the_cover_contessa's Reviews (1.75k)

Well that's 11 hours of my life I'll never get back.
Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for providing me with an audio galley of this book to listen to and give my honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
I heard really great things about another book by this author and thought I'd check out what his writing was about.
I jumped into this one thinking it will be a bit of a mystery, thriller. However, it turned out to be more of a mystery/family drama than anything else. There was no suspense at all. No edge of the seat thriller with this story.
I enjoyed the narrator. He definitely brought the personality of the main character alive. I laughed in many places and was also a bit shocked in others at the things he said or thought. However, I really found the Frank rather chauvinistic and full of entitlement.
The dynamic between the main character, his sister, his daughter, and the other supporting characters was a mix of odd and tender. I didn't relate to any of the characters, though. Nor did I find any of them really likeable so I wasn't truly invested in where this story was going. They were also very underdeveloped.
A lot of craziness happened during the book which I thought for sure would turn it to more of a thriller. But it didn't get there. The mystery was meh at most. I almost felt like this one was more satire than mystery/thriller as it's billed. I was actually a bit bored at times. There seemed to be a lot of repetition happening with the way things would come to fruition. I ended up speeding up the narration as I found myself losing interest less than half way through the book.
And I hated the ending. It just kind of ended with no real true resolution to anything regarding the feelings of the characters. It was totally unfulfilling.  Talk about anti-climatic. I almost wonder why the author wrote it in the first place if there wasn't going to be a good wrap up. And don't get me started on the title. I don't even know what it means or how it relates to the story besides there being a wedding in the plot.
All this being said, the book was just not for me. However, given the higher ratings I have been seeing, I seem to be in the minority. After speaking with some other readers who read Hidden Pictures by this author and then this one, I see a tendency to agree this was nothing like the other book. So don't jump into this one thinking it will be similar.

This was excellent. The tension at the end...ugh. Review to come.
Thank you to NetGalley, MacMillan Audio, and Flatiron Books for supplying me with an audio galley of this book to read and give my honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
It's been a long while since a read a fae book that truly captured my attention and kept it there. This is that book. I was not sure what I was expecting but it was not what Pearson gave me which is a book filled with magic, tension, romance, and mystery. While the story had many elements of fae fantasy I've read in the past, it still felt unique. It was complex and and compelling. At first I was expecting more of a teen fae romance book but that's not what I got. The characters are older, more mature, and there is definitely steam in this book which is open door but not spicy.
I really enjoyed the narrator of this book:  Brittany Pressley. This is the first time I can remember listening to anything by her and she is now on my list of favorites. She easily voiced all the different characters making them unique and easy to separate from each other. Often times with books that have a large cast of characters and only one narrator, I will get confused but with this book I did not. And her style reminded me of the narrator from Leigh Bardugo's books, who I absolutely love. Pressley pacing was perfect
Bristol and Tyghan are a great enemies to lovers/forbidden love story. There is so much tension and chemistry between them. Though at first I did feel it was a bit rushed on Tyghan's part since they barely know each other. You can feel that he definitely falls first. But then the slow burn and the lead up made up for it. Their interactions and banter are great in showing how the bond forms between them. Once you begin to see their budding romance, it doesn't feel rushed or even forced. They explore their connection outside of the bedroom, which I really enjoyed.
The plot of the book is similar to other books I've read: there's fighting in the fae world and the fae will use whatever means they can, including humans, to make sure they win that fight. But the mystery behind who Bristol is and who her parents are is what really makes the story for me. I will say I was confused at first by the time discrepancies. It's been so long since I read a fae book that I forgot time moves differently in that world than in the human world. So the ages of the characters didn't truly make sense to me until I was a little further along in the book. Pearson withholds things from the read and releases them in slow bits to keep the story moving forward, and this definitely kept me interested as I needed to know everything behind the mystery of Bristol and her parents. And the world building was done very well. Again, elements of fae stories are always pretty  consistent, but Pearson wove in some interesting differences in the animals she introduces and relationships between the characters. Plus, she really showed a strong female presence in the book.
The ending was a bit abrupt and definitely a cliffhanger leaving me wanting more. There wasn't much closure but I'm wondering if that is just to goad the reader into truly wanting the second book now, because I do! This and the fact that her sisters so easily accepted fae were my only complaints of the book. Though it did not effect my rating.
If you enjoy enemies to lovers, forbidden love, fae fantasy, time shifts/portals, slow burn romance, he falls first, and hidden magic, pick this one up! Don't expect from this what you got from Pearson's other books as Pearson steps away from the young adult/teen crowd in this story,. Lovers of The Cruel Prince series by Holly Black and even The Iron Fey by Julie Kagawa will enjoy Pearson's adult fantasy debut.

Thank you to Edelweiss and Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers for providing me with a copy of this egalley to read and give my honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

I really love Lynn Painter but I especially love this little series. The first book was so much fun. Enemies to friends to lovers, lots of romance, and just an all around good feeling book.

What I was not expecting was the heartache that came with this one. I had zero idea Painter was going to take it where she did and then make is a second chance romance. And, while I was praying for a wonderful HEA, I honestly wasn't sure I was going to even get it, even when I was nearing the end of the book! But Painter always comes through with her stories (love her adult fiction, as well) and I was graced with an ending that truly did this couple justice.

Wes has to be one of my favorite YA book boyfriends. I love his sense of humor. I love his commitment to family and friends, and I especially love his heart. His story for this book really got to me. His guilt over the tragedy that struck his family. His willingness to let it all go in order to support them. He carried such a burden in this book. You could feel it weighing him down, even after he kind of got things together and was giving himself a chance to grow.

Liz was very different in this book, definitely not the same girl we knew in book #1. Her thoughts on love and being a lover of love were totally different from the Liz we saw in the first book. She's totally jaded and has done a 180 in terms of where she stands with this. I know this was from dealing with the loss of Wes and what they had built together in high school but I wasn't expecting it to be such a tremendous turn around. She went from believing in romance to kicking it to the curb. Her turn around made me angry and very sad for her. There were times in the book I wanted to really give her a little smack upside the head and say "snap out of it!" I was very happy when she opened her heart to the potential of a second chance.

The pacing on this one was just as great as the first. I wanted to climb into the book and experience it from all sides and never put it down. I felt torn between the need to get to the ending as quickly as possible to see what happens and wanting to experience each scene and interaction with the the MMC and FMC in slow motion so it would not end.

The plot is definitely a figure out who you are, grow a little, and then go after what you really want type of flow. I had one plot hole that really was annoying to me. I don't want to spoil anything but I felt like the fake dating trope that was introduced was truly unnecessary and didn't really lend anything to the plot. Plus, it was never truly revealed to all in the long run so I'm not sure why it was even included.

Overall, I truly enjoyed this book. Painter continues to be on my list of must read authors whenever she publishes something. The characters are more mature, with bigger problems than high school kids, yet it was still kept on a level that YA lovers will understand and appreciate. I laughed, I cried, I held my breath, and I sighed. It took me through all the emotions and definitely had me shedding some tears at times.   I've done Painter's books in both print and audio for all of them and I cannot wait to listen to this one when it's released. Definitely a read it again book for me!

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan audio for providing me an audio galley of this book to read and give an honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
Before I get into the production of this book, I want to talk about characters, plot, and pacing. 
I need books that will make me connect with the characters. I want characters who are strong and reliable. Ellie was an interesting character to start off. A young widow who struggles to give the love to herself she deserves. Throughout the book, she shows how she chooses to care for others. Which is admirable. But I was so frustrated with her. She could not recognize people taking advantage of her, which drove me bonkers. Yes, I know this was part of her development, but she truly didn't see any of it until the very end. I didn't feel she developed and changed as she could and then the author chose for her to turn her whole way of looking at things around at the last minute. I wanted a strong character, someone who has gone through a tragedy and come out on the other side learning lessons. But she was just a wet rag that people were stepping all over. Kieran was fun and I really enjoyed his ADHD representation. Had I not been listening to the audio but reading the actual book, I think I would have enjoyed it a bit more. I like that he wasn't your usual sexy, tall, brooding male main character. He's short, and ginger, and has some mental health issues that are shown but not particularly developed. I did feel his anxiety throughout the book. But I would have liked to see more about his addiction issues and how they potentially interfered with his story line.
Pacing was pretty good in this book. I got through it rather quickly. There weren't really times when it was particularly slow. I do understand this was supposed to be part of the plot, the characters slowly getting to know each other and connecting, but it was more than their slow romance. It was just slow with not much going on underneath the surface to keep me particularly interested.
As for plot, I loved the idea of these two coming together to write a book and finding out each other along the way. It is billed as enemies to lovers, but I certainly do not get that. I get two people who now little about each other and who learn that through the story. What I didn't get was the chemistry between the characters. I just did not feel it. Not in the words the author used to convey how they were feeling about each other. The forced proximity trope brought them in close quarters, sure, but as for their attraction and it's development? Well, that was truly flat and I wasn't really rooting for them to be together. I didn't fee like I really cared if they were friends or romantically involved. Plus the sex scenes were super dry. I don't necessarily need spicy, but I do need to feel the attraction between the characters and it just did not strike me that these two were it for each other. Yes, it is supposed to be a "friends with benefits" situation to start, but it is also supposed to evolve away from that and I just didn't feel that there was more than sex between these two.
The cover of this one is quite beautiful. I really love the backdrop setting of the Golden Gate Bridge. At the same time, I don't see it matching any of the scenes in the book so I'm curious why this particular setting was chosen rather than one that would match what the characters were doing.
Now for the production. Unfortunately, I think the production of this book brought what would have been a solid 3 star book down to 2-2.5 stars for me. I did like the dual POV narration. That is something I always want to see in most romance books. And the female narrator, Kate Handford, drew me in. I would definitely try and find more books with her voice. But the male narrator, Hunter Johns,  just did not fit the character for me. For a narration of a character with ADHD, his slow and measured candence just did not fit the character. Not to mention his long pauses while he was narrating scenes drove me insane. I had to speed the book up so I would not be taken out of the story. Plus there were a few areas in the book where the narration stalled and then skipped ahead. Finally, there were long pauses between the chapters I was concerned with. I kept thinking I turned the audio off.
All in all, I would not recommend or buy the audio version of this book. I could possibly see getting a Kindle or finished print version, but the audio really turned me off of the story. I do realize this author is a newer author with not much under her belt. Perhaps future books by her will be more fleshed out.