the_cover_contessa's Reviews (1.75k)

Thank you to NetGalley and Amazon Original Stories for providing me with an egalley of this book to read and give my review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
Abby always gives great stories. Her shorts are no exception. It takes a good story teller to capture you and make you fall in love with the characters in just a few pages of a novella.
First I love that she centered it around Valentine's Day weekend, with two characters who had zero reason to celebrate. Of course you knew the outcome of this story would be some kind of attraction between the main characters but it's not about that knowing. It was about how Abby got us there. Insert an event where the main characters are forced to be in the same space and you have the kindling for some love to grow!
Seth is recovering from an injury and a recent divorce. I fell in love with his character right away. I connected with his trust issues and his grieving process.
Charlotte is in self-imposed isolation. Her past has caused her to keep to herself in order to feel safe. She doesn't trust men and she certainly can't trust her new next door neighbor. I could feel her fear and it gave me great empathy for her.
Abby has a way of treating heavy situations with such care. You can see the research she puts into her stories. I knew the ending would have conflict resolution and it was done with kindness and grace. And she inserts a the perfect amount of humor and swoon to keep you connected with the characters and story.
As a side note, the friends, Izzy and Gabe, really need their story! I hope we get that one.
Overall, I wish this story was longer! In just a few short pages, Abby has these characters opening up to each other and becoming friends. If you're looking for a meet cute, forced proximity read with witty banter and great side characters, check this one out!

Thank you to Delacorte Press for asking me to read and review this title. The opinions expressed here are my own.
First let me say how I'm really into the Asian lore I've been seeing in books these days. I don't know anything about most Asian lore so it's fun to read stories to learn. More often than not, though, I've been a bit disappointed with what was offered. I thought perhaps this book might solve that issue. I was not correct.
Unfortunately, I didn't enjoy this title and ended up DNFing it at 30% in. I wanted to love it. I wanted to fall for the world and the characters and the story, but it just wasn't grabbing me and I found myself skimming passages and not paying attention to what I was reading.
The good:
The cover to this book is absolutely gorgeous. I would buy it just based on that.
The pacing was fairly fast, moving the characters from scene to scene.
The bad:
Nothing happened for me. I needed something to happen that was exciting. Something to draw me in and keep me there. It just wasn't happening. I didn't feel like picking up the book and falling back into the story.
The world building was lacking, as well. By 30% I should have had some idea of it, but it just wasn't there. And I didn't understand the magic system at all. Both things integral to building a unique fantasy and creating an interesting story.
The romance, I saw it building, but I really didn't feel any chemistry happening between the FMC and the MMC.
My biggest issue with the book was I was bored. I didn't care about the characters at all. It didn't matter to me if they lived or died, fell in love or didn't, got out of chaos or fell victim to it. I just didn't care. I hope others like it more than me.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for providing me with an egalley of this book to read and give my review. The opinions expressed here are my own
This is my first Amy Daws book. I love an author who can do representation well. The blurb of this book reminded me of Amy Award so I was excited to dive in and see what Daws could bring me.
This is my first surrogate pregnancy trop book. I don't have any triggers so I figured I'd be good with reading this. And I was. Though I will say I was surprised at how the author chose to present the insemination part. There are so many things that go into surrogacy. I haven't done a ton of research but I feel like this part could have been addressed better. It seemed a bit unreal to me how it all came about.
I was also excited to read an age gap book. I love this trope because it truly happens so much more in real life than most thing. The author did a fair job with this. I wanted a bit more of the tension this trope normally brings. The differences in life circumstances, the differences in emotional maturity. I didn't get it as much as I would have liked though it was there enough to show the gap.
As for the characters, they were fun. Trista was definitely sunshine to Wyatt's grumpy. Though he definitely softens a bit throughout the book. Trista came across to me as a bit all over the place. Definitely a girl who wasn't sure where her life was going with no plans to actually stick a family in the mix. Wyatt, on the other hand, is settled in what he wants. I loved Wyatt's relationships with his family. I'm a huge lover of books where family is close and they take care of each other.
I didn't read the connected series to this one but did see there are some characters brought over from that. I was surprised by the points of view from Everyly and actually thought the book could do without them. They didn't add much for me.
Overall, this was fun, though the execution was not as tight as I would have liked. Also, I think the story was stretched out much longer than it should have been and I do wish we had seen the birth of the child the story centered around. I would pick up more books by this author.

Review:

Thank you to Scholastic for sending me a early copy of this book to read and give my honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

I'm going to start by saying I dove into this book with no clue as to what it was about. I did not even read the blurb. It came in the mail and I found the cover so intriguing I just wanted to see what it was about. And it did not disappoint in the least. This is my first book by Kelly Andrew and it made me want to read everything else she has written.

Vivienne experienced something when she was four years old that changed her life forever and forced her to become a selective mute. I loved the idea of one of the main characters not being able (willing, really) to speak. It made for such an interesting dynamic between her, her handler (Thomas Walsh), her family, and her friends. The mystery of what happened to Vivienne persists throughout the book creating a mystery that you absolutely needs to see solved. I really liked her character and the mystery surrouning who she is and what happened to her. She was easily relatable and real. I could feel her emotions, despite her difference in how she communicated.

Right away her dynamic with Thomas is fraught with anger. She feels chained by her step-father's insistence that she need a handler to begin with. She does everything she can to push Walsh away, but it never works. Walsh is strong, and has some secrets of his own that he doesn't reveal. It makes their interactions very tense. But there's also something that draws them together. He sees Vivienne in a way no one else has and wants to know more of her. Their romance is a slow burn, which I loved. And it's not the center of the story, which also was refreshing. I liked Thomas right away. Though I was surprised at his young age and the fact he was hired for the job of watching over Vivienne. Understanding this comes later in the book, but there are hints strewn throughout if you pay attention.

I've seen the word horror thrown around for this book and I honestly didn't feel that for it. I was worried because I am not a reader of horror (tends to gibe me nightmares). Having now read the book, I would not classify it as such. Gothic, yes. Paranormal, definitely. Dark academia, just a bit.

Andrew does a fabulous job building the world in which Thomas and Vivienne live. You're never quite sure who can be trusted, though you do get a sense of who may have ties to the evil that is lurking throughout the book. There are so many secrets the characters are holding close to their chest. And those secrets really do surround Vivienne and shape who she is.

I see that this book is somehow connected to other books this author has written. At least by having them in the same universe and perhaps with some crossover characters. But this can be read as a stand alone, in my opinion. Perhaps had I read the other books associated with this world, I may say differently. I had no trouble understanding the world or any of the characters the author included. Of course now I want to go back and read the other two books I've seen associated with this one.
The only thing I will say I was not happy with was the rush that came at the end. I feel like all the mystery came out at once and the author was trying to tie up all the loose ends rather quickly.

Andrew pulls you into her story with her gripping story telling, hooking you right from the start and keeping you on your toes the entire time. It was engaging, a little terrifying, and a bit disturbing. If you're looking for a gothic, young adult mystery with paranormal elements that has Leigh Bardugo and Flatliners vibes, pick this book up and give it a try.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Group/Penguin Young Readers Group for supplying me with an egalley of this book to read and give my honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
When the blurb says those loving Divine Rivals and A Study In Drowning will love this one, it could not have been more true. This book absolutely gives Divine Rivals vibes for me. I would venture to say you could also compare it to Curious Tides. I love dark academia. This one is a bit of a twist on most dark academia books I've read. The mix of mystery with a cool magic system layered with some nice world building really had me turning the pages.
Maeve is a main character you can definitely relate to. I love that she's not perfect. She has lived her life on the run since her father caused a terrible accident killing many people. She has no training in the magic system. She has no real money. And she's determined to keep her identity a secret. She does a lot of illegal things to get herself into the academic setting that will hopefully help her clear her father's name. While I loved the was the underdog, I will say all the things she gets away with are a bit over the top. She's never caught or found out. It just seems so impossible to me.
Tristan is a great character. I love that he is related to the man who runs the Otherwhere post and is in charge of the scribes. But he definitely is a rebel in his own right. I would have liked to see him use his magic more.
I enjoyed the romance that was built. It was light with a reliance on the chemistry and slow burn between the two characters.
I loved the layering of the worlds. How you have three different worlds lining up parallel. The one thing I would have liked to see is the background of these worlds. Taylor does a good job of building the world Maeve and Tristan reside in, but we don't know much about the other two worlds. I can easily understand not knowing the one which has been closed off, though Maeve lived there so I feel like flashbacks could have helped with that. But I didn't see much difference between the other two worlds.
The side characters were interesting. Lots of personalities were developed. I liked how Maeve was able to make friends, despite her secrecy with who she was. And especially since she didn't really have any friends prior to entering The Otherwhere Post.
I would have liked to see a bit more story revolved around the academia. We don't really see much of the students in class to get the sense of the academic setting outside of being told they are at a university. 
The pacing of this one was really good. I didn't want to put it down. The mystery had me totally intrigued and the world was different from other fantasy worlds I've read in the past. The writing flowed really well.
The story does wrap up in the end, though I see the potential for other stories within this world that she has built. And it did feel just a bit rushed with everything tying up in a neat bow.
Overall, I really enjoyed this one. There are a few kinks and some plot inconsistencies that bothered me, dropping my rating to 4.5/5 stars. But I really liked the author's prose, so much so I decided to download the other books by this author.
If you're looking for something to read after your Divine Rivals hangover, this one will definitely fill that gap.