sarahsbookstack's Reviews (2.55k)

A young woman is murdered in an affluent community and three teens are quickly put under suspicion- Hannah, Jack, and Christopher. 
These families are rich and will do anything they can to protect their children, but only one person might hold the answers as he saw a figure in the woods that night... But is a town drunk and may not be reliable. 

So many secrets are being held and when some come to light, I felt it unfairly brought scrutiny out and racist thinking towards one teen. 

I'm not sure how I liked how it ended. I was a bit surprised at who the murderer turned out to be, but I felt I needed a more satisfying conclusion....

The right person needed justice brought on them and it didn't happen.

I was very into this novel for the first little bit, but then it kind of became underwhelming. Sunny is leading two lives. One where she is the obedient daughter who came to live back at home, has a great job and is dependable. But her real life is lying to her parents, going on date after date, and hiding food. 

I did like that she got herself away from toxic friends but it took way longer than it should have. One of them was kind of racist and rubbed me the wrong way.

The bright spot for me was Sunny's mom. I loved when she called the dating app Tindle. 🤣

I love that this was based on a real life family.

I loved this family. Helen was probably my favorite of the women because she was not afraid to get her hands (literally) dirty on carriages/cars alongside her brother John. I did grow to like Olivia once she realized that she had more to offer than just throwing the right parties and being with the right people, her meeting Washington DeWight and becoming an activist herself.

I love the romances here and am excited to explore them more as we see so many ways each one evolves and not always being the ones the parents want. I like that most of them finally decide what they want for themselves even if this story ends and didn't get them all the way there.

A beautiful but a bit of a tragic story. Our MCs, Remy (comes from an abusive home) and Alice (comes from a neglectful home) meet when Alice moves to Starling. They become fast friends, they protect each other from bullies (including a teacher that just has it out for Alice), and they learn wonder and joy from being friends.

I love the little relationship that they have. It's sad when circumstances force them apart. I would love to see more from these kids in another book but that's probably wishful thinking only. 

Thanks to the author for sending me a copy to read and review.

This was a super swoony, small town, fake relationship between the small town girl and a big time celebrity.

Cassidy is accidentally tagged in Instagram by a celebrity's team and suddenly her small YouTube fix it channel blows up and rumors of an affair happening between her and Jack... Has Jack going to the tiny town of Blink, Maine to try and fix it.

I absolutely adored Jack and Cassidy as individuals and as a couple. Cassidy is a wonder woman with restoration who doesn't always get the praise that she should (She has to shut down multiple sexist people). Jack is pretty down to earth for a celebrity. He really knows how to get what he wants but in a nice way. 

The town of Blink is somewhere that I could see myself wanting to live. I love that the whole town will show up for a themed party at the drop of a hat. This is a book too but can be right as a standalone. I need to go back and read book one for sure because I adore the town.

Isabelle is a woman whose son is kidnapped and a year later is still trying to find answers. Her husband has "moved on" and left her. She also suffers from sleepwalking and chronic insomnia.

I like the past and present timeline structure. I grieved with Isabelle for her son, but was so unhappy that she seemed to have no help at all. There should have been people that stuck by her side (especially her husband and parents). You come to understand through a big tangle of secrets the reasons why they weren't supporting her but it didn't change my feelings for them at all.  She did have someone come into her life at probably a right time even if they weren't entirely forthcoming about themselves. 

While this book was part ghost story and part twins separated because their parents were different races and this is the Jim Crow South, I wanted more out of it.

It was good. I like that there is a curse put on the baby passing for white and when the time comes after her Grandmother's death, she is told she needs to choose which life she's going to continue- passing as white or Negro. It's also very ghostly and supernatural.

I hated the white people for desecrating the graves of the colored and wanting to move them, just so they didn't have to lie in the same place, it made me so mad. 

It was an easy read though and I was glad to spend some time in it.

I loved this book from beginning to end! The perfect read for a winter's day ❄️

Marina sure knows how to write a sweet and spicy book. Jax and Millie, though their start is so rocky yet a bit funny, just gets more honest and real as time goes by.

I really loved the family that Jax is "adopted" into along with his twin brother Lucas. They are just so warm and loving. I like that Millie is so dedicated to doing what her sister wanted her to do. Millie's friends are also a riot!

This was a pleasureable book to start the year off with and my many thanks to the author for sending this book to me for my honest opinion.

A fun historical romance nod to the Cinderella story!

A marriage of convenience for Gregory, a Duke with a rakish past and Julia, a woman kept out of society by her stepmother. The Duke is in awe of this woman who people deem as plain. She's witty and sharp and kind.

What I really loved about this story is how Julia and her stepsister have such a great relationship. While I liked the romance growing between the Duke and Julia, I wish there was more to see of the sister relationship.

This was fun but not my favorite by her. I was hoping for more Christmas as it's in the title. But I really liked that these two "enemies" (well mostly their parents are at odds so that didn't give the kids a chance to never meet before) took a seemingly impossible task to save their respective family restaurants from a mall closure. 

I liked Peter and Chloe all right and was ok with their relationship progression but I didn't totally vibe with their connection to each other. But I did grow more in appreciation for their culture and what it really means for (whenever in the family line) their coming to America.

This book came at an important time for the author and I really respect that. She brought in a bit of racial inequality and it's important for this day and age.