Wow, just wow.

I can firmly say I am 100% a fan of Kandi Steiner. In April, read Learn Your Lesson, and that book made me fall in love with Kandi's writing and storytelling. I knew Learn Your Lesson would not be my last book by her. Now, having read False Start, I will be exploring her backlog. 

Kandi has a way of pulling you in from the very first page and making you care about these characters. Madelyn is a single mother who is dealing with her crazy ex-husband and his abuse. She never expected Kyle, her high school ex-boyfriend, to waltz back into her life. Kyle, who is starting his rookie season with the Seahawks, never expected to see Madelyn again, but some cosmic force brought them back into one another's lives as she is now his realtor Both Madelyn and Kyle have a past, and both blame one another for each other's heartache. 

When it comes down to Madelyn and Kyle's heartbreak, we do not know what happened, and as the story unfolds, we see that there is a huge miscommunication. I, for one, am not a fan of the miscommunication trope. Kandi excelled at pulling off this trope to work with the characters' situations. It leaves a punch to the gut, and you cannot help your heartbreaking for these two characters. 

I enjoyed every aspect of the story and the growth of Madelyn and Kyle. Both learned that they still had a soft spot for one another, and Madelyn was able to slowly come out of the disappearing shell that her ex-husband left her in. Also, I loved the dynamic between Madelyn's son, Sebastian, and Kyle. Then, the WAGS and Madelyn were a great treat. 

I haven't devoured a book so fast in a while now.

Pick this up if you are a fan of:
♡ Sports Romance
♡ Second Chance Romances 
♡ Fake Dating
♡ Who Hurt You?
♡ Single Parent
♡ One Bed
♡ He Falls First
♡ Found Family
♡ HEA

Walk of Shame starts with Astrid vowing never to fall again and only to have one-night stands. She does not want to bring public humiliation to herself again and not to her father, a famous hockey coach. Astrid meets Cal at a bar, and they are instantly attracted to one another. She thinks this will be like any of her one-night stands, but will it? Her father convinces her to work under him for his last hockey season, and guess who works for her father, too? Cal! Um, major awkwardness because now she must find a way to fight her attraction to him while he finds ways to woo her.

Walk of Shame was my first Avery Flynn book and will not be my last.

It was cute and funny, and it made my heart melt. Cal is definitely book-boyfriend material who pays attention to things Astrid likes and will go out of his way to do anything for her. Plus, I love the trope of the guy falling first.

Astrid was a good character, too, and had some growth. I get why she vows never to date again and does not want public scrutiny again, but a part of me wanted to scream at her to open her eyes and see how good Cal is. Plus, the girl needed some significant therapy from the trauma her ex put her through. Astrid did not annoy me because she was trying to find ways to navigate through her feelings and move past what her ex did to her. So many moments in this book made me laugh because Astrid would end up awkwardly avoiding Cal.

Overall, this was a fun book; I just loved every aspect.

 

Annie Bot is a unique book, one of the most surprising reads of 2024 so far. Although I was initially unsure if it would be my cup of tea, its originality blew me away. 

In Annie Bot, we follow our FMC, Annie, who happens to be an AI bot that looks like you and me.

Doug purchased Annie to replace his ex-wife. Annie's job is to please Doug and meet his emotional and physical needs in any way possible. She is learning and has only perfected pleasuring Doug, but she displeases him by not keeping the apartment spotless. She really and truly is trying to understand and wants to make him happy. One night, a friend of Doug's stops by and influences her into defying Doug and keeping a secret to feel more human. The secret starts Annie's journey of developing and evolving to become more human. She starts to learn new emotions and begins to think for herself. But will she be able to be human or be a robot?

As I said, Annie Bot is unique because we see more AI integrated into our daily lives. Plus, this book feels pretty close to our future. We see Annie go from a little kid state to an adult mental state, and this book explores what makes us human and if a robot or AI can have feelings. Plus, that scratches the surface of the story. Deep-diving into this book, we explore Annie's experience of an abusive relationship, and as a reader, I empathize and root for Annie. When reading this book, I sometimes utterly forget that Annie was not human because she felt alive and had a unique and powerful voice.

If any of you are looking for a thought-provoking, feminist, futuristic, impactful novel, then look no further than Annie Bot. It will shock you and grip you from the first page.