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?
This is the LAST day of July folks…I am so not looking forward to being back to school/activities schedule next week lol…I have loved just lounging around with my kids and just enjoying time together. I feel like when school kicks in the days fly by SO fast and then you know it’s Christmas. I’m trying my best to get through this arcs and borrowed books but I think I’m reading too many at one time. 😅
What are you currently reading?
Shadows of Perl by. J. Elle – 37% – this one is slow going I think because I don’t remember much from book one! lol…but I’ll probably finish it by the end of this week.
This one’s a little late because my week was busy. My hubby went back to Okinawa yesterday but that only means the wait for him to come home for good is shorter! Just a few months away. My daughter has her teacher meet and greet this Friday and they both start next week Monday and Tuesday. 😢 So summer and the mornings of sleeping in is over – sigh. But I’m glad my kids will be back in school, mostly for my daughter, because she gets really bored. I just can’t believe kids being back in school means we are close to the holidays. I’m not ready! lol but time doesn’t seem to care if I am or not.
The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy by. Megan Bannen (audiobook)
Currently Reading:
Can’t Help Falling in Love by. Sophie Sullivan
Nothing Like the Movies by. Lynn Painter
Shadows of Perl by. J. Elle
Shows/Movies/Music I Watched/Listened To:
House of Dragon – I’m an episode behind but it was such a busy week. Hoping I catch up this week.
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!
Hart is a marshal, tasked with patrolling the strange and magical wilds of Tanria. It’s an unforgiving job, and Hart’s got nothing but time to ponder his loneliness.
Mercy never has a moment to herself. She’s been single-handedly keeping Birdsall & Son Undertakers afloat in defiance of sullen jerks like Hart, who seems to have a gift for showing up right when her patience is thinnest.
After yet another exasperating run-in with Mercy, Hart finds himself penning a letter addressed simply to “A Friend”. Much to his surprise, an anonymous letter comes back in return, and a tentative friendship is born.
If only Hart knew he’s been baring his soul to the person who infuriates him most – Mercy. As the dangers from Tanria grow closer, so do the unlikely correspondents. But can their blossoming romance survive the fated discovery that their pen pals are their worst nightmares – each other?
Content Warning: death, violence, grief
I finally got around to reading or listening to this book and I can see why so many readers love it! This was a fun, engrossing and heart warming story all wrapped up in a sort of “You’ve Got Mail” situation but in a contemporary fantasy world. The world-building is unique and really fleshed out with gods, demigods, talking creatures/animals, and zombies! But what I really loved about this book were the characters.
Mercy is an undertaker and I really love her family dynamics. They are chaotic, but such a lovable bunch. Hart, is gruff and grumpy and he and Mercy do not get along at all. But then they are writing letters without knowing they are writing to each other. Of course they will have to deal with the moment they finally meet and know the truth. There is a lot of chemistry between Mercy and Hart and they have some very spicy moments together.
The secondary characters really rounded this feeling of community in this story from Mercy’s family members, to Hart’s found family.
I might have not caught on to some things because I was listening to the audiobook for about 60% of the book. The last 40% I read the ebook because I felt like I wasn’t getting all the details. I did with Mercy and Hart had more good times together before the fall out and that she gave him a chance to explain at least.
My Final Thoughts:
This was such a unique romance with so much going on but what I really loved were the characters and their interactions with one another. Mercy’s family was just so much fun and the whole world of Tanria was fascinating. I look forward to reading the next book!
First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?
Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
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 right? At least in the news world! I saw my college bestie and we got to catch up, my is here for this week, we went to get my son’s school schedule and I got a mini tour of his new school and is happy at what I saw! I also got my daughter’s room and teacher information so we are ready for school I think. I am reading a bunch of books right now and hoping I can finish at least two books a week.
What a week! It started off slow but then Wednesday came around and I got to see my old college friend and her family. We hung out at the beach and talked while our kids played in the sand and water. I haven’t seen her in 5 years and it felt SO nice to catch up with life. I love those friends where you don’t see for years and you pick up where you left off like you were never apart. 🥰 It just made my soul happy to see our kids together.
We hung out for almost three hours but my hubby flew in while we were at the beach so the kids were excited to go see him at home! So it was nice. It was so nice that my hubby and I both forgot the day he flew in was our 13th wedding anniversary LOL. Anyway it was a nice week and tomorrow my son goes to pick up his school schedule. It just makes us realize summer is coming to an end for us, only 2 more weeks left. That’s crazy. It’s going to be August. 🤯
The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy by. Megan Bannen (audiobook)
The Champions by. Kara Thomas
Shows/Movies/Music I Watched/Listened To:
House of Dragon
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!
Categories: Romance, Contemporary, Birding, Fake Dating
A divorcee embarks on her “year of yes” and crosses paths with a shy but sensitive birdwatcher who changes her life in this charming rom-com that is perfect for fans of Christina Lauren and Ali Hazelwood.
Newly divorced, almost-empty-nester Celeste is finally seeking adventure and putting herself first, cliches be damned. So when a friend asks Celeste to “partner” with his buddy John for an event, Celeste throws herself into the role of his temporary girlfriend. But quiet cinnamon roll John isn’t looking for love, just birds—he needs a partner for Tucson’s biggest bird-watching contest if he’s ever going to launch his own guiding business. By the time they untangle their crossed signals, they’ve become teammates…and thanks to his meddling friends, a fake couple.
Celeste can’t tell a sparrow from a swallow, but John is a great teacher, and the hours they spend hiking in the Arizona wilderness feed Celeste’s hunger for new adventures while giving John a chance to practice his dream job. As the two spend more time together, they end up watching more than just the birds, and their chemistry becomes undeniable. Since they’re both committed to the single life, Celeste suggests a status upgrade: birders with benefits, just until the contest is done. But as the bird count goes up and their time together ticks down, John and Celeste will have to decide if their benefits can last a lifetime, or if this love affair is for the birds.
Content Warning:
Ok I was so curious about this book because it’s about birding but with romance? I wanted to learn about birding and I totally did while reading this book. But the fake dating was a wonderful part of this book also.
Celeste is 42, and a divorcee and her daughter will be going off to college so she’s trying to live a life of “yes”. Being married young made her feel trapped and now she’s trying anything and everything to find her joy again. She gets into a situation where she thought she would be helping a guy and be his fake-girlfriend but instead he needed help in a birding competition – but they decide to do both! Celeste is social, loud, and a go-getter whereas John is quiet, and more of an introvert so these two are polar opposites but it works.
I liked Celeste’s journey of trying new things after her divorce, I found her relatable when it came to feeling stifled in her marriage and trying to find herself. I like that her best friend Maria is a new mom and we get to see two women navigating parenthood and relationships at different phases of their lives. John has an interesting back story and where Celeste feels like everyone thinks she’s “too much”, with John he went through life with people expecting more from him which again, I felt was totally relatable. He’s a very quiet guy, but just because he’s quiet doesn’t mean he wasn’t feeling a lot of things for Celeste.
I thought their birding romance was pretty fun and unexpectedly steamy! I liked that Celeste was in her 40’s, I hardly read books with MC’s in their 40’s. She did at times come off younger but maybe if I was a new divrocee I might act younger too? Who knows! I did wish we had more scenes with her daughter because she’s a big part of her world and a main conflict near the end of the book.
My Final Thoughts:
I got to learn a little bit about birding and the fake dating romance between the two opposites was fun! I was surprised to see how steamy this book was – who knew birding could be so sexy? Overall, I enjoyed this one and look forward to reading more books from this author.
Categories: Romance, Contemporary, Marriage of Convenience
Christina Lauren, returns with a delicious new romance between the buttoned-up heir of a grocery chain and his free-spirited artist ex as they fake their relationship in order to receive a massive inheritance.
Anna Green thought she was marrying Liam “West” Weston for access to subsidized family housing while at UCLA. She also thought she’d signed divorce papers when the graduation caps were tossed, and they both went on their merry ways.
Three years later, Anna is a starving artist living paycheck to paycheck while West is a Stanford professor. He may be one of four heirs to the Weston Foods conglomerate, but he has little interest in working for the heartless corporation his family built from the ground up. He is interested, however, in his one-hundred-million-dollar inheritance. There’s just one catch.
Due to an antiquated clause in his grandfather’s will, Liam won’t see a penny until he’s been happily married for five years. Just when Liam thinks he’s in the home stretch, pressure mounts from his family to see this mysterious spouse, and he has no choice but to turn to the one person he’s afraid to introduce to his one-percenter parents—his unpolished, not-so-ex-wife.
But in the presence of his family, Liam’s fears quickly shift from whether the feisty, foul-mouthed, paint-splattered Anna can play the part to whether the toxic world of wealth will corrupt someone as pure of heart as his surprisingly grounded and loyal wife. Liam will have to ask himself if the price tag on his flimsy cover story is worth losing true love that sprouted from a lie.
Content Warning: family conflict, parent with illness
I thought this was entertaining and cute especially if you like rich people problems! Anna Green is not rich and just the first chapter alone painted who she was and the struggle she was going through in her life. Liam is rich and needs to attend his younger sister’s wedding but his family thinks he has a wife. Anna Green is that wife since they had a marriage of convenience a few years ago just to get some decent student housing on campus. Now they have to put on a show and convince Liam’s family that they are into each other.
Anna and Liam are total opposites. Anna’s a free spirit and Liam is a buttoned up professor. She makes him laugh and Liam is helping her financially which is a win-win. Plus the attraction between them is undeniable. I thought Anna and Liam made a cute couple and they had so many fun interactions and banter.
Speaking of banter though, I thought Anna and Viv (bestie) were fun and Blaire (sister-in-law) is such a character! Liam’s family or I should say dad, was something else. What a narcissistic, awful father. The way he treated people and his family was unbearable. There is a lot of tension between family members and I don’t know that Anna and Liam sold their act of being married but it was entertaining.
My Final Thoughts:
This is a fun summer read that has the perfect tropical setting, rich people drama, marriage of convenience, great chemistry and steamy scenes. I thought the romance was sweet without too much break up drama – since Anna is such a messy, free spirit, I liked how she went with the flow of the chaos and still stood up for herself and principles when it got to be too much. Liam’s dad is really such an awful human being, so I liked how things ended with the family. Overall, this was an entertaining read and perfect as a beach or pool read.
First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?
Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
Finally… reveal the book!
“Of all the punishments my parents could have chosen, I can’t believe they went with this one .”
Skadi first met her husband-to-be with blades in hand on the opposite side of a battle. She lost, and he claimed his prize.
To her horror, the king of the shadow elven agrees to marry her off to Jonas, a prince in the fae realms, as a way to unite their kingdoms against a shared enemy—the light elves. Skadi knows the marriage is nothing but a political game. Feelings won’t come into play.
Except her new husband makes not falling in love . . . challenging.
When new threats arise, Skadi must decide to either love her enemy, or keep him alive by betraying him to another.
Welcome to another installment in the Ever Seas world where pirates, fae, and elves collide with Vikings in a dark fantasy romance between a morally gray cinnamon roll and the broken princess who steals his heart.
*This book is a standalone with a guaranteed HEA, and can be read before The Ever King/Queen, but to see the full impact of their story, it’s recommended to read that duet first. This series is set in the same world as the bestselling Broken Kingdoms series, but can be read independently, and readers are encouraged to read the list of triggers inside.*
Content Warning: violence
This story is Jonas and Skadi’s story. We meet Skadi in book two and she’s very mysterious and very reserved because of how she was raised in her Elven culture. Jonas is a charmer, a playboy but a very lovable one. I liked how Jonas got under Skadi’s defenses and I love how Jonas family and people really embraces her. The romance is a slow burn because Skadi has a lot of defenses up and Jonas is insistent love doesn’t need to be part of their marriage but eventually they admit their attraction to one another and they fall for one another, plus we get some steamy scenes.
Skadi was really taught to fear her own powers by her own people but Jonas and his friends and family teach her how to not be afraid. I really love how Jonas’ people are a kingdom of thieves! It’s so different and fun and I love how they do want they want in their kingdom.
I think the book was a little long at 452 pages – I really do wish these books were under 400 at least because I found myself skimming the ending only because I knew how it would turn out!
My Final Thoughts:
I thought this was a good edition to the series though most of the story was predictable. I’m glad Jonas and Skadi found their happily ever afters, they both deserved to be in love and happy. What I really can’t wait for though is Mari and Tait’s story, which I believe is the next book.
Past Midnight Book Reviews & More 