Flip the Script by. Lyla Lee | Book Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: Flip the Script

Author: Lyla Lee

Format: hardcover (own)

Pages: 296

Publication Date: 5/31/22

Categories: Young Adult, K-Drama, Romance, LGBT+, Contemporary

The first rule of watching K-dramas: Never fall in love with the second lead.

As an avid watcher of K-dramas, Hana knows all the tropes to avoid when she finally lands a starring role in a buzzy new drama. And she can totally handle her fake co-star boyfriend who might be falling in love with her. After all, she promised the producers a contract romance, and that’s all they’re going to get from her.

But when showrunners bring on a new girl to challenge Hana’s role as main love interest—and worse, it’s someone Hana knows all too well—can  Hana fight for her position on the show while falling for her on-screen rival in real life?

-K-drama lovers will fall for all the fan-favorite tropes that make for a hit show.
-Romance is everywhere in this swoony, joy-filled novel, with fake dating, a secret relationship, and a classic love triangle!
-Visit South Korea as Hana takes readers through popular spots and hidden gems.

Content Warning:

This book has been sitting on my shelf for awhile so I decided it was time to pick it up and read it. I loved Lyla Lee’s first book I’ll Be the One. In Flip the Script, Hana is a K-drama actress who is making her debut, but the ratings are lagging and the studio needs to boost it up so they make her fake-date her co-star, Bryan. But it is really fake dating meaning, Hana has no feelings whatsoever for him because well, she’s bi and have been crushing on her best-friend Minjee for a long time. Minjee is not only her bestie but her acting rival also, they compete for roles and even support one another when they either get roles or don’t. But Minjee doesn’t know about Hana’s feelings for her.

So this book was just okay. I didn’t connect with anybody and the story was boring but it’s a quick, easy read. I did like the behind the scenes looks behind filming a k-drama and the things the actors go through but other than that I wasn’t really feeling it. I also do appreciate that it’s a queer book and set in the world of k-drama. Hana, Minjee, and Bryan can break barriers in the industry with their homophobic views on LGBT+ and I’m so glad they stand up for what they believe in.

Tropes: love triangle (sort of)

My Final Thoughts:

This book was just okay but I did like how it’s a book about k-drama actors who don’t quite fit the perfect mold. I like how Hana and Minjee brave the industry big heads and fight for their right to love who they love. It’s a light-hearted, and a quick read but I just wanted more from it.

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

I’ll Be the One | Book Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

WWW Wednesday | 8/23/23

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Sam over on Taking on a World of Words.

The idea is pretty simple, every week you dedicate a post to the three W’s:

What are you currently reading?

What have you just finished reading?

What are you going to read next?

I am TIRED. So I got Covid, obviously, because my daughter had it but it knocked me out for a good 2 days over the weekend. I just needed sleep and Tylenol since I had a fever. I had no energy…but 2 kids to take care of since my hubby isn’t here. 😩 Oh and can’t forget we have a dog too who wanted his afternoon play time with me in the backyard – and who wanted to add his hot body to my own lol…he’s a sweetie but it was uncomfy at some points. My son did such a good job helping me out as I tried to quarantine from him and my parents came over one morning to help feed them breakfast and lunch. I’m so grateful (but hope they don’t get sick!). Of course it didn’t help to stay away from my son because now HE is home with Covid – and he will be out of school for the whole week. I ‘m still working on getting rid of the congestion (I can sort of finally smell things now! Yay!) and I am less dizzy and nauseous-hooray!. But it never ends…our air conditioner broke. So yes we are now running the fans and trying to keep cool – thank god the weather forecast said it will be windy all week. 🙏🏼 My bro-in-law will come over to take a look at it tomorrow and hopefully can fix it.

What are you currently reading?

What have you just finished reading?

A Fate Inked in blood by. Danielle L. Jensen ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Betting on You by. Lynn Painter ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

With or Without You by. Eric Smith ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

What the River Knows by. Isabel Ibañez ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

What are you going to read next?

My copy comes today! So excited!

What are you reading right now?

Happy Book Birthday | New Releases | 8/22/23

Happy book birthday to these new releases! Check out this list today:

The captivating sequel to the Gothic-infused Belladonna, in which Signa and Death face a supernatural foe determined to tear them apart.

A duke has been murdered. The lord of Thorn Grove has been framed. And Fate, the elusive brother of Death, has taken up residence in a sumptuous estate nearby. He’s hellbent on revenge after Death took the life of the woman he loved many years ago…and now he’s determined to have Signa for himself, no matter the cost.

Signa and her cousin Blythe are certain that Fate can save Elijah Hawthorne from prison if they will entertain his presence. But the more time the girls spend with Fate, the more frightening their reality becomes as Signa exhibits dramatic new powers that link her to Fate’s past. With mysteries and danger around every corner, the cousins must decide if they can trust one another as they navigate their futures in high society, unravel the murders that haunt their family, and play Fate’s unexpected games—all with their destinies hanging in the balance.

Dangerous, suspenseful, and seductive, this sequel to Signa and Death’s story is as utterly romantic as it is perfectly deadly.

Goodreads | Amazon


From New York Times bestselling author J. Elle comes a modern-day YA romantic fantasy series opener about a glamorous magical world of social elites, forbidden love, and a dark magic that could destroy it all.

A must-read for fans of Leigh Bardugo, Stephanie Garber, and Bridgerton.

RICH IS THE BLOOD OF THE CHOSEN.

17 year-old Quell has lived her entire life on the run. She and her mother have fled from city to city, in order to hide the deadly magic that flows through Quell’s veins.

Until someone discovers her dark secret.

To hide from the assassin hunting her, and keep her mother out of harm’s way, Quell reluctantly inducts into a debutante society of magical social elites called the Order that she never knew existed. If she can pass their three rites of membership, mastering their proper form of magic, she’ll be able to secretly bury her forbidden magic forever.

If caught, she will be killed.

But becoming the perfect debutante is a lot harder than Quell imagined, especially when there’s more than tutoring happening with Jordan, her brooding mentor and— assassin in training.

When Quell uncovers the deadly lengths the Order will go to defend its wealth and power, she’s forced to choose: embrace the dark magic she’s been running from her entire life or risk losing everything, and everyone, she’s grown to love.

Still, she fears the most formidable monster she’ll have to face is the one inside.

Brimming with ballgowns and betrayal, magic and mystery, decadence and darkness, House of Marionne is perfect for readers who crave morally gray characters, irresistible romance, dark academia, and a deeply intoxicating and original world.

Goodreads | Amazon


New York Times bestselling author Sarah MacLean returns with the next Hell’s Belles novel about a chaotic bluestocking and the buttoned-up detective enlisted to keep her out of trouble (spoiler: She is the trouble).

With her headful of wild curls and wilder ideas and an unabashed love of experiments and explosives, society has labeled Lady Imogen Loveless peculiar…and doesn’t know she’s one of the Hell’s Belles—a group of vigilantes operating outside the notice of most of London.

Thomas Peck is not most of London. The brilliant detective fought his way off the streets and into a promising career through sheer force of will and a keen ability to see things others miss, like the fact that Imogen isn’t peculiar…she’s pandemonium. If you ask him, she requires a keeper. When her powerful family discovers her late-night activities, they couldn’t agree more…and they know just the man for the task.

Thomas wants nothing to do with guarding Imogen. He is a grown man with a proper job and no time for the lady’s incendiary chaos, no matter how lushly it is packaged. But some assignments are too explosive to pass up, and the gruff detective is soon caught up in Imogen’s world, full of her bold smiles and burning secrets…and a fiery passion that threatens to consume them both.

Goodreads | Amazon

Are you getting any new books this week?

Happy Reading!

Books with a Love Triangle | TTT | 8/22/23

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: freebie

Books with a Love Triangle

I”m doing this post while watching That Summer I Turn Pretty, Season 2 on Prime Video. Oh the dreaded LOVE TRIANGLE. I actually 90% love a good love triangle because of the angst and push and pull but sometimes I really hate it. Like in this show lol…because it’s between 2 brothers, which I hate :(…but I’m gonna watch it anyway because I loved the first season. So here are some books with a love triangle:

Do you like or loathe love triangles?? Let me know in the comments!

What’s on your TTT?

Goodreads Monday: Sign of the Slayer

Happy Monday!

Goodreads Monday is a weekly meme where you chose a random book from your Goodreads TBR and show it off. This meme is hosted by Budget Tales Book Blog.

Title: Sign of the Slayer

Author: Sharina Harris

Pages: 464

Links: Goodreads | Amazon

Publication Date: 8/29/23

Synopsis:

Full Metal Alchemist meets Vampire Diaries in this fun and clever dark academia series…

High school is supposed to be about studying, socializing, and marching-band practice. Not fighting vampires. Then one night flipped my world inside out―now, my life sucks. But it isn’t all bad. I’m at a slayer academy, learning things like the real origin of vamps and how to make serious weapons out of thin air.

Every last one of them will pay for what they did. I’m doing great.

Until I come face-to-face with the actual vampire prince…and I’m not sure of anything anymore. Vampires are supposed to be soul-sucking demons. But Khamari is…something else. He’s intelligent and reasonable―and he seems to know things about me that could change everything.

He’s also hiding something big, even from his own kind. And when a threat from an ancient evil is so extreme that a vampire will team up with a slayer to take it down, it isn’t just my need for revenge that’s at stake anymore.

It’s the whole damn world.

Do you have plans to read this book? Let me know in the comments below!

Weekly Wrap Up | 8/20/23

Aloha friends!

What a week. I think I said that LAST week also. But my daughter came down with a fever on Sunday, tested her for Covid on Monday – she was positive and missed the whole 2nd week of school already. Of course I still had to bring my son to school, but I already felt a tickle in my throat on Monday, but I tested negative on Tuesday and Wednesday, low grade fever on Thursday, full fever on Friday and positive on Saturday (sure I was positive on Thursday but I ran out of home covid tests until my mom brought me one on Saturday). Anyway I already knew it was covid with how the fever sneaks up on you on the 4 or 5th day and I lost my sense of smell (which sucks because everything I eat taste like nothing…bleh…). Anyway it was a rough weekend, and my kids had to kind of take care of themselves, my son did such a good job with helping feed his sister as I tried to quarantine – by the way my daughter is perfectly fine now, she was good by Thursday. But yeah he dealt with her tantrums lol – she wanted ME to make her food, not him, of course but she had to deal with it at least for one day. My parents came to help out on Saturday thank god. I’m already feeling much improved compared to Friday which was the worst day and I need to get better because it’s another week of school for the kids and I need to do a major grocery run.

My son’s 11th birthday is next Sunday and I’m going to watch him for any symptoms. I tried my best to stay away but I did have to use the kitchen at times and I tried to disinfect afterwards. I’m praying he didn’t get enough exposure but that’s hard when my daughter who had covid had to be with me at school drop off and pick up. I’m just glad kids had a 3 day weekend and I got full blown sick on the day they weren’t in school. I slept a lot! Anyway it was a long week, I’ll be so happy to feel better and get back to myself!

I’m still sharing links to help the people who lost their homes in Lahaina, Maui. My cousin in-law’s family’s home burnt down and they are facing other challenges as well. Please check out this link to read their story and help if you can.>> http://spot.fund/plvj4sc


Blog Posts:

Books I Read:


Currently Reading:

Shows/Movies I Watched:

  • The Summer I Turned Pretty – …Belly 🙄 why do I torture myself? lol…I actually love the friendship story between Beck and Laurel. Also why is it when Taylor stays Steven it reminds me of Kristen and Stephen on Laguna Beach! lol…

How was your week? Did you get a lot done? Watch anything good? Read any amazing books or books you didn’t finish? What are you reading?…Leave me a comment below!

The Firsts of 2023 Book Tag


I saw this book tag on a few blogs but saw it last on Dini’s blog DiniPandaReads and thought why not try it?

This book tag was originally created by Tanya @girlxoxo.

First Book Read This Year

Trial of the Sun Queen by. Nisha J. Tuli | Book Review

This was a fun way to start the year! >> Goodreads SYNOPSIS


First Book Reviewed

Begin Again by. Emma Lord | ARC Review

Emma Lord is a must read author for me so I’m always excited to get arcs of her book on NetGalley. >> Goodreads Synopsis


First Book By a Debut Author

The Black Queen by. Jumata Emill | ARC Review

I was in the mood to read more thrillers this year and I don’t know why but this one was pretty good. >> Goodreads SYNOPSIS


First Book By a New-to-Me Author

The Rom-Com Agenda by. Jayne Denker | ARC Review

I didn’t love it but it was a light-heard rom-com and the main male character needed to get a clue faster. >> Goodreads SYNOPSIS


First Book That Slayed Me

The Stolen Heir by. Holly Black | Book Review

I love this series! I know some people didn’t love it as much as The Cruel Prince but I love Suren and Oak. >> Goodreads SYNOPSIS


First Book That I Wished I Could Get Back the Time I Spent Reading It

Where Darkness Blooms by. Andrea Hannah | ARC Review

It was okay I just didn’t love it. Goodreads SYNOPSIS

What were your firsts this year? Have you read any of these books?

Midnight at the Houdini by. Delilah S. Dawson | ARC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️💫

Title: Midnight at the Houdini

Author: Delilah S. Dawson

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 368

Publication Date: 9/5/23

Publisher: Delacorte

Categories: Young Adult, Romance, Magical Realism, Fantasy

Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.**

Thank you to Delacorte for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

A girl discovers a surreal hotel where no one ever leaves. When the clock strikes midnight she’ll be trapped there forever unless she’s able to break free from magic that in turn breaks all her rules. Perfect for fans of Caraval and The Starless Sea!

The night is perfect and glorious and sparkling, too beautiful to be real. Like magic.

Anna may have grown up in glitzy Las Vegas, but she’s determined that no one will ever call her shallow. While her older sister Emily is the star of the family, Anna is the diligent stage manager, making sure that both their lives go perfectly to plan. But when Emily reveals a startling betrayal, Anna flees in the middle of a raging storm and takes shelter in a boutique establishment she’s never seen before: The Houdini.  

Inside, Anna discovers a magic hotel . . . and a magical boy. Earnest, curious Max has lived his entire life inside the Houdini. Over the course of one surreal evening, he becomes Anna’s guide to the curious building. For the first time in her life, Anna is center stage, in a place that anticipates her every desire, with a boy who only has eyes for her.  

But that’s because the Houdini has no other guests. No one ever enters the Houdini . . . and no one ever leaves. When the clock strikes midnight, Anna will be trapped in the Houdini forever. If Anna’s ever going to find out who she is on her own in the real world, she’ll first have to make an impossible escape. But will she be able to do it if it means leaving Max behind?

Content Warning:

This book was a little mix of everything and not all of it worked for me. It’s set in Las Vegas, where Anna has just finished helped with her sister’s wedding. She’s in a car with her dad (a hotel mogul) and his two friends (who were kind of like uncles to her, but kind of jerks). They get caught in a freak tornado and end up taking shelter or trying to find help at one of the hotels they own, The Houdini.

Inside the Houdini is something else. There is a boy named Max who’s never left the Houdini and his mom Phoebe who’s the villain of the story. The Houdini is like Alice in Wonderland strange, and yet the tornado reminded me of the Wizard of Oz…this story is quite a whirlwind and I couldn’t quite find myself being invested in the story even though I thought some of the elements were interesting.

The story moves so fast, so at least I didn’t struggle with that but this wasn’t for me.

Why you should read it:

  • you like magical realism and magical hotels

Why you might not want to read it:

  • the mix of everything just didn’t work for me

My Thoughts:

This one isn’t for me. I thought the concept was strangely cool with the hotel being magical, but the story failed to hold my interest.

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

WWW Wednesday | 8/16/23

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Sam over on Taking on a World of Words.

The idea is pretty simple, every week you dedicate a post to the three W’s:

What are you currently reading?

What have you just finished reading?

What are you going to read next?

My daughter had a fever on Sunday and it turned out to be Covid. It’s the first time she’s gotten it which is pretty amazing for Covid being around for 3 years and our whole household got it last year, but not her. Anyway she had fever for almost 3 days now but it has finally dropped to under 100 without medication – yay! She’s just dealing with the dry cough and some congestion. So yeah she had one week back to school and now one week of being out sick from school! 😅 Anyway, I didn’t get a lot of reading done, but here are the ones I’m working on.

What are you currently reading?

What have you just finished reading?

Heart of Night and Fire by. Nisha J. Tuli ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Main Character Energy by. Jamie Varon ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Powerless by. Lauren Roberts ⭐️⭐️⭐️

What are you going to read next?

What are you reading right now?

Happy Book Birthday | New Releases | 8/15/23

Happy book birthday to these new releases! Check out this list today:

Tilly Twomley is desperate for change. White-knuckling her way through high school with flawed executive functioning has left her burnt out and ready to start fresh. Working as an intern for her perfect older sister’s start up isn’t exactly how Tilly wants to spend her summer, but the required travel around Europe promises a much-needed change of scenery as she plans for her future. The problem is, Tilly has no idea what she wants.

Oliver Clark knows exactly what he wants. His autism has often made it hard for him to form relationships with others, but his love of color theory and design allows him to feel deeply connected to the world around him. Plus, he has everything he needs: a best friend that gets him, placement into a prestigious design program, and a summer internship to build his resume. Everything is going as planned. That is, of course, until he suffers through the most disastrous international flight of his life, all turmoil stemming from lively and exasperating Tilly. Oliver is forced to spend the summer with a girl that couldn’t be more his opposite—feeling things for her he can’t quite name—and starts to wonder if maybe he doesn’t have everything figured out after all.

As the duo’s neurodiverse connection grows, they learn that some of the best parts of life can’t be planned, and are forced to figure out what that means as their disastrously wonderful summer comes to an end.

Tilly in Technicolor is Mazey Eddings’s sparkling YA debut about two neurodivergent teens who form a connection over the course of a summer.

Goodreads | Amazon


Vampires and vaqueros face off on the Texas-Mexico border in this supernatural western from the author of The Hacienda.

As the daughter of a rancher in 1840s Mexico, Nena knows a thing or two about monsters—her home has long been threatened by tensions with Anglo settlers from the north. But something more sinister lurks near the ranch at night, something that drains men of their blood and leaves them for dead.

Something that once attacked Nena nine years ago.

Believing Nena dead, Néstor has been on the run from his grief ever since, moving from ranch to ranch working as a vaquero. But no amount of drink can dispel the night terrors of sharp teeth; no woman can erase his childhood sweetheart from his mind.

When the United States attacks Mexico in 1846, the two are brought abruptly together on the road to war: Nena as a curandera, a healer striving to prove her worth to her father so that he does not marry her off to a stranger, and Néstor as a member of the auxiliary cavalry of ranchers and vaqueros. But the shock of their reunion—and Nena’s rage at Néstor for seemingly abandoning her long ago—is quickly overshadowed by the appearance of a nightmare made flesh.

And unless Nena and Néstor work through their past and face the future together, neither will survive to see the dawn.

Goodreads | Amazon


From the beloved New York Times bestselling author of The Marriage of Opposites and the Practical Magic series comes an enchanting novel about love, heartbreak, self-discovery, and the enduring magic of books.

One brilliant June day when Mia Jacob can no longer see a way to survive, the power of words saves her. The Scarlet Letter was written almost two hundred years earlier, but it seems to tell the story of Mia’s mother, Ivy, and their life inside the Community—an oppressive cult in western Massachusetts where contact with the outside world is forbidden, and books are considered evil. But how could this be? How could Nathaniel Hawthorne have so perfectly captured the pain and loss that Mia carries inside her?

Through a journey of heartbreak, love, and time, Mia must abandon the rules she was raised with at the Community. As she does, she realizes that reading can transport you to other worlds or bring them to you, and that readers and writers affect one another in mysterious ways. She learns that time is more fluid than she can imagine, and that love is stronger than any chains that bind you.

As a girl Mia fell in love with a book. Now as a young woman she falls in love with a brilliant writer as she makes her way back in time. But what if Nathaniel Hawthorne never wrote The Scarlet Letter ? And what if Mia Jacob never found it on the day she planned to die?

Nathaniel Hawthorne “A single dream is more powerful than a thousand realities.”

This is the story of one woman’s dream. For a little while it came true.

Goodreads | Amazon


“Lush, engrossing and full of mystery and dark magic” (BookPage), Labyrinth’s Heart is the thrilling conclusion to M. A. Carrick’s Rook & Rose trilogy, in which a con artist, a vigilante, and a crime lord become reluctant allies in the quest to save their city from a dangerous ancient magic.

May you see the face and not the mask.

Ren came to Nadežra with a plan. She would pose as the long-lost daughter of the noble house Traementis. She would secure a fortune for herself and her sister. And she would vanish without a backward glance. She ought to have known that in the city of dreams, nothing is ever so simple.

Now, she is Ren, con-artist and thief. But she is also Renata, the celebrated Traementis heir. She is Arenza, the mysterious pattern-reader and political rebel. And she is the Black Rose, a vigilante who fights alongside the legendary Rook.

Even with the help of Grey Serrado and Derossi Vargo, it is too many masks for one person to wear. And as the dark magic the three of them helped unleash builds to storm that could tear the very fabric of the city apart, it’s only a matter of time before one of the masks slips—and everything comes crashing down around them.

Goodreads | Amazon


Release Date: August 18, 2023

Risk everything for your kingdom…
Or be destroyed by it.

In a world darkened by deceit, the truth is a light that won’t be dimmed. Even when it illuminates Lorian’s betrayals more starkly than I could ever want to see.

They call him the Bloodthirsty Prince.

His reign of terror has left a trail of blood across this continent. A trail that intertwines with my own past–not even my parents were spared from his merciless slaughter.

To save my brother’s life, I agreed to another bargain with the fae prince. Now, I’m forced to work with him. Forced to travel to the fae lands. Forced to spend my every waking moment with the man who betrayed me. All because King Sabium has woven a deadly tapestry of manipulation, using those we least suspect for his wicked schemes.

There are no lines I won’t cross to protect the people I love. So I’ll work with former enemies. I’ll manipulate, blackmail, and deceive potential allies. I’ll swallow my pride, bury my shattered heart, and cooperate with the fae to prepare for the coming war.

Because there are creatures far more monstrous than the fae.

And some of them masquerade as men.

Goodreads | Amazon

Are you getting any new books this week?

Happy Reading!