Category Archives: Uncategorized

To Have and to Hoax — Martha Waters — The Regency Vows #1

“(…) If you are going to insist on losing faith in someone the moment you see the slightest possibility that they have wronged you, you are going to have a very frustrating life.”

Genre: Romance, Royalty
Actual Rating: 4 stars
Content Warnings: Toxic relationships and friendships, sexual content and sexism.

Set in what seems to be the 1800s, “To Have and to Hoax” follows Lady Violet Grey and Lord James Audley, a couple who got married out of love, which was extremely back in the day. After one year of blissful marriage, they get in a fight so great that they barely speak for the following 4 years. Then, Lady Violet gets a letter, telling her her husband has been in a grave accident. As she rushes to where he is only to find he is actually fine and well, she sets to get her revenge, because it isn’t fair that they barely talk and she still cares for him. In a comedic telling, this romance book will transport you to times similar to books like “Pride and Prejudice” and “Sense and Sensibility”.

I pretty much grabbed this book because I was reminiscing how much I enjoy the “Pride and Prejudice” 2005 movie and to start setting the mood for season 2 of Bridgerton. And I must say, “To Have and to Hoax” did a perfect job at that. I loved the tension and scheming and the period language. The first installment in The Regency Vows series is lighthearted, funny, and very heavily focused on character development. For its length, it was a very fast read, even if it wasn’t that fastly paced.

I would recommend this book to lovers of period dramas and to readers who enjoy the enemies-to-lovers trope.

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The Party Crasher — Sophie Kinsella

“A relationship isn’t a snapshot. (…) It’s a journey.”

Genre: Romance, Comedy
Actual rating: 4 stars
Content Warnings: Discusses divorce and deals with abandonment issues, but there aren’t really any other content warnings that I can think of.

“The Party Crasher” follows Effie, a (currently unemployed) event planner, as she crashes her family home’s “house cooling” party. Effie’s father and stepmother Mimi were the ones who raised her but now, after Effie and her siblings grow up and move away from home, they get a divorce. This has left Effie to question if everything she lived in her childhood was real because she really could’ve sworn they were a happy couple. A few years later, in comes Krista, Effie’s father’s gold-digging girlfriend. As Effie’s family’s quirky home is finally sold, Krista organizes a house cooling party and “forgets” to invite Effie. Hurt, but on a mission to rescue one of her childhood toys, Effie sets out to attend the party anyway, without anyone seeing her there. In a series of unfortunate (and comedic) events, Effie ends up not going unnoticed and has to resort to the help of her siblings and even an ex-boyfriend. In this heartwarming novel, Sophie Kinsella gives us the quirkiest of quirky families.

This has been the funniest romantic novel for me. I see so many books cataloged under romantic comedy when they’re really just romances without a huge tragedy, but wow, that was not the case with “The Party Crasher”. This book made me cringe and feel secondhand embarrassment and giggle and downright laugh at times. Effie, the main character, was going through a rollercoaster of emotions, and so was I.

I would say this was a relatively PG romance, but it was still cute and heartwarming in all the moments that mattered. I liked the characters, even the hatable ones, and I liked how fast-paced this book was, there were no dull moments.

I would recommend this book to young adults looking for a funny, light, romantic story to get out of their heads. This book is enthralling and entertaining, it’ll help you forget everything in the real world for a few hours.

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ARC — Sari, Not Sari — Sonya Singh

“But sometimes you are lucky, (…) if you find love and it finds you.”

Genre: Romance
Actual Rating: 5 stars
Content Warnings: Discusses racial discrimination.

“Sari, Not Sari” follows Manny Dogra, the CEO of a company called Breakup that aids its clients in just that—breaking up through emails, with dignity and tact. Her business is extremely successful, she’s engaged, and she thinks she’s finally overcoming the grief that came with losing her parents. Then in comes Sammy Patel, a handsome businessman who is looking to take a break from his non-Indian girlfriend so he can attend his brother’s extravagant Indian wedding without ruining it all. But here’s the thing: Breakup only works with permanent break ups, not taking breaks. Sammy tries to convince Manny to take the case, persuading her with her supposed understanding of the Indian culture. But here’s the thing, Manny is Indian but she didn’t *grow up* Indian, she really is as americanized as can be. When Sammy agrees to give Manny a crash course in all things Indian as she attends Sammy’s brother’s wedding as a business partner—not a date—, she takes the case and reconnects with the roots she didn’t even know she had, as she slowly starts to understand what it means to be a Patel, to be Indian.

This was the slowest of slow burn romances, but as this was also a book about personal growth I’ve decided not to write it off because of that. With the sweetest of plot twists, “Sari, Not Sari” deserves its full 5 stars and maybe even a bit more.

This book perfectly illustrates imposter syndrome with regards to culture, which was impressive considering that imposter syndrome is usually related to profesional development and not to more personal matters. Manny was dealt a hard hand, but she’s trying to do the best with what she’s got. Sammy had the best intentions, although perhaps not the best execution. The Patels were both welcoming and cruel? At the end of the book I had fluctuates from loving them to hating them to loving them again.

And I have to point it out: THIS IS SONYA SINGH’S DEBUT NOVEL? Excuse me, what? Sonya, I can’t wait to see what’s to come for you. This book was so sweet and the love in it so tender and the friendships in it so solid. Character development was on point, they weren’t just copy/pasted slates of the same 3 character traits; the characters in “Sari, Not Sari” were complex and had so many layers and character flaws. I loved them and I loved the story you told.

I would recommend this book to people interested in a romance book that’s more than just a romance book. “Sari, Not Sari” will teach you about self worth, honesty, lost love, grief, and family, all in the midsts of two different cultures colliding.

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ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Publication Date: April 05, 2022

ARC — She Gets the Girl — Rachael Lippincott and Alyson Derrick

Genre: Young Adult, Romance, LGBTQIA
Actual rating: 3.5 stars
Content Warnings: Discusses alcoholism.

“She Gets the Girl” follows Molly and Alex, two university freshman who are trying their best to get their girls. Molly, being close to home and having a deep relationship with her family, is looking to grow more independent and have her high school crush fall for her. Alex, running half way through her state to attend university as far away from her alcoholic mother, is trying to win her ex girlfriend back and looking to become a better person. After meeting in a party, Alex takes on the mission of helping Molly break out of her shell and get the girl, all the while Alex is trying to show her ex she’s changed, that she can have friends and do selfless things for them.

First things first, it’s SO cute that this book was written by a couple. Rachael Lippincott is an author I hold close and dear to my heart ever since I read “The Lucky List”. Alyson Derrick is Rachael’s wife and “She Gets the Girl” is her debut novel—even though she’s already set to publish another book next year, that’s how promising she is. They both built an interesting world through alternating points of view.

Now on to my review of the book: The self-pity and the “uh I’m too damaged to love or be loved” isn’t a trope I necessarily like, but this book delivers a nice feel-good story and I’m trying to focus on that instead. I don’t know who was more stubborn and annoying, Alex or Molly, but they were definitely exasperating.

I see books as, yes, works of fiction—but fiction in a way that they try to imitate real life at the best of their abilities. Even when reading dystopian or fantasy novels, those works of fiction carry real-life emotions and situations that seem possible in other realities. Sadly, this work of fiction did not hold this to be true. I felt like the characters and all the situation they lived through were so farfetched for the sake of being unique that they somewhat lost their magic.

I would recommend this book to high schoolers and young adults that enjoy LGBTQIA+ books. It’s a nice, light read, and could be a great book to give as a gift.

And yes, even though this wouldn’t be the first Rachael Lippincott book I would recommend, I still wouldn’t dismiss it.

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ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Publication Date: April 05, 2022

ARC — Dreams Bigger Than Heartbreak — Charlie Jane Anders — Unstoppable #2

Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction
Actual Rating: 3 stars
Content Warning: Some violent imagery, as to be expected in a sci-fi novel.

“Dreams Bigger Than Heartbreak” is the second book in the Unstoppable series, following directly after the events in the first book. This time around, we live the story through different points of view: Rachael, as she lives with not being able to make art anymore; Tina, who is studying at the Royal Space Academy in hopes of becoming the hero she’s supposed to be; and Elza, Tina’s girlfriend, who’s competing to become a princess.

This did not read like a book, it read more like an elaborate AU fanfic. The world-building and character introduction weren’t the absolute worse there is, but I personally consider there are better ways to introduce a character’s gender than adding their pronouns after their name. The (she/her), (he/him), etc. threw me off from the start. Also, why break that science fiction, futuristic feel by talking about real-world things like Tiktok? I get that they’re teenagers in space, but those references and mentions threw me off.

Overall, it’s entertaining and relatively fast-paced. It’s a fun read that isn’t necessarily short, but it’s so action-packed that it feels like it’s short, in a good way. I really enjoyed the different gender and sexuality representation in this book, it mostly felt organic to the story. I think my favorite parts of this book were told through “letters” sent through Joinergram, which tells you a lot about why I gave this book 3 stars.

If you read the first book in this series, then by all means grab this one too, you will know what to expect and will get to see the main characters again. I would also recommend this book to younger readers trying to get into science fiction writing, or young readers who have enjoyed reading “Ender’s Game” by Orson Scott Card.

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ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Publication Date: April 05, 2022

ARC — Lunar Tides — Shannon Webb-Campbell

Genre: Poetry
Actual Rating: 3.5 stars
Content Warnings: Grief

If there’s one thing I love about this poetry book it’s the theme that was followed. The fact that this book was closely linked to the ocean (and the moon) made me really enjoy it. But it was not the greatest poetry collection by any means.

Some poems were immaculately creative and meaningful, but then parts of them made little to no sense. Is that the new theme with poetry books? Because that’s been the case with the last few poetry books I’ve read (both ARCs and already published books). I know art is subjective, and I bet the nonsense parts move some people, but there were parts of some poems that felt like they could’ve been left out of this collection.

Let’s take an example from early on in the book, with the poem “Tides”—which was actually one of my favorite poems because it was one of many that mention whales, and I work with marine mammals for a living. It almost ends like this, which I loved:

“if whales are deep thinkers, do they know
it takes one day and 52 minutes for a point
on earth to be noticed
by the moon?”

Then to be followed by:

“humans believe logic is time

we’re all shift workers

here on the lip of Atlantic”

??? Excuse me? The whole poem was flowing so cohesively right up to the last 3 lines, which felt out of place compared to the pace of the rest of the poem. And this is not a solo occurrence, this kind of weird narrative kept coming up throughout this book. And if you ignored those parts I would even dare and say this could’ve been a 5-star poetry book for me, but with all the intrusive thoughts and nonsense verses, it just really wasn’t.

I haven’t talked about nonsense verses yet, not really. But an example of this can be seen in the poem “Sea Change”, where there’s a verse that makes no sense no matter how you spin it:

“if whales have everlasting memory
then what does the moon recall?
some say grandmother”

First, what does whale memory recollection have to do with the moon? Second, what does it have to do with a grandmother? Third, and most importantly, what was even the purpose of this poem as a whole?

I know it sounds like I’m being unfair to this book, but these things happened constantly and were too repetitive to ignore. Also, this poetry collection was so heavy on the imagery that sometimes you lost track of what was being told in the poem. Sometimes too much is actually too much.

Ignoring my criticism of this piece, I would actually recommend this book a lot. I would recommend it for poetry readers that are looking for a book that’s mid- on everything. It’s mid-sad, mid-clever, mid-happy, mid-length, and mid-life-changing. It’s perfect for a quick airport read or a break between emotionally-charged books.

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ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Publication Date: April 05, 2022

Reminders of Him — Colleen Hoover

“Now that I’ve forgiven myself, the reminders of him only make me smile.”

Genre: Romance
Actual rating: 5+ stars
Content warnings: Car accident, death, grief, and suicidal thoughts.

“Reminders of Him” follows Kenna Rowan, a young mother who just spent 5 years in prison, as she looks to be reunited with her daughter. Kenna was separated from her daughter, Diem, as soon as she gave birth and she lost custody to Diem’s paternal grandparents. Then in comes Ledger Ward, a retired football player who was best friends with Diem’s father and who cares for Diem as if she were his own daughter. In an(other) emotionally charged romance, Colleen Hoover has once again torn our hearts and pulled them back together.

No review I could ever write will do this book justice. “Reminders of Him” is so so sad. I would dare to say sadder than most CoHo books. It was perfectly paced, which made it even more enjoyable. It was fast enough that you wouldn’t get bored but slow enough that the anticipation alone made the romance much better.

Then you have a bunch of likable but imperfect characters. Kenna and her grief and perseverance, Ledger and his guilt, the Landrys and their anger. There was so much character growth in this book—sometimes even in unexpected ways. Colleen knows just how to build up tension, and oh was this book tense.

I always say my favorite CoHo book is always the last one I’ve read, and this holds true for “Reminders of Him” one too. This book was all I didn’t know I needed.

I would recommend this book without a shadow of a doubt that the reader will be entranced by it. If you’re looking for a romance book that’ll make you swoon and cry and love and heal, then this book is for you.

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“It proves that time, distance, and devastation allow people enough opportunity to craft villains out of people they don’t even know. But Kenna was never a villain. She was a victim. We all were.”

A Torch Against the Night — Sabaa Tahir — An Ember in the Ashes #2

“So long as you fight the darkness, you stand in the light.”

Genre: Fantasy
Actual Rating: 4 stars
Content Warning: Violence, death, dystopian slavery and mass killing, and physical abuse are prominent topics.

“A Torch Against the Night” continues right where we left off in the first book and follows Laia and Elias as they escape Serra and try to break Laia’s brother out of the Empire’s most secure prison. But it also follows Helene, now the new Blood Shrike and Elias’s former best friend and companion, as she is ordered to finish what the Empire had started: the execution of Elias. Told from various points of view, this second installment of the An Ember in the Ashes series is somehow just as good as the first one, which I honestly didn’t feel was possible.

I was convinced I wouldn’t be finishing this series, Red-Queen-series style. But no, I absolutely can’t leave it off like this. I feel the need to keep reading. The twists and turns of this book are never-ending. It is so fast paced and somehow managed to be both character- and plot-driven. In this book, the characters delved more into their emotions and their dualities. I am so excited to see where they’ll go from here.

I would recommend this series to readers who enjoy fantasy and dystopian fiction, and those that won’t squirm away from violence and war being depicted in books.

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“Elias and Laia are each other’s countermelodies. I am just a dissonant note.”

An Ember in the Ashes — Sabaa Tahir — An Ember in the Ashes #1

Genre: Fantasy
Actual Rating: 4.5 stars
Content Warning: Violence, death, dystopian slavery, and physical abuse are prominent topics.

“An Ember in the Ashes” follows Laia, a marginalized girl who loses her family to an Empire that rules with fear and violence, and Elias, a boy born and trained to be a soldier. In an attempt to rescue her brother, the only family member she has left, Laia joins the rebels and is sold into slavery, working for a (bitch of a) commandant in the most prestigious soldier school. There she’ll serve as a spy, risking her life to save her brother’s. This is where Laia and Elias will meet—as he comes to question the violence they use to subdue more and more.

Where do I ever start? The world building was amazing. The points of view were very distinct, the characters well defined, the story entertaining at all moments. This book hooked me, and it hooked me for good. I’m not even sure if I want to read the following books in this series, because the first one was too good, there’s no way this series doesn’t go downhill from here. But oh well, I’ll have to wait and see.

I would recommend this book to people who like books by Laini Taylor, the narrative of “An Ember in the Ashes” reminded me so much of “Strange the Dreamer.” I couldn’t recommend this book enough.

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We’ll Always Have Summer — Jenny Han — Summer #3

Genre: Young Adult, Coming-of-age
Actual Rating: 4.5 stars
Content Warnings: Mentions cheating, but it’s not a real troupe in this book tho.

“We’ll Always Have Summer” follows Belly as she starts college and delves into her relationship with Jeremiah—the relationship that Conrad, her ex boyfriend and forever crush (and Jeremiah’s brother), encouraged them to have. Told between the points of view of Conrad and Belly (but mostly Belly’s), this book is the perfect conclusion to the Summer trilogy.

In my humble opinion, his book was bs. What Jeremiah did that spring break? Bullshit. What Conrad did the day of the wedding? Bullshit. What Belly did to absolutely everyone in this book? You guessed it: bullshit. But yeah, I still loved it. This book hits too close to home this time around. I almost did what Belly almost do: get married ridiculously young. And even though, yeah, I’m still with the same partner I was back then, now, 6 years later, I can see how crazy that was. I think this book can easily be my favorite out of the series.

Grab these three books. They’re short and fast-paced and heartwarming and heartbreaking and funny and sweet and sad. This series has it all. It’s YA for sure, but it’s good YA.

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