This was a cute and geeky read, which what I expected from it. A roommates to lovers trope, it is full of all types of fan-dom references that would delight anyone. The slow burn between Tessa and Adam was sweet and steamy and I really enjoyed finding them find love. The will they won't they tango did get a bit much after the third or so false start but was worth the wait.

I also really appreciated Tessa's sense of self-discovery about not being the anti-social introvert she thought she was and how she realized her worth. There were a couple of scenes in there that were a bit difficult to read, what with how one co-worker in particular treated her (Abraham) but I also appreciated how, when it came down to, the other guys, apart from Adam did actually respect her and her skill.

Not everything here was an HEA (no worries the romance aspect was) but that was more realistic so I appreciated that. Plus it gives plot points for others in the series. Overall a good read sweet read. I'm glad I finally picked it up.

Wow. Just wow. I had been hearing about this book for the last couple of years, purchased it last year, and then finally got around to reading it this year.

And part of me wants to already re-read it.

This was just a beautifully crafted book with beautifully flawed people. There were no enemies or bad guys in it and it was written so well. The description of the anxiety that Eliza felt even before she knew what it was. Her passion for her work and her fans, even though she wanted to stay hidden. The sweet cute development of a friendship between Wallace and her that bloomed into romance. Everything was on point.

This was a rare YA where I saw things from both Eliza and her parent's point of view. The parents were as present and understanding as they could be not understanding their child's creation or even realizing how big it was. And every step they made was from a place of love. Eliza had the typical moody teenager moments but we find out later that there may have been more to that.

The one sour note was a moment where after the reveal happens that Wallace, for lack of a better phrase, acts like a jerk. Even though it's a little understandable, it was almost unforgiveable for me until he made amends.

I also like how the relationship between Eliza and her brothers changed. There were moments after the reveal where I teared up with how protective they were of her. It was so darn sweet.

I won't go into too much more details for spoilers but for me this was one book that was well worth the hype it created. This will for sure be a re-read for me.

I never understood how a reader could read and love a book right up until close to the end. I was one who was like with all that invested time and joy, what thing towards the home stretch could possibly turn the tide that much.

After reading this book, now I understand.

I really enjoyed the majority of this book. Even if Amy was woefully naive in some aspects, I enjoyed seeing her take time for herself. Even though John (the not quite ex) kept calling her a martyr, I never viewed her as that. She was a woman who was abandoned by her husband, who was the sole bread winner at the time, when he acted like an overgrown child and fled the country and went halfway across the world. To add insult to this injury, he took up with another woman and never sent any type of monetary help to Amy. But she did what she had to do and took care of her kids and made sure that they could stay in their house to not further uproot their lives.

So, yes, her 'momspringa' was well-deserved. She deserved to go out and take a break and feel comforted in that someone was taking care of her kids. This also isn't just a 'for mom' things since single dads would need it to. Her embracing that as well as letting herself have fun was great and fun to read.

Then we got to the guilt part. And while I knew it was coming, since she was a mom, it was still infuriating to read. And that's where this book almost took a nosedive in rank for me. I didn't like how she guilted herself into cutting her vacation short. Parents deserve time off. It's exhausting being a parent and yes they chose the life but still...people choose pathways, people, careers, etc that they love all the time. That doesn't mean that they don't ever need or want a break.

I also didn't like how she left Daniel, the hot librarian, for a man who abandoned her and their kids. And it's not even like he went a few towns over. He went to the other side of the freaking globe and never sent them money. I'm one of those that I do believe in for better or for worse and will try to work out most martial problems. That said, there are hard deal breakers out there and abandoning us, going to the other side of the world, and taking up with a younger woman is one of them. For a moment the story played with the of Amy getting back with John and I legit would have thrown my Kindle (onto a soft surface I don't want to have to replace it) because he didn't deserve that second chance.

Luckily it didn't come to it. But the hint of it and the sudden appearance of plot points to further explain and in some ways try to excuse John's behavior lead to this lose points with me. This book took a turn in the last 13% that I feel it would have been stronger without. And the letters and the social media posts at the end seemed tacked on to increase the page count. But I still enjoyed most of it despite all that.

All that said, this rates more like 3.5 stars but we all know how Goodreads feels about half stars. And it wasn't enough to bump it up to 4 because of those points mentioned above. It is a perfect Spring Break or summer read though so I do recommend it for that.

I'm glad I went into this knowing that it wasn't an actual romance and was more a literary fiction with a romantic element. It gave me a much more realistic expectation of it. And while I wouldn't say I was blown away by it, I didn't face the disappointment other readers did going in expecting a typical romance.

In that regard it was phenomenal and had everything you would want in a literary fiction. It is very much something that could be dissected in a college class but would also be good for a book club pick. There's a lot that you can unpack here and, while it's not without its flaws, it's still a good story.

THE GOOD:
--The writing flowed relatively well. There were a few scenes where it seemed too wordy but it didn't ever fall into the trap of being too pretentious like others in the genre do.
--All the characters were amazingly well developed. Even the ones that we didn't focus on for long periods of time we well fleshed out. I would love to revisit them all at one point with Grace and Yuki as the background characters.
--Hinted at the very real stigma of mental health in the Black community insomuch that it is ignored even when people needed it.
--It had a HFN. This is rare for literary fiction so I enjoyed that.

THE BAD:
-- My gods woman you have a freaking doctorate have you really never heard of an annulment?
--It took way too long to meet up with Yuki.
--The amount of people who called this grown ass woman Porter got tedious. Like even her near and dears did. The only one who consistently called her Grace was Yuki (and even then it was normally Grace Porter). Still though...she has a first name for the love of cheese call her by her first name.
--I wanted to know more about 'bad Grace'. It seemed thrown in at the last minute and, while it made sense, it still seemed to be a last minute plot twist.

Overall, I would recommend this, with the strong warning that romance is, at best, a secondary plot. It is mainly about Grace's self discovery and that moment that most of us go through where we realize that our best laid plans may not work out the way we planned.

I was lucky enough to win this in a giveaway here and boy am I glad I did. It was just the shot of sweet romance that I needed to boost my serotonin levels. I enjoyed the easy friendship between Zora and Dallas and how it transitioned to an equal and satisfying marriage. Through it all, even if they downplayed their feelings for one to another to the each other, they were super supportive of their careers. And it's nice to read about that every now and then.

We as the readers also don't know what triggered them to get married but we get to see them make the best of it and end up with a wonderful happily ever after. This is what I feel friends to lovers should be and this book is one of the reasons that this is one of my top tropes. It was also my first by the author but it won't be the last.

Warning: you will get hungry while reading this book.

I really enjoyed this debut. It took a bit to get into and I think some of that had to do with wanting to get the murder out of the way (which I enjoy because if I have to wait more than five chapters for a body in a mystery, cozy or otherwise, I usually DNF) while simultaneously introducing the characters. Once that was done and the pacing more or less evened out.

I love close knit zany families in my cozies and this had it in spades. I also appreciated that all the characters, not just the dead guy, were flawed in a way. Even Lila was although it took a bit to get to her story. It was a change to read about an imperfect character who may have as much common sense as one would like. There were one or two missteps Lila made that had me rolling my eyes hard.

The characters were a nice mix of likeable and then unlikeable. The Calendar Crew didn't stand out as much to me as I thought they might based on their intro cut that was okay. I was more invested into Lila's relationship with her Tita and Lola and hope that we see more of that.

I also hope that the friendship between Adeena and Lila get explored more. While they were okay at the end, their lifelong friendship didn't seem too healthy. Maybe the author will branch into that bit more because while, for me, it wasn't as toxic as other female friendships I've observed or been, it sure as heck isn't the healthiest either.

And (slight spoiler) please do not add the detective as a possible love interest. I don't know if it just the current political climate (2021) but he was completely unbearable for me. Like, I spent most of the book wanting him to get shot and taken off the case. He's one of those that won't ever admit he's wrong about a 'hunch' and yeah...while I don't this in other cozies I really that isn't the path here because right now that character is pretty unredeemable for me.

I won't touch on the mystery because that's part of the fun of the journey, but I will say it would be difficult to figure it all out. At least for me it was.

Highly recommend and looking forward to the others in this series.

This was just an okay one for me. I'm not sure if my reading tastes have changed since the last time I read a Myrtle Clover mystery (since it was a couple of years ago) or if like some of the reviews said, this is just not as strong as others in the series. It could be both. And I was hoping it would be refreshing since it took place in a new location.

I just didn't jive with this one and I am not sure why. I still finished it since it was for a challenge and it wasn't as off-putting as others I have DNFed in the past. Honestly I think what got to me in this one, and it's super petty, is Myrtle's continued distaste for other's reading choices if they differ from her. She was a former English teacher; frankly, she should just be happy people are reading even if they're not the 'classics'.

Unsure if I'll pick up the next one in this series because this one was so 'meh' for me.

One day I'll learn to not be sucked into the hype of a book and let that factor into my desire to read it, because I am always inevitably disappointed. While I enjoyed this one more than the last overly hyped book I read, it was still just okay. I wasn't overwhelmed by it by any means though.

That said I did appreciate the positive light it shed on sex workers. For that alone it deserves recognition because it does good work in that regard. Because I don't feel that they should be pariahs of society especially if it is not something that is forced on them and that they enjoy doing. I also appreciate how it treated sexual pleasure and needing to know what your partner likes to ensure that it is beneficial for all partners involved.

The sex scenes are sufficiently steamy so its also good in that regard. The story itself is fairly generic and at some point it seemed rushed after a lot of build up. The last chapter seemed tacked on as well to end it with an HEA rather than an HFN. And while I do prefer HEAs over HFNs I also like them to be less 'neat' if that makes sense.

Overall, this wasn't it for me but I will admit that a lot of that has to do with going in with high expectations of the book. I should have tempered that and not repeated the mistakes of the past. I'm glad it has brought others so much joy but it wasn't one of those for me. It was a just okay book.

Horror and romance are two of my top genres and this book combined them both wonderfully. I loved hearing about Kate's methods to creating wondering events including the "Awww" moment. I really felt that ultimately her goal was that her clients had a good day. Yes, she wanted to look good and professional but it was equally as important that it was memorable for them. When Drake finally let her plan, she showed the utmost consideration for him as well as his home which was one of the things that endeared her to him.

I also enjoyed the vulnerability that came through Drake as an writer. I'm not sure if the author intended that to be a bit of a glimpse into herself, but it came across very authentic in the worry about rejection especially in trying out something new. It is always scary to put your work out there even if you're already established. And that came across well.

I also really liked the tongue in cheek meta-jokes made thorough out the novel. Again, I'm not certain if they were intentional but either way they were brilliant. This is also a slow burn romance with one of the more believable third act conflicts that I've read in a long time. This was a cute read that I would highly recommend especially for this like myself who find themselves enamored with these two genres.

I received an eARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

I really wish I could recall where I heard about this book and what prompted me to want to read it. Not necessarily because I found it bad, although I sure as heck didn't find it stellar. But because I was really curious as to what drew Past Me to this.

Essentially what it boiled down to me was that it was an interesting premise but the execution of it was not as well done as one would have liked. When you're hauling a 514 page book around, you kind of expect every moment to matter and not everything did. Sure there were some things that seemed one-offs that ended up panning out. But a lot of the others were decidedly unimportant. Like the Bluebloods. Without getting into spoiler territory, they were for the most part unimportant. Their only important contribution should have been to draw Blue to Hannah and that's it. I neither needed, nor wanted, their tragic backstories. Because Blue's was more than enough.

The constant need of Blue to mirror the importance of the chapters with another moment of actual and/or literary history grated after a while. Anyone with a cursory knowledge of the books that shared the chapter titles knew going in what they could expect, especially as the story unfolded. There was no need to double down on that and it only served to make Blue seem more pretentious than her peers thought her to be.

Her dad. Ugh. Just ugh. To say anymore may broach into spoiler territory but suffice to say he goes into the barrel of terrible fathers along with the ones from "The Undoing of Thistle Tate" and "Ghosts".

The book did eventually pick up and went faster than it had been, plot wise eventually. But this was after the mid-point mark. And then it was a rush of things that just flew at Blue like so many airborne missiles. Quite frankly I'm surprised she wasn't writing this from some sort of asylum instead of Harvard. And by the time I got to the end, it felt like not enough of a payout for the build up.

I know most people think, to paraphrase a well-known quote, that a book can't be too long. But I disagree. This book easily could have had anywhere from one hundred to two hundred pages cut and still bean as well received as it was. It may have made more of an impact on me had it been to be perfectly honest. As it was, while I didn't hate, I didn't love it and as best am left with a lukewarm feeling. This isn't one I'll re-read and I likely only pushed through because it was my choice for my book club. Otherwise it may have joined the other books that I DNFed this year since by page 250 I felt it was still dragging.

Again it was okay but temper your expectations as I found it nowhere near as stellar as the reviews would have you believe.