Love & Olives by. Jenna Evans Welch | Book Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Title: Love & Olives

Author: Jenna Evans Welch

Format: ebook (borrowed)

Pages: 512

Publication Date: 11/10/20

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Categories: Young Adult, Romance, Coming of Age

Liv Varanakis doesn’t have a lot of fond memories of her father, which makes sense—he fled to Greece when she was only eight. What Liv does remember, though, is their shared love for Greek myths and the lost city of Atlantis. So when Liv suddenly receives a postcard from her father explaining that National Geographic is funding a documentary about his theories on Atlantis—and will she fly out to Greece and help?—Liv jumps at the opportunity.

But when she arrives to gorgeous Santorini, things are a little…awkward. There are so many questions, so many emotions that flood to the surface after seeing her father for the first time in years. And yet Liv doesn’t want their past to get in the way of a possible reconciliation. She also definitely doesn’t want Theo—her father’s charismatic so-called “protégé”—to witness her struggle.

And that means diving into all that Santorini has to offer—the beautiful sunsets, the turquoise water, the hidden caves, and the delicious cuisine. But not everything on the Greek island is as perfect as it seems. Because as Liv slowly begins to discover, her father may not have invited her to Greece for Atlantis, but for something much more important.

Content Warning: almost drowning, illness, abandonment

I’m not reading the books in these companion novels to Love & Gelato in order. I don’t think there is an order because they are standalone books but I hope to read Love & Luck soon! Love & Olives made me want to take a plane to Santorini ASAP. It’s always been my dream to go, but since I can’t go at least there is this book which is set there! Here’s what did and didn’t work for me:

+ Santorini, Greece is the setting of this story and wow did I learn about the islands that make up Santorini and all these theories from Atlantis hunters or seekers. This book only made me want to visit Santorini even more than I already did. Do you think we’ll get a Netflix movie like they did for Love & Gelato? I’d love a movie because then we get to see Santorini on the screen!

+ Olive has only memories of her dad – so when he asks her to join him in Santorini it comes with a lot of emotions and feelings that is hard for her to deal with. When he left her years ago, she coped in the only way she could and realizes on this trip that it was time to look at the truth about everything that happened to her dad, to her broken family and I loved how she had to look at it full on, even though it’s painful. It starts the healing in their relationship. But the truth of the past is really important to this story, I did love that reveal.

+ Olive has the perfect boyfriend at home, but she meets Theo in Santorini and its undeniable they are attracted to one another. He was an interesting, intense character with his own issues about relationships. They don’t do anything scandalous while she has a boyfriend but it is a slow burn – although…this story does take place over the span of 10 days! So it’s as slow as it can be I suppose.

~ As much as I was entranced with Santorini, Atlantis and Olive’s relationship with her dad, the story is too long at 500+ pages. It’s definitely an emotional journey for Olive, but still, there was a lull in some places and I think it was too long.

~ I wish Olive’s dad could have communicated better with Olive about everything. Miscommunications hurt Olive a lot in this book.

~ Why did I not vibe with Theo? He is good looking, seems to click with Olive but I felt like he came off too much of a jerk sometimes especially when pushing Olive about her dad. I wanted him to back off because but like I said, he’s intense. I didn’t feel the romantic connection between them.

Tropes: overseas romance

Spice Level: 🌶 (barely any spice)

Why you should read it:

the setting of Santorini
Olive and her dad trying to heal their relationship, forge a bond
Olive’s growth

Why you might not want to read it:

too long

My Thoughts:

This whole story is an adventure from Olive visiting Santorini, seeing her dad against after so many years, and filming a documentary on hunting for the mythical island of Atlantis. I loved the setting of Santorini and I learned so much about theories about Atlantis. I didn’t expect this story to be long and a very emotional journey for Olive who is trying to come to terms about the dad who left her, and how to move past her pain. What she has to do is confront and she does just dad by the end of the story. There is romance too but Olive is someone with a boyfriend until the very end, so I think the romance with Theo was put in the friend zone – I wish they had more chemistry or he wasn’t so pushy but it was a slow burn with a cute ending.

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Love & Gelato by. Jenna Evans Welch – read but never reviewed on my blog – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spells for Lost Things by. Jenna Evans Welch – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ – (arc) Review Coming Soon

Book air is the best air…”
Jenna Evans Welch, Love & Olives

Trust your instincts. The world is run by people who have no idea what they’re doing.”
Jenna Evans Welch, Love & Olives

My mom once told me that it’s difficult for kids to recognize their parents as anything but supporting cast members in their own feature films, and here it was true.”
Jenna Evans Welch, Love & Olives

Sometimes moving forward is as simple as admitting what you already know.”
Jenna Evans Welch, Love & Olives

The Hearts We Sold by. Emily Lloyd-Jones | Book Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: The Hearts We Sold

Author: Emily Lloyd-Jones

Format: paperback (own)

Pages: 416

Publication Date: 8/8/17

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Categories: Urban Fantasy, Romance, Young Adult

Dee Moreno is out of options. Her home life sucks (to put it mildly), and she’s about to get booted from her boarding school–the only place she’s ever felt free–for lack of funds. But this is a world where demons exist, and the demons are there to make deals: one human body part in exchange for one wish come true.

The demon who Dee approaches doesn’t trade in the usual arms and legs, however. He’s only interested in her heart. And what comes after Dee makes her deal is a nightmare far bigger, and far more monstrous than anything she ever could have imagined. Reality is turned on its head, and Dee has only her fellow “heartless,” the charming but secretive James Lancer, to keep her grounded. As something like love grows between them amid an otherworldly ordeal, Dee begins to wonder: Can she give James her heart when it’s no longer hers to give?

In The Hearts We Sold, demons can be outwitted, hearts can be reclaimed, monsters can be fought, and love isn’t impossible. This book will steal your heart and break it, and leave you begging for more.

Content Warning: alcoholism, addiction, parental neglect, emotional abuse

What drew me to this book first was the cover – which is so pretty. Then I realized it’s written by Emily Lloyd-Jones and I loved her book The Bone Houses, so that’s what made me buy it on sale from Book Outlet! Here is what did and didn’t work for me:

+ Very interesting and unique world building. Demons walk the earth and if you want something from them you can trade with them. Dee decides to trade her heart. But not all is what it seems with the demons – the tasks her demon or Daemon has her do is to enter these voids that appear and destroy them. She learns what the voids are and wonders if her trade was worth it.

+ Dee has a sad home life. She’s at boarding school to get the best education she can so she can get out from her parents . Her parents are alcoholics and their family life is toxic. I liked all the characters were meet in the story, like James who traded his heart for art. They all had an interesting story to tell. I like how they became a found family.

+ The romance is a slow burn because Dee knows she’s broken inside. But James is patient, he understands being broken and the two of them together and how it ends broke my heart unexpectedly! I didn’t know I was invested until this story took a different turn. It’s bittersweet.

~ Thought I was very interested in the world building I still felt like I needed more details about the void. It didn’t seem like a concrete image I had in my head about the monsters in the void and what they wanted.

~ Sad ending, but hopeful too.

Tropes: found family

Spice Level: 🌶 (barely any spice)

Why you should read it:

it’s got a sweet romance
the characters being a found family
good questions about what people would give up to get what they want
Dee overcoming a lot of issues with her family and herself

Why you might not want to read it:

sad ending
needs more world building

My Thoughts:

I’m glad I read this book even though it wasn’t quite what I expected. The ending was touching and sad, and overall I think it was a solid book. It makes me more of a fan of this author!

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

The Bone Houses by. Emily Lloyd-Jones – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I like to think that I was the one who made the choices that brought me to this moment. They may have been bad or good choices – I don’t know.”
Emily Lloyd-Jones, The Hearts We Sold

I chose this.”
Emily Lloyd-Jones, The Hearts We Sold

Some secrets you keep all tangled up in yourself, so tight that to pull them out is physically painful.”
Emily Lloyd-Jones, The Hearts We Sold

You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty by. Akwaeke Emezi | Book Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty

Author: Akwaeke Emezi

Format: ebook (borrowed)

Pages: 288

Publication Date: 5/24/22

Publisher: Atria Books

Categories: Adult Fiction, Romance, Grief, LGBT+ , Contemporary

Feyi Adekola wants to learn how to be alive again.

It’s been five years since the accident that killed the love of her life and she’s almost a new person now—an artist with her own studio, and sharing a brownstone apartment with her ride-or-die best friend, Joy, who insists it’s time for Feyi to ease back into the dating scene. Feyi isn’t ready for anything serious, but a steamy encounter at a rooftop party cascades into a whirlwind summer she could have never imagined: a luxury trip to a tropical island, decadent meals in the glamorous home of a celebrity chef, and a major curator who wants to launch her art career.

She’s even started dating the perfect guy, but their new relationship might be sabotaged before it has a chance by the dangerous thrill Feyi feels every time she locks eyes with the one person in the house who is most definitely off-limits. This new life she asked for just got a lot more complicated, and Feyi must begin her search for real answers. Who is she ready to become? Can she release her past and honor her grief while still embracing her future? And, of course, there’s the biggest question of all—how far is she willing to go for a second chance at love?

Akwaeke Emezi’s vivid and passionate writing takes us deep into a world of possibility and healing, and the constant bravery of choosing love against all odds.

Content Warning: car accident memories, grief, death, profanity

I saw this book on my Overdrive online library and borrowed it because I see this author’s name everywhere and have yet to read one of their books. This was a very interesting, layered, complicated and messy romance story and I feel like I’m still processing how it made me feel, but here are some things off that bat I can say that I worked and didn’t work for me:

+ I like the real talk in this story. Feyi has a best friend named jour and it’s a relationship where they can talk about anything and I mean anything from sex, dating, feelings even if all of it is messy. Joy brought the humor and she is my favorite character in the whole book.

+ This is not a romance with an easy happily ever after. I felt like this was very realistic with complicated relationships. I myself could relate with Feyi about being a young widow and all of her pain and grief, wanting to feel alive by being reckless – I felt that, and I related to that. There is a lot of sex positivity and diversity in this story.

+ I appreciated the in-depth looks into the themes about grief, about relationships and trying to love again after experiencing trauma. Because I like my romance books in a certain way, I had to really set judgment aside (at some points it was challenging). I know relationships aren’t so concrete and black and white most times, sometimes it’s more of a gray area like presented in this book.

~ I’m not sure what I thought of Feyi’s dating style. She was hopping around, trying to feel something after being so numb from the grief of losing her husband ~ and I understand the whole what-does-it-really-matter-anyway-in-this-life because yes, our lives do come to an end so will all this matter anyway? I remember searching for those same answers trying to make sense of life when I was grieving. But I wasn’t into Feyi and Alim’s love story by the time it happens. I didn’t feel invested in their romance. It was too insta-attraction, not enough build up for me. I just knew it was going to leave shattered feelings around them also and I felt bad for the people who got hurt. But once again, this story examines choices…so, it is what it is but I wasn’t into it.

~ I could understand and relate to Feyi’s grief but as a character I didn’t connect to her. She’s very beautiful and everyone is drawn to her. She felt superficial but maybe on purpose because she had so much anger and grief and a multitude of issues going on underneath. It’s how she gets through life now post trauma – leaving things at the surface level until she meets Alim. But she comes off selfish at times too. How was Nasir someone who doesn’t understand grief? Did he not lose his mother, does his pain not matter?

Tropes: second chance at love, insta-attraction, insta-love

Spice Level: 🌶🌶🌶

Why you should read it:

it’s one of those books you will either love or hate, but it is thought provoking
not a typical happy ending romance, this is messy and complicated, people get hurt because of Feyi and Alim’s actions
tackles issues like sex, love and relationships, and also death and grieving

Why you might not want to read it:

messy and complicated
this is not a typical romance that leave you with fuzzy, happy feelings

My Thoughts:

I’m on the fence about this one since I’m still processing it. In terms of it being a romance, it’s a no – it’s too messy for me. I felt like Feyi and Alim had a comforting relationship between them because they shared experiences of loss and grief but other than that – it wasn’t for me. As for delving into grief and loss and how to move on from that, I related and loved those parts of the story. Feyi expressing how she feels through her art? I felt that. Having the characters be open with relationships, bisexual representations and sex positivity – all good. My favorite relationship for Feyi in all of this? Was her ride or die relationship with Joy, her best friend. I loved that Feyi had her. I may not have loved this story but it sure made me think a lot and I can appreciate that.

📚 ~ Yolanda

Quotes from the Book:

She liked the city as an entity better; it didn’t care who you were or what your damage was, it ate everyone up indiscriminately.”
~Akwaeke Emezi, You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty

And that’s something I’ve learned in the years since, that there are so many different types of love, so many ways someone can stay committed to you, stay in your life even if y’all aren’t together, you know? And none of these ways are more important than the other.”
~Akwaeke Emezi, You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty

yeah, I guess messy and alive is a good way to put it.”
~Akwaeke Emezi, You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty

What did survival mean? Madness, certainly. Guilt, but she didn’t want to lean into that. It leaned into you hard enough already, it didn’t need encouragement.”
~Akwaeke Emezi, You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty

The Stars Between Us by. Cristin Terrill | ARC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: The Stars Between Us

Author: Cristin Terrill

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 400

Publication Date: 8/2/22

Publisher: Wednesday Books

Categories: Sci-Fi, Young Adult, Romance, Mystery, Rags to Riches

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

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

There’s always been a mystery to Vika Hale’s life. Ever since she was a child, she’s had an unknown benefactor providing for her and her family, making sure that Vika and her sister received the best education they could. Now, Vika longs for a bigger life than one as a poor barmaid on a struggling planet, but those dreams feel out of reach. Until one day Vika learns that her benefactor was a billionaire magnate who recently died under suspicious circumstances, and Vika has shockingly been included in his will. Invited to live on a glittering neighboring planet, Vika steps into a world she can hardly believe is real.

The only blight on Vika’s lavish new life is the constant presence of Sky Foster, a mysterious young man from Vika’s past who works for her benefactors. She doesn’t like or trust Sky, but when she narrowly escapes an explosion and realizes someone is targeting the will’s heirs, Vika knows Sky is the only one who can help her discover the identity of the bomber before she becomes their next victim. As Vika and Sky delve into the truth of the attacks, they uncover a web of secrets, murder, and an underground rebellion who may hold the answers they’ve been looking for. But Sky isn’t who he seems to be, and Vika may not escape this new life unscathed.

In The Stars Between Us, Cristin Terrill sweeps readers away to a Dickensian-inspired world where secrets are currency and love is the most dangerous risk of all.

Content Warning:

This was an interesting read. It’s a young adult sci-fi story with an assassination plot mystery, rags to riches trope and romance sprinkled in there too. Here is what did and didn’t work for me:

+ I liked the creativity – the whole sci-fi world building was interesting to me. Vika lives on poor planet Philomenus and life is hard, she wants more and coincidentally she gets more and gets an upgraded life by moving to Ploutus which is the rich planet basically.

+ I was intrigued enough to read this in one sitting. I figured out a few things about the plot in the beginning but it still made me want to read through to the end to see if I was right. I was mostly right! There are assassination attempts, changing wills, suspect characters and Sky’s secret.

+ I thought the characters were pretty fleshed out – even if some of them were unlikable. At least they were true to themselves.

~ Vika is unlikable. ambitious – she wants out of the poor life and she has a way out and takes it, barely looking back at her family back home on Philomenus. She’s a snob, selfish, shallow and beautiful of course – but she does have a little growth by the end of the book.

~ Sky Foster is Vika’s opposite – I just really wished he had some kind of backbone around her. Vika could eat him up, spit him out, stomp on him and he’d be fine with it. He’s a dutiful boy, sweet to his friends, a good guy really…I just wish he didn’t let Vika push him around at times.

~ The insta-love on Sky’s part. Like, come on man, what do you see in Vika?! lol…him falling in love with her was weak. There was hardly any build-up between them, she hated him for the most part. But by the end of this book they are in love.

~ Would have been nice to have more sci-fi in the story, it’s a pretty lite sci-fi story. I felt like the most sci-fi thing about the story was the setting, economy and the transportation.

Why you should read it:

you aren’t used to reading sci-fi – this one is a lite sci-fi story with romance and intrigue

Why you might not want to read it:

Vika is unlikable – and usually I can deal with unlikable characters but I did not see why Sky fell for her so fast

My Thoughts:

Overall I think the story did a good job with the rags to riches trope. Vika went from rags to riches in the blink of an eye and does that change her? She was pretty unlikable when she was poor – but I found her hunger for more commendable. When she finally gets more she finds it easy to forget her parents and sister back on Philomenus. She’s cold and yet Sky, the sweetest, nicest guy can see past all her selfishness and fall in love with her. You know he’s fallen hard! There is some growth in her character but I still felt like she was the thing that didn’t make me enjoy this story as much as I wanted to. I did like the mystery of the assassination attempts though, and the world building is creative.

📚 ~ Yolanda

For the Wolf by. Hannah F. Whitten | Book Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: For the Wolf (Wilderwood, #1)

Author: Hannah F. Whitten

Format: ebook (borrowed)

Pages: 481

Publication Date: 6/1/21

Publisher: Orbit

Categories: Young Adult, Romance, Fantasy, Beauty and the Beast Re-telling, Twins

The first daughter is for the Throne.
The second daughter is for the Wolf.

As the only Second Daughter born in centuries, Red has one purpose-to be sacrificed to the Wolf in the Wood in the hope he’ll return the world’s captured gods.

Red is almost relieved to go. Plagued by a dangerous power she can’t control, at least she knows that in the Wilderwood, she can’t hurt those she loves. Again.

But the legends lie. The Wolf is a man, not a monster. Her magic is a calling, not a curse. And if she doesn’t learn how to use it, the monsters the gods have become will swallow the Wilderwood-and her world-whole.

Content Warning: self-harm

I got this book and the sequel on my online library so I read it right away before my borrowing period ended. I’ve seen good and bad reviews for this book, so let’s so what did and didn’t work for me:

+ This is story is a romantasy and those were the parts that I loved in the book. Redarys (Red) is the second the daughter, and if the first daughter is for the throne then the second daughter is for the Wolf. She gets sent as the sacrificial second daughter to the Wolf in the Wilderwood. No one knows much about him except from legend and lore being told from generation to generation. When Red meets Eammon, the wolf, she learns that his power is feeding the Wilderwood but he needs help and this is where she comes in to the picture.

+ I did like the world building and story about five Kings, magic, and the Wilderwood. I think I had a good grasp of the world this is set it. I think we got a pretty good idea of

+ This being a romantasy means I was invested in Red and Eammon falling for one another. It has very Beauty and the Beast vibes except I was thinking it was gonna be Red Riding Hood vibes because of the cover? And Eammon is called the Wolf? So yeah…maybe a blending of the two stories? So yes, I did love their moments together – they have physical chemistry…as for the emotional chemistry? I think Eammon is just the type who doesn’t talk about his feelings much. I do feel at times this could be more New Adult than Young Adult (I’m reading book 2 right now and it is definitely NA).

~ This story is actually told between two perspectives and I was more into Red’s story because it starts with her. But her twin Neve is on the other side of the Wilderwood, she misses Red, she wants to rescue Red without knowing Red doesn’t want to be rescued. Neve does some things that has dire consequences to the Wilderwood, Red and Eammon and I believe book two is her story. I wasn’t as invested in Neve because of the romance taking place with Red and Eammon.

~ The pacing was off, I was into the story and then there was a lull because Red doesn’t know how to use her power, doesn’t understand it and no one is explaining it to her (looking at you, Eammon). Eammon eventually trains her to use her power but he won’t let her help him take care of the Wildwood so he is self-harming himself like crazy because he doesn’t want help. I wanted to shake him a few times. Like what is Red’s purpose then if not to help him? The both of them were hopeless and stubborn at times 🤦🏻‍♀️ but at least they had good kissing scenes!

~ There are side characters like Fife and Lyra but I didn’t feel like they contributed much to the story. It would be nice to get to know them a bit more. I do have to mention that Lyra is a ACE rep, at least from how Fife described her. Like I said, would be nice to get to know them more.

~ I said I think I got a good grasp of the world-building but I can also say I couldn’t really pin it down. It felt like a blur sometimes even though she went into detail describing it…does that make sense? 😅

Tropes: single bed, marriage/sacrifice, forced proximity, sentient forest, fairytale mash-up, monster boyfriend, girl with magic who doesn’t know how to use it, brooding male, slow-burn

Why you should read it:

Beauty and the Beast, Red Riding Hood vibes – seems like a bunch of fairy tales actually because the ending hints at Sleeping Beauty also
it’s a romantasy (romance fantasy)
twin sisters who care about one another a lot – but needing to learn how to let go of one another and be on their separate paths

Why you might not want to read it:

I should call it a romangstasy lol…because yes Red and Eammon = angsty – I was getting irritated when she wanted to help and he said no or when he asked her to use her power instead of blood and she said no. Like…come on….😂.
a slower read at some parts – mostly because of the repetition

My Thoughts:

I feel like I’m still processing this one but also I already started book two since it’s fresh in my head and this is definitely not a Young Adult series…I’m saying it’s New Adult because Red and Eammon have some sexy times right away. For the Wolf, was entertaining enough for me to stick it through. I do like fairytale mash-ups when they make sense. I was expecting Red Riding Hood but got more Beauty and the Beast instead. Red and Eammon have that angsty, non-communicative relationship which can be so frustrating but I liked when they stopped talking and kissed instead. So I have mixed feelings about this one to say the least. I also was more into Red’s story than Neve but now that I’m reading book two…Neve’s story seems already better than Red’s, maybe because Solmir is more talkative. So we shall see how everything turns out for both sisters.

📚 ~ Yolanda

Quotes From the Book:

People with power resent losing it, and too much power for too long a time can make a villain of anyone.”
― Hannah F. Whitten, For the Wolf

People created stories to fill the gaps they didn’t understand, and religion grew up around it like rot on a fallen tree.”
― Hannah F. Whitten, For the Wolf

“She could count the number of people who loved her on one hand, and they all kept begging for the only thing she couldn’t give them.”
― Hannah F. Whitten, For the Wolf

The Summer I Turned Pretty by. Jenny Han | Book Review | Re-read

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: The Summer I Turned Pretty

Author: Jenny Han

Format: ebook (borrowed)

Pages: 276

Publication Date: 5/4/09

Publisher: Simon Schuster Books for Young Readers

Categories: Young Adult, Romance, Teen, Summer, Coming of Age

Belly measures her life in summers. Everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August. Winters are simply a time to count the weeks until the next summer, a place away from the beach house, away from Susannah, and most importantly, away from Jeremiah and Conrad. They are the boys that Belly has known since her very first summer—they have been her brother figures, her crushes, and everything in between. But one summer, one terrible and wonderful summer, the more everything changes, the more it all ends up just the way it should have been all along.

Content Warning: cancer

I read this back in 2009 and gave it 4 stars on Goodreads! That was 13 years ago…wow, I was single or just about to date my hubby. Crazy how long ago it was and my headspace was super different. Now I’m in my early 40’s with 2 kids, one who’s about to turn 10 years old. 😅 I don’t usually review re-reads but I will definitely do them if I never did a review for them on this blog. And I only did a re-read of this because the series on Amazon came out and I think they did such a good job. But so many people said lots of things were changed and I wanted to see what they were since I didn’t really remember the book except for being annoyed with Belly and being in love with Conrad. 😂

Here’s what I thought:

+ This is a such a quick read, it’s only 276 pages! Now young adult books can be like 500 pages long, so this was quick. It gave all the summer vibes as expected. I did forget all the time jumping it did from past summers to the present. The show didn’t do as many flashbacks as the book.

+ Jeremiah and Belly have more time together in the book than in the show. I can feel their bestie vibes.

+ Conrad is still that guy! I can see why I fell for Conrad because he’s the hurting, handsome guy and I was reminded that Belly was always in love with this guy. It’s always Conrad for her.

~ Because I’m so much more older – this actually bored me a bit. Belly is whiny and understandable because she is young! It’s jumping timelines from when she’s 11 to 14 to 15, etc…so we see her as a whiny girl. And I can’t see that much changes from 11 to 16. I can see why Conrad pushes her away and I’m glad he does.

~ There are SO many changes from the book to the show, I can see why hardcore fans didn’t love the show! There is no debutant ball in the book, Steven doesn’t stay for that summer when she turns 16 – he is in flashbacks though. I get why they made the changes….how do you stretch out this 276 book into 7 episodes? I felt like they did have all the parts from the book in the show though – like all those late night talks with Conrad. I don’t mind the extra stuff I thought it made it entertaining. But yes so many different changes from the book.

Why you should read it:

perfect for teen readers, it’s short, has summer vibes and summer crushes

Why you might not want to read it:

Way different from the Amazon series!
Belly is still annoying me after all these years 😂 but she doesn’t annoy me that much on the show

My Thoughts:

I’m glad I did my first read in 2009 and loved it as a story about a young girl who has these amazing summers with 2 boys and their lovely mom. It’s about friendship at its core and love. At my age now, I do prefer the show because there is many more things happening to keep me entertained but I can see why that didn’t make fans of the series happy also because a whole lot of things were added! But I will say this – them using “This Love” from Taylor Swift for the trailer was genius because this song is ALLLLLLL Belly and Conrad forever feels lol. So here’s a video:

📚 ~ Yolanda

Quotes From the Book:

“I love Conrad and I probably always would. I would spend my whole life loving him one way or another. Maybe I would get married, maybe I would have a family, but it wouldn’t matter, because a piece of my heart, the piece where summer lived, would always be Conrad’s”
― Jenny Han, The Summer I Turned Pretty

“It’s hard to throw away history. It was like you were throwing away a part of yourself.”
― Jenny Han, The Summer I Turned Pretty

The Charmed List by. Julie Abe | ARC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: The Charmed List

Author: Julie Abe

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 304

Publication Date: 7/5/22

Publisher: Wednesday Books

Categories: Young Adult, Teen Reader, Romance, Contemporary, Magical Realism

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

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

After spending most of high school as the quiet girl, Ellie Kobata is ready to take some risks and have a life-changing summer, starting with her Anti-Wallflower List—thirteen items she’s going to check off one by one. She’s looking forward to riding rollercoasters, making her art Instagram public (maybe), and going on an epic road-trip with her best friend Lia.

But when number four on Ellie’s list goes horribly wrong—revenge on Jack Yasuda—she’s certain her summer has gone from charmed to cursed. Instead of a road trip with Lia, Ellie finds herself stuck in a car with Jack driving to a magical convention. But as Ellie and Jack travel down the coast of California, number thirteen on her list—fall in love—may be happening without her realizing it.

In The Charmed List, Julie Abe sweeps readers away to a secret magical world, complete with cupcakes and tea with added sparks of joy, and an enchanted cottage where you can dance under the stars.

Content Warning:

This one is a cute read with some fun elements to it: magic, enemies to lovers romance, a bucket list, and a road trip.

The magic element to the story is just kind of thrown in. Ellie and her family are part of the magic community, and Jack her ex-friend/enemy and his dad are part of it too, her best friend Lia – is not. There are some rules about being part of the magic community and we do see some mild magic being done. Ellie has a bucket list for the summer and I think it was nice for her to go through with it to help her get out of her shy-girl shell. Also there is the romance between Ellie and Jack, they used to be friends, until Jack closed himself off to her, with his dad’s encouragement. But on the road trip they are forced to spend time together which means they start liking one another.

The story reads more for teenagers so I didn’t quite connect to the story or characters, I’m not the audience for this one. But I think someone who wants a light hearted teen romance that has magic would really enjoy this book.

Why you should read it:

magic, romance, a bucket list and a road trip
sweet, coming of age story

Why you might not want to read it:

this is more for teen readers

My Thoughts:

I’m not the target audience for this book but I thought it was a sweet story about a girl who is trying to break out of her shell. Some parts were a bit dramatic for me, like when Ellie’s best friend finds out about magic but like I said – I wasn’t connecting to the book or characters. I think if you want a light-hearted romance filled with magic, and some angst you will enjoy this one.

📚 ~ Yolanda

Fake It Till You Bake It by. Jamie Wesley | ARC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: Fake It Till You Bake It

Author: Jamie Wesley

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 336

Publication Date: 6/21/22

Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin

Categories: Romance, Contemporary, Adult Fiction, Food Romance, Opposites Attract

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

Thank you to St. Martin’s Griffin for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

A reality star and a cupcake-baking football player pretend to be a couple in order to save his bakery in this sweet and sexy romance from Jamie Wesley, Fake It Till You Bake It.

Jada Townsend-Matthews is the most reviled woman in America after turning down a proposal on a reality dating show. When she comes home to lick her wounds, Jada finds herself working at San Diego’s newest cupcake bakery, Sugar Blitz, alongside the uptight owner and professional football player Donovan Dell.

When a reporter mistakenly believes Jada and Donovan are an item, they realize they can use the misunderstanding to their advantage to help the struggling bakery and rehabilitate Jada’s image. Faking a relationship should be simple, but sometimes love is the most unexpected ingredient.

Fake it Till You Bake It is a sweet confection of a novel, the perfect story to curl up with and enjoy with a cupcake on the side.

Content Warning: cyber-bullying

I thought this was a cute foodie romance involving cupcakes. Of course it was the cover that drew me to the story and it perfectly suits the story.

Donovan is a football player with a sweet tooth! He is the owner of a cupcake bakery. I could just imagine a big man with this delicate, frosted cupcakes and I’d smile. The moment he meets Jada, they get off on the wrong foot but once they start spending more time together we see that Jada isn’t the snobbish girl he first met. She’s very sweet and personable actually, compared to Donovans sometimes gruff and stern personality.

The building romance between Donovan and Jada is pretty steady. The do notice one another, then get into a fake-dating situation until they decide to give in to the undeniable attraction between them. There was good banter between them, and they did make a good couple. I did wish there was more chemistry between them because at times it felt a bit forced. I wanted more of a build up since they did come off irritated with one another at first meeting and hinted at an enemies to lover romance. But I’d say this is a more light-hearted romance than anything too intense.

Why you should read it:

quick, light-hearted romance
diverse cast of characters
a football player who sells cupcakes

Why you might not want to read it:

chemistry felt forced at times

My Thoughts:

I thought this was enjoyable but sometimes the chemistry between Don and Jada felt forced. I did like the characters though! If you want a light-hearted romance that has football, cupcakes, dating show and fake dating, then this is the book for you!

📚 ~ Yolanda

We Can’t Keep Meeting Like This by. Rachel Lynn Solomon | Book Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: We Can’t Keep Meeting Like This

Author: Rachel Lynn Solomon

Format: ebooks (borrowed)

Pages: 336

Publication Date: 6/8/21

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Categories: Family, Coming of Age, Contemporary, Young Adult, Romance, Mental Health

A wedding harpist disillusioned with love and a hopeless romantic cater-waiter flirt and fight their way through a summer of weddings.

Quinn Berkowitz and Tarek Mansour’s families have been in business together for years: Quinn’s parents are wedding planners, and Tarek’s own a catering company. At the end of last summer, Quinn confessed her crush on him in the form of a rambling email—and then he left for college without a response.

Quinn has been dreading seeing him again almost as much as she dreads another summer playing the harp for her parents’ weddings. When he shows up at the first wedding of the summer, looking cuter than ever after a year apart, they clash immediately. Tarek’s always loved the grand gestures in weddings—the flashier, the better—while Quinn can’t see them as anything but fake. Even as they can’t seem to have one civil conversation, Quinn’s thrown together with Tarek wedding after wedding, from performing a daring cake rescue to filling in for a missing bridesmaid and groomsman.

Quinn can’t deny her feelings for him are still there, especially after she learns the truth about his silence, opens up about her own fears, and begins learning the art of harp-making from an enigmatic teacher.

Maybe love isn’t the enemy after all—and maybe allowing herself to fall is the most honest thing Quinn’s ever done.

Content Warning: depression

Quinn works for the family wedding business but deep down inside she wants out and to do something else, she just doesn’t know what. On top of that the boy she had a crush on, Tarek is back from his first year in college. They haven’t spoken in a year and Quinn feels conflicted about that. Also Quinn has many feelings about love – she doesn’t believe in romantic gestures, she thinks everyone is performing in a relationship and she doesn’t ever want to be hurt by love.

This is definitely Quinn’s journey in finding out her passion outside of weddings and trying to figure out relationships. The romance is rocky – she and Tarek have history but a big gap of not communicating. We find out Tarek’s reasons for ghosting on her but even though Quinn pines about Tarek she keeps him at arms length, except for the physical parts of the relationship. That was a bit frustrating and I felt for Tarek – he was trying pretty hard to get through to her. So it isn’t the kind of romance that makes me swoon, it’s messy, but definitely reflects two young people trying to figure it out. There is lots of chemistry between them physically though.

There was a lot of mental health representation because Quinn has OCD and Tarek has clinical depression. So I like when they talk about their experiences.

Why you should read it:

representation for OCD and clinical depression
coming of age story, main character is trying to find her passion, navigating life after high school
issues about relationships – what is love, what is real, what is worth fighting for

Why you might not want to read it:

Quinn and Tarek have lots of physical chemistry but outside of that Quinn was closed off to relationships so I was a bit frustrated with her
needed more muslim rep on Tarek’s side I think – we didn’t learn much about him outside of him cooking

My Thoughts:

I understand Quinn not loving big grand gestures because she thinks it’s all performative (I can relate at my age and 2 marriages) but for someone who is just young, I was bummed she shot Tarek down every time he wanted to show her how he felt. I get she comes from a place of hurt but poor Tarek haha. I didn’t think they made a good match. But I did like other things about the story like Quinn having OCD and issues about her relationships stemming from her parents own problems. Also, Tarek’s story about clinical depression was important as well. I thought this was an okay read.

📚 ~ Yolanda

Never Coming Home by. Kate Williams | ARC Review

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Title: Never Coming Home

Author: Kate Williams

Format: eBook (NetGalley)

Pages: 320

Publication Date: 6/21/22

Publisher: Delacorte Press

Categories: Contemporary, Young Adult, Mystery, Thriller, Horror

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 Press for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!

The beach read you have been dying for! When ten of America’s hottest teenage influencers are invited to an exclusive island resort, things are sure to get wild. But murder isn’t what anyone expected. Will anyone survive?

Everyone knows Unknown Island—it’s the world’s most exclusive destination. Think white sand beaches, turquoise seas, and luxury accommodations. Plus, it’s invite only, no one over twenty-one allowed, and it’s absolutely free. Who wouldn’t want to go?

After launching with a showstopping viral marketing campaign, the whole world is watching as the mysterious resort opens its doors to the First Ten, the ten elite influencers specifically chosen to be the first to experience everything Unknown Island has to offer. You know them. There’s the gamer, the beauty blogger, the rich girl, the superstar, the junior politician, the environmentalist, the DJ, the CEO, the chef, and the athlete.

What they don’t know is that they weren’t invited to Unknown Island for their following—they were invited for their secrets. Everyone is hiding a deadly one, and it looks like someone’s decided it’s payback time. Unknown Island isn’t a vacation, it’s a trap. And it’s beginning to look like the First Ten—no matter how influential—are never coming home.

Content Warning: Murder, Death, Drug Use, Suicide

This was an interesting story that kept me on my toes even though I had an inkling of who the murderer was after the first murder.

I did like the premise of the story. A bunch of social media influencers get invited to an exclusive, mysterious island – they assume it will boost their following but when they arrive there, they figure out real fast that something is off. Did it make me think of the Fyre Festival debacle? For sure. One by one the influencers start dying. It seems like someone wants revenge because each of these influencers have a past. Each one of them is tied to a death and now they are being killed off one by one on this island.

The murders happen fairly quick and this is the type of story that takes place in 24 hours, except in this case it is 48 hours I believe – though it felt like a week at least. How can all that killing happen in one day? A mastermind must be behind it all. I had my suspicions who it was which turned out right but didn’t know exactly how the person was pulling it off. We get an explanation in the end though.

As for the characters, I think the only one who I thought was interesting was Manny, but maybe because we had more time in his head than the other characters. And Emma Jane was interesting also. I did like learning about each character’s back story especially with how they were tied to a death.

The ending was interesting, we get an explanation of how things happened by way of social media commenters – it reminded me of how people on TikTok like to try and figure it out murder cases as a community. But I don’t think that it totally worked for me, I was left a little unsatisfied with it.

Why you should read it:

take the Fyre Festival incident and add murder to it and you have a story that could be a reality show type slasher movie
to see who the murderer is and why
you like thrillers and mysteries

Why you might not want to read it:

not into gruesome murder

My Thoughts:

This was a quick read and it kept me on my toes even though my suspicions about who the killer was correct. It was interesting to see how the person pulled it off. I think the story did a good job of exploring the issue of who gets to decide who deserves death. Each person on this island has a story to tell, but were they deserving death because of the mistakes they made in their life? Though it was a quick read I did feel somewhat unsatisfied at the end of it. But this one could definitely be made into a slasher movie, and I’d definitely watch it, but close my eyes during a few parts.

📚 ~ Yolanda