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Pizza Girl by Jean Kyoung Frazier

Doubleday – Review: 2 Stars

Thanks so much to the author, BookSparks, and Doubleday for the complimentary finished copy of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts and participation in this blog tour. All opinions are entirely my own. { partner } All of my reviews can also be found on Instagram @Tackling_TBR and on Goodreads.

TW : teenage pregnancy, excessive drinking during pregnancy, alcoholism, domestic violence and abuse, discussion of suicidal thoughts, stalking, guns

Unpopular opinion time.

You guys, I was so excited for this book when I received it. Getting to read a story about two women in such different stages of life and of different ages building a relationship and friendship was automatically really intriguing to me – I love stories that are centered around and focusing on it’s characters, and especially showing female friendships.

But unfortunately, this book really fell short for me. As excited as I was to start it, and with how short this book is (the hardcover is only 192 pages), I was betting that I could finish it in only a day, maybe two and that it would be a perfect final read of the month. BUT. It took me about four days to finish this book simply because I was having to basically force myself to keep reading it. I would put it down when it was time to head to bed, or when it was time to have dinner, or whatever the case was, and I just found myself not wanting to pick it back up.

Let’s get into what I didn’t really enjoy from this book. Like I said above, part of why I was so excited for this read was because I was expecting more of a friendship between the two women. Now, according to the book description on the inside flap, “her world is further upended when she becomes obsessed with Jenny… .” So maybe that’s on me, instead of on the book. Maybe I ignored the use of the word “obsessed” in the book description, or maybe I misunderstood it, I’m not sure. But I didn’t feel like I was really prepared for what was coming when I got into this story. Things like our main character driving to Jenny’s house in the middle of the night and watching her through the house windows, all the way to literally breaking into her house and watching her sleep. We were only about half a step away from Joe Goldberg from You, and I just wasn’t ready for that kind of crazy when I picked this one up. And again, maybe that’s on me. But I just didn’t enjoy this read, and I think that this was at least a big part of that.

Overall, I know that my negative opinion of this book is definitely not the norm (there are a TON of very positive reviews on goodreads and on retailer sites), and just because it didn’t work for me doesn’t mean that it won’t be the perfect book for somebody else, but unfortunately I just don’t know that I can overall recommend this book to friends. Unless I knew that this was exactly the type of read they were looking for. I just found it to be a really slow read, that wasn’t really what I was expecting it to be, and I just really didn’t enjoy this particular reading experience. I think that the best reading environment for this book would be in a bright, sunshine-y room with an entire box of pizza for yourself.

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He Started It by Samantha Downing

Berkley – Review: 4 Stars

All opinions are entirely my own. All of my reviews can also by found on Instagram @Tackling_TBR and on Goodreads.

TW : murder, kidnapping, runaway children, drowning, gun violence, being followed, manipulation

Y’all. This book was wild. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book where I have spent more time turned to my husband trying to talk through what was happening in the story. Seriously, I kept turning to him and saying things like “I think this is happening?” and “I’m so confused,” or “OH MY GOSH THIS JUST HAPPENED.”

It even took me talking through it with other readers as a part of a book club to really figure out how I felt about it after the ending, because I knew that I either loved it or hated it but really couldn’t figure it out. I would say if you are going to read this one, read it with some friends so that if you are going to need help unraveling it like I did, then you’ll have some other folks to pick each other’s brains.

Now let’s talk about the characters. None of the characters were really all that likeable. I mean it, none of them. There weren’t even really any of them that I wanted to root for. You knew from the beginning that they were all just basically manipulating each other to try and get what they want. And it wasn’t even like “I’m going to do this bad thing but I have good intentions, or a good reason to be doing it,” it was just kind of that they were all every man for himself and were just being terrible for the fun of it. And normally that would really take away from a book for me, because I’m such a character driven reader. And maybe it’s just because the story was so crazy that those types of terrible people made sense being in it, but it honestly didn’t really bother me this time.

And honestly, there isn’t really much else that I can say without going into some major spoiler territory. This book jumps right into the action almost from the very beginning, so the spoilers and the twists start really early in this book. And since I try to avoid spoilers in my general reviews, I will be stopping here so that I don’t have to try and tip-toe around them.

But hey, if you have read this one already and you want to discuss more in depth with me, send me a DM on Instagram, and we can talk each others ear off all day about the other 96% of the book that I’m not covering here!

Overall I would recommend this book to my friends and other readers, who may be looking for a crazy, sort of creepy read! I mean, hey, it’s still #SpookySeason, right? But you can see at the top of this review that there are a TON of really serious trigger warnings, so please keep that in mind if you are thinking about reading it. I really enjoyed it as a read, but there were a ton of scenes and moments that could potentially be very triggering or problematic for some folks. But all of that aside, if those things won’t bug you too much or if doing a bit of self-care after or during reading will help, then I say this was a really interesting thriller for fall! I think that the best way to read this book would be next to the fireplace or in a bubble bath with a large, LARGE glass of wine. Like I said, lots of self-care!

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A Star Is Bored by Byron Lane

Henry Holt & Co – Review: 4 Stars

Thanks so much to the author, BookSparks, and Henry Holt & Company for the complimentary finished copy of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts and participation in this blog tour. All opinions are entirely my own. { partner } All of my reviews can also be found on Instagram @Tackling_TBR and on Goodreads.

TW : discussion of suicidal thoughts and attempts, drug use and abuse

“‘But seriously, I repeat: This is a work of fiction. That you might speculate as to the identity of certain key characters does not alter the fact that all of the characters in this book, including incidental ones, their names, the dialogue, the locales, and all of the events recounted, are fictional products of the author’s imagination. …’ – My publisher’s attorney”

Y’all, after starting with that disclaimer (or I should say pair of disclaimers, as that is the second one on the page – they are quite serious about telling people this book is fiction) I was really ready for a laugh out loud read. The author, Byron Lane, used to work as the personal assistant to Carrie Fischer, and this book is a fiction inspired by his time working with her.

Honestly, hearing that, I was hooked before I even picked up the book. That being said, it took me a bit of time to really get into this one. I enjoyed it once I got past about the first third of the book, but that first third was a bit slow in my opinion. I felt like I was kind of telling myself to just get through the beginning, and that once he started the job it would pick up. And it did for the most part, but that first third was just very slow for me, which definitely kept it from a 5 star read in my opinion.

All of that out of the way, let’s talk about what I liked about the book. Once I did get through that first third, I got much more of the laugh-out-loud read that I was expecting. At times it almost felt satirical – although it is hard to guess if that was the writing style, or if that just comes with telling a story about a celebrity as wild as Carrie Fischer was, fiction or otherwise. I loved getting to read about some of the strange interactions and shenanigans that these two characters got into, and getting to watch their weird relationship develop.

That being said, I didn’t really much enjoy the character of Kathi, the celebrity that our lead, Charlie, works with. Charlie on the other hand was a fairly enjoyable character, and I liked getting to read about his growth throughout the story as he started to really care for Kathi. But she was such a destructive character right from the beginning, and didn’t really show a ton of growth even up until the end of the book. Some, in the sense of growing her relationship with Charlie, but she was still that same destructive energy at the end that she was in the beginning – and not just towards herself, but in a few ways toward the people in her life as well.

Now, do I think that she was specifically written that way, and that it was on purpose on the author’s part? Honestly I do. I think that while he was working for Carrie Fischer he saw sides of her that we as the public, even as her fans, would never have had the opportunity to see. And maybe didn’t want to see. She was a real, and flawed, and deeply troubled person, not just a celebrity. And mot just Princess Leia. And while, yes, this is a work of fiction, you can tell that he was really writing from a real place, with real emotions, and real love and respect for her. And that is what I loved so much about this book.

Overall, I would recommend this read to my friends and fellow readers, and just tell them to work to get through that first third. In my opinion, the rest of the book made that first bit worth it. But I don’t think that you should go into this book expecting to get the insider-scoop, and come away with secrets about Carrie and her life. I think that you should go into this book expecting to get some laughs, and expecting to get a glimpse at some real emotion being put onto the page. I think that the best way to read this book is with a Coke Zero, and maybe in a stolen hotel bathrobe or something to make you feel ridiculously luxurious, but also a bit like you’re breaking the rules.

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To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han

Simon & Schuster – Review: 5 Stars

All opinions are entirely my own. All of my reviews can also be found on Instagram @Tackling_TBR and on my blog at tacklingtbr.home.blog

This story was an absolute gem of a read! Once I saw that movie on Netflix I knew that I needed to go back and read the books! And honestly, I am so glad that I did. It was just so cute, and it absolutely drew me in and kept me wanting to read, even though I had already seen the movie. I didn’t feel like I was missing out on anything even though I was already pretty sure I knew where it was going, you know?

The characters in this story are seriously so sweet. And although my memory of young-adult me related to Laura Jean like crazy (slightly anxious hopeless romantic that reads romance novels and watches too much Golden Girls and Sixteen Candles? Hi, it’s 16 year old me), Kitty seriously stole the show in my opinion! This little sister was everything that I assume mine would be if I had one (what can I say, I’m the baby). She is super sassy and sometimes thinks that she’s much older and wiser than everyone else in the room, no matter who they are. I would keep reading these books just for more Kitty alone!

All in all I really enjoyed this sweet, quick read and can’t wait to read the other two books in the series. I would definitely recommend this book to friends or other readers who enjoyed the movies, or if they just need a quick, light read that they can get through in a weekend. I think the perfect place to read this book would be curled up staying nice and cozy in a beautiful ski lodge somewhere. I mean, that’s what Laura Jean would do, right?

Link to purchase on Amazon:

And check out the rest of the series!

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One To Watch by Kate Stayman-London

Dial Press – Review: 5 Stars

All opinions are entirely my own. All of my reviews can also be found on Instagram @Tackling_TBR and on Goodreads.

TW : very fat-phobic comments and situations, mention of sexual assault

You guys. I love watching The Bachelor and all of the spin-offs in the franchise. I do. I am not afraid to admit it. But that being said, I really wish that the franchise was so much more inclusive than it is currently. So this book is everything that I ever could have hoped for and more.

First, let’s talk about the way that this book tells this story. We do get a good portion of the story told from our female lead Bea’s perspective. Her thoughts and emotions, her conversations, her experiences, all of that. But we also get so many other types of story telling. We get some of Bea’s blog posts, conversations in a fantasy-football-type-group for the reality show that she is on, we get text and email conversations, we get online news articles, we get everything! I loved it so much. And it made this such a quick and easy read!

Now let’s talk about Bea. I loved her. She was such a strong a sassy woman, who you know has been through some real crap and come out the other side stronger and wiser, and by the time the story starts she is a boss-ass woman who doesn’t take other people’s shit. Mostly. Obviously she isn’t perfect as a character or as a feminist or whatever. She still gets caught up and lets people make her feel small sometimes. Sadly, who doesn’t? But I think watching her struggle through those moments when she couldn’t be strong, and still finding her way through them, made her all the more real and lovable. No one can be strong all of the time. And I loved getting to be a part of this journey with her. I would seriously read so many books about her and her blog and her life.

Overall I really, really loved this book. I can already tell that this is going to be a contender for my favorite read of 2020. It has moments that I was laughing out loud, it had moments that I was tearing up reading it, it had everything that I could have been looking for out of this read. It had some serious moments, some not so serious moments, and a really cool and bad-ass plus sized female lead. Honestly, I would recommend this book to just about everyone. Hey you, go read this book! I think that the perfect way to read this book is with a glass of wine, a group of girlfriends (maybe a book club?) and some really fun and trashy TV playing in the background.

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The Bromance Book Club (Bromance Book Club #1) by Lyssa Kay Adams

Berkley Publishing – Review: 5 Stars

All opinions are entirely my own. All of my reviews can also be found on Instagram @Tackling_TBR and on Goodreads.

Listen to me discuss this book more in depth on the new episode of The Same Page Podcast, which will be released on Wednesday 9/30! Find us on iTunes and Apple Podcasts by searching The Same Page.

TW : steamy read, some medium strength language, estranged parent, some toxic masculinity

You guys. I am honestly so mad that I waited so long to read this one. This was almost a perfect read. This is the rom-com written specifically for romance readers, but that none romance readers would also potentially enjoy. So obviously, I loved it. I couldn’t put it down. I flew through this book in two sittings.

One thing that I really liked about this book was how it took the “second-chance romance” trope on it’s head a bit. When you pick up a second-chance romance book it typically involves a first love coming back and becoming your new co-worker, or the boy who broke your heart accidentally becoming your next door neighbor, or the like. And I love those books and stories. Who doesn’t at least once in their lives daydream about what it would be like it *that* ex happened to come back into our lives, see us thriving, and realize what a fool they were for letting us go? I have definitely been there. But coming at the idea of a second-chance romance from the perspective of a couple who is technically still “together,” since they are still married, was a really interesting way to change it up! I loved seeing this different side of that trope that I already love.

All in all, I seriously loved this book. Like, not only would I recommend it, but I want to make my husband and my friends and also just about everyone else in my life read this. I mean it, I really loved it. I would have started reading the second book the next day if I had a copy of it already. I can’t wait to read the second book, and I can’t wait for the third book in the series to come out. I think that this book should be read under a cozy blanket with a beer (or something equally stereo-typically “manly”) in the early evening.

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Get a Life, Chloe Brown & Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert

Avon Books – Reviews

Hi there, friends! I read both of these awesome books back in July as a part of the Reading Rush, but I never got around to posting my reviews! Since I read them both so close together, practically one right after the other, I decided to just include both reviews in the same blog post. Let me know if you like this format for series that I may fly through like that in the future as well!

Now, without further ado, let’s jump into those reviews!

All opinions are entirely my own. All of my reviews can also be found on Instagram @Tackling_TBR and on Goodreads.

Get a Life, Chloe Brown – Review: 5 stars

TW: chronic pain, discussion of emotional abuse

This was such a fun enemies-to-lovers read! I think my favorite thing about this read was the characters. Chloe was such a charming female lead! She is a young woman dealing with chronic pain, and trying to reinvent her life after a near death experience. And sure, maybe we can’t all relate to that exact story line, we’ve all gone through some sort of reinvention throughout our lives, which made hers a really fun and sweet story to follow. I also really loved the brief interactions that we got with Chloe’s sisters. They seemed like the three of them would have been hilarious to grow up with! All three of them are sassy, witty, and strong women that honestly, I kind of wished I was related to. I’m so glad that the next two books in the series follow her sisters, so that I get to spend time with each of them!

I do want to say that I love how it handles the diversity of it’s characters – basically never is the fact that the female lead, Chloe, is a person of color a main plot point in the way that a lot of stories make it when they are aiming to tell diverse stories. And I don’t mean that in a negative way at all – the stories with race at the center are also incredibly important, and I think that people should be reading more of them. But this wasn’t one of those stories, it was a contemporary romance. Her race wasn’t something that seemed like it needed to be explained or made relevant, she just was who she was, and looked how she did, and it felt subconscious as I was reading it, just like it would if you were reading a similar story with a white character in the lead. And while I love reading black stories where the race of the person in the lead may be a key factor in the plot (and again, I think it is important to read those stories as well to get more perspective), I also love this sort of diversity and representation. I think both types of representation are incredibly important – the struggles that people of color face every day, and stories like this that could just as easily be about our own best friend.

All in all, I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a next contemporary romance read! You may be able to guess how the story goes before you necessarily get to the ending, but the journey to get there is so sweet and engaging that I don’t think they would regret the read at all. I think that the perfect setting to read this book would be taking a page out of Chloe’s book – some really comfy pajamas (maybe even a onesie!) and with lots and lots of dark chocolate at the ready.

Take a Hint, Dani Brown – Review: 5 Stars

TW : character processing grief, anxiety attacks

Oh. My. GOSH. I think I’m in love with the Brown sisters. Truly. I really loved Get a Life, Chloe Brown and thought that there was no way the sequel could top it (I mean, sequels are never as good, right?) but I almost think I might like Take a Hint, Dani Brown even better! Or maybe I just want to be Danika Brown when I grow up. Yeah, that might be part of it too.

Dani Brown is a bisexual, full-figured, bad-ass of a woman of color, and dang if she doesn’t know it! She is such a strong and confident character that she was almost addicting to read about – I absolutely needed to know what was going to happen to her next, and I needed to immediately get to the end to make sure she would get her Happily Ever After. Now throw Zafir into the mix, and it was a really great friends-to-lovers and fake-dating story! I think Zafir is definitely my latest book boyfriend. He is a former professional athlete and hopeless romantic with a heart of gold, who reads romance novels and runs his own charity. Ummm what? I loved him. And getting to see this story from both of their perspectives was so much fun, getting to see all of their sassy banter and clashing personalities meld with their intense sexual tension to create a really charming and steamy romance that I just couldn’t get enough of. And I mean it when I say steamy. I would say it is about a 4 out of 5 on the steamy scale.

I also really loved the parts of this story that circled around social media, since that is why they initially start their fake-dating journey. We get to see a couple of the comments that people are leaving on posts about them, and watch them give an interview to see if they are really #CoupleGoals, and it was all just so very sweet. I honestly just devoured this book.

Overall I would definitely recommend this book to anyone and everyone looking for a fun contemporary romance that they could potentially read and finish in a weekend. I can’t wait for the last book in the series to come out! You know I’m going to be buying and reading it that same night! I would say that the perfect way to read this book would be with a big cup of tea (or glass of wine, both good) in your favorite over-sized t-shirt and in your favorite spot on the couch. Just make sure that you get comfy, because if you’re like me you won’t want to put it down!

Links to Purchase on Amazon:

And Pre-order the third book here!

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Supermaker by Jaime Schmidt

Blog Tour: Courtesy of Booksparks

Thanks so much to the author, BookSparks, and Chronical Prism Publishing for the complimentary finished copy of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts and participation in this blog tour. All opinions are entirely my own. { partner } All of my reviews can also be found on Instagram @Tackling_TBR and on my Goodreads.

Synopsis from Goodreads:

In just seven years, Jaime Schmidt went from making natural products in her Portland, Oregon kitchen to turning her brand into a household name and selling her company in a nine-figure acquisition. Supermaker is her guide to business and career development on your own terms.

Through unfiltered storytelling and instructive takeaways, the acclaimed entrepreneur, founder of Schmidt’s Naturals, and icon of the Maker Movement shares how you too can start or grow your own business with her secrets on marketing, sales growth, product development, customer engagement, scaling operations, and partnerships.

Following Jaime’s journey from market stand to global brand, readers will take away:

• The keys to establishing a financially successful business for entrepreneurs and professionals ready to go from maker to magnate.
• Tactical approaches to branding, PR, sales, marketing, culture development, and team management.
• Candid advice and storytelling from an industry disruptor and proven executive.

Following her growth from kitchen to acquisition, Supermaker is a riveting mix of inspiration, the honest airing of mistakes, and indispensable instruction.

• A go-to guide for the passion-to-profit journey.
• The perfect read for aspiring entrepreneurs, makers, creatives, and anyone with an interest in selling their products online, retail strategy, or digital marketing.
• Great for anyone who enjoyed Start Something That Matters by Blake Mycoskie, Craft, Inc: Turn Your Creative Hobby into a Business by Meg Mateo Ilasco, and The Girls’ Guide to Starting Your Own Business: Candid Advice, Frank Talk, and True Stories for the Successful Entrepreneur by Caitlin Friedman.

Review: (3 Stars)

I was so excited to jump into this book! Last year, in December 2019, I started my own small shop on Etsy, and it has been a crazy just under a year trying to figure it out as I went along. So I was so excited to be chosen to be a part of the blog tour for this book, and learn all of the things that Jaime had done early on in her business’s life, and how she made it what it is now.

I flew through the first half of the book, because I found it all so fascinating. The stories about her starting at craft fairs and farmers markets, to going in to her local shops to learn the process of getting her products on those first store shelves. Watching her in the middle of the learning process that is a constant once you pass the moment of “I like making this product, and I think that people would be interested in buying it” and are trying to figure out what comes next and what you would like the future of that business to look like. I got some answers to a few questions that I have had in my own experiences, and some answers to a few questions that I didn’t know that I had, and even a few answers to questions that I haven’t gotten far enough in my process yet to have been curious about.

All of that being said, once I got into about the second half of this book I hit a bit of a wall that I found myself really having to push through to the finish line and the last chapter. And that is nothing against the book, but I think that at this point in my own process only the first half of the book was really aimed at me and my business. Let me start off this portion by saying that we have very different types of businesses, Jaime and I, so it wasn’t like the whole book was going to be a one to one comparison. But more so than that, about halfway through the book is when she and her business really started to blow up – being able to shop it at target, moving into really large production spaces, hiring more and more staff members, etc. And that just isn’t a place that I see myself ever going with my own business. The biggest I could ever see my shop, in my absolute wildest dreams for my business, would be a small storefront with myself and at most one other person selling things that are still each made by my own hand. So by the time the book was all about her bringing in business partners and giving interviews on television, or being mentioned by celebrities in magazines, it just became a little bit more difficult for me to get through and I ended up finding myself putting it down in favor of my other reads.

Overall I would say that this was a fairly interesting book, written very narratively, and with lots of categorized tips and tricks from someone who made something really huge and international truly out of nothing. I would say that this book may be more interesting for you if you see yourself wanting to really take your business and make it something very big like Jaime did. Otherwise, if you’re a small business like me, maybe you’ll get more out of the first half than the second half. I am very glad that I read it, and there are a few tips and bits of inspiration that I have taken from the book since having read it. So if you are in that situation, it will just be up to you to decide for yourself if it is something worth picking up and reading, if you will potentially only be getting the information out of that one half.

About the Author (from Goodreads):

Jaime Schmidt is the acclaimed entrepreneur, investor, and Maker Movement icon that started out making natural products in her kitchen, and in short time, grew her brand into 30,000+ stores and sold it in a nine-figure acquisition.

Suffice to say, she’s got quite the story to tell. Not only about how she did it, but all the unbelievable twists and turns along the way that threatened to sink her business.

Through unfiltered storytelling and instructive takeaways learned during her growth from maker to magnate, Supermaker shares Jaime’s secrets to financial success, marketing, operations, sales growth, product development, PR, partnerships, and customer engagement.

Following Jaime from kitchen to acquisition, Supermaker: Crafting Business on Your Own Terms is a riveting mix of inspiration, the honest airing of mistakes, and indispensable instruction.

Link to Purchase on Amazon:

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The Safe Place by Anna Downes

Minotaur Books – Review: 4 Stars

Thanks so much to the author and BookSparks for the gifted finished copy of this book in exchange for my honest review and participation in the end of summer #SRC2020 blog tour. All opinions are entirely my own. { partner } All of my reviews can also be found on Instagram @Tackling_TBR and on my blog at tacklingtbr.home.blog

TW : attempted murder, kidnapping, self-harm, death of a child, childhood trauma, gaslighting

This was a really interesting and thrilling read – a read that kept me up way past my bedtime on my last night because I needed to finish it and know how it ended before I went to sleep. It started out as a bit of a slow burn, and it took me a little while to really feel drawn in, but once the hook really got me the pages practically turned themselves, and I devoured the last half of the book.

Lets talk characters. Basically none of the characters in this book (aside from Aurelia, she’s just a child) seemed like objectively good people all the way through. Not even Emily, who is the heroine of the story. Even if the intentions had been good from the beginning, everyone had things going on, things they had done or ways that they were treating people, that seemed a bit questionable. And I think that this made all of the characters that much more interesting to read. Now obviously Emily is the most “traditionally good” character (I just think she could have been better to her parents. She was kind of a jerk to them every time we saw her interact with them, and I don’t know that I think they deserved that), and I enjoyed getting to see the story unfold through her eyes. But it isn’t only told through her point of view, we also get the husband Scott’s perspective as well, which made some of the slightly slower parts read a bit faster than they could have. His chapters felt a little bit like a peak at the wizard behind the curtain, since you know from the beginning that he is at the very least aware of whatever is happening, but at the same time he doesn’t really reveal anything so you still get to uncover the secrets along with Emily.

Now, I will say that I guessed the ending pretty early on. About 1/3 of the way into the book I turned to my husband and said “I feel like its either going to be A or B” and it ended up being the second option that I gave him. So if you are a reader that doesn’t like being able to guess the ending, then know going in that it may be a problem for you with this particular book. But that being said, I personally didn’t find that it drastically changed my enjoyment of the reading process. It just felt more like the book was confirming my theories, rather than being surprised by what was happening.

All in all, I would recommend this book to my friends. There are a few pretty serious trigger warnings attached to this read (see above), and I even found myself a bit affected by some of them closer to the end of the book while I was reading (even though none of them related to anything I have personally experienced, so I wasn’t quite sure why) so just be aware of that before jumping in. I think that the perfect way to read this book would be with a delicious, fancy wine (possibly a glass, possibly the whole bottle) by a pool or some other beautiful body of water. I mean, come on. Ignoring all of the crazy, thriller-y shenanigans, Querencia seems like a perfect place to spend a summer.

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Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall

Dreamscape Media – Audiobook Review: 5 Stars

Thanks so much to the author, Libro.fm, and Dreamscape Media for the complimentary advanced audio copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are entirely my own. { partner } All of my reviews can also be found on Instagram @Tackling_TBR and on my blog at tacklingtbr.home.blog

TW : estranged parent, discussion of cancer

This book was so much fun! As far as tropes go, fake-dating to real-romance isn’t one that I typically go out of my way to reach for, but I tend to read a good amount of them anyway. And this was a really fun example of it! This book made me laugh out loud in more than one place, and it gave me feels in a few other places as well.

The characters are far from perfect, but that is what I loved so much about them. Luc is a deeply flawed and troubled character, but it made him so much for fun to read than someone that you can only aspire to relate to. As for Oliver, he is the type of character that on the surface seems perfect but slowly becomes less perfect as the book goes on, which was also really fun. I thought that the chemistry was pretty believable, even if the arrangement that began the relationship seemed less than realistic. But as less-than-realistic as it could be, there were enough moments that felt really, truly raw and human that it made the relationship so much more believable, and that made it something that as I listened I needed to learn more about and see what happened next for them.

Let’s talk secondary characters. Luc’s mom (and his mom’s curry, equally a character in my eyes) almost stole the whole show for me. The scenes at her house were just so funny! It really felt like I remember feeling when I would bring boys home for dinner with my family – it was embarrassing, it was silly, and sometimes it was even difficult to get through. These scenes read just those same ways, and made them some of my favorite parts of the whole book!

Luc’s friends are also very big parts of the story, but they weren’t always quite as much fun as his mom was, at least in my opinion. You could tell that Luc had pushed his friends to the side a bit in recent years, and maybe hadn’t fostered those relationships in a healthy way, and so his friends seemed a bit “over it” with everything until the end of the story. I think we’ve all had at least one friendship where that has happened – maybe you or your friend got really drawn in to a relationship, and by the time that relationship ended the friendship had suffered because of it. That made the friendships feel fairly realistic, but it just wasn’t as much fun to read as the mom scenes. And that’s nothing against the writing, only saying that until the relationships with his friends thawed a bit (I would say about 3/4 of the way through the book) they just weren’t the characters whose scenes I looked forward to. Except for Alex, Luc’s innocent and incredibly gullible co-worker. He was hilarious and I want to know everything there is to know about him.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this story! I would recommend reading it, but I might specifically recommend the audiobook – the narrator’s voice was so soothing and nice to listen to, and his different voices to make each of the characters distinctly different were really great. Also, bonus point, if you listen to the audio you get to listen to the British accents. Which is always a good thing in my book! I think that the perfect setting to listen to this book in would be on an afternoon that you decide to take a long drive through somewhere beautiful just for the fun of it.