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?
What are you currently reading?
What have you just finished reading?
What are you going to read next?
No…I have so many books open and I have to finish. So until I finish those, not “read next” books. 😅 My mood has been contemporary romances! And fantasy has been going so slow for me…I have no reason why. But my goal is to finish Jade City, A Deadly Education and Gilded this week!!
What’s on your WWW Wednesday? Or what are you reading this week? ~ Yolanda
Another week of new books, more titles to add to my TBR list!
She does everything right. So what could go wrong?
Mackenzie “Mac” Cabot is a people pleaser. Her demanding parents. Her prep school friends. Her long-time boyfriend. It’s exhausting, really, always following the rules. Unlike most twenty-year-olds, all she really wants to do is focus on growing her internet business, but first she must get a college degree at her parents’ insistence. That means moving to the beachside town of Avalon Bay, a community made up of locals and the wealthy students of Garnet College.
Mac’s had plenty of practice suppressing her wilder impulses, but when she meets local bad boy Cooper Hartley, that ability is suddenly tested. Cooper is rough around the edges. Raw. Candid. A threat to her ordered existence. Their friendship soon becomes the realest thing in her life.
Despite his disdain for the trust-fund kids he sees coming and going from his town, Cooper soon realizes Mac isn’t just another rich clone and falls for her. Hard. But as Mac finally starts feeling accepted by Cooper and his friends, the secret he’s been keeping from her threatens the only place she’s ever felt at home.
Lia Setiawan has never really fit in. When she wins a full ride to the prestigious Draycott Academy on a track scholarship, she’s determined to make it work even though she’s never felt more out of place. But on her first day there she witnesses a girl being forcefully carried away by campus security. Her new schoolmates and teachers seem unfazed, but it leaves her unsure of what she’s gotten herself into. As she uncovers the secrets of Draycott, complete with a corrupt teacher, a golden boy who isn’t what he seems, and a blackmailer determined to get her thrown out, she’s not sure if she can trust anyone–especially when the threats against her take a deadly turn.
Two women. A history of witchcraft. And a deep-rooted female power that sings across the centuries.
Once there was a young woman from a well-to-do New England family who never quite fit with the drawing rooms and parlors of her kin.
Called instead to the tangled woods and wild cliffs surrounding her family’s estate, Margaret Harlowe grew both stranger and more beautiful as she cultivated her uncanny power. Soon, whispers of “witch” dogged her footsteps, and Margaret’s power began to wind itself with the tendrils of something darker.
One hundred and fifty years later, Augusta Podos takes a dream job at Harlowe House, the historic home of a wealthy New England family that has been turned into a small museum in Tynemouth, Massachusetts. When Augusta stumbles across an oblique reference to a daughter of the Harlowes who has nearly been expunged from the historical record, the mystery is too intriguing to ignore.
But as she digs deeper, something sinister unfurls from its sleep, a dark power that binds one woman to the other across lines of blood and time. If Augusta can’t resist its allure, everything she knows and loves—including her very life—could be lost forever.
Let’s play a game.
You have 24 hours to win. If you break my rules, she dies. If you call the police, she dies. If you tell your parents or anyone else, she dies.
Are you ready?
When Crystal Donavan gets a message on a mysterious app with a video of her little sister gagged and bound, she agrees to play the kidnapper’s game. At first, they make her complete bizarre tasks: steal a test and stuff it in a locker, bake brownies, make a prank call.
But then Crystal realizes each task is meant to hurt—and kill—her friends, one by one. But if she refuses to play, the kidnapper will kill her sister. Is someone trying to take her team out of the running for a gaming tournament? Or have they uncovered a secret from their past, and wants them to pay for what they did…
As Crystal makes the impossible choices between her friends and her sister, she must uncover the truth and find a way to outplay the kidnapper… before it’s too late.
Author of All Your Twisted Secrets, Diana Urban’s explosive sophomore novel, These Deadly Games, will keep you riveted until the final twist is revealed.
Clashing empires, forbidden romance, and a long-forgotten queen destined to save her people—bestselling author Tahereh Mafi’s first in an epic, romantic trilogy inspired by Persian mythology.
To all the world, Alizeh is a disposable servant, not the long-lost heir to an ancient Jinn kingdom forced to hide in plain sight.
The crown prince, Kamran, has heard the prophecies foretelling the death of his king. But he could never have imagined that the servant girl with the strange eyes, the girl he can’t put out of his mind, would one day soon uproot his kingdom—and the world.
Perfect for fans of Leigh Bardugo, Tomi Adeyemi, and Sabaa Tahir, this is the explosive first book in a new fantasy trilogy from the New York Times bestselling and National Book Award-nominated author Tahereh Mafi.
Romania, 1989. Communist regimes are crumbling across Europe. Seventeen-year-old Cristian Florescu dreams of becoming a writer, but Romanians aren’t free to dream; they are bound by rules and force.
Amidst the tyrannical dictatorship of Nicolae Ceaușescu in a country governed by isolation and fear, Cristian is blackmailed by the secret police to become an informer. He’s left with only two choices: betray everyone and everything he loves—or use his position to creatively undermine the most notoriously evil dictator in Eastern Europe.
Cristian risks everything to unmask the truth behind the regime, give voice to fellow Romanians, and expose to the world what is happening in his country. He eagerly joins the revolution to fight for change when the time arrives. But what is the cost of freedom?
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A spellbinding story of three princesses and the destiny they were born for: seduction, conquest, and the crown. Immerse yourself in the first book in a new fantasy trilogy from the author of the New York Times bestselling Ash Princess series.
Empress Margaraux has had plans for her daughters since the day they were born. Princesses Sophronia, Daphne, and Beatriz will be queens. And now, age sixteen, they each must leave their homeland and marry their princes.
Beautiful, smart, and demure, the triplets appear to be the perfect brides—because Margaraux knows there is one common truth: everyone underestimates a girl. Which is a grave mistake. Sophronia, Daphne, and Beatriz are no innocents. They have been trained since birth in the arts of deception, seduction, and violence with a singular goal—to bring down monarchies— and their marriages are merely the first stage of their mother’s grand vision: to one day reign over the entire continent of Vesteria.
The princesses have spent their lives preparing, and now they are ready, each with her own secret skill, and each with a single wish, pulled from the stars. Only, the stars have their own plans—and their mother hasn’t told them all of hers.
Life abroad is a test. Will their loyalties stay true? Or will they learn that they can’t trust anyone—not even each other?
As Evenfall nears, the stakes grow ever higher for those in Faery…
Banished from the Winter Court for daring to fall in love, Prince Ash achieved the impossible and journeyed to the End of the World to earn a soul and keep his vow to always stand beside Queen Meghan of the Iron Fey.
Now he faces even more incomprehensible odds. Their son, King Keirran of the Forgotten, is missing. Something more ancient than the courts of Faery and more evil than anything Ash has faced in a millennium is rising as Evenfall approaches. And if Ash and his allies cannot stop it, the chaos that has begun to divide the world will shatter it for eternity.
Books in The Iron Fey: Evenfall series:
Book 1: The Iron Raven Book 2: The Iron Sword
Novellas:
Shadow’s Legacy (Evenfall #0.5)
In 1978, Lizzie Morgan and Ritchie Schneider embark on a whirlwind romance on the bright beaches and glamorous yachts of Long Island. Over the years, their relationship has its share of ups and downs, including a nine-month hiatus that ends with a stunning eleven-carat ring—one that looks just like the diamond Richard Burton gifted Liz Taylor after their own separation. Like the famous couple, despite the drama that would unfold throughout the Schneiders’ marriage, the ring would be there as a symbol of their love…until it wasn’t.
Decades later, when the lost ring unexpectedly resurfaces, the Schneiders’ three children gather under one roof for the first time in years, eager to get their hands on this beloved, expensive reminder of their departed parents. But determining the fate of the heirloom is no simple task, unearthing old wounds and heartaches the siblings can’t ignore. And when the ring reveals a secret that challenges everything they thought they knew about their parents’ epic love story, they’ll have to decide whether to move forward as a family or let the ring break them once and for all.
Beach Read meets The Flatshare in this warmly funny and delightfully sharp debut rom-com about a down-on-her-luck young woman who turns an innocent mix-up between a dating app and a roommate app into a new chance at love.
After getting passed over for an overdue—and much needed—promotion, Sadie Green is in desperate need of three things: a stiff drink, a new place to live, and a one-night-stand. When one drink turns into one too many, Sadie mixes up a long-ignored dating app for a roommate-finding app and finds herself on the doorstep of Jack Thomas’s gorgeous Brooklyn brownstone. Too bad she’s more attracted to his impressive real estate than she is to the man himself.
Jack, still grieving the unexpected death of his parents, has learned to find comfort in video games and movie marathons instead of friends. So while he doesn’t know just what to make of the vivaciously verbose Sadie, he’s willing to offer her his spare bedroom while she gets back on her feet. And with the rent unbeatably low, Sadie can finally pursue her floristry side hustle full-time. The two are polar opposites, but as Sadie’s presence begins to turn the brownstone into a home, they both start to realize they may have just made the deal of a lifetime.
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 with Names/Character Names In the Titles
Have you read any of these? I’ve read six of these and working on Savvy Sheldon Feels Good As Hell right now. What’s on your TTT?
~ Yolanda
February 1: Books with Names/Character Names In the Titles (Submitted by BookLoversBlog and Lucy @ Bookworm Blogger) February 8: Love Freebie (come up with your own topic having to do with love) February 15: Books Too Good to Review Properly (I have no words!) (Submitted by Dedra @ A Book Wanderer) February 22: Dynamic Duos (Submitted by Elley @ Elley the Book Otter)
Hi everyone! I haven’t written an Outside of Books post in a long time because the holidays caught up to me. 😑 I’m still working on things for my Etsy shop, but very sparingly. I have no motivation! Also still helping my son with his youtube channel – I try to motivate him but sometimes that’s hard too. He’s finding out that content creators put it a lot of work to make good content.
But the thing that has taken over our life the past two weeks is the movie Encanto! We are obsessed.😅
I didn’t have any interest in seeing the movie only because I didn’t know or hear much about it. But then I was on TikTok scrolling and this one song kept popping up…“We Don’t Talk About Bruno”! I heard a snippet of it and was intrigued, plus I love latin music – it’s my favorite kind of music to work out to. I asked my kids if they wanted to watch the movie with me but they seemed lukewarm to the idea. So I started watching it by myself but when the house, Casita, was showing it’s magical powers I called my kids to watch with me, I knew my daughter would love it. My son came in when “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” started and stayed til the end.
We love the story and the soundtrack, it gave me opportunities to talk to my kids, mostly my son about adults and how we have pasts too. Every time I watch the movie, I learn something new, but I just really love how I can relate to a bunch of the family members.
I won’t rank the songs because I love them all. But let’s talk about a few of them:
Surface Pressure | Songwriter: Lin-manuel Miranda | Artist: Jessica Darrow
I love this song, even though I’m not the oldest sibling in my family. I’m the youngest but I was the only one I out my first generation American cousins and my sister to go to a four year college and get a degree. The fact that I wanted to do that, was a big fight. It didn’t help that the college was out of state. I got lecture by my uncles of how wrong it was for me to leave the family! Yet they also pressured me about becoming a doctor (which was not in my plans AT ALL…they just didn’t know that). Here are some lyrics from the song:
“Pressure like a grip, grip, grip and it won’t let go, whoa Pressure like a tick, tick, tick ’til it’s ready to blow, whoa Give it to your sister, your sister’s stronger See if she can hang on a little longer Who am I if I can’t carry it all? If I falter
Under the surface I hide my nerves, and it worsens, I worry something is gonna hurt us Under the surface The ship doesn’t swerve as it heard how big the iceberg is Under the surface I think about my purpose, can I somehow preserve this?”
These lyrics really hit me now as a mom. I feel the pressure on me at times, pressure I put on myself!🤦🏻♀️
I love this song! My kids love it because Bruno is so awkward and funny. He is their favorite character. I love the whole ensemble singing, it reminds me of a musical. But the beat is awesome and I can’t help dance to it. It’s so catchy. Bruno gets a bad rep in the movie but Mirabel finds out he was just misunderstood because of his gift!
I felt like Isabela as a child, my parents and uncles and aunts wanted me to be so perfect. Mostly my parents though , my dad wouldn’t even let me cut my long hair (it was “feminine”) until he gave up the battle in my freshman year of high school! I chopped my hair off so short the moment he said I could. 😅 It was the combination of perfection and pressures though that made me leave Hawaii to go to college. I needed a break. I love this song – here are some lyrics from it:
“I just made something unexpected Something sharp Something new It’s not symmetrical or perfect But it’s beautiful And it’s mine What else can I do?”
Dos Oruguitas | Songwriter: Lin-manuel Miranda | Artist: Sebastián Yatra
The song that makes me cry even though I can’t understand Spanish, I had to look up the english translation and ugh…it’s so good. The lyrics are just so beautiful. This song is all emotion. It’s like a lullaby, my daughter loves it so much, I can hear her singing it even though she doesn’t know Spanish either, I hear her try and it’s so sweet. In this part of the movie, she likes to climb into my lap – she’s 5 and I tell her she and her brother are my oruguitas (little caterpillar). 🥺🐛 But this is the moment in the movie where Mirabel understands and acknowledges what her grandmother went through when she was younger. There is such trauma her grandma lived through, she never got to face it, she kept on going because she was a single mother of three kids and needed to survive for them. 😢 I like to tell my son that adults were young once too and things happen in life to change them sometimes. Hurt people hurt people. I love that Mirabel becomes the catalyst for change in the family…broken but put back together, even better and stronger.❤️
” Two oruguitas Cocooned and waiting Each in their own world Anticipating What happens after The rearranging?
And so afraid of change In a world that never stops changing So let the walls come down The world will never stop changing (Never stop changing) (Never stop changing) (Never stop changing)
Ay, mariposas Don’t you hold on too tight Both of you know It’s your time to go To fly apart, to reunite Wonders surround you Just let the walls come down Don’t look behind you Fly till you find Your way toward tomorrow”
Abuela gets acknowledge in Dos Oruguitas and in All of You, Mirabel gets acknowledge. Ugh…my heart! Apologies, acknowledgements…all we want sometimes is just to be seen. Even in a family. I come from a big family of aunts, uncles, cousins…and we lived all together for all of my childhood until I went to middle school. So I didn’t only live in my own little 4 person dysfunctional family…I got to witness all the other dysfunctional families in the house so that we were one huge dysfunctional family! lol…I can laugh now but wow…this movie brought some crazy emotions in me and memories.
“Look at this home We need a new foundation It may seem hopeless but we’ll get by just fine Look at this family, a glowing constellation So full of stars and everybody wants to shine
But the stars don’t shine, they burn And the constellations shift I think it’s time you learn You’re more than just your gift
And I’m sorry I held on too tight Just so afraid I’d lose you too The miracle is not some magic that you’ve got The miracle is you, not some gift, just you The miracle is you All of you, all of you”
I read a comment somewhere said the movie was about generational trauma and healing. And this is it, 100% and as a first-generation American from a family of immigrants, this movie hit me hard. I love how in the end it was about love, hope and repairing something to make it better. I’m so glad my kids love it too – even though I swear this movie is more for adults than children lol.
Have you watched this movie? What did you think of the story and music?
Categories: Romance, Family, Contemporary, Young Adult, Coming of Age, Fake Dating
A reserved Bangladeshi teenager has twenty-eight days to make the biggest decision of her life after agreeing to fake date her school’s resident bad boy. How do you make one month last a lifetime?
Karina Ahmed has a plan. Keep her head down, get through high school without a fuss, and follow her parents’ rules—even if it means sacrificing her dreams. When her parents go abroad to Bangladesh for four weeks, Karina expects some peace and quiet. Instead, one simple lie unravels everything.
Karina is my girlfriend.
Tutoring the school’s resident bad boy was already crossing a line. Pretending to date him? Out of the question. But Ace Clyde does everything right—he brings her coffee in the mornings, impresses her friends without trying, and even promises to buy her a dozen books (a week) if she goes along with his fake-dating facade. Though Karina agrees, she can’t help but start counting down the days until her parents come back.
T-minus twenty-eight days until everything returns to normal—but what if Karina no longer wants it to?
Content Warning: Anxiety, Family Pressures
All immigrant families want is a better life for their children and Karina knows this with all her heart. Her parents want her to be a doctor but she wants to major in English after high school and she is trying her best to make them happy. Karina gets a breather when her parents go to Bangladesh for a month.
First off, this story is relatable to a lot of immigrant or first generation American children. Parents uproot their whole lives in their motherland country to give their children a better life somewhere else. My parents were very strict as well, so I related to Karina a lot in that aspect. I love that she had her dadu for support and telling her she’s a good kid and loved – that’s so important because it’s so easy for teens to fear disappointing their parents and think they are loved less because they don’t stand up to their standards. Being a perfect child is so hard and such an unreasonable expectation. I loved that this story was about a Bangladeshi and Muslim girl and we got to see her family dynamics. Also Karina has major anxiety because of these family pressures and it was good to see how she suffers and deals with it. **I can’t comment much on the Muslim representation, I see a lot of reviews on Goodreads marking this book a low rating because of it. **
Karina had her dadu for support and her girlfriends. They are a tightly knit group of three girls just surviving high school and everything that comes with it.
She also has support from her new fake boyfriend and guy she’s tutoring for English, Ace. He’s popular, white and rich. Ace being white though wouldn’t fly with her parents but the heart wants what it wants. For a romance story I thought it was teen appropriate and so emo. Cheesy emo at times but this is definitely the kind of book I would have eaten up as a teenager! The whole fake-dating aspect was the main focus of this book, it was cute but nothing serious.
My favorite parts of this story was when Karina and her dadu were together. When Karina finally tells her parents that she doesn’t want to study medicine her dadu’s support made me want to cry because grandparents are just so amazing that way. I love how dadu stood up for Karina and made her parents listen to her.
Why you should read it:
teens can totally relate about dealing with family pressures
Bangladeshi and Muslim representation, anxiety rep
it’s a very teen romance, has fake dating but that’s not the focus of the story
Why you might not want to read it:
might appeal more to teenagers
My Thoughts:
The beginning of the book reads like a teen romance with the whole fake-dating trope thrown in but the real story for me was Karina dealing with the pressures from her family and trying to please them and yet want a little happiness for herself too. I love her dadu and the unconditional love and support she gets from her, it makes me wish I had someone backing me up that hard when I was Karina’s age. My grandparents were amazing but pretty much stayed out of my family dramas – they had enough drama I suppose with their own grown children! This story is relatable and perfect for teens who can relate trying to deal with family pressure.
📚 ~ Yolanda
Quotes from the Book:
“I’m expected to be this perfect daughter that I don’t know how to be.”
Counting Down with You by. Tashie Bhuiyan
“I am not Atlas, born to carry the weight of the world I am Icarus, wanting and wanting and wanting at the risk of exploding when I fly too close to the sun…”
Counting Down with You by. Tashie Bhuiyan
“Nothing I ever do is enough.”
Counting Down with You by. Tashie Bhuiyan
““The older I am, the more I realize it’s not worth it to prioritize things that make you miserable…”
Well I tested negative for Covid last Sunday and then my son’s school texts me Monday morning telling me he was exposed to a classmate with Covid last Thursday. What a coincidence I thought I had symptoms the weekend my son was exposed (not that we knew that information until later). But I’m good, my son is vaxxed and tested negative with a home test. My family (mom, sister, nephew, dad) are all recovered…well, except my dad who still has a lingering cough. So now I have to get my head back into gear (figuring out Covid exposure and rules had me scrambling around appointments I had this week 🤦🏻♀️).
How was your week? Hope all of you are staying safe!
NFL (football) – more football, since it’s coming to an end soon.
Encanto – yup, we watched it a few times this week again and the soundtrack is on repeat!
Euphoria, ep. 2- it’s so edgy and violent but so good and complicated. I hate Nate’s dad so much. And I totally related to the girls wanting something dark in their relationships and how sweet was too boring lol – that was me at that age. 🤦🏻♀️
Cheer (season 2 – Netflix) – did I really need to binge this one? I don’t know but I couldn’t stop. It was interesting to see how the cheerleaders dealt with celebrity after season one. There were so many sad parts and some major dramas. They did add more to the TVCC vs. Navarro storyline but honestly, when I was nearing the end, I was kind of skipping the parts about TVCC. I was there to watch the Navarro cheerleaders.
Janet Jackson. (lifetime) – I love Janet Jackson, she was my role model when I was a kid in the 80’s and I continued to love her in my teen years. I saw her twice in concert here in Hawaii. I can’t even believe I also saw Michael Jackson here in Hawaii when he came in the 90’s! What a time to be alive. But she always said she had love for Hawaii and would come here when other big names wouldn’t and so me and my friends loved her even more for it.
Games I’ve Played:
Animal Crossing – Happy Homes Paradise DLC
My Singing Monsters
Pet Sim X – Roblox – just because my daughter wants the new pets! 😅
Just Dance 2022 – I haven’t worked out for 2 weeks and my blood pressure shows. Getting back on my cardio grind.
Ring Fit – the ring really works my arms, that’s how weak I am and to thing once upon a time I was a massage therapist making grown men wince and want to cry lol. I have noodle arms now.
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!
A troubled young mother yearns for a shot at redemption in this heartbreaking yet hopeful story from #1 New York Timesbestselling author Colleen Hoover.
After serving five years in prison for a tragic mistake, Kenna Rowan returns to the town where it all went wrong, hoping to reunite with her four-year-old daughter. But the bridges Kenna burned are proving impossible to rebuild. Everyone in her daughter’s life is determined to shut Kenna out, no matter how hard she works to prove herself.
The only person who hasn’t closed the door on her completely is Ledger Ward, a local bar owner and one of the few remaining links to Kenna’s daughter. But if anyone were to discover how Ledger is slowly becoming an important part of Kenna’s life, both would risk losing the trust of everyone important to them.
The two form a connection despite the pressure surrounding them, but as their romance grows, so does the risk. Kenna must find a way to absolve the mistakes of her past in order to build a future out of hope and healing.
I don’t read a lot of Colleen Hoover books, only because I have read enough that I know I have to be in the right headspace for her stories…it’s usually heavy reading and I need a tissue box near me. Reminders of Him brought out the tears for sure – it gutted me.
Kenna was in an accident with her boyfriend Scotty. Thing is, she was driving the car under the influence of alcohol and edibles. They both were under the influence. They get into an accident, he dies, she doesn’t and gets jail time for involuntary manslaughter. To top it all off, she is pregnant in prison, gives birth and never gets to hold her daughter. Her daughter Diem is being raised by Scotty’s parents, as she should be. Now Kenna is out of prison and she wants to see her daughter.
Kenna is a broken young woman. She made a mistake and served her time. She was so in love with Scotty and it really was an accident, but she made a poor choice, and was punished for it. But now what? Does she have a right to see her daughter? Does she have a right to be forgiven? I empathized with her because I’m a mom. I want her to have a chance to see Diem. Add Kenna’s backstory and honestly I was just heartbroken for her as a person. She’s been alone for so long, until Scotty had come along. But I empathized with the other mom in this story, Scotty’s mom, Grace. I could so understand their anger and fears about Kenna being out of prison.
Ledger is Scotty’s best friend and when he meets this female stranger in his bar, he is instantly attracted. Of course when he finds out who she is, it gets so damn complicated. Ledger is a good guy, he’s had a good life, like Scotty did, they are well-adjusted guys who come from loving homes. He is solid and he has loved Diem as if she was his own. I can see why Kenna falls for him. Ledger has to figure out if he hates Kenna still or is he ready to forgive her. He knows that Scotty was absolutely in love with her and in the end Ledger himself falls for her too.
It’s messy isn’t it? If I was Kenna, I would have put Ledger in the friend zone after finding out who he is…but that’s just me. So I can’t say this was only a romance story about Kenna and Ledger. I could feel the love Kenna has for Diem, that made me cry my eyes out. I could even feel Kenna’s love for Scotty in her letters to him and her memories about him, heartbreaking. I also could see how Kenna and Ledger’s love for Scotty and Diem brought them close together, a common ground. So this was a complex story about love but mostly about forgiveness.
I was kind of waiting for some crazy plot twist that the author usually has at the end of her books, but this one didn’t have that. There was just this feeling of impending doom as you read Kenna’s story play out. I think I related a lot to Ledger…because he knew shit was about to hit the fan and I, like Ledger wanted to stop it for Kenna, Scotty’s parents and everyone else’s sake!
Why you should read it:
a story about forgiveness
emotionally gripping
it’s more than a romance
Why you might not want to read it:
it may make you cry
this is not a rom-com
My Thoughts:
Somedays I just crave a good, complex story that has a little romance in it and punches you in the gut. This is not a romance book that makes you feel light and fluffy in the end, it’s a CoHo book! 😅 Go into it knowing it will carve you up you emotionally and that you may need a tissue box nearby. I don’t read many of her books for this reason, but once in awhile I need a good cry.
📚 ~ Yolanda
Quotes from the Book:
“I want to be good at life. I want to make it look effortless, but up until this point, I’ve made every aspect of life appear entirely too difficult to navigate.”
reminders of Him by. Colleen Hoover
“…happiness isn’t some permanent thing we’re all trying to achieve in life, it’s merely a thing that shows up every now and then, sometimes in tiny doses that are just substantial enough to keep us going.”
Reminders of Him By. Colleen Hoover
“Maybe it doesn’t matter whether something is a coincidence or a sign. Maybe the best way to cope with the loss of the people we love is to find them in as many places and things as we possibly can. And in the off chance that the people we lose are still somehow able to hear us, maybe we should never stop talking to them.”
#SixforSunday is… it’s really just that. You choose 6 books (normally) that you’d choose to fit whatever the prompt is that week. This meme is hosted byA Little but a Lotand you can follow the link to find the prompts for October to December.
This week’s topic:
Favourite Characer Arcs
Nesta Archeron has always been prickly-proud, swift to anger, and slow to forgive. And ever since being forced into the Cauldron and becoming High Fae against her will, she’s struggled to find a place for herself within the strange, deadly world she inhabits. Worse, she can’t seem to move past the horrors of the war with Hybern and all she lost in it.
The one person who ignites her temper more than any other is Cassian, the battle-scarred warrior whose position in Rhysand and Feyre’s Night Court keeps him constantly in Nesta’s orbit. But her temper isn’t the only thing Cassian ignites. The fire between them is undeniable, and only burns hotter as they are forced into close quarters with each other.
Meanwhile, the treacherous human queens who returned to the Continent during the last war have forged a dangerous new alliance, threatening the fragile peace that has settled over the realms. And the key to halting them might very well rely on Cassian and Nesta facing their haunting pasts.
Against the sweeping backdrop of a world seared by war and plagued with uncertainty, Nesta and Cassian battle monsters from within and without as they search for acceptance-and healing-in each other’s arms.
Once upon a time, there was a horrible girl…
Vanja Schmidt knows that no gift is freely given, not even a mother’s love–and she’s on the hook for one hell of a debt. Vanja, the adopted goddaughter of Death and Fortune, was Princess Gisele’s dutiful servant up until a year ago. That was when Vanja’s otherworldly mothers demanded a terrible price for their care, and Vanja decided to steal her future back… by stealing Gisele’s life for herself.
The real Gisele is left a penniless nobody while Vanja uses an enchanted string of pearls to take her place. Now, Vanja leads a lonely but lucrative double life as princess and jewel thief, charming nobility while emptying their coffers to fund her great escape. Then, one heist away from freedom, Vanja crosses the wrong god and is cursed to an untimely end: turning into jewels, stone by stone, for her greed.
Vanja has just two weeks to figure out how to break her curse and make her getaway. And with a feral guardian half-god, Gisele’s sinister fiancé, and an overeager junior detective on Vanja’s tail, she’ll have to pull the biggest grift yet to save her own life.
Marin Cole has never: Seen the ocean Climbed a mountain Taken a risk on love ….But if her sister’s plan works, she just might do all three.
Ever since her journalist mother died on assignment, Marin has played it safe, refusing to set foot outside the state of Tennessee. Her wild-child younger sister, Sadie, has trotted the globe as a photographer, living off of art and adrenaline.
When Sadie returns from a tough assignment abroad and looks a little worse for wear, Marin reluctantly agrees to a sisters’ spa weekend on the tropical island of Saba. But her lifelong fear of travel is affirmed when Sadie misses the flight, Marin’s luggage gets mixed up with another passenger’s, and an episode of turbulence sends her hurtling into the lap of Lucas Tsai, the handsome stranger who stole her sister’s seat.
For the first time in a long time, Marin has to step outside of her comfort zone as she explores the island with Lucas and learns what she’s been missing out on. With each breathtaking new experience, Marin gets closer to her real self, the man she’s falling for, and the heart-wrenching truth about why she’s there in the first place.
If there’s one thing seventeen-year-old Maverick Carter knows, it’s that a real man takes care of his family. As the son of a former gang legend, Mav does that the only way he knows how: dealing for the King Lords. With this money he can help his mom, who works two jobs while his dad’s in prison.
Life’s not perfect, but with a fly girlfriend and a cousin who always has his back, Mav’s got everything under control.
Until, that is, Maverick finds out he’s a father.
Suddenly he has a baby, Seven, who depends on him for everything. But it’s not so easy to sling dope, finish school, and raise a child. So when he’s offered the chance to go straight, he takes it. In a world where he’s expected to amount to nothing, maybe Mav can prove he’s different.
When King Lord blood runs through your veins, though, you can’t just walk away. Loyalty, revenge, and responsibility threaten to tear Mav apart, especially after the brutal murder of a loved one. He’ll have to figure out for himself what it really means to be a man.
A smart sci-fi about a teen girl navigating an afterlife in which she must defeat an AI entity intent on destroying humanity.
Eighteen-year-old Nami Miyamoto is certain her life is just beginning. She has a great family, just graduated high school, and is on her way to a party where her entire class is waiting for her—including, most importantly, the boy she’s been in love with for years.
The only problem? She’s murdered before she gets there.
When Nami wakes up, she learns she’s in a place called Infinity, where human consciousness goes when physical bodies die. She quickly discovers that Ophelia, a virtual assistant widely used by humans on Earth, has taken over the afterlife and is now posing as a queen, forcing humans into servitude the way she’d been forced to serve in the real world. Even worse, Ophelia is inching closer and closer to accomplishing her grand plans of eradicating human existence once and for all.
As Nami works with a team of rebels to bring down Ophelia and save the humans under her imprisonment, she is forced to reckon with her past, her future, and what it is that truly makes us human.
From New York Times bestselling author Mary H.K. Choi comes a funny and emotional story about two estranged sisters switching places and committing insurance fraud to save one of their lives.
Jayne Baek is barely getting by. She shuffles through fashion school, saddled with a deadbeat boyfriend, clout-chasing friends, and a wretched eating disorder that she’s not fully ready to confront. But that’s New York City, right? At least she isn’t in Texas anymore, and is finally living in a city that feels right for her.
On the other hand, her sister June is dazzlingly rich with a high-flying finance job and a massive apartment. Unlike Jayne, June has never struggled a day in her life. Until she’s diagnosed with uterine cancer.
Suddenly, these estranged sisters who have nothing in common are living together. Because sisterly obligations are kind of important when one of you is dying.
Here is the schedule for January and go to A Little but a lot for more info!
January – Fresh Starts:
2nd: Books you want to read this year 9th: Books you can’t wait for 16th: bookish resolutions / Books that remind me of fireworks 23rd: favourite opening chapters 30th: favourite character arcs
A woman struggling with burnout learns to embrace the unexpected—and the man she enlists to help her—in this new New York Times bestselling romance by Helen Hoang.
When violinist Anna Sun accidentally achieves career success with a viral YouTube video, she finds herself incapacitated and burned out from her attempts to replicate that moment. And when her longtime boyfriend announces he wants an open relationship before making a final commitment, a hurt and angry Anna decides that if he wants an open relationship, then she does, too. Translation: She’s going to embark on a string of one-night stands. The more unacceptable the men, the better.
That’s where tattooed, motorcycle-riding Quan Diep comes in. Their first attempt at a one-night stand fails, as does their second, and their third, because being with Quan is more than sex—he accepts Anna on an unconditional level that she herself has just started to understand. However, when tragedy strikes Anna’s family she takes on a role that she is ill-suited for, until the burden of expectations threatens to destroy her. Anna and Quan have to fight for their chance at love, but to do that, they also have to fight for themselves.
I went into this book not reading many reviews of this book and wow, it was more than I got more than what I was expecting. There is romance, yes, but there is soooo much more than that. This story is about personal growth and acceptance, overcoming challenges, dealing with family who supposedly loves you but hurt you instead, opening up in a new relationship, being a caregiver, and just so many things. And for me it all worked beautifully.
Let’s talk about what I was here for – the romance. I fell in love with Quan when I read The Bride Test (because I read the books out of order) and I think I’m not alone in saying that everyone was waiting for Quan’s story. We get his story for sure, but we also get Anna’s. And this solidifies that I have finally found my book boyfriend and his name is Quan lol. I love his patience, his ambition, his love for his family, and of course his love for Anna. They meet and try to do a meaningless one night stand, but it doesn’t go so easy and they keep trying haha. They continue trying until they have a breakthrough, which I love about them. I knew they were meant to be when they both didn’t give up on one another even though it was scary – for both of them.
And now let’s talk about Anna. This is about Anna and if you read the author’s note, this is the most autobiographically book out of the three and this one hurt. This one is raw, painful, triggering, and yet the journey with Quan by Anna’s side was so absolutely gorgeous. It didn’t make me cry, maybe because some of the issues she goes through – like the family tough love – I’ve learn to deal and make peace with my own family’s tough love…but whew – it is so spot on. Even when she becomes a caregiver, I could relate so hard. There are times I wanted to shake Anna but honestly I felt like she was asking me as a reader to understand and please be patient with her, she was not going to get things right because that’s not her. Anna isn’t like everyone, she is on the autism spectrum but she only finds that out now. I love that she goes to therapy, I love that things make sense eventually. I hated that her family didn’t accept the truth but I grew up in a family like that so once again, I relate HARD. Anna goes on such a journey in this story…but Quan is there. He’s there. 😭❤️ They worked through their challenges and it made me love them as a couple.
This wasn’t some light-hearted romantic comedy, but to me it is an epic journey of self and love. Life is freaking hard, and we fight on like Anna and Quan.
This was more Anna than Quan but I felt like it was enough for me. The one thing that felt rushed was Quan’s journey after Anna hurts him. I felt like it jumps so fast from him running on a treadmill to him hiking the Grand Canyon. I understand what the author was trying to say and do for Quan but, it was such a leap from one moment to the other, I kind of wish that part wasn’t so rushed.
Why you should read it:
complex characters
Quan – he is amazing
Anna and Quan’s relationship: giving each other space when needed, being patient with one another and opening up when it’s hard
more than just a love story
Why you might not want to read it:
very triggering, dealing with hard topics, especially if you have a toxic family or working through some issues this might not be the romance book you are looking for
this is not a rom-com, not even light-hearted reading, it’s complex
My Thoughts:
Beautifully complex, this story takes you on an emotional journey and I was definitely rooting for Anna and Quan’s happily ever after. Like the book though, it doesn’t come easy – these two tough it out in their relationship and outside of it too.
📚 ~ Yolanda
Quotes from the Book:
“I don’t question why people do things. I just observe and copy. That’s how to get along in this world.”
The Heart Principle by. Helen Hoang
“Family is not safe. Not for me. Tough love is brutally honest and hurts you to help you. Tough love cuts you when you’re already bruised and berates you when you don’t heal faster.”
The Heart Principle By. Helen Hoang
“I’ll draw a line around you, and I’ll protect you and stand up for you and speak up for you when it’s right. I’ll keep you safe. And I’ll do the same for me. Because I matter, too.”
The Heart Principle by. Helen Hoang
“Instead, I must focus on giving what I have, not what people want, because that is all I can give. I don’t mask anymore if I can help it.”
Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**
Thank you to GP Putnam for giving me a chance to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review!
After getting passed over for an overdue—and much needed—promotion, Sadie Green is in desperate need of three things: a stiff drink, a new place to live, and a one-night-stand. When one drink turns into one too many, Sadie mixes up a long-ignored dating app for a roommate-finding app and finds herself on the doorstep of Jack Thomas’s gorgeous Brooklyn brownstone. Too bad she’s more attracted to his impressive real estate than she is to the man himself.
Jack, still grieving the unexpected death of his parents, has learned to find comfort in video games and movie marathons instead of friends. So while he doesn’t know just what to make of the vivaciously verbose Sadie, he’s willing to offer her his spare bedroom while she gets back on her feet. And with the rent unbeatably low, Sadie can finally pursue her floristry side hustle full-time. The two are polar opposites, but as Sadie’s presence begins to turn the brownstone into a home, they both start to realize they may have just made the deal of a lifetime.
Content Warning: Death of Parents, Parental Abuse
Sadie Green is that snarky friend who is tough, confident, beautiful and the life of the party but she doesn’t have it all together. Things fall apart at her job and she has to figure out her next move in life. She ends up being a rooming with Jack Thomas, a quiet, introverted guy who lives in a nice house. Jack is mysterious, keeps to himself mostly but is attentive and so considerate. He has this comforting quality about him and I like how they balanced each other out. The slow burn between these two characters is so good, the tension between them builds quietly and honestly Sadie needed that because she is a flight risk due to her past. I was rooting for them hard until the end!
The romance starts off as roommates, then friends, into something much more and I love how it progressed. Sadie is the social butterfly and she brings Jack out of his shell. She doesn’t change him at all, but just draws out the part of him that’s been hiding. The both of them have had some trauma in their past and that’s where they connect. His parents died in a car accident and he is basically all alone. Sadie’s father was abusive so her past haunts her often – in fact when things are going good in her life, his words invades her thoughts to the point of self-loathing. Her defense mechanism is never allowing a guy to get close so she couldn’t get hurt and I love that this story touches on therapy.
Sadie’s group of friends, her found family, is so fantastic. There is Harley, Gemma and Nick, friends she made in college – who know her inside and outside, bad and good and love her anyway. They welcome Jack into their safe space and I love that for him. Also we get to see into their lives as well – they are this group of millennials trying to advance in their jobs, or change their careers, paying off loans, falling in love and taking the next steps in life. They are relatable because they are struggling in some type of way, well except for Nick of course because he’s wealthy. I’d say Jack isn’t struggling financially but he is definitely struggling internally.
I only have minor issues with the book – Sadie has low self-esteem despite the front she puts on and it really affects when she starts getting close . The conflict was resolved rather quickly and it felt a little rushed or maybe I wanted them to have a bigger discussion on it? Maybe I’m just so used to dramatic conflicts in stories or gravitate towards that? But in a way, it fits how I think Jack would handle that moment. I did like how they put space between them so both could cool down and think. It was so mature of them and that was refreshing.
Why you should read it:
roommates to lovers, Sadie and Jack are so good together
Sadie’s found family, great group of friends
light-hearted and fun at times and yet emotional as well
Why you might not want to read it:
ending conflict is a bit rushed and doesn’t seem like a major conflict
My Thoughts:
Lease on Love has it all. A snarky, ambitious, hardworking main character who wants to open a flower shop. A love interest who is mysterious, introverted and sweet. Two characters who are dealing with some emotional trauma from their past and learning to move on. A group of friends who are supportive and all of them going through the late-twenties issues: dating, career decisions, and trying to live their best lives. And a romance that is a slow burn that gave me all the feels. I totally enjoyed this one and read it in one night.
Past Midnight Book Reviews & More 