Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own.It’s no secret that if a book has a ghost & a romance arc I am there with bells on & Charlie N. Holmberg’s Keeper of Enchanted Rooms—book 1 of the Whimbrel House series—is a relatively soft & quirky example of that combo that I enjoyed. At the beginning of the book Merritt Fernsby—a disowned writer—learns that he has inherited a large home on an island. But upon arriving he learns that the rumor he heard was true—the home is haunted & worse, it won’t allow him to exit now that he’s inside. Luckily for Merritt a magic organization in charge of Enchanted homes is on the case, sending housekeeper Hulda to help. With Hulda’s help, Merritt will solve the mysteries surrounding the home & along the way decide the home (& spirit’s) future. This book has a sweet romance arc & a compelling story that kept me turning pages. I found the whole experience to be soft & whimsical with a couple moments of mild unsettlement so this is definitely a great read for those who don’t want to be too frightened. Merritt has a nice backstory but emotionally I would have liked more about & from Hulda. Though the story didn’t emotionally engage me as much as I would have liked, it was a great way to spend my time. 4⭐️. Out now!ID: a white hand holds the ebook up in front of a black murphy bed. On top of the murphy bed mantle there's a grouping of green and silver Christmas trees and a white porcelain house. The background has a section of cream paneled wall and a section of floral wallpaper.
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Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC and the publisher for the complimentary hard copy. All opinions provided are my own.Peter Reedton isn’t a particularly bold hero. As the book notes, he is not waging outright war against his enemies to make himself or the heroine happy. Instead, the book says, he’s “subtle,” “caring.” And in the end, so romantic. I loved him so much. Olivia Dade writes her leads in Ship Wrecked beautifully. They feel & seem real—they have charm, eccentricity, insecurity, hurts; they show uncertainty & grace; they are frustrating at times; they are loveable. He & Maria Ivarsson—both actors on a Game of Thrones-like show—are so emotionally charismatic. I talked about Peter already & Maria is a dynamo—she stands up for herself & for Peter & tries to facilitate connections for him, something he isn’t naturally adept at doing. The fat rep is sensational, the found family had my heart squeezing, & the ending gives me the gestures & romance my greedy heart wants. But the book does lose a bit of momentum for me for around 10% of the end, & at the beginning Peter’s personality loses a bit of charm when it delays their relationship in an anticlimactic sort of way . With that being said I think those things wouldn’t hurt as much with a reread, when I knew what was coming & when things were going to slow down. In the end this lovely powerful book is really something special & I adore it. 5⭐️ . (I rounded up because since finishing, my heart has grown even fonder.) Out 11/15.CWs: the show producers are jerks at times who have certain body and/or beauty expectations for the leads—particularly for Maria. Maria was a foster child who was repeatedly uprooted & sent to live with new families. Parental death. Former infidelity & partner abandonment.
Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own.#SundayShelfie + Review I recently reorganized my bookshelves, getting rid of some books I was N E V E R going to read, consolidating my two TBR shelves into one overflowing one, & making a lot more room for books I’ve loved in the rest of the bookcase. So here she is: a reorganized bookcase with some different books at the front! & now here’s that aforementioned review ;). If you’re searching for thick fantasy books with romantic elements you M U S T look at the Last Binding series by Freya Marske. Book 1, This Marvellous Light, was one of my top reads of last year. A Restless Truth is a sensational follow-up & my guesses & expectations about the couple for book 3 are S K Y high. In this book, Robin’s sister Maud Blythe is accompanying a woman holding part of the Last Contract back to England. Said woman hasn’t revealed what item in her belongings is actually the Last Contract, which is a problem when she’s murdered & someone ransacks their room. In order to find that item, & yeah, prevent a lot of bad things from happening to Britain’s magic-possessors & probably just the world in general, Maud ropes others into helping her, including the stunning Violet Debenham. There is intrigue galore in this book & lots of twists & turns. As Maud & Violet work together they indulge in their attraction, even as Violet struggles to really let someone in. Not only are the world-building & the plot strong, the emotional acumen shown here is really lovely. Marske has a deftness with emotions that left me hoping these leads could go to the relationship distance. Book 3 will likely focus on a different couple & I have my hopes for it will be. In the meantime, I highly recommend checking out these two interconnected queer fantasies, beginning with A Marvellous Light. They’re very very good! 5⭐️. Out 11/01.CWs: one of the secondary characters that we’re presumably kinda sorta supposed to be rooting for calls another “Mediterranean gutter rat.” Violence, including murder.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own. You’re a Mean One, Matthew Prince by Timothy Janovsky totalllly surprised me. There was so much to be delighted about in this New Adult novel & I shall enumerate it below in hopes of convincing you to give this one a try: The tropes. Money difference, hate to love, fish out of water, only one bunk bed. All wrapped up in a male male holiday romance that had me singing “all I want for Christmas is you.” A rich guy who’s kinda rude & undergoes a transformation of the heart after he’s cut off by his parents & sent to live with his grandparents. Mental health rep. Matthew Prince Jr. has generalized anxiety disorder & experiences panic attacks on page. When he does, the other lead Hector Martinez helps calm him. I didn’t fall in love with Janovsky’s first book but I’m so glad I gave this one a shot because it was everything I could have wanted. The hate to love arc is wonderfully rendered, with both leads not being at their finest coupled with assumptions they both make, & then a moment of kindness & realization that turns things sweeter between them. This one hit me emotionally on several levels & offers so much holiday goodness. 5⭐️. Out now!CWs: Generalized anxiety disorder. Parents aren’t the most supportive or involved.
Thanks to the publisher for the complimentary finished copy. All opinions provided are my own.#FlatlayFriday Anatomy edition This week on the wild & zany front I went searching for titles related to the human anatomy, all inspired by recent bookmail: S. T. Gibson’s A Dowry of Blood. Opening with a bloody image of the vampire Constanta killing her vampire husband, this book grabbed me & didn’t let go. I was pulled in by the haunting, violent, & yet sensitive story of Constanta & her life from the moment she was turned to the centuries that follow as she makes her way across Europe with her husband & their lovers. Creepy & dark, this book gave me all the Halloween vibes. If you’re looking for a cozy vampire story or an absurd and fun Kresley Cole IAD book this isn’t it. But in its pages there are lust & love, a real sense of history, & shining storytelling. 4 ⭐️. Out now!CWs include violence & death. I’m sorry my list isn’t more exhaustive for this one!
Thanks to Partner @bibliolifestyle for the complimentary finished copy and the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own.Every time I open a Jenny Holiday contemporary I’m reminded of how much I like her books. So This Is Christmas really got me going with: ❄️An uptight hero—Matteo Benz, an equerry to the king of Eldovia—who wears three piece suits on the daily, tries to be professional at all times, but is very much annoyed by the heroine. To quote the book: “He looked like a millennial dressed up as a boomer.” ❄️A business-oriented heroine—American Cara Delaney who’s visiting Eldovia & serving as a business consultant for the King. She & her job immediately rub Matteo the wrong way. ❄️Both leads recognizing that there’s more to the other lead than their initial impression & slowwwwly coming to call each other by their first names. ❄️a fun glimpse back at previous characters ❄️Holiday’s deft hand with emotions & nuance & pacing. I feel like I’ve been really blessed on the holiday romance reading front this year & this is another adorable book that warmed my heart. If you haven’t checked out Holiday’s Eldovia series yet I really recommend it—especially book 2 which is a fave. 4.5 ⭐️. Out now!CW: heroine’s mother forced out of home after unwed pregnancy. Cara assaulted at 16 & she fended him off using her high heel shoe.Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own.There are some authors who take the risk of always trying something new. Sarah Hogle is one of them. Some of you will really enjoy Hogle’s latest release Just Like Magic. Others of you might be like nope. Where was I? In the former camp. This is a really fun, supremely strange, marvel-filled, very funny book. I’ll be honest: I was a bit worried about where the plot would go, but in the end Hogle handled it really well & my final feeling was of being entertained, relieved, & warm & fuzzy instead of majorly annoyed . Bettie Hughes undergoes quite the transformation throughout Just Like Magic that’s facilitated by Hall, an embodied Holiday Spirit that she ends up meeting because of how she plays her Mariah Carey “All I Want For Christmas Is You” album one lonely night. If just that sentence is too much this book may not be for you ;) . Bettie is spoiled, her family is sometimes not the nicest to each other & often distant, & Bettie herself is on a mission of revenge that’s somewhat unlocked when she realizes Hall can make her wishes come true *Alexa, cue Mariah Carey holiday music.* Even if he sometimes messes her wishes up a tad . Imagine the movie Elf but darker, & those are Hall & Bettie’s opposites attract vibes. Hall is warmth & happiness & love & understanding & vulnerability & being around him helps bloom in ways she never anticipated. There are some truly hilarious lines in here, a fake dating situation, & some moments of defending each other to various members of her family. Plus lots of magic. All big wins on my end! But Hall comes across a bit flat at times, as others have said, one-note, especially at the beginning. Be advised that this book is closed door, which actually made it work better for me. Turning unexpectedly steamy wouldn’t have worked for this book’s dynamic at all. Overall I just leaned into this book & had a really good time. I’m here for the bizarre, hilarious holiday romances . 4.5 ⭐️. Out now!CWs: Former emotional abuse.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own. I’ve been dipping my toes into holiday romance novels so to speak & Helena Greer’s Season of Love has some winning qualities but ultimately falls somewhat flat for me. Miriam Blum is an antique upcycler who’s estranged from most of her family, including her horrible father, her mother who remains married to him, & the beloved aunt who owned the one place she felt totally comfortable, a Christmas tree farm. At the beginning of the book Miriam’s aunt has passed & Miriam’s going to return to that farm after many years away to sit shiva. Back to the other people she loved but hasn’t had a meaningful relationship with in years, including a cousin. But there’s a new person living on the farm, Noelle Northwood, who immediately dislikes Miriam, & Miriam’s time at home is complicated by the presence of this person who doesn’t like her but whom she’s attracted to. There’s a lot to appreciate about this Queer romance, including Jewish rep, romantic moments on the ice, & how Miriam finds her way back home & to an old artistic love. But in general, I wasn’t a huge fan of Noelle (whose brashness & personality might feel authentic in some ways but also gets a little off putting for me in moments) and a secondary storyline which is a little puzzling at times. Also, a lot seems to happen to Miriam personally & professionally & it’s a little unsettling how quickly it did. Overall, there’s potential here & I can see a lot of people relating to & enjoying this sweet romance, but it didn’t really work for me. 3 ⭐️. Out 10/11.CWs: Noelle has a tattoo of “deadly women” including Lizzie Borden & I just found that choice a bit odd. Death in the family. Difficult relationship with mother & father. Noelle is a recovering alcoholic and was drinking as a youth. Dad destroyed her paintings.
Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary ARC. All opinions provided are my own. I think this is the steamiest vampire romance I’ve ever read? Imagine if you took a Kresley Cole’s Immortals After Dark vampire book, took out a bit of the worldbuilding intricacy & then added maybe 32 sex scenes (I’m exaggerating here )—then you might have Katee Robert’s Court of the Vampire Queen. A poly MMMF romance between one half vampire, half human (a dhampir) & three stunning vampire men, COTVQ is stunningly, fantastically steamy & also makes frequent use of the bite = near orgasmic pleasure motif that can really sell a vampire romance for me . This book kicks off when dhampir Mina is given against her will to vampire Malachi, who hasn’t been able to leave his home in decades. She’s supposed to feed him & bed him, but he stuns her by setting some boundaries & being clear that he wants her consent & her to actually desire him before they proceed any farther sexually. Then the other vampires start showing up at his home one by one & things really get interesting. Not only is the steam in this one winning, so are each of the different personalities & Mina’s varying relationships with each vampire. I love how Katee Robert shows that they get something unique from each other person but how they have something special as a whole. Be aware, there are lots of content warnings for this one that Katee Robert includes in a list at the beginning & a few repetitious moments. (I thought I saw somewhere that this work was maybe published some other way & now it’s being republished but I haven’t been able to find that note again so ). But there’s so much steam (have I mentioned that yet ;) ), an interesting relationship arc as they all find out how to navigate this new relationship, & this fabulous sense of drama & atmosphere. In short, it’s really fun, very bloody, & freaking hot. 4.5⭐️. Out 09/06.CWs: She’s bitten without her consent. She sees men trying to drug her drink and then shortly after helps those men get murdered to feed her lovers. Violence. Murder. Lots of other CWs—I would suggest checking out the author’s list.
Hi and welcome to my Blog Blitz stop for Sangu Mandanna's The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches! Summary.A warm and uplifting novel about an isolated witch whose opportunity to embrace a quirky new family—and a new love—changes the course of her life. As one of the few witches in Britain, Mika Moon knows she has to hide her magic, keep her head down, and stay away from other witches so their powers don’t mingle and draw attention. And as an orphan who lost her parents at a young age and was raised by strangers, she’s used to being alone and she follows the rules...with one exception: an online account, where she posts videos "pretending" to be a witch. She thinks no one will take it seriously. But someone does. An unexpected message arrives, begging her to travel to the remote and mysterious Nowhere House to teach three young witches how to control their magic. It breaks all of the rules, but Mika goes anyway, and is immediately tangled up in the lives and secrets of not only her three charges, but also an absent archaeologist, a retired actor, two long-suffering caretakers, and…Jamie. The handsome and prickly librarian of Nowhere House would do anything to protect the children, and as far as he’s concerned, a stranger like Mika is a threat. An irritatingly appealing threat. As Mika begins to find her place at Nowhere House, the thought of belonging somewhere begins to feel like a real possibility. But magic isn't the only danger in the world, and when peril comes knocking at their door, Mika will need to decide whether to risk everything to protect a found family she didn’t know she was looking for.... My Review.Sangu Mandanna's The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches is one of those books that makes me so happy to be a reader. It’s magic-filled & wonderful & the grumpy & the sunshine relationship at its core—not to mention the found family, the whimsy & the iron—had me squeeing. I love this book so much! In The Very Secret Society witch Mika Moon is hired by the residents of Nowhere House to be a magic teacher for three witch children. She takes on what seems like a huge task even though witches aren’t out in the open & aren’t supposed to be together out of set & infrequent social gatherings. In addition to the children, there are four other caretakers living at Nowhere House, including a striking & very grumpy librarian named James Kelly who is also amazing & gave me heart eyes. I will say that I fell in love with both leads because they’re both stunning. Mika’s funny & I love how she can laugh at herself, how brave and cheerful she is (without being annoying!). There’s a caretaking scene & just a sense of care running throughout the pages—I have every feeling that these leads have found true love and family & it makes my heart swell. This book is enthralling & I loved it from beginning to end. I can’t wait to add it to my shelves. 5⭐️. Out 08/23. An excerpt.When the spellwork part of the meeting was complete, Primrose cleared her throat. "Finally, does anyone have any news they'd like to share?"
"It's okay to say it's time to gossip, Primrose," Mika said merrily. "We all know that's what comes after the spellwork." "Witches don't gossip," sniffed Primrose. This was patently untrue, however, because gossiping was precisely what they proceeded to do. "My ex-husband wanted to get back together last week," said Belinda Nkala, who was in her forties and never had time for anyone's nonsense. "When I turned him down, he informed me that I am apparently nothing without him. Then he left," she added calmly, "but I fear he's going to be suffering from an inexplicable itch in his groin for a few weeks." Several witches laughed, but Primrose set her lips in a thin line. "And have you been playing such petty tricks lately, Mika?" "Oh, for the love of fucking god, Primrose, what does this have to do with me?" "It's not an unreasonable question, precious. You do like to take risks." "For the millionth time," Mika said, irked beyond belief, "I post videos online pretending to be a witch. It's just a performance." Primrose raised her eyebrows. Mika raised hers right back. "Hundreds of people do the same thing, you know. The whole witch aesthetic is very popular!" "Witchcore," Hilda said, nodding wisely. "Not quite as popular as cottagecore or fairycore, but it's up there." Everyone stared at her. "I didn't know fairies were real!" shouted Agatha Jones, who was almost as old as Primrose and tended to believe all young people needed to be shouted at lest they miss the import of her pronouncements. "Whatever next!" "You see, Primrose?" said Mika, ignoring this interruption. "People call themselves witches all the time. I'm not putting myself or you or anyone else at risk. Nobody who watches my videos thinks I'm actually a witch." It was unfortunate for Mika, then, that at that precise moment, over five hundred miles away, in a big house in a quiet, windy corner of the Norfolk countryside, a skinny old man in a magnificent rainbow scarf and enormous fluffy slippers was saying exactly the opposite. “Absolutely not!” This came from Jamie, the scowling librarian, who was not in fact the skinny old man in the scarf and slippers. That was Ian. And the third person in the library was Lucie, the housekeeper, a chubby, round-cheeked woman in her fifties, who sighed as if she knew exactly how this argument was going to go. (She did know, and she was right.) Ian smoothed down the tail of his scarf and replied, in the deep voice that had charmed audiences in many a small theatre over his eighty-odd years, "Don't be difficult, dear. It doesn't become you." Jamie was unmoved by this criticism. "You can't seriously be considering bringing that"-and here he jabbed a finger at the dewy, sparkly face on the screen of Ian's phone-"into the house?" "Why not?" Ian asked. "Well, for one thing, there's no way she's a real witch," Jamie said irritably. This was not unusual. Most of the things Jamie said were said irritably. "What kind of witch would show off her magic on a platform with millions of viewers?" Mika would have been immensely gratified to hear this, had she been there, but it looked like her double bluff had not hoodwinked Ian. "She's a real witch," he insisted. "How the hell can you possibly know that?" "I have excellent observation skills. Just watch part of the video." Ian wiggled his phone like he was dangling a lollipop in front of a toddler. "A minute. That's all I ask." Jamie's glare stayed firmly in place, but he crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back against his desk to look over Ian's shoulder. Gleeful, Ian tapped the screen and the video started to play. Excerpted from The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna Copyright © 2022 by Sangu Mandanna. Excerpted by permission of Berkley. All rights reserved. |
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