stephsbooktalk's Reviews (915)

Thank you so much to Celadon for the free copy of the book & the ARC!
Thank you so much to MacMillan Audio for the complimentary ALC!

This book will be out on June 24th.

Man oh man did I love this one!!! I have been following Katie Sturino for a few years now. I love her taking thin celeb outfits and recreates them in her midsize body. And if you haven't tried her Megababe products - you should!!! I am not as familiar with her outside of this but from the little that I do know, her voice definitely came across in this book.

I love when we have successful FMC! Often times the FMC is trying to figure out who they are and are in the same old job for years on end. Sunny owns her own PR company is very successful. What not has been as much of a success is her love life. She had been with her husband for a year before they decided to call it quits (together for 6 years) and the book kicks off with Sunny put the pieces back together. I love seeing Sunny figure out what kind of man does she want? Is it the neighborhood postman? Is it the high power investor? Or maybe a random construction worker? She still has her next niggling in the back of her brain but for the most part she is just looking ahead to the future.

I thought the inclusion of the newsletter was a fun extra. Normally mixed media is a miss for me but in this case, I felt it worked really well. It was like her diary and we all were at a front row seat to what was happening in her life.

I read this book all with my ears and I wish I had took the time to mark certain passages because whew were they relatable as someone with a bigger body. Sturino really nailed what it's like going into stores and not being able to find anything in your size. And I'll just note that more stores/brands are starting to carry bigger sizes but either they don't last, the prices are outrageous or its just not advertised. Sunny saw a problem in stores and had the resources to be able to create her own swimwear line (fun fact Sturino *just* started her own swimwear line). Her and Avery were such a dream combo. It was fun to read! I did love how this is the area where Sturino focused the issues being in a bigger body as opposed to having that be an issue in Sunny's dating life.

As mentioned, I read this one with my ears and narrated Yael Rizowy was perfect! I thought she really brought out Sunny's personality and Sturino's voice throughout the book. I also loved her voice for Dennis. I definitely would recommend via audio.

This really was just such a delight and I hope Sturino writes more books!

Thank you SO much to Berkley Romance for the free copy of the book & ARC!
Thank you SO much to PRH Audio for the complimentary ALC!

This book will be out on June 17th.

And I am back on the Ashley Poston train! I am open about my struggling with connecting to A Novel Love Story (check out the reviews - there are fabulous ones!) but I became a forever fan with Seven Year Slip so I wasn't going to let one sour read turn me away. I am so happy to say that I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS ONE! I had heard from other reader friends to make sure I do the audio because it was fabulous and I did pair my text with the audio and Patti Murin as always knocked it out of the park! But what really sold it was how she incorporated some singing. Heck we even got a song that the whole book was working towards at the end.

I knew from the first chapter that this was a Stephanie book. Pretty much if there is celebrity/music/boyband anything in that realm in a book - I am going to love it. I even had texted my friend who already had read an advance copy and told her I was going to love it from the first chapter. The way that Poston crafted the start of the story just grabbed my attention right away.

"I can weather storms, bird - I want to weather them. With you. Beside you. So we don't have to do it alone."

She is known for having magical realism sprinkled into her romances and in this one it is just crafted so perfectly! She positioned these two characters who are total opposites but exist in the same world - Joni being a songwriter and Sebastian being a former boy bander/son of a rock star. By pure circumstance during a performance by Willa Grey the two are in a heated kiss but a man being a man opened his mouth and ruined it for them. But that kiss sparked a lot of magic ahead!

The magical realism in this was that Joni and Sebastian were able to be in each other thoughts. Except they didn't know that it was each other in their thoughts until Sebastian aka Sasha flies out to North Carolina to see Joni. I found the banter between their thoughts really funny especially because we are only in Joni's point of view and how she navigates having this voice in her head and her responding to it out in the wild.

Joni and Sebastian - sigh. They were so fun to read!! They bonded truly with being in each other thoughts. I love the protectiveness that Sebastian had over Joni even if it was done in the subtle way. You could tell that he did care about her. She did not want to have a relationship with him because of their work buttttt of course that never is the case in romance books. Even though they had gotten off on the wrong foot, Joni did come around to Sebastian and wanted to be in his company. "I think - I think I want something messy and complicated with you, Sasha. I think I want that very much."I was a little confused on when things were going well for them and a little thing called a hurricane was approaching, why she would suddenly push him away. It just didn't fit well in what was happening leading up to it. Probably my only hiccup when it came to them but not enough for me to change my feeling on the book.

"We were all made of up memories, anyway. Of ourselves, of other people. We were built on the songs sang to us and the songs we sang to ourselves, the songs we listened to with broke hearts and the ones we danced to at weddings."

This is a very music focus book this book also has a heavy dose of grief throughout it. The grief in this is for the loss of time and actively losing someone. Joni's mother has early onset dementia and she tries to stay up to date with what is happening in her mother's life but living in California has kept her away from really being around the reality of what her dad and brother go through. There was a beautiful chapter between Joni and her mother where her mother was very open and honest and told her stories that Joni had been wanting to her. And Joni was able to talk about her fears and regrets. It was just so beautiful and heartwarming.

If you couldn't tell I just love this book from start to finish and I was taking my time reading it because I just didn't want it to end.

PS - I love how the chapter titles are song/lyrics! 

Mini Audiobook Review: I am on a quest to complete all of Edward's books and after this one I will have one more to complete (granted he only has 4 books). I thought this was okay! Not my favorite compared to the other two but still enjoyable. I love that we are seeing more and more books that star trans teens and in this one we get two! I thought it was cool how the two teens connected while they were traveling to their new states and had to figure out a way to connect again. Though I will say I don't know if my parents would allow me to travel a far distance to meet a person I just met. I always love when any kind of (music) band are involved in books. I did this one via audiobook and this was narrated by two narrators that I have listened in the past and enjoyed - Shaan Dasani & Logan Rozos. I was able to distinguish the two characters apart because of their different tones. 

 Thank you so much to Wednesday book for the complimentary copy of the book!

This book is out now!

I was a little nervous to start this book as I read one of Dahlia books previously and it was not my fave or enough to make me want to try again. Big mistake because I thought this book was so ENJOYABLE! I found it to be something that I needed to listen to coming off of some heavier books.

I really enjoyed the relationship between our FMC Evie and the MMC Salem. They just complimented each other so well - grumpy/sunshine and their banter was funny. Times like this I wonder if I really do like slow burns or perhaps I just don't realize its a slow burn because I'm so interested in seeing them interact day to day. It felt relatable to Evie where you are hanging with someone but you just never know if the feelings are reciprocal or not and you try your hardest to make them not be true. Salem also was just too cool for school and never gave anything really away until the end. I also liked all the dynamics between all the characters.

In one of my chats I think a reader DNF the book because of the whole name mix up and yeah that likely would not happen in real life or if it did it would be resolved quickly. It didn't bother me and I could look past that and just take the story for what it is.

This was another excellent narration done by Mia Hutchinson-Shaw! I thought she was able to nail all the young characters down pretty well including the male ones. It really made the listening experience go pretty quick.

I recommend this book if you are looking for a quick, adorable YA romance that also has friendships interwoven. 

Thank you to @HambrightPR & the author Sarah Castille for the advance copy!
Thank you to @Macmillian.Audio for the complimentary ALC!

This book will be out on June 17th.

It’s been awhile since I’ve read a bodyguard romance and whewww boy I have been missing out.

Ace Murphy the man that you are. Lord he made me swoon while reading this. Not that I am mad at it but I wasn’t expecting their intimate scenes to happen soon. I really thought the author was going to string us for a bit. This man has been protective over Haley ever since they were kids and it only has grew as they did.

Haley, our young naive college student who just wants to make her own music and run her radio show and not be followed around with a bodyguard. She has not talked to Ace in a few years and was mad when he left her after her brother’s death. Her feelings towards Ace came rushing back as soon she saw him again. 

Once feelings were established between the two, whewww it was so hot! The author really had me blushing with some of these scenes.

The book is told from the past timeline as well as the present. I didn’t mind the past timeline as it gave us context for how close the two really were back when they were teens. Ace really looked to Haley’s family has his family since his home life wasn’t so great. It was also so cute to see Haley’s little girlhood crush on Ace and how it really has always been him.

I paired my reading with the audiobook and queen Samantha Brentmoor was the primarily narrator but we did get chapters of Ace’s point of view, narrated by Anthony Palmini. I always love how Samantha does her female characters. I felt like she was Haley and could pull off making her sound so young. Anthony is new narrator to me and I really enjoyed his voice! I would like to see more of him in my romance audiobooks.

This was my first book from the author and I definitely would consider reading her again!

I recommend this book if you are looking for a spicy college romance, with a protective MMC, childhood friends to lover.

Thank you so much to Putnam for the advance copy!
Thank you so much to PRH Audio for the complimentary copy of the ALC!

Thank you so much to Putnam for the advance copy of this book!

This book is out on June 10th.

This is Chip's second book but first under a major publisher and I have to say I think I enjoyed this one way more than the first. I thought this was fun, flirty and oh so spicy!

I thought the concept of this book was a good time. This was not my first book that centers around the MMC needing to find someone to compete on a game show with. I love how Chip wrote their meet cute and just immediately how they fell into step with one another. They were fake dating for the camera and it just came so natural for the two of them. Of course I love the force proximity of it all - traveling with someone new, doing challenges!

Asher is coming off a breakup where he had essentially given himself up for the relationship. He had to quickly get things together to figure out what he was going to do on this trip and competition. Enter Theo who desperately wanted mozzarella sticks that Asher had, conversation happened and Theo agreed to do this competition with Asher. Theo needed to take a vacation as he always had prioritized work so it would a perfect situation.

What I found funny was how Asher made the ground rule of them not having any sort of relationship and being intimate and yet it quickly went out the window. Like wait a second what just happened here. Not that I was mad about it but I just found it humorous how the table seemed to change so fast. And boy did Chip give us the SPICE!! The chemistry between Asher and Theo was so good!! Over the course of filming this show, they just slowly began to fall for one another and really got to connect on an emotional level. I'm always a fan of when romances have dual POV and I love being able to have Theo's point of view throughout the book!

I read this one all on audio and two of my favorite male narrators Lee Osorio & Michael Crouch take on each of the characters. I love both of their narrations and mixed with Chip's writing, the audio experience was a lot of fun. I felt like Lee was Asher and Michael was Theo. They just took on their characters so beautifully. I highly recommend!

This was just such a fun time from start to finish. If you are looking for a stranger to lovers, reality tv, fake dating romance book - give this one a read!

Thank you so much to Berkley Romance for the advance copy of the book!
Thank you so much to PRH Audio for the complimentary ALC!

This book comes out on June 10th.

If you don't know by now, whatever Alicia writes, I will read. It's not like I know her personally but from the image I gather on instagram as well from her newsletters (which I say with every review, if you have not subscribed to her newsletter - you should), I feel like this book was most like her. In the sense of the theme. Alicia is not shy about her love of emo music and female fronted bands and this gave us that. And that is also why I was SO excited to read this book!

She gave me former friends, one hit wonder band stuck on a cruise where they are forced to work together to play for the guests. If you do not know by now, I love force proximity! And in this case they all but especially our leads Micah and John were pretty much forced to work through their past issues. Micah didn't have a great relationship with the other members of the band especially after she left which then snowballed into the band breaking up. We do learn the reason why she left and her working through the issues with the band.

I probably say this with every new Alicia book but I felt like this book was the spiciest! I was like okay John and Micah - get it!! She just is so good with writing those intimate moments and of course the flirty banter. Since John and Micah knew each other from when they were kids, there was just this delicate way that they were with each other and yet also so dirty!! I just love them together so much! There was a moment after they had sex when Micah started to cry and bb John was so concerned! His gentle "Talk to me" made me SWOOON!

I had planned to do a tandem read with this but I was enjoying the audio so much that I kept on going. This book is told from duel 3rd POV and narrator Ellie Gossage took it on with ease. I've only listened to one by her but per her line up on Audible she has a couple of romances that I'm interested in. I really enjoyed her voice and it helped make the listening experiencing so easy! I do recommend via audio if you decide to read this. 

I had been reading some heavier books when I started this and it was exactly what I needed. If you are looking for a swoony, former friends/bandmates to lovers on a week long cruise - this book is for you!

Thank you so much to Saga Press for the advance copy of this!

This book comes out on Sept 9th.

WOW WOW WOW WOW! I don't think I have ever read a book quite like this before. And it really made me question my reading taste. Because I absolutely loved the book. I have never read a book by Andrew Joseph White before but I always wanted to because his book covers are GORGEOUS. I was drawn to this one by the title. I thought it was the most perfect title for a book. I would highly recommend reading trigger warnings prior to reading especially if you are sensitive to graphic themes.

I described this book to a few people as I was reading it and they just gave me a look like "when does this come out?!" or "No thank you." I have been on a quest to find a horror book that made me feel things. Often times I am left not grossed out or underwhelm by the "scariness" of it but with this I WAS SO GROSSED OUT THAT I HAD TO KEEP READING. I was fortunate enough that one of my book friends also was reading it and I could scream about the different things happening to her via DMs.

"Last year, if Levi had offered to disfigure him, it would have been the kindest thing ever done for him. It would have been a declaration of love. Nobody had ever loved him so much they would do something terrible on his behalf."

Crane. Oh baby boy Crane. I just wanted to give him a hug throughout the whole book. I won't describe too much about what I'm about to talk about as I think as a reader you need to read it first hand but there was a part of the book where Crane talked about how much they hated the way that they look and the extreme measures they wanted to put themselves through to change that image. My gosh my heart broke and just made me so sad that that was how much he truly didn't like himself. White's choice of making Crane not only autistic but mute worked so well for the storyline. We are very much in Crane's head the whole time and the things that go through his brain was just so fascinating. And all I kept thinking was "are there people who think like this?" The answer is likely yes which makes it sad. Crane has such a low self esteem and truly finds acceptance and some version of acceptance in the worst ways.

The relationships in this book are so interesting! My two favorite side characters were Tammy and Stagger. Tammy was the mom of the group and was so nurturing to them. She truly was just trying to survive and keep everything as sane as possible. Stagger was this friendly giant whose only job was to guard Crane to make sure they do not harm themselves. He seemed to be on Crane's side with things and it felt like he wanted to have some sort of relationship with Crane.OH I also did love Crane's high school friends Aspen and Birdie. There was a moment where I was about to throw my kindle that involved them but luckily no kindles were harmed while reading.

Fuck Levi. That is all.

I left out a lot of details of what happens within this book in my review on purpose because I truly feel like you need to go in blind for the shock value. I finished this book a few days ago and I wanted it to settle before I had written my review and it truly has stayed with me. My only small (okay maybe big) qualm with the book is that I wish we got an epilogue. I have questions and perhaps the author wants to leave it up to our interpretation but COME ON.

Andrew Joseph White you made me a fan and I will be reading your next adult book (and of course go back to read the YA books). Once again please make sure to check the author's content warnings as there are many MANY graphic scenes. Also if you do not like worms, that may be your first sign to bow out.

Thank you SO much to W by Wattpad Books for the advance copy!

This book will be out on June 24th.

Everyone. I ate this book up so badly! Whenever I wasn't reading it, I was thinking about it. And then when I was done, I was very sad.  And even then my brain kept coming back to what Bronx and Olivia are doing. More importantly was this the chapter that they were going to kiss!  

I had browse some reviews before reading so I did know that the book was going to be told from the male point of view. It's not often that a romance is told purely from the MMC view but I have read one other before. And I think that is why I loved the book so much! I often am wondering what is going on in the male's mind but honestly there was only a few times where I wish we got Olivia's point of view. 

Bronx. Oh my baby boy Bronx. The way the author wrote his character just made me fall over him. He was a little rough around the edges and did not have the best reputation when it comes to the ladies. One thing I will comment on different books is when they talk about a character being a playboy but we never see SO when we actually get to see it on page, it makes me happy.  And in this we did got to see Bronx have those hook ups though I will say the one made me mad and I think I said to myself BRONX WHAT ARE YOU DOING. 

This is a slow but I love how the relationship with Olivia grew throughout the book. Their first kiss was SWOOOOONYYY! Even though I had to wait for it to happen, the moment was perfect timing. I love their flirty banter (okay mostly on Bronx’s part) and how he just tried so hard to be a better person for her.  I love how they both were able to open up to one another and how he felt like he could really trust her as he never really opened up to any one else before.  

There are other things that happened in the book that I don’t want to spoil. But I was glad that Bronx was there for Olivia and was protective of her. There was a big moment in the last quarter where an incident occurred that just made me so upset for the couple. 

I am so happy I read this and I really enjoyed!!!  I recommend this book if you are wanting to read a book from a male POV, like a playboy turn reform, football player x tutor in an college setting.

PS - I was fortunate enough to get the physical copy of the book and we are getting a Delilah book!!! As much as I love reading a book from the male point of view, I think Delilah's POV will be a lot of fun though!

PSS – Also in the book there was a QR code for an extra epilogue from Olivia’s point of view which was absolutely lovely! 

Mini Audiobook Review: I finalllly have read this beloved Karin Slaughter book and man oh man she has one dark and twisted mind! 

My only real issue is that this book was VERY long. As someone who has constantly booked due to deadlines and obligations for bookstagram (yes I'm aware this is my own pressure I put on myself), I found myself thinking about other books because this one was just so long! With that said, because it was long, Karin was able to really expand on the characters and you are really brought into this dark world. And because of it being long, there was a lot to remember between characters and who did what when and what role they played in the main characters lives. One thing I loved seeing in this is the relationship between Claire and Lydia grow and by the end of the book you were really rooting for them both. 

I am currently reading a horror book which don't get me wrong is pretty twisted and gross but this one feels different because whereas I know the horror is meant to be far fetched and made up, this one feels real. This one could be ripped from the headlines which is a horror all on its own. 

If you haven't read this and is new to Karin's work, I highly recommend you look up the content warning as this deals with some pretty heavy themes and is pretty graphic in descriptions.