stephsbooktalk's Reviews (915)

Mini Book Review: Once I heard Julie Murphy was doing a middle grade school with the idea of Heavyweights in mind, I knew I had to read it. Heavyweights was such a formative movie for me growing up as a chubby kid and it was during the time where tween films were top notch (Mighty Ducks, Big Green, Little Giants, etc). 

I thought this was such a cute read! Even reading as an adult, I was enthralled into the premise and needed to know what was going to happen. And knowing it is going to be a series I can't wait to see what other adventures the kids of Camp Slyvania are going to get into.  I love Murphy's style of writing and she definitely had me chuckling while reading this one. 

If you are looking for a quick read during the Halloween season that takes place at a summer camp with a fun cast filled with middle schoolers - check this out!  It is fun for all ages! 

Thank you so much to Forever for an advance copy of this book!
Thank you so much to Libro.Fm for a complimentary audio of this book! 

Okay so I was nervous to read this as in one of my groups there were some mixed review but I end up really enjoying this! Reader friends of mine know that I am a sucker for celebrity romances in any capacity so this was right on par with what I am into.  This is definitely not a fluffy rom com but a romance that has some real issues that couples face. 

Felix Ever After was one of my favorite books of 2021 and so I was already familiar with their writing style and quality of their work. This is Kacen's first adult romance book and I am very excited to see what is next from them!

"Stars rise and fall quickly in LA."

Matt and Logan. My heart. I love them both. Matt is such a wide eye young man going into this new world and Logan has been acting since he was a child. Right off the back you are presented with their personalities and how they are truly total opposites. I love that we got both point of views because of how different the two are. But to be honest I was more interested in Logan's point of view because of how complex of a character he was. My heart broke over and over for each of them for different reasons. I felt bad that Logan was constantly letting Matt down and Matt was trying so hard to get inside of Logan's head to find out what was making him so angry. He had such a hard exterior and slowly Matt was able to peel away walls but Logan quickly would put them back up. The journey was such a rollercoaster and as much as I'd love to point the blame on Logan it was everyone around him that was the real issue and the villain of the story.  I do not want to indulge to much into the ending but the ending chapters were satisfying and just made me so happy. 
 

The world of celebrities have always fascinated me. I have been involved in the Hollywood culture ever since I was young and as I got older and especially now with the different social medias you can't escape it. The dark side of Hollywood has always been there and every once in awhile it shows itself. The stories of what Logan went through should not be the norm but I fear that it has happened to both men and women in the industry far more times that we know. It is very sad and I don't see it stopping any time soon because there are just too many powerful people in the industry. Which is even sadder.

"You don't let go of who you are and your understanding of right and wrong for anything or anyone."

This book does include mixed media which I could take or leave. It just continued to prove how hard it is out there to be a public figure. The only one I was really interested in was the parts of Matthew's memoir. I did like that because of the full cast audio we did get to hear different voices and if the main characters were interviewed their voice would be mixed in.  

I enjoyed both of the narrators for this and thought they were perfect choices for Matthew and Logan! 

I do wish that we got some sort of header or title when we would flip from real life to movie or even when we flash forward to the future. There was just no indication and only the text to provide where we were in time. 

Whenever I stopped reading this, I was thinking about Matt and Logan and even now I hope they are happy together somewhere. It also makes me wonder how many celebrities are going through the same thing and how sad it is. 

I would recommend this book if you love fake dating, second chance, mixed media & Hollywood romance but please be check the content warnings. 

Mini Audiobook Review: My goal is to eventually get through all the books in this series; I read that they could be read as standalones so I am going to go back to read Jordan's book in number 2. 

Compared to the first book this one didn't grab me the same way but at the same time I couldn't stop listening. I felt so frustrated for Ginger because I could not imagine having parents that are so controlling and so overbearing. Even though she was a teenager, it felt like a little bit much though I will say they did have a right to be mad when she didn't tell them she was staying over the opposite sex's house. I also did not like the idea of adults not liking a teenager because of how he raises the cattle?? It just seemed weird but perhaps that is how life is in the farm world.  

Once again I wish these books were around when I was in high school. I would've ate them up and would have felt so seen. 

Mini Audiobook Review: This one had been on my radar for awhile and I finally dove in! I absolutely loved it! 

Fake dating has always been one of my top tropes and I thought this was well done! I absolutely loved Kian as a character!  His internal monologue made me laugh and I felt that he was such a fun, young character. Him and Hudson were such opposites and as much as he wanted to forget him he just couldn't let go. I do wish that we learned more about what happened during their initial relationship and I would've loved to have a chapter or two from Hudson's POV. I thought this was a delight via audio and the narrator was fantastic!  I am looking forward to reading more from Jackson. 

Swoon Meter: 5/10
Karaoke: Sadly no

 Thank you so much to Atria for the gifted copy of the book! 

Thank you so much to Libro.FM for the complimentary audio! 

 

Wildfire by Hannah Grace 

 

 

I gave into the Icebreaker hype earlier in the year and really enjoyed it!! But I think I love this one slightly more.  You do not need to read Icebreaker to read this one. There are characters that overlap but you don’t need their backstory to understand them in this one. 

 

I have seen so many mixed reviews for this but I was invested from the very beginning until the end.  Could it be because I was entranced by the voice of Teddy Hamilton? Kidding but not really. I read this after reading a bunch of thrillers so perhaps I was just craving for fluffy, steamy love story and that is what I got!  

 

Aurora & Russ are just such a hot couple and I just love their relationship throughout the book.  They had their one night stand, thought that was going to be it until they find themselves at the same summer camp. One of the rules of being a counselor is no intermingling with the staff. Of course the tension just build and build until they just couldn’t wait anymore. I just loved their chemistry and just how they each were so concerned for the other. I was definitely swooning.  They each had daddy issues which I thought was different for both characters to share similar trauma. 

 

 

If you are looking for a romance at a camp with dual POV & no third act break up - check this out via with your eyes or audio! 

 

Swoon meter: 10/10 

Karaoke: YES 

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

"..'Little brother, I have a surprise'. And I hate surprises that don't end with candy or sex."
"Noted."

Once again Wardell has done it again! I already knew that he was going to be an auto buy author but this solidifies it. There is just something in the way that he writes that just grabs you from the start and hooks you in.

Could it be the excellent way he writes his banter?
Could it be how he infuses pop culture into his characters dialogue/personalities?
Or even how he has a variety of different representation in his books?
Everything!

The relationship between Sheldon and Theo was so fun to read because of how different they were. Sheldon a people pleaser and knew that he could get Theo to warm up to him. Sheldon was such a fun character to read and I love how self aware he was and his "gayness" even when he thinks he is being too much. He just seems like the person that would light up any room he goes into. Also his personality fits the type that would thrive in a first grade classroom.

Then you have the opposite in Theo. As of right now, Theo is my favorite character in this universe next to Jill from the first book. He was such a complex character but with such a big heart. I wanted to give him such a big hug and I love seeing his growth throughout the book. I love that we get to see his POV because there was so much internal monologue and my heart just felt for him. So many times I want to say certain things or do certain things but fear has held me back. Also thank you to Wardell for having a plus size male as the love interest. WE NEED MORE PLUS SIZE MALE REPRESENTATION! Of course I didn't like how he felt about himself but as a plus size female who was once single I totally understand the feelings of no one finding me attractive. And I love that that is one of the reasons why Sheldon loves him.

I just love them as a couple so much! *cries*

I don't really have any gay friends. And Sheldon has to equal at least three gay friends.

Also one thing we can except with Wardell's work is he is going to bring the spice! WHEWWW He knows how to make me blush while reading! I love how Sheldon was so gentle with Theo and Theo was so open to being intimate with Sheldon. There was consent & they communicated in their own way.

Another aspect of this book that was special besides the relationship between the two MMCs was each of their relationship with their loved ones. Sheldon has such a close relationship with his twin sister Naomi that it made me a little jealous of how close they were! She is really his rock and stood by him after his parents wouldn't accept Sheldon. Theo's family is the complete opposite. They are a wonderful happily married couple who welcome all into their family. There were several times that just made my heart melt at their gestures towards Theo as well as to Sheldon.

I am sad that we have to wait until next summer for the next book in the series! If you haven't checked out the cover for Kent & Vincent's book, please go to MA Wardell's social to check it out! I can't get over how hot they both look.

I know this was long but I promise there is still so much more that I didn't cover!!!

If you are looking for your next M/M romance with fake dating, Jewish rep and lots of spice - please check this one out!

Swoon Meter: 8/10
Karaoke: Sadly no

Bonus quote that is my personality: "Negative degrees out? Give me my iced mocha."

Mini Audiobook Review:  This will likely be my favorite romance of the fall! I was already a huge fan of the movie When Harry Met Sally so when I heard this was a retelling of the book, I knew I was going to love it but I did! I love that the roles were reversed and such a modern take making Ari bisexual (even having a relationship with a married couple) & their banter was top notch! 

There is nothing more challenging while being a reader when a character continuously self sabotages the relationship even when you know they see what is in front of them!! 

The audio was a lengthy one a little over 11 hours but I thought it went pretty quick! I love seeing Ari and Josh's from the start and how their friendship developed over the years. I love Josh as a MMC. You could tell as a reader how much he loved Ari. He was never shy in making that known. 

I can't wait to see what else Kate does! She knocked it out of the park on her debut! 

I think if you are a fan of the movie, friends to lover, slow burn over a NYC setting definitely check this out! 

Swoon: 7/10
Karaoke: YES

Holy moly I absolutely loved this!!! Any fan of this era of music should give this a listen or read. Emo music could be listed as their own genre as there are many subgenres of emo music or for those who may not be as familiar with this style of music, you could say it's a subgenre of pop, indie rock or alternative. 

I do recommend pulling up the complimentary pdf that the publisher has to help keep track of all those that contributed to the book (I failed to do so). There were names that I definitely recognized from over the years of listening to emo music but there were some new names who I had to look up.  It is easy to forget in the moment how young these musicians were when you are younger than them but looking back as a grown adult it's like wow you were only 17? 18? 19? 20? And you accomplished that?! 

I am looking forward to picking up a physical copy of this book and see what the inside looks like. It was such a formative time for me, coming out of high school and into my college years. I wanted so bad to be apart of the scene but I definitely just hung out in the background with my black nails because that was as risky as I could let myself get at the time. I had gone to so many shows and would see my favorite bands over and over. I only went to one Bamboozle and one Warped Tour but it was enough to leave an impression on me. Looking back I wish I took more photos and preserve the time as much as I could because now 16 years later the memories are beginning to fade.  

Even though this audiobook clocked in at over 13 hours, I thought it went super fast & I was really into learning the background of the genre and just hearing about the music that makes me happy. I probably could have listened for a few more hours. I know this stopped at the year 2008 but I was really hoping that the end would talk about the recent surge of new emo artists and how Tik Tok has brought that era back to the forefront. 

**I do not rate Non Fiction books as it is based on real events and real experiences.**

Mini Book Review: This was October's Mimosas and Meet Cutes book selection and honestly I really enjoyed it!! Some of my book friends weren't super into it but to me it was such a perfect mix of Hallmark small town feels with spice & magical elements. It is not surprise that I can't really handle much fantasy so this was just what I needed. I had found it hard to find a witch romance that I liked and this was it! 

I really enjoyed the playful banter between Lucy & Alex. Once they reunited it was like no time has passed at all. The conflict was mehh but understandable. I was frustrated with the two of them because they knew they were into one another and just needed to have an honest conversation on their feelings.

The storyline for Ursula does kind of leave you on a cliffhanger which takes us into the second book to get the resolution. I am looking forward to see what happens to her and to see the growth in Celestine’s writing.

Swoon Meter: 5/10
Karaoke: YES

Mini Audiobook Review: I wanted this to leave a more lasting impression on me than it did. I recall being into it but then by the end I wasn't invested in neither of them.  Going through other reviews from friends and other readers, perhaps I read this at a bad time because I am missing all the things they seem to love. I will definitely check out her future books and see if her writing style is for me.