Aloha everyone! It’s not just the end of a year, it’s the end of a decade. 😲
When I think about all the big things that happened in a decade this is what I came up with:
I got engaged and remarried.
Went to Europe on my honeymoon.
Bought a house, twice.
Had 2 kids.
I had my own Etsy shop for 5 years making hand-stamped metal jewelry.
Started a book review blog.
I definitely tried to do a lot in 10 years for sure! For 2020, I’m looking forward to taking my first trip off this island since giving birth to my son almost 8 years ago. We are doing a big family trip (with parents, sister and her fam) – we are going on a Disney Alaska Cruise. It will be my first cruise and honestly, the first time I am traveling with my two kids. We shall see how that goes, but I’m excited!
As for reading books and blogging – the blog will still be here but I won’t be reading 200 books in one year like I did for 2019. It was overkill for me and started becoming like a chore back in November. I’m much happier reading my usual 60-70 books a year, so I will pace myself accordingly. I want to have a nice balance of NetGalley arcs to read and library books so I control my book spending. I have no more room on my shelves. 😔
And for other hobby news – I miss crafting. I miss my Etsy shop, it’s been closed because when my daughter was a baby it was a lot for me to juggle, so I closed it temporarily. But I think I’ll be opening it up again in 2020. My gift to myself this Christmas was a Cricut Explore Air 2 – it’s a cutting machine. I used to hand stamp metal keychains and other accessories, but now with the Cricut I’ve been playing with acrylic keychains with adhesive vinyl stickers/decals and glitter. Lots of glitter…and glue. 😂 I’m in love with it. Here’s a few starter projects I made:
I’m still learning how to design and weed the vinyl stickers. I’m testing out different fonts that work better with cutting certain words and phrases. It’s so different from hand stamping, where I just picked up a stamp, centered it and banged it with a hammer. I like how with the Cricut I can design the phrase in one go and I can add color with the different types of adhesive vinyl available to me. Hand stamping is basically metal and black ink but it has it’s charm too.
I miss hand stamping because I loved pounding with the hammer. 😆 It was a stress reliever I think, but the pounding can wear on your joints. One time I had an order of 300+ metal tags! I was pregnant at the time doing it and I remember my wrists hurt so much after that week. With the Cricut, it does the cutting work, all I have to do is stick it on acrylic blanks. I love both mediums but for now with my daughter still not in kindergarten, I think the Cricut machine is the way to go. So I am excited! I’d love to add some bookish accessories to my Etsy shop. 😍
So these are my main things for 2020:
Disney Cruise Trip
Open Etsy shop again
Maintain book review blog
Of course it sounds simple and in between these main things are all my kids activities, holiday parties/events, birthdays, a few concerts and broadway shows (got tickets to Mariah Carey and Jersey Boys already haha) – basically life happens. 🤷🏻♀️
New Year’s Eve in Hawaii is a BIG thing. So many people light fireworks and as a kid, I loved it, but now that I’m older, my allergies cannot handle all the smoke the fireworks give up. It’s like the whole island is on fire that night. I’m staying in and going to wait until midnight when the whole island goes off with fireworks and watch through my window. How do you celebrate the New Year in your town, city, country?
I hope ALL of you have had an awesome decade, a good 2019 and let’s have an AMAZING 2020! Happy New Year everyone! 🎉🍾🎊 And as we say in Hawaii, Hau’oli Makahiki Hou!
Hi everyone! It’s been awhile since I did one of these Top 5 Saturday posts so let’s do it.
This prompt is hosted by Mandy at Devouring Books so check out her blog for more fabulous bookish content. 😊
Rules!
Share your top 5 books of the current topic– these can be books that you want to read, have read and loved, have read and hated, you can do it any way you want.
Tag the original post (This one!)
Tag 5 people
I am so excited for this 2020 release and it’s adult fiction. I just saw on Goodreads that it is 800+ pages though…whoa. So I hope it’s good. The cover alone looks amazing. Can’t wait to get my hands on this one!
The Black Witch Chronicles book number 3 comes out in May 2020 and I’m looking forward to continuing this series. I feel like it’s been a long wait since the second book came out.
I loved Marrow Charm, the first book in this series by Kristin Jacques and I look forward to book two. It looks like it comes out in July, but this series is perfect for fall reading also.
I didn’t think I’d like The Beautiful from all the lackluster reviews, but I actually enjoyed it and want to read the sequel. Look at that cover! 😍
And rounding out the top 5 is the sequel to We Hunt the Flame!
There are a lot of book I want to read in 2020, but I’m still catching up on 2019 reads haha. So we shall see what books I will actually get to in 2020, but for sure I want to get my hands on these five books.
It came in! My November box from Shelflove Crate, that I totally forgot about – came in today. So this was my first box from Shelflove Crate and probably my last unless that have some amazing book I want in 2020. This box is clearly very late – according to their instagram page, they’ve had a lot of problems with shipping. Instead of getting mad or annoyed, I basically forgot about it. Today when I checked the mail, I was like…what did I order?
Unlike the other book crate boxes I have subscribed from, this one came in a plain white box which left me even more confused. It was a pleasant surprise to see if was my Shelflove Crate order. So let’s see what’s in it!
The theme for the November box is called Reading the Restricted Section. I wanted this box mostly because of the book selection, plus I had never tried Shelflove Crate and wanted to see how good their boxes were.
Here is a Moste Potente Potions storage book. It’s from Harry Potter and I think it’s cool because it’s a storage book and you can put things in it. Not sure what I’d slip in there, but I’ll think of something.
Here is a Banned Books Bin which is collapsible because it is made from fabric. But it’s a cool design with the spines of banned books displayed.
In this photo is the leaflet that comes with the box explaining what all the items are plus a few bookmarks.
The Handmaid’s Tale Inspired Grocery Bag is a nice size reusable bag. Not sure if I’ll keep this or give it away but I always love a good reusable bag.
I see you Edward! Haha – this is a Twilight inspired pocket mirror. I think the design is cute and I can’t believe I don’t already have a pocket mirror in my purse.
Since this is my first Shelflove Crate, I will admit these acrylic chess pieces are SO super cute! This is Lazlo and Sarai from Strange the Dreamer. It makes me want to collect all the chess pieces from Shelflove Crate!
Here is the November BOTM – Blood Heir by Amelie Wen Zhao. I look forward to reading this book very soon!
And I think this might be a bonus item because the boxes were late? Not sure, but this wasn’t listed in the leaflet. It’s a mini poster for A Court of Mist and Fury.
You know despite all the shipping problems and the wait, this was a really cute box with useful items like the bag and the bin. I really love the chess pieces.
And that’s all the boxes I’ve been waiting on for 2019! I think it was fun subscribing to different boxes but I don’t have the space to really collect and store this stuff. So in 2020 I’ll pick and chose which boxes to get based on the book. If you are a book crate subscriber – what is your favorite company?
Title: The Relic Spell (The Phyrian War Chronicles Book 1)
Author: Jimena L. Novaro
Format: eBook (provided by author for review)
Pages: 346
Categories: Fantasy, Young Adult
Disclaimer: **I received this book free from the author in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**
Magic rolls through Orion Tamura’s history classroom like a tidal wave of golden light that only he can see. The spell is deadly, and Orion has no idea who cast it or what they want.
Answers are scarce—all of Port Monica’s sorcerers vanished fourteen years before, including Orion’s father. Armed with his limited knowledge of magic, Orion is the only one left in the city who is strong enough to investigate the origins of the spell.
But the city’s leaders will stop at nothing to censor and sabotage anyone who gets close to the truth. Invisible otherworlders watch every move Orion and his friends make, and a mysterious sorcerer who knows the answers haunts Orion’s dreams.
Thank you to author, Jimena I. Novaro, for providing me a copy of this book for review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Orion Tamura is Port Monica’s most powerful sorcerer since all the other ones vanished during the Phyrian War. But Orion is also just a teenager with big responsibilities on his shoulders. He is protecting a town from evil and trying to help keep his family afloat and that is a lot for one kid to take on. He has his best friend Max who is a warrior in his own right and he makes other friends along the way as they try to get to the bottom of who sent out a huge, deadly spell throughout the town. Can Orion be everywhere at once and make sure everyone he cares about is protected or will he fail?
The world building in this story is really well done! We have some history about a Phyrian War which was a big event that involved sorcery, magic, demons and then some. Not many who lived through it want to remember it though. There are all types of demons and other creatures with magic. As for Orion, his dad, Daisuke, was well known in the community as a powerful sorcerer but there is bad history there and he’s been gone for as long as Orion can remember.
Speaking of Orion’s missing dad – Orion’s character is dealing with a lot on his plate. He’s a sorcery and feels obligated to keep the town safe, well obviously because a safe town means his family stays safe. His mom is trying to move on without his dad, his younger sister and brother are going through some things too and Orion’s trying to be there for everyone but burning his candle on both ends. On top of that he’s dealing with feelings for his best friend Max and trying to find out who released this dangerous spell in their town. Orion makes mistakes but the best thing about him is he keeps trying to do what he can with what power he has.
Two characters that I thought are interesting were Briar and Elsa – maybe because I just gravitate more towards strong females but Briar’s demon lineage is fascinating. I loved that Elsa was always kicking butt too! 💪🏾 Orion was pretty lucky to have her watching his back even though she had her own mission to accomplish.
There is a lot of racial and sexual diversity represented in this book, which is always refreshing.
This story keeps moving, meaning there is a lot of action! From the get go Orion and Max are involved with fighting a creature and it doesn’t stop there. There is downtime here and there in the story but it has a lot of action to keep one entertained.
Orion at times didn’t come off as a physically strong character. Like Max, his best friend was definitely more of the warrior, but at times Orion couldn’t meet his eyes. I know it was due to personal/longing stuff but I just wished at times he could assert more of his power when it was needed. But maybe that’s just a personality thing.
Some things in the story isn’t resolved by the end which makes sense since this is going to be a series. I look forward to reading book two and finding out what happened with Briar and her demon family. This is an urban fantasy story with a wholly constructed magic system and detailed world building. If you like fantasy, then The Relic Spell would interest you!
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Please check out her website for more TTT topics!
This week’s topic is:
Books I Hope I Find Under My Tree
Merry Christmas EVE everyone! Can you believe it? We are finally here at Christmas eve – my kids will be so excited to open gifts tomorrow, but more importantly we get to hang out with family. I’m still trying to get my energy back from having the flu, I feel like I’m not 100% and still need a long nap after running errands or like yesterday, I took my kids to the dentist, came home and napped. I’m just…TIRED.
And Look…I’m not getting ANY books under my tree because I’m still waiting for my large Book Outlet order I made a month ago. Yes, it takes a month to get to me here in Hawaii because it travels by ship when it makes it’s way to California. But I’m used to it! So I’ll show you what books I’m waiting for in that order:
Charlotte Gorman loves her job as an elementary school librarian, and is content to experience life through the pages of her books. Which couldn’t be more opposite from her identical twin sister. Ginny, an Instagram-famous beauty queen, has been chasing a crown since she was old enough to say “world peace,” and she’s not giving up until she wins Miss American Treasure. But when Ginny has a face-altering allergic reaction the night before competition, Charlotte suddenly finds herself in a switcheroo the twins haven’t successfully pulled off in decades.
Woefully unprepared for the glittery world of hair extensions, false eyelashes, and push-up bras, Charlotte realizes, after walking a mile in her twin’s sky-high stilettos, there might be more to the pageant circuit than just a sparkly crown . . .
A half-Japanese teen grapples with social anxiety and her narcissist mother in the wake of a crushing rejection from art school in this debut novel.
Kiko Himura has always had a hard time saying exactly what she’s thinking. With a mother who makes her feel unremarkable and a half-Japanese heritage she doesn’t quite understand, Kiko prefers to keep her head down, certain that once she makes it into her dream art school, Prism, her real life will begin.
But then Kiko doesn’t get into Prism, at the same time her abusive uncle moves back in with her family. So when she receives an invitation from her childhood friend to leave her small town and tour art schools on the west coast, Kiko jumps at the opportunity in spite of the anxieties and fears that attempt to hold her back. And now that she is finally free to be her own person outside the constricting walls of her home life, Kiko learns life-changing truths about herself, her past, and how to be brave.
From debut author Akemi Dawn Bowman comes a luminous, heartbreaking story of identity, family, and the beauty that emerges when we embrace our true selves.
Shane has been doing college all wrong. Pre-med, stellar grades, and happy parents…sounds ideal—but Shane’s made zero friends, goes home every weekend, and romance…what’s that?
Her life has been dorm, dining hall, class, repeat. Time’s a ticking, and she needs a change—there’s nothing like moving to a new country to really mix things up. Shane signs up for a semester abroad in London. She’s going to right all her college mistakes: make friends, pursue boys, and find adventure!
Easier said than done. She is soon faced with the complicated realities of living outside her bubble, and when self-doubt sneaks in, her new life starts to fall apart.
Shane comes to find that, with the right amount of courage and determination one can conquer anything. Throw in some fate and a touch of magic—the possibilities are endless.
Aurelia Isendare is a princess of a small kingdom in the North, raised in privilege but shielded from politics as her brother prepares to step up to the throne. Halfway around the world, Athan Dakar, the youngest son of a ruthless general, is a fighter pilot longing for a life away from the front lines. When Athan’s mother is shot and killed, his father is convinced it’s the work of his old rival, the Queen of Etania—Aurelia’s mother. Determined to avenge his wife’s murder, he devises a plot to overthrow the Queen, a plot which sends Athan undercover to Etania to gain intel from her children.
Athan’s mission becomes complicated when he finds himself falling for the girl he’s been tasked with spying upon. Aurelia feels the same attraction, all the while desperately seeking to stop the war threatening to break between the Southern territory and the old Northern kingdoms that control it—a war in which Athan’s father is determined to play a role. As diplomatic ties manage to just barely hold, the two teens struggle to remain loyal to their families and each other as they learn that war is not as black and white as they’ve been raised to believe.
Seventeen-year-old Megan Harper is about due for her next sweeping romance. It’s inevitable—each of her relationships starts with the perfect guy and ends with him falling in love . . . with someone else. But instead of feeling sorry for herself, Megan focuses on pursuing her next fling, directing theater, and fulfilling her dream college’s acting requirement in the smallest role possible.
So when she’s cast as Juliet (yes, that Juliet) in her high school’s production, it’s a complete nightmare. Megan’s not an actress, and she’s used to being upstaged—both in and out of the theater. In fact, with her mom off in Texas and her dad remarried and on to baby #2 with his new wife, Megan worries that, just like her exes, her family is moving on without her.
Then she meets Owen Okita, an aspiring playwright inspired by Rosaline from Shakespeare’s R+J. A character who, like Megan, knows a thing or two about short-lived relationships. Megan agrees to help Owen with his play in exchange for help catching the eye of a sexy stagehand/potential new boyfriend. Yet Megan finds herself growing closer to Owen, and wonders if he could be the Romeo she never expected.
In their fresh and funny debut, Emily Wibberly and Austin Siegemund-Broka break down the high school drama to find there’s always room for familial love, romantic love, and—most importantly—self-love.
Beware of the woods and the dark, dank deep.
He’ll follow you home, and he won’t let you sleep.
Who are the Sawkill Girls?
Marion: the new girl. Awkward and plain, steady and dependable. Weighed down by tragedy and hungry for love she’s sure she’ll never find.
Zoey: the pariah. Luckless and lonely, hurting but hiding it. Aching with grief and dreaming of vanished girls. Maybe she’s broken—or maybe everyone else is.
Val: the queen bee. Gorgeous and privileged, ruthless and regal. Words like silk and eyes like knives, a heart made of secrets and a mouth full of lies.
Their stories come together on the island of Sawkill Rock, where gleaming horses graze in rolling pastures and cold waves crash against black cliffs. Where kids whisper the legend of an insidious monster at parties and around campfires.
Where girls have been disappearing for decades, stolen away by a ravenous evil no one has dared to fight… until now.
Ryan McCullough and Gabby Hart are the unlikeliest of friends. Introverted, anxious Gabby would rather do literally anything than go to a party. Ryan is a star hockey player who can get any girl he wants—and does, frequently. But against all odds, they became not only friends, but each other’s favorite person. Now, as they face high school graduation, they can’t help but take a moment to reminisce and, in their signature tradition, make a top ten list—counting down the top ten moments of their friendship:
10. Where to begin? Maybe the night we met. 9. Then there was our awkward phase. 8. When you were in love with me but never told me… 7. Those five months we stopped talking were the hardest of my life. 6. Through terrible fights… 5. And emotional makeups. 4. You were there for me when I got my heart broken. 3. …but at times, you were also the one breaking it. 2. Above all, you helped me make sense of the world. 1. Now, as we head off to college—how am I possibly going to live without you?
Black Swan meets Pretty Little Liars in this soapy, drama-packed novel featuring diverse characters who will do anything to be the prima at their elite ballet school.
Gigi, Bette, and June, three top students at an exclusive Manhattan ballet school, have seen their fair share of drama. Free-spirited new girl Gigi just wants to dance—but the very act might kill her. Privileged New Yorker Bette’s desire to escape the shadow of her ballet-star sister brings out a dangerous edge in her. And perfectionist June needs to land a lead role this year or her controlling mother will put an end to her dancing dreams forever.
When every dancer is both friend and foe, the girls will sacrifice, manipulate, and backstab to be the best of the best.
June, Bette, and Gigi have given their all to dance at Manhattan’s most elite ballet school. Now they are competing one final time for a spot at the prestigious American Ballet Company. With the stakes higher than ever, these girls have everything to lose… and no one is playing nice.
June is starting to finally see herself as a prima ballerina. However, getting what she wants might cost her everything—including the only boy she’s ever loved. Legacy dancer Bette is determined to clear her name after she was suspended and accused of hurting her rival, Gigi. Even if she returns, though, will she ever regain the spotlight she craves? And Gigi is not going to let Bette—or the other dancers who bullied her—go unpunished. But as revenge consumes her, Gigi may be the one who pays the price.
After years of grueling auditions, torn ribbons, and broken hearts, it all comes down to this last dance. Who will make the cut? And who will lose her dream forever?
For Penny Lee high school was a total nonevent. Her friends were okay, her grades were fine, and while she somehow managed to land a boyfriend, he doesn’t actually know anything about her. When Penny heads to college in Austin, Texas, to learn how to become a writer, it’s seventy-nine miles and a zillion light years away from everything she can’t wait to leave behind.
Sam’s stuck. Literally, figuratively, emotionally, financially. He works at a café and sleeps there too, on a mattress on the floor of an empty storage room upstairs. He knows that this is the god-awful chapter of his life that will serve as inspiration for when he’s a famous movie director but right this second the seventeen bucks in his checking account and his dying laptop are really testing him.
When Sam and Penny cross paths it’s less meet-cute and more a collision of unbearable awkwardness. Still, they swap numbers and stay in touch—via text—and soon become digitally inseparable, sharing their deepest anxieties and secret dreams without the humiliating weirdness of having to see each other.
This is a weekly meme that was started by Lauren’s Page Turners so check out her blog for more bookish content!
All you have to do is choose a title on your Goodreads Want To Read category and say why you want to read it.
Goodreads Blurb:
Nahri has never believed in magic. Certainly, she has power; on the streets of 18th century Cairo, she’s a con woman of unsurpassed talent. But she knows better than anyone that the trade she uses to get by—palm readings, zars, healings—are all tricks, sleights of hand, learned skills; a means to the delightful end of swindling Ottoman nobles.
But when Nahri accidentally summons an equally sly, darkly mysterious djinn warrior to her side during one of her cons, she’s forced to accept that the magical world she thought only existed in childhood stories is real. For the warrior tells her a new tale: across hot, windswept sands teeming with creatures of fire, and rivers where the mythical marid sleep; past ruins of once-magnificent human metropolises, and mountains where the circling hawks are not what they seem, lies Daevabad, the legendary city of brass, a city to which Nahri is irrevocably bound.
In that city, behind gilded brass walls laced with enchantments, behind the six gates of the six djinn tribes, old resentments are simmering. And when Nahri decides to enter this world, she learns that true power is fierce and brutal. That magic cannot shield her from the dangerous web of court politics. That even the cleverest of schemes can have deadly consequences.
After all, there is a reason they say be careful what you wish for…
Why Do I Want To Read This?
I’ve heard a lot of great things about this book. I got a great deal on Book Outlet for it, so it’s a book I’ll definitely be reading in 2020.
That cover – I can’t help it, it just draws me in. It’s beautiful!
Stories about the djinn are always interesting – hope this one is good.
Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**
A young widow must face the grief she’s always set aside when an unexpected delivery throws her life into disarray
Twenty-nine-year-old Charlotte Rosen has a secret: she’s a widow. Ever since the fateful day that leveled her world, Charlotte has worked hard to move forward. Great job at a hot social media analytics company? Check. Roommate with no knowledge of her past? Check. Adorable dog? Check. All the while, she’s faithfully data-crunched her way through life, calculating the probability of risk—so she can avoid it.
Yet Charlotte’s algorithms could never have predicted that her late husband’s ashes would land squarely on her doorstep five years later. Stunned but determined, Charlotte sets out to find meaning in this sudden twist of fate, even if that includes facing her perfectly coiffed, and perfectly difficult, ex-mother-in-law—and her husband’s best friend, who seems to become a fixture at her side whether she likes it or not.
But when her quest reveals a shocking secret, Charlotte is forced to answer questions she never knew to ask and to consider the possibility of forgiveness. And when a chance at a new life arises, she’ll have to decide once and for all whether to follow the numbers or trust her heart.
Thank you to Graydon House and NetGalley for giving me a chance to read this eARC.
I will say off the bat that if you are looking for a light-hearted rom-com story, this is not it. The cover of this book is misleading, you think it’s going to be cute and fun. Well…stop right there, because this story about a widow, Charlotte, is at times heavy with grief themes. Oh she comes off as so put together, working in L.A. for a social media company and she’s smart too. She made a career being a coder and is developing her own dating app. Charlotte is driven, analytical and doesn’t come off as very nice but she’s hiding a secret. She’s a widow and barely anyone in Los Angeles knows this except her ex in-laws. So what happens when one day the urn of her late husband makes it to her apartment and the past comes back to haunt her? Will Charlotte stay in her controlled, put together life, or will she shatter?
The reason I love this book is purely personal. I felt like I was reading about my life. I was Charlotte but just shy of my 30th birthday when I lost my first husband. So the more I was reading this book, it kind of scared me…I had red flags in me waving “TRIGGER!” But you know what, the author wrote about Charlotte and her grief so well and respectfully. I saw in the Author’s note section in the back that she thanked a few women she interviewed about grief and losing their spouse. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 I love that she did research because I felt it-way deep inside me. For me this book was a like a friend who knew me.
Though Charlotte doesn’t come off likable, I understood her. And I liked her strong voice. Her trying to control things in her life, I got it! She’s developing a dating app but she’s only used herself to test the app. She takes all these elements of dating and put them into an algorithm so she can predict the outcome. It’s scary to want normalcy again knowing at any moment you can get a phone call and have to be making a serious decision, especially when you marry someone thinking it’s forever and finding the ugly truth that it’s not. But Charlotte has lots of dreams about the future and she has focus, sometimes obsessively so. Charlotte is strong, sometimes too strong but I get it. I get Charlotte.
I loved Charlotte’s roommate Casey who is so different from her with her artistic style, and tell it to your face attitude because Charlotte was spiraling and needed a reality check. Thank you Casey for stepping up and being unique and snarky. ☺️
This is a mild romance story, the romance isn’t a focus, it’s about Charlotte and the past haunting her. She needs to come to terms with some secrets that are revealed to move forward again and I will say there is a happy ending and I was relieved for her and everyone involved. But this story is deeper than a romance novel so keep that in mind if you are looking for something that is all romance. This is not.
Speaking of romance, I liked her relationship with Brian, it felt non-threatening and easy going, from like a friendship than anything else. It’s a slow burn, for sure.
Grief therapy scene was really good. I never did go to one but I wish many times I did but I also wanted to be alone too…so…it’s a great scene and glad it was in the book.
This story is more of Charlotte’s self journey to letting go and moving on than a romance novel. Did I want more romance? Yes…totally because the title said Husband Material, I wish they would change the title to something else, it’s misleading.
Brian Jackson is her late husband’s best friend. Now…I’m not usually into that trope, but I know that happens, so I rolled with it.
Charlotte isn’t super likable. I liked her because I understood her but I can see how she’s not the most pleasant person, defense and coping mechanisms maybe? We don’t get to know how she used to be before she became a young widow.
Triggers: grief, losing a spouse, memories of the day of death — this book took me to a lot of closed places in my mind. But thank God I can say…I was okay, it’s why I kept reading.
Was I expecting more romance in this? YES. Obviously there was an attraction to Brian and I wanted more of that but it’s a slow burn because Charlotte has a lot going on in her head. I was misled by the cutesy cover and the title of the book. 🤷🏻♀️
Overall the writing was great, I got a sense for Charlotte right away and her journey was emotional. This is more of a heartfelt and heart-breaking story through a widow’s grief than just a regular rom-com.
Author Bio:
EMILY BELDEN is a journalist, social media marketer, and storyteller. She is the author of the novel Hot Mess and Eightysixed: A Memoir about Unforgettable Men, Mistakes, and Meals. She lives in Chicago. Visit her website at www.emilybelden.com or follow her on Twitter and Instagram, @emilybelden.
Categories: Rom-Com, Contemporary, Young Adult, Romance
Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**
A fresh, irresistible rom-com from debut author Emma Lord about the chances we take, the paths life can lead us on, and how love can be found in the opposite place you expected.
Meet Pepper, swim team captain, chronic overachiever, and all-around perfectionist. Her family may be falling apart, but their massive fast-food chain is booming ― mainly thanks to Pepper, who is barely managing to juggle real life while secretly running Big League Burger’s massive Twitter account.
Enter Jack, class clown and constant thorn in Pepper’s side. When he isn’t trying to duck out of his obscenely popular twin’s shadow, he’s busy working in his family’s deli. His relationship with the business that holds his future might be love/hate, but when Big League Burger steals his grandma’s iconic grilled cheese recipe, he’ll do whatever it takes to take them down, one tweet at a time.
All’s fair in love and cheese ― that is, until Pepper and Jack’s spat turns into a viral Twitter war. Little do they know, while they’re publicly duking it out with snarky memes and retweet battles, they’re also falling for each other in real life ― on an anonymous chat app Jack built.
As their relationship deepens and their online shenanigans escalate ― people on the internet are shipping them?? ― their battle gets more and more personal, until even these two rivals can’t ignore they were destined for the most unexpected, awkward, all-the-feels romance that neither of them expected.
Thank you to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for giving me a chance to read this eARC.
Pepper is the over achieving good girl from Nashville and her family owns Big League Burgers, a franchise that is basically found all over the world. Jack is the class clown, born and raised New Yorker, who’s family owns a deli. And the two companies are in a war…a twitter war.
And who is coming up with these tweets in this twitter war? The teens, Pepper and Jack who are both attending the same private school and trying to get into Ivy League colleges. They have lives filled with school activities, and so much homework, but they help the family business by attacking one another on social media! And it’s overtaking their lives.
But with this twitter war, Pepper and Jack, actually get to know each other, they actually become friends and maybe even something more.
Pepper and Jack are two teens in NYC just trying to survive high school and get into ivy league colleges while both trying to help with their family businesses. Pepper is over-achieving, and Jack is the opposite which makes this an opposites attract story. Jack helps Pepper lighten up and I think Pepper grounds Jack. Their characters are fleshed and we see them deal with expectations from their families. Pepper is dealing with a broken family, Jack is dealing with feeling inadequate and in competition with his twin brother – they have a lot of common but they don’t know that until secrets are revealed. Pepper is also top of her class and a swimmer. Jack is a diver but the class clown.
There was a lot going on in this story but it worked. I was never overwhelmed with the drama of school and family life in Pepper and Jack’s life. I was invested in Pepper’s story and was hoping she’d stand up to her mother. As for Jack, I felt for him and wish he didn’t feel like he was disappointing his family because they did seem like cool parents. This story gives us family drama, teenage drama, lots of food and a little romance too!
The romance is an opposites-attract, slow burn, which was nice, you could see the growing attraction between Pepper and Jack during their twitter war. When they finally do make a move it’s so sweet an awkward but totally how I’d have imagine their first kiss because of who they are.
Pepper’s talent for baking made me hungry for all the desserts she baked in the story. I LOVED all the dessert names she and sister came up with. It felt so much more genuine than Big League Burger and their food empire. Honestly when the book ended, I wished for a sequel about Pepper and her sister Paige opening up their own bakery, because that would make a fun story! Maybe a sequel but this time about Paige? 🤔 I’d read it for sure!
Pepper’s mom was a little much. She really expected her daughter to put time and effort helping the social media side of their family business AND keep up her grades and be the best daughter ever? Like give Pepper a break! Her mom also had a secret and one that was a surprise. I wondered how it would be resolved in the end, and like I said it’s happily ever after but it makes me wonder how her mom got over that hurdle of forgiveness because that twitter war got pretty petty quick. The way Pepper’s mom is…well she doesn’t seem like someone who would let that go. She was not my favorite character.
I really enjoyed Tweet Cute. The romance is slow building and super cute. By the end of the story I was cheering Pepper and Jack on! It’s also a story about family, loving them (with all their flaws) and trying so hard not to disappoint them. Pepper and Jack are juggling so much and I was impressed at how they pretty much kept it together, with a breakdown here and there. It’s a feel good story that made me laugh and filled my heart with happiness at the end. This is great debut from Emma Lord and I look forward to reading more from this author.
Here we have my final unboxing for this year and it is from LitJoy Crate. The theme was called Lost in Austen and since I love Jane Austen, I knew I had to get it.
Here’s a very cute tray! I love the design with the book spines showing us the titles of Jane Austen books. 😍
This is such a beautiful teacup with the matching plate. Unfortunately and it was bound to happen, the teacup came broken. But it’s totally okay because I emailed LitJoy Crate right away and then took care of the situation and I’m awaiting a brand new cup in the mail. Hopefully it ships intact!
And check out these cozy, soft socks! They say “Talk Darcy to Me”. 😂 I absolutely love it.
And here are some wax seal stickers which I don’t know if I’d use since I don’t write letters anymore. But we shall see maybe I’ll write someone a letter just to use these stickers. 😅
I have calendars all over my house, so I’ll find a place for this somewhere on my…messy…desk. Or maybe it can find a home on my bookshelf. It’s a desk calendar with quotes by authors. I love it!
More cards for the LitJoy Crate collection. These cards are always so well done – they have great detail.
This is the book! Look at the color of that cover – I love it!
And look at the inside of the dust jacket. Just gorgeous!
And that was the box (minus the teacup in the photo because I couldn’t hold it together while photographing). It was a lovely box and I look forward to reading the book.
So…I said this was my last unboxing BUT…I have been waiting – FOREVER – for my box from ShelfLove Crate. I wanted to try it, saw a book I liked they were doing for the November box and wow…nothing yet. I’ve been following their ig account and it looks like they’ve had lots of problems with shipment this month. Sad. Oh well supposedly all November boxes will ship this week? If I get it next week then THAT will be my last unboxing of the year.
Categories: Mystery, Thriller, Young Adult, Supernatural, Horror
In the faux-documentary style of The Blair Witch Project comes the campfire story of a missing girl, a vengeful ghost, and the girl who is determined to find her sister–at all costs.
Once a year, the path appears in the forest and Lucy Gallows beckons. Who is brave enough to find her–and who won’t make it out of the woods?
It’s been exactly one year since Sara’s sister, Becca, disappeared, and high school life has far from settled back to normal. With her sister gone, Sara doesn’t know whether her former friends no longer like her…or are scared of her, and the days of eating alone at lunch have started to blend together. When a mysterious text message invites Sara and her estranged friends to “play the game” and find local ghost legend Lucy Gallows, Sara is sure this is the only way to find Becca–before she’s lost forever. And even though she’s hardly spoken with them for a year, Sara finds herself deep in the darkness of the forest, her friends–and their cameras–following her down the path. Together, they will have to draw on all of their strengths to survive. The road is rarely forgiving, and no one will be the same on the other side.
I finally got my hands on this book and it totally reminded me of The Blair Witch Project, which I saw on opening back in…1999. 🤭
So there is an urban legend about Lucy Gallows who went into the woods and never came out. When Sara’s sister Becca goes on this search to find Lucy, she goes missing as well. One year later, text messages are sent, to play the game to find Lucy Gallows. Sara wants to do it so she can find her sister and her old friends join her.
This was definitely like The Blair Witch Project, but with cell phones and them seeing actual ghosts! Because we all know there was like nothing to see in BWP. 🤷🏻♀️
I like the urban legend of Lucy Gallows – I get a kick out of stories like that. I love the ghost hunting and I’m glad the kids thought to capture video of their journey on the road because hello yes, in this day and age we need video evidence!
The road was very fascinating. I thought the gates were interesting and for the horror fans there are a lot of gruesome descriptions of people who tried to walk the road and…never made it off the road basically. 👀
The story is told in alternating between interviews with Sara (after the events of the road) and during the trip on the road. I thought it helped build up the suspense and at some points I wondered if this was all some psychological twist in Sara’s mind. It also included text messages between the group of friends and video evidence. I just like how the author used a whole mix of things to tell the story.
My favorite scene is when all of the characters are lost in a house, which s still part of the road. But it gets kind of crazy in there and that’s the part where I felt was the most creepiest in the book.
I connected to no character. ☹️ How is that possible? Maybe too many characters? And some characters going missing and honestly…at some points I didn’t remember who was supposed to be on this Lucy Gallows search party. There was a Miranda and Mel (Melanie) and I kept confusing the two. 🤷🏻♀️
Without spoiling – and it’s hard…there is something other than Lucy Gallows that haunts the road and it’s a big part of the story but it emerges in the middle of the story. It took me too long to hook me, plus with the confusing ending I had to process this book for a minute – okay it took me all weekend because my my brain burned out due to catching the flu. Anyway I googled this legend of Dahut and Ys and it exists! Okay why didn’t the legend just start with that instead? I guess it added layers to the story but I think at times it threw me off, maybe that was the purpose but it made me impatient.
The ending was abrupt and confusing.
I found Rules for Vanishing entertaining until the ending which confused me. It was fun following this group of teens walking down this mysterious road that shows up but the ending left me underwhelmed. On a scary scale, and I usually can’t tolerate a whole lot of scary…this one did not scare me at all. It did have the creepy factor so I’m glad about that.
Past Midnight Book Reviews & More 