+ The Philadelphia Eagles are going to the Super Bowl woo-hoo! My nerves couldn’t take it so instead of my hubby bringing the kids to Sunday school, I did LOL….and I went at got a massage at the spa. That was long overdue. I don’t know if I’ll even be able to watch the Super Bowl game next weekend lol.
+ Every day under this current administration feels like one long year. SO…yeah it’s not cool. I hate seeing the news every day. What is happening to the USA? I feel like we are being attacked – but by our own government. 💔. Only 2 weeks have gone by…😭
+ My heart breaks over the plane/helicopter crash that happened in Washington D.C. And then a second plane crash just two days later in Philly! 💔 What is happening?!🙏🏽
+ January is FINALLY OVER. Please, please, please…February be kind to all of us.
I hope you all have a great week!
Blog Posts:
I must be stressed out – I barely had any posts this week. 😒
Over the Moon (on Netflix) – watched it again with my daughter, brought back memories of being stuck home watching it during the pandemic.
FireAID Los Angeles – I donated and watched for 4 hours lol…I had to turn it off to go to bed, but at least my son and I caught Olivia Rodrigo.💜
Interstellar (on Netflix) – LOVE this movie! The music, the story…so good! And how timely with what is happening in my country. 😩
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!
In the world outside of books, I want January to have a do-over. It was mentally, and emotionally draining with everything going on in the USA. But now we are rolling on into February. 🫠. BTW, because I usually copy my last Monthly Wrap-Up and make the changes for the current month, it’s easier….I just realized my December post still had my November post words. And I only caught it NOW. That’s how you know the holidays was crazy busy…LOL, sorry about that – it is fixed.
Last year, Annabel was “the girl who has everything” — at least that’s the part she played in the television commercial for Kopf’s Department Store.
This year, she’s the girl who has nothing: no best friend because mean-but-exciting Sophie dropped her, no peace at home since her older sister became anorexic, and no one to sit with at lunch. Until she meets Owen Armstrong.
Tall, dark, and music-obsessed, Owen is a reformed bad boy with a commitment to truth-telling. With Owen’s help, maybe Annabel can face what happened the night she and Sophie stopped being friends.
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.
Not so long ago, druid Keltania Tunne thought she knew the world—and her place in it. Magic was all but dead, and the kingdom torn apart. Then she was sent to the court of the Winter Fae and charged with the protection of Valen, the icily arrogant prince who some believed would bring about the destruction of them all…
Instead, he brought magic.
The greed for magic nearly destroyed their world, and its return could plunge them all back into chaos—or unite the estranged fae courts…if they move quickly.
Now Keltania and Valen must navigate the temperamental fae, their insidious secrets, and an enemy who would cleave the kingdom in two in the name of vengeance—all the while hiding the truth of their connection.
Its magic. Its remarkable power. And its ability to crush their hearts in two.
But no one knows that Valen struck a secret bargain with their enemy…and soon everyone in the land will face the consequences.
The Omen of Ice duology is best enjoyed in order. Reading Order: Book #1 Omen of Ice Book #2 Nature of Frost
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.
A spellbinding gothic dark fantasy about a shunned woman who is forced beyond the mortal realm’s forbidden boundary, into a terrifying world of cursed souls and grotesque creatures.
Only the banished know what lies beyond the woods …
There are whispers about what lurks in Witch Knell—the forest where sinners go to die. The villagers call it The Eating Woods because what’s taken is never given back. Only those who’ve lost their senses would dare to go near it.
Or the banished.
Maevyth Bronwick knows better than to breach the misty labyrinth of trees, but a tragic turn of events compels her beyond the archway of bones, to a boundary no mortal has crossed before. One that cloaks a dark and fantastical world that’s as dangerous as it is alluring.
It’s there that he dwells, the cursed lord of Eidolon. The one tasked to keep her hidden from the magehood that seeks to crucify her in the name of an arcane prophesy. Zevander Rydainn, known to his prey as The Scorpion, is the coldest, most calculated assassin in all of Aethyria and he’d sooner toss his feisty ward to a pack of vicious fyredrakes than keep her safe.
If only he could.
Maevyth’s blood is the key to breaking his despised curse and vanquishing the slumbering evil in Witch Knell. Unfortunately for Lord Rydainn, fate has other plans for the irresistible little enchantress. And his growing obsession with her threatens to destroy everything.
Including himself.
Anathema is a full-length, gothic dark fantasy, the first book in The Eating Woods duology. Perfect for readers who enjoy a plot-heavy and atmospheric story with a unique magic system, a slow-burn romance and a touch of horror.
Oralia Solis hasn’t felt the touch of another in 245 years. Not without them crumbling to ash at her feet. Cursed by the bite of a daemoni, she has been sequestered away for the greater good of Aethera by her adopted father, King Typhon.
King Renwick rules the rival kingdom of Infernis, the land of the dead. When Oralia flees the palace of Aethera after her power is let loose with deadly results, he recognizes her potential as a weapon and aids her escape.
Oralia finds herself the prisoner of the man she has been taught to fear most, and Renwick is surprised to find there is more to this princess than her untamed powers. Despite the gulf of secrets and magic between them, Renwick can’t deny the pull he feels towards her, and Oralia struggles to resist the one person who cannot only survive her touch, but craves it.
As Oralia uncovers the truth of her parentage and masters her magic, she will discover that the power to raze or save either Aethera or Infernis lies in her hands. War between the two kingdoms looms and she must decide who she can trust and which she wants more: power or love.
Teacher and fix-it queen Rowan Mackey avoids attention. Afflicted with serious burns as a teenager, she gets too many unwanted stares already. Consequently, her difficult dating history has taught her to dislike romance, too. So, it’s no surprise when her boyfriend’s extravagant public proposal goes sideways.
Longing for a safe, quiet life with Dean and believing his “independent together” arrangement is her best hope for companionship and a family, Rowan buys the perfect little house to fix things.
Problem is… she shares a property line with Jack Graham, a bestselling romance writer and party-centric playboy, who quickly becomes her next door nemesis. He makes it very clear—he doesn’t want a new neighbor. But when clashes with Rowan end his year-long writer’s block, he must explore his creative fascination with his reluctant muse under atypical Neighbor. Engaged. Off-limits.
These opposites attract, forging a surprise connection. Boundaries vanish as tension rises between them, and they face emotionally charged choices.
Will Rowan risk her safe life with Dean for a chance with the grumpy playboy next door? And will Jack change everything to find the inspiration he craves with the one woman he shouldn’t?
J – Just Listen by. Sarah Dessen – This is actually a re-read but I read this 20 or so years ago (multiple times) and but I never reviewed it for my blog. So my son gave me a pass and said it was okay to put on my list. 😅 He’s so strict!
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?
Is it STILL January? I’m so over it – this month has been the LONGEST ever. The daily news gets me stressed so I haven’t really had the motivation to read. And oh also, my son said someone at his school is drawing swastikas in the boys bathroom and their teacher had to give them a talk. So yeah…with the news, Elon Musk’s “gesture” 😡, and just everything else – I am over it….SIGH…let this month be over, please.
But since it’s Lunar New Year, Kung Hei Fat Choy to those who celebrate it! Here is what I am trying to read and I do try but I haven’t been in the right mood, so it’s been very slow going. I thought I would be finished with Onyx Storm by now but I’m not. Hope you are having a good week so far!
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:
They call them wayward girls. Loose girls. Girls who grew up too fast. And they’re sent to the Wellwood Home in St. Augustine, Florida, where unwed mothers are hidden by their families to have their babies in secret, give them up for adoption, and most important of all, to forget any of it ever happened.
Fifteen-year-old Fern arrives at the home in the sweltering summer of 1970, pregnant, terrified and alone. Under the watchful eye of the stern Miss Wellwood, she meets a dozen other girls in the same predicament. There’s Rose, a hippie who insists she’s going to find a way to keep her baby and escape to a commune. And Zinnia, a budding musician who knows she’s going to go home and marry her baby’s father. And Holly, a wisp of a girl, barely fourteen, mute and pregnant by no-one-knows-who.
Everything the girls eat, every moment of their waking day, and everything they’re allowed to talk about is strictly controlled by adults who claim they know what’s best for them. Then Fern meets a librarian who gives her an occult book about witchcraft, and power is in the hands of the girls for the first time in their lives. But power can destroy as easily as it creates, and it’s never given freely. There’s always a price to be paid…and it’s usually paid in blood.
In Witchcraft for Wayward Girls, the author of How to Sell a Haunted House and The Final Girl Support Group delivers another searing, completely original novel and further cements his status as a “horror master” (NPR).
At seventeen, Lenora Hope Hung her sister with a rope
Now reduced to a schoolyard chant, the Hope family murders shocked the Maine coast one bloody night in 1929. While most people assume seventeen-year-old Lenora was responsible, the police were never able to prove it. Other than her denial after the killings, she has never spoken publicly about that night, nor has she set foot outside Hope’s End, the cliffside mansion where the massacre occurred.
Stabbed her father with a knife Took her mother’s happy life
It’s now 1983, and home-health aide Kit McDeere arrives at a decaying Hope’s End to care for Lenora after her previous nurse fled in the middle of the night. In her seventies and confined to a wheelchair, Lenora was rendered mute by a series of strokes and can only communicate with Kit by tapping out sentences on an old typewriter. One night, Lenora uses it to make a tantalizing offer—I want to tell you everything.
“It wasn’t me,” Lenora said But she’s the only one not dead
As Kit helps Lenora write about the events leading to the Hope family massacre, it becomes clear there’s more to the tale than people know. But when new details about her predecessor’s departure come to light, Kit starts to suspect Lenora might not be telling the complete truth—and that the seemingly harmless woman in her care could be far more dangerous than she first thought.
“Welcome to the family,” Nina Winchester says as I shake her elegant, manicured hand. I smile politely, gazing around the marble hallway. Working here is my last chance to start fresh. I can pretend to be whoever I like. But I’ll soon learn that the Winchesters’ secrets are far more dangerous than my own…
Every day I clean the Winchesters’ beautiful house top to bottom. I collect their daughter from school. And I cook a delicious meal for the whole family before heading up to eat alone in my tiny room on the top floor.
I try to ignore how Nina makes a mess just to watch me clean it up. How she tells strange lies about her own daughter. And how her husband Andrew seems more broken every day. But as I look into Andrew’s handsome brown eyes, so full of pain, it’s hard not to imagine what it would be like to live Nina’s life. The walk-in closet, the fancy car, the perfect husband.
I only try on one of Nina’s pristine white dresses once. Just to see what it’s like. But she soon finds out… and by the time I realize my attic bedroom door only locks from the outside, it’s far too late.
But I reassure myself: the Winchesters don’t know who I really am.
They don’t know what I’m capable of…
An unbelievably twisty read that will have you glued to the pages late into the night. Anyone who loves The Woman in the Window, The Wife Between Us and The Girl on the Train won’t be able to put this down!
A fledgling vampire and a headstrong vampire huntress must work together–against their better judgment—to rid the world of monsters in this irresistible romantic fantasy.
Carolina Fuentes has always wanted to join her family in hunting down the bloodthirsty monsters that plague her pueblo. But these days, her father wants her out of town with a husband of his choosing. That’s not happening. Carolina plans to show everyone that she’d make a better vampire slayer than wife. But when she runs into a sediento that is not only handsome but kind, she questions everything.
Lalo Villalobos doesn’t act on impulses. As the eldest of two, his duties were to carry on the family business, marry, and have children. But then he is turned into a sediento and must flee the city, taking lives as he goes north, where he believes the first vampire was made. Surely, the pueblo there will have the answers to reverse this curse or end sedientos altogether. Another unexpected turn? Lalo runs right into a beautiful young woman who’d gladly stake him.
Fortunately, mostly for him, they share a common enemy. They can stop these evil beasts. Together. And if along the way, Lalo and Fernanda discover what it is to truly live and love, then they’ll have won anyway.
The five most dangerous liars in the land have been mysteriously summoned to work together for a single objective: to kill the God King Joon.
He has it coming. Under his merciless immortal hand, the nobles flourish, while the poor and innocent are imprisoned, ruined…or sold.
And now each of the five blades will come for him. Each has tasted bitterness―from the hired hitman seeking atonement, a lovely assassin who seeks freedom, or even the prince banished for his cruel crimes. None can resist the sweet, icy lure of vengeance.
They can agree on murder.
They can agree on treachery.
But for these five killers―each versed in deception, lies, and betrayal―it’s not enough to forge an alliance. To survive, they’ll have to find a way to trust each other…but only one can take the crown.
Let the best liar win.
Have you read any of these authors? I’ve seen theseauthors on some other blogs so I’m excited to try these out!
📚 ~ 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
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.