Heather Lyons has done it again in a unique and beautifully written story surrounding our beloved literary characters. The Hidden Library is the second book in the series The Collector's Society and must be read after reading the first book. This book picks up after the events at the end of the first book, with Finn running The Society. He and Alice are working to get answers out of their prisoners who had been tormenting The Society in the previous book.
Alice and Finn are on the hunt for the elusive big bad who has been destroying timelines and ending countless lives, but the further they get, the more questions they have. Finn and Alice also face old demons, enemies and threats along the way, hindering their search greatly.
This book began a little bit slow for me, but that's my fault because I waited so long to read this, I forgot some of the details. But it picked up very quickly before turning into an action packed novel with lots of plot twists and surprises. I love when the characters would venture into different timelines; I was enraptured by Finn's hometown and riveted by the trip back into Wonderland. The author has such a vivid imagination, and reading this book was like stepping into real and new worlds.
I have to say I was kept guessing while reading this book, I never knew where it was going to go next. The plot is so beyond intricate with character dynamics, settings, and more, it's a story that keeps you on your toes. I cannot wait to see what comes with the next book as this one was even better than the first.
My one teeny tiny little bit that wasn't perfect: my heart bleeds for the White King. I still feel his connection for Alice is incredibly strong. I'm hoping he gets a love interest soon because I just feel so damn for the bad guy that I am ready to be on his team (or keep him for myself. I may do that instead). Otherwise, I loved this book!
“True love does not have limits or restrictions. True love allows a person to love deeply and unconditionally. True love does not ask you to let go of life. True love encourages you to live.”
Heather Lyons has done it again in a unique and beautifully written story surrounding our beloved literary characters. The Hidden Library is the second book in the series The Collector's Society and must be read after reading the first book. This book picks up after the events at the end of the first book, with Finn running The Society. He and Alice are working to get answers out of their prisoners who had been tormenting The Society in the previous book.
Alice and Finn are on the hunt for the elusive big bad who has been destroying timelines and ending countless lives, but the further they get, the more questions they have. Finn and Alice also face old demons, enemies and threats along the way, hindering their search greatly.
This book began a little bit slow for me, but that's my fault because I waited so long to read this, I forgot some of the details. But it picked up very quickly before turning into an action packed novel with lots of plot twists and surprises. I love when the characters would venture into different timelines; I was enraptured by Finn's hometown and riveted by the trip back into Wonderland. The author has such a vivid imagination, and reading this book was like stepping into real and new worlds.
I have to say I was kept guessing while reading this book, I never knew where it was going to go next. The plot is so beyond intricate with character dynamics, settings, and more, it's a story that keeps you on your toes. I cannot wait to see what comes with the next book as this one was even better than the first.
My one teeny tiny little bit that wasn't perfect: my heart bleeds for the White King. I still feel his connection for Alice is incredibly strong. I'm hoping he gets a love interest soon because I just feel so damn for the bad guy that I am ready to be on his team (or keep him for myself. I may do that instead). Otherwise, I loved this book!
“True love does not have limits or restrictions. True love allows a person to love deeply and unconditionally. True love does not ask you to let go of life. True love encourages you to live.”
I'm actually kind of bewildered that this book isn't more popular. It's a new adult gem!
Last Will and Testament is about college student L 4 stars!
I'm actually kind of bewildered that this book isn't more popular. It's a new adult gem!
Last Will and Testament is about college student Lizzie who just found out that her parents both died in a tragic accident leaving her as the guardian over her two little brothers. Lizzie moves her brothers up to college with her, but finds she is falling behind in her classes and asks her history TA to help tutor her. Thus, romance! Just kidding, but the two fall into a friendship and very soon feelings spark up.
I really liked the banter between Lizzie and Connor. He was the perfect "nerdy" good guy that Lizzie needed and Lizzie seemed to be Connor's dream girl and self confidence booster. There was a little bit of whiplash on his end from not being able to make up his mind about dating Lizzie, but when he made up his mind, he stuck to his guns.
The best part of this book was watching Lizzie get her shit together, stepping up and becoming an adult for her younger brothers, despite being only eighteen. Not many people would have done this and Lizzie gets mad respect for stepping up to the plate and committing to taking care of her brothers.
My problems with this book include Lizzie's lack of grief. I mean, maybe we didn't really see her process it enough, but at times I felt it was glossed over. There were also a few moments like this (I exaggerate in the pic) but it didn't take away from my enjoyment of the book:
Plus, the two brothers weren't developed very well at all. There's so much more to that part of the story that wasn't included. And the ending wrapped up a bit too fast and nice to be realistic but oh well, it is fiction after all.
Overall a very fun new adult book that many will enjoy....more
Was this book good? Technically no. Did I have fun reading it? Yes. Was 500 pages way too long? YES.
A F/F bully romance from Penelope Douglas (who basWas this book good? Technically no. Did I have fun reading it? Yes. Was 500 pages way too long? YES.
A F/F bully romance from Penelope Douglas (who basically only writes bully romances) about two seniors in high school who hate each other... until they don't.
I will say outright even though the characters are teens this is not a YA book, please do not say its for teens. It's absolutely for adults and has adult content. It's spicy and like I said before, I had fun reading it. But plotwise it was all over the place and I didn't actually like or get attached to any of the characters. This book reminded me a lot of Tijan's books if that's the vibe you're going for.
BUT if you do read this please read all the trigger warnings, please and thank you....more
This book was even better than the first! The Truth About Him picks up exactly where the first book left off. Annie and Dylan continue their relationship, and while Annie has opened herself up to Dylan, Dylan begins to build walls to keep Annie out. Dylan's past has become his present, and all of the issues he has with his dad and his brother become reasons for him to leave Annie alone.
What I hoped would happen in this book did, we got more character development for both of the main characters! I loved learning more about Dylan and Annie's pasts because it led them to where they were in the present. The two also fought both of their survival and fleeing instincts and stuck together when everything in them was saying "run!".
I like how this book and these characters weren't about over the top drama. Yes they were in dramatic situations but I don't feel like anyone exacerbated them. With the exception of the beginning with a bang, the circumstances surrounded the characters and affected them, but didn't completely slam them. That make sense?
Anyways I read both of these books in one day and really enjoyed both of them. So get your one click ready to buy these two books!
ARC provided via Netgalley in exchange for review ...more
Wildfire is about Aurora and Russ who had a one night stand with each other at a party, only to discover the nOkay this one was actually pretty good.
Wildfire is about Aurora and Russ who had a one night stand with each other at a party, only to discover the next day they're working at the same camp all summer. At first, things are awkward between the two of them. But as they work beside each other every day, sparks begin to fly.
One of my biggest issues with Icebreaker was it took place during college but we saw like, no actual college. Not the case with Wildfire! We got hot AND plot *gasp*. We got romance and the camp counselor experience which was a lot of fun to read. I especially loved that we got a quiet and shy nice guy as the hero instead of some alpha male and that Russ and Aurora made each other better and lifted each other up. This book has redeemed Hannah Grace for me and I look forward to reading her next book...more
Mallory takes care of her mom and two sisters by working as a mechanic, forgoing college in order to support her family. When Mallory attend 4 stars!
Mallory takes care of her mom and two sisters by working as a mechanic, forgoing college in order to support her family. When Mallory attends a charity chess event for a friend, she defeats the current World Champion in chess Nolan Sawyer. From there, Mallory ends up taking a paid fellowship and is whisked into the world of professional chess.
I really enjoyed this gem of a book, but I usually enjoy Ali Hazelwood's books so no surprise there. I will say this book is definitely on the older side of young adult fiction, pretty much borderline new adult so don't give it to a middle grader anytime soon.
I really appreciated seeing a female character in the world of chess. Aside from the Netflix show, The Queen's Gambit we don't see much of that and I hope this encourages the younger generation to try chess out and see if they like it. Mallory and Nolan were both fun and interesting characters with their own issues and it really added to the story and made it interesting. I had a lot of fun reading this book.
Thank you Kay for gifting me a copy of this book for our holiday book exchange! ...more
This series has broken my reading slump and I love it. I was choosing to read instead of binging tv shows and I haven’t done that in a while 5 stars!
This series has broken my reading slump and I love it. I was choosing to read instead of binging tv shows and I haven’t done that in a while.
I can’t say much about the plot because it will spoil book one, but I loved every little bit of this book and it reminded me of why I love Penny Reid’s books. I devoured it and unfortunately as an adult I need sleep now before work, but believe me when I say I wanted to stay up all night reading this one. I love Mona as a main character and love seeing her relationship with Abram grow as well as her family.
Diving right into book three!
Thank you again Christy for gifting me this series on ebook! ...more
When Mona gets a call from her estranged twin sister, Lisa, for a favor, she decides to help her out this once. The cat 4 stars!
This was so much fun!
When Mona gets a call from her estranged twin sister, Lisa, for a favor, she decides to help her out this once. The catch is Mona has to pretend to be Lisa for a few days while staying in her childhood home with her brother’s friend, Abram. Mona and Lisa couldn’t be more opposite, so convincing Abram she’s Lisa proves to be a larger challenge than she expected.
I remember the first series that made me fall in love with Penny Reid’s writing were the first three Elements in Chemistry books. I devoured those books in hours(?)/days(?). Doesn’t matter, I ate them up. This book was no different, except I am older and my brain doesn’t work as well so I devoured it in days instead of all at once. I loved the main character of Mona and her trying to act like her wild sister Lisa. The building romance between her and Abram was so sweet and fun and I loved following along. I have to jump into the next book now!
Thank you so much Christy Baldwin for gifting me this book! ...more
Stacey has been living the same life for the past few years and the only time she feels alive is the weeks during the local ren faire. When a 3 stars
Stacey has been living the same life for the past few years and the only time she feels alive is the weeks during the local ren faire. When another season ends, Stacey feels like it’s time to make a change and part of that includes messaging her ren faire “booty call” and seeing if there can be something more…
It’s funny because I was so excited to read this book when it came out and then covid messed with my reading mojo and I didn’t want to read anything. This book was a casualty of that. Now I’m trying to read the backlog of Netgalley arcs that have been waiting and this was the oldest. While I felt this book was easy to read, I didn’t care for the story. I’m all for a play on the Cyrano angle, but I felt like the two main characters just fell in love really quickly for me and I didn’t feel that connection between the two of them. And I don’t entirely love a passive romance hero, I kept feeling like he could fight harder or show more. And he didn’t. I’ll definitely read the other books in the series, this one just wasn’t as good as the first.
ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley ...more
I found both main characters to be infuriating, the plot/story was all over the place. And I never thought I would hate a word, but I now haDNF at 52%
I found both main characters to be infuriating, the plot/story was all over the place. And I never thought I would hate a word, but I now hate the word "lumberjack". It was torture forcing myself to read, so I am quitting. ...more
What a wonderful, heartfelt, compelling book! This is the kind of book you can almost read in one sitting, I didn’t want to put it down.
The 4 stars!
What a wonderful, heartfelt, compelling book! This is the kind of book you can almost read in one sitting, I didn’t want to put it down.
The story of Beyah, who after an unexpected death goes to live with her estranged father for the summer. While there she meets the boy next door Samson, who at first she thinks is pretentious and shallow. But Beyah soon finds out not everything is as it appears, and life takes turns you don’t expect.
The first half of this book was probably a five star read for me. I love angsty stories whether it’s romance or family issues and this book had both. I was really hoping for more about her relationship with her father, it was my favorite part of the book. Instead, that was glossed over and almost tossed aside for the romance in the second half of the book. Maybe I am getting old or something, but I wanted more from that plot point than the romance.
Overall, a beautiful story and Colleen Hoover proves once again what an incredible writer she is. I’ll read anything this woman writes, she’s a rock star....more
How do you review a book you enjoyed but didn’t love? This is always the most difficult review to write, because while there wasn’t any 2.5 - 3 stars
How do you review a book you enjoyed but didn’t love? This is always the most difficult review to write, because while there wasn’t anything bad about the book, there was nothing spectacular about it either.
Mariana Zapata is an auto-buy author for me, I’ll purchase anything the woman writes. But this latest book and the one before it… they do nothing for me. It’s like she’s lost the ability for plotting and instead has 500 pages of repetitive dialogue instead. And while I like the characters, I still need a stronger plot than what was handed to us in this book. Enjoyed this story, but would not purchase in paperback or reread. ...more
I love LH Cosway’s books. They’re always unique, well written, and have characters that feel so real.
Estella is a young woman, living with 4.5 stars
I love LH Cosway’s books. They’re always unique, well written, and have characters that feel so real.
Estella is a young woman, living with her wicked stepmother on a house on a cliff. At eighteen, she’s finishing her final year at school and hoping to escape her living situation the moment she graduates. But then, her stepmother’s much younger brother, Noah, comes to visit. And Estella’s world is completely changed.
Beyond the Sea is a modern, gothic romance. And I gotta say, Cosway nailed the tone of a gothic novel. When I was reading this, it really did feel like all the gothic novels I’ve read in the past. I know it says what it is in the title, but I was blown away by how well she pulled it off. This story was very enthralling and I read the first 30% of it in one sitting. I probably would have read the whole thing in one sitting, except now that I’m in my 30’s I actually need my sleep and can’t pull book all nighters anymore.
Cosway has always been an autobuy author for me, and she remains that way with this book. I’m already itching for her to release a new book because I need my Cosway fix!...more
After surviving an attack, Clementine finds herself suffering from amnesia. When she g 4.5 stars!
“Sometimes our hearts are wiser than our heads.”
After surviving an attack, Clementine finds herself suffering from amnesia. When she goes looking for clues to who she is, she meets tattoo artist Ed, her ex-boyfriend. Apparently, their relationship did not end well, and they broke up only a month before her attack. With much unresolved between them, Clementine finds herself asking Ed questions that even he may not have the answers to. But will the two of them repeat the mistakes of the past?
“Love and life sure can be scary. But not living your best life, not loving as hard as you can…what a terrible waste that would be.”
I read this book in pretty much one sitting. I haven’t done that in a LONG time. While it’s not perfect, it reminds me of why I love books by Kylie Scott. She’s always been able to grab my attention with her stories and keep it for the entire book. The amnesia trope is one I am always happy to read, and I’m sad we don’t have more of it in the modern day romances.
I really enjoyed this book, I loved the characters and could actually feel the tension and love between them. Nothing felt rushed and I thought the pacing of this book was great. While the plot was fairly predictable, I thought it was really enjoyable. I do wish there were more books by this author set in this universe with these characters, I think it would be fun to revisit them in the future.
There are a couple nitpicky things that caught my attention, one was a term used in a sex scene that actually made me gag in disgust. Also there was a griping point made by the author where I could tell she was pissed about comments about one of her other books from reader reviews. Both those things took me out of the story and made it less enjoyable for me, so not a full five stars on this one. But otherwise a totally solid book and one I will definitely be recommending to friends in the future!
“At the heart, romance is about hope, and that’s what keeps us going, dear. The eternal quest to improve ourselves, our lives, our world.” ...more
So… it’s been a minute since I’ve read a Karina Halle novel. Not gonna lie, I kind of quit her after the North Ridge series. Not because anyt 4 stars
So… it’s been a minute since I’ve read a Karina Halle novel. Not gonna lie, I kind of quit her after the North Ridge series. Not because anything was wrong, but the woman writes so fast I can’t keep up!! And I lost my reading mojo on top of that. And I’m not reading as much indie romance as I used to. But when I went to a signing of hers recently, I was reminded of all the books by her that I love, and found myself wanting to pick her up again. And now I have a back log to catch up on!
Discretion is about young and broke tourist Sadie, who on her way to the train station in Nice gets attacked in the street. Sadie is rescued by Olivier, a Dumont, one of the wealthiest families in France. From there, it’s an instant spark and Sadie and Olivier are inexplicably ddrawn to each other. But Olivier’s past threatens the two of them, maybe even their lives.
There’s a reason Halle is one of my favorite authors: she’s a damn good writer. I know even if I don’t always super love a story by her, the writing will suck me in. And that’s what happened with this book, I’m not really one for the Cinderella trope but from page 1, I couldn’t put this book down. I’m definitely intrigued by this first book and want to read more. And I for sure need to play catch up/reread all my Halle favorites....more
It kills me to rate a Cosway book this low, but it was SO BORING! Gah. I normally really love her books but this one just didn't work for me.
I do wantIt kills me to rate a Cosway book this low, but it was SO BORING! Gah. I normally really love her books but this one just didn't work for me.
I do want to read the other books in this series, no one book is the same! And as always, don't let my review sway you, read this book yourself and make up your own mind....more
I really enjoyed this book by Mariana Zapata. I’ve read everything she’s ever written, and while I don’t always love everything, I always en 4 stars!
I really enjoyed this book by Mariana Zapata. I’ve read everything she’s ever written, and while I don’t always love everything, I always enjoy her work. And this book was no exception. This book started out with heavy doses of angst and halfway through went very sweet (I would prefer angst the whole way but that’s just me). By the end of the book I was crying, which is when you know you’ve read something good.
That’s it. That’s the review. Buy it and read it if you want to know more!!!
Loading...
