sarahsbookstack's Reviews (2.55k)

Book 2 did not disappoint!

This time, Finlay and Vero need to find out who wants Fin's ex-husband dead. She also needs to be writing her next book to get funds that's she running low on.  She's also still trying to decide between Julian and Nick. 

This was another crazy ride of circumstances falling upon circumstances and getting Finley into a bigger mess than ever before. I really like how Vero and her have stuck side by side together no matter what happens. Vero has a lot of connections to help Finlay when she gets in trouble. But Vero is still kind of a mystery and I'm not sure what her deal is.

Still don't like Steven her ex very much. But he is pretty logical in thinking that he should take care of the kids because of all this craziness that happens to her. 

The ending is just a great big cliffhanger and I cannot wait to see what happens next!

I love a friend to lovers trope and this was no exception to that love.

Avery and Declan have been best friends since college and they even live together many years later. After an accidental puts Avery in a one arm cast and one full leg cast, Declan vows to take care of her while her mobility is gone and she recovers. (After him breaking a promise to drive her himself, he feels insanely guilty)

What better way to recover than having your best friend take care of you? I love that through this process, Declan starts to realize he's always loved Avery but has tampered it down for the friendship. But when they decide to cross that line, they both realize that there is this fire in them and it gets a bit steamy.

I also love that we will get to see more books thay will include Avery's sisters. I love their sisterly dynamic in this one here. 

3.75

What I loved:
-getting to see a bit of what it might be like in a small publishing house
-an ARC room at the publishing house, every readers dream!
-Will, the sometimes stoic/other times fun new VP who's mom happens to run this pub house
-Savannah, our main girl. She is an editor who is secretly writing her own romance novel. She leaves it in this secret room and gets feedback from an unknown person.
-the manuscript goes back and forth between Savannah and mystery person with harsh critiques green the unknown but actually helps Savannah improve a lot of stuff she's written.

What I needed more of:
-wish we could have seen the actual edits Savannah makes after getting the critiques
-there were some cute moments between our romantic MCs but I needed more. It's a VERY slow burn.

But it was pretty enjoyable and I read through it quickly. A fun little book perfect for this month of love

Rachel is the daughter of a Rabbi and a closeted lover of Christmas. Jacob is her "arch-nemesis" from summer camp. He's back in NY to throw a Matzah Ball. They haven't seen each other since that fateful summer. Until her mom Invites him to spend Shabbat with them. 

This was my first totally Jewish centered book, but I loved it and I learned a lot from it! I really like the idea of bashert - that there is a person out there that completes parts that the other person lacks.

Rachel is also living with chronic fatigue syndrome (just like the author.. Make sure to read the author's note) so you know that it's accurately portrayed. 

I loved Jacob's bubbe. When she tells Rachel of how she got out of WW2 Germany, it's sobering. But she made a great life for herself in the US and she's just so funny and good.

This was my first day f/f Regency era romance.

Philippa, a bluestocking wallflower, loves her reading circle of friends. Tommy is a master of disguise, helping her adopted siblings since cases.... And wanting Philippa from afar.

I really liked both of them. Philippa is who I feel I would have been in that era. Bookish and a wallflower. I think I loved Tommy the most as Great-aunt Wynchester though all her disguises were fun.

I loved when they took out the "soon to be" Viscount that Philippa's parents were pushing her towards as a liar and a fraud at his own house party! I loved all of Tommy's siblings.
They made me laugh and I loved that they loved Tommy unconditionally for who she is and who she lives 6!

Analiese Newell is a young piano prodigy in the 1956 South. Her best friend, Etta May, has a beautiful voice who's always singing. This is also a year that the cicadas come back in a plague-like fashion for the first time in 13 years.

Secrets will be uncovered when Analiese becomes strangely fascinated with the beguiling Marlissa. She is a wealthy girl and a strange girl. Her family is interesting and scary.

This is a great coming of age Gothic novel with so much mystery. Sometimes you have to suspend belief at some of the goings-on, but this tale is told so richly and vivid! I had some visceral reactions to the cicada's swarm.

"...people come in all shapes and sizes, none of which determine their worth as a human being."

I adored this book. The body imagine positivity was done really well. Preslee finds out she's prediabetic from her doctor and decides on her own to lose some weight for her own health. A decision totally on her own. She so decides also to join a gym and after some mishaps, hires the gym's owner, Adam, as her personal trainer.

Adam- ugh can he be more sweet and awesome?! Now he may have done a stupid bet with his best friend but he genuinely wants to help Preslee. I love that he never sees her as "fat" (her words directly to him). He sees her as this sexy woman that turns him on.

Their banter and genuine sexual tension make this for a fun book with laugh out loud moments and heart. But it also dives deep into why Preslee gained weight in the first place in a positive way (though the actual circumstances are so sad and make me cry)

A high spot for me to was Preslee's dad. He's not in much until the end but he was so funny and amazing in his protectiveness of his daughter.

I read this book in a day and recommend it highly!

Josie is a journalist, writing small pieces. She enters and wins a contest with a major magazine. She wins the chance to take part of a multi city press tour for a new movie and write about the up and coming young star, Marius. In the middle of this, she catches wind of another story. An actress lets her know the abuse she has gone through at a major producer's hand. One that has the chance to ruin his life and will allow many girl/women's voices to be heard.

"Sometimes it's hard to remember your voice is important until the world reminds you"

I applaud Josie in this journey she takes on writing about this producer a la the me too movement. I really liked that it shows this doesn't just happen to women/girls. It shows it can happen to men, boys, non binary, any people- black, white, it doesn't matter.

It's very hard to hear about how this person gets away with it for so long, he had the power over so many people and could ruin their lives in an instant. 

Josie also deals with anxiety and low body positivity. I wept when she kept saying "people just see me as fat". I wept when she tells what she went through but kept trying to say "it was different" but abuse, no matter how small, is still abuse. 

I know my words don't do the book justice, but I think it's a very important read. 

3.5

Two estranged sisters come together after their mother dies. Gabrielle was raised in her mother's household and seemed to have it all. Lulu lived with her grandparents and they got by as well as they could.

Their inheritance? Their mother's Chanel collection. The sisters would rather sell it all to get by with their lives as they are now. But their mother had other plans as she snuck Coco's words of wisdom hidden in Chanel purses.

I loved the sisters. Doesn't matter how old you are, you will fight with your siblings 😂. They both have surgery studies, different ideas, but their mother's seemingly weird plan for them state being them closer together.
With some great side cast of characters and one terrible one, this book was a fast read. It wasn't too terrible exciting most of the time and some parts were certainly boring but sad a whole...I liked it.

The whole book I had Les Mis in mind. But this stands on it own beauty.

Marie-Caroline and Gilles are on very different sides of the French unrest. He's a rèvolutionnaire Jacobin and she's a royaliste. Yet they find themselves in an interesting friendship that slowly deepens over time.

I love that they both knew their minds and kept to their principles (I did like that Gilles wanted no part in the harming of people or properties when his compatriots did).

I could clearly see the happenings of this book in my mind. The vivid detail of the country and it's people at this time. I liked the letters throughout that Caroline writes to see more into her mind and the reason she takes up the cause that she does.