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stephsbooktalk's Reviews (915)
4.75 maybe 5? Wow!!! This one was a doozy!!! Holy cow.
This is my 3rd Ashley Winstead book this year and this may have been my favorite of the 3?
I am still digesting all that occurred in this book.
Just like with a few other books recently, I paired this one with the audio and the audio was fantastic. This story was fascinating and grabbed me from the start.
I love that there is history among the characters in this and that we got to learn Shay's backstory of her troubled life. Some of it was relevant to the present some of it probably could've been edited down but I understand why it was included.
There definitely some major twists and I was happy to have guessed one of them.
Even with having a prediction correct it didn't take away from anything.
I would advise going in blind with this because it definitely takes you on a ride especially in the last quarter of the book.
This is my 3rd Ashley Winstead book this year and this may have been my favorite of the 3?
I am still digesting all that occurred in this book.
Just like with a few other books recently, I paired this one with the audio and the audio was fantastic. This story was fascinating and grabbed me from the start.
I love that there is history among the characters in this and that we got to learn Shay's backstory of her troubled life. Some of it was relevant to the present some of it probably could've been edited down but I understand why it was included.
There definitely some major twists and I was happy to have guessed one of them.
Even with having a prediction correct it didn't take away from anything.
I would advise going in blind with this because it definitely takes you on a ride especially in the last quarter of the book.
Wowza!!! This one was so unique!! I did a mix of both listening and reading and I thought the narrator was exceptional. I love the incorporation of the drawings and after meeting with Jason and getting to hear the behind the scenes it made me appreciate the drawings more. I think you could get away with not having the physical book while sololy listening but the drawings do add that extra flair. I was definitely hooked from the beginning and could not stop listening/reading. I felt for the MC as her sanity was constantly being questioned and you knew she was telling the truth as an outsider.
Two issues I had was that I wish we got to know more about the special program that she was apart of in the beginning of the book and then briefly mentioned at the end. I didn't understand the purpose of it except that it was how she had gotten money. The other issue that I did not think of until I saw another book reader post it dealing with the twist. I cannot say what it is without giving it away. But it made me start to think could this be a type of phobic???
I definitely recommend if you love a thriller with some scary drawings and paranormal activity.
Two issues I had was that I wish we got to know more about the special program that she was apart of in the beginning of the book and then briefly mentioned at the end. I didn't understand the purpose of it except that it was how she had gotten money. The other issue that I did not think of until I saw another book reader post it dealing with the twist. I cannot say what it is without giving it away. But it made me start to think could this be a type of phobic???
I definitely recommend if you love a thriller with some scary drawings and paranormal activity.
I realllllly wanted to love this more. Like realllllly wanted to. It wasn't a bad book just wasn't as good as I thought. I am definitely an exception to this as everyone else think it is wonderful. It was our holiday book club pick and just about everyone thought it was exceptional so I am definitely in the minority. I just felt like the first half of the book was really slow and I felt like there wasn't much action happening. I like the trope fake dating so that got me super excited and then when it was with her best friend - sign me up! The second half is really where this book came alive. I love how the relationship between Luka and Stella grew as a couple. I got really frustrated with Stella (along with the other ladies in my book club) because she just couldn't get it in her head that their relationship should be real even after countless times Luka proved otherwise. One area where BK soared was the intimate times between Luka and Stella. I thought they were written beautifully.
I'm very anxious to see how the 2nd book is taking on Beckett and Evelyn's story. I tend to not read the descriptions prior to picking up the book so I'm hoping we get a backstory as well as present day them.
I'm very anxious to see how the 2nd book is taking on Beckett and Evelyn's story. I tend to not read the descriptions prior to picking up the book so I'm hoping we get a backstory as well as present day them.
This book had 3 different point of views: One from an elder male who is dealing with the aftermath of his wife's death, a woman who has been trying to move on with life after her child goes missing and lastly a woman who lost her father to a senseless crime & in a sort of love triangle with 2 men in her life. What was great with the audio is that each POV had their own narrator.
I wanted to keep listening because I couldn’t wait to see how these characters were connected. The characters in this are resilient & you only want good things to happen to them. Also love being able to hear Pennsylvania cities that I actually knew! Just like with Joella's prior book, this one is under 300 pages and you get a full story arc. Each character had grown so much from the start of the book until the end.
One of my favorite quotes from the book is "We all have regrets when someone dies." It's just so strong and I think we all feel that hinged of guilt inside after someone has passed.
I wanted to keep listening because I couldn’t wait to see how these characters were connected. The characters in this are resilient & you only want good things to happen to them. Also love being able to hear Pennsylvania cities that I actually knew! Just like with Joella's prior book, this one is under 300 pages and you get a full story arc. Each character had grown so much from the start of the book until the end.
One of my favorite quotes from the book is "We all have regrets when someone dies." It's just so strong and I think we all feel that hinged of guilt inside after someone has passed.
I kind of started this series backwards reading Paris Daillencourt first (which I absolutely adored). This was such a fun ride and I love the banter and humor that Alexis brings to his text. I love how sex positive Rosaline was and that she was never shy about her sexuality and that her 8 year old daughter knew & understood it. It was everyone else around her that didn't seem to understand. What attracted me to Paris is the same thing that attracted me to this - my love of watching The Great British Bake Off. It's just so charming and I love how Alexis took this show and created their own & now storylines from the contestants point of view. Thought as much as I enjoyed listening to this, it wasn't SUPER memorable. It's been a few weeks since I listened and I am struggling to remember the big details of the story.
Thank you so much to Sophie Gonzales, St Martin's Press, Wednesday's Books & NetGalley for an advance copy of this book!
"I thought it was easy to choose not to fall for someone. But it's not. It's not something you can control. You don't jump. You get pushed."
Imagine being asked to be on a second chance dating show where you are asked to compete with other ex girlfriends to win the heart of your ex back. But instead of falling for your ex, you end up falling for one of the other ex girlfriends? That is exactly what happens when Maya met Skye.
"I met a girl, and she made me believe love was worth the risk."
The premise of this book was so good and I remember when I heard Sophie talking about this early on how exciting this was. And to my memory nothing like this has not really been done. There have been other romance books where it had a reality tv premise (One to Watch or If The Shoe Fits) but nothing where the contestant fall for each other.
I love that the tension between Maya and Skye was so believable in the first half of the book and I am glad that it lingered on until half way through. I don't think it would have worked for me had the relationship started to develop sooner. I am not sure if they are a happily ever after but I definitely can see them as happily for now.
"Jordy's his own gasoline. Maybe all I needed to do was light a match."
Jordy was such a great villain! And reminded me of a few characters from the Bachelorette over the seasons that I have watched. He was the classic narcissist that loves the attention and didn't care who was hurt in the process. He knew exactly what he was doing the whole time and good luck to whoever doesn't see his red flags. Even though he was a slimeball I enjoyed reading about him because I just wanted to see what more lies came out of his mouth.
My biggest issue which was hard to not forget was the ages of the characters. It was hard to believe that 18 year olds would go on a dating reality show to date someone they dated when they were 16?! I think if the ages would have been shifted to the early 20s and then competing in their mid to late 20s that would have made more sense. I also don't think someone who was broken up with at 16 would still be so angry and have so much vengeance they want to seek 2-3 years later? This is coming from someone who did not date at 16 so maybe I would feel different but even my relationship at 18 I was over it after a few months.
Sophie Gonzales will always be an auto buy/read author and I really would love for her to try to venture into the adult world because I think she would be fantastic!
Two ratings:
3 stars as a YA
4 stars as if it was an Adult book
Average between the two: 3.5
"I thought it was easy to choose not to fall for someone. But it's not. It's not something you can control. You don't jump. You get pushed."
Imagine being asked to be on a second chance dating show where you are asked to compete with other ex girlfriends to win the heart of your ex back. But instead of falling for your ex, you end up falling for one of the other ex girlfriends? That is exactly what happens when Maya met Skye.
"I met a girl, and she made me believe love was worth the risk."
The premise of this book was so good and I remember when I heard Sophie talking about this early on how exciting this was. And to my memory nothing like this has not really been done. There have been other romance books where it had a reality tv premise (One to Watch or If The Shoe Fits) but nothing where the contestant fall for each other.
I love that the tension between Maya and Skye was so believable in the first half of the book and I am glad that it lingered on until half way through. I don't think it would have worked for me had the relationship started to develop sooner. I am not sure if they are a happily ever after but I definitely can see them as happily for now.
"Jordy's his own gasoline. Maybe all I needed to do was light a match."
Jordy was such a great villain! And reminded me of a few characters from the Bachelorette over the seasons that I have watched. He was the classic narcissist that loves the attention and didn't care who was hurt in the process. He knew exactly what he was doing the whole time and good luck to whoever doesn't see his red flags. Even though he was a slimeball I enjoyed reading about him because I just wanted to see what more lies came out of his mouth.
My biggest issue which was hard to not forget was the ages of the characters. It was hard to believe that 18 year olds would go on a dating reality show to date someone they dated when they were 16?! I think if the ages would have been shifted to the early 20s and then competing in their mid to late 20s that would have made more sense. I also don't think someone who was broken up with at 16 would still be so angry and have so much vengeance they want to seek 2-3 years later? This is coming from someone who did not date at 16 so maybe I would feel different but even my relationship at 18 I was over it after a few months.
Sophie Gonzales will always be an auto buy/read author and I really would love for her to try to venture into the adult world because I think she would be fantastic!
Two ratings:
3 stars as a YA
4 stars as if it was an Adult book
Average between the two: 3.5
I listened to this book because my husband has been reading it for almost a year now.
Naturally what attracted me to this book was knowing that it was being made into a film starring Zac Efron (um hello). I had wanted to give this a listen in prep to watching the film.
It is amazing what Chickie went through to deliver his friends beer to say thank you. The stories he told were wild & if anything good that came out of the Vietnam war, it was this. It's amazing how resourceful he was trying to get these beers to his friends in a time where there wasn't cell phones, computers or anything besides determination and luck.
I really liked the narrator's voice and thought his tone was great especially when reading conversations. It sounded so natural as if he was the writer himself. This is a quick listen.
My husband never finished reading & we did watch the movie. I thought the movie was well done and enjoyable. I love that at the end of the film you got to see the original photo of the group of guys he visited and then also a recent photo of all the 4 remaining men.
I will not be rating Non Fiction books as it is based on real events and real experiences.
Naturally what attracted me to this book was knowing that it was being made into a film starring Zac Efron (um hello). I had wanted to give this a listen in prep to watching the film.
It is amazing what Chickie went through to deliver his friends beer to say thank you. The stories he told were wild & if anything good that came out of the Vietnam war, it was this. It's amazing how resourceful he was trying to get these beers to his friends in a time where there wasn't cell phones, computers or anything besides determination and luck.
I really liked the narrator's voice and thought his tone was great especially when reading conversations. It sounded so natural as if he was the writer himself. This is a quick listen.
My husband never finished reading & we did watch the movie. I thought the movie was well done and enjoyable. I love that at the end of the film you got to see the original photo of the group of guys he visited and then also a recent photo of all the 4 remaining men.
I will not be rating Non Fiction books as it is based on real events and real experiences.
This was such a wild collection of stories.
You go through a range of emotions while reading/listening. Reading this is also a reminder for myself to continue to reading stories/books that centers around the Native community. Even though this was a work of fiction, the way it was written made it come across as very believable.
I am looking forward to attending an author talk with Bad Bitch Book Club to hearing Morgan talk about this book.
This is a quick listen that can easily be done in a day.
The narrator Darrell Dennis's tone was great & made listening really easy.
Also I definitely don't need to ever smoke anything after reading this.
You go through a range of emotions while reading/listening. Reading this is also a reminder for myself to continue to reading stories/books that centers around the Native community. Even though this was a work of fiction, the way it was written made it come across as very believable.
I am looking forward to attending an author talk with Bad Bitch Book Club to hearing Morgan talk about this book.
This is a quick listen that can easily be done in a day.
The narrator Darrell Dennis's tone was great & made listening really easy.
Also I definitely don't need to ever smoke anything after reading this.
Thank you to Harpercollins Audio for a complimentary copy of this!
This book was absolutely STELLAR! I have no clue where Tiffany can go from here but I can't wait to see. This is also a reminder for me to go back and read her prior books (with the exception is White Smoke).
If you have the option to listen to the audio of this, do it. It is a cast of characters and you won't be disappointed! There are 3 POVs: Maddy's, the podcasters, and other classmates (Kenny and Wendy)
This is a retelling of Carrie but taken place in modernish times (2014). This is a YA thriller but definitely can be read by all ages. It actually is an important read as it deals with race & how blacks are still being treated.
If you have read this and didn't see but Tiffany read the epilogue that goes beyond the book & answers some questions you may have.
Just like with here previously released book, White Smoke, Jackson has done it again with this amazing cover. It is probably one of my top of 2022. It is simple but yet so effective.
This book was absolutely STELLAR! I have no clue where Tiffany can go from here but I can't wait to see. This is also a reminder for me to go back and read her prior books (with the exception is White Smoke).
If you have the option to listen to the audio of this, do it. It is a cast of characters and you won't be disappointed! There are 3 POVs: Maddy's, the podcasters, and other classmates (Kenny and Wendy)
This is a retelling of Carrie but taken place in modernish times (2014). This is a YA thriller but definitely can be read by all ages. It actually is an important read as it deals with race & how blacks are still being treated.
If you have read this and didn't see but Tiffany read the epilogue that goes beyond the book & answers some questions you may have.
Just like with here previously released book, White Smoke, Jackson has done it again with this amazing cover. It is probably one of my top of 2022. It is simple but yet so effective.
This is the 2nd book in the series and I don't think it was as good as the first but still enjoyable. I love when side characters get their own book and that is what happened with this one. Thea's sister Liv from the first book is the female love interest and Gavin's bookclub friend Mack is the male love interest who sweeps her off her feet. The chemistry between them was definitely apparent from the moment they started to interact. I thought the beginning was meh with setting up the premise of the book but by the end I was hooked. Looking forward to seeing what happens to the men of the bookclub!