Thanks so much to the author, Valentine PR, and Netgalley for the complimentary advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts and participation in this blog tour. { partner } All opinions are entirely my own. All of my reviews can also be found on Instagram @Tackling_TBR and on Goodreads.
From the author of Boyfriend Material and Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake comes a cozy mystery that revisits the Golden Age of detective fiction, starring a heroine who’s more podcaster than private eye and topped with a lethal dose of parody — perfect for fans of Clue, Knives Out, and Only Murders in the Building!
When up-and-coming true crime podcaster Liza and her corporate financier wife Hanna head to a luxurious hotel in the Scottish Highlands, they’re hoping for a chance to rekindle their marriage – not to find themselves trapped in the middle of an Agatha Christie-esque murder mystery with no way home. But who better to take on the case than someone whose entire profession relies on an obsession with all things mysterious and macabre? Though some of her fellow guests may consider her an interfering new media hack, Liza knows a thing or two about crime and – despite Hanna’s preference for waiting out the chaos behind a locked door – might be the only one capable of discovering the killer. As the bodies rack up and the stakes rise, can they save their marriage — and their lives?
Review (5 Stars) :
Thanks so much to the author, Kobo Books, Netgalley, and Valentine PR for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts and participation in the blog tour. All opinions are entirely my own. All of my reviews nd blog tours can also be found on Instagram @Tackling_TBR and my blog tacklingtbr.home.blog.
TW: death/murder, description of violence, description of crime scenes
This book was seriously so much fun! I didn’t want to put it down while I was reading, and I was very mad any time I actually had to. Darn work and life getting in the way of my reading!
If you like Clue then you’ll enjoy this book. The big mansion where people keep mysteriously passing away, the kooky and colorful cast of characters, the sense of humor of a serious story that isn’t taking itself too seriously (although we can mostly thank Ruby for that mindset), it really had it all for me. And wrap it all up with an adorable queer couple bow? Yes please.
I will say that I guessed some bits of the ending before we got to it, but there were still some fun surprises for me along the way, so I wasn’t too mad about the few things I saw coming. And I think using Liza’s podcast as the reasoning for the detective work brought a fun, modern twist. Plus, sassy podcaster solving a crime with her adorable wife playing Watson? It was just so much fun.
I would absolutely recommend this book to my friends and family – in fact, my mom has already tried to steal my kindle so that she can read it next! I think that the perfect setting for reading this book would be inside in bed or on the couch under a couple of blankets with snow falling outside. And in honor of Murder Most Actual, the podcast within the book, a glass of wine is a necessity!
Connect with the Author:
Alexis Hall is an English author of urban fantasy, science fiction, and m/m romance. His novels include Murder Most Actual, Boyfriend Material, Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake, For Real, Glitterland, Iron & Velvet, Looking for Group, and Pansies.
His work has been nominated for to the 26th Lambda Literary Awards, 28th Lambda Literary Awards, and 29th Lambda Literary Awards in the category of Gay Romance.
Thanks so much to the author, Andrews McMeel Publishing, and Netgalley for the complimentary advanced copy of this e-book. All opinions are entirely my own. { #giftedbook } All of my reviews can also be found on Instagram @Tackling_TBR and on Goodreads.
Publication Day: October 5, 2021
TW (from the book): “This book contains sensitive material relating to: intimate partner abuse, sexual assault, cheating, child abuse, trauma, death, violence, misogyny, body image, eating disorders, alcohol, fire, & possibly more. Remember to practice self-care before, during & after reading.”
I, like so many others, fell in love with Amanda Lovelace reading her Woman Are Some Kind of Magic trilogy a few years ago. I’ve read all but two of her collections since then, and to this day I’ve yet to be disappointed in any of them. They are quick (although not light) reading, and I always love setting aside an afternoon to make myself a cup of tea, read one of her collections, and reflect on it.
I understand that her writing style might not be for everyone, as most of the poems are no more than a sentence or two, but I’ve always found it to be a really nice breather in between reading longer, more verbose novels.
This particular collection was taking a look at femininity and feminism through the story of Persephone, and using wildflowers and wild fires to show the soft, delicate sides versus the hard, fierce sides. This might just be the teen-girl-obsessed-with-mythology in me, but I loved that aspect of this collection.
I will say that there are two small things keeping this from a 5 star collection for me. Part of me missed the small bit of narrative flow that so many other of Amanda’s collections seem to weave through the various poems. There was a little bit of it with the story of Persephone, but I wish that it had leaned just a tiny bit more into that, since it always feels like it just ties the collections together with a perfect bow. And one of the best parts of her collections is always the illustrations, as silly as that sounds. They are always soft and dreamlike and lovely, and they enhance the poetry so much. The illustrations in this collection were really lovely, but I wish that there was just a little bit more variety in them, rather than having the same two alternating. I’m sure Amanda had a reason for choosing that style this time around, but I’m just not sure what it is.
Overall I would absolutely recommend this collection to any of my friends, so long as it was healthy reading for them. The trigger warnings at the beginning of these collections are really no joke, and if those triggers will not be healthy for you to read, then these books aren’t for you. But if you can do it safely, then curl up with a blanket and a pot of tea, and make this a part of your quiet, self-care day. (Note: Sounds of heavy rainfall definitely encouraged, but not required. I guess not everyone can live in the PNW.)
More Collections by Amanda Lovelace:
the Women Are Some Kind of Magic trilogy
The Princess Saves Herself in This One
The Witch Doesn’t Burn in This One
The Mermaid’s Voice Returns in This One
the Things that H(a)unt duology
To Make Monsters out of Girls
To Drink Coffee with a Ghost
the You Are Your Own Fairy Tale trilogy
Break Your Glass Slippers (check out my review here!)
Thanks so much to the author, Minotaur Books, and Netgalley for the complimentary advanced electronic copy of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts. 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: murder, death, gun violence, mention of sexual and domestic abuse, blackmail, custody battles, mention of infidelity
Sassy and sarcastic female lead? Check. Bad ass female friendship? Check. Hot potential-book boyfriends? Check. All wrapped up in a book about book people? Check and check! Oh, and did I mention there is some murder and crime solving thrown in for good measure? This book has it all, and I seriously loved every minute of it!
Finlay Donovan is a bit of a hot mess, and I mean that in the most loving way possible. I feel like I know Finlay, like our souls recognize the hot mess in each other, and we would be good friends. Plus, I know where all of the good hiding spots are, which could come in handy in her new line of work!
Moral of this review so far: I would TOTALLY help Finlay Donovan hide a body!
The characters in this book were so much fun to read about. And they all (for the most part) somehow still felt like real people, even when they were in these seriously crazy situations. Obviously Finlay was my favorite character – sarcastic author-turned-hitwoman, ready to jump right in to the crazy situations that life throws at her, and looking (mostly) fabulous while doing it. But a very close second favorite is Vero, the girlfriend that we all so desperately need in our lives. I always talk about sarcastic or witty banter between love interests in books, and sure there is a bit of that here too, but the book is dripping with that sarcastic banter between these two BFFs too, which makes it all the more fun! I left the book just really wanting to sit down with these two ladies and an entire bottle of wine, and just see what happens.
Overall I would absolutely recommend this book to friends! There is some romance, but it’s not the main focus, so it feels much more like a comedy-thriller, which is just such a fun and gripping combination! I think that it could be a great way to ease people into the romance genre if they are maybe hesitant to read that way. I think the best way to read this book is in a bubble bath that lasts way too long because you don’t want to put the book down, with a glass of wine and maybe a snack. Although I may be a bit biased, since that is how I read most of this one!
Hello, friends – and happy Tuesday! Welcome to another round of new releases that I was lucky enough to get an early copy of, and have either already read or are upcoming on my #TBR.
These books could be gifted from the publisher through sites like NetGalley or Edelweiss+, they could be electronic copies gifted directly to me from the publisher or the author, an early audiobook copy through the publisher or Libro.fm, or even a physical copy that has been sent to me from the author or publisher. I am so thankful for all of the reading opportunities that I am given through these various sources, and I am excited to be sharing these new releases!
In these weekly posts I will include a 20% review if I am currently reading the book, as well as a link to my full review if I have already finished the book. And if I have not yet started the book by the time this is posted, I will leave those spots blank and edit the post to add them in later!
No One Goes Alone
Author: Erik Larson
Audio Publication day: September 28, 2021
Genre: Horror, audiobook, fiction, mystery
Thanks so much to Random House Audio and Libro.fm for the complimentary advanced audio copy of this book.
Description from Goodreads:
From New York Times bestselling author Erik Larson comes his first venture into fiction, an otherworldly tale of intrigue and the impossible that marshals his trademark approach to nonfiction to create something new: a ghost story thoroughly grounded in history.
Pioneering psychologist William James leads an expedition to a remote isle in search of answers after a family inexplicably vanishes. Was the cause rooted in the physical world . . . or were there forces more paranormal and sinister at work? Available only on audio, because as Larson says, ghost stories are best told aloud.
A group of researchers sets sail for the Isle of Dorn in the North Atlantic in 1905 to explore the cause of several mysterious disappearances, most notably a family of four who vanished without a trace after a week-long holiday on the island. Led by Professor James, a prominent member of the Society for Psychical Research, they begin to explore the island’s sole cottage and surrounding landscape in search of a logical explanation.
The idyllic setting belies an undercurrent of danger and treachery, with raging storms and unnerving discoveries adding to the sense of menace. As increasingly unexplainable events unfold, the now-stranded investigators are unsure whether they can trust their own eyes, their instincts, one another—or even themselves.
Erik Larson has written a terrifying tale of suspense, underpinned with actual people and events. Created specifically to entertain audio listeners, this eerie blend of the ghostly and the real will keep listeners captivated till the blood-chilling end.
Featuring Erik Larson reading his Notes for a Narrator.
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have started reading this book!)
Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
Cloud Cuckoo Land
Author: Athony Doerr
Audio Publication Day: September 28, 2021
Genre: Fiction, historical fiction, sci-fi, fantasy
Thanks so much to Simon Audio and Libro.fm for the complimentary advanced audio copy of this book.
Description from Goodreads:
Thirteen-year-old Anna, an orphan, lives inside the formidable walls of Constantinople in a house of women who make their living embroidering the robes of priests. Restless, insatiably curious, Anna learns to read, and in this ancient city, famous for its libraries, she finds a book, the story of Aethon, who longs to be turned into a bird so that he can fly to a utopian paradise in the sky. This she reads to her ailing sister as the walls of the only place she has known are bombarded in the great siege of Constantinople. Outside the walls is Omeir, a village boy, miles from home, conscripted with his beloved oxen into the invading army. His path and Anna’s will cross.
Five hundred years later, in a library in Idaho, octogenarian Zeno, who learned Greek as a prisoner of war, rehearses five children in a play adaptation of Aethon’s story, preserved against all odds through centuries. Tucked among the library shelves is a bomb, planted by a troubled, idealistic teenager, Seymour. This is another siege. And in a not-so-distant future, on the interstellar ship Argos, Konstance is alone in a vault, copying on scraps of sacking the story of Aethon, told to her by her father. She has never set foot on our planet.
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have started reading this book!)
Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
Thanks so much to the author and Valentine PR for the complimentary advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts. All opinions are entirely my own. { partner } All of my reviews can also be found on Instagram @Tackling_TBR and on Goodreads.
Book Description from Goodreads:
Gifted thief Romeria has flourished from her days as a street kid pilfering wallets to survive. Now she thrives, stealing jewels from the rich under the involuntary employ of New York City’s most notorious crime boss. But when an enigmatic woman secures her services at swordpoint, Romeria is plunged into a startling realm of opposing thrones, warring elven, and elemental magic she cannot begin to fathom.
Her quest is straightforward: Steal a stone from Islor’s sacred garden without anyone discovering her true identity, which would earn her certain death. But the identity she has inexplicably assumed is that of the captured Ybarisan princess—an enemy to Islor after she poisoned their beloved king and queen on the day she was to marry the prince.
Her betrothed, the newly crowned King Zander, detests her with every grain of his handsome being. Fortunately for Romeria, she is more valuable to him alive than dead. Zander gives her a choice: life in a cell, or an acquittal of all charges in exchange for her help in exposing the growing plot against him.
Romeria sees no other option and embraces the tricky role of smitten queen-to-be until she can escape, a ruse that brings her far closer to the king than she anticipated and threatens more than her safety. As she digs deeper into this sacred garden and the ancient feud between Ybaris and Islor, she discovers monstrous truths that could spell ruin for all.
She would know the world of vengeful gods and monsters, and the lengths one would go for love. And nothing would ever be the same for her again.
Review: (5 Stars)
TW: murder, torture, some violence
People who know my blog or my podcast know that I am slowly working my way into the fantasy genre. I always had a hard time connecting with the genre, because I tend to want more character driven story and less super intense world building. But I’m slowly reading more fantasy, and so when I saw that this book was coming out I knew I needed to read it. What can I say, KA Tucker is an auto-read author for me. And y’all, this book was everything I wanted.
Let’s talk about the story itself. Young woman who is used to looking out for herself gets unwillingly thrown into a world of magic and fantasy, with no information about this new world, and has to fake her way through this other woman’s life all while trying to stay under the radar, learning about her surroundings, and completing her secret mission. It was just so enjoyable! It’s a bit witchy, a bit vampirical, and a bit chosen girl. Just a little bit of everything!
I found Romy immediately likeable as a main character – she was strong and smart and stubborn, which made for plenty of opportunities for sassy banter. Which I love and seek out in practically all of my reads. Since she is so alone in each of these situations, most of the other characters really took some time for me to warm up to, because the narrator hadn’t warmed up to them yet. But I really came around to a few of them in the end, and I think that other than Romy my favorite characters were the king and his sister.
Overall I would definitely recommend this book to my friends, and I think I already have at least once or twice by now (what can I say, I’ve been mid-move for a few months, and I am very behind on all things reviews). I would say that I would recommend it either to my friends who already love fantasy, and the ones like me who have already been dipping their toes into that pool. There is a good bit of necessary world building and explaining the politics that are a bit of a slow read, so I don’t know that this would necessarily appeal to folks who are reading fantasy for the first time – although the rest of the story is super fun and magical and engaging, so I guess that would all depend on what folks are looking for from their fantasy. I think that the perfect way to read this book is in a bubble bath or by a roaring fire with a large glass of wine!
Meet Kathleen:
K.A. Tucker writes captivating stories with an edge.
She is the internationally bestselling author of the Ten Tiny Breaths and Burying Water series, He Will Be My Ruin, Until It Fades, Keep Her Safe, The Simple Wild, Be the Girl, and Say You Still Love Me. Her books have been featured in national publications including USA Today, Globe & Mail, Suspense Magazine, Publisher’s Weekly, Oprah Mag, and First for Women.
K.A. Tucker currently resides in a quaint town outside of Toronto. \
Hello, friends – and happy Tuesday! Welcome to another round of new releases that I was lucky enough to get an early copy of, and have either already read or are upcoming on my #TBR.
These books could be gifted from the publisher through sites like NetGalley or Edelweiss+, they could be electronic copies gifted directly to me from the publisher or the author, an early audiobook copy through the publisher or Libro.fm, or even a physical copy that has been sent to me from the author or publisher. I am so thankful for all of the reading opportunities that I am given through these various sources, and I am excited to start sharing these new releases!
In these weekly posts I will include a 20% review if I am currently reading the book, as well as a link to my full review if I have already finished the book. And if I have not yet started the book by the time this is posted, I will leave those spots blank and edit the post to add them in later!
The Spinster and the Rake
Author: Eva Devon
Publication Day: February 9, 2021
Genre: Romance, Historical Romance, Regency
Thanks so much to the author, Entangled Publishing, and NetGalley for the complimentary advanced electronic copy of this current read.
Description from Goodreads:
The marriage game is afoot in this clever blend of My Fair Lady meets Pride and Prejudice with a twist!
Edward Stanhope, the icy Duke of Thornfield, likes his life in a certain order. Give him a strong drink, a good book, and his dog for company, and he’s content. But when he goes to his library and finds a woman sitting in his chair, petting his dog, what starts as a request for her to leave quickly turns to a fiery battle of wits, leading to a steamy kiss that could ruin them both if they were caught.
So of course, damn it all, that’s when Edward’s aunt walks in, and thereafter announces Miss Georgiana Bly is the future Duchess of Thornfield.
Georgiana was content to be a spinster, spending her days reading and working to keep her family out of debt. But now her days are spent locked away with a growly duke, learning how to be the perfect duchess, and her nights spent fighting the undeniable attraction to a man who was never meant for her.
As their wedding day approaches, the attraction between them burns hot and fierce, but is it enough to melt the duke’s chilly facade?
20% Review:
The scandal starts on page one, so I got sucked in to this one really quickly! I’m really enjoying the story and the main characters so far, and I’m hoping to finish it in the next day or two!
Thanks so much to the author and Celadon Books for the complimentary advanced copy of this book! This one is definitely on my list for the next few weeks.
Description from Goodreads:
In Never Enough, Mike Hayes—former Commander of SEAL Team TWO—helps readers apply high-stakes lessons about excellence, agility, and meaning across their personal and professional lives.
Mike Hayes has lived a lifetime of once-in-a-lifetime experiences. He has been held at gunpoint and threatened with execution. He’s jumped out of a building rigged to explode, helped amputate a teammate’s leg, and made countless split-second life-and-death decisions. He’s written countless emails to his family, telling them how much he loves them, just in case those were the last words of his they’d ever read. Outside of the SEALs, he’s run meetings in the White House Situation Room, negotiated international arms treaties, and developed high-impact corporate strategies.
Over his many years of leadership, he has always strived to be better, to contribute more, and to put others first. That’s what makes him an effective leader, and it’s the quality that he’s identified in all of the great leaders he’s encountered. That continual striving to lift those around him has filled Mike’s life with meaning and purpose, has made him secure in the knowledge that he brings his best to everything he does, and has made him someone others can rely on.
In Never Enough, Mike Hayes recounts dramatic stories and offers battle- and boardroom-tested advice that will motivate readers to do work of value, live lives of purpose, and stretch themselves to reach their highest potential.
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Check out my full review here:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
Possession
Author: Katie Lowe
Publication day: February 9, 2021
Genre: Thriller, Mystery
Thanks so much to the author, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for the complimentary advanced electronic copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
The past haunts her. The present hunts her.
Conviction @ConvictionPod · 1m The investigating officer: “I’ve seen a lot of homicides in the years since, but…that’s the one that keeps me up at night.”
The husband’s best man: “They had everybody fooled. Or at least, she did. But I always knew something was off.”
Hannah, the wife: “I told you. I don’t remember anything. I don’t know.”
That’s all to come, this season, on Conviction. Get ready for our most twisted season yet.
~~~
Ten years ago, Hannah’s husband was brutally murdered in their home, and she (conveniently) doesn’t remember a thing about that night. But the police charged someone else—a stranger—and put him away for life. And Hannah packed up her six-year-old daughter and left London behind.
But now her hard-won countryside peace is threatened. Conviction, a viral true crime podcast known for getting cases reopened and old verdicts overturned, has turned its attention to Hannah’s husband’s murder for its new season. They say police framed the man who was found guilty, and that Hannah has more suspicious secrets than just her memory loss: a history of volatility; citations at the clinic where she worked as a psychiatrist; dependencies on alcohol and pills; and a familicidal grandmother, locked away in a Gothic insane asylum until her death. As Hannah loses the trust of everyone she loves, the only person she feels she can confide in is a former colleague, Darcy, who’s come back into her life—but who may have motives of her own. But Hannah can’t tell even Darcy her deepest secret: that she’s still tormented by the memory of her husband and the crater he carved through her life.
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Check out my full review here:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
The Paris Library
Author: Janet Skeslien Charles
Publication day: February 9, 2021
Genre: Historical Fiction
Thanks so much to Libro.fm and Simon & Schuster Audio for the complimentary advanced audio copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
Based on the true World War II story of the heroic librarians at the American Library in Paris, this is an unforgettable story of romance, friendship, family, and the power of literature to bring us together, perfect for fans of The Lilac Girls and The Paris Wife.
Paris, 1939: Young and ambitious Odile Souchet has it all: her handsome police officer beau and a dream job at the American Library in Paris. When the Nazis march into Paris, Odile stands to lose everything she holds dear, including her beloved library. Together with her fellow librarians, Odile joins the Resistance with the best weapons she has: books. But when the war finally ends, instead of freedom, Odile tastes the bitter sting of unspeakable betrayal.
Montana, 1983: Lily is a lonely teenager looking for adventure in small-town Montana. Her interest is piqued by her solitary, elderly neighbor. As Lily uncovers more about her neighbor’s mysterious past, she finds that they share a love of language, the same longings, and the same intense jealousy, never suspecting that a dark secret from the past connects them.
A powerful novel that explores the consequences of our choices and the relationships that make us who we are—family, friends, and favorite authors—The Paris Library shows that extraordinary heroism can sometimes be found in the quietest of places.
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Check out my full review here:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
Hello, friends – and happy Tuesday! Welcome to another round of new releases that I was lucky enough to get an early copy of, and have either already read or are upcoming on my #TBR.
These books could be gifted from the publisher through sites like NetGalley or Edelweiss+, they could be electronic copies gifted directly to me from the publisher or the author, an early audiobook copy through the publisher or Libro.fm, or even a physical copy that has been sent to me from the author or publisher. I am so thankful for all of the reading opportunities that I am given through these various sources, and I am excited to start sharing these new releases!
In these weekly posts I will include a 20% review if I am currently reading the book, as well as a link to my full review if I have already finished the book. And if I have not yet started the book by the time this is posted, I will leave those spots blank and edit the post to add them in later!
In Love & Pajamas
Author: Catana Chetwynd
Publication day: February 2, 2021
Genre: comics, humor
Thanks so much to Andrews McMeel Publishing and NetGalley for the complimentary advanced electronic copy of this book.
Description from Goodreads:
From the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Snug and the bestselling Little Moments of Love comes an all-new collection, In Love & Pajamas by Catana Chetwynd of Catana Comics!
When you’ve reached that sweatpants-wearing cozy place in your relationship, it’s all In Love & Pajamas! This brand-new collection of Catana Comics presents some fan favorites and half of the book features never-before-seen comics that delight and amuse readers of all ages. Wholesome, sweet, feel-good humor!
20% Review:
Since this is such a small book of comics, it is a very quick read, so it’s easy to finish in one sitting! So I don’t have a 20% review for this one. But you can check out my full review through the link below!
Thanks so much to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the complimentary advanced electronic copy of this book! I’m so excited for this one, it’s going to be the next book that I start!
Description from Goodreads:
Edgar-Award nominee Elle Cosimano’s adult debut Finlay Donovan Is Killing It is the first in a witty, fast-paced mystery series, following struggling suspense novelist and single mom Finlay Donovan, whose fiction treads dangerously close to the truth as she becomes tangled in real-life murder investigations…
20% Review:
This book really goes from 0 to 60! From using duct tape to stick your kiddos bangs back on after they find the scissors to, well, contract killing. You know, as one does. I love a character driven story, and this definitely delivers in that aspect as well. There are so many key players to the story to meet in this first portion, but it’s not done in a way that is overwhelming.
Thanks so much to St. Martin’s Griffin and NetGalley for the complimentary advanced electronic copy of this exciting new release!
Description from Goodreads:
Love, romance, second chances, fairy-tale endings…these are the things Annika Dev believes in. Her app, Make Up, has been called the “Google Translate for failing relationships.”
High efficiency break-ups, flashy start-ups, penthouses, fast cars…these are the things Hudson Craft believes in. His app, Break Up, is known as the “Uber for break-ups.” It’s wildly successful—and anathema to Annika’s life philosophy.
Which wouldn’t be a problem if they’d gone their separate ways after that summer fling in Las Vegas, never to see each other again. Unfortunately for Annika, Hudson’s moving not just into her office building, but into the office right next to hers. And he’ll be competing at the prestigious EPIC investment pitch contest: A contest Annika needs to win if she wants to keep Make Up afloat. As if it’s not bad enough seeing his irritatingly perfect face on magazine covers when her own business is failing. As if knowing he stole her idea and twisted it into something vile—and monumentally more successful—didn’t already make her stomach churn.
As the two rival app developers clash again and again—and again—Annika finds herself drawn into Hudson Craft’s fast-paced, high velocity, utterly shallow world. Only, from up close, he doesn’t seem all that shallow. Could it be that everything she thought about Hudson is completely wrong? Could the creator of Break Up teach her what true love’s really about?
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Check out my full review here:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
The Survivors
Author: Jane Harper
Audio Publication Day: February 2, 2021
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Thanks so much to Macmillan Audio and Libro.fm for the complimentary advanced copy of this audiobook.
Description from Goodreads:
Coming home dredges up deeply buried secrets…
Kieran Elliott’s life changed forever on the day a reckless mistake led to devastating consequences.
The guilt that still haunts him resurfaces during a visit with his young family to the small coastal community he once called home.
Kieran’s parents are struggling in a town where fortunes are forged by the sea. Between them all is his absent brother, Finn.
When a body is discovered on the beach, long-held secrets threaten to emerge. A sunken wreck, a missing girl, and questions that have never washed away…
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Check out my full review here:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
Milk Blood Heat
Author: Dantiel W. Moniz
Audio Publication Day: February 2, 2021
Genre: Short Stories, COntemporary
Thanks so much to HighBridge and Libro.fm for the complimentary advanced copy of this audiobook.
Description from Goodreads:
Set among the cities and suburbs of Florida, each story in Milk Blood Heat delves into the ordinary worlds of young girls, women, and men who find themselves confronted by extraordinary moments of violent personal reckoning. These intimate portraits of people and relationships scour and soothe and blast a light on the nature of family, faith, forgiveness, consumption, and what we may, or may not, owe one another.
A thirteen-year-old meditates on her sadness and the difference between herself and her white best friend when an unexpected tragedy occurs; a woman recovering from a miscarriage finds herself unable to let go of her daughter—whose body parts she sees throughout her daily life; a teenager resists her family’s church and is accused of courting the devil; servers at a supper club cater to the insatiable cravings of their wealthy clientele; and two estranged siblings take a road-trip with their father’s ashes and are forced to face the troubling reality of how he continues to shape them.
Wise and subversive, spiritual and seductive, Milk Blood Heat forms an ouroboros of stories that bewitch with their truth.
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Check out my full review here:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
Milk Fed
Author: Melissa Broder
Audio Publication Day: February 2, 2021
Genre: Contemporary Fiction, LGBTQ
Thanks so much to Simon & Schuster Audio and Libro.fm for the complimentary advanced copy of this audiobook.
Description from Goodreads:
A scathingly funny, wildly erotic, and fiercely imaginative story about food, sex, and god from the acclaimed author of The Pisces and So Sad Today.
Rachel is twenty-four, a lapsed Jew who has made calorie restriction her religion. By day, she maintains an illusion of existential control, by way of obsessive food rituals, while working as an underling at a Los Angeles talent management agency. At night, she pedals nowhere on the elliptical machine. Rachel is content to carry on subsisting—until her therapist encourages her to take a ninety-day communication detox from her mother, who raised her in the tradition of calorie counting.
Early in the detox, Rachel meets Miriam, a zaftig young Orthodox Jewish woman who works at her favorite frozen yogurt shop and is intent upon feeding her. Rachel is suddenly and powerfully entranced by Miriam—by her sundaes and her body, her faith and her family—and as the two grow closer, Rachel embarks on a journey marked by mirrors, mysticism, mothers, milk, and honey.
Pairing superlative emotional insight with unabashed vivid fantasy, Broder tells a tale of appetites: physical hunger, sexual desire, spiritual longing, and the ways that we as humans can compartmentalize these so often interdependent instincts. Milk Fed is a tender and riotously funny meditation on love, certitude, and the question of what we are all being fed, from one of our major writers on the psyche—both sacred and profane.
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Check out my full review here:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
Four Hundred Souls
Author: Ibram X. Kendi & Keisha N. Blain
Audio Publication Day: February 2, 2021
Genre: Nonfiction, history
Thanks so much to Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group and to Libro.fm for the complimentary advanced copy of this audiobook.
Description from Goodreads:
An epoch-defining history of African America, the first to appear in a generation, Four Hundred Souls is a chronological account of four hundred years of Black America as told by ninety of America’s leading Black writers.
Curated by Ibram X. Kendi, author of the number one bestseller How To Be an Antiracist, and fellow historian Keisha N. Blain, Four Hundred Souls begins with the arrival of twenty enslaved Ndongo people on the shores of the British colony in mainland America in 1619, the year before the arrival of the Mayflower.
In eighty chronological chapters, the book charts the tragic and triumphant four-hundred-year history of Black American experience in a choral work of exceptional power and beauty.
Contributors include some of the best-known scholars, writers, historians, journalists, lawyers, poets and activists of contemporary America who together bring to vivid life countless new facets to the drama of slavery and resistance, segregation and survival, migration and self-discovery, cultural oppression and world-changing artistic, literary and musical creativity. In these pages are dozens of extraordinary lives and personalities, rescued from the archives and restored to their rightful place in America’s narrative, as well as the ghosts of millions more.
Four Hundred Souls is an essential work of story-telling and reclamation that redefines America and changes our notion of how history is written.
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Check out my full review here:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
How the One-Armed Sister Sweeps her House
Author: Cherie Jones
Audio Publication Day: February 2, 2021
Genre: Fiction, Historical Fiction
Thanks so much to Hachette Audio and Libro.fm for the complimentary advanced copy of this audiobook.
Description from Goodreads:
A debut novel in the tradition of Zadie Smith and Marlon James, from a brilliant Caribbean writer, set in Barbados, about four people each desperate to escape their legacy of violence in a so-called “paradise.”
In Baxter Beach, Barbados, moneyed ex-pats clash with the locals who often end up serving them: braiding their hair, minding their children, and selling them drugs. Lala lives on the beach with her husband, Adan, a petty criminal with endless charisma whose thwarted burglary of one of the Baxter Beach mansions sets off a chain of events with terrible consequences. A gunshot no one was meant to witness. A new mother whose baby is found lifeless on the beach. A woman torn between two worlds and incapacitated by grief. And two men driven by desperation and greed who attempt a crime that will risk their freedom — and their lives.
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Check out my full review here:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
Thanks so much to the author, Andrews McMeel Publishing, and NetGalley for the complimentary advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts. All opinions are entirely my own. { partner } All of my reviews can also be found on Instagram @Tackling_TBR and on Goodreads.
You guys, I love these comic collections so much. There isn’t too much to say other than I really love them. Catana Comics brought me so much joy during a hard time in my life, and ever since then I buy each new collection that comes out. I share them with my husband as I read them as well, since so many of our messages on Facebook and Instagram include sending these comics back and forth to each other. They make me laugh as I read them, and whenever I am having a bit of a hard day I know that I can take one of these collections off of my bookshelf and reread them to brighten my morning.
I would absolutely recommend these comic collections to anyone. They are quick, light, wholesome, and heartwarming reads. I think that these are perfect to read on a grey and drizzly day, or maybe just to keep by your bed to read one when you wake up in the morning, to start your day off on a bright note.
Other collections from Catana Comics:
Little Moments of Love
Snug: A Collection of Comics about Dating Your Best Friend (check out my review here!)
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 is being released today – 01/15/2021! Find us on Apple Podcasts and Amazon Music by searching The Same Page.
TW: murder, wrongful death, description of torture, hunting, tense scenes
Okay. So we all know that this is one of the biggest series on the bookish side of the internet, which puts a lot of hype around these books. Hype can be good because it can get you to go out of your comfort zone and read something that maybe you wouldn’t normally pick up. But hype can also build up expectations that mean if the book doesn’t meet or exceed them then it will feel like a let down. So considering this book was already a genre that I don’t read very often, I was nervous to pick this book up in case it didn’t live up to the hype with me.
That being said, even though it isn’t a genre that I read very often, this book absolutely lived up to the hype for me. I would even say that this book made me want to read more fantasy! And honestly now I’m mad at my TBR that I may not have time to read the rest of this series in the next couple of months.
Maas does a beautiful job of building the world for this story. One thing that I always used to struggle with in regards to the large, sweeping fantasies, was understanding the other world that it may have taken place in, or feeling invested in the lives of non-human background characters. But I didn’t find myself having either of those problems with this book. Characters were introduced in a way that helped me to instantly understand who/what they were and how they fit into the world of the story.
As far as the main characters, I thought that they were all really interesting in the way that they were written. None of them were written in ways that made them seem like “perfect people,” which I always really appreciate in my characters, but they were all still characters that I felt like I could easily sympathize with. Feyre, the female lead, was exactly the strong, badass lady that I look for in my books. I just love a lady who can come to her own rescue, and the rescue of others when needed. I also really enjoyed her sister Nesta more than I had expected to at the beginning, and I am excited to get to hear more of her story in the later books in the series.
Overall, I really loved this book. It lived up to all of the hype for me, which was a wonderfully pleasant surprise. I think that the perfect way to read this book would be inside but with all of the windows open, letting in lots of beautiful sunlight, and ideally overlooking a spring garden. Is that too weirdly specific?
I mean it when I say I’m upset with the other books that I have to read in the next month or two, because I am wishing I could just sit down and read the rest of these books before the newest book comes out next month. If you need me at any point in the next few months, I will be locked inside trying to binge read this series. Only disturb if you bring wine.
Additional Stories in the ACOTAR series:
A Court of Mist and Fury (ACOTAR #2)
A Court of Wings and Ruin (ACOTAR #3)
A Court of Frost and Starlight (ACOTAR #3.1)
A Court of Silver Flames (ACOTAR #4) (Pub: February 2021)
All opinions are entirely my own. All of my reviews can also be found on Instagram @Tackling_TBR and on Goodreads.
This was such a fun, fast, and sometimes borderline silly read! This had been on my TBR list since it first came out, but for any number of reasons it kept getting pushed to the bottom of the list, and kept getting put off to the next month, and then the next month, and then the next. But I finally read it in August for a book club discussion, and I am so glad that I did! There were so many parts that I fully laughed out loud as I was reading, and I can’t wait to dive in to the sequel and get more Holly Banks in my life!
Holly Banks is such a funny character to me. She was equal parts a relatable, realistic and caricature. Which, I know, is a crazy way to describe someone, and it sounds like those two things would cancel each other out. But if you’ve read it, I think you’ll know what I’m talking about. And if you haven’t, I guess you have to trust me. But either way, she was so much fun, and I really enjoyed reading her story and getting to peak into her mind.
I will also say that at moments the story itself did tip-toe the line between realistic and silly. One moment she could be sitting and talking to another PTA mom in a security office, and the next she’s chasing that other mom around the school yard and spitting pieces of cookies at her. But those moments were very fun to me, and felt like the author was letting herself and the book have fun, and maybe not taking themselves too seriously, which I really enjoyed. It felt like in a movie or TV show when it jumps into a dream sequence and we get to see that character finally give another character a piece of their mind, or they punch someone in the face and then it turns out it was all in their mind. While these weren’t dream sequences in the same way, because these slightly wild things were actually happening in the case of Holly Banks, but it had that same feeling to it. And I found those scenes just so funny!
All in all, I would definitely recommend this book to friends and other readers. It was a fairly light (with a few exceptions) and fun read, and it is a really quick read as well. I flew through this book! I would say that the perfect way to read this book is with a very, very large glass of wine, and with no My Little Ponies in sight!
Tackling TBR 