Goodreads Monday is a weekly meme where you chose a random book from your Goodreads TBR and show it off. This meme is hosted by Budget Tales Book Blog.
A competitive diver and an ace swimmer jump into forbidden waters in this steamy college romance from the New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis.
Scarlett Vandermeer is swimming upstream. A Junior at Stanford and a student-athlete who specializes in platform diving, Scarlett prefers to keep her head down, concentrating on getting into med school and on recovering from the injury that almost ended her career. She has no time for relationships—at least, that’s what she tells herself.
Swim captain, world champion, all-around aquatics golden boy, Lukas Blomqvist thrives on discipline. It’s how he wins gold medals and breaks records: complete focus, with every stroke. On the surface, Lukas and Scarlett have nothing in common. Until a well-guarded secret slips out, and everything changes.
So they start an arrangement. And as the pressure leading to the Olympics heats up, so does their relationship. It was supposed to be just a temporary, mutually satisfying fling. But when staying away from Lukas becomes impossible, Scarlett realizes that her heart might be treading into dangerous water…
Do you have plans to read this book? Let me know in the comments below!
+ I have TikTok back yay…but boo? Because it may be gone in 75 days again (less than 75 now) unless someone buys it so at least now I can prepare myself.
+ It’s been a LONG week. TikTok was shut down for 12 hours. My nerves were shot and I couldn’t watch the Eagles/Rams football game without my heart feeling like it was popping out of my chess. And then the doom and gloom feeling the morning after the game (Eagles won-yay) because of the Inauguration (I didn’t watch, just saw clips here at there on TikTok). I can’t believe only one week has gone by…January has felt like a whole year has gone by.
+ And because I need to escape – my sister asked me if I want to join her on a shopping tour in South Korea. It’s in June and I just paid my deposit woohoo! It’ll be nice to get away and enjoy some good Korean food. My parents and I are also trying to plan a visit to the Philippines. My parents are in their early 70’s and I want my kids to visit the Philippines with them while they can still travel. That trip might be at the end of December, so we shall see!
Football – BARELY…I couldn’t watch the Eagles/Rams game, it was too close but I’m glad the Eagles won.
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 woman discovers that not all monsters are her enemy—the opposite, in fact—in this new paranormal romance by Lana Ferguson, author of The Fake Mate.
Keyanna “Key” MacKay is used to secrets. Raised by a single father who never divulged his past, it’s only after his death that she finds herself thrust into the world he’d always refused to speak of. With just a childhood bedtime story about a monster that saved her father’s life and the name of her estranged grandmother to go off of, Key has no idea what she’ll find in Scotland. But repeating her father’s mistakes and being rescued by a gorgeous, angry Scotsman—who thinks she’s an idiot—is definitely the last thing she expects.
Lachlan Greer has his own secrets to keep, especially from the bonnie lass he pulls to safety from the slippery shore—a lass with captivating eyes and the last name he’s been taught not to trust. He’s looking for answers as well, and Key’s presence on the grounds they both now occupy presents a real problem. It’s even more troublesome when he gets a front row seat to the lukewarm welcome Key receives from her family; the strange powers she begins to develop; and the fierce determination she brings to every obstacle in her path. Things he shouldn’t care about, and someone he definitely doesn’t find wildly attractive.
When their secrets collide, it becomes clear that Lachlan could hold the answers Keyanna is after—and that she might also be the key to uncovering his. Up against time, mystery, and a centuries old curse, they’ll quickly discover that magic might not only be in fairy tales, and that love can be a real loch-mess.
I already know a Lana Ferguson book is going to be spicy and this did not disappoint. Can I say, monster love?
This was a fun book and surprising light-hearted! Keyanna goes to Scotland because her dad’s wishes was to have his ashes scattered there in the hometown he fled. She finally meets her estranged grandparents but her grandmother is a tough cookie and doesn’t give her a warm welcome at all. I thought that part was sad, but I guess realistic in the sense that families are always complicated.
Key does meet a handsome local named Lachlan and they rub each other the wrong way at first meeting. He’s a charming, rascal kind of guy and is always getting under Key’s skin. But she’s also doing the same to him. But there is a twist in this story which has to do with the Loch Ness monster and I thought it was different. I liked it! There was some mystery in the story and even a little suspense (a bit predictable) at the end.
Also the spice is spicy, especially when some surprises happen in the bedroom between Key and Lachlan!
Final Thoughts:
I found this a fun read and something different since I haven’t read a romance involving the loch ness monster. I loved Lachlan and Keyanna’s interactions. It’s spicy, but light-hearted and overall I was entertained.
Get caught up in the puzzles, games, danger, romance, and riches of this lush new chapter in the #1 bestselling Inheritance Games saga—set a year after we last saw Avery and the Hawthornes.
Seven tickets. An island of dreams. The chance of a lifetime.
Welcome to the Grandest Game, an annual competition run by billionaire Avery Grambs and the four infamous Hawthorne brothers, whose family fortune she inherited. Designed to give anyone a shot at fame and fortune, this year’s game requires one of seven golden tickets to enter. With millions on the line, those seven players will do whatever it takes to win.
Some of the players are in it for the money. Some for power. Some for reasons all their own. Every single one of them has secrets. Amidst it all is Grayson Hawthorne, tasked with a vital role in this year’s game. But as tensions rise and the mind-bending challenges push the players to their limits—physically, mentally, and emotionally—it soon becomes clear that not everyone is playing by the rules.
#1 New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Lynn Barnes delivers a new series in the world of The Inheritance Games, where fan-favorite and new characters collide in a game you’ll never forget.
Do you have what it takes to play?
Okay I loved the Inheritance Games series and honestly…all I wanted was a book about Grayson finding a happy ever after and now I’d also love a book about Rohan. But The Grandest Game was about so many characters, all in one game and I don’t think it really worked for me.
The riddles, the puzzles, all of that and the suspense of piecing clues together is all there, so if you love all the riddles and puzzles you will continue to love it in this book.
I loved Rohan and Savannah’s interactions, Gigi and her group, and then Grayson and Lyra. But I’d rather have it all be separate books I think, so I can get to know these characters more.
Final Thoughts:
If you are still invested in The Inheritance Games world then you will definitely like this one, but I think my interest in this series has waned. I just wanted a Grayson book. Maybe I’ll wait? Maybe I won’t. But I don’t think I’m going to continue The Grandest Game series.
Categories: Young Adult, Grief, Contemporary, Romance
Disclaimer: **I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.**
Thank you to Sourcebooks Fire for giving me a chance to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review!
An emotionally raw and romantic YA novel perfect for fans of Laura Nowlin’s If He Had Been with Me.
Their love was written in the stars, but how is Lia to move on when death trumps fate?
When Lia’s mom was 17, she had her fortune told and learned her only daughter was fated to fall in love with her best friend’s son. Life unfolded exactly as predicted, and despite the army-brat lifestyle bringing them in and out of each other’s orbit, Lia and Beckett were meant to be. Or so they thought.
When a freak heart attack steals Beck’s life, Lia is devastated and unmoored. She lived her life by her mom’s old fortune; if she was fated to be with Beck, and Beck is gone, who is she supposed to be? And is there room in her broken heart for life, let alone another love?
Content Warning: death, grief, foster care
Likes:
+ Lia (Amelia) is grieving. The love of her life has died and she doesn’t know how to go on. Being an Army brat, she’s attended more schools than most kids but now at this new school she has to deal with new changes, new friends and her grief.
+ I thought this was such a heart-warming story because of how close Beck and Lia’s mom’s were close throughout their lives (soulmates) and that’s how Beck and Lia had been in each other’s lives since birth. The story portrays the different people feeling grief, not only Lia, and I like that. Her grief is painful and relatable. I also love how this story starts with a fortune teller and her mother. And it really questions what happens when the plans you’ve made are destroyed and how you get back up and forge a new plan and path.
+ Lia is not only dealing with grief. It is her senior year, so she has some hard decisions to make about her plans after high school. But she does try hard to make friends, and she meets a really good group of girls who support her immediately. She even finds her heart opening to someone new, who is really a great guy. I love that even through all the pain, she is ready to live her life again.
+ The romance is slow and sweet! There are flashbacks about her relationship with Beck, but her new relationship with Isaiah is so different and I love that for her. I like how he gives her space. Isaiah has had a hard upbringing too and foster care is a topic discussed in this book. These two broken people come together and it’s a wonderful love story.
Dislikes:
~ I’m not a fan of flashbacks but I like how this showed how young and sweet Beck and Lia’s love is but also was flawed in hindsight.
~ Lia’s relationship with her parents is strained but I can understand why because grieve is a chaotic place to be. I just wish she let her mom in more, but I get it. I totally get it.
Final Thoughts:
I really enjoyed this story. I like how it takes a look at young love and grief. My heart broke for Lia because I can relate to her story – how do you move on when the plans for your future is destroyed in one moment? It’s a hard journey and Lia’s story reflects how sometimes it’s bittersweet but also how there is hope for the future, and there is more life and love to give and receive if you are open to it.
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 a week! 🫠 I did get some reading done and of course, Onyx Storm came out so I’m reading it but I’m trying to take my time since it’s a chunker (but I have do ebook thank goodness)! Are you reading it? And then just trying to finish some arcs up as well. Hope your week is well and you are reading some good books!
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:
The Ten Most Recent Additions to My Book Collection
(or to your to-read list!)
The only one that is part of my “collection” (ebook) is Onyx Storm! Everything else are borrowed books or arcs.
January 7: Most Anticipated Books Releasing in the First Half of 2025 January 14: Bookish Goals for 2025 (How many books do you want to read this year? Are you hoping to read outside your comfort zone? Are there books you meant to read last year but never got to? Are there new-to-you authors you’re hoping to read?) January 21: The Ten Most Recent Additions to My Book Collection (or to your to-read list!) January 28: New-to-Me Authors I Discovered in 2024
I haven’t done one of these in awhile but I didn’t want to tackle the Top Ten Tuesday prompt for today because I feel like I’ve done it before. And this topic below seems easier to answer:
This Week’s Topic is:
21 January: Top 5 books I will definitely* read in 2025
Get ready to fly or die in the breathtaking follow-up to Fourth Wing and Iron Flame from #1 New York Times bestselling author Rebecca Yarros.
After nearly eighteen months at Basgiath War College, Violet Sorrengail knows there’s no more time for lessons. No more time for uncertainty. Because the battle has truly begun; and with enemies closing in from outside their walls and within their ranks, it’s impossible to know who to trust. Now Violet must journey beyond the failing Aretian wards to seek allies from unfamiliar lands to stand with Navarre. The trip will test every bit of her wit, luck, and strength, but she will do anything to save what she loves – her dragons, her family, her home, and him. Even if it means keeping a secret so big, it could destroy everything. They need an army. They need power. They need magic. And they need the one thing only Violet can find—the truth. But a storm is coming… and not everyone can survive its wrath
The stakes are even higher in this epic, romantic conclusion to the New York Times bestselling Crimson Moth duology.
A WITCH… Rune Winters is on the run. Ever since the boy she loved, Gideon Sharpe, revealed who she was and delivered her into enemy hands, everyone wants her dead. If Rune hopes to survive, she must ally herself with the cruel and dangerous Cressida Roseblood, who’s planning to take back the Republic and reinstate a Reign of Witches—something Cressida needs Rune to accomplish.
A WITCH HUNTER… Apparently it wasn’t enough for Rune to deceive Gideon; she’s now betrayed him by allying herself with the witch who made his life a living hell. Gideon won’t allow the Republic to fall to the witches and be plunged back into the nightmares of the past. In order to protect this new world he fought for, every last witch must die—especially Rune Winters.
AN IMPOSSIBLE CHOICE… When Rune makes Gideon an offer he can’t refuse, the two must pair up to accomplish dangerous goals. The more they’re forced into each other’s company, the more Gideon realizes the feelings he had for Rune aren’t as dead and buried as he thought. Now he’s faced with a terrible choice: sacrifice the girl he loves to stop a monster taking back power, or let Rune live and watch the world he fought so hard for burn.
In Kristen Ciccarelli’s Rebel Witch, the exciting conclusion to The Crimson Moth duology, love has never been so deadly.
Two writers compete for the chance to tell the larger-than-life story of a woman with more than a couple of plot twists up her sleeve in this dazzling and sweeping new novel from Emily Henry.
Alice Scott is an eternal optimist still dreaming of her big writing break. Hayden Anderson is a Pulitzer-prize winning human thundercloud. And they’re both on balmy Little Crescent Island for the same reason: To write the biography of a woman no one has seen in years–or at least to meet with the octogenarian who claims to be the Margaret Ives. Tragic heiress, former tabloid princess, and daughter of one of the most storied (and scandalous) families of the 20th Century.
When Margaret invites them both for a one-month trial period, after which she’ll choose the person who’ll tell her story, there are three things keeping Alice’s head in the game.
One: Alice genuinely likes people, which means people usually like Alice—and she has a whole month to win the legendary woman over.
Two: She’s ready for this job and the chance to impress her perennially unimpressed family with a Serious Publication
Three: Hayden Anderson, who should have no reason to be concerned about losing this book, is glowering at her in a shaken-to-the core way that suggests he sees her as competition.
But the problem is, Margaret is only giving each of them pieces of her story. Pieces they can’t swap to put together because of an ironclad NDA and an inconvenient yearning pulsing between them every time they’re in the same room.
And it’s becoming abundantly clear that their story—just like the tale Margaret’s spinning—could be a mystery, tragedy, or love ballad…depending on who’s telling it.
Captured as her castle is overrun by the enemy, Briony Rosewood knows that the world as she knows it is changed forever. The dark forces of Bomard have won and her people, the Eversuns, face imminent servitude, imprisonment or death. Her brother, fated to be heir twice over and unite the warring kingdoms, is dead.
Stripped of her Mind Magic and her freedom, Briony and the other survivors are quickly auctioned off to the highest bidders in an auction – and as the heir-apparent’s sister, she fetches the highest price.
After a fierce bidding war, she’s sold to none other than Toven a high ranking Bomardsun – and her long-time and ill-fated infatuation. Scion of a family known for their cruel control of Heart Magic, the Hearsts are ruthlessly ambitious, and Briony knows they will use her however they can to further their own interests.
Yet despite the horrors of her new world and the role she must learn to play within it, all is not lost. Help – and hope – may yet arise in the most unlikely of places…
In the thrilling conclusion to the Egyptian-inspired Scorched Throne duology, a fugitive queen may be the key to restoring her lost kingdom of Jasad, but it could cost her everything and everyone she loves.
Held deep in a mountain refuge, Sylvia has been captured by the Urabi, who believe she can return their homeland to its former power. But after years of denying her legacy and a forbidden alliance with Jasad’s greatest enemy, Sylvia must win the group’s trust while struggling to keep control of both her magic and her mind.
In the rival kingdom, Arin is caught between his father’s desire to put down the brewing rebellion and the sacred edicts he’s sworn to uphold. Arin must find Sylvia before his father’s army, but his search will call into question the very core of Arin’s beliefs about his family and the destruction of Jasad.
War is inevitable and Sylvia cannot abandon her people again. The Urabi plan to raise the Jasadi fortress, and it will either kill Sylvia or destroy the humanity she’s fought so hard to protect. For the first time in her life Sylvia doesn’t just want to survive. She wants to win. The fugitive queen is ready to come home.
What book are you FOR SURE going to read in 2025??
📚 ~ Yolanda
Top 5 Tuesday topics: January 2025
7 January: Top 5 anticipated reads for Q1 2025
14 January: Top 5 bookish resolutions for 2025
21 January: Top 5 books I will definitely* read in 2025
28 January: Top 5 authors I want to try in 2025
*****
Top 5 Tuesday topics: February 2025
4 February: Top 5 series I will start in 2025
11 February: Top 5 series I will finish in 2025
18 February: Top 5 books I want to reread in 2025
25 February: Top 5 books I want to buy in 2025
*****
Top 5 Tuesday topics: March 2025
4 March: Top 5 books with a pronoun in the title
11 March: Top 5 books with a place in the title
18 March: Top 5 books with an emotion in the title
A princess determined to survive an arranged marriage to a heartless faerie prince is saved by a twist of fate that could destroy their world in this all-new standalone fantasy romance.
As the half faerie daughter of a human king, my days were spent tucked out of sight—until the Seelie Fae sought an alliance with our kingdom. In exchange for my father’s help in defeating their Unseelie enemies, I would wed Atakan the heartless.
The Seelie prince loathed everyone, but none more than me. Throughout the years leading to our nuptials, each encounter grew more terrifying than the last as he demonstrated how he’d earned his infamous reputation.
Fear would only doom me faster. So I learned to hide it with games I soon became happy to play. I wasn’t supposed to crave a monster. But just when I’d thought I might tame the untameable, fate intervened.
And delivered me straight to his enemy.
This fast-paced standalone features true enemies to lovers, arranged marriage, high heat, and a cast of morally grey and villainous characters.
Content Warning: violence, grief, dark romance
This book jumps right away into the romance. It’s between Prince Mildred (half fae/human) and Prince Akatan of the Seelie. They positively loathe one another but to survive in his kingdom as his betrothed, she seduces him instead. They seduce each other, and yes it’s spicy.
And though I did enjoy the hate-seduction going on somewhat, it did feel dark. There isn’t a lot of world-building so the seduction/romance was the main focus. Mildred is caught in between this war with the Seelie and Unseelie, but the story focuses on her survival and her choice in how to survive is seducing her soon-to-be husband. But in between the power plays and insults to one another, they eventually fall for one another. But I almost didn’t believe Atakan because he’s a horrible person. 😅 There is also a love-triangle but once again it was Mildred getting caught up in the politics.
Now, Mildred is an interesting character. I loved that she has a close connection to her sister, but this girl was falling for guys pretty easily Atakan was the bad boy, and Vane the Unseelie king, is a supposed bad boy too but he was actually nice? She’s basically a pawn and I get she’s trying to survive her situation, but I kind of wanted more out of her. Sex was her power but I wanted more.
Final Thoughts:
I didn’t feel like this story got deep and that’s fine because once I realized it was more romance heavy then I stayed for the enemies to lovers vibes. It’s got Fae, lots of spice, two characters hate/loving one another, some political intrigue, shifters, and dragon creatures. Overall, it was a quick read and I was entertained.
Goodreads Monday is a weekly meme where you chose a random book from your Goodreads TBR and show it off. This meme is hosted by Budget Tales Book Blog.
Perfect for fans of Raven Kennedy and Thea Guanzon, Rebecca Robinson’s thrilling romantasy debut combines high-stakes political intrigue and a steamy, slow-burn, enemies-to-lovers romance.
All her life, Vaasa Kozár has been sharpened into a blade.
After losing her mother—her only remaining parent—to a mysterious dark magic that has since awakened within her, Vaasa is certain death looms. So is her merciless brother, who aims to eliminate Vaasa as a threat to his crown. In one last political scheme, he marries her off to Reid of Mireh, a ruthless foreign ruler, in hopes that he can use her death as a rallying cry to finally invade Reid’s nation. All Vaasa has to do is die.
But she is desperate to live. Vaasa enters her new marriage with every intent to escape it, wielding the hard-won political prowess and combat abilities her late father instilled in her. But to her surprise, Reid offers her a deal: help him win the votes to rise in power, and she can walk free. In exchange, he will share his knowledge about the dark magic running through her veins—and help keep it at bay.
This proposal may be too good to refuse, yet Vaasa and Reid’s undeniable attraction threatens to break the rules of their arrangement. As her brother’s lethal machinations take form, everything is at stake: Vaasa must learn to trust her new husband, but how can she, especially when their perfect political marriage begins to feel like the real thing?
Do you have plans to read this book? Let me know in the comments below!
Past Midnight Book Reviews & More 