Tag Archives: 3.5 stars

ARC — Trading Places — Emily Duvall

“I thought not kissing you would be easier. Turns out, it’s harder.”

Genre: Romance
Actual Rating: 3.5 stars
Spicy Meter: 2 fire emojis
Content Warnings: Contains some sexual content.

“Trading Places” follows Lexi North, a spoiled millionaire’s daughter, after she agrees to swap places with the blue collar mechanic she rear-ended, Evan Bailey. Evan is just a hard working man who’s looking to support his niece and not let his mechanic business fail—but give as much power as Lexi used to hold can change anyone. In a similar manner, learning the worth of putting your hands to work can humble even the meanest of heiresses.

This was the most fan fiction-ish book I’ve read in a while, because, let’s be honest, in what universe would this ever even happen—yet it was still quite entertaining. Told through two points of view, this book really gives off that Lady and the Tramp vibes, wrapped up with some tension-filled enemies to lovers.

If you’re looking for a life-swap situation in a slow burn romance novel, then look no further, “Trading Places” is most definitely for you.

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ARC provided by NetGalley and Entangled Publishing in exchange for an honest review.

Publication Date: September 26, 2023

ARC — The Clementine Complex — Bob Mortimer

“To describe me as anonymous would be unfair, but to notice me other than in passing would be a rarity.”

Genre: Fiction, Mystery
Actual Rating: 3.5 stars
Spicy Meter: N/A
Content Warnings: Touches on drugs and illegal dealings. Revolves around a disappearance.

“The Clementine Complex” follows Gary Thorn, a 30-year-old legal assistant, as he sets off to look for a virtual stranger, a beautiful woman whose name he never caught but is calling Clementine, because she was reading a book titled “The Clementine Complex.” Why, you may ask—well, perhaps because his coworker, who he met her with, is suddenly missing so she’ll probably make a good alibi. Or well, perhaps because he simply wants to reconnect with her. Either way, Gary’s journey will be unique throughout this book.

Call this what you want, either a wild imagination or magical realism, but either way this book was absolutely bewildering. Told through the first person, you really get into Gary Thorn’s peculiar mind. I mean, we’re talking to squirrels right up from the first chapter, it’s something for sure.

The only reason I didn’t give it a higher rating is because the narration and the main character in general wasn’t really for me. I enjoyed Gary’s curiousity but the way he described the world that surrounded him? Not so much.

Either way, grab this book if you’ve liked books with peculiar characters like “The Maid” by Nita Prose. And well, if you’re looking for a magical realism read written by a true English legend or just looking for a cozy mystery, then “The Clementine Complex” is for you.

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ARC provided by Simon & Schuster, through their S&S Book Club Favorites program, in exchange for an honest review.

Publication Date: September 5, 2023

ARC — One Tough Cookie — Delise Torres

Author: Delise Torres
Narrator: Stacy Gonzalez

Genre: Romance
Actual Rating: 3.5 stars
Narration: 5 mikes
Spicy Meter: 3 fire emojis
Content Warnings: Discusses abortion and cheating. Touches on abandonment and childhood trauma. Contains explicit sexual content.

“One Tough Cookie” follows Karina Cortés, an employee at a cookie company who is set on being single forever and not needed no man ever, as she meets and falls for—reluctantly—for Ian Feliciano, one of the new mechanics at said cookie company.

First off let’s start with the narration of this audiobook: it was absolutely immaculate. I had high expectations because Stacy Gonzalez narrated one of my favorite audiobooks in 2021 and oh did she not disappoint. However, some actual subject matters throughout the book weren’t it for me, hence the star rating.

Expect spoilers in this review. I’m going to be a tough cookie about this but gosh was the main character, Karina, annoying and unreasonable. She was the definition of what not going to therapy and a ton of abandonment issues will do to you, multiplied by 100. Packed with a surprise pregnancy which I hate, and then followed by an abortion which I don’t love reading about—this was a hard one.

Letting that shitshow slide, I actually really liked the writing style and the spicy scenes. I will definitely be keeping an eye out for what Delise Torres publishes next, it was just “One Tough Cookie” wasn’t entirely my vibe. It left me more mad than it left me happy, if that makes sense.

Grab this book if you’re looking for a steamy work place romance packed with a female main character that is afraid of commitment and treats a perfectly decent man like he is worth nothing.

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ARC provided by NetGalley, Alcove Press, and Dreamscape Media in exchange for an honest review.

Publication Date: July 18, 2023

ARC — A Love Catastrophe — Helena Hunting

“I’m a professional cat sitter.”
(…) “You’re serious?”
(…) “Yup. I own my own business.”
(…) “You can make a living off of that?”
(…) “There’s a woman who makes six figures from farting in jars. Why can’t cat sitting be lucrative enough to pay the bills?”

Genre: Romance
Actual Rating: 3.5 stars
Spicy Meter: 2 fire emoji
Content Warnings: Touches on heavy subjects like child and parent death. Describes dementia and a car accident. Contains sexual content.

“A Love Catastrophe” follows Kitty Hart, a cat lover, cat-sitter, and cat influencer, as she accepts to care for a cutesy little cat for a not-so-cutesy, low-key rude guy. Miles Thorn isn’t much of a cat person, but he has to find someone to care for his mother’s cat, Prince Francis, as she moves on to a long-term care facility—and that’s where Kitty comes in, in all her Cat Whisperer glory.

I thought I was coming in a little biased on this one, as Helena Hunting has been one of my favorite authors this past year, but the truth is not even that could help me overcome the cringe-y puns contained in this book. I am as much a cat lover as any other crazy cat lady, but really? Do we think we people talk like that in real life?

Setting the cringe-yness aside, “A Love Catastrophe” was still a cute, light, and quick read. I would recommend this book if you’re looking for a quirky read that, although touches on some heavy subjects, overall leaves you all bubbly and giggly. Definitely will be re-reading this after some heavy reads.

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ARC provided by NetGalley and Forever Publishing in exchange for an honest review.

Publication Date: June 13, 2023

ARC — Miss Matched — Wendy Million

“Thank you.” (…)
(…) “For what?”
“For giving me another chance, for letting me back in, for showing me that fear of the unknown can be beautiful instead of scary. What an adventure we’re going to have.”

Genre: Romance
Actual Rating: 3.5 stars
Spicy Meter: 3 fire emoji
Content Warnings: Describes toxic relationships. Contains sexual content.

“Miss Matched” by Wendy Million is “The Soulmate Equation” by Christina Lauren meets second chance romance—Tayla Murphy, a vet doctor in search of her soulmate, falls for what she now thinks is a ridiculous scheme. There’s a super expensive dating algorithm that pairs you with your soulmate, but Tayla was inexplicably matched with her absolute worst ex, Simon Buchannan. He can most definitely not be her soulmate. There must be something very wrong with said algorithm, although it has worked for many others. But after putting up all that money and facing their no-return policy, Tayla has one of two options: either she absolutely ignores this ever happened, or she gives who she thought was the love of her life a second chance.

This was a fast, quirky read. It was entertaining, but not life-changing, and I’m not 100% sure I will still remember things about this book a few weeks from now, but it was still a fun time. Did it sort of feel like other books I’ve read before? Yes. Was I still there for it? Also, yes.

If you’re looking for an uncomplicated, short read, then “Miss Matched” is your book.

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ARC provided by NetGalley and W by Wattpad Books in exchange for an honest review.

Publication Date: June 13, 2023

ARC — Girls Like Girls — Hayley Kiyoko

“And one day you learn: it’s not that you’re not like other girls.
It’s just that you’ve never met a girl like you.
And then, you do. You meet her.
And suddenly the songs make sense.”

Genre: Young Adult
Actual Rating: 3.5 stars
Spicy Meter: 1 fire emoji
Content Warnings: Discusses parental death, suicide, and hate crimes. Describes homophobia, and emotional and physical abuse.

Girls like girls like boys do, nothing new, right? Well, this was something new for some. “Girls Like Girls” follows Coley after she is forced to move to rural Oregon after her mother’s death. Things are as bad as they can get when she meets Sonya and everything immediately clicks into place. But being together wouldn’t be wise, so repressing it will be the way to go… Until it isn’t.

In all honesty, this YA novel would’ve been exactly what I needed in high school, and I think that’s what hurt the most. This story was healing in a way that only people who somewhat struggled with their sexuality will probably get, but I am so so thankful this story is being told.

This book, based on the viral song by this very own debut author, was both heartwarming and heartwreching. Hayley Kiyoko’s writing voice is wise but at the same time childish; exactly what you’re looking for in novels with teen-aged main characters.

I would definitely recommend this read. If you’re looking for a short, coming-of-age queer book, then look no more—“Girls Like Girls” is exactly what you’re searching for.

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ARC provided by NetGalley and Wednesday Books in exchange for an honest review.

Publication Date: May 30, 2023

ARC — Jana Goes Wild — Farah Heron

Genre: Romance
Actual Rating: 3.5 stars
Spicy Meter: 2 fire emojis
Content Warnings: Revolves around infidelity-ish. Mentions parental death and panic attacks. Contains some sexual content.

“Jana Goes Wild” follows Jana Suleiman as she embarks, along with her 4-year-old daughter Imani, on a great adventure that she isn’t too excited to take—a destination wedding in Serengeti National Park. What she did not expect was that her baby daddy, Anil Malek, would be attending the wedding as well, even though he originally had opted out of it. He’s a great dad, yes, but he also cheated on his wife by being with Jana when Imani was conceived, so you might see why Jana doesn’t really quite trust him—although she’s still very much attracted to him. And that’s why Jana’s friends come up with a go-wild list of sorts, in hopes that it’ll keep her mind off of Anil. Will it work? Or will Jana end up as confused as always?

Okay, here’s my problem with this read and why I think my review might not be a fair one: Cheating is the biggest no-no for me. I can’t even begin to think of a redeeming arc for someone who’s blatantly cheated. So you might see where that could interfere here.

If I could just erase the cheating from my mind, I would’ve really enjoyed the premise of this book. A group of friends helping the main character burst out of her shell through a “letting loose” list? Sign me up. But even though this book was as fun as that sounds and the writing was actually great and pretty entertaining, I couldn’t look around Anil and his betrayal. I just couldn’t.

If second chance romances (that include one character that cheated on his significant other to hook up with the other main character) are your thing, then you might like this book more than I did.

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ARC provided by NetGalley and Forever Publishing in exchange for an honest review.

Publication Date: May 2, 2023

ARC — To Swoon and To Spar — Martha Waters — The Regency Vows #4

“I can’t help thinking that he’s always held himself somewhat…apart.”
“Because he was not married?” (…)
“Because he cared about this house more than he cared about anything else. (…) It makes for a lonely existence, I suspect.”

Genre: Romance, Historical Fiction
Actual Rating: 3.5 stars
Spicy Meter: 2 fire emojis
Content Warnings: Mentions death of parent. Includes a marriage of convenience. Contains some sexual content.

“To Swoon and To Spar” is the fourth installment in The Regency Vows series, and it follows Viscount Penvale as he is set to be married for the sake of real estate. Penvale has been set on buying Trethwick Abbey from his uncle for years now, but his uncle had never been willing to sell until now and under one condition—Penvale has to marry his uncle’s ward, Jane Spencer. And they do agree to get married and Penvale does get the house, but once in the Abbey, Jane decides she’ll be faking a haunting in hopes that Penvale will scare off and leave off to London—but Penvale isn’t scared that easily and perhaps Penvale and Jane aren’t as different as they think.

I reviewed the other books in this series a year ago and they’re all equally entertaining, with the third, “To Marry and To Meddle”, being the funniest in my opinion. Working as standalone novels with a few crossovers, these novels are a fun interpretation of unusual love stories during the Regency Era.

I would highly recommend this series as a way to be introduced to historical fiction and historical romances. Martha Waters has found a way to make this historical fiction lighthearted and comedic, which often isn’t associated with this genre.

Grab “To Swoon and To Spar” if you enjoy romances with marriage of conveniences, one bed tropes, and romantic comedies.—Additionally, if you’re into the Bridgerton TV Series, there is no way you wouldn’t like this series.

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ARC provided by NetGalley and Atria Books in exchange for an honest review.

Publication Date: April 11, 2023

Gallant — V.E. Schwab

Author: V.E. Schwab
Narrator: Julian Rhind-Tutt

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Actual Rating: 3.5 stars
Narration: 2 mikes
Spicy Meter: N/A, it’s clean
Content Warnings: Discusses and describes parental death, suicide, ghost/ghouls, and child endangerment and abuse. Contains violence and psychological suspense.

“Gallant” follows Olivia Prior, an orphan who’s only recall of her past life lies in the diary her mother left for her. In said diary, you can clearly see how her mother went insane… but why? With a final, ominous message, to never visit Gallant, Olivia is left with more questions than answers. That is until a letter comes for her at the orphanage. A letter that’ll give her a whole new life, with her uncle, in Gallant.

The premise of this book seemed okay—label it as YA Fantasy and you could almost say I was excited to listen to this audiobook. I usually really enjoy V.E. Schwab’s writing, but this was not it for me. First off, it’s YA, sure, but fantasy? Absolutely not. This was more of a horror or a thriller, if anything. I was absolutely horrified.

The narrator was a little off-putting for me. Who decided this book about a young girl should be narrated by an old British man? Overall, it wasn’t the voice that bothered me—in another context, with another main character and another genre, I could’ve even enjoyed Rhind-Tutt’s narration—I just didn’t like that voice telling this story.

This would not be the first book I would think about when introducing someone to V.E. Schwab’s writing. I’m not even sure if I would recommend it at all. In general, when grabbing “Gallant”, be sure to not have any expectations—unless those expectations are for a thriller-suspense-horror driven story.

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ARC — The Rom-Com Agenda — Jayne Denker

“Do I belong here?”

Genre: Romance
Actual Rating: 3.5 stars
Spicy Meter: 2 fire emojis
Content Warnings: Discusses death of parent/foster parent, grieving, breakups, struggling to make ends meet, potential homelessness, and an honest addiction to an ex.

“The Rom-Com Agenda” starts with a rejection. Eli is proposing to Victoria, is utterly turned down, and Leah is there to witness it all. Talk about secondhand embarrassment. Now, months later, Eli and his friends are trying to have Eli go through an extreme makeover in order to win Victoria back when she comes back to the States, all with the help of Leah, who volunteers to help him after befriending Eli’s sisters. Little did they know, they were lowkey made for each other. Through rom-com movies and mishaps, Eli and Leah get to really know each other, and question all about the future they envisioned apart—and how that might look if they were together.

I have to be honest, throughout this book I defaulted at times to just reading the dialogue. Eli’s back and forth was driving me insane. His sisters’ and friends’ obsession with meddling with his life felt so forced and unrealistic. Take this book as a true fiction romance—this could never happen in real-life.

I was so hyped for this book and I just simply didn’t vibe with it. The jokes weren’t funny, the dialogue was iffy, and the romance was alright. Leah and Eli seem like a good match, I just hated how they got there.

I would recommend this book, perhaps, as a palette cleanser between tough books. It’s lighthearted mostly and is an easy read. The pop culture and rom-com movie references were awesome—it just wasn’t as life-changing and heartwarming as I was expecting it to be.

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ARC provided by NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review.

Publication Date: January 10, 2023

“When we said we are family, we meant it.”