Goodreads blurb: Do not touch the sword. Do not turn the key. Do not open the gate. Twenty-four-year-old Saeris Fane is good at keeping secrets. No one knows about the strange powers she possesses, or the fact that she has been picking pockets and stealing from the Undying Queen’s reservoirs for as long as she can remember. In the land of the unforgiving desert, there isn’t much a girl wouldn’t do for a glass of water. But a secret is like a knot. Sooner or later, it is bound to come undone. When Saeris comes face-to-face with Death himself, she inadvertently reopens a gateway between realms and is transported to a land of ice and snow. The Fae have always been the stuff of myth, of legend, of nightmares…but it turns out they’re real, and Saeris has landed right in the middle of a centuries-long conflict that might just get her killed. The first of her kind to tread the frozen mountains of Yvelia in over a thousand years, Saeris mistakenly binds herself to Kingfisher, a handsome Fae warrior, who has secrets and nefarious agendas of his own. He will use her Alchemist’s magic to protect his people, no matter what it costs him… or her. Death has a name. It is Kingfisher of the Ajun Gate. His past is murky. His attitude stinks. And he’s the only way Saeris is going to make it home. Be careful of the deals you make, dear child. The devil is in the details…
my take: 4.75 out of 5. I’m going to be honest. I had zero expectations of this book, but it was highly recommended by some of my book club member s and it was our January pick, so i went for it (just the cover made me very hesitant). I am very glad I went against my instincts. This book was wonderful. And now I want part 2 right away. The banter, the world building, the characters, I loved all of it and didn’t want the book to end. This is what good fantasy books are made of.
It’s a Love Story by Annabel Monaghan
goodreads blurb: From the USA Today bestselling author of Nora Goes Off Script, a novel about a former adolescent TV punchline who has left her awkwardness in the rearview mirror thanks to a fake-it-till-you-make-it mantra that has her on the cusp of success, until she tells a lie that sets her on a crash-course with her past, spending a week in Long Island with the last man she thinks might make her believe in love. Rules for a love story: There are none. It’s all a lie. Jane Jackson knows that true love is a lie. Laughter is the only truth—you can’t fake a belly laugh. Jane should know, she spent her adolescence as “Poor Janey Jakes,” the barbecue-sauce-in-her-braces punchline on America’s fifth-favorite sitcom. Now she’s a Creative Executive at Clearwater Studios and she’s living by a new mantra: Fake it till you make it. Except, she might have faked it too far. Desperate to get her first project greenlit and riled up by pompous cinematographer and one-time crush Dan Finnegan, she opened her mouth and a big fat fib fell out. She claimed that Jack Quinlan, hottest popstar of the moment, has promised to write an original song for the soundtrack. Jack may have been her first kiss—and greatest source of shame—but she hasn’t spoken to him in twenty years. Now, Jane must turn to the last man she’d ever want to owe: Dan Finnegan. Because Jack is playing a festival in Dan’s hometown on Long Island, and Dan has an in. A week in close quarters with Dan while facing down her past is Jane’s idea of hell, but Dan just might surprise her. While covering up her lie, can they find something true?
This is an ARC review thanks to a gift from the publisher.
my take: 4.25 out of 5. I love Annabel Monahans writing, and I especially appreciate how she writes for the older reader, like me, not only for 20 year olds. A new book by her is a privilege. is it Nora Goes off script? no. But is it a fun read? yes! For me it was a great read about letting go of what you thought you needed and accepting what you could have. I loved Dan and all his family they were so adorable. Jane was giving me anxiety with her anxiety and her unresolved issues, but I guess that made her more relatable, a very imperfect main character. I actually Love that she has a first date dress, and a third date dress. That level of fashion planning, but also craziness has to be appreciated. One of my favorite quotes of the book was “I have spent a lot of time lying in the past, pretending that I didn’t want to get invited to the ball because i never thoughts I could get invited”, that felt close to home, and it does reflect a lot of what the book is about. I had not wanted to read it, but her saying the book “Im glad my mom died” by Jennette McCurdy was one of the inspiration to writing this book makes me want to take a second look at it.
PS: I Hate You by Lauren Connolly
goodreads blurb: Maddie Sanderson would be proud to honor her older brother’s dying wish, that she scatters his ashes over eight destinations that the adventurous 29-year-old never got to visit before he died from cancer. But in his will, Josh assigned her an impossible partner to help complete the mission—Dominic Perry. Seriously, if Maddie weren’t already at his funeral, she would have killed him for this. Sure, Dom was Josh’s life-long best friend. He’s also the infuriating man who broke Maddie’s heart back when she was naïve enough to give it to him. But since Dom insists on following the rules and Josh didn’t leave much room for Maddie to argue the matter, they embark together on a farewell trip that spans thousands of miles, exploring new places and revisiting their complicated history along the way. After a snowstorm leads to a shared bed, Maddie starts to wonder if her brother might be matchmaking from the grave. But when grief also reopens old wounds between them, Maddie will need more than Josh’s ghostly guidance to trust Dom again.
my take: 4.75 out of 5. I loved this book so much. It brought me back to some other great road trip./travel romances that I have enjoyed very much like People we meet on vacation, Mrs nashes ashes and You with a view. It is both sad and uplifting, hopeful and heartbreaking, emotional and funny. It strikes just the right balance and you are transported to a wonderful world where your tears will have a field day. I also enjoyed how the path wasn’t evident and the twists took me for a loop. A lovely exploration how relationships are hard, timing is everything and we should make every moment count
The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau by Kristin Harmel
Goodreads blurb: Kristin Harmel, the New York Times bestselling author who “is the best there is at sweeping historical drama” (Kelly Harms, author of The Seven Day Switch), returns with an electrifying new novel about two jewel thieves, a priceless bracelet that disappears in 1940s Paris, and a quest for answers in a decades-old murder. Colette Marceau has been stealing jewels for nearly as long as she can remember, following the centuries-old code of honor instilled in her by her mother, take only from the cruel and unkind, and give to those in need. Never was their family tradition more important than seven decades earlier, during the Second World War, when Annabel and Colette worked side by side in Paris to fund the French Resistance. But one night in 1942, it all went wrong. Annabel was arrested by the Germans, and Colette’s four-year-old sister, Liliane, disappeared in the chaos of the raid, along with an exquisite diamond bracelet sewn into the hem of her nightgown for safekeeping. Soon after, Annabel was executed, and Liliane’s body was found floating in the Seine—but the bracelet was nowhere to be found. Seventy years later, Colette—who has “redistributed” $30 million in jewels over the decades to fund many worthy organizations—has done her best to put her tragic past behind her, but her life begins to unravel when the long-missing bracelet suddenly turns up in a museum exhibit in Boston. If Colette can discover where it has been all this time—and who owns it now—she may finally learn the truth about what happened to her sister. But she isn’t the only one for whom the bracelet holds answers, and when someone from her childhood lays claim to the diamonds, she’s forced to confront the ghosts of her past as never before. Against all odds, there may still be a chance to bring a murderer to justice—but first, Colette will have to summon the courage to open her own battered heart.
This is an ARC review thanks to a gift from the publisher.
my take: 3 out of 5. This was a hard one to rate and review. On the one had I thought the premise was cookie and cool, A Robin Hood descendant family, stealing for good in the war and beyond. But on the other hand things were utterly predictable and the “twists” were evident a mile away, so some of the suspense was gone. There was also a lot of moral grey area that I was involved in. Yes you are stealing for good, but is it acceptable? My moral compass was having a very hard time wanting to root for our main characters and then realizing I was rooting for robbers, it was hard. And they are very relatable and lovely characters, and what tragedies they went through in the war were heartwrenching. It is not my favorite Harmel, I am a huge fan of her books, but it is still an entertaining read. Also side note, I say the name of the book in Europe from The authors instagram and it is so much better. THis name is just not good enough: The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau, The European name of: All the Diamonds in Paris, is so much better and so much more relevant to the story. Because its not just about Colette, its bout everything an everyone that surrounded the diamonds.
Beg, Borrow, or Steal by Sarah Adams
goodreads blurb: Two feuding second-grade teachers (and neighbors) find themselves teaming up in this rivals-to-lovers romance by the New York Times bestselling author of The Rule Book and Practice Makes Perfect. Emily Walker hates having her carefully crafted world disrupted by anyone, most of all her legendary nemesis, Jack Bennett. He’s the opposite of the wonderful heroes she dreams up in her double life as a romance writer, which is why Emily was perfectly happy when Jack left Rome, Kentucky, mid-school year, with his fiancée. The last thing Emily saw coming was Jack’s return at the start of the summer after calling off the wedding and ending his relationship, but he’s here to stay—as her colleague and her neighbor. Jackson Bennett is glad to be back, eager to renovate his house and work on the next mystery novel under his bestselling pen name. But when he realizes he’s now neighbors with the one woman who has always pushed his buttons, he discovers something he’s even more excited for—thwarting Emily and her petty plans to sabotage his return. With their chemistry-fueled animosity at an all-time high, Emily accidentally sends an email to their school’s principal that could reveal her secret literary side hustle. She needs to steal back her manuscript, and Jack—she hates to admit—is just the man to help her. Surprisingly, Jack agrees. Will their unlikely alliance put an end to their rivalry? Or could it lead to a steamy plot twist they never saw coming?
my take: 3.5 out of 5. There was something that just did not fully gel with me on this book. It was fun, enjoyable an a very quick read, and its always wonderful to go back to Rome, but when I Was sitting to write this review and I went back to my goodreads, I Realized I had giving it 3 and it made me have to sit down and remember what was it about the book that felt not as great as the others? I think for me is that when it is a third book in a series, there are things that make your suspension of disbelief harder. I suspended my disbelief that the biggest pop stare would end up in a tiny town and she would assimilate perfectly. But here, you ar asking me to believe that in the same family, in the middle of nowhere, you are adding into (SPOILER ALERT) another super famous person? Its a bit much. Don’t get me wrong, there are things that work out great. This is classic, very well written enemies to lovers, with the right amount of background and time. Also it has one of the best scenes ive seen in a romance in a whole: the Safe for work workshopping of a sex scene for her romance novel. .
Tati's Tidbits 