December Wrap-Up (2021)

Another month with no completed books. I didn’t read at all this month. I think this is the longest I’ve gone without finishing a book. Probably since I started reading as a kid. I still love books, but I was not ok mentally. This whole year has been a mess for me-I’m sure I’ve talked about this before. I did recently have a little break through and am trying to take pressure off myself. This is all self-imposed so there’s no reason to add stress.

I did go on another Disney trip at the beginning of the month which was very much needed. It’s exhausting physically, but rejuvenated me metnally-at least for a little bit.

December is also Christmas and my birthday month. My dad’s family did their annual Christmas eve party which is one of my favorite traditions. We alos did it on the 26th this year. IT was great to return to this after not doing it last year.

Of course there are no notes on finished books, but hopefully there will be next month.

I hope your 2022 is amazing! Take care of yourself!

Thanks for reading!
Holly

Book Review: Falling Into Love With You by Lauren Rowe

Let’s be honest, I knew I was going to like this. I mean, I enjoy Lauren Rowe and the first one was captivating. But I didn’t expect to love this as much as I did. It was hard to stop listening and I balled my freaking eyes out. The music was incorporated well, too. Although Hate Sex High is still my favorite songs from this set of books.

This did not go the way I expected-in the best possible way. It has some fake dating, but we move to an actual relationship quickly. I was worried there would be a lot of miscommunication or not talking to each other, but it wasn’t. There were little bits of that, but it wasn’t the only conflict.

Savage really came into his own here. You finally get a deeper look at who he is and how his upbringing has informed who he is. That was what I felt was missing from the first book.

There were lots of sexytimes and they were quite aggressively sexy. I really enjoyed those scenes. I love when sex scenes show character or progress the plots and these do.

Rockstar and famous people stories aren’t my favorite, but Lauren Rowe knows how to make it work for me. Smitten is my favorite still, but I think this is a close second. And I’m so excited to read Collin’s story. Oh, and the audiobook was spectacular. Andi Arndt and Jacob Morgan were both great. They definitely deserve all the praise they get.

Thanks for reading!
Holly

November Wrap-Up (2021)

I’m writing this about halfway into December which may be a mistake. My reading took a definite dip in November. The second half of the month I barely read anything. And I actually never finished a book. It was a little bit of disterest and a little bit of having other things to do. I made a specific choice to slow down and pull back on what I need to accomplish. I think that was a good choice for my mental health.

Thanksgiving also happened in November-as it does in the US. It was nice to spend some quality time with my family. My brother and sister-in-law visited from Albany with my niece and nephew. We celebrated Christmas and enjoyed seeing each other. Also, I did a small Thanksgiving with my mom’s family. It was a low-stress time which was needed.

I’m currently in the middle of like 4 books. I’m enjoying all of them, but just not in a reading mood. So I have no thoughts to share on any books this month. 

Thanks for reading!
Holly

Book Review: Falling Out of Hate with You by Lauren Rowe

Lauren Rowe is such a gem. And I just love these audiobooks. The music, too. Hate Sex High is so good! I can’t stop listening to it.

Laila and Savage have an enemies/hate thing going on. I’m sure that surprises you based on the title. I appreciate a good banter or bicker, but sometimes it went too far. I do have faith that Ms. Rowe will satisfy me in the end when it comes to that. The reason(s) they don’t get a long felt a bit rushed, but eventually I just threw myself into it.

Laila was a great heroine. She’s a newer musical artist with maybe some Taylor Swift vibes. She also knows who she is and will call out BS when she sees it. Savage is kind of a stereotypical rockstar character. He has some family obligations which impact his work, but he doesn’t really seek help. 

These two have very strong chemistry. There’s a lot of sexual tension that builds well. The payoff is a little different, but definitely worked.

I started to guess how it was going to end. I was right, but I’m still interested to see what happens next. I’m hoping for a bit more character development. I also really want to read it right away, but I’m trying to pace myself.

Thanks for reading!
Holly

October Wrap-Up (2021)

Is anyone else tired of saying “I can’t believe X month is over” or is it just me? When I look back, this month is a blur. That’s been happening to me a lot lately. I’m not sure it’s part of getting older or because work has been so stressful.

Even with work being mentally exhausting, I read over 20 books which I'm Happy with. I started the Black Room by Jasinda Wilder and Jade London. I got the complete collection in a Hello Lovely package. I’m enjoying it, but ridiculously confused.

And if I wasn’t before, I’m officially a huge fan of Lauren Rowe. She’s now an auto-buy author for me. I even pre-ordered the audiobook of her next book. I’m very excited to buy physical copies of all of her books to add to my library. I’m just trying to limit my spending as we enter the holiday season.

Here are the books I read along with ratings and some notes:

Thanks for reading!
Holly

Quarter 4 TBR Picks (2021)

It’s already time for another TBR jar pull. And it’s the last one of 2021. Full disclosure, I haven’t been doing the best at finishing the books I pulled this year. But I have every intention of reading them all by the end of the year.

So, I recently pulled the last five prompts from my TBR Jar. I’ve assigned a book to each of them. I’m excited to read each of them, but one is a bit of a chunker.

Here are the prompts and the books I assigned to them.

Re-read a Favorite, but on Audio

F/F Adult Romance

New to Me Author

Lowest Rated Book on Owned TBR

Random Number Generator

There’s a video of me actually pulling the prompts and picking the books on my YouTube channel. You can check it out here:

Thanks for reading!
Holly

Book Review: Still Beating by Jennifer Hartman

This book destroyed me. It ripped my heart out, stomped on it, and then did it over and over. There’s a lot of stuff here that can be hard to read. There’s kidnapping, rape, suicide attempts, animal death, and more. It’s also incredibly high on the angst. You have to be the right person for this to work, but if you’re that person it is a heart wrenching and beautiful read.

Objectively, I can see why people wouldn’t like this. First, there’s the triggering content. Then, there’s the fact that the hero, Dean, has been in a relationship for 15 years with the heroine, Cora’s, sister. Some of Cora’s behavior is frustrating to read, too.

But I don’t care. The content didn’t trigger me. I liked how Hartmann explored trauma and what it does to people. Sometimes it felt like Dean and Cora couldn’t escape the drama. That could’ve felt over-the-top, but it never did. The Dean dating Cora’s sister was probably the hardest thing to believe. They were together for 15 years and only recently got engaged. There was just some stuff around that that felt unrealistic. Some reviews say Hartmann tried to make the sister, Mandy, a villain to excuse Cora and Dean’s behavior. I disagree. Mandy came across as a normal woman. She reacts in potentially harsh, but in believable ways. 

Cora does kind of play with Dean. She constantly pushes him away and then pulls him back. It is incredibly frustrating for the reader, but also Dean. Personally, I thought it worked. It shows you how hurt Cora is and how much she needs professional help.

I adored this story even though I balled my eyes out for most of it. I definitely plan on reading more books by Jennifer Hartmann. This is one of my favorite books of 2021.

Thanks for reading!
Holly

Book Review: Belle & the Beau by Beverly Jenkins

I wasn’t going to write a review, but I keep thinking about this book. I’m not a big fan of American-set historicals and that opinion still stands. But this is a very good story and romance. 

Belle. She was great. She’s easy to like and connect with. Belle also has a very positive outlook on life. Lof course she struggles with the trauma of being raised in slavery, but it hasn’t broken her. She learns from those around her and teaches them things, too. I also absolutely loved how passionate she was about sewing. And she allows this skill she learned as a slave to empower her.

Daniel was a good hero, but his family often stole the show. His mom and sister, Jojo, were often funny but also were so supportive of Belle. A lot of the side characters were well done. I believe the other book by Ms. Bev is about Jojo and one of those side characters. I am 100% on board for that. 

The romance worked and is definitely very tame. There’s an attraction between Belle and Daniel, but it’s a slow romance. Normally, this would bother me, but here I liked it. Daniel is already in a relationship so he has to deal with that. But Belle has to deal with so much more. She’s free for the first time in her life and I would be put off if she just jumped into a relationship with the first guy she met. 

The historical facts and elements could’ve been clunky, but I think they were incorporated well. Ms. Bev shows the realities of slavery and American history. She talks about laws and how they actually impacted people. It doesn’t overwhelm the story, but adds to it. 

Thanks for reading!
Holly

Quarter 3 Wrap Up (2021)

I took this quarter off when it came to content creation. I really needed a break from something in my life and that’s what took the hit. I just felt very overwhelmed and perhaps a bit depressed.

My reading went a bit down this quarter, but I’m still happy. I got caught up on all my World of True North ARCs. I felt bad about being behind so I’m glad that’s done. I am still behind on quarterly TBRs and other projects but I’ll take the win where I can.

I did find some new favorites like Sweet Talk, Still Beating, and Blade of Secrets.

A lot of books were also purchased this quarter, but not as much as the previous quarter. Most of them I haven’t read, but I have hopes quite a few will be read before the end of the year. 

Below are some stats on my reading for this quarter. I also did a YouTube video talking about that and some of my favorites. You can check that out here:

Thanks for reading!
Holly

Book Review: Boyfriend by Sarina Bowen

Sarina Bowen’s writing college-aged characters again and she’s still great at it. This fits into the Moo U series with Weston being on the hockey team. And Abbi is a waitress at the Biscuit in the Basket. There’s some fake dating in this one, too. It was so close to five stars and I could see upgrading it on a re-read.

Weston has some soap opera style family drama so for Thanksgiving he seeks a fake girlfriend to spend time with instead of going home. Abbi has her own drama and a grabby sort of stepbrother. She’s also had a little crush on Weston so she takes him up on that offer.

They end up clicking: emotionally and physically. So, they continue a friendship and some more fake dating. Naturally, that turns into more. But Weston has commitment issues triggered by the family issues and Abbi wants out of Vermont.

I loved these characters. I often liked one part of a couple more than another, but Sarina Bowen makes it hard to pick one. It’s so easy to see their perspectives and to connect with them.

The romance was so well-paced. I’m not always a big fan of fake dating, but this one worked. There’s great physical chemistry. And they have a great mental connection. You can tell they care about each other beyond the physical. Now the sexytimes were very good too-don’t get me wrong.

This was a great addition to Moo U. It also felt like a Sarina Bowen book. She will write non-traditional families or weird drama, but make it perfectly believable. She also doesn’t just fall back on stereotypes. It’s why she’s a favorite.

Thanks for reading!
Holly

Book Review: Blade of Secrets by Tricia Levenseller

Tricia Levenseller is a devil. Or a witch. Or both. How else can you explain how addictive her books are? This is my fourth 5 star from her. I only didn’t read it in one sitting because I was on vacation. And I'm so mad I have to wait for the next one. 

Where to start?

The characters are all amazing. Ziva is the main character and I love her. Her experience with anxiety is so well done in my opinion. It’s also nice to have a more reluctant MC/hero. She just wants to be left alone, which I connect with. She also knows she does need to push herself. Even though it's written in first person, I feel like I know the three side characters very well. Temra is Ziva’s sister and equally wonderful. She supports and loves Ziva, but is also her own person. She’s more complex than at first glance. Petrick is an adorable scholar who is also deeper than expected. Kelly is written to be that YA fantasy hero you just can’t help but fall in love with. And that definitely worked on me. At first glance, he seems like a standard bad guy, but Levenseller does more with him like all the other characters.

Then, there’s the relationships. There are several packed in this fairly short book. Yes, there’s some romance. It’s fairly slow-paced which builds some angst, but also feels perfect. Ziva has a lot to work through so she can’t just fall in love (in my opinion). I also loved her awkwardness. It made her relatable without being too much. The sister relationship between Temra and Ziva was also great. Their love for eachother jumps off the page. They also fight and have different desires which are realistic. There’s also little moments of friendship between the four travellers. Their interactions change depending on how many and who are together. This is exactly how friend groups and groups work in the real world.

Now, let’s talk about the non-relationship plot lines. This was probably the weakest, but I still really liked it. The structure was a bit repetitive. It’s also a travel/journey story so that’s pretty common. I did like that it wasn’t all action-you need some downtime. The magic system isn’t explained-we may never get one-but it still works. You don’t always need a big detailed backstory. The politics are a little more developed and explained. It still isn’t very thorough. I have a general idea of what's going on, but don’t fully understand all the particulars.

This is a new favorite and Tricia Levenseller remains an autobuy author for me. Now, I have to wait not-so-patiently for the next book.

Thanks for reading!
Holly

September Wrap-up (2021)

I had such high hopes for September. The first half of the month went fairly well and I was making my way through a good amount of books. Then, I crashed. Honestly, work just got very exhausting. When I got home I didn’t want to do anything-not read, watch YouTube, nothing. I have hope work will lighten up a little bit and I’ll get energy back in October. There are so many books I want to read so I am hopeful I’ll get to most of them.

Here are the books I read in September along with my ratings and some short thoughts.

Thanks for reading!
Holly

Book Review: Smitten by Lauren Rowe

This was so precious. Even though I already said this recently about another book: my new favorite Lauren Rowe book. 

It felt very different from other books I’ve read by her. It’s a lot more light and fluffy. Fish/Matthew is such a kindhearted man. He is a great friend and supportive partner. Alessandra is really nice, too. She loves music, but is shy and has stage fright. She also has no relationship experience and Fish handles that spectacularly.

They are immediately attracted to each other and have long conversations. I’m a huge fan of that in my romance novels. Smitten is really the best word. Yes, they fall in love, but there’s an adorable sweetness and innocence to their relationship. It makes me so happy and I want to protect them with everything I have.

I also really loved the music. In the audiobook you get to actually listen to a song the characters wrote. I’m not normally a rockstar/musician romance person, but this definitely worked for me. Fish isn’t an over-the-top and cocky rockstar. Ms. Rowe also shows how passionate they are about their music. I’m a sucker for a passionate and competent character.

This is a stand alone, but connects to a lot of the other books. And timeline wise it overlaps with the Reed River Trilogy. You can read it on its own, but it’s so fun to see characters you’ve read about before. And I hope Lauren Rowe continues to write in this world/friend group.

Thanks for reading!
Holly

Book Review: Sweet Talk by Cara Bastone

This was so adorable. It made my heart so happy. I just wanted to listen to this and not do anything else.

I love epistolary novels and this was a great example of why. There’s cute banter and flirting. It also builds up tension really well. Jessie had a crush on Elliot, but it was never a really big part of the story. I loathe unrequited love so that made me happy. The pacing was so good! It kept me going and had me rooting for their romance. I also just realized there were no sexytimes and I don’t even care. Sometimes I feel deprived, but this was perfect.

Jessie is a great character. She’s basically a “not like other girls” character, but with none of the actual vibes you get from that character. And I loved how she felt about her dad-it made me so emotional. And I completely loved Elliot. He was not a typical hero or alpha guy. He’s an artist and passionate about it. He’s also generally confident, but has some weaknesses. I loved his vulnerabilities. He was so real.

I’m just in love with this. The production value was spectacular. It added so much to the story and I highly recommend this. And it definitely makes me want to read more books by Cara Bastone. Maybe I found a new favorite author.

Thanks for reading!
Holly

August Wrap-Up (2021)

I don’t have much to say about August. It was a really bad month for me mentally and emotionally. I guess you could say I was in a reading slump, but I just had little-to-no interest in doing pretty much anything.

My niece was born toward the end of the month. She was a few weeks early, but healthy. She’s an adorable little peanut. I also visited my brother and sister-in-law to meet her and celebrate my nephew’s birthday. It was great to spend some quality time with family.

I was able to finish about 15 books. Objectively that’s very good, but I really wanted to read more. I did give out a lot of 5 stars though. So quality over quantity or something like that right? Well there’s always next month.

Below are the books I read in August along with my ratings and some quick thoughts.

Thanks for reading!
Holly

July Wrap-Up (2021)

July is kind of a blur. Especially since I’m writing this toward the end of August. 

I read a lot of books-especially since I went on vacation. And that vacation was definitely worth it and needed. Although I did start feeling a reading slump come at the end of the month. We’ll probably talk about this more in next month’s wrap-up.

Here are the books I read in July along with my ratings and some thoughts.

Thanks for reading!
Holly

Book Review: Afterglow by Aria Wyatt

Afterglow was a bit emotional and hard hitting. There’s discussion of alcoholism, assault, and parental death. I’m not bothered by any of it, but it’s important to know. It’s also an age-gap romance. That’s not my favorite trope, but I wasn’t bothered.

Solana is a college student who returns to Vermont because her panic attacks are too much. Her panic stems from the death of her parents when she was a kid. She’s now working at the Busy Bean. Declan’s a moody Irishman who wants more time with his son, but has issues with his ex-wife. He’s also a recovering alcoholic. Solana’s parents died because of a drunk driver so...drama.

They meet at the Busy Bean because Declan comes in a lot usually with his son. And the chemistry is there right away. Declan tries to avoid a relationship with Solana because he doesn’t want to piss off his ex-wife. But this is a romance so you know they give into the temptation. It starts as a physical thing, but they both want more.

There is some relationship conflict which I’m not going into because that’s maybe too spoiler. Ms. Wyatt took what I expected, but did some interesting things with it.

A lot of the story is about Declan and Solana’s personal issues and conflicts. Declan’s surround alcohol and his ex-wife. Solana is still dealing with the loss of her parents 15 years earlier. She was raised by her older brother and that wasn’t the healthiest relationship. I liked how deep their characters were.

This may have been a tad too long. Some parts felt drawn out. Other times resolutions felt fast. Maybe I just can’t be satisfied.

Oh, I almost forgot the side characters. They were very well developed and felt real. They were also complex-again realistic. They also provided some sequel bait.

Afterglow was a good addition to the Busy Bean series and a nice conclusion.

Thanks for reading!
Holly

Book Review: Fireproof by Delancey Stewart

I blew through this. It has a lot of my catnip so that’s probably not a surprise. I love small towns, farms, ex-military, and the general vibes. A cute pupper helps, too!

All that being said, I don’t have a lot to say. That happens a lot when I read a book so fast. I’ll still try.

Mason’s a pretty grumpy guy. They say he has “resting murder face.” He does care about his family (and dog), but he also tries to protect himself from pain by avoiding relationships. Heather is an education lobbyist-so is my brother. She’s being harassed after testifying against a senator. She’s dealing with the fallout from that and her brother takes her to MAson in Vermont to escape.

Thank you, Delancey Stewart, for writing a brother’s best friend romance without an over-the-top brother. It made me unreasonably happy.

Because of Heather’s trauma, I was worried about her getting into a relationship. But the pacing was so good. Both Mason and Heather went on personal journeys that helped me root for their romance.

The little friendship and family bits were very good, too. I definitely teared up a little bit a couple of times.

I will check out more Delancey Stewart. Especially since there was some very obvious sequel bait. I’m the fish and will always bite that bait.
Thanks for reading!
Holly

Book Review: Doubletalk by Teralyn Mitchell

Friends-to-enemies kind of-to lovers. There’s predictable moments, but I really enjoyed this. I read it in one day and easily got sucked in.

Rory and Zeke were childhood friends, but they had a falling out in middle school. Rory still lives in Vermont. Zeke is a professional basketball player. He returns to Vermont to rehab some injuries. They run into each other and slowly reconnect. Zeke definitely wants a relationship or at least friendship, but Rory is still angry from the earlier stuff.

Rory will probably bother some readers. She’s a harsher personality and she’s a big grudge holder. I didn’t mind, but I’ve been known to hold a grudge so I get it. She’s also fairly self-aware about that. She does grow and learn, too. 

Zeke was a very nice guy and he tried to make up for mistakes he made as a kid. I would’ve liked him to be a bit more developed. We got little glimpses of his familial relationships, but that was really it.

My biggest issue was around the “big secret”. I knew from the beginning what the big conflict would be. I hate the not talking to each other thing. It wasn’t the knowing it part that bothered me but what the actual conflict was.

There were some small pacing or plotting things that felt off. Or sometimes I thought there was a continuity error. Maybe it was me. It didn’t impact my enjoyment too much anyways. 

Ms. Mitchell, please tell me Stacey will get her HEA. I’ll definitely look into more books by Mitchell when I have space in my TBR. Her style was easy to read and connect with.

Thanks for reading!
Holly

Book Review: Showstopper by Regina Kyle

This was good and a fast, easy read. It’s more of a 3.5 star, but I round up.

This felt like maybe it fit more in the Moo U series than Vino and Veritas series. But I do get that V&V is the LGBT+ series. It’s just that the plot and tone felt more like Moo U. I was very happy to see Lex again-he was one of my favorites from Moo U.

Kolby and Adam were both good characters. They were easy to like, but I never 100% cared about either of them. I just never got emotionally invested. Maybe if they were more deeply developed.

The romance was pretty standard, but I have no real complaints. It has very minor enemies-to-lovers elements. Very minor. Kolby and Adam have some cute banter. Their relationship is pretty physical but they also talk a lot which I like reading about in my romances. I could do without multiple grand gestures, but I get why it happens and a lot of people do like it.

I never know how to end reviews. I would recommend picking this up especially if you liked the Moo U books.

Thanks for reading!
Holly