no matter what. She's a bigger woman than I would have been in any regard and I admire her for that. I will admit that the one big twist was kind of predictable as you got further in the story, but the journey was still good.

And can I just say I have never disliked a fictional old person as much as I disliked Rosa, even after all was revealed. I didn't Ebenezer Scrooge that much. That's saying something.

Again a beautiful book and I highly recommend. It has romantic threads but it is more contemporary literature. Pick it up, you shouldn't regret it.

Jia and Dev's first actual meet up is, in a word, less than auspicious. They quickly figure out what happened and both meet up to figure out the best way to go from there.as both have their reasons for wanting to not let the specifics of the relationship come to light, as Jia doesn't wish to have her parents know she got cat-fished and Dev doesn't want it let known who did the cat fishing. However, after they get caught in a somewhat compromising position by the paparazzi and get questioned by their respective families, then they both decide to enter into a fake-dating agreement. Through a series of unforeseen circumstances, this ends up being a fake-engagement and the rest of the chips fall as they will from that.

This one was a huge change from the other Alisa Rai's that I have read in the past. It was a sweet romance with minimal steam. Which isn't say it was bad because it wasn't. It was just a change from what I have come to expect from the author. This was more about the friendship between the two before the romance was thrown in. There was obviously an attraction between the two but that wasn't the main focus of the story. I liked the slow build here although I know that it is not well liked by others. It worked for this story and for the types of people that Jia and Dev were.

I also liked how good of an uncle Dev was to Luna and how Jia made it a priority to make her feel welcomed. I feel that there could have been more development in the blossoming relationship that Dev was cultivating with Luna and even with his grandmother, but the focus was Jia and Dev. And because of how their relationship went, we don't get to see too much of the after the marriage so I hope that we revisit them later, since I genuinely enjoyed their story. I think a lot of Rai's fans may be surprised by the lack of steamy scenes but if they focus on the sweetness of the romance, this one will make its way to a favorite on their shelf, because it did for me.

It was entertaining. I enjoyed reading about the different types of cursed objects since there were a few I didn't know about. There were less cursed objects than one would think, something even the author commented on. This would make a great in-between read for longer books, especially with the chapters and tales being fairly quick.

I really enjoyed this one and, honestly, it makes me want to re-visit the second one (since I read that first in eARC form). I think I identified with Caila a lot; on feeling like my dreams got deferred, workplace concerns, feeling like an outsider everyplace but outside my group of friends...it's very deep in that regard.

The small town here is actually one where I would want to live in since it wasn't presented as close-minded and bigoted that others are. Yes there were a few bad apples, like Wyatt's grandfather and mother, but I feel had Caila been there for any other reason then why she was, they would have welcomed her with opened arm.

The steam factor here is fairly high (kudos for positive representation of self-pleasure as well as how to introduce that to your partner) but there is also a good build up of Wyatt and Caila's relationship, starting with them being vulnerable with each other and revealing things that others in their lives may not know.

This was a winner all around for me and I would highly recommend.

For me, this was just an okay read. The steam factor was extremely high, higher than I'm normally read if I'm being honest. However there were also a lot of inconsistencies in the story plus a lot of plot points that could have done without.

One thing I did like was the development of Sonja's confidence. I can see how she allowed herself to become meek during her marriage to Eric, even with her witchy background, but eventually she got her groove back on, as it where, and was able to show everyone the boss b**ch she actually was. I also appreciated that her children weren't the typical jerks that they are written to be after a divorce happens. While they had their moments, it was written as just normal everyday teenage moodiness and I also like how they weren't blind to their father's imperfections and how he treated their mother and that this was something they came to on their own and weren't told.

It was also a nice change to have the age gap be she was older and he was younger. In almost every other age gap romance I've read (even though it's far from my favorite trope) it's the other way around. So, that was a nice change. And I appreciated for the most part the realistic path their relationship took (more on that later).

However, this book could have done with another round of edits since there were a lot of inconsistencies. the most glaring of which was which Malone sister was the oldest. At one point, Sonja said she was which was why the mantle of apothecary was going to fall on her. But then later on during the blood moon ritual, Aggie was referred to as the oldest .Then right at the end, Sonja was the oldest again, calling Aggie her 'widdle sister'. Out of all the inconsistencies that a book could have, birth order should not be one of them.

We also had too many villains. Between Eric the ex, Ashley and Heather the thirsty as hell classmates, and Deacon, it was too much drama for me. The only one that made sense was Eric because it's not uncommon for exes to miss what they no longer have, even if they were the ones who wanted it to end. Ashely and Heather were just pathetically annoying but Deacon pissed me right the eff off. But so did Sonja in that respect because she should have told Estelle the trouble her husband was trying to cause. I get on some level while she may not have wanted to be confrontational with Atlas and Eric, but Estelle was her girl and they had a lot of history. So it should have been an easy conversation to have. Had that been me, I would have been like "Either you correct your husband or I will. And you'll be nicer about it than I will." And then it would have been forever awkward between us.

There were also a lot of plot points that were left dangling which is an annoyance of mine. Such as who Atlas's daddy was. The relationship between his mom and Mr. Bailey, the neighbor who had a crush on her. The drama that went down between Atlas and Kairo and the girl that he allegedly stole from her and how he bailed town with their idea and money to travel all over the country and the world. That was another unbelievable part for me; that Kairo would go into business with him after that. Because while I may have forgiven him for all the other stuff, I don't mess around with my money. So, yeah, I would not have gone into business with Atlas.

All that said, I didn't hate it but I didn't love it. It's a very middle of the road read for me because of all those points above and that it wasn't an HEA. At best it was an HFN and even that's debatable because they did kind of end the story bickering. That's not normally my brand either I am very much someone who wants an HEA in her romances. But, it was still enjoyable enough for me to not DNF.

I enjoyed this but I wish I had listened to it in it's original form of an Audible. A lot of the transitions that would have been great in audio format just didn't translate well to ebook format. The story was still unique and engaging though and I was entertained. It just probably would have been even more so listening to it.

Non-fiction is not my normal go to so it always takes me a bit to get through those types of books, even when it is a subject I am truly interested in. Perhaps even more so when the topic is so hard.

That said this is an excellent book and one I think should be required reading at some point for everybody. Kendi did a good job of having examples of systematic racism in our country and world and relating it to something that people understand. I also really appreciated is honesty in his own short-comings and missteps in life, as well as the racist biases he had growing up and had to re-learn. it's not every day someone will admit this about themselves so he gets all the kudos for me on that.

This is not an easy read or a quick one and it is also one that will likely require a few re-reads to really understand it. But it is also necessary to read because only by learning the problems at the roots of our society can we work in pruning the bad parts and cultivating the good healthy ones.

This is more like a 4.5 but since Goodreads (still) doesn't allow for half stars...

This book, much like a horse ride, came at a slow comfortable pace and second chance romance was sweet. We had to depend a lot on the history that we didn't get to see between Evie and Zach to stoke the fires of their current passions but it was still very believable.

I loved how successful and positive all the Black characters were and how they were mostly secure in their position. They were also very supportive of each other for the most part, with a dash of harsh truth delivered in a loving way that only family can do.

Highly recommend for easy reading, especially if you're like me and love cowboys.