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 might be used to the humidity and heat in my house – this is the 3rd week without a/c! But no, it is uncomfortable to sleep at night when the humidity is high. Not even my dog can sleep comfortably and I’m trying to keep my kiddos hydrated and their electrolytes up so we don’t run into dehydration problems. My hubby is coming home on Saturday so we’ll see how much reading I can get done in the next 2 weeks. We have so many events to attend and stuff to do!😬
My a/c is still not fixed because my bro-in-law couldn’t come out and so it was humid as heck – then the rain came. I’m happy for the rain, it keep my house cool when the sun isn’t hot. But I also want my a/c to be fixed before my hubby comes home to visit on Saturday? 😅 Oh well, I’m hoping it will be fixed this week since the rain should be gone. The part of the a/c that needs to be fixed is the outside unit.
On Mother’s Day my kids and I went to hang out with my sister. We went to a cat cafe for a little bit – they are pricey but we have no cats though my kids and hubby want one. Just dunno how our dog would react. It was a nice easy day out with cats and then we went to lunch. We didn’t do anything with my mom (I gave her a massage the day before) but she was still uncomfy with some medical stuff happening to her so hopefully we will do something soon when she is feeling better.
Bridgerton (Season 3) – why why why did we have to have a cliffhanger AND part 2 of the season comes out on June 13? 😅 So not happy with that especially because I felt like this was a slow start to season 3. I was expecting mostly Penny and Colin but we get Francesca’s subplot too? I found Eloise still funny – heartbroken she and Penny are still not friends, but Cressida was interesting twist – I’ll reserve my judgment on it until part 2 comes out! Episode 4 was so good though for Francesca and Penny! I will say the Featheringtons are hilarious, they really brought the humor to these 4 episodes lol.
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!
Title: The Hemlock Queen (The Nightshade Crown, #2)
Author: Hannah Whitten
Format: ebook (borrowed)
Pages: 400
Publication Date: 4/9/24
Categories: Fantasy, Series, Love Triangle
In the second installment of New York Times bestselling author Hannah Whitten’s lush, romantic epic fantasy series, a young woman who can raise the dead must navigate the dangerous and glamorous world of the Sainted King’s royal court.
The corrupt king August is dead. Prince Bastian has seized the throne and raised Lore—a necromancer and former smuggler—to his right hand side. Together they plan to cut out the rot from the heart of the sainted court and help the people of Dellaire. But not everyone is happy with the changes. The nobles are sowing dissent, the Kyrithean Empire is beating down their door, and Lore’s old allies are pulling away. Even Prince Bastian’s changed. No longer the hopeful, rakish, charismatic man Lore knows and loves, instead he’s reckless, domineering and cold.
And something’s been whispering in her ear. A voice, dark and haunting, that’s telling her there’s more to the story than she knows and more to her power than she can even imagine. A truth buried deep that could change everything.
With Bastian’s coronation fast approaching and enemies whispering on all sides, Lore must figure out how to protect herself, her prince, and her country before they all come crumbling down and whatever dark power has been creeping through the catacombs is unleashed.
Content Warning: violence
+ I did how everything get messier with the Gods and how they were inhabiting different people. It is the worse for Bastian who is being possessed by Apollius. So it changes him a lot because Apollius is sinister.
+ I do like the supporting cast and the political intrigue happening as Bastian tries to make allies with enemies, or so he says. There is a lot that is unveiled and explained where it comes to the Gods. The world-building is great and shows
~ But this story is too slow. I didn’t even realize it was only 400 pages because it felt like more and took me a few days to finish. I did like the beginning, there is a lull in the middle and then it finishes off strong. Getting to that strong ending though took awhile.
~ I don’t mind love triangles but I do not like this one. I hate that Lore is so indecisive between Bastian and Gabe. I think by the end she decides she loves both of them so what is this going to be? A throuple? I don’t think Bastian or Gabe want to share her. So this romance frustrates me a lot and I don’t feel connected to either of them.
My Final Thoughts:
This one was okay. I think it was just too slow in some parts and too much of Lore trying to figure out which boy she really loves and wants to be with which got tiring. I wanted romance in this but this isn’t it. I think the world-building is great and the politics but I’ll go into book three a little more reserved I think – we shall see what happens!
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!
“There were many things Lore didn’t feel like doing today. Getting up early. Choking down breakfast.”
He’d never wanted anyone enough to chase them…until he met her.
Charming, easygoing, and rich beyond belief, Xavier Castillo has the world at his fingertips.
He also has no interest in taking over his family’s empire (much to his father’s chagrin), but that hasn’t stopped women from throwing themselves at him…unless the woman in question is his publicist.
Nothing brings him more joy than riling her up, but when a tragedy forces them closer than ever, he must grapple with the uncertainty of his future—and the realization that the only person immune to his charms is the only one he truly wants.
*** Cool, intelligent, and ambitious, Sloane Kensington is a high-powered publicist who’s used to dealing with difficult clients.
However, none infuriate—or tempt—her more than a certain billionaire heir, with his stupid dimples and laid-back attitude.
She may be forced to work with him, but she’ll never fall for him…no matter how fast he makes her heart beat or how thoughtful he is beneath his party persona.
He’s her client, and that’s all he’ll ever be. Right?
Content Warning: grief, death of parents, strained family relationships
+ This one started off really good. I always thought Sloane was a strong character from book one – she’s the publicist who works hard and is good at her job. She kind of has a reputation as cold and an “ice princess” which is interesting because I felt she was fiery and somewhat of a machine that a princess. Also she doesn’t have a good relationship with her family. But I always found her a good friend when she appeared in the first two books of this series.
+ Xavier is charming, handsome and caring but kind of lacking direction. He also has some demons he’s struggling with along with a strained relationship with his father. He’s an heir to a billionaire fortune he doesn’t want so he tries to find his own way. Sloane is basically his “babysitter” trying to rehab his party boy image and I thought her being hard of him was kind of funny because he didn’t seem bothered by it at all. But with his party boy image I was assuming he would be a “bad boy” but he really wasn’t. He’s actually a sweet and nice guy, not ruthless at all which was not what I was expecting.
+~ I feel like the romance started great but sort of lost steam after the midway point only because they are both dealing with some challenges in their own separate lives. Obviously they don’t lose feelings for one another and only get better the longer they date, but I wanted more angst maybe but they are more of a comfort to one another which is nice – I just wanted some tension. Maybe because they got together so soon in the book and I wanted their back and forth to be drawn out a bit longer?
~ I really wish this was under 400 pages because I was losing interest at the 60% mark and that makes me wonder if I just didn’t care after they started dating because I knew they would be okay. The rest of the book was about Xavier trying to start his own business and Sloane dealing with family drama, because her family is awful. But I was skimming some of these pages at the end.
My Final Thoughts:
I really liked how this book started off but then it fizzled out for me in the second half. I think Sloane and Xavier are a cute couple, I just wanted more tension to build between them before they got together. I do like how they are there for each other though. I think I had this misconception that Xavier would be ruthless and be a real bad boy but in actuality Sloane is the ruthless one and she has to be in order to whip him into shape! Overall, I enjoyed the first part of the book but I kind of got bored with the second half.
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?
The heat is on – my ac is still not fixed 😅. And of course this week just started to get hot and himid sigh…it sucks but I’m amazed I had motivation to read since sitting and not moving means I don’t get super hot in the house so it’s actually good for reading! I finally broke my reading slump with contemporary romance! I’m trying to get back into fantasy but I feel like my brain is too tired to get into world-building, so I’m reading those book slower than usual.
Categories: Young Adult/New Adult , Romance, Contemporary, Chess, LGBT+
In this clever and swoonworthy YA debut from the New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis, life’s moving pieces bring rival chess players together in a match for the heart.
Mallory Greenleaf is done with chess. Every move counts nowadays; after the sport led to the destruction of her family four years earlier, Mallory’s focus is on her mom, her sisters, and the dead-end job that keeps the lights on. That is, until she begrudgingly agrees to play in one last charity tournament and inadvertently wipes the board with notorious “Kingkiller” Nolan Sawyer: current world champion and reigning Bad Boy of chess.
Nolan’s loss to an unknown rook-ie shocks everyone. What’s even more confusing? His desire to cross pawns again. What kind of gambit is Nolan playing? The smart move would be to walk away. Resign. Game over. But Mallory’s victory opens the door to sorely needed cash-prizes and despite everything, she can’t help feeling drawn to the enigmatic strategist….
As she rockets up the ranks, Mallory struggles to keep her family safely separated from the game that wrecked it in the first place. And as her love for the sport she so desperately wanted to hate begins to rekindle, Mallory quickly realizes that the games aren’t only on the board, the spotlight is brighter than she imagined, and the competition can be fierce (-ly attractive. And intelligent…and infuriating…)
Content Warning: grief, dysfunctional family
+ My most favorite thing about this book has to be about the chess world. After watching The Queen’s Gambit on Netflix a few years I found the competitive world of chess so fascinating! Maybe because the lead was a female chess player. But I like that about Check & Mate that the lead is a female chess prodigy because we get to see her experience while playing in a male dominated game. I loved all the scenes about the competitions and training even though I have minimal knowledge of chess myself, I found it really interesting.
+ Mallory is a character who is really going through some stuff. A situation with her late dad has left her blaming herself for the state of her family and she feels totally responsible for taking care of them, but she’s only 18 years old. She may be a chess prodigy but she put chess aside when things went down with her dad – and she’s far behind the competition in ranking. She basically knows nothing about the competitive world of chess.
+ The supporting cast is so also one of my favorite parts of this book, especially Oz. He is so cranky and snarky, but I thought he’s snide remarks were so funny. What a personality. And I like that he called Mallory out on her bs when everything fell apart. Mallory actually had a good support system of friends, family and new colleagues but she wasn’t very good at accepting their help because of this guilt she carried inside her. I also particularly liked the rheumatoid arthritis representation, with Mal’s mom. My best friend has rheumatoid arthritis and I’ve see her go through some major challenges all her life.
+~ I thought the romance between Mallory and Nolan was cute and the rivals to lovers trope was fun and full of tension. But I also wanted more from their relationship, but that’s just personal preference – a little more angst maybe? Or just more scenes with Nolan? Mal did keep running from him in the beginning so it’s mostly in the second half that they get more scenes together which is a shame because I wanted him there from the moment she met him. I do think because of both their personalities and past trauma that maybe they both had some things to work through – mostly for Mal though. I loved when they did finally act of their attraction.
~ I did like Mallory’s devotion to her mom and sisters. But her sisters are a handful and sometimes it got annoying. There is a lot of cultural pop and Gen Z references, but I didn’t mind it.
My Final Thoughts:
I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about this one because of all the chess but I loved it! I just wish there was more Mallory and Nolan time in the book and maybe less of Mal’s sisters, but overall I enjoyed this one a lot!
All over after my daughter’s recital huh? Nope. My a/c broke and is still unfixed because my brother in law who was going to fix it has covid and isn’t feeling well. Then our house alarm was acting up – apparently due to a bulging battery in the monitor. So glad that is fixed at least. And my mom had another medical emergency so that sucks but just trying to take one day at a time. I hope this week is better.
Anyway I hope everyone has a good week!
**UPDATE EDIT:
And HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY! I totally forgot to add that in here lol…but Happy Mother’s Day to all the mother’s of humans, pets, mother figures, etc…!!! Hope you had a good one!
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 shimmering, joyful new novel about a pair of opposites with the wrong thing in common.
Daphne always loved the way her fiancé Peter told their story. How they met (on a blustery day), fell in love (over an errant hat), and moved back to his lakeside hometown to begin their life together. He really was good at telling it…right up until the moment he realized he was actually in love with his childhood best friend Petra.
Which is how Daphne begins her new story: Stranded in beautiful Waning Bay, Michigan, without friends or family but with a dream job as a children’s librarian (that barely pays the bills), and proposing to be roommates with the only person who could possibly understand her predicament: Petra’s ex, Miles Nowak.
Scruffy and chaotic—with a penchant for taking solace in the sounds of heart break love ballads—Miles is exactly the opposite of practical, buttoned up Daphne, whose coworkers know so little about her they have a running bet that she’s either FBI or in witness protection. The roommates mainly avoid one another, until one day, while drowning their sorrows, they form a tenuous friendship and a plan. If said plan also involves posting deliberately misleading photos of their summer adventures together, well, who could blame them?
But it’s all just for show, of course, because there’s no way Daphne would actually start her new chapter by falling in love with her ex-fiancé’s new fiancée’s ex…right?
Content Warning: dysfunctional parents, cheating
I went into this one with lower expectations and not reading any reviews because I didn’t totally love the last book she put out. And I’m glad I went in without knowing anything because I really loved this one.
Daphne is a librarian who has just been dumped by her fiancé, Peter. But the break-up forced her to move out of their place so she ends up moving in with Peter’s new girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend, Miles. Sounds messy right?
I felt for Daphne because she’s left unmoored in a town she moved to because of her ex boyfriend. She’s trying to come to grips with the break-up, and trying to figure out why the men she loves keep leaving her disappointed. Yes, she has daddy issues because her dad was such a deadbeat, and that plays into her insecurities and fears about relationships, but she really thought Peter was the one who could fix all of that. I also liked how she was someone who had a hard time making friends but in the book she opens up a lot with Miles’ help but also from her own initiative to want to change that part of her life.
Miles, the roommate, is such a fun and chill character. He’s such a nice, sweet guy but he has issues too growing up with a narcissistic mother. Daphne and Miles together had such great banter and I loved their growing friendship and attraction to one another. I loved their chemistry even if that had moments they had to really back off from it because they weren’t in the right head space. I love that they both get to the right place together.
There are a lot of family issues brought up in the book. Daphne has issues with her dad who is barely in her life but her bond with her mom touched my heart so much and made me tear up. I love their bond. Miles’ childhood was horrible because he had a narcissistic mother and his father was gone a lot but it really messed with his mental health and how he viewed himself.
My Final Thoughts:
This one hit me in the feels! I loved the cozy town, Daphne being a librarian, the crew at the library, Miles, the friendships made along the way and the love that grew between Daphne and Miles. I felt the story had great tension to hold my attention, enough steam to make me gasp, so much love to be found in different relationships throughout the book – I even ended up tearing when Daphne and Miles had their first real fight. I was rooting for them so hard and I love that they had their happily after because these two characters deserved it.
Quotes From the Book:
“Life, I’d learned, is a revolving door. Most things that come into it only stay awhile.”
Funny Story by. Emily Henry
“If a person lets you down, it’s time to reconsider what you’re asking of them.”
Funny Story by. Emily Henry
“You can’t force a person to show up, but you can learn a lesson when they don’t.”
Funny Story by. Emily Henry
“I want to push as hard as possible against all the bruises in my heart, until it changes me. Until I learn to stop fucking everything up.”
Funny Story by. Emily Henry
“I don’t want to hurt him. I just don’t want him to hurt me either. “
Funny Story by. Emily Henry
“I’m a cynic. And a cynic is a romantic who’s too scared to hope.”
During the Great War, a combat nurse searches for her brother, believed dead in the trenches despite eerie signs that suggest otherwise, in this hauntingly beautiful historical novel with a speculative twist from the New York Times bestselling author of The Bear and the Nightingale
January 1918. Laura Iven was a revered field nurse until she was wounded and discharged from the medical corps, leaving behind a brother still fighting in Flanders. Now home in Halifax, Canada, she receives word of Freddie’s death in combat, along with his personal effects—but something doesn’t make sense. Determined to uncover the truth, Laura returns to Belgium as a volunteer at a private hospital. Soon after arriving, she hears whispers about haunted trenches, and a strange hotelier whose wine gives soldiers the gift of oblivion. Could Freddie have escaped the battlefield, only to fall prey to something—or someone—else?
November 1917. Freddie Iven awakens after an explosion to find himself trapped in an overturned pillbox with a wounded enemy soldier, a German by the name of Hans Winter. Against all odds, the two men form an alliance and succeed in clawing their way out. Unable to bear the thought of returning to the killing fields, especially on opposite sides, they take refuge with a mysterious man who seems to have the power to make the hellscape of the trenches disappear.
As shells rain down on Flanders, and ghosts move among those yet living, Laura’s and Freddie’s deepest traumas are reawakened. Now they must decide whether their world is worth salvaging—or better left behind entirely.
Content Warning: war, injuries, death
Laura and Freddie are siblings, both have been sent to the front lines, Laura as a nurse and Freddie as a soldier. And now Laura is trying to find out her brother and only family left, is dead or alive.
I found Laura to be such an intriguing character. She’s a nurse in World War I who was injured badly but survived, got sent home where she loses both her parents in one day and her only other family is out in the front lines. She’s alone but thriving and still holding hope that her brother Freddie is alive. Laura is not afraid, even with everything she’s been through, she’s ready to help the injured, she’s a good friend and a devoted sister. Personality wise, she’s not a warm person, but she’s efficient and was determined in her job being a nurse and trying to find her brother which I admired.
Freddie, oh poor Freddie, is in the bowels of hell and many times on death’s doorstep. In fact, where he is, we don’t really know. We meet a mysterious character Faland who is holding Freddie at some hotel which I think was symbolic of Freddie’s broken mind because of the war. I’m not sure – there were some parts of Freddie and Faland’s story that confused me for awhile until I just had to tell myself to go with it. I did determine that Faland was the devil and he was stealing souls, but for a time I thought maybe Faland was some mythical creature part of Belgium that I didn’t know about. Freddie’s story had a sort of surprise ending that I thought came out of nowhere. I see what the author was trying to do with the story but I definitely read the author’s note at the end of the book to get more insight. I’ll admit some of the times the story went over my head.
My favorite parts of the book were about Laura’s job as a nurse and her determination to find out what happened to Freddie. Even though all the war parts are gruesome and dark it’s real because war isn’t glamorous. I also like that this is set in World War I because it is a war we don’t hear much about, at least here in America. The historical fiction aspect of this story was really good.
My Final Thoughts:
For the most part I thought this was a pretty good book though some parts went over my head. I enjoyed the historical setting and it made me learn a lot of new things about World War I. In the end, I felt the full gravity about war being horrifying on both sides of enemy lines – everyone is in hell when they are in war, no matter what side they are on.
Quotes From the Book:
“Do not despair. Endings – they are beginnings too.”
The Warm Hands of Ghosts by. Katherine Arden
“The whole world’s made up of systems now. Systems that are too big for any one person to understand or control, or stop. Like the timetables. Alliances. Philosophies. And so now we’re here, even though no one wanted to be. “
The Warm Hands of Ghosts by. Katherine Arden
“That there’s no such thing as a coward, or a brave man – not out there. There’s no man’s will stronger than the war.”
The Warm Hands of Ghosts by. Katherine Arden
“But it was over. The fighting would stop. The killing would stop. And perhaps the world had learned. Perhaps this was the war that would end war. Perhaps.”
Past Midnight Book Reviews & More 