WWW Wednesday | 8/21/24

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Sam over on Taking on a World of Words.

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?

Well my laptop is almost done for lol…but not quite dead – I was just being in denial for a little because I do not want to buy a new one yet. It just doesn’t like anything plugged into the usb ports but that’s fine, I’m gonna hang onto it until it really can’t power up anymore. 😅 So I’ll just keep chugging on with it! I noticed I have a lot of arcs that are publishing on October 1st! Must be a big publishing day but I’m trying my best to get to them!

What are you currently reading?

Fledgling by. S.K. Ali – 35% – some progress, hoping to finish it this week.

Stranger Skies by. Pascale LaCelle – 1% – just started this one.

Truly, Madly, Deeply by. Alexandria Bellefleur – 5% – just started this one.

Heir by. Sabaa Tahir – 10% – I’ll probably finish this one this week. Very interesting world building so far!

Zodiac Rising by. Katie Zhao – 6% – another arc I’m trying to finish.

What have you just finished reading?

Powerful by. Lauren Roberts – ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

A Novel Love Story by. Ashley Poston – ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

When the World Tips Over by. Jandy Nelson – ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

The Dagger and the Flame by. Catherine Doyle – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Hunted Heir by. Holly Renee – ⭐️⭐️⭐️

What are you going to read next?

What are you reading right now?

Weekly Wrap Up | 8/18/24

Aloha friends!

Second week of school is done and it’s been a pretty good transition for both kids! So my laptop is NOT broken – it just didn’t like a new cord that I had attached to it to connect to my phone. I’m just happy I didn’t have to buy a new laptop. Nothing else new to report. I feel like August is moving really fast now that school is in session – I saw Halloween candy already being sold at my grocery store!! Bonkers.

Anyway, I hope all of you have a good week!

Blog Posts:

Books I Read:

Guava and Grudges by. Alexis Castellanos
The Blood Orchid by. Kylie Lee Baker
A Novel Love Story by. Ashely Poston
Powerful by. Lauren Roberts

Currently Reading:

The Dagger and the Flame by. Catherine Doyle
Fledgling by. S.K. Ali

Shows/Movies/Music I Watched/Listened To:

Chappell Roan
Die with a Smile – Lady Gaga & Bruno Mars – it’s so good!🥰

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 Novel Love Story by. Ashley Poston | Book Review

Review: ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Title: A Novel Love Story

Author: Ashley Poston

Format: ebook (borrowed)

Pages: 384

Publication Date: 6/25/24

Categories: Contemporary, Romance, Magical Realism

A professor of literature finds herself caught up in a work of fiction… literally.

Eileen Merriweather loves to get lost in a good happily-ever-after. The fictional kind, anyway. Because at least imaginary men don’t leave you at the altar. She feels safe in a book. At home. Which might be why she’s so set on going to her annual book club retreat this year—she needs good friends, cheap wine, and grand romantic gestures—no matter what.

But when her car unexpectedly breaks down on the way, she finds herself stranded in a quaint town that feels like it’s right out of a novel…

Because it is.

This place can’t be real, and yet… she’s here, in Eloraton, the town of her favorite romance series, where the candy store’s honey taffy is always sweet, the local bar’s burgers are always a little burnt, and rain always comes in the afternoon. It feels like home. It’s perfect—and perfectly frozen, trapped in the late author’s last unfinished story.

Elsy is sure that’s why she must be here: to help bring the town to its storybook ending.

Except there is a character in Eloraton that she can’t place—a grumpy bookstore owner with mint-green eyes, an irritatingly sexy mouth and impeccable taste in novels. And he does not want her finishing this book.

Which is a problem because Elsy is beginning to think the town’s happily-ever-after might just be intertwined with her own.

Content Warning: grief, being cheated on

Imagine getting lost in a book – literally? The only other book I’ve read from this author was The Dead Romantics and I loved it. This was a bit different and here are my thoughts:

Likes:

I thought the concept of literally “getting lost in a book” was clever and wanted to see how it would play out. I did have some questions, but I had to suspend my reality a bit, to make my brain understand what was happening. I did love all the characters Elsy got to meet in Eloraton.
Elsy puts on a front, but she’s hurting inside from some life events that left her unmoored. I really love her relationship with her best-friend Pru, even if Elsy wasn’t in a good place yet, you could tell their love for one another was special.
I liked the second half of the book more than the first half. I felt more connected to Elsy when she started facing her emotions and that’s when I also felt her connection to Anders come more alive. There were so many parts at the ending that hit me in the feels because of Elsy’s journey and Anders’ one too.

Dislikes:

This was kind of hard for me to get into and I think it’s because of Elsy, who didn’t really stand out to me, personality wise. Also I was trying to figure out the magical town she stumbled into. I thought it was cool that it was from her favorite author but I had questions!
I also thought Elsy and Anders didn’t have much chemistry until later into the book.
Certain descriptions about characters don’t usually bother me unless it’s repeated over and over and apparently Anders tastes and smells like black tea.

My Final Thoughts:

When I got to half way of the book, I can’t say I was loving it. I thought it was just okay but then something happens when Elsy is faced with leaving Anders and Eloraton behind. She has to make some hard choices to face her fears about moving on from the past and also watching people around her moving on in their lives. And that’s when I connected to the book, because that’s relatable. Overall, I did enjoy it for what it was and adore the concept of literally getting lost inside a book!

Quotes from the Book:

“Because even after the people were gone, there were still stories. There were always stories.”
– A Novel Love Story by. Ashley Poston

“It wasn’t the end that mattered, but every word leading up to it.”
– A Novel Love Story by. Ashley Poston

“So who could blame me for singing into books, where I knew the people weren’t real, but they also never disappointed me? I knew everything would work out in the end. I knew happy endings were destined, ever afters fated, and no matter what trials and tribulations and, well, surprise fuckups happened, things would end up okay.”
– A Novel Love Story by. Ashley Poston

Find me here: Instagram (bookstagram📚) | Twitter (X)

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Other Books by This Author:

The Dead Romantics by. Ashley Poston | Book Review ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

First Lines Fridays | 8/16/24

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!

“For the entirety of her life, Isabel Luna felt invisible. Overlooked. Uninteresting and uninspiring.”

⬇️

⬇️

Can you guess what book it is?

Did you guess it? Have you read this one?

📖 ~ Yolanda

WWW Wednesday | 8/14/24

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Sam over on Taking on a World of Words.

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?

I thought my laptop was done for but it isn’t! Yay! Because I wasn’t about to drop money for a new one, in this economy lol. So I was struggling using my son’s PC which has the biggest screen and was giving me a headache and my ipad, which is small and was also a struggle to type a lot of things. So I, for some random reason, removed a usb/ubc cord that was plugged into my laptop and I started it up and that fixed it! I’m so happy and now I can go back to blogging. As for reading, it’s slow going still…sigh.

What are you currently reading?

Fledgling by. S.K. Ali – 17%

The Dagger and the Flame by. Catherine Doyle – 26%

When the World Tips Over by. Jandy Nelson – 4%

A Novel Love Story by. Ashley Poston – 16% – I have 3 days to finish this before it expires. I hope I get it done!

What have you just finished reading?

Guava and Grudges – Alexis Castellanos – ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Shadows of Perl by. J. Elle – ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Fear the Flames by. Olivia Rose Darling – ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Butcher & Blackbird by. Brynne Weaver – ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

The Blood Orchid by. Kylie Lee Baker – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

What are you going to read next?

What are you reading right now?

Weekly Wrap Up | 8/11/24

Aloha friends!

What a week. My kids started school so there were first day jitters, especially for my new middle schooler but he has done SO good. He is walking home from school since it’s closer to our house and let me tell you the first 2 days I was nervous but tons of kids walk in this area, and now he has a cell phone I can track. But it’s HOT at 2pm – and can someone please tell me how kids walk in hoodies and jackets at 91 degrees out? But my son needs a neck fan, and an umbrella and lots of breaks when he walks? lol…I’m so proud of him. His school is about 1.4 miles away and we’ve finally figured out our schedule. I pick his sister up first and then on our way back I pick him up at our pool area parking lot because by the time he is there, we are driving by it. So yay – it took some trial and error this week but I think we figured it out. I’m proud of both of them for having a good week. Unfortunately, my daughter has her first school cold – it only took 2 days of school for her to catch something. Boo!

And of course with everything happening this week, my Macbook Pro of 11 years finally kicked the bucket! I noticed a strange white screen situation happening on Monday and I was like, eh, maybe it’s nothing. NOPE. Now it’s dead…so I had to do some posts from my ipad but typing a lot is so tedious so now I’m using my son’s desk PC and the screen he has is like 24 inches long and it strains my eyes and gives me a headache. So I ordered a new laptop because I can’t live like this lol.

Let’s hope my daughter’s cold goes away and doesn’t get worse and we have a good second week of school.

Anyway, I hope all of you have a good week!

Blog Posts:

The Champions by. Kara Thomas | ARC Review – 3 stars
Ten Favorite Books from Ten Series | TTT | Top Ten Tuesday 8/6/24
Happy Book Birthday | New Releases | 8/6/24
WWW Wednesday | 8/7/24
Happy Medium by. Sarah Adler | Book Review – 3.5 stars
House of Thorns by. Isabel Strychacz | ARC Review – 3 stars
First Lines Fridays | 8/9/24
Butcher & Blackbird by. Brynne Weaver | Book Review – 3.5 stars

Books I Read:

Shadows of Perl by. J. Elle
Fear the Flames by. Olivia Rose Darling
Butcher & Blackbird by. Brynne Weaver
Happy Medium by. Sarah Adler

Currently Reading:

The Dagger and the Flame by. Catherine Doyle
Guava and Grudges by. Alexis Castellanos
Fledgling by. S.K. Ali

Shows/Movies/Music I Watched/Listened To:

House of Dragon – finished the last episode and honestly felt this whole season was a filler. There was one good episode I think. Anyway this last episode is a cliffhanger and I love the music that comes in at the end that foreshadows what is going to happen next. I hope the third season is filled with a lot more action.

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!

Butcher & Blackbird by. Brynne Weaver | Book Review

Review: ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Title: Butcher & Blackbird

Author: Brynne Weaver

Format: ebook (borrowed)

Pages: 360

Publication Date: 6/4/24

Categories: Contemporary, Serial Killers, Horror, Dark Romance, Crime

Every serial killer needs a friend.
Every game must have a winner.

When a chance encounter sparks an unlikely bond between rival murderers Sloane and Rowan, the two find something elusive—the friendship of a like-minded, pitch-black soul. From small town West Virginia to upscale California, from downtown Boston to rural Texas, the two hunters collide in an annual game of blood and suffering, one that pits them against the most dangerous monsters in the country. But as their friendship develops into something more, the restless ghosts left in their wake are only a few steps behind, ready to claim more than just their newfound love. Can Rowan and Sloane dig themselves out of a game of graves? Or have they finally met their match?

Butcher & Blackbird is the first book in the Ruinous Love Dark Romance trilogy of interconnected stand-alone dark romantic comedies. This dual POV novel ends on a HEA.

Content Warning: gore, killing, accidental cannibalism, torture, voyeurism, body horror

Well, I finally read this book and wow yes it is dark as advertised and I’ll remind you to read all the trigger warnings for it before you go into it. I didn’t cover it all in my content warning above, but it is in the book.

I was so curious how I would find this one because my fascination with true crime and serial killers. But there is such a clever twist where these serial killers actually hunt and kill actual bad guy serial killers! And yes there is romance thrown into the gory mess of the killing happening in this story. Was a bit too gory for me yes but there is humor and romance to help balance things out!

Speaking of the romance, it happens actually over a few years, which I thought was interesting and I don’t know if that worked for me because they will meet once then it will be months before they interact again. They met up for these competition games between one another to see who would get the serial killer first. They do a lot of texting but I did love how Rowan was patient about it all. Once they get together though it gets very spicy and kind of sweet with how these two serial killers fall for one another.

I enjoyed seeing how this concept came together in the story though and found it very unique but again, it was a bit too gory for me.

My Final Thoughts:

If you like gore, serial killers, crime stories, spice, humor and romance, then definitely give this one a chance.

Find me here: Instagram (bookstagram📚) | Twitter (X)

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

First Lines Fridays | 8/9/24

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!

“The day my husband moves out of our apartment is also the day Resident Evil Village releases for PlayStation, and you might be surprised which of these things lands with a greater emotional impact.”

⬇️

⬇️

Can you guess what book it is?

Did you guess it? Have you read this one?

📖 ~ Yolanda

Happy Medium by. Sarah Adler | Book Review

Review: ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Title: Happy Medium

Author: Sarah Adler

Format: ebook (borrowed)

Pages: 416

Publication Date: 4/30/24

Categories: Romance, Contemporary, Paranormal

A clever con woman must convince a skeptical, sexy farmer of his property’s resident real-life ghost if she’s to save them all from a fate worse than death, in this delightful new novel from the author of Mrs. Nash’s Ashes .

Fake spirit medium Gretchen Acorn is happy to help when her best ( wealthiest) client hires her to investigate the unexplained phenomena preventing the sale of her bridge partner’s struggling goat farm. Gretchen may be a fraud, but she’d like to think she’s a beneficent one. So if “cleansing” the property will help a nice old man finally retire and put some much-needed cash in her pockets at the same time, who’s she to say no?

Of course, it turns out said bridge partner isn’t the kindly AARP member Gretchen imagined—Charlie Waybill is young, hot as hell, and extremely unconvinced that Gretchen can communicate with the dead. (Which, fair.) Except, to her surprise, Gretchen finds herself face-to-face with the very real, very chatty ghost that’s been wreaking havoc during every open house. And he wants her to help ensure Charlie avoids the same family curse that’s had Everett haunting Gilded Creek since the 1920s.

Now, Gretchen has one month to convince Charlie he can’t sell the property. Unfortunately, hard work and honesty seem to be the way to win over the stubborn farmer—not exactly Gretchen’s strengths. But trust isn’t the only thing growing between them, and the risk of losing Charlie to the spirit realm looms over Gretchen almost as annoyingly as Everett himself. To save the goat farm, its friendly phantom, and the man she’s beginning to love, Gretchen will need to pull off the greatest con of her being fully, genuinely herself.

Content Warning:

A con woman, a goat farmer and a ghost? I thought this would be a quirky read and I was not disappointed! Gretchen is a fake spirit medium, that’s how she makes a living but when one of her clients asks her to do a job for her because a ghost is haunting a house, she has to take it because the money is good. But what happens when she becomes a real spirit medium and can see Everett, the ghost who is haunting Charlie’s house? Well I didn’t expect them to become besties, but they do and it is a lot of fun.

I loved the banter between Everett and Gretchen, the two of them together are so funny. As for Charlie and Gretchen – I can totally see why he didn’t trust her, but he calls her on it and once the trust builds and the walls come down, they tune into one another and things get steamy! But I did find Everett and Gretchen’s relationship more fun than hers with Charlie.

My Final Thoughts:

This was a fun, paranormal, rom-com story. I loved Gretchen’s interactions with Everett and seeing her break down her walls, make friends, get close to people and fall in love. This is the first book I’ve read from this author but definitely look forward to reading more from her!

Find me here: Instagram (bookstagram📚) | Twitter (X)

Book Links:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

WWW Wednesday | 8/7/24

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Sam over on Taking on a World of Words.

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?

I think I’m in a struggle reading fantasy books right now which sucks because I have a lot of arcs that are fantasy. 🤔 It’s been slow going! I find myself grabbing a contemporary romance to just help myself finish one book and get my motivation.