Daijah

I did not enjoy the plot of this novella at all and I thought the hero was dumb ngl. The only reason this got a 2 star is because the characters celebrate Hanukkah which I thought was interesting. I tried to find if this is own-voices representation but I didn't find anything. From what I've heard from Jewish reviews is that it is good representation.

I thought this was a really perfect Christmas novella. I enjoyed the characters, I thought they had chemistry, and this was the perfect length to tell their story

I really loved the characters and the writing as usual with Rilzy Ada,s but I felt there was a lot of time reflecting on past lovers and I wished there was more time between our hero and heroine.

Swoon Sister Book Club November Pick: Boyfriend's Dad

I did enjoy this one but I think because I just read an age gap romance I didn't really like it kind of hindered my enjoyment of this one. While normally insta-love doesn't bother me I wish there was more build-up in the beginning and more tension. I really enjoyed the ending though and I thought it added a lot of emotion.

I was really expecting this book to blow me out of the water and become a new favorite but sadly I was let down. Idk what didn't click with me but I feel so meh about this book. I liked a lot of the side plots and some things that happened at the end hit me emotionally which is why I'm not giving this a 2 star. I think mostly this didn't click with me because the relationship didn't sit right with me at all. 

I loveeeeeee age gap so much but it felt lowkey creepy in this book especially because Zeus is obsessed with Lou's virginity and her being so young and pure. I really didn't like how much of a focus sexually that was for them. I didn't feel their chemistry as much as I wanted to and overall the whole romance part of it didn't sit right with me. I really liked Lou and I can see the appeal of Zeus but together they just didn't work for me.

This is not Katee Robert best work but I did really like it and it was hella smutty. I love how Katee Robert weaves in plot and actual emotions into her novellas. You can feel the chemistry even in such a short page count.

Swoon Sister Book Club October Pick: Paranormal Trope
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I really did enjoy this book a lot especially because you could feel the chemistry between the two love interests. I loved the writing and the world was amazing. I love how all different creatures were incorporated into the world. I personally just didn't really connect with Evie weirdly and something about her just didn't sit right with me. She's not a bad character by any means, I just personally didn't really like her. While this is a romance, I also felt like this had heavy cozy mystery vibes which I normally like but they tend to be very formulaic which didn't help this book.

Actual rating: 2/5 stars

Stacks of Strange Book Club Pick

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I felt very apathetic towards this book and hardly remembered it even the day after I finished it. It just felt very meh to me.

Stacks of Strange Book Club Pick
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I felt very apathetic towards this book and hardly remembered it even the day after I finished it. It just felt very meh to me.

I really did enjoy this but Stephan King has writing that isn't my favorite. I don't like how there were no chapters because the book felt like one, long run-on sentence but the characters were so interesting.

Swoon Sister Book Club September Pick: Anti-Hero Trope
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I had a good time reading it but I didn't really love it. I also went in with the expectation that this was going to be a high school bully romance and it wasn't which threw me off a lot.

Stacks of Strange September Book Club Pick

I honestly loved the vibes in here and the ending was really fantastic but I wish I got more from the ending.

Burden of Poof is the first installment in a new cozy mystery series. We follow Bonnie and her cat sidekick, Clyde, after she moves back to her hometown, Bliss, to open a second-hand dress shop, while recovering from her divorce. Obviously, Bonnie gets wrapped up in a murder mystery and attempts to solve it herself.

I love in all of Julie Anne Lindsey's cozy mysteries how heavy the romance is. This definitely isn't a romance but I love how she slowly builds tension between characters over the course of a series.

The town of Bliss is the perfect southern town and I loved how many interesting people lived in the town. The shops and areas around were also super interesting especially for someone like me who has never lived in a small town.

Of course, the mystery was great and I never saw the killer coming.

I do have a couple of reasons that this book didn't get a 5 star from me and the first is for some reason I really didn't connect with the main character Bonnie. I usually don't mind and actually enjoy reading perspectives from people older than me but it hindered my enjoyment a bit. I also felt like Julie has kind of done similar characters and town settings before. I want to see something new and different. While I do think she does this so well and this formula works it feels like the same book but in a different font.

Overall this was a super cute, fun, and cozy mystery that I really enjoyed!

 Thank you to Julie Anne Lindsey for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

In this novel, we follow Jade, a lonely half-Native American outcast obsessed with slasher movies. She lives with her abusive, alcoholic father in the small town of Proofrock, Idaho. Jade has attempted suicide before, and she tries again on the verge of finishing high school. After a few weeks at a treatment center, she comes back to school, but something feels different: Jade is convinced Proofrock has its own slasher, and when she meets Letha Mondragon, the gorgeous, smart, and kindhearted daughter of a mogul who moved into the new fancy development still being built across the lake, she thinks she has found the ultimate final girl.

I honestly just hoped that this book paid off more than it did. It had me with the prologue but was so slow to develop. The end didn't pay off enough for me and I wish it paid respect to horror slashers by being one itself but it wasn't. The slasher references also got old quickly. I love horror and slasher movies but they just referenced so much they felt overdone. I was just disappointed and bored most of the time.

I also didn't understand a significant amount of the book. I honestly think it was me and not the novel. Plenty of people will love this book but I was not one of them.

Thank you to Gallery Books, Stephan Graham Jones, and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

They'll Never Catch Us, is an extremely engaging YA thriller that takes place in a small town called Edgewater. We follow two sisters, Ellie and Stella, whose whole lives revolve around their high school's cross country team. There has always been competition and tension between them because of this but they both become familiar with a new girl on their team, Mila. Mila goes missing one day on a run and her disappearance bears resemblance to serial killer killings that occurred about a decade prior in their town.

I usually have a problem with YA thrillers and horror where it feels too immature and juvenile. I honestly didn't really have that problem with this book. I felt like this perfectly balances high school sports drama with heavy topics like abortion and abusive relationships.

The mystery had me engaged the whole time and I never ended up guessing the killer/what happened to Mila. I do wish we had more resolution to the killings that occurred before because that also really intrigued me. It had almost no conclusion and was left hanging empty.

While this did engage me I feel like I won't really remember it after a month because the characters didn't really stand out. I often got confused because the two sister's perspectives sounded identical and it was hard to distinguish what was happening to one of them from what was happening to the other.

I would recommend this book but don't expect to be knocked out of the park. It's more something to keep you engaged and be fun while it lasted.

Thank you to Penguin Young Readers Group, Jessica Goodman, and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Re-Read: August 2021
I have the same thoughts as before but I kept constantly thinking about this book everyday so I raised my rating to a full 5 stars even tho I know it has problems

First Read: June 2021
I loved the themes in this book so much and I think the writing, pacing, and just everything about this book was executed perfectly. The reason it isn't a full 5 stars for me is that I personally didn't have a super-strong attachment to the characters but I still really liked them. This book definitely had some toxic moments so if you don't like any toxicity in your romances, I wouldn't recommend this one, but I love a good sprinkle of toxic lol.

i- wtf.

Stacks of Strange August Book Club Pick

I'm not a big fan of paranormal horror specifically with spirits or hauntings but occasionally it can work for me. This one half worked and half didn't. I did enjoy how the main character, Jake could see spirits and it was basically like a power. I didn't enjoy how the main ghost was portrayed because it felt more like satire than something to be taken seriously.

I would argue that the ghost is supposed to be taken seriously because they were actually a school shooter who committed suicide which in itself is a dark topic. I feel like even though this was YA, it could have dealt with the topics in a more mature way than it did. The topics were mostly dealt with fine, it was more just Jake's interactions with the ghost that felt like Casper the ghost and not a murderous spirit.

I did really enjoy the race commentary and how it feels to grow up in a majority-white neighborhood and school. As someone who had a similar experience growing up, it felt really accurate and resonated with me. I also really liked seeing Jake explore his sexual identity and what that means for him. It felt really realistic and you can tell this book is own voices in both aspects.

This was really similar to me in feelings as Cemetary Boys. I enjoyed the story but it felt like younger YA/a bit juvenile for me personally. I do really love some YA stories but this one just felt too young and I didn't connect with it as much because of that. I think this might be a really good book for 13-15 year olds but once you get to the 16+ range I feel like it might be a little too young for them.

Thank you to Penguin Young Readers Group, Ryan Douglass, and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Swoon Sister Book Club August Pick: Single Parent Trope

I literally adored every page of this book. It was absolutely hilarious but also touched on really hard topics. I always need something extra in my contemporary romances to push them up to a 5 star and for me, that was the exploration of grief and moving on after loss. The two main characters were both absolutely amazing and I loved the kids. This gives me really similar vibes to Hero by Lauren Rowe which was on my favorites list of 2020 and this one has a chance to be on it too. If you really liked this I recommend Hero and vice versa.

Actual rating: 5/5 stars

Swoon Sister Book Club August Pick: Single Parent Trope

I literally adored every page of this book. It was absolutely hilarious but also touched on really hard topics. I always need something extra in my contemporary romances to push them up to a 5 star and for me, that was the exploration of grief and moving on after loss. The two main characters were both absolutely amazing and I loved the kids. This gives me really similar vibes to Hero by Lauren Rowe which was on my favorites list of 2020 and this one has a chance to be on it too. If you really liked this I recommend Hero and vice versa.

reread: August 2021
I absolutely still adored this book :)

first read: June 2019
If I could give this book a billion stars I would. Everything about this book was beyond amazing. From the LGBT representation and even the identity struggle that was there to there and the Mexican representation. 
Also, this showed a real woman president who was flawed and imperfect but got things done. 

Not to mention the obvious part of the romance! The romance was the most adorable thing I've ever read and they are my freaking OTP forever and always. Alex is literally a political genius and Henry is a sweet poet and together they make the most splendid union. 

Showing the turmoil being gay can create when you are a royal was really raw and I loved it. And I love a freaking good hate to love. 

All of the side characters were fleshed out and just absolute perfection and the family love in here was the best. 

This book was all I could have hoped for and more! This is my favorite book of the year. No doubt in my mind

I do think this book was extremely interesting but I don't think the idea is necessarily original. I did enjoy my time reading it but I don't think this book will have a lasting impact on me.

I absolutely adored this book.

The characters had some of the best chemistry I've ever read and it translated over so well to the smut. And can I just say this book was hella smutty and I loved every second of it. I loved Josh so much and he's one of the best characters I've ever read. Clara wasn't my favorite because I thought she was a bit flat and her only personality was being rich but not wanting to have that privledge. I overlooked that a bit tho because I enjoyed the dynamic between the two characters so much.

The thing I really loved about this book is how it discussed how society basically shames women for wanting any type of sexual pleasure and also looks down upon sex workers. It worked against both of those stigmas actively and I completely agree with those themes. It's honestly what made me enjoy the book so much because I don't usually like plain contemporary romance as much. It always needs to have that little extra bit for me. The smut and the societal commentary really did that for me.

I also actually listened along with the audiobook for this and the male narrator is phenomenal. I now want to read every single thing Teddy Washington has narratored (and trust me there's a lot). So if you're specific with your narrators, I think this audiobook is quite good.

Overall I would really recommend this for anybody looking for a fun, quick read that also discusses important topics!

Thank you to Berkley Publishing Group, Rosie Danan, and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I'm glad I enjoyed this book more than the last C.J. Tudor book I read but it still wasn't one of my favorites. I'm going to start off with what I liked:

If there is a religious theme in a thriller or horror book and that plays into the creepy or horrific elements, I'm almost always bound to enjoy it at least somewhat. I think this book handled that really well and it definitely added to the creepy atmosphere.

I also really enjoyed the mother-daughter relationship that was woven into the story. I think it added a lot to the story and was quite meaningful considering the mother was also a single mom. I'm not super big on relationships being explored within books unless they're romantic, but I really enjoyed the dynamic between the two characters.

Lastly the twist at the end shocked me a bit (most twists do because I never see anything coming lol) in a really good way. I really liked the end direction this book took and it bumped my rating uop half a star.

So moving onto the things I didn't enjoy, they're mostly the same types of problems I had with The Other People. C.J. Tudor loves to use multiple perspectives to add “suspense” and “intrigue” but I think it's mostly just confusing. Throughout this, i was really confused because there were so many storylines going on and the author tried to weave them into one story but ended up having a lot of loose ends. And I don't mind loose ends if they're purposefully left for the reader to contemplate or come up with their own conclusions but I can tell that wasn't what was done here. There were some left intentionally at the end but the other ones were just things brought up in the middle of the book, and just never touched on again. I think the main issue is that there is always too much going on and it's hard to keep track of and then all those storylines didn't even merge together into a conclusion.

That being said, I somehow ended up still being bored throughout a lot of this book and the same went for The Other People. I don't understand how a book can have so many storylines going on and still manage to do nothing, say nothing, and be boring for 50% or more of the book. I wish we focused on some of the other storylines more and just did 2-3 instead of the 7+ that was in here. The main ones that were focused on also weren't my favorite and not what I expected going into this book.

I did enjoy aspects of this book and I definitely don't look back on this book with negative feelings, but it was mostly just lackluster with a few things that saved it.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group, C.J. Tudor, and NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I really really enjoyed this book! I had super high expectations going in and it definitely didn't let me down. The characters and their growth from past trauma was an absolute standout.