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| 1640633782
| 9781640633780
| B075QJFCL9
| 4.12
| 345
| unknown
| Oct 09, 2017
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liked it
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Recently I read and really enjoyed Annie Seaton’s Porter Sisters trilogy so I jumped at the chance to read this one when it was offered to me. I didn’
Recently I read and really enjoyed Annie Seaton’s Porter Sisters trilogy so I jumped at the chance to read this one when it was offered to me. I didn’t realise at the time but it’s actually the second of a quartet revolving around four cousins who are “called home” by their grandparents to help take care of the family farm. In the first book, which I haven’t read, the cousins come to an agreement that Liam will stay on and take care of the farm whilst their grandparents enjoy a well deserved holiday. This book begins in London where Angie is leaving to come back to Australia after her visa has run out. She and Liam have been in a relationship for about two years and she wants him to come with her but Liam is far too busy with his job to consider such a thing. Then we skip to recap Liam being called home and cover the decision to stay on, which is probably done more in depth in the first book but was definitely more than enough for me to catch up on what is happening. Fast forward to Liam having been on the farm for a while and he discovers a puppy on his farm. It doesn’t belong to him and appears to have an injured leg, so he takes the dog to a vet in town. Expecting the same vet he’s always known as having the practice, Liam is surprised when he realises that the vet is Angie. And Angie is equally stunned when she realises that her former partner has returned to Australia, something that he wouldn’t do with her. I found this a really relaxing and enjoyable read. I liked the setting although I did find that Liam seemed to have a lot of free time on his hands for someone who seemed to be almost singlehandedly running a farm! But the small town community feel was definitely there and I found the vet practice to be a fun and interesting setting too. A large portion of the conflict in the book revolves around the fact that Liam believes that Angie is dating someone and in order to protect her heart, it’s a misconception that she doesn’t correct. However the two of them have a very difficult time staying away from each other. They seem to be attempting to do the just friends things but both of them are still very invested. Angie doesn’t want to get involved again because she feels this is a stop gap for Liam, a brief period before he chases his career again and heads for a big city. Angie doesn’t want to be left behind – breaking up with Liam the first time was very painful for her and very difficult and she doesn’t want to have to go through that all over again. And so for a while she allows Liam to continue thinking that she has some vague boyfriend living somewhere else. She knows that she does need to tell him the truth eventually but I sort of didn’t blame Angie for not bothering to correct Liam in a way. She wanted him to return to Australia with her but Liam was too caught up in his career however he did drop that when his grandparents recalled him to the family farm. But to Angie, some year later finds Liam back in Australia – he’d been back for quite a while and hadn’t let her know (presumably because he believed her with someone else). Liam is a bit pushy for someone who believes that Angie is dating someone else, probably seriously. He’s always trying something – definitely the sort of guy who doesn’t let a chance go by! If Angie had of actually been dating someone I would’ve found it off-putting but she knows she isn’t. Liam does come across as quite torn, despite his taking chances. He frequently muses to himself about her boyfriend but he can’t seem to help himself when it comes to her. Their coming back together is sweet and low key, rather than sizzling hot romance. They do fit well together though and both of them have moved on and changed from what they were in London. For Angie, who doesn’t have a family, she’s come to realise that she could be an accepted part of a big and loving one as Liam’s cousin has definitely taken her under her wing and wants to include her in events and celebrations. And Liam makes a change from big shot city career guy to a slower pace and a reorder of his priorities and what he wants out of his life. When he realises that he could lose Angie all over again, he’s spurred into action. I liked this – a very nice rural read to escape into for an afternoon. I’ll be looking to finish the series for sure. **I received an eARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. Merged review: Recently I read and really enjoyed Annie Seaton’s Porter Sisters trilogy so I jumped at the chance to read this one when it was offered to me. I didn’t realise at the time but it’s actually the second of a quartet revolving around four cousins who are “called home” by their grandparents to help take care of the family farm. In the first book, which I haven’t read, the cousins come to an agreement that Liam will stay on and take care of the farm whilst their grandparents enjoy a well deserved holiday. This book begins in London where Angie is leaving to come back to Australia after her visa has run out. She and Liam have been in a relationship for about two years and she wants him to come with her but Liam is far too busy with his job to consider such a thing. Then we skip to recap Liam being called home and cover the decision to stay on, which is probably done more in depth in the first book but was definitely more than enough for me to catch up on what is happening. Fast forward to Liam having been on the farm for a while and he discovers a puppy on his farm. It doesn’t belong to him and appears to have an injured leg, so he takes the dog to a vet in town. Expecting the same vet he’s always known as having the practice, Liam is surprised when he realises that the vet is Angie. And Angie is equally stunned when she realises that her former partner has returned to Australia, something that he wouldn’t do with her. I found this a really relaxing and enjoyable read. I liked the setting although I did find that Liam seemed to have a lot of free time on his hands for someone who seemed to be almost singlehandedly running a farm! But the small town community feel was definitely there and I found the vet practice to be a fun and interesting setting too. A large portion of the conflict in the book revolves around the fact that Liam believes that Angie is dating someone and in order to protect her heart, it’s a misconception that she doesn’t correct. However the two of them have a very difficult time staying away from each other. They seem to be attempting to do the just friends things but both of them are still very invested. Angie doesn’t want to get involved again because she feels this is a stop gap for Liam, a brief period before he chases his career again and heads for a big city. Angie doesn’t want to be left behind – breaking up with Liam the first time was very painful for her and very difficult and she doesn’t want to have to go through that all over again. And so for a while she allows Liam to continue thinking that she has some vague boyfriend living somewhere else. She knows that she does need to tell him the truth eventually but I sort of didn’t blame Angie for not bothering to correct Liam in a way. She wanted him to return to Australia with her but Liam was too caught up in his career however he did drop that when his grandparents recalled him to the family farm. But to Angie, some year later finds Liam back in Australia – he’d been back for quite a while and hadn’t let her know (presumably because he believed her with someone else). Liam is a bit pushy for someone who believes that Angie is dating someone else, probably seriously. He’s always trying something – definitely the sort of guy who doesn’t let a chance go by! If Angie had of actually been dating someone I would’ve found it off-putting but she knows she isn’t. Liam does come across as quite torn, despite his taking chances. He frequently muses to himself about her boyfriend but he can’t seem to help himself when it comes to her. Their coming back together is sweet and low key, rather than sizzling hot romance. They do fit well together though and both of them have moved on and changed from what they were in London. For Angie, who doesn’t have a family, she’s come to realise that she could be an accepted part of a big and loving one as Liam’s cousin has definitely taken her under her wing and wants to include her in events and celebrations. And Liam makes a change from big shot city career guy to a slower pace and a reorder of his priorities and what he wants out of his life. When he realises that he could lose Angie all over again, he’s spurred into action. I liked this – a very nice rural read to escape into for an afternoon. I’ll be looking to finish the series for sure. **I received an eARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. ...more |
Notes are private!
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2
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Oct 10, 2017
not set
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Oct 10, 2017
not set
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Sep 23, 2024
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ebook
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| 1665910623
| 9781665910620
| 1665910623
| 4.26
| 1,066
| Aug 13, 2024
| Aug 13, 2024
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really liked it
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This is a highly underrated duology. I read Bonesmith last year and really enjoyed it. So much so that I ended up purchasing a special edition when I g This is a highly underrated duology. I read Bonesmith last year and really enjoyed it. So much so that I ended up purchasing a special edition when I got an opportunity to do so. I was really looking forward to this one, especially because it wasn’t going to be a long or drawn out series. Two books felt like the perfect amount of time to tell this story. Wren, Julian and Leo are once again, fleeing to the dangerous breach, pursued by not just one force and for somewhat different reasons. Wren and Julian are also at odds again, Julian reeling from Wren’s betrayal and even though she then helped (well, orchestrated) his escape from her father’s cells, there’s a lot of tension…… Wren thought she had learned all she needed to about betrayal but she’s about to find out that is not at all the case and that those she loves will still have the power to surprise her when they stab her in the back. I found this such an engrossing read. Wren, Julian and Leo have a plan in order to destroy the well of magic her mother is using the create a revenant army, with the help of the brother Wren only just discovered she has. Hawke is also helping Wren learn about the ghostsmith part of her, because Wren isn’t just a bonesmith. She has much to learn about her recently discovered abilities, what it might mean for her and also, to face her fears about this power. She will need to know its secrets if she is to defeat their mother, who is incredibly powerful and has had years of resentment to hone her craft. Wren also knows her power hungry father will want the well’s resources for himself and Julian is also dealing with his regent uncle, who seeks to remove Julian as a threat, given he is the rightful heir to the House. I love a quest story and this one does it so well! We have so much going on, not just with the overall mission but also in the dynamics between the characters. Wren and Julian have been through it – from enemies, to reluctant allies to….something more….to a betrayal that seems to have put them right back to being enemies again. Julian is seething at Wren’s betrayal and Wren is hurting at his distancing himself from her. I think she feels like the actions she took were the right thing to do, even if they did hurt Julian but she’s realising she may have gone about things the wrong way. She wants to fix it but Julian is making it difficult. I really loved Wren and Julian’s dynamic throughout the two books. The two of them are still young, both have been taught very different things about the course of history, both have ‘family issues’ x a million, perhaps because of all of that, they are able to understand each other better, rather than the opposite. It takes some time and perspective, but I do feel like both of the ‘get’ the other’s complications. And when life is on the line, petty grievances don’t mean anything. I also really liked Wren and Hawke, her brother, who have to come to terms with building a sibling relationship whilst also attempting to destroy a power source that their unhinged mother is using to create an undead army to basically ruin the world and the Houses. I thought Wren learning about her new powers and readjusting her understanding on things was well done also and the ways in which that played out were really kind of touching? This felt like a really tightly written and well plotted duology, with some intriguing ideas and it ended up delivering, for me anyway. I liked the way it played out and the way it ended, which had still a lot of work to do, but an idea of what the future might look like. The world building was incredibly good and I would definitely read more by this author. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Sep 15, 2024
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Sep 16, 2024
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Sep 15, 2024
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Hardcover
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| 176142114X
| 9781761421143
| 4.07
| 56,572
| Aug 27, 2024
| Sep 04, 2024
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liked it
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I haven’t read the first two books in this series (although the first one is on my kindle, from when it was still on KU). However someone did recommen
I haven’t read the first two books in this series (although the first one is on my kindle, from when it was still on KU). However someone did recommend this one to me so I thought I’d give it a go. It was okay but I didn’t fall in love with it, for a couple of reasons. Maybe one of those is because I came into this as a third book in a series without reading the others but the others were I think just because this book wasn’t really my kind of romance. Halle has spread herself thin her entire life. She’s the Eldest Daughter and even though she has an older brother, the role of ‘family manager’ has often fallen to her. She is the one that helps her little sisters with homework, who remembers schedules, who listens to her mother’s emotional dumps, who rearranges her entire college schedule in order to spend time with her hockey player boyfriend Will, who is at another university. Meanwhile her older brother has skated through life with no responsibility and most of the parental admiration. Halle can’t really find it within herself to feel much when Will dumps her because she isn’t ready to do certain things with him. Will is needlessly cruel in his dumping and Halle’s regret is more about herself, that she doesn’t feel these things and that because she wants to become a writer (of romance) it’s hard for her to write her characters when she hasn’t experienced what she wants them to go through. Enter Henry. He’s on the hockey team at her own university and is friends with someone that Halle has become friends with (Aurora from book #2). Henry is struggling in his own way. He’s captain of the team now and the pressure of that feels enormous. He’s also had to take a class he didn’t want to sign up for because he was late doing sign ups and the classes he did want were full. And he is struggling in that class as it’s structured in a way that Henry really has problems with. Henry and Halle kind of come to a bit of a bargain – he’ll help her with ‘dates’ and things, giving her the experiences she needs to write her book and she’ll help him with his classes and essays, structuring them the way the Professor likes. They have rules so things don’t get complicated…….should be fine, right? There were parts about this that I really liked. I thought Halle’s stress at her family was written well. She’s always expected to drop everything and help, because she’s so good at it or so responsible. And even though her family do appear to care about her, they also don’t seem to see her as a person. Just as a crutch for whatever they need. She’s been doing it for so long that it appears as though everyone is just so used to it. She gets railroaded into doing a lot of things for a lot of people, including Will, the ex-boyfriend. That was portrayed really well throughout the book although I do think the payoff was disappointing. She does explode her issues all over her mother but a lot of the resolution or acceptance and acknowledgement of that, could’ve been done better on page. Henry is clearly neurodivergent but without a diagnosis which was interesting as both his mothers are doctors. Hannah Grace does explain this choice in a letter in the beginning of the book, which clearly states that Henry will not be seeking, nor will he get a diagnosis in the book. Henry’s struggles are well communicated too. He finds loud and busy environments difficult, he is not very good at communicating when he is struggling, he finds reading difficult (which is why he is struggling in the class, as it involves a lot of reading), he often says things without thinking although he is aware when what he has said is insensitive or rude, and he will apologise if he suspects he has hurt someone’s feelings. I really liked their friendship. I thought it was really sweet and lovely. However, I never really felt any romantic or sexual chemistry between them, to be honest. They spent so much time together, that there never really felt like there was any chance for either of them to miss having the other one around (except at the end, which was a different sort of thing entirely). I never felt any of the feels when reading their scenes, they were nice and pleasant to read but not really what I’d call exciting or romantic. To be honest, I didn’t really love Henry as a character, he came off pretty arrogant and smug at times. I suspect it was supposed to be charming when he talked about how good he was at everything and how he was this or that but it didn’t really hit with me. I also found it incredibly unbelievable how much of a player he was portrayed as, like I wanted to laugh every time there was a reference to some random Henry had slept with in the past or how girls were always hanging off him but he was like no, I have no time for this now. It also was not cute. I liked the way he encouraged Halle not to be a doormat but when she wanted to say no to him he was like, well no, not like that. Not with me! The friendship group in this was cool, even if it felt unrealistic for their ages and places in life. But I found them fun when they were together as a group. But it didn’t cover up some of the glaring inconsistencies in the story for me and the circular plot where characters often had the same conversations over and over again or did something to avoid a simple conversation that would’ve solved 90% of the issues in this book at the beginning. Henry seems to equate losing with being a bad captain and my guy, all hockey teams lose. Like, all of them. There isn’t a team in history that has won all their games, even Wayne Gretzky lost games. It is what it is. Also it felt like so much build up for so many things and then the author got to 400ish pages and went oh right, time to wrap it up. And everything was sorted. This was just okay for me. Maybe I’d have liked it more if I’d read the two previous books and knew Henry better but honestly, you should be able to read a book about two people specifically and make a judgement on them as a couple based solely on that book. And for me, this book didn’t really convince me, nor did I fall in love with them. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Sep 14, 2024
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Sep 15, 2024
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Sep 14, 2024
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Paperback
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| 139972634X
| 9781399726344
| 139972634X
| 3.62
| 56,884
| May 07, 2024
| May 16, 2024
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really liked it
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Feels like this book is everywhere at the moment. It was even on Barack Obama’s summer reading list. I had already requested it from my local library
Feels like this book is everywhere at the moment. It was even on Barack Obama’s summer reading list. I had already requested it from my local library when I saw that, having seen it plenty of other places and I had to read it right away as I knew I wouldn’t be able to renew it. In the ‘not too distant future’, Britain has mastered the art of time travel. They’ve gone back to various points in time and brought in people from those time periods to the 21st century. People who were as good as dead anyway, who in being removed from their own timeline into this one, won’t alter the course of the future in any way. Each time traveller is assigned a ‘bridge’ from within the British civil service, someone to help them adjust to their new lives. Ok I just tried to write the name of the MC and was like….what was it? I have no idea. I don’t think she’s ever named? If she is, I’ve honestly forgotten it. She is ‘given’ as her subject to help assimilate, Commander Graham Gore, a man who in 1847 was on a doomed expedition to the Arctic when he was yoinked into the 21st Century. This is a man who was born and lived during the height of the British Empire. He now finds himself living alone with a woman (and a woman who is British Cambodian at that, although ‘white passing’) in a world that has flushing toilets, Spotify, movies, multiculturalism, etc. The Empire is not what Commander Gore would remember at all and he’ll have to be educated on the various battles and events that shaped the world to make it what it is today. As our narrator and Commander Gore settle into his new existence, things between them become complicated. Not all of the subjects are coping well with their new environments, there’s definitely some suspicious activity going on at the office in charge of this ‘program’ and there’s also another mystery, not to mention the struggle for control over the technology that has allowed this program to go ahead. I loved the idea of this so much! Such a fascinating story. Because Commander Gore was part of an expedition to the Arctic, we get snippets of that. He is apparently, a real person who did die on this real expedition and I enjoyed the portrayal of a man from 1847 learning to negotiate life in an entirely different London than he would remember. Everything is new to him, including the very fabric of modern day society. There are definitely some….delicate matters to negotiate, such as words we don’t say anymore, views it’s no longer palatable to hold (or at least, to speak out loud). Despite this abrupt removal from all he knew, Commander Gore is relatively well adjusted, even though he does have his struggles of course. But honestly, he copes about as well as expected for a man of his station from his time transplanted into a society much like the one we live in today. He has all number of things to get used to, not just learning 300 years worth of history, but also learning to negotiate general every day things that we would take for granted. Others do not cope as well. I really liked the way things developed between Gore and our narrator, for the most part. They are living in this very unique situation, where he basically relies on her for all this information and help and guidance and she is responsible for making sure that he basically doesn’t freak out. Everything is obviously of the utmost secret and they are frequently called for meetings and assessments and she has to write reports (which she feels no one ever reads). The more you get into the story the more there are other things at play, little mysteries and discrepancies, things that don’t add up or seem… weird. Well, weird even for a situation involving time travel. There’s a character in particular that is very interesting and it was fun trying to put together where that was going. There’s a load of really interesting talk in here about colonialism and slavery and being a ‘displaced person’ (the main character’s mother is a Cambodian refugee). However – I honestly feel like the book lost its way towards the end. A lot was happening, a lot of things were frantically attempted to tie up all the threads, some new stuff was even introduced, there was a complication in the developing romance and honestly, for me, it all began to feel a bit rushed, a bit lacking in finesse. A bit unfinished, even. Although for me, that was the ending, which I found really quite irritating. This would make a fun movie or TV show, where you could really showcase the “fish out of water” aspect of the characters brought from their own timelines into this one, as well as amp up the drama and the threat as our narrator realises that there’s stuff going on that is putting them in danger. As a book, it was interesting but….the ending just needed work for me. It wasn’t as smooth as the rest of the story. All in all a good read but not sure that for me, it attained the heights the hype set for it. 3.5 ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Aug 25, 2024
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Aug 25, 2024
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Aug 24, 2024
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Hardcover
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| B0C6BL8PS2
| 4.19
| 442
| unknown
| Aug 15, 2023
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really liked it
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This was so interesting! In sharp contrast to the last book I read, this felt new and fresh to me, not like it was a mish mash of other well known book This was so interesting! In sharp contrast to the last book I read, this felt new and fresh to me, not like it was a mish mash of other well known books slapped together. There were elements of it that were absolutely fantasy staples but there was enough in this that I truly don’t feel like I’d read before, especially 100 times. And this is a stand alone, a book that gets it all done in under 300 pages, which is also very impressive. Sellah is born into a wealthy family that don’t really have much use for her so she’s pledged to serve a goddess from a very young age. At 10, she enters the temple where she will live and worship and serve with the others. Sellah is also very beautiful and she is chosen for the goddess to inhabit her body when she turns 21, which the goddess does to the most beautiful of her servants – until such time as they age and wither and then she chooses someone else. When we meet Sellah, she is no longer pampered and contained within the temple’s walls. Instead, she is seeking to retrieve the scattered bones of her lover, which have been left in difficult and dangerous places. Accompanying her sometimes physically but most often as a voice she hears, is someone Sellah knows as The Stranger, who has promised her that if she can retrieve all the bones and make her lover whole again, he will be returned to her. The book is told in a back and forth way, alternating between Sellah’s quest for each individual bone as well as detailing how she, as an untouched and pure vessel to be of a goddess, met her lover. How they fell in love and how their relationship developed….and how it ended with her seeking his bones all over the lands. Along the way she has to deal with terrible threats, most often in the form of animals who want to eat her or kill her in some fashion but also from the gods themselves. Sellah believes they have all forsaken her but it is The Stranger who keeps her going. He cannot interfere but he can assist in vague ways (some not so vague). This was a quick and really intense read, I really enjoyed the sections that had Sellah fighting to retrieve each bone. Each one was stashed in a place that truly made it a challenge to find, one that threatened to kill her pretty much every time. There was a lot of tension expertly woven in, a lot of the situations truly had me on the edge of my seat. I didn’t completely love the romance, that to me, was definitely the less interesting part of it. It was…fine. But. Look. I’d be lying if I didn’t spend half the book hoping that although she might get her lover back in a way where he’s whole so he could be buried respectfully and all that….I kinda wanted more from the mysterious Stranger accompanying her. But the further we got into the book, definitely the less that seemed likely and I abandoned that hope because the story was definitely painting the relationship between them in a different way. There was a surprise or two, some other things I figured it out way before it was revealed. But overall, I thought this was a really good standalone fantasy. The author has quite a few other books, I wasn’t familiar with her before I saw this recommended but I would definitely be interested in trying something else that she’s written. 3.5 ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Aug 19, 2024
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Aug 21, 2024
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Aug 21, 2024
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Kindle Edition
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| 1035044862
| 9781035044863
| 1035044862
| 3.78
| 13,169
| Jun 04, 2024
| Jun 04, 2024
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liked it
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Honestly I thought the whole trapped in the library thing was going to play a bigger role in this book, after I read the synopsis. Kierse (pronounced t Honestly I thought the whole trapped in the library thing was going to play a bigger role in this book, after I read the synopsis. Kierse (pronounced to rhyme with Pierce) is a thief living in New York after a war between the humans and the newly emerged monsters (werewolves, vampires, goblins, trolls etc) almost ravaged the city. There’s a treaty now and Kierse knows that if she were caught trying to pull a job on a monster, they’d be well within her rights to kill her. The expensive brownstone doesn’t have a security system, which should be weirder to her than it is….the huge ring she’s been charged to steal is barely concealed. Kierse is about to leave when she’s caught – and she immediately knows that who….what has caught her, is a monster, but not a type she’s ever seen before. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: ancient mysterious powerful being meets young orphan woman. He’s intrigued – something about her doesn’t add up. She fascinates him. And he needs her for something so he proposes an alliance of sorts, she’ll do this and he’ll do something she wants. And we go from there. This felt like it had potential, a kind of urban fantasy Beauty and the Beast retelling, honestly I thought the whole ‘trapped in the library’ thing was definitely going to go for longer than it did. In fact I wouldn’t have even said she was really that trapped – she almost escaped, didn’t, was thrown around for a bit and then the mysterious man she’d just tried to rob, Graves, offered her a job. And a place to live. And a lot of money. And basically everything anyone would ever need in a life of luxury. There were elements of this world I found interesting but a lot of it was glossed over – vague mentions of a devastating war in the relatively recent past, different factions controlling different parts of New York City. We get a bit of an introduction into some of them, as Kierse is friendly with the Alpha of the werewolf pack plus we get glimpses of others. Kierse is being trained by Graves to steal something – her speciality but it’s a very dangerous job with a short window of time and she needs to learn a lot in order to complete it successfully. Kierse seems well aware that she might die but has negotiated with Graves that if anything happens to her, her fee goes to her two best friends. The three of them have been inseparable for a long time and everything Kierse does, is basically for them. However there was just a lot that honestly, felt like a mishmash of books I’ve already read. Nothing felt fresh or original, Kierse was not a particularly interesting character and the romance felt very out of field and incredibly underdeveloped. Also the ending felt tedious to me – there’s a character in this I really didn’t like and I get the feeling he’s going to play a much bigger role. And that the role might even be of a love triangle variety and I just….I don’t have the tolerance for that. Also Kieran’s best friend made a really weird decision at the end of this book that I assume will have some sort of impact later but it also just felt ridiculous, given what had happened literally days prior. I didn’t love this. It felt very written to a formula that is popular right now: down on her luck heroine but one that is skilled/gifted in X area, mysterious powerful man who ends up becoming a love interest, some sort of added layer of ‘what is the heroine really‘, a random other assortment of players that don’t feel fleshed out but are apparently vital, a job or heist component that is high stakes but ends up being pulled off with relatively little problem. And of course, future books. Unfortunately I won’t be continuing with this series, there just wasn’t anything here that I got invested enough in that made me want to return. 2.5 ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Aug 20, 2024
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Aug 21, 2024
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Aug 20, 2024
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Paperback
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| 139852221X
| 9781398522213
| 139852221X
| 3.58
| 73,929
| Sep 05, 2023
| Sep 02, 2023
|
liked it
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This is one of the hardest books I’ve ever had to review. I am so conflicted over it. How do you rate a book when the first 200-ish pages was like 1-st This is one of the hardest books I’ve ever had to review. I am so conflicted over it. How do you rate a book when the first 200-ish pages was like 1-star, the next 150 pages were like a 3.5 to 4 star and then the last 30 or so were…..back to a 2-ish star? This book was a rollercoaster but not at all in a good way. At the beginning of the book we meet Adalyn, who works for the MLS (Major League Soccer, America’s soccer league) club the Miami Flames, which is owned by her father. Adalyn’s whole life is the club, she wants to take over the running one day and she basically has nothing else in her life. However there is an incident which humiliates her and the club and because of this, her father ships her off to some philanthropic venture the club has, which she thinks will be a minor league team but actually turns out to be a team of under 10yo girls in….the middle of nowhere, North Carolina and Adalyn is by far not enough like ‘why the hell is this a philanthropic venture and what on earth is my role here they are TEN YEAR OLD GIRLS’. Adalyn is a hot mess. The girl is a walking disaster beyond any believing. She lurches from disaster to disaster, she hits things (including people) with her car, she falls over, she embarrasses herself, she has no idea how to exist in this small town, running around in pinstripe suits and Manolo Blahniks? Like girl are you okay? This is a tiny rural town, everyone wears jeans and boots, why do you not purchase some more acceptable clothes and shoes? You could say she has a *vibe* and okay but….she keeps injuring herself wearing these ridiculous shoes and falling over literally every 2 minutes. Enter Cameron Caldoni, former MLS and EPL star goalkeeper who retired abruptly and without fanfare and is now coaching this under 10s team because LOL of course he is. His main job appears to be catching Adalyn when she falls over and….bickering with her like they are two children. It’s tedious beyond belief. Adalyn persists in believing that she’s some sort of general manager of this club with colour coded binders and approaching it with the energy like it’s Manchester United or something. She is being punished, her father is a douche and her persistence in being a doormat is very off-putting. Her inability to admit defeat over anything (including the creepy accommodation isn’t an admirable trait) and Cam’s insistence on calling her darling after about five minutes grating on my nerves so much. I considered DNF’ing this so many times but the person who loaned it to me really loves it so I persisted. However I think Elena Armas is just not the author for me and that’s okay. I surprisingly did find a section of this book that I really liked but then it lost me again big time at the end and the fact that so many things just went without being adequately explored or dealt with and the sheer ridiculousness of some of the conversations that were had right at the end…. The one thing I did like was that Cam was 100% the sort of dude who thrived on acts of service being his love language. It’s a full time job taking care of Adalyn and once they get over their bickering and start working together and he is basically a walking hard on for her, he loves just…taking care of her in general ways like feeding her and providing her with safe lodgings and appropriate clothing and footwear and remembering that she doesn’t drink coffee after midday and a myriad of other little things that basically just consume his actual life. And look love that. My husband cooks for me like basically every day, it’s one of his love languages and it’s great. But there were times when Adalyn was like “I don’t need no man to do anything for me, I can fight my own battles” only to then prove, that she very much cannot fight her own battles and it’s quite possible she’d starve and die alone in that dilapidated cabin, so sometimes, just like, accept the help girl? Please? For the love of all that is right. I ended up liking Cam but Adalyn as a character, did not really grow on me. Neither did her best friend or Josie, who are the couple in the next book so I will be skipping that one and probably all future books by this author. I wanted to give her another go after I didn’t like The Spanish Love Deception and whilst I think this book is better than that one (it’s significantly shorter and tighter) it’s still a bit too meandering and *quirky* for me. I feel like the clumsy, helpless loser rom com heroine is really overdone and this one didn’t put an interesting enough spin on it for me. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Aug 19, 2024
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Aug 19, 2024
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Aug 19, 2024
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Paperback
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| 1635765056
| 9781635765052
| 1635765056
| 4.18
| 8,505
| Apr 26, 2022
| Apr 26, 2022
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really liked it
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I borrowed this on a whim because I decided that I should try some of Rebecca Yarros’ very extensive backlist. I’d honestly never heard of her before
I borrowed this on a whim because I decided that I should try some of Rebecca Yarros’ very extensive backlist. I’d honestly never heard of her before Fourth Wing (I originally thought that was her debut) but she does have a lot of contemporary romances under her belt, mostly I think with smaller publishers? A lot of them are kind of military based, which makes sense as Yarros was both raised in a military family and married a military man. But military books aren’t really my jam (neither are cop books). There are a few that don’t seem to feature that kind of thing and this is one of them. This is the first in a series (although there are two novellas that come before this) revolving around a group of now-adults who all lost a parent who was a member of a firefighting team, when they were caught in a wildfire without means of escape. A lot of those children who are now adults are putting a new group of firefighters together, known as a Legacy team. They’re all the offspring of the ones that perished in that tragedy, apart from their superintendent, who is the sole surviving member of the original team (he only survived because on orders from one of them, he was driving one of the kids back down). Both Knox and Harper lost their fathers in that fire. Knox is going to be part of the new team, with Harper’s brother Ryker. Yes, everyone in this series has a dumb name, I just had to roll with it. Harper is a pre-k teacher (pre-school or kinder here in Australia, depending on where you live) and when the mother of one of her young charges doesn’t turn up, it’s for incredibly tragic reasons. With the small town’s only foster parents currently out of town, Harper volunteers to take both her little student Liam and his baby brother James. She can’t bear to see them separated, knowing it would destroy Liam. Her own apartment is being repaired after flooding so she borrows the house of Knox, her older brother’s best friend and a part of her own family. He’s off fighting fires somewhere else and not supposed to be back for a month and Harper’s situation with the children is not supposed to last that long. Of course you can guess what happens – Knox both comes back early and Harper ends up caring for the children for much longer than anticipated. To make her a better seeming foster parent, it’s suggested she and Knox present as in a relationship, providing a stable home for the two children. Both Knox and Harper have had feelings for each other forever but Ryker, Harper’s annoyingly interfering older brother put a stop to anything happening around the time Harper graduated from high school. Knox doesn’t really believe he’s good enough for Harper – his mother walked out after his father died, he was raised by his grandmother and kind of half adopted by Ryker’s family. Ryker doesn’t want Harper to ever go through what their mother did, losing a husband fighting fires and given he and Knox plan to kickstart the Legacy group, he doesn’t want Harper with Knox. Completely ignoring the fact that he too is about to fight fires but I guess it’s ok for Harper if both her dad and her brother die, just not her husband or boyfriend. Ryker was incredibly irritating – overbearing big brother is one of my least favourite things in fiction but what I did love was how much Harper stood up for herself and Knox. She really let him have it and did not put up with his shit for a single second. Knox has spent the last almost decade staying away from Harper at Ryker’s request but now….he’s beginning to realise that it’s not Ryker’s choice to make. I really enjoyed the fostering situation in this. I thought it was well done. I don’t know anything about fostering but some of the struggles with Liam, who is old enough to realise that he’s lost something precious and old enough to feel the crushing responsibility of being a big brother, felt very well articulated. Knox takes Harper and the two children in his home in stride, stepping in and stepping up to help Harper take care of them. You could say that there was nothing Knox wouldn’t do in order to make it easier for Harper to both be accepted as their long term foster carer and to help her with the children in a hands on sort of way. Knox felt like the sort of guy who had always craved a family but shoved it down behind his devil-may-care persona because that’s who he is expected to be. The guy with no family, the reckless firefighter, the casual King. Knox is self-aware, he knows why he can’t commit to anyone but the fact that he never has, makes Ryker trust him less, instead of being like oh, maybe it’s me, maybe I was the problem here? Firefighting is very different in the States to how it is here, but I found that element of the story interesting too. The team working towards their certification, training and learning together, both rookies and experienced fighters alike. Ones like Ryker and Knox already had plenty of experience, I’m not entirely sure how they gained it, working on other crews in different states somehow, sometimes together and sometimes not. But now their crew in Colorado is together and ready to go, ready to take back their destiny, I guess. I found myself enjoying this in a way I didn’t expect. Is it a bit cheesy? Absolutely. However the writing is good, the pacing is good and I loved that we got both points of view. I’m planning on reading the two novellas and hopefully there are more in the future. I assume a book is planned for each Legacy member but I’m well aware Rebecca Yarros has a lot of other things going on right now! ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Aug 16, 2024
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Aug 17, 2024
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Aug 17, 2024
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Paperback
| ||||||||||||||
| 1837514410
| 9781837514410
| B0CMH968CY
| 3.87
| 7,335
| unknown
| Feb 03, 2024
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liked it
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Lately I’ve just really liked finding some very low stakes books to read, where it maintains a relatively easy and even pace and I don’t have to worry
Lately I’ve just really liked finding some very low stakes books to read, where it maintains a relatively easy and even pace and I don’t have to worry about anything stressing me out. They’re not all I’m reading but sometimes they’re good in between other books or just when I don’t want to think too much. I like low stakes romantic comedies for this, because they hold my attention but in an abstract way. This one revolves around real estate agent Alex, who has moved into a new apartment with her friend. Across the hall, two men are moving in and they become sort of friends – well Alex’s housemate and one of the men fall headlong into an immediate relationship and Alex gets off to a rocky start with Callum, the other one. But slowly, they start to build a friendship and Alex realises that Callum is shy and introverted, sometimes abrupt but not in a way that is intended to be rude, just because he’s a bit awkward. At the beginning of the book, Alex has a boyfriend named Thomas, a babied man child whose mother does everything for him, who wants to be an *artist*. He applies to and gets into some art residence school/thing in San Francisco and it isn’t long before he’s talking about monogamy as a some sort of societal construct. The writing is on the wall with Thomas a long time out but even I couldn’t predict the clusterfuck that ended up happening when Alex went with his divorced parents (including his father’s new partner) to visit Thomas in America for the art show that is supposed to be the highlight of what they have all produced during their time there. I thought the set up of this was really good, I liked Alex as a character and Thomas is so laughably insufferable that it’s immediately predictable what’s going to happen when he goes off to San Francisco all full of his own self-importance. It’s also obvious who might be better suited to Alex but I do feel like the ball was dropped a bit by the book on building that. There definitely could’ve been more invested into what happens between them, especially because the groundwork is there. It just needed more fleshing out. I could see it and it had potential. The book was relatively short so I also feel like it could’ve taken the time to really build that chemistry and feelings of anticipation. I also liked that Callum was an inexperienced hero but again, the book only really glossed over that. It’s also very closed door, quite chaste – more hinting than any actual saying. Whilst I did enjoy this, I do think it took too long in the beginning to get where it was going, which meant that there wasn’t enough time to build the way it was going to finish. The whole book is under 300p, which is not enough time to build something up, break it down completely, have a character move on and then build something else with someone else. You could argue that Callum is already a friend – and he is – but it’s still not enough. This was what I wanted though, something very low stakes that was just….a book to read. I’m not sure what it says about me that sometimes what I want is something mediocre? Like I feel so much about books sometimes, that my choice to read something that won’t make me feel anything, could probably be seen as weird. But it is what it is, as my teenager would say. This was fine. Could’ve been better. Could’ve definitely been worse. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Aug 15, 2024
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Aug 15, 2024
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Aug 15, 2024
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Kindle Edition
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| B0CC6Q1PPY
| 4.19
| 25,996
| Dec 14, 2023
| Dec 14, 2023
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really liked it
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I enjoyed this! I love this kind of dynamic. Catherine ends up with a job as a personal assistant to Elliot Levy, a rigid, uptight, needs his schedule I enjoyed this! I love this kind of dynamic. Catherine ends up with a job as a personal assistant to Elliot Levy, a rigid, uptight, needs his schedule both emailed to him and written down on a piece of paper type of CEO. He’s been through many, many assistants, Catherine is the only one that makes it past a few months. She amuses herself by writing something about him on the bottom of his daily schedule and then tearing it off and keeping it in her desk drawer. Catherine is also pregnant, unplanned and her baby daddy is a waste of space that’s she’s about to find out about in the worst way. When Elliot realises that Catherine is pregnant, he immediately wants to know when she’ll be back and when he realises that her house is less than ideal, especially for a new mother and her baby, he swiftly moves her into his own home so that he can take care of them both. Elliot is generally believed to be basically an Android posing as a human, an emotionless cyborg but the longer he’s around Catherine and her new baby the more he starts to slip. Soon he’s feeding her, taking her so Catherine can sleep, helping her find a nanny to take care of her…..and lusting after Catherine and her post-partum body. Whilst Catherine might be a bit self-conscious about it, for Elliot, it’s the most erotic thing he’s ever seen. He wants to take care of Catherine in all the ways. Elliot definitely has hidden depths. He definitely is a bit abrupt and very regimented but there’s a reason he has for distancing himself from Catherine, until he decides that he can’t anymore. He needs her back in his life anyway possible, if that’s at work or living with him. She’s definitely the most efficient assistant he’s ever had and the one that knows how to handle him. So Elliot begins very capably stepping in and helping Catherine with her life so that she has nothing to worry about. When he discovers the true extent of why Catherine is in the financial predicament that she’s in, he will stop at nothing to protect her. And when they begin escalating their relationship he also takes steps to make sure that the power imbalance between them isn’t so great and that if Catherine chooses to leave she will have the financial means to do so. Elliot wants to make sure that she isn’t staying with him simply because he can provide a financially comfortable life – he wants her to be there because she wants to be. I liked both Elliot and Catherine. I found their interactions amusing prior to Catherine having the baby and going on leave. Her method of coping with him being a bit difficult, writing the sentences on the paper, was funny. I expected her to forget to tear one off one day but the way this plays out was actually funnier than that. I also liked Elliot’s protective mode, when he wants to make sure that Catherine is well taken care of. Watching him slowly fall in love with the baby was adorable. When we find out about Elliot’s past it’s not a surprise that he has these instincts, it’s not the first time he’s stepped up to take care of someone and provide a safe haven. The ways in which he does this for Catherine are really sweet – leaving her food and coffee in the mornings, helping her get sleep, making sure that he helps her with the disaster that is her house, as well as going into bat for her with the person who has done her wrong. If I did have one nitpick, it honestly felt like the person that did her wrong was….unnecessarily a step too far, in one way. Like did he need to be that, in the end? It would’ve made more sense if he’d just been what he first appeared, but I digress. I really thought the evolution of their relationship worked well and I always enjoy a cyborg-type man undone by sexual attraction! Elliot was obsessed with Catherine. I liked Elliot’s friends too (who are stars of their own novels, both of which occur in the series before this one) but I didn’t feel like I missed out on anything not having read that. This book also sets up the fourth book, which I feel will be fun. I do think this is a series where I will read the other volumes, filing them away for a time when I need a book just like this one. I can tell what type of reads they will be. All in all, this was solid. I enjoyed it a lot. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Aug 13, 2024
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Aug 14, 2024
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Aug 13, 2024
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Kindle Edition
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| 9798989253302
| B0CK4Z1F39
| 3.94
| 864
| unknown
| Jan 24, 2024
|
it was ok
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I can’t remember where I saw this recommended but I thought it sounded like a fun read and that was all I had the mental capacity for at the time. Alli I can’t remember where I saw this recommended but I thought it sounded like a fun read and that was all I had the mental capacity for at the time. Allie runs a coffee shop that is next to…I want to say a souvenir shop? Not sure. In Palm Springs. She’s always intended to buy the building and when she does, she’ll rent the next-door space to her best friend for her design business. The two businesses share a common wall which is glass, which kind of has a cute story behind it. Allie is devastated when the owner sells the building out from under her, without telling her first or giving her an opportunity. Lucas Pine buys the building – he plans to use the side that was the souvenir shop for his motorcycle repair business and when Allie’s lease is up, he wants to open a bar on that side. What follows is a lot of tedious bickering. Allie hates Lucas immediately because of course she does, he stole her dream away (even if he didn’t know he was doing that). The thing is when he does know, at first Luke is kind of….oh well, seems kind of like a you problem, why do you glare at me when I want coffee? He’s a bit smirky and also, he bodily throws her over his shoulder one day to move her from somewhere and……no? Please don’t do that? Don’t manhandle women, even if you’re trying to tell yourself that you’re doing it for their own good. He later admits it wasn’t required he just wanted to. That’s not romantic. Eventually there’s a truce and they become friends who eyefuck each other through the glass wall because they each find the other very hot. This was okay. I didn’t fall in love with it. I found some of it to be extremely overly detailed whilst completely skimping out on other details. I know nothing about Allie except who her two college friends are and that she owns and runs a cafe. Literally nothing else. No former relationship history, nothing of her family, or what her life was like before she randomly moved to Palm Springs and opened the coffee shop. In contrast I found out a lot about Luke, which was good. I like knowing a character’s backstory. Luke is clearly a product of his upbringing. He had to grow up too fast, take on too much responsibility too soon and now he clearly still feels the weight of that. Moving to Palm Springs and opening the motorcycle shop seems to be the first thing he’s ever done for himself in his whole life and he’s getting guilt tripped over it by his mother, a walking red flag who seems utterly incapable of taking care of herself. Allie is going to find herself on the JustNoMIL subreddit in a few years time, 100%. The answer to the problem that plagues the book is literally there the entire time, staring the two characters in the face but no one sees it until right at the end. And the way in which it’s forced in terms of Luke needing something for someone, I didn’t like. It was unnecessarily convoluted and once again, showed a real lack of Luke being able to be free of certain shackles. You could argue that it was necessary for equality but….the solution was already there. It just felt like it took everyone a long time to realise that….we can all get what we want in a very easy and convenient way. This is the first in a series – the other two books (I’m assuming) will revolve around Allie’s college friends, both of whom we met in this book. I also think we met both love interests but…..honestly I don’t think I’m going to read either of them. I didn’t love this writing enough to want to read more. It was just a fine story, it passed a few hours for me but it didn’t give me anything that made me want to come back. 2.5 ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Aug 12, 2024
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Aug 12, 2024
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Aug 12, 2024
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Kindle Edition
| |||||||||||||||
| B0CXH2YLWK
| 3.97
| 1,423
| unknown
| Jul 12, 2024
|
liked it
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I’ve seen this recommended a lot of times and I thought it sounded like an interesting plot for a romance novel. Kit is about to turn 40 (she does tur
I’ve seen this recommended a lot of times and I thought it sounded like an interesting plot for a romance novel. Kit is about to turn 40 (she does turn 40 early in the book) and she runs a restaurant and bar. She’s separated from her husband, whom she put through grad school by working herself to the bone, only for him to take off and impregnate a 20 year old waitress. Having wasted her best years on him, Kit tried to go it alone for a baby, now she’s out of money and options, especially as her ex is after half the bar and house she inherited from her grandmother. Jake spent some time in prison with Kit’s brother and checks in on her at Frank’s request. He works offshore oil jobs, drilling and welding, often underwater but he grew up in a diner and Kit desperately needs a cook/chef. He offers to help. And when he hears about her desire to have a baby…..he offers to help with that too. He’ll make a donation, fill in until she finds a new cook and then he’ll leave. He doesn’t want a family. But the longer he stays, the more he starts to wonder if he really knows what the hell he wants after all. Loved the set up of this. There’s a bit of an age gap between Kit and Jake, she’s 40 and he’s 32. After what happened with her ex, Kit doesn’t want a boyfriend and Jake doesn’t want a family. But he does find Kit very attractive, from the moment he sees her and he’s willing to help her out. Kit has a lot of rules though, about their….encounters. Jake abides by them at first, until she’s more comfortable with him and then he sets about slowly dismantling the rules so it’s less business transaction and more actual pleasurable act. But ultimately, I felt like this didn’t deliver on a couple of key factors. There was not enough development between Kit and Jake for me. The sex gets wilder and longer and more invasive in the plot and fine, they need to have sex for Kit to get the baby she wants. But we skip key points in the development of an emotional relationship that would make me believe these two people had not just found sexual compatibility and enjoyment but were falling in love with each other and would be building something that lasted. Also this book takes a lot of time to set up what an asshole Kit’s ex-husband is. She supported him through grad school, working ridiculously hard and when it was supposed to be her time to be taken care of, he disappeared, giving someone else the baby that she wanted so desperately. And now because of that, he wants half the assets she built, so his baby mama can relax. Kit is incredibly stressed about all of this, she can’t afford to lose her home or her bar. He keeps calling her and harassing her and I wanted such a good payoff about this. We spent so long hearing about this guy, where is his comeuppance? There’s one scene and honestly, it’s not that good, it doesn’t even involve Kit. I wanted so much more from that set up, I felt like the book needed it as well. Kit taking back her agency would’ve been powerful to see and instead it felt like that whole part of it just kinda fizzled out. I liked that Jake wanted to protect her but it was just a very unsatisfying scene. I did appreciate that the sex was awkward at first, because it felt like it should be when it’s transactional between two people who don’t know each other and are only doing this because of that. I also liked that Jake tried to make it less awkward. Kit really it seemed, did not want to enjoy it at all, or didn’t want Jake to know she had the potential to enjoy it. She seemed to want to make it as difficult for him to enjoy himself as possible as well (and you know, it’s kind of key that he find it enjoyable) which I sort of didn’t understand in some ways? Like I get that it was a means to an end but….why are you making it as awkward as that? She had so many rules and so many of them felt like they were designed to make things as difficult as possible, rather than making it as quick and easy as possible! I wanted that to develop a bit slower, the way that Jake eased her into breaking some of those rules. And I think the book had the page count to do that, it just kept going off on a few tangents that in the end, didn’t even really mean anything. I felt like we got quite a bit of Jake’s background which was good, but not as much of Kit’s, especially things that felt relevant. All in all…this was fine. It was quick to read, it was easy, I enjoyed it enough to keep going but I feel like it didn’t live up to the premise, which I felt was a good one. It just needed a bit more thought and less horny moments that felt shoehorned in, in order to let the story simmer. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Aug 11, 2024
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Aug 11, 2024
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Aug 10, 2024
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Kindle Edition
| ||||||||||||||||
| 1761048007
| 9781761048005
| B0CT9WX49L
| 4.43
| 125
| unknown
| Jul 30, 2024
|
it was amazing
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This was one of my most anticipated releases of 2024 – firstly because Fiona McArthur is one of my most favourite authors but also because I got to he
This was one of my most anticipated releases of 2024 – firstly because Fiona McArthur is one of my most favourite authors but also because I got to hear a lot about the research of this book at my book club retreat back in June. Birdsville is a speck on the Australian map buried right in the bottom of south west Queensland where its border meets that of South Australia and relatively close to the border with the Northern Territory. It’s a bit of an Australian icon, particularly because of the Birdsville Cup, a horse race that now attracts a crowd from far and wide (and which features in this book). The narrative is split between four characters. Phoebe is returning to Birdsville after 18 years away from it. She grew up there and at 17, left it behind after a terrible falling out with her father. Although they have spoken and exchanged birthday cards, they haven’t seen each other since. Phoebe has been drawn back by her cousin’s wedding and she intends to get in and get out. Charli is a young teenager who grew up in foster care and has come to Birdsville because it’s the only clue she has about the identity of her birth mother. She’s also heavily pregnant, but quickly finds two jobs to support herself as she tries to gather any information. And then there’s Gloria, the Birdsville nurse, who is coming to the end of her career, working a punishing schedule and getting a bit tired, needing some help. But how can she even think about cutting back without a replacement? Gloria knows how needed she is. And we also get a few chapters from the point of view of Atticus Row, the local police officer who remembers Phoebe from when he was a young boy living in Birdsville, before they both left. Now they’re both back…. I’ve never been to Birdsville! I’ve never been further west than Dubbo. Birdsville is basically 24hrs drive from anywhere but you can fly there via a hop flight from Brisbane which stops at a bunch of other towns along the way. It’s popular as well as a stop for those who are “grey nomading” their way around the country (retirees in caravans). But mostly, Birdsville is a tiny town with a small population that comes alive briefly, when it’s the focus of much of the country’s attention. I loved the setting – the town shone in the story, not just the lead up to the Cup and the social and touristy side of it, but the everyday side of it as well. The local pub, the bakery, the police station, what it’s like when you get a call out to an accident at any one of the remote locations out of town. They could be geographically relatively close but a journey out there can take hours due to the road conditions. Medical care mostly relies on choppers to evacuate people in emergencies as well as the Royal Flying Doctors Service, which services remote Australia with planes that are basically fully equipped flying ambulances with doctors and nurses on board. As someone who has lived in a city for pretty much my entire life, reading about this as an everyday normality in some places, is incredible. The logistics involved in rescue sometimes, including roping in locals who happen to own helicopters when necessary. And that isn’t as unusual as it sounds, as this area is often populated by incredibly large cattle stations who use helicopters for both mustering and travel. The three stories of Phoebe, Charli and Gloria are all so engaging. My heart broke for Phoebe as we learned why she’d left Birdsville, the hurt and betrayal she experienced too much for her to bear. Phoebe now lives and works in Adelaide as a nurse and she intends her return to Birdsville to be very brief. My heart also broke for her father and what he had experienced in his attempts to take the fall, so to speak. I also loved Charli and her courage, her determination and her vulnerability. I would’ve read a whole book about Charli and her journey, both in her attempts to find out information about her mother and her desire to find a home for herself and her coming baby. I also enjoyed Gloria’s story, as a woman who is older and facing different choices (and also, some that are similar to Phoebe and Charli’s, as there’s a chance of romance and a lifelong partnership for Gloria as well). What’s better than one romance? A book with three! Phoebe runs into Atticus Row, whom she knew when she was a teenager and he was slightly younger. Now Atticus is almost 30 to Phoebe’s 35 and that age gap isn’t relevant anymore – at least not to Atticus, who knows what he wants, even after just briefly seeing Phoebe again. Atticus is a sweet cinnamon roll with an unwavering goal and I really enjoyed their dates. They sounded so beautiful – sunsets and sunrises over dunes and deserts and going swimming in the local swimming hole. Sign me up! A beautiful story showcasing an iconic location. ***A copy of this book was provided by the publisher/author for the purpose of an honest review*** ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jul 28, 2024
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Jul 28, 2024
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Jul 28, 2024
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Kindle Edition
| ||||||||||||||
| 1761067885
| 9781761067884
| 1761067885
| 4.40
| 106
| Jul 02, 2024
| Jul 02, 2024
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really liked it
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Léonie Kelsall has become one of my favourite authors in recent years, a new release from her is always something to look forward to. Her Settlers Bri
Léonie Kelsall has become one of my favourite authors in recent years, a new release from her is always something to look forward to. Her Settlers Bridge books showcase the best of Australia’s rural setting but often with a darker edge. This one is a little different to most of her previous books, a dual timeline story that plays on a bit of mystery and even a little tiny bit of a philosophical element. Taylor is a medical student in Sydney (and if you’ve read Kelsall’s other books recently, you’ll already have met Taylor – she’s well settled in Settlers Bridge when the other books take place. This book is taking us back in time a bit to explore just how Taylor came to be there) who agrees to accompany her mother on a drive from Sydney to Settlers Bridge in South Australia. It’s a long drive and it’ll give Taylor time to spend with the grandparents she’s barely seen. She’s none too happy to be away from her hot musician boyfriend though, or the life she knows so well. Taylor has an ominous feeling that her life and family is about to change forever but even she couldn’t pick how much. Once in Settlers, camping on her grandparents farm, Taylor starts having strange dreams about a woman named Anna who lived in the area in the 1870s. Taylor gets to experience Anna’s life first hand – from her hardships as the oldest daughter in an every growing family that don’t ever seem to have enough, the harsh landscape of their home and her fledgling relationship with a local man. At first Taylor chalks the dreams up to just a random occurrence, but the more she has them and the more vivid they get…and the more she realises that these people actually existed as she explores the small town, the more she starts to wonder about herself. I love a dual timeline and this one had everything I enjoy about them. I got invested in both the current day timeline and Anna’s story from the past, honestly I could’ve read a full book about Anna. The glimpses into her life showcase the difficulty of life in a remote community in a time where medicine was not what it is now. Anna has seen tragedy in her life and will see much more as we follow her story through Taylor’s dreams. She spends her days completing chores, looking after her heavily pregnant mother and younger siblings and enjoying a close relationship with her older brother. Anna is generous and practical and good to have in an emergency, willing to sacrifice to keep others safe. She’s also experiencing growing feelings of admiration for a young man from a neighbouring property. For Anna, Luke represents a chance at happiness despite the tragedy. Taylor really makes no secret of the fact that although she agreed to accompany her mother on this trip, there’s much she isn’t happy about. Not just leaving behind her boyfriend but also the very idea of the trip, the conditions, etc. She’s seeing the writing on the wall about things and it’s making her wonder what to do, what will be left for her when the inevitable happens. As well as this preoccupation about her life, with both her personal and her professional life up in the air, she’s wondering why on earth she keeps having these weird dreams, what it means, especially when she figures out that they’re not really dreams, as such. It’s a cause of great alarm to her but at the same time, she can’t deny the pull she has towards experiencing these memories or whatever they might be. And things get even more complicated when she meets the handsome farmer Luke. All of Léonie Kelsall’s books resonate with heart and this one is no exception. I loved both portrayals and it’s clear she settled in comfortably into including a historical component. It’s honestly been a while since I’ve read some of her books and although I do remember Taylor and the talk of how they came to have a GP, I couldn’t remember everything that had been said about her in previous books. It made me want to go and re-read, knowing what I know now! Always love returning to this town and the people in it. Another great story. ***A copy of this book was provided by the publisher for the purpose of an honest review*** ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jul 17, 2024
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Jul 17, 2024
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Jul 17, 2024
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Paperback
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| B0BXWQHW1X
| 4.02
| 101,664
| Jun 28, 1936
| Mar 04, 2023
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really liked it
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This is an interesting one. I didn’t realise this but although this book sits fourth in terms of the chronological timeline, it was written much later This is an interesting one. I didn’t realise this but although this book sits fourth in terms of the chronological timeline, it was written much later than books 3&5 and inserted in after. So although it picks up not long after Anne of The Island leaves off and concludes just before the beginning of Anne’s House of Dreams, it was written some 20 years almost, after those books. I think it was written response to people wanting yet more from Anne and by the 1930s, L.M. Montgomery appeared to have taken Anne well into her middle-to-later years. But there was this 3-4 year time period completely unaccounted for, where Anne and Gilbert are engaged but mostly separated. Anne has taken a principal and teaching job….somewhere… and Gilbert is in Kingsport, I believe, at medical school. They’re about 100 miles apart or 150 miles, something like that which in 2024, is absolutely not an issue. They could realistically live together half way or at the very least, see each other every/most weekends. But this is of a time when couples definitely did not live together before marriage. Young women didn’t live alone at all, really. Anne lodges with two widows and their housekeeper. I’ve no idea where Gilbert is living. I don’t think it’s ever specifically mentioned. This book is comprised of mostly extracts of letters that Anne sends Gilbert during the time they are separated. There are a few sections which are told directly, rather than Anne recounting them but for the most part, it’s the long, newsy, descriptive letters that Anne writes Gilbert about her life. Unfortunately, we don’t get Gilbert’s responses – some extracts of those might have been nice. Anne and Gilbert also only get to see each other a couple of times a year, during their summer breaks and briefly at each Christmas. So these letters are their only form of interaction during the times between those visits. This is good – it’s more of Anne’s charming personality distilled into letters directed at someone she cares for. She’s struggling in the beginning, she got the job over someone else and now half the town (who are from the same family as the person she beat out for the job) resent her for it and display this through passively aggressive behaviour. Anne has never done well with not being liked and so she does intend to make it her mission to win them over, so to speak, much the same way she did with one of her students when she taught at Avonlea. And I enjoyed it. But….not to the same extent as the others and I think it’s because of the fact that so much of what I’ve loved about the previous books, is missing. And that’s Anne’s personal interactions with people we know and love. Marilla, Mrs Rachel, Davy, Dora, Diana, Gilbert of course, even people like Phil Blake and Charlie Sloane. These people, although we do come to know them over the course of Anne’s letters, it’s just not the same. And I really, really miss her interactions with those closest to her. The book skips entirely times when Anne goes home because she doesn’t need to tell Gilbert about those – he’s there, to see her, so we aren’t privy to their interactions. There’s one Christmas that does get described and that’s nice, but yes, a lot of what made this series really shine, is unfortunately, glossed over in this book. I still love Anne, I still love her way of sharing things with Gilbert and their communication but because it’s one sided it is just a fraction lacking, in comparison with the other books. Also this book has an annoying habit of anytime Anne writes ‘love letters’ to Gilbert, of omitting that part. The 1930s being far more discreet than the 2020s I guess but look, I doubt she was writing anything really risqué. Could you not just let us have the words?! Anyway. I did enjoy this. Anne’s house is charming, I love her descriptions of those she lives with (especially Rebecca Dew) and her attempts to win over the locals. It’s a sweet, fun read. But not a favourite. I’d still recommend reading it though, for the full experience. ...more |
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1
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Jul 10, 2024
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Jul 11, 2024
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Jul 10, 2024
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Kindle Edition
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| 1402289006
| 9781402289002
| 1402289006
| 4.27
| 179,434
| Nov 01, 1915
| Feb 04, 2014
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it was amazing
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I have been looking forward to rereading this one since I decided to read Anne Of Green Gables again. I think when I was like 10-11, this was my favou
I have been looking forward to rereading this one since I decided to read Anne Of Green Gables again. I think when I was like 10-11, this was my favourite one. Maybe tied with Anne’s House Of Dreams but I didn’t own that one, so I read this one so much more. I couldn’t tell you how many times I read this between the ages of probably 9-14, but it was a lot. Anne is finally going to college, moving to I think it’s Nova Scotia? To go to university and get her BA. A few of her friends are going as well – she’ll know Priscilla and Stella from Queens and of course people like Charlie Sloane and Gilbert Blythe as well. Anne and Priscilla immediately meet a woman named Philippa and befriend her and the four of them become a firm group, even renting a small house together when they tire of boarding houses. This book removes Anne from PEI for the most part and into a wider world, for the four full years of her degree. She does return to Avonlea and Green Gables for breaks but for the most part, she’s living away from home for long periods of time and working hard. There are parties too, time for socialising and making new friends and a little matchmaking here and there. Anne herself is on the receiving end of, I think like six proposals in this book (although really only three of them count). This is the book in which Anne finally realises what it is that she wants – and it’s been in front of her all along. Unfortunately it takes her quite a lot of time to get to this point. Three years of avoiding the topic, pretending it doesn’t exist, trying to convince herself that her childhood idealistic Prince Charming is the only man she could possibly marry….only for him to not be what she wanted after all, when it looks like he’s actually appeared. No, Anne realises in the most horrible of ways that what she’s always wanted has been the one boy that’s loved her all along. Let me tell you, 10 year old me was here for it and 42 year old me? Just as here for it. Anne and Gilbert (is that a spoiler? Does everyone know that Anne eventually marries Gilbert Blythe, the boy whose head she smashed her slate over when he called her ‘carrots’) are the original first ever couple I ‘shipped’. I don’t even think ship was a term back then. Ok, I googled it, apparently it has its origins in around 1995 and The X-Files for Scully and Mulder. How have I not re-read this for so long? It’s absolutely comfort in book form. It’s like a big cup of tea or a delicious bowl of vegetable soup. When I was 10, I thought that’s what my university life would be like. Maybe with a few less marriage proposals, but meeting people and becoming friends with them immediately, finding the most adorable little house to rent at the perfect time. Look, my university life had many interesting experiences but none of them were anything like Anne’s! It was less charming cottages and more weatherboards with not enough insulation and too many cockroaches. This is still just as adorable now as it was all those years ago and still provoked exactly the same reactions. When Anne rejects Gilbert’s first proposal and breaks his heart…..girl. What are you doing? It’s almost a little warranted what she goes through at the end, when she realises that it’s been Gilbert all along after all, only for it to maybe be too late. The last few chapters in this are actual perfection. I would definitely take this book with me to a deserted island, if I got to choose. Next is Anne Of Windy Poplars/Willows (depending on where you lived) and like I’ve previously mentioned I think in my review of Anne of Avonlea, I don’t think I’ve ever read that one? It’s mostly all letters from several years that Anne and Gilbert spend apart – him at medical school and her as a school principal and teaching somewhere, and I believe younger me would’ve had no time for that, let’s just get to the marriage and their lives together. I hate it when couples get together in a series only to be separated almost immediately! Also it seems to be the hardest book to find – none of my libraries have that one despite having various amounts of all the rest in both print and eBook libraries. But I’m making my re-read a full one, in order, no matter how much I’d just like to go straight to Anne’s House Of Dreams. ...more |
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Jul 09, 2024
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Jul 09, 2024
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Jul 09, 2024
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Paperback
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| 0063040107
| 9780063040106
| 0063040107
| 3.76
| 4,054
| Aug 15, 2023
| Aug 15, 2023
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it was amazing
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Recently I re-read a few of my favourite Lucy Parker books – Act Like It and The Austen Playbook from the London Celebrities series. I was talking to
Recently I re-read a few of my favourite Lucy Parker books – Act Like It and The Austen Playbook from the London Celebrities series. I was talking to a family member about how much I love them and Lucy Parker in general and that person ended up reading this book which reminded me that I actually hadn’t read this one. I read and loved Battle Royal, the first book in this series when it came out but hadn’t gotten around to this one yet. So I borrowed it when they were finished with it! We are introduced to both Petunia DeVere (she’s Dom’s younger sister) and Matthias, head of the protection for Johnny, engaged to Princess Rose, in Battle Royal. The premise of that book is that Dom and Sylvie own competing cake/confectionery stores and are both offered the chance to provide the wedding cake for Princess Rose and Johnny, her very accident prone fiancé. Shenanigans ensue and Petunia (who ends up being hired as a PA to Johnny) finds herself attacked in the press as part of their devotion to portraying Johnny as a terrible womaniser, despite the fact that he and Princess Rose are madly in love. To combat this, the palace PR team see the obvious…..chemistry….between Pet and Matthias and ask them to just….give the impression they might be dating. Nothing untoward required, just a little bit of casual touching, being seen together. I love a fake dating story! And this one was super adorable. It contains a lot of what I love in romance books. Petunia is sunshine itself but like Dom, she had a childhood that has left its mark on her. Matthias also had a difficult childhood and has experienced true tragedy as an adult as well, something that continues to haunt him. He’s very much a stickler for the rules and protocols and invested in keeping Johnny safe. Petunia is chaos in human form who always wants to change the schedule or add something to it like laser tag. Petunia has learned how to neatly sidestep Matthias’ devotion to the rules and still manage to do things for Rose and Johnny that allow them to have their moments of ‘normal life’. Johnny is a shy, nervous person who is not particularly well suited for a public life but he’s trying. I felt sorry for Johnny, who is being absolutely hammered by the press, especially one reporter in particular who seems to have made it a personal vendetta against him. He’s relentless and is starting to put Petunia into his sights as well – which definitely gets Matthias’ attention. Matthias and Petunia have such great chemistry – it’s something that Lucy Parker excels at portraying. Especially between two quite unlikely people. I love the way she choreographs interactions and moments. Matthias is a big and self described ugly man, who seems to provoke a reaction from most people to give him a wide berth. Some even fear him. Petunia has never felt that way about him, she finds him incredibly interesting to look at. She’s petite and favours a 40s type of dressing style with bright colours and textured fabrics. They are very different but both of them like what is different about the other. A lot. When they agree to pretend to be in a relationship to help Johnny and Rose, it doesn’t take long for the acting to be….not acting anymore. They both get carried away as their real feelings come to the surface and can’t be suppressed any longer. Matthias however, definitely has some feelings of inadequacy in terms of both anyone believing the fake dating but also that Petunia would have any real feelings for someone like him. This is such classic Lucy Parker, I loved this. I loved the relationship that develops between Petunia and Matthias but I also loved Petunia’s building of a relationship with her brother as well as her attempts to find out some more about her family. I also loved Rose and Johnny and the way the entire royal family is portrayed in this. There’s a lot of funny moments which are balanced out by the serious moments and trauma that Matthias and Petunia have experienced. I definitely had high expectations for this one based on my other Lucy Parker reads and it definitely lived up to them. ...more |
Notes are private!
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Jul 08, 2024
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Jul 08, 2024
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Jul 07, 2024
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Paperback
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| 1492628174
| 9781492628170
| 1492628174
| 4.03
| 4,945
| Apr 05, 2016
| Apr 05, 2016
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really liked it
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I saw the third book in this series recommended somewhere and I was going to read just that but then it was also noted that there was an overarching s
I saw the third book in this series recommended somewhere and I was going to read just that but then it was also noted that there was an overarching storyline throughout the entire series and it was best to read them in order. They were all available on one of the apps my library uses for eBooks so I decided why not and picked up this first book. Lou is new to Colorado, working as a dive team search and rescue member. She’s lived a very different life prior to now and she’s living off grid in a small cabin, working days in a coffee shop and learning to do the search and rescue job. Her team is all men, led by the very organised, very particular Callum, whom Lou often feels doesn’t approve of her. During a practice rescue, the man playing the victim struggles too much and Lou accidentally kicks something whilst attempting to recover him. That ‘something’ turns out to be a dead body – a headless dead body, floating up to the surface way before it was probably supposed to, given it’s winter and the lake is mostly frozen. Lou feels responsible for dead body man and she wants to investigate his death. She’s also having some weird things happen to her – slashed tyres, small other weird things that make a few people concerned. Callum takes it as his duty to protect her which definitely exposes the two of them to chemistry. He’s also ‘helping’ her with her investigation and Lou is a little bit of chaos in Callum’s very organised world. She seems to enjoy pushing his buttons and she also gives him extra things to do to make himself useful, especially when it seems like the danger surrounding Lou is definitely picking up. I enjoyed this. I loved the search and rescue stuff, Lou and Callum’s jobs are so interesting. I don’t live in a place that snows. It does snow in parts of Australia but mostly on mountains and in more remote areas, so although I’m sure we have organisations like this in certain parts, I’ve never experienced any of them. I found Lou’s background really interesting as well, she’s left a very particular life behind to the chagrin of everyone there, for reasons that definitely get revealed late in the book. She’s basically on her own in this very challenging location. It’s cold, there’s a lot of snow, her cabin is very remote…..kind of a disaster when you have this potential stalker issue. It is off grid, so relies on a generator for certain things, which definitely makes you vulnerable. I love a forced proximity trope, so when Callum insists on staying with Lou to protect her, it’s very much a small cabin, but there’s only one bed type of thing! The overarching mystery, which is only in its early stages here, is also definitely interesting with possible links to some intriguing connections in future books. This book also introduces us to the hero of book 2 as well as the general situation and how the overarching story might continue. The only thing that did annoy me about this is that the book said it was say, 350 pages, except it ended at literally something like 270 (for example, I can’t remember the exact numbers) and the next almost 80 pages was just an excerpt from book 2. And excerpts are fine but this was like….probably almost a third of the book? Which was a bit weird and definitely made the ending feel very abrupt because it felt like I still had almost 100 pages to go and it just ended…. Not relevant to the storyline really other than I was expecting more from this because of that. All in all though, this was good. Very fun, looking forward to future books. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jun 22, 2024
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Jun 22, 2024
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Jun 21, 2024
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Mass Market Paperback
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| 1912688859
| 9781912688852
| B07BRD69LV
| 4.21
| 8,288
| Jun 01, 2015
| Jul 05, 2018
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really liked it
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I have had a lot of success with Alexis Hall books – only one hasn’t really worked for me. I did have a bit of hesitation in reading this one because
I have had a lot of success with Alexis Hall books – only one hasn’t really worked for me. I did have a bit of hesitation in reading this one because I’m pretty jaded from all the BDSM books that came out in the late 00s and early 2010s but it was the dynamics of this one that convinced me to give it a try. It felt different from the others I’ve read and so I was curious to see how it was done. Laurie is a doctor, he’s in his late 30s and a few years ago, his longtime relationship with his partner ended after a mishap. Laurie seems like he’s been really just going through the motions since that loss. He’s still a part of the ‘Scene’ but he’s not really present, if you know what I mean. He’s a man going through the motions. He’s a sub who doesn’t really seem or act like a sub, and when he spots Toby, a very new baby Dom exploring that side of himself for the first time, for some reason, Laurie goes over to him. What is supposed to be a one time encounter, before Laurie quietly moves on, ends up being anything but. Somehow, Toby keeps finding his way back into Laurie’s life – and Laurie keeps letting him. What follows is an unusual pairing that somehow works for the both of them in ways they never expected. Despite being the sub, Laurie is the experienced one, guiding Toby through this journey and helping learn what he wants himself in someone submitting to him. Both of them have strong ideas about what that service is and although Laurie always fights the submission, it’s all part of how he chooses to submit. This is an age gap romance, Toby is only 19. And it’s definitely something that comes up a lot and is explored a lot, from the perspective of both characters. Well, it’s mostly Laurie that agonises over it, that mulls it over, that seems to accept the fact that for Toby, this will probably be an introductory relationship, rather than a long term one. That when Toby grows and matures, he will realise that Laurie is in a different phase of life, and move on. For Toby, that’s insulting and a waste of time thinking about. People break up for all sorts of reasons, he points out. Just because there’s an age gap it doesn’t make them any more or any less vulnerable to a break up, in his mind. I found it interesting, because there’s definitely a view in society that all age gap relationships are predatory and the older partner can only have ill intentions. I feel Hall attempts to challenge this by making Laurie, the older of the two, the sub and giving the power in the relationship to Toby as the Dom, even though he’s inexperienced and learning, he still has the ability to choose what happens. Toby is a thoughtful Dom, he thinks hard about what it is that Laurie wants and needs in his desire to submit and part of that is Laurie arguing, even if it’s just internally, before doing it. I quite enjoyed this. Like it’s not going to become an all time favourite, but I think it was done well. Like a lot of (all?) Alexis Hall’s books, it’s not just about the budding romance or relationship, there’s also a lot of personal exploration and trauma and grief. There are conflicts that come up in the relationship between Laurie and Toby that are external to themselves in a way, but are about other factors. There are insecurities, there are struggles with emotional intimacy, there is the ghost of a previous partner where Toby has insecurities. It’s very well written, I became invested in the characters and their journey. Not all of the scenes were for me, but they’re not really supposed to be. Despite the fact that they’re not my jam, they didn’t pull me out of the story – they felt like they fit. Which is often my biggest gripe with BDSM and ‘control’ scenes – they feel shoehorned in, or written because that’s what people think men in romance books have to/should be like. This didn’t feel like that. It felt like two people exploring these things about themselves that they both needed and enjoyed. If I did have a criticism, it would be that I didn’t really feel the connection at the start. I don’t really know why Laurie went over there or why he knelt for Toby or why he took him home. It honestly didn’t really feel like it was something he was looking for from Toby at the time and it felt like it developed pretty rapidly. There’s a lot in the beginning that’s casual but there are these developing feelings, even though I never really felt like the two of them had many conversations in the beginning that showcased who they were as people. Even towards the end, there’s still so much that Laurie and Toby don’t really know about each other. So that aspect I feel wasn’t the strongest. Still enjoyed the ride. I have read the first in the Spires series (they’re in the same world but are fully stand alone) but I still have book #2 to go and I’ll definitely be reading it. ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jun 20, 2024
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Jun 21, 2024
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Jun 20, 2024
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Kindle Edition
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| 1405964170
| 9781405964173
| 1405964170
| 3.79
| 54,533
| Jul 26, 2022
| Nov 23, 2023
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it was ok
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Okay. So. I’ve read and liked the first two books in this series but I knew this book was well, a bit different. It was probably going to garner a diff Okay. So. I’ve read and liked the first two books in this series but I knew this book was well, a bit different. It was probably going to garner a different reaction. I’ve seen a few people who really hate this book (including the person that loaned it to me) and from just the blurb, I was pretty sure it wasn’t going to be my thing either. But I’m reading the series, so yeah, for the sake of continuity, I picked this one up. Should I? Probably not. But here we are. It’s not just the actions of the male character that bothered me. Oh they were garbage, hot garbage and I didn’t really buy the plot at all. But I found that Talia’s actions really bothered me too, I really hate the ‘body betrayal’ trope that used to be quite popular in romances back in the day. This has it in spades, where she’s so upset at his betrayal, they haven’t seen each other for seven years, he married someone else and he’s back five minutes and she ‘can’t help herself’. Please. Girl. Get some self respect. Make him apologise properly. Make him grovel. If the story is going to be the man betraying the woman and then attempting to make amends, I want the grovel. I want to see him suffer. I want him to beg for forgiveness, to acknowledge his mistakes, to assure her he’ll never do such a thing again. Look, this took a swerve into some weird mafia-style territory and there’s always a little bit of the suspense in these books but this one I feel like it went a bit too deep and therefore, it was less credible than previous books. My biggest problem was that I didn’t feel those things I wanted to feel from Foster and Talia lets him off the hook far too easily. He just turns up in her town, after seven years and is like “well I’m here to get you back” and she’s like “um no, please leave” and he says “nah, don’t think I will, whether you want me here or not, here I am” and it made me uncomfortable. This is her home. Like maybe you should’ve sounded things out before buying a building and moving your entire life here, because yes, this is a romance novel, it’s going to work out but…..let’s face it. How many people want the ex that broke their heart by marrying someone else, just turning up in their tiny town and being literally everywhere. Coming to her house, running into her at work when she’s trying to eat her lunch…..I think I’d have respected Foster’s attempts more if he’d not barged into her entire life and basically been like “well I live here now, here I am everywhere you go, I am here forever”. But it just felt so heavy handed and a bit gross, even his attempts to explain he more or less just says “oh I was actually the victim here, you can’t hate me because of that”. Yes, he was a victim, but so was Talia. And Talia didn’t hurt him, he has no right to start being angry at her for things, when he is yet to actually properly apologise. This whole thing is handled so badly, I never felt like he genuinely apologised for the hurt he caused her, he just expected her to forgive and forget everything because of his excuse. And the third party in this never apologises properly either, for going along with it when honestly, she could’ve had the power to stop it, potentially, should she chosen to use it. But Talia. Let’s get back to her. You’re a doctor. You went to med school. You’re smart. You’re financially independent. You’ve got a big, loving family. And yet you completely fold any time he’s in the room. I actually cringed reading some of the scenes where Talia says one thing and then promptly does the exact opposite. I wanted to DNF this book so badly because of her actions, more than Foster’s. As much as I didn’t like Foster for his arrogant assumptions that she should take him back the moment he asked, I had equally as much problem with Talia’s absolute lack of a backbone. This one was a real big disappointment after the first two, which I quite enjoyed. Also, I really am starting to dislike some of the common themes I’m seeing running through these books, in that they all end with all of the women in exactly the same position. Like that’s the only way that the books can end. It’s the only next step. I’ll be interested to see if the next 3 end the same way. I preferred it when the Eden brothers were the love interests because it was less likely they’d do something horrid – the women were screwed over by other men, not them. But I just didn’t buy into this love story in the slightest. Maybe because we didn’t get enough of their relationship seven years ago. Maybe because I also didn’t feel like the book did enough to convince me they got to know these new versions of themselves. I will say, I felt like this book was well written, I just didn’t like the plot. Like the second half was significantly better to read for me than the first half, because the first half was Talia saying one thing and then doing another and not even bothering to really demand more from Foster and the second half was more about some other sort of conflict or issue. The writing is fine. But I just hated the contents. This wasn’t it for me as a romance novel, it didn’t feel romantic. It didn’t feel like there was this great love between them. It felt like Foster had a point to prove, but to the wrong person. And there was a completely unnecessary part that dragged this book out for another 50+ pages only for it to resolve in a way where it could’ve done the same thing, just earlier. I really don’t have much to say about this one that’s positive, unfortunately. Hated the story, didn’t like either of the main characters. ...more |
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Jun 19, 2024
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Jun 19, 2024
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Jun 18, 2024
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| 4.12
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liked it
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Oct 10, 2017
not set
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Sep 23, 2024
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| 4.26
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really liked it
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Sep 16, 2024
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Sep 15, 2024
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| 4.07
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liked it
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Sep 15, 2024
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Sep 14, 2024
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| 3.62
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really liked it
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Aug 25, 2024
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Aug 24, 2024
|
|||||
|
| 4.19
|
really liked it
|
Aug 21, 2024
|
Aug 21, 2024
|
|||||
|
| 3.78
|
liked it
|
Aug 21, 2024
|
Aug 20, 2024
|
|||||
|
| 3.58
|
liked it
|
Aug 19, 2024
|
Aug 19, 2024
|
|||||
|
| 4.18
|
really liked it
|
Aug 17, 2024
|
Aug 17, 2024
|
|||||
|
| 3.87
|
liked it
|
Aug 15, 2024
|
Aug 15, 2024
|
|||||
|
| 4.19
|
really liked it
|
Aug 14, 2024
|
Aug 13, 2024
|
|||||
|
| 3.94
|
it was ok
|
Aug 12, 2024
|
Aug 12, 2024
|
|||||
|
| 3.97
|
liked it
|
Aug 11, 2024
|
Aug 10, 2024
|
|||||
|
| 4.43
|
it was amazing
|
Jul 28, 2024
|
Jul 28, 2024
|
|||||
|
| 4.40
|
really liked it
|
Jul 17, 2024
|
Jul 17, 2024
|
|||||
|
| 4.02
|
really liked it
|
Jul 11, 2024
|
Jul 10, 2024
|
|||||
|
| 4.27
|
it was amazing
|
Jul 09, 2024
|
Jul 09, 2024
|
|||||
|
| 3.76
|
it was amazing
|
Jul 08, 2024
|
Jul 07, 2024
|
|||||
|
| 4.03
|
really liked it
|
Jun 22, 2024
|
Jun 21, 2024
|
|||||
|
| 4.21
|
really liked it
|
Jun 21, 2024
|
Jun 20, 2024
|
|||||
|
| 3.79
|
it was ok
|
Jun 19, 2024
|
Jun 18, 2024
|
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