The Gist Okay, so I have been absent from the book review world for a long time. Well, it feels long to me. With last year being the crap cherry on the crap sundae, I couldn’t focus on anything but making it through 2023 with that little shred of sanity intact. About halfway through last year, my insomnia took a lovely and intense turn for the worst, and I changed my entire sleep hygiene in an attempt to fall asleep before 4 am. This included making it a habit to read before bed to calm down that busy monkey mind of mine. Enter my reawakened determination to read. I have…
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Belladonna
Belladonna by Adalyn Grace My rating: 1 of 5 stars Thank you to the publisher, Little, Brown for Young Readers, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of Belladonna in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. The Gist I don’t know what to say. I am so done having to deal with this book; I just want to forget about it. Less than a week ago I made the YouTube book review video for Belladonna, thinking at least that part is out of the way. I thought wrong. It appears my microphone decided to break halfway through the shoot and I had to make the…
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The Thread Collectors
The Thread Collectors by Shaunna J. Edwards & Alyson Richman My rating: 4 of 5 stars Thank you to the publisher, Graydon House and NetGalley, for providing me with an ARC of The Thread Collectors in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. This novel is a collaboration between award-winning Jewish author Alyson Richman, and black debut author Shaunna J. Edwards. The Gist It is written by a black and Jewish woman about a black and jewish woman during the Civil war. Gripping, captivating and it will not leave you for a long time. It is vivid and personal. There is no escape once you have started…
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Book Haul 2016
I’m trying something new and giving this book haul trend a go not only on my YouTube channel, but also on my blog. I noticed that I have a lot of books that I read in the past few years that never made it on this blog or even Goodreads. So, in order to clean up this mess, I’m doing a sort of book haul by the year. Turns out I have to go back six years. That a long time ago and so much has changed since then. Each book gets a paragraph or two in which I talk a little bit about the impressions the story has made…
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Gilded Serpent
Gilded Serpent by Danielle Jensen My rating: 5 of 5 stars Thank you to the publisher, Tor Teen, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of Gilded Serpent in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. The Gist So, this is part three in Jensen’s epic fantasy series and boy do I love it! I started Gilded Serpent over a year ago. Had to stop, because life got kind of stupid and then started again many months later from the beginning. At first I just wanted to finish it as quickly as possible, because I NEEDED to know what was going to happen. I quickly realized…
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Ruthless
Ruthless by Gena Showalter My rating: 3 of 5 stars Thank you to the publisher, HQN, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of Ruthless in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. The Gist Well, I have done it again. They say all things come in threes. And this little hiccup of mine has certainly repeated itself three times. You wonder what this might be? I shall no longer keep you in suspense. I signed up to read the sequel of a story before I had a chance to read the first book. Hence, my clueless and agitated state of mind. So, once again, I…
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The Sweetest Thing
The Sweetest Thing by Sasha Summers My rating: 4 of 5 stars Thank you to the publisher, HQN Books, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of The Sweetest Thing in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. The Gist Anyone who has read one of my previous reviews of the summer romance genre, might have noticed that romance isn’t really my thing right now. This has not changed, but I am pleasantly surprised by The Sweetest Thing. You see, I don’t have to be a huge, or moderate, fan of romance in order give a positive review. Let me explain. The Details Even though I…
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The German Wife
The German Wife by Kelly Rimmer My rating: 5 of 5 stars Thank you to the publisher, Graydon House, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of The German Wife in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. The Gist I grew up in Germany and am well informed about the time during the Nazy Regime in Germany as well as WWII. In the past I have read many books and stories taking place during this time frame and often have been slightly irritated about distorted or even just untrue reflections in said books. Kelly Rimmer has done her homework, though. I am delighted and impressed…
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Point Last Seen
Point Last Seen by Christina Dodd My rating: 2 of 5 stars Thank you to the publisher, HQN, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of Point Last Seen in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. The Gist I loved Dodd’s Wrong Alibi and was super excited to read Point Last Seen. I should note here that I have not read any of her other works, so I’m not as familiar with the scope of her writing and breadth of genres she covers. The Details Let’s start with the good. I loved the setting: small town on the Pacific coast; kind of isolated from everything…
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Breaking Time
Breaking Time by Sasha Alsberg My rating: 1 of 5 stars Thank you to the publisher, Inkyard Press, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of Breaking Time in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. The Gist I have been staring at my screen trying to find something to say about this story, but words aren’t coming easily today. Or perhaps there isn’t really anything to say. I don’t mean to sound nasty. And maybe I just don’t have that much patience lately, but it’s been hard finding a good story these days. Just look at my previous ratings of books. Mostly 2 stars. I…
