Kate
This was just okay for me. I wouldn't consider the comparisons to Christina Lauren accurate or this a sassy or sexy romance as mentioned in the blurb. The first half is very slow, almost to the point where I considered not finishing it a few times. The second half does pick up and I did end up enjoying it but it's not a book I would recommend. I only pushed through because I have seen Nina's name mentioned by several authors that I admire and I wanted to give her a chance.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing an ARC for an honest review.
I love roommates-to-lovers and this book is unusual in that while Tiffy and Leon live in the same flat, they never occupy it at the same time. I was expecting a quick, fun read but instead this book surprised me and ended up being a little deeper than what the description suggests.
Overall I did like the story but the way it was written made it hard to stay focused. There is a big difference in writing styles between Tiffy's POV and Leon's POV and the two styles just didn't work here. 3.5 stars.
4.5 stars. I am positively giddy over this book. It was such a pleasant, happy, delightful read. It delivers plenty of laughs and warm fuzzies. Alex and Henry are the CUTEST. The supporting cast of characters are great. And considering our current political climate, it was a nice escape into what the future could be like. My face hurts from smiling. I highly recommend this.
RS Grey's last few books have been hit or miss for me but this one was definitely a hit. Give me enemies-to-lovers any day. I also think I kind of love this trope of being forced to live together?? It worked here. The reason I didn't give this five stars is because I think Ethan is a little too harsh on Taylor in the beginning but I liked that she was a heroine who didn't take any crap and just went for what she wanted.
**Update: So after gaining some insight into these characters and why they did certain things or acted certain ways straight from Tarryn, I'm not so mad anymore. I would even consider bumping my rating up to 4 stars. I should know by now that nothing Tarryn writes is without thought and explicit reasoning. I know she's never going to give us cliche-filled fluff. She's going to give us real life and flawed characters that make us uncomfortable because we can often see so much of ourselves in them. She's going to have her characters make poor decisions, leaving us wanting to rage-quit, but really she does these things to make us think deeper about what we're reading and make us question why. If you go into this book trusting the amazingness that is Tarryn Fisher's mind and understanding that everything that happens isn't so surface-level, I think you'll enjoy it.
I have never been so conflicted over a book. It's as if Tarryn Fisher decided to take every awful and cliche romance trope and throw them all into a book. We have cheating, a love triangle (square?), a surprise pregnancy, a jealous/catty girlfriend, someone gets hit by a car. Everything I dislike about romance novels is a part of this freaking book.
I can't bear to give Tarryn less than 3 stars. This did pull me out of the reading slump I have been in lately so she gets points for that but overall it was a disappointing read when usually I love Tarryn's books so much.
It's been a while since a book has made me this angry. I'm struggling with what to rate it. I was sure it'd be a 4/5 star read up until the last 10% or so. I really dislike when authors add a twist to the story just for shock value. It adds nothing to the story or to the development of the characters, especially when it happens at 90%, at which point most books should be wrapping up nicely. Not this one though.
As if things weren't tragic enough for the main character with having all of her family be dead and her husband walk out on her while pregnant with twins, let's kill her brother in action, give her daughter an aggressive form of cancer, and then the cherry on top, let's kill her other child for the heck of it. No thank you, Rebecca Yarros.
I'd only recommend this if you like to torture yourself. Otherwise, steer clear.
I struggled with this. I rolled my eyes so much in the beginning that I considered not finishing it. Girl is a 25 y/o librarian but she really could have been plucked out of any of RS Grey's previous novels. Her dad and brother forbid her from seeing a seemingly nice guy because he's from a wealthy family and he was an annoying kid? I don't know, it was never really explained in detail. The plot would have been more believable as a YA novel and I might have enjoyed it more if it was.
Christina Lauren continue to be a breath of fresh air in the world of romantic comedies. Their books are always some of my most anticipated reads and I am rarely disappointed. I think even if I hadn't liked this book I still would have given it 5 stars just for the cover alone, it's so pretty heart eyes
The Unhoneymooners has two of my favorite tropes. Enemies-to-lovers and fake marriage. How can you go wrong with that? When Olive's sister Ami and Ethan's brother Dane come down with food poisoning after their wedding, each offers their respective sibling their honeymoon. Neither Olive nor Ethan, having disliked each other since the moment they met, wants to give up a Hawaiian vacation to the other so they agree to both go, figuring that the resort would be so huge that they'd barely have to see each other. Little do they realize that they'll run into obstacles that will force them to keep up the just-married facade for the entire vacation.
This book is full of the usual Christina Lauren humor. Their characters are so effortlessly funny and quirky. The tension between Olive and Ethan is almost palpable and the antics they get into in this book are entertaining and will have you laughing out loud one minute and swooning the next.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I've come to expect five-star reads from Amy Harmon, regardless of how many times I've been burned by other authors that I've done the same with. She has yet to let me down and at this point, I'm not sure she can. I'm consistently blown away by her ability to tell a story. I'm convinced that her words are literal magic. She has the ability to transport you to another place and time. Her characters are all-consuming. The stories she tells are simply stunning and I can't get enough of them.
What the Wind Knows is the story of Anne Gallagher and how she found herself in 1920s Ireland, during a time of war and political unrest. There are true events that occur in this story and they're so well researched and told in a way that you feel like you're experiencing them as they happen. I was so engrossed in this story and in Anne's journey that I couldn't put this book down.
ARC received from NetGalley in exchange for honest review.
Well this wasn't The Hating Game but I still thought it was an enjoyable read. Darcy is a character that you'll either love or hate. She's got a tough girl mentality, she says whatever is on her mind, and she's kind of an overall mess. Tom was sweet and he balanced her out well. The same playful banter was present in this book as was in THG so as long as your expectations aren't too high going into this, it should be a pleasant experience.
3.5ish stars. I enjoyed the hospital setting of this book, very Grey's Anatomy-ish with a surgical assistant falling for her very own McDreamy. I just wish RS Grey would not be so formulaic when it comes to her characters. You can always count on arrogant, moody heroes and flighty heroines whose attempts at humor come across as immaturity and this book is no different. Lately her books have felt like you could pluck a character out of one book, replace them with a character from a different book, and then you'd have the exact same book. I would love to see her write a heroine who knows exactly what she wants and goes for it.
I'm uncomfortable. I don't quite know how to rate this. I didn't dislike it but it feels wrong to say I enjoyed it. It was definitely a page turner.
Thrillers are not my usual genre. I prefer love stories and fluffy HEAs. But we've seen glimpses of Colleen's twisted mind before with Too Late and I guess I was curious to see just how much more twisted she could get and she goes all out with this. I actually felt sick to my stomach at certain points and a general sense of unease throughout the whole book. I still have so many questions, especially after the epilogue, and I'm not sure what was the truth and what was a lie.
GAHHH I am so happy. I LOVED this book.
We're first introduced to a group of five best friends. Four guys and a girl. They all decide to venture into the world of online dating in hopes of finding dates for a work event. Of course two of the friends already kind of have feelings for each other without realizing it themselves. What I really enjoy about the friends-to-lovers trope is that the characters are already comfortable with each other and they know everything about each other, leaving for some really fun and sweet moments as their relationship builds to something more. This is one of those books that left a big grin on my face from the overwhelming cuteness and the TENSION, my goodness.
I also loved that there is a great cast of supporting characters in this book. C&L did a great job of incorporating the entire friend group into the story, rather than using them as filler characters that we only see once and then they're never heard from again. I would love a book for each of them.
I've been over Nicholas Sparks for a while now and the only reason why I read this book is because it's set in one of my favorite places and was inspired by Kindred Spirit, a mailbox you can only get to by foot on an isolated part of Sunset Beach, North Carolina. In spite of the setting, this book was really disappointing. The dialogue was cringey, the characters were not that interesting, the insta-love made zero sense, and you could see the twist coming from a mile away. Certain scenes felt like they were copied & pasted directly from his previous novels. There was a lot of heavy sighing and eye rolling on my part the entire time I was reading.
I absolutely HATED that the only reason Hope and Tru, who were supposedly so in love after only two days together, separated was because Hope wanted to have kids and Tru couldn't. So she marries her on/off boyfriend, has a couple of kids, divorces, and then decides she needs to find her true love over twenty years later. In the years they are apart, Hope is diagnosed with ALS, which isn't a shock because her father also has the disease.I feel like with Nicholas Sparks books, you can always count on someone dying, being sick, or having some huge, devastating secret. It's tiring.
