I almost forgot to do a monthly wrap up for March! I want to forget about March altogether. It’s been the most anxiety filled, stressful month ever and April might be worse. All the news about the coronavirus is messing with my ability to concentrate on a book. I have so many books piling up on my nightstand, they do not hold my interest right now. 😞 It’s frustrating but I’m trying not to force anything. If I don’t want to read it, I put it aside and pick up another. I have a lot of books haha – maybe I need a book cleanse and not read for a good week. What will keep me occupied? Probably the new Animal Crossing game on the Nintendo Switch that I’ve been playing ~ plus home schooling my son takes up more than half the day.
Another thing I forgot because of everything going on? My one year anniversary for my blog! Yup, my first post was on March 13, 2019!! Oh how time flew by and how much has changed in one year exactly. I was bored and starting a blog last year, and today I’m worrying about my loved ones, friends, strangers – everyone in the world and pray, pray, pray for a vaccine or anti-viral to help with this deadly virus.
But thank you so much to my followers who stuck through with me as I find my way in this book review blogging world. It’s been fun meeting so many bloggers and book lovers out there. I’m grateful to all of you!
Anyway let’s see what I read in March 2020:
The next titles I had read months ago but reviews were posted in March 2020:
I think I did pretty good and read more than I expected. Let’s see if how I do in April. At least I can somewhat escape the news of the day with a book, even if I don’t finish it – I just keep trying to find one that will take my mind off current events for awhile. Stay safe everyone and stay healthy. Positive vibes to you all!
It’s where you give the first impression of the book you are currently reading, no matter how far along you are in the book, even if it’s just a few pages. Then you are going to try and predict how you will feel about the book once you are done.
I have so many books to go through from my Bookoutlet haul back in December. You know December when it was Christmas, it was good times, good vibes, and now here we are…April 2020 and reading isn’t taking away my anxiety from all things happening right now in the world, with the coronavirus. So I’ve picked up many books…only to put them down or skim them because I am not in the mood. So what about this one?
My First Impression:
Premise sounds fine, college girl wants to broaden her horizons and try her hand at having a better college experience? Okay, I’m here for it.
The cover is okay, nothing about it really catches my eye.
I hope this one is good but reviews on Goodreads is either love or hate…uh oh. We shall see if it keeps my attention. I need something to take me away from the madness of the world.
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:
Ten Signs You’re a Book Lover
(basically, people know you’re a book lover because… i.e., you’re always carrying a book or two, your library card broke from overuse, etc.)
Bookshelves at max capacity.
And I don’t have a huge bookshelf, but lately my collection has been spilling over into my daughter’s bookshelf. I need more.
2. Needing more bookshelves. (see number 1 😅)
3. When I can’t wait for the hardcopy, I resort to buying the eBook. And if you are like me and a hardcopy book you buy is 700 pages and heavy to hold for hours, you buy both copies if it’s an awesome read. 😆
4. I have a library card for the physical library and online library on Overdrive.
5. I started a book blog so I could join NetGalley! Thank you so much to all of you for following my blog. I appreciate it!
6. I have a bookstagram account and post book photos. I also love seeing book photos from everyone I follow on there. Follow me @ylmpastmidnight.
7. I also have a twitter account and follow book publishers and authors to try and win arcs and giveaways. I’ve won only one so far.
8. I have a Goodreads account but I mostly used it in the past just to track what I read. Now I post reviews on it.
9. My TBR list seems never ending. 😩
10. During this social distancing phase in our lives and lockdowns or shutdowns…people are borrowing books from me! Also, even when they borrow books, I still have so much on my shelves I haven’t read yet AND I still want to buy more. Book addict problems!
What about you fellow book lovers? Leave me a link to your TTT below or leave me a comment!
Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**
A mother’s love knows no bounds…
London, 1754. Six years after leaving her newborn, Clara, at London’s Foundling Hospital, young Bess Bright returns to reclaim the illegitimate daughter she has never really known. Dreading the worst—that Clara has died in care—the last thing she expects to hear is that her daughter has already been reclaimed. Her life is turned upside down as she tries to find out who has taken her little girl—and why.
Less than a mile from Bess’s lodgings in a quiet town house, a wealthy widow barely ventures outside. When her close friend—an ambitious doctor at the Foundling Hospital—persuades her to hire a nursemaid for her young daughter, she is hesitant to welcome someone new into her home and her life. But her past is threatening to catch up with her—and will soon tear her carefully constructed world apart.
Set against the vibrant backdrop of Georgian London, The Lost Orphan explores families and secrets, class and power, and how the pull of motherhood cuts across them all.
Thank you to MIRA and NetGalley for giving me a chance to read this eARC.
This is not a title I would have requested on my own but I was sent a link to it by the publisher’s rep and I’m so glad I decided to read it.
Bess Bright is a girl who has a hard life selling shrimp in London. It’s a tough life she leads in one of London’s poor communities and she finds herself pregnant. There is no question about giving up the child to the London’s Foundling Hospital but she has plans of coming back for her baby girl when she has made enough money to get her back.
When she does earn money, it’s not enough and not only that her daughter is missing. Will Bess be able to find her daughter again?
The writing is so descriptive that I felt myself transported to 1754, London. Life for Bess is hard and she hawks cooked shrimp with her dad, Abe. Just the description of how the shrimp are cooked and the hot water dripping down Bess’s neck introduced me to Bess’s hardships in life. London is hard for those with no means and power. But everything about the book was well written and I could imagine life for Bess and Alexandra in London.
The author included diversity in this book which was wonderful. Bess’s best friend is Keziah, a free black woman in London. We get a very small glimpse of her life as well.
The alternating points of view between Bess and Alexandra paints a distinct portrait of two women, two different stations in life, tied together by a child. I loved how we get to know each woman, none of them perfect by any means, each having to live out some trauma in their life.
It’s a happy ending, thank goodness. I was a bit emotional by the end of this book. I was happy for everyone!
It has a happy ending and I loved it but I wondered how realistic that would be? It did involve child kidnapping on both sides. But I guess that’s why it’s fiction!
At times I would questions both Alexandra and Bess – they both wanted the best for Charlotte, but it made me wonder which situation kept the child safer. We saw both sides but in the end it worked out. As much as Alexandra’s wealth provided a well cared for life for Charlotte, that child was a prisoner! And yet if she lived with Bess, poverty could imprison Charlotte in a way as well. 😞
Triggers: abuse, kidnapping
This was a very enjoyable book and a quick read at that. Every time I read historical fiction, it reminds me I should read more of it! I was very drawn to both Alexandra and Bess, their different lives and how they both laid claims to Charlotte. In the end, Charlotte chose who she wanted to live with and thank goodness it was a happy ending, which made me want to shed a tear. If you like historical fiction, you may enjoy this one!
Shouldn’t a girl get to star in her own love story?
Seventeen-year-old Megan Harper is about due for her next sweeping romance. It’s inevitable—each of her relationships starts with the perfect guy and ends with him falling in love . . . with someone else. But instead of feeling sorry for herself, Megan focuses on pursuing her next fling, directing theater, and fulfilling her dream college’s acting requirement in the smallest role possible.
So when she’s cast as Juliet (yes, that Juliet) in her high school’s production, it’s a complete nightmare. Megan’s not an actress, and she’s used to being upstaged—both in and out of the theater. In fact, with her mom off in Texas and her dad remarried and on to baby #2 with his new wife, Megan worries that, just like her exes, her family is moving on without her.
Then she meets Owen Okita, an aspiring playwright inspired by Rosaline from Shakespeare’s R+J. A character who, like Megan, knows a thing or two about short-lived relationships. Megan agrees to help Owen with his play in exchange for help catching the eye of a sexy stagehand/potential new boyfriend. Yet Megan finds herself growing closer to Owen, and wonders if he could be the Romeo she never expected.
In their fresh and funny debut, Emily Wibberly and Austin Siegemund-Broka break down the high school drama to find there’s always room for familial love, romantic love, and—most importantly—self-love.
I read the book, If I’m Being Honest by this author duo last year and really loved it. Always Never Yours was their first book, and it looks like these authors really love Shakespeare!
Megan Harper is a girl with a bright and brash personality, boys and girls are intimidated by her flirting prowess but underneath it all, she’s just a girl going through family issues and dying to get into the school of her choice and make her dream of being a director a reality.
She has a big role as Juliet in the Romeo & Juliet school play, but in reality she’s more of a Rosaline.
The cover – I love it. It makes me think of spring and it makes me happy!
Megan is not the typical MC geeky girl who catches the popular guy’s eye and she in turn becomes popular. Nope, Megan is popular because has a reputation as a flirt, she’s smart, very confident, friendly, and has a dating past. She’s the girl who likes to hook-up, so way for being sex positive in this book. Megan is complicated thought because she’s hiding many insecurities too. She may date a lot of guys but she never ends up a long-term girlfriend. Kind of like the whole saying always a bridesmaid and never the bride.
This author duo really know their Shakespeare and do an awesome job incorporating into a modern day story. Also I enjoyed the diversity in the book with the different characters and even a queer budding romance and the challenges that occur with someone who isn’t out yet.
It’s a friend to lovers romance, but I like that it went slow with Owen Okita. I love how shy, quiet and thoughtful Owen was – opposite to Megan’s personality. They balance each other well. But he was for sure my favorite character in the book.
Megan’s blended family life took half of the spotlight in this book. She has divorced parents, her dad has remarried and her mom is dating. They are still co-parenting as best they can but it leaves Megan trying to figure what a normal relationship is or one where a guy won’t leave her.
There’s a lot of cheating going on in this book! I don’t remember much about Romeo & Juliet, it’s been awhile since I watched the movie with Leonardo diCaprio and Clare Danes 😍 but I guess I really forgot about Rosaline! So Megan represents Rosaline but yeah, Owen was right about Megan’s picks in guys, they were never guys who was going to stick around.
I was so irritated with some of the cheating and almost-cheating. Megan was cool with everyone and everything until the real truth came out. It was kind of nice to see her mad at somebody! But whatever, young love and hookups and what not. 🤷🏻♀️
Triggers: divorce, cheating
This story was okay, I did skip a skim a few pages because I wanted to mostly read the scenes with Megan and Owen in them. When they finally get together it’s very sweet. It’s a story about young adults, awkwardness, and trying to figure what relationships and like/love is all about. I look forward to reading their next book.
A promise made is a promise kept, until the very end of all death.
Sixteen year old Lilith Pierce’s mom is getting remarried. Which, sucks. To one of the richest men in Europe. Which, honestly? Sucks a little less.
Lilith’s warily stoked – after Dad disappeared, it’s been all tears and police visits and sleeping pills for Mom. So, yeah. She’ll suck it up for seven months and get shipped off to the ultra-luxe, ultra-selective Institut Le Silvere – a prestigious boarding school in the Swiss Alps – while they honeymoon. How hard can it really be? It’s not like she’s got maybe-permanent hypervigilance, or anything.
It’s not like the woods around the school are maybe-alive.
It’s not like she’s being stalked by a man with glowing red eyes.
It’s not like the neighboring village whispers that all the students are cursed.
It’s not like resident model Ciel Lautrec is the most beautiful boy she’s ever seen, or anything. Too beautiful to be human. So beautiful the hypervigilance shuts right up. It’s not like she can’t handle Silvere’s self-appointed, self-conceited lawkeeper slash bully Alistair Strickland. Because she can. She can handle it all.
She’s always handled it all. Because she’s Lilith-fucking-Pierce.
And the forest knows that best of all.
After bingeing both books from the Bring Me Their Hearts series, I went in search for more Sara Wolf books and found this one called The Unfairfolk. It sounded interesting and it was on Kindle Unlimited, so I downloaded it right away.
I wasn’t quite sure what to expect but it was a definitely a wild ride. We get a front row seat into Lilith’s thoughts, a she is a teenager with many, many thoughts – sometimes it’s maddening! She gets sent to a boarding school in Europe where dignitaries from all over the world, send their kids. The only connection to money she has, is her new step-father, so she doesn’t quite belong in this school.
Lilith does manage to make friends and an enemy as well. But school social hierarchies are not the only thing that poses a challenge to Lilith – there is something going on at the Institut de Silvere, something dark and sinister. Will Lilith uncover what is going on or will it be too late?
I love Sara Wolf’s snarky characters! And it’s the same in The Unfairfolk where Lilith is just full of comebacks and humor to shield herself. She is a complicated teen. She is fearful from something traumatizing that happened in the past but that doesn’t stop her from seeming tough on the outside. There is an array of interesting and diverse characters in this story – I look forward to learning more about them!
Most of the story takes place at the boarding school with hints of something sinister in the woods. There was a dark tone to this story and I tend to love stories that go there, but also it’s vague which was frustrating.
Lilith has a past and this book touches on some dark topics like domestic abuse and there is also a part about someone who is a cutter. It’s definite triggers, but also – I remember being a teenager and knowing people in my circle dealing with those problems…so it definitely brings up real feelings about this issues. I liked Lilith’s teenage voice, being a victim of abuse herself and witnessing it. I felt her fears when it came to people grabbing her out of the blue or just people touching her in general. That was eye-opening and a good reminder, some people don’t want to be hugged or touched for reasons we don’t know about.
Coming off reading Bring Me Their Hearts series, I did start comparing this to that and this story is way different and not what I was expecting. The Unfairfolk is urban fantasy…but the fantasy or magic is mostly hinted at in this volume. Nothing really happens until the very end where we are thrown into another world! It’s wild, and I was hoping we’d get there sooner in the story but most of the book is about Lilith and being at boarding school.
If you don’t want to be stuck in a teenager’s head who curses a lot and has crude humor then you might not enjoy this book. I don’t mind and thought a lot of it was funny as well. 🤷🏻♀️
What is up with the ending and cliffhanger! Ugh…just when we were being introduced to the Fair Folk of Valen! 😏
Triggers: abuse, cutting
Am I going to read the next book in the series, YES. Was I entertained? Yes. Were we in Lilith’s head a bit too much – maybe. Do I want to know what the heck Valen is and who we will meet there?….Heck yes. This story was funny, at times dark and mysterious. Strange? For sure, at times I wasn’t sure what I was reading but it definitely kept me intrigued. Solid first book for a young adult urban fantasy with lots of room to grow!
How is everyone holding up so far? It’s raining today and supposedly for the rest of the week, so that will help everyone with social distancing and staying at home. I’ve pretty much been home except for going to the grocery store and this morning I had to pick up schoolwork for my son. It leaves a lot of time to read though and I’ve even let my sister borrow a bunch of books from my personal library! Yay 😍 – she hasn’t read in some time but I think this shutdown is directing people to activities they haven’t done in awhile like reading or crafting. Now we actually have the time and not rush.
It’s where you give the first impression of the book you are currently reading, no matter how far along you are in the book, even if it’s just a few pages. Then you are going to try and predict how you will feel about the book once you are done.
It is definitely a book I borrowed from the library mostly because the cover is so pretty. But the book blurb sounds intriguing too:
Across the Aramtesh Empire, scent is everything. Prayers only reach heaven on sacred incense, and perfumes are prized status symbols. 17-year-old Rakel has an uncanny ability with fragrances, but her skills aren’t enough to buy her dying father more time.
Ash bears the tattoos of an imperial bodyguard. When his prince, Nisai, insists on a diplomatic mission to an outer province, Ash is duty-bound to join the caravan. It’s a nightmare protecting Nisai on the road. But it’s even harder for Ash to conceal a secret that could see him exiled or executed.
Rakel and Ash have nothing in common until smoke draws them to a field of the Empire’s rarest flower. Nisai’s been poisoned, flames devour the priceless blooms, and the pair have “suspect” clinging to them like a bad stench. Their futures depend on them working together to decipher clues, defy dangers and defeat their own demons in a race to source an antidote . . . before the imperial army hunts them down.
My First Impression:
Love the cover!
The book blurb sounds interesting. I’m wondering how this scent magic will work.
That’s as far as I got with the book. 🤷🏻♀️ So stay tuned for a review!
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?
I spied this title first on Bookishfirst but didn’t win a copy in the raffle. That’s okay because I found it on my online library. So far it’s a quick read and I’m enjoying it!
I’m also trying to make a dent on the Bookoutlet haul I got back in December! So I’m finally reading this book – I love cover!
What have you just finished reading?
Ehhh – it was okay, more for Grey lovers (whom I really did love in book one!)…but this one didn’t hold my attention like book one.
What are you going to read next?
I have this one up next on my NetGalley to read and review, so I better get to it. A little space opera, if I can get in the mood for it.
Updates:
How is everyone doing? I hope you all are finding ways to cope with the worrisome news that is bombarding us daily. I read, I craft, I play Just Dance 2020 edition with my son so we can dance and laugh our worries away.
Speaking of my son…he is officially off from school until April 30th – SO that means homeschooling and look even before COVID-19 I knew I’d never make a good teacher. HAHA, I have only so much patience and ugh does he test me like how he doesn’t test his teacher. He’s an angel in school…at home, it’s a way different matter. He is in first grade and is learning parts of a whole, reading a clock and among other things for math. So I thought, okay I need to make breakfast this week so we shall turning home economics (baking) – into a study session.
We researched our ingredients like salt, sugar, cinnamon and learned some history about it. I explained measuring cups and spoons…hahaha, and then we made cinnamon rolls from scratch with our ingredients. It turned out delicious. So I was happy to hear from his teacher today that we get to pick up their distance learning packets on Saturday. Hooray!
Now my littlest one, she’s three and because I’m a stay at home mom, we always got up early to drop her brother off to school then ran errands to Target, or the grocery store. Hawaii is officially on a “lockdown” yet essential activities are still allowed like grocery shopping, even exercise (but practice social distancing). People who are essential workers go to work, my husband has been working from home this week, but they are taking turns so next week he will go to the office. Other than that we are at home, trying to stay healthy and safe.
To all of you – please take care of yourself and I wish you well.
Title: A Heart So Fierce and Broken (Cursebreakers, #2)
Author: Brigid Kemmerer
Format: Hardcover (borrowed)
Pages: 450
Categories: Young Adult, Fantasy, Book Series, Romance
Find the heir, win the crown.
The curse is finally broken, but Prince Rhen of Emberfall faces darker troubles still. Rumors circulate that he is not the true heir and that forbidden magic has been unleashed in Emberfall. Although Rhen has Harper by his side, his guardsman Grey is missing, leaving more questions than answers.
Win the crown, save the kingdom.
Rumored to be the heir, Grey has been on the run since he destroyed Lilith. He has no desire to challenge Rhen–until Karis Luran once again threatens to take Emberfall by force. Her own daughter Lia Mara sees the flaws in her mother’s violent plan, but can she convince Grey to stand against Rhen, even for the good of Emberfall?
The heart-pounding, compulsively readable saga continues as loyalties are tested and new love blooms in a kingdom on the brink of war.
What happened?!
The sequel to A Curse So Dark and Lovely, takes place right after the events of the first book. Grey is on the run, there is a search for the missing heir, and there is a new character thrown into the mix – Lia Mara, Karis Luran’s eldest daughter. The story is told through their perspectives.
I don’t know why this book didn’t hold my attention, maybe I wanted too see more of Rhen and Harper, but not in the way they appeared in this book. Anyway let’s get to my likes and hmmm’s:
I loved Grey in the first book, so it was nice to have this be his story and perspective. I’m even happy he found someone to fall for.
Lia Mara is an intriguing new character because she is the eldest daughter of Karis Luran but not the heir, that title belongs to her sister. But she wants to help bring peace to the warring sides and tries to do it on her own and gets into some trouble. I like how she never gives up.
By the end of this book there is such a conflict between Rhen and Grey…I can’t imagine how book three is going to pan out.
I was bored in the beginning. I loved Grey in book one so why did his story, THIS story – not keep me interested? Not even with Lia Mara in the picture made this story move any faster for me. I skimmed a lot from the halfway point until the end. Maybe I was just waiting for more Rhen and Harper appearances.
Rhen turned into like…evil Rhen! I thought he was cold in book one, but wow…he really wanted to find out who the heir was huh? And at any cost AND Harper couldn’t even stop him. 🤭 Like, what happened Rhen? SMH. Rhen is still trapped it seems even though the curse was broken. 😒
I had no expectations for this book – I remember the first one because Harper stood out a lot, and I may be in the minority but I liked her with Grey haha, not Rhen. Rhen was just a bit cold to me and he is definitely cold in this one!
Overall, I think if you wanted a book from Grey’s perspective then here you have it! I guess I was expecting to see Rhen and Harper in it but when they did appear…it was definitely different from what I imagined. The two kingdoms are definitely now on the brink of war and I will definitely read the next book to see who wins but I’m also kind of sad for Rhen and Harper. We shall see what happens…
Title: An Heiress to Remember (The Gilded Age Girls Club, #3)
Author: Maya Rodale
Format: eBook (NetGalley)
Pages: 368
Categories: Historical Romance
Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**
Uptown Heiress
Once a society darling, Beatrice Goodwin has returned to Manhattan in a cloud of scandal. She is determined to save the bankrupt family business—Goodwin’s Department Store—and transform it into the shopping destination for Manhattan’s women. She will certainly never, ever sell it to Wes Dalton.
Downtown Rogue
Wes Dalton came from nowhere to possess one of the great fortunes of the Gilded Age, thanks to his premier department store located opposite Goodwin’s. This “Merchant Prince” never forgot the girl who got away—or her parents who made it clear that he’d never be rich, powerful or respectable enough. He has sworn revenge—until Beatrice’s return complicates everything.
Happy ever after at last . . . ?
Now Goodwin’s and Dalton’s are dueling to be the best department store in Manhattan. Beatrice and Wes will stop at nothing to impress, and not even the sparks flying between them will get in the way of their fierce rivalry. They’re competitors by day and lovers by night, until they’re forced to choose what is sweeter: revenge, success or happy ever after at last.
Thank you to Avon and NetGalley for giving me a chance to this eARC.
Here we have book three in The Gilded Age Girls Club series and what a fun book it is! In An Heiress to Remember, Beatrice Goodwin is young and in love with poor, Irish imigrant, Dalton. But as a girl raised in high society her path is already made by her parents, and she marries a Duke. She comes back to Manhattan, sixteen years later, divorced and ready to start living for herself.
Dalton has made himself one of the richest men in the world with his own store to rival Goodwin’s. He remembers the pain of losing Beatrice and revenge is on his mind. He has lived the past sixteen years with one goal in mind, to buy Goodwin’s. Dalton didn’t anticipate Beatrice’s return though and she’s in fighting form too.
Will Beatrice and Dalton have a second chance at romance or will their ambition and desires for fortune get in the way of their path to love?
The Gilded Age series is so much fun to read. I usually love reading historical romance fiction set in the regency era in Europe but this series has opened my eyes to the Gilded Age in America and it is pretty fantastic! I love how we see women coming to recognize and own their power in a time when women’s voices weren’t heard. And the setting of Manhattan, New York is perfect for showing the changes going on in this time.
Beatrice is vibrant and a force to be reckoned with yet she is also has her vulnerable moments. She followed the path her parents set her on, stayed in a loveless marriage until she finally got divorced. Divorce was looked down upon in her social circles so she braved the scandal of it all, just to be free. I admire her for that. And then taking on her family’s store and restoring it to glory was awesome, I was cheering her on!
The second chance romance storyline and enemies to lovers scenario between Beatrice and Dalton was nice because they are older and wiser. They are both adults, Beatrice at thirty-six years old wants more than love, which was refreshing. I totally understood that about her. As for Dalton, everything he’s done in life was to prove something to Beatrice. It was nice to see him let go of revenge to accept the love he’s always felt for her. Their competitive nature in business kept it exciting, also them reliving their youth in the store kept it sexy! 😉
The woman power in this book is great. I love that Beatrice found a community of woman to help her realize her dreams. 💪🏾
I was pretty fascinated with the retail war between Dalton and Beatrice and learned a lot about the power of shopping, or just the world of shopping. I mean…Target is to me what Dalton’s is to those Manhattanites. 😂 I would love to have a Goodwin’s though with a salon and a reading room, but I guess shopping malls have spas now, minus the reading room, unless you like to read at a Starbucks. Anyway, I loved that this book was about the department stores in Manhattan during the Gilded Age.
Dalton’s had a mantra and because this is an arc, I won’t put the quote, but his mantra reminded me of the movie, The Princess Bride and the words of Inigo Montoya! That line when he says, “I am Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die!” Anyway that’s what I kept thinking of when Dalton would repeat his own mantra to remind himself of what he lost when Beatrice broke his heart. 😂🤷🏻♀️
There are some events that occur with Beatrice’s store where it seems like someone is trying to sabotage her progress. But I think when the villain is revealed it felt rushed.
I love the Gilded Age Series just for the time period alone! I really enjoyed the retail war between Beatrice and Dalton as they try to concentrate on the business side of things, but their attraction is too great. It was nice to see Dalton attracted to Beatrice’s intelligence and boss moves as the new president of her family’s company. He underestimated her but she sure showed him! 😅 This was a delightful, quick read where I was cheering the women on and I look forward to reading more in this series.
Past Midnight Book Reviews & More 