 Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own.If the title includes witches I’m down & Ava Morgyn’s The Witches of Bone Hill offers a sometimes darkly engrossing story that’s ultimately hopeful & sister-focused. Cordelia is facing a lot of problems when the book begins, including the end of her marriage to a man who exploited her & cheated on her & the imminent sale of her home so she can try to settle the debts he left her with. But wait, there’s even more trouble waiting for her & she hopes the house & inheritance that the family she never really knew left her will help. She goes to Bone Hill, owned by the aunt she didn’t know IRL, & reconnects with the sister she’s been largely estranged from in recent years. There she meets the groundskeeper Gordon & realizes there are lots of family secrets just waiting to be uncovered. There’s a good creepy factor to this book for those looking for thrills, & family secrets just keep pouring out of the woodwork. Betrayal & history & a house that shows she & her sister are part of a larger family even if their mother wanted to act like they weren’t. This one kept my attention & I liked how everything wrapped up so hopefully. 3.5⭐️. Out 09/26. CWs: Death of mother. Mutilation. Cancer. Mob threat. Reference to oppid addiction.
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 Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own.Did I read my first December romance in August? Did this book make me want to start celebrating the Winter Soltice? Yes & yes. Jenny Bayliss’ A December to Remember is a story of sisterhood & community & it all happens when the father of three distant sisters dies & his will stipulates that they spend time together doing two things before they can secure their inheritance. Focusing on sisterhood, this book shows how people can come back together & how vulnerability is a big part of what allows that to happen. Each sister also has a romantic relationship they’re working through / starting in the book. This book addresses quite a lot of serious topics & throughout it all is the community of Rowan Thorp which the sisters are becoming more enmeshed in. The town is adorable, the antiques store is some place I’d like to visit & I love how inclusive it is. That’s maybe my favorite part of the book—watching the various residents’ contributions to their town & to the winter Soltice. I’d recommend this to anyone wanting a sweet story of sisters coming back together & allowing others in, of relationships that they’re choosing to make stronger. 3.5⭐️. Out 09/26.CWs: Cancer. Father was absent. Infertility. Miscarriage. Abortion reference. Former boyfriend is stalking a sister on page; former boyfriend’s drug use.
 Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own.The way my brain works so hard to try to keep up with a time loop or time travel book :o ;) . When a strange cute man tells Gemma Peters that they’ve met over & over again, part of her is dismayed & scared bc she’s never met him. But the other part feels this wisp of familiarity that grows as they spend more time together, with both leads running all over LA. While most time loop books I’ve read share multiple of the days on page, The Déjà Glitch keeps it on the simple-ish side: Gemma Peters & Jack experience only two days together on page—all other iterations of the same day they’ve been living over & over again for 5 months (!) are just referred to. Those two days they spend together are full of so many emotions: yearning & wistfulness, annoyance, broken-heartedness, pride, & love—some of it betwee the two of them & some of it with other people as Gemma works through some big baggage she’s been carrying—that the book itself doesn’t feel superficial. It feels like a microscope has been pointed on the things weighing Gemma down & she’s ready to finally tackle all of them. But the romance arc doesn’t have the same effect for me, unfortunately. While the growth Gemma experiences is heartwarming, I was overall a bit less convinced by the romance. Still, this is a sweet read—closed door—with a heroine who goes through a lot of emotional work on this time loop day & who finds her way to something—dare I say, even more magical: love ;). 3.5⭐️. Out now! CWs: Gemma’s dad cheated on mother previously & has been emotionally negligent in past. Jack’s dad died previous to action in book.
 Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own.A small magical community where dangerous things can happen, a prickly MC & her half-Fae lover, a nurtured grudge & a forbidden spell. In Charm’s Way by Lana Harper has all of this & while I have my quibbles with the book, it’s also fun & atmospheric & the premise gives me those witchy romance vibes that put roses in my cheeks. In true Jess fashion I hadn’t read the three previous books in the series & this book definitely relates to previous events within the series. With that being said, after a bit of initial confusion surrounding who the romantic interest was (*my fault entirely*) I was just fine. Witch Delilah Harlow is having a tough time after losing her memory. Many of the memories have returned but others have not / do not, & in a moment of escalated emotion she decides to issue a spell from a taboo book. This sets off a series of events including getting to know Catriona Arachne Quinn, a half-Fae monster hunter, better. With danger, intrigue, & complicated friendship dynamics, this book serves up an entertaining Halloween-appropriate supernatural tale. I adore the premise & the Queer rep in the primary & secondary characters but I wish the book had been a bit tighter in execution in moments. Have you read this series? 3.5⭐️. Out 08/22.CWs: Catriona was abandoned by mother; childhood was difficult given that she’s half-Fae. Deception. Violence, death of supernatural creatures.
 Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own. Grumpy & a supposed Ice Queen. Yes please. Elena Armas’ The Long Game plays with those tropes, beginning with an unfortunate case of “oops I ran over you with my car & maybe killed your chicken” (spoiler alert: she did not). Adalyn Reyes, the daughter of a soccer franchise owner, has been exiled by her father to the wilderness of NC after she becomes viral on social media for assaulting their mascot. She’s supposed to take on a philanthropic project. Only that’s made more complicated when she realizes the head coach of said philanthropic team is the grumpy former soccer pro Cameron Caldani & their initial interactions show that they’re oil & water. Forced to work together &, thanks to their own machinations, to spend free time together too, our leads have plenty of opportunity to let the attraction between them build. If you’re looking for a gruff man letting his nurturing, peaceful side loose, you might enjoy this one. Cameron uses his approval words to great effect during a yoga goat scene; there’s even sexy pottery-making, without the murder plot (thanks, Ghost). But I have to be honest, & maybe I’m revealing how unreasonable I am because of it: the middle of this book starts to feel one-note for me because Cameron is aggressively patient & doggedly persistent in being there for her & Adalyn just kinda loses her fire & the book just starts to flatten a bit. I don’t know—it just wasn’t totally working for me. Not only that but—& again, this might sound bad—but if Adalyn has to go after anyone to spur on her exile, I wish she had selected the actual person responsible—her dirtbag ex—instead of a random mascot. That just made the whole incident less sympathetic for me. 3.5⭐️. Out 09/05.Please see a trusted reviewer’s list of CWs.
 Thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own.Hello Stranger by Katherine Center is one of those books where I really like some things but don’t like others & feel like I could talk at length about both. There was one part of this book that had me teary eyed—& I’m RARELY like that while reading—but then there are parts that had me internally going like this . So maybe a mixed bag response ;) . What I love most about Katherine Center’s writing is how direct & approachable the narration style is & also how it isn’t afraid to delve into emotions. Sadie, the protagonist of this book, has a lot of emotions to parse through—she’s a portrait artist who is close to estranged from her father and who has to have a brain surgery that results in her having face blindness for the foreseeable future. Sadie’s journey has moments that really work for me, that feel as luminescent as Sadie herself, & then moments in the plot that I didn’t totally buy, that aren’t convincing to me. So in the end I’m giving this one 3.5 ️⭐️ & calling it a day ;). 3.5⭐️. Out 07/11.CWs: Grief over loss of mom. Toxic stepsister. Basically estranged from father & she learns that at one point he blamed her for her mother’s passing. Nonconvulsive seizure; recovery from brain surgery; face blindness.
 Hi and welcome to my blog stop for Mary Balogh's Remember Me! A big thanks to the publisher & Netgalley for the complimentary e-ARC. All opinions provided are my own. Summary.Can Lady Philippa Ware forgive the man who once shattered all her youthful dreams? Discover the passionate and heartwarming new novel on the redemptive power of love from New York Times bestselling author Mary Balogh. Philippa, elder daughter of the Earl of Stratton, grew up eagerly anticipating a glittering debut and a brilliant marriage. Then her brother caught their father out in a clandestine affair and denounced him publicly. The whole family was disgraced, and Philippa’s hopes grew dim, then were fully shattered when she overheard the dashing, handsome Marquess of Roath viciously insult her upon learning of her father’s identity. Only years later does Philippa find the courage to go to London at last to meet the ton. She is an instant success and enjoys a close friendship with the granddaughter of a duke. Only one man can spoil everything for her, but surely he will not be in London this year. The Duke of Wilby is nearing death and has tasked his grandson and heir, Lucas Arden, Marquess of Roath, with marrying and producing a son before it is too late. Lucas, who usually shuns London, goes there early in the Season in the hope of finding an eligible bride before his grandparents come and find one for him. He is instantly attracted to his sister’s new friend, until that young lady asks a simple question: “Remember me?” And suddenly he does remember her, as well as the reason why the daughter of the Earl of Stratton is the one woman he can never marry—even if his heart tells him she is the only woman he wants. Unfortunately for Philippa and Lucas, the autocratic duke and his duchess have other ideas and believe them to be perfect for each other. They will simply not take no for an answer. Telling Philippa the full truth is the hardest thing Lucas has ever faced, and the discovery of it will change them both before they discover the healing power of love.  [ID: Jess’s white hand holds the ebook in front of a slate-colored brick wall with a blue & yellow butterfly painted on it.] My review.The fact that I am a new-ish Mary Balogh fan hasn’t stopped me from collecting her books like it’s going out of style. Remember Me is my third book by the author & once again, I’m reminded of how much I enjoy the character-driven romances MB writes & how thoughtful & measured they are. As the book opens Marquess Lucas is tasked by his grandfather the Duke to marry, marry well, & marry soon for the sake of their family line. He agrees & travels to the London season where a beautiful woman catches his eye. Unfortunately, that woman is also the person who overheard him insulting her at a party years previous. This story has so many of the things I’ve come to associate with MB—a sedateness with passion roiling underneath, a lot of emotion & consideration of feelings. & while I enjoyed those things here, the angsty bits dragged on a bit too long for me. I also found some of the language used in the book to describe disability & virginity to be outdated &/or even offensive. This one wasn’t my favorite Mary Balogh I’ve read—& it seems somewhat lacking at moments in its sensitivity & progressiveness—but I plan on continuing my Mary Balogh journey because of glowing recs for past series. 3.5⭐️. Out today!Please read a list of additional CWs from a trusted reviewer.  About the author.Mary Balogh has written more than one hundred historical novels and novellas, more than forty of which have been New York Times bestsellers. They include the Bedwyn saga, the Simply quartet, the Huxtable quintet, the seven-part Survivors’ Club series, and the Westcott series. Learn more online at marybalogh.com. Is this one on your TBR? Are you a Mary Balogh fan? Let me know what you think and thanks for stopping by!  |
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