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 share 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!
I See Buildings Fall like Lightning
Author: Keiran Goddard
Publication Date: February 20, 2024
Genre: fiction
Page Count: 256 pages
Thanks so much to the author, Europa Editions, and Edelweiss+ for the gifted, advanced e-copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
Told through the alternating perspectives of five childhood friends from the same housing estate in England, I See Buildings Fall like Lightning is a story about friendship, place, loss, addiction and the ways in which lives, minds, and bodies can be limited by material conditions; it also speaks powerfully to the ways in which humor, loyalty, and family can bestow meaning and life even in the toughest circumstances.
Only Rian has made it out of the estate and moved away to another city, but his money doesn’t stop him clinging to a vision of the past that is quickly slipping away.
Oli is fading by the day, drinking and snorting his way through the endless boredom.
Things are looking up for Conor, but he is never too far away from chaos.
Patrick and Shiv are as in love as ever, always the calm in the eye of the storm, but even they are rocked when old secrets begin to open new wounds.
Bold, ambitious, and stylistically striking, I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning lays bare the economic, psychological, and spiritual impact of poverty, explores the redeeming and transforming beauty of friendship and examines the true limits of hope and forgiveness.
20% Review:
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Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
Due to hatred shared publicly by an employee under St. Martin’s Press, as well as a lack of action on the part of St. Martin’s Press, I am one of many readers and bookish content creators currently taking part in the #SpeakUpSMP boycott.
Therefore, while there are additional books that I am grateful to have received and that are being published this week, I will not be sharing anything about them at this time.
I look forward to sharing more about these books in the future, provided that the needs and demands of the boycott are met, and at that time I will update this post to include them.
For more information on the boycott, head to @ReadersForAccountability on TikTok.
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 share 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!
Stars in Your Eyes
Author: Kacen Callender
Narrated by: André Santana, AJ Beckles, Dani Martineck, Hannah Church, Avi Roque, George Newbern, Patryce Williams, Sarah Mollo-Christensen & VyVy Nguyen
Thanks so much to Hachette Audio and Libro.fm for the gifted advanced audio copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
The National Book Award-winning author of Felix Ever After delivers a beautifully tender story of two grumpy/sunshine, fake-dating actors navigating their love story both on and offscreen—perfect for fans of Casey McQuiston and Alexis Hall.
Logan Gray is Hollywood’s bad boy—a talented but troubled actor who the public loves to hate. Mattie Cole is an up‑and‑coming golden boy, adored by all but plagued by insecurities.
When Logan and Mattie are cast as leads in a new romantic film, Logan claims that Matt has “zero talent,” sending the film’s publicity into a nosedive. To create positive buzz, the two are persuaded into a fake‑dating scheme—but as the two actors get to know their new characters, real feelings start to develop.
As public scrutiny intensifies and old wounds resurface, the two must fight for their relationship and their love.
A heartfelt, hopeful, and nuanced story about identity, healing, and growth.
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
Love Interest
Author: Clare Gilmore
Publication Date: October 10, 2023
Genre: Romance, Contemporary, Adult, Fiction
Page Count: 335 pages
Thanks so much to St. Martin’s Griffin (St. Martin’s Press) and Netgalley for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
A sparkling adversaries-to-lovers romcom set at a magazine publisher in Manhattan. When Casey and Alex are forced into proximity, they soon realize falling for each other is just as much of a risk and as it is a reward.
Casey Maitland has always preferred the reliability of numbers, despite growing up the daughter of two artistic souls. Now a twenty-four-year-old finance expert working in Manhattan, Casey wonders if the project manager opening at her company – magazine powerhouse LC Publications – is a sign from the universe to pursue a career with a little more sparkle. That is, until she’s passed over for the job in favor of the board chairman’s son.
Alex Harrison is handsome, Harvard-educated, and enigmatic. Everybody loves him – except for Casey. But when the two are thrown on the same project, they both have something to prove. For Casey, it’s getting tapped for a transfer to the London office and fulfilling her dreams of travelling. For Alex, it’s successfully launching a brand that will impress his distant father.
As work meetings turn into after hours, Casey and Alex are drawn to each other again and again, but neither can avoid the messy secrets and corporate intrigue threatening to tear them apart. What they discover about their workplace might change everything – including the dreams each of them is chasing.
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Review:
(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 share 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 Summer Girl
Author: Elle Kennedy
Publication Date: July 18, 2023
Genre: Romance, Contemporary Romance, Fiction, New Adult
Page Count: 400 pages
Thanks so much to St. Martin’s Griffin and Netgalley for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
College student Cassie Soul hasn’t spent an entire summer in Avalon Bay in years, not since her parents divorced and her mother spitefully whisked her away to Boston. Now that her grandmother is selling the boardwalk hotel that’s been in their family for five decades, Cassie returns to the quaint beach town to spend time with family, ring in her twenty-first birthday… and maybe find herself a summer fling.
On her first night in town, she finds the perfect candidate: Tate Bartlett, Avalon Bay’s fun-loving golden boy.
Tate, sailing instructor and lovable player, is no stranger to flings. In fact, he’s always down for a good time. But the moment he meets Cassie, he knows she’s not the girl you play games with. Cassie is gorgeous, hilarious, and, frankly, the coolest person he’s ever met. The last thing he wants to do is risk breaking her heart, and so he reluctantly puts her in the friend-zone… only to realize he made a huge mistake. Soon, his attraction to Cassie becomes impossible to ignore. He wants that fling now. Big-time.
And maybe even something more.
As Cassie and Tate walk the line between friends and lovers, they’re about to discover that their situation is the least complicated part of this equation. Because Avalon Bay is full of secrets—and their relationship might not survive when those secrets come to light.
Elle Kennedy’s next spicy and emotional romance in the blockbuster Avalon Bay series.
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
Thanks so much to Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for the gifted advanced audio copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
Strip Tees is a fever dream of a memoir—Hunter S. Thompson meets Gloria Steinem—about a recent college graduate and what happens when her feminist ideals meet the real world.
At the start of the new millennium, LA is the place to be. Hipster is a new word on the scene. Lauren Conrad is living her Cinderella story on The Hills on millions of television sets across the country. Paris Hilton tells us “That’s hot” from behind the biggest sunglasses imaginable, while beautiful teenagers fight and fall in love in The O.C.
Into this most glittering of supposed utopias, Kate Flannery arrives with a Seven Sisters diploma in hand and a new job at an upstart clothing company called American Apparel. Kate throws herself into the work, determined to climb the corporate fashion ladder. Having a job at American Apparel also means being a part of the advertising campaigns themselves, stripping down in the name of feminism.
She slowly begins to lose herself in a landscape of rowdy sex-positivity, racy photo shoots, and a cult-like devotion to the unorthodox CEO and founder of the brand. The line between sexual liberation and exploitation quickly grows hazy, leading Kate to question the company’s ethics and wrestle with her own.
Strip Tees captures a moment in our recent past that’s already sepia toned in nostalgia, and also paints a timeless portrait of a young woman who must choose between what business demands and self-respect requires.
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Review:
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Thanks so much to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
This summer, meet your neighbors.
The residents of the exclusive cul-de-sac on Alton Road are entangled in a web of secrets and scandal utterly unknown to the outside world, and even to each other.
On the night of the annual Summer block party, there has been a murder.
But, who did it and why takes readers back one year earlier, as rivalries and betrayals unfold—discovering that the real danger lies within their own block and nothing—and no one—is ever as it seems.
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The Anniversary
Author: Stephanie Bishop
Narrated by: Fiona Hampton
Publication Date: July 18, 2023
Genre: Fiction, Literary Fiction, Mystery
Audiobook Length: 11 hours 14 minutes
Thanks so much to Tantor Media, Inc. and Libro.fm for the gifted advanced audio copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
For fans of Lisa Halliday and Susan Choi, The Anniversary is a simmering page-turner about an ascendant writer, the unresolved death of her husband, and what it takes to emerge on her own
Novelist J.B. Blackwood is on a cruise with her husband, Patrick, to celebrate their wedding anniversary. Her former professor, film director, and cult figure, Patrick is much older than J.B.. When they met, he seemed somehow ageless, as all gods appear in the eyes of those who worship them. But now his success is starting to wane and J.B. is on the cusp of winning a major literary prize. Her art has been forever overseen by him, now it may overshadow his.
For days they sail in the sun, nothing but dark water all around them. Then a storm hits and Patrick falls from the ship. J.B. is left alone, as the search for what happened to Patrick – and the truth about their marriage – begins.
Propulsive and fiercely intelligent, The Anniversary is exquisitely written with a swift and addictive plot. It’s a novel that asks: how legible, in the mind of the writer, is the line between reality and plot? How do we refuse the people we desire? And what is the cost, to ourselves, to others and to our art, if we don’t?
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Review:
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Thanks so much to Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group and Libro.fm for the gifted advanced audio copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
Colson Whitehead continues his Harlem saga in a novel that summons 1970s New York in all its seedy glory.
It’s 1971. Trash piles up on the streets, crime is at an all-time high, the city is careening towards bankruptcy, and a shooting war has broken out between the NYPD and the Black Liberation Army. Amidst this collective nervous breakdown furniture store owner and ex-fence Ray Carney tries to keep his head down and his business thriving. His days moving stolen goods around the city are over. It’s strictly the straight-and-narrow for him — until he needs Jackson 5 tickets for his daughter May and he decides to hit up his old police contact Munson, fixer extraordinaire. But Munson has his own favors to ask of Carney and staying out of the game gets a lot more complicated – and deadly.
1973. The counter-culture has created a new generation, the old ways are being overthrown, but there is one constant, Pepper, Carney’s endearingly violent partner in crime. It’s getting harder to put together a reliable crew for hijackings, heists, and assorted felonies, so Pepper takes on a side gig doing security on a Blaxploitation shoot in Harlem. He finds himself in a freaky world of Hollywood stars, up-and-coming comedians, and celebrity drug dealers, in addition to the usual cast of hustlers, mobsters, and hit men. These adversaries underestimate the seasoned crook – to their regret.
1976. Harlem is burning, block by block, while the whole country is gearing up for Bicentennial celebrations. Carney is trying to come up with a July 4th ad he can live with. (“Two Hundred Years of Getting Away with It!”), while his wife Elizabeth is campaigning for her childhood friend, the former assistant D.A and rising politician Alexander Oakes. When a fire severely injures one of Carney’s tenants, he enlists Pepper to look into who may be behind it. Our crooked duo have to battle their way through a crumbling metropolis run by the shady, the violent, and the utterly corrupted.
20% Review:
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Review:
(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 share 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 Sunset Crowd
Author: Karin Tanabe
Narrated by: Sarah Mollo-Christensen
Publication Date: July 4, 2023
Genre: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Adult
Page Count: 336 pages
Audiobook Length: 11 hours 9 minutes
Thanks so much to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book, as well as to Macmillan Audio for the gifted audio copy!
Description from Goodreads:
From Rodeo Drive to the French Riviera, Karin Tanabe’s The Sunset Crowd is a tale of survival and reinvention, of faking it until you make it, and the glittering appeal of success and stardom, as it seeks to answer that timeless question―who gets to have the American dream?
Money and fame: in 1970’s Los Angeles, everyone is fighting to reach the top, but very few have the talent, ambition, and luck to get there.
Meet LA darling Evra Scott. The daughter of an Oscar-winning director and a Brazilian bombshell actress, Evra is the city’s reigning style queen. By day, she’s at the helm of Sunset on Sunset, the store beloved by Hollywood’s young and beautiful. By night, she’s on the arm of Kai de la Faire, Hawaii’s hottest export, and the screenwriter of the moment.
Enter Theodora Leigh. The twenty-something Paramount assistant looks like a big screen star, but her sights are firmly set behind the scenes, as she fights to become a movie producer in a town where sex and sexism sell. Theodora’s got the talent and instincts, but she’s not willing to wait. Luckily, getting ahead by any means necessary is LA’s mantra.
Observing it all is Bea Dupont, a photographer for Rolling Stone and Vogue, who never misses the party, but always keeps to its fringes. A Manhattan blue blood turned West Coast bohemian, Bea holds Evra’s Sunset crowd together. She’s also Kai’s oldest friend, and she’s harbored a not-so-secret flame for him since they met at an elite Swiss boarding school.
But in Hollywood, no one stays on top forever. And it’s not long before Theodora’s unrelenting ambition sets in motion a dramatic quest for power in an industry that is as glamorous as it is duplicitous. From Rodeo Drive to the French Riviera, The Sunset Crowd is a tale of survival and reinvention, of faking it until you make it, and the glittering appeal of success and stardom, as it seeks to answer that timeless question–who gets to have the American dream?
20% Review:
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Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
Thanks so much to HarperAudio and Libro.fm for the gifted advanced audio copy of this exciting re-release!
Description from Goodreads:
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Mariana Zapata’s most beloved book, The Wall of Winnipeg and Me—now with new exclusive content!
Vanessa Mazur refuses to feel bad for quitting—she knows she’s doing the right thing. The thankless job of personal assistant to the top defensive end in the National Football Organization was always supposed to be temporary. She has plans for her life, and none of them include washing extra-large underwear one more day for a man who could never find it in him to tell her good morning, congratulate her on a job well done, or wish her a happy birthday—even when she was spending it working for him.
The legendary “Wall of Winnipeg” may be adored by thousands, but after two years Van has had enough.
But when Aiden Graves shows up at her door begging her to come back, she’s beyond shocked. Mr. Walled-Off Emotions is actually letting his guard down for once. And she’s even more dumbstruck when he explains that her job description is about to become even more outrageous: something that takes the “personal” in personal assistant to a whole new level.
What do you say to the man who is used to getting everything he wants?
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Review:
(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 share 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!
Fatal Fudge Swirl
Author: Meri Allen
Publication Date: June 27, 2023
Genre: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Fiction
Page Count: 320 pages
Thanks so much to the author, St. Martin’s Press, and Netgalley for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
A movie production brings drama―and murder―to a close-knit New England village, forcing Riley Rhodes to scoop out the suspects.
Former CIA librarian and amateur sleuth Riley Rhodes is loving her fresh start as the manager of the Udderly Delicious Ice Cream Shop. The leaves are turning, tourists are leaf-peeping, and Penniman, Connecticut is putting finishing touches on the weekend long Halloween Happening. But the village is also buzzing. Former child star Cooper Collins is overseeing the production of a romantic comedy that’s filming on the town green and his domineering socialite mother, Diantha, is planning her lavish Halloween themed wedding at her Inn on the Green. Her fiancé has run the Inn’s kitchen for years, ably aided by his recent ex-wife, chef Mary Ann Dumas. An old friend of Riley’s, Mary Ann turns to her when the bride requests a spooky ice cream wedding cake.
But the weekend takes a frightful turn when Diantha is found dead and suspicion falls on Mary Ann. The cast of potential suspects is long―each wedding guest had a chilling motive to kill the vicious heiress. Can Riley unmask the murderer before another guest ends up on ice?
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Thanks so much to the author, Minotaur Books (St. Martin’s Press), and Netgalley for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
Game Warden Mike Bowditch’s engagement party is interrupted by the discovery of a gruesome double murder in Dead Man’s Wake, a new thriller from Edgar Award-winning author Paul Doiron.
On the evening of their engagement party, Maine Game Warden Investigator Mike Bowditch and Stacey Stevens witness what seems to be a hit-and-run speedboat crash on a darkened lake. When they arrive at the scene, their spotlight reveals a gruesome sight: a severed arm beneath the surface. As day breaks, the warden dive team recovers not one but two naked corpses: the dismembered man and the married woman with whom he was having an affair. Mike begins to suspect the swimmers’ deaths were not a senseless accident but a coldly calculated murder. Alone among his fellow officers, Mike begins to sense the involvement of a trained professional, smarter and more dangerous than any enemy he has faced. As Mike and Stacey get closer to identifying the killer, their own lives are suddenly put on the line, leading to a confrontation designed to silence them forever.
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The Wife App
Author: Carolyn Mackler
Publication Date: June 27, 2023
Genre: Fiction, Contemporary, Romance, Adult
Page Count: 368 pages
Thanks so much to the author, Simon & Schuster, and Netgalley for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
Because every wife deserves a happy ending.
Three best friends decide they’re finally done with their ex-husbands taking their work as wives and moms for granted. They’re ready to monetize the mental load, stick it to their exes, and have a wild ride in the process.
Lauren, mother of twins, wakes up one morning to her Wife Alarm Bells sounding. She sleuths on her husband’s phone and stumbles on a dirty secret that explodes her marriage. Madeline has it all—a penthouse apartment, a perfect daughter, and no-strings-attached romps with handsome men. When she learns that she might lose her child to her ex in England, it stirs up a decades-old personal tragedy. Sophie, with too much FOMO and never enough money, obsesses over her ex-husband’s Family 2.0—all while keeping her true desires hidden, even from herself.
It starts as a joke during a tipsy night out, as Lauren, Madeline, and Sophie rail against everything wives do for free. Let’s build an app that monetizes the mental load. And maybe get revenge on our exes in the process? Soon, the Wife App is born, and before long, it’s the fastest growing start-up in New York City. But then life intervenes. Love intervenes. Ex-husbands intervene. And the consequences are bigger than anything Lauren, Madeline, or Sophie could have expected. Carolyn Mackler marks her debut into adult fiction with a hilarious rollercoaster ride of revenge and redemption that is at once a send-up of modern marriage and a celebration of female friendship and love in all forms.
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The Rachel Incident
Author: Caroline O’Donoghue
Publication Date: June 27, 2023
Genre: Fiction, Contemporary, Literary Fiction, Adult, Coming of Age
Page Count: 304 pages
Thanks so much to the author, Knopf (Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor), and Netgalley for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
A brilliantly funny novel about friends, lovers, Ireland in chaos, and a young woman desperately trying to manage all three
Rachel is a student working at a bookstore when she meets James, and it’s love at first sight. Effervescent and insistently heterosexual, James soon invites Rachel to be his roommate and the two begin a friendship that changes the course of both their lives forever. Together, they run riot through the streets of Cork city, trying to maintain a bohemian existence while the threat of the financial crash looms before them.
When Rachel falls in love with her married professor, Dr. Fred Byrne, James helps her devise a reading at their local bookstore, with the goal that she might seduce him afterwards. But Fred has other desires. So begins a series of secrets and compromises that intertwine the fates of James, Rachel, Fred, and Fred’s glamorous, well-connected, bourgeois wife. Aching with unrequited love, shot through with delicious, sparkling humor, The Rachel Incident is a triumph.
20% Review:
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(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 share 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!
Thanks so much to the author, Minotaur Books (St. Martin’s Press), and Netgalley for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
Desperate Housewives meets The Couple Next Door in a chilling story of murder and intrigue set in a well-to-do DC suburb.
Sometimes the darkest acts occur in the most beautiful houses…
When Alexis and her husband Sam buy a neglected Cape Cod house in an exclusive DC suburb, they are ecstatic. Sam is on the cusp of making partner at his law firm, Alexis is pregnant with their second child, and their glamorous neighbors welcome the couple with open arms. Things are looking up, and Alexis believes she can finally leave her troubled past behind.
But the neighborhood’s picture-perfect image is shattered when their neighbor Teddy – a handsome, successful father of three – is found dead on the steep banks of the Potomac River. The community is shaken, and as the police struggle to identify and apprehend the killer, tension in the neighborhood mounts and long-buried secrets start to emerge.
In the midst of the turmoil, Alexis takes comfort in her budding friendship with Teddy’s beautiful and charismatic widow, Blair. But as the women grow closer, the neighborhood only becomes more divided. And when the unthinkable truth behind Teddy’s murder is finally uncovered, both Blair and Alexis must reexamine their friendship and decide how far they are willing to go to preserve the lives they have so carefully constructed.
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Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
Thanks so much to the author, St. Martin’s Press, and Netgalley for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
In 1942, Hazel Francis left Wichita, Kansas for California, determined to do her part for the war effort. At Douglas Aircraft, she became one of many “Rosie the Riveters,” helping construct bombers for the U. S. military. But now the war is over, men have returned to their factory jobs, and women like Hazel have been dismissed, expected to return home to become wives and mothers.
Unwilling to be forced into a traditional woman’s role in the Midwest, Hazel remains on the west coast, and finds herself in the bohemian town of Laguna Beach. Desperate for work, she accepts a job as an assistant to famous artist Hanson Radcliff. Beloved by the locals for his contributions to the art scene and respected by the critics, Radcliff lives under the shadow of a decades old scandal that haunts him.
Working hard to stay on her cantankerous employer’s good side, Hazel becomes a valued member of the community. She never expected to fall in love with the rhythms of life in Laguna, nor did she expect to find a kindred spirit in Jimmy, the hotel bartender whose friendship promises something more. But Hazel still wants to work with airplanes—maybe even learn to fly one someday. Torn between pursuing her dream and the dream life she has been granted, she is unsure if giving herself over to Laguna is what her heart truly wants.
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Piece of Cake
Authors: Mary Hollis Huddleston & Asher Fogle Paul
Narrated by: Brittany Pressley
Publication Date: June 20, 2023
Genre: Romance, Fiction, Contemporary
Audiobook Length: 9 hours 5 minutes
Thanks so much to Harper Muse and Libro.fm for the gifted advanced audio copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
She’s only trying to save her job and her reputation. Claire Sommers grew up as a society girl destined to have it tasteful Dallas mansion, high-powered career, hot and rich husband. Until a massive mistake left her reputation in tatters and trust fund frozen. Now the former debutante is scraping by as a magazine staffer in Nashville—trading in her diamonds and designer stilettos for rhinestones and cowgirl boots.
But all is not well in the world of print publications. Piece of Cak e, the beloved Southern wedding magazine where Claire works, is one issue away from going under. Thankfully, Claire has a plan to save the day and the magazine—a reality show–style docuseries on the South’s most over-the-top and outlandish nuptials. And with country music royalty, Elvis impersonators, and enough drama to make your momma faint, it just so happens that Tennessee is the perfect setting for unscripted wedding day magic. Her boss loves Claire’s idea so much that she even brings in “The Brides’ Man,” New York native and social media star Dominic Gravino, to partner with Claire on the project, despite her protestations.
Dominic’s East Coast confidence and charisma clash with Claire’s Southern breeding and independent spirit as the two unlikely collaborators attempt to create a series that will save Piece of Cake . But in between million-dollar weddings, two-stepping bachelorette parties, and hot chicken fiascos, Claire and Dom discover they make a great team . . . on and off the job. But letting go of old hurts is harder than she imagines, and soon Claire realizes that she must come to terms with what happened in her past if she’s ever going to embrace the present.
“. . . a laugh-out-loud peek into an alternate universe where weddings are a competitive sport and there’s no such thing as too much bling.” —Yvette Manessis Corporon, international bestselling author
20% Review:
I am at 20% almost exactly, but I’m definitely not ready to start yet! As someone who works in event planning and is also obsessed with weddings, I’m already a fan of our female lead, Claire – and her southern accent is so sweet! I’m enjoying this one, story and narration, a ton so far.
Thanks so much to Andrews McMeel Publishing and Libro.fm for the gifted advanced audio copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
From beloved yogi, teacher, and artist Elena Brower comes the writer’s debut collection of a lyrical exploration of grief, self-compassion, and learning from the past to navigate life’s challenges with grace.
Softening Time is both autobiography and self-help, poetry and inspiration. Drawing on events in her own life, particularly her experiences as a mother, daughter, sister, and friend, Brower writes poignantly on themes of love, loss, healing, and rebirth.
Punctuating her work with themed quotations from a wide variety of celebrated writers and thinkers, Brower guides the reader along an intimate journey of both deepening and “softening” self-awareness.
20% Review:
Since this is such a short collection of poems, it is very easy to listen to the audiobook in one go – so I will not be including a 20% review. Feel free to take a look at my full thoughts through the link below!
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 share 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!
Thanks so much to the author and Minotaur Books (St. Martin’s Press) for the gifted advanced copy of this book, as well as Netgalley for the gifted galley!
Description from Goodreads:
All of us knew him. One of us killed him…
Seven women stand in shock in a seedy hotel room; a man’s severed head sits in the centre of the floor. Each of the women – the wife, the teenager, the ex, the journalist, the colleague, the friend, and the woman who raised him – has a very good reason to have done it, yet each swears she did not. In order to protect each other, they must figure out who is responsible, all while staying one step ahead of the police.
Against the ticking clock of a murder investigation, each woman’s secret is brought to light as the connections between them converge to reveal a killer.
A dark and nuanced portrait of love, loyalty, and manipulation, Speak of the Devil explores the roles in which women are cast in the lives of terrible men…and the fallout when they refuse to stay silent for one moment longer.
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
Going Bicoastal
Author: Dahlia Adler
Publication Date: June 13, 2023
Genre: Romance, LGBTQIA+, Young Adult, Contemporary, Queer, Fiction
Page Count: 336 pages
Thanks so much to the author, Wednesday Books (St. Martin’s Press), and Netgalley for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
A queer Sliding Doors YA rom-com in which a girl must choose between summer in NYC with her dad (and the girl she’s always wanted) or LA with her estranged mom (and the guy she never saw coming).
In Dahlia Adler’s Going Bicoastal, there’s more than one path to happily ever after.
Natalya Fox has twenty-four hours to make the biggest choice of her life: stay home in NYC for the summer with her dad (and finally screw up the courage to talk to the girl she’s been crushing on), or spend it with her basically estranged mom in LA (knowing this is the best chance she has to fix their relationship, if she even wants to.) (Does she want to?)
How’s a girl supposed to choose?
She can’t, and so both summers play out in alternating timelines – one in which Natalya explores the city, tries to repair things with her mom, works on figuring out her future, and goes for the girl she’s always wanted. And one in which Natalya explores the city, tries to repair things with her mom, works on figuring out her future, and goes for the guy she never saw coming.
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
Thanks so much to the author, Celadon Books, and Netgalley for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
A wealthy couple ends up murdered in the nicest part of town in this compulsively readable, page-turning thriller from M. T. Edvardsson, The Woman Inside.
Bill Olsson, recently widowed, is desperate to provide for his daughter, Sally. Struggling to pay rent, he welcomes a lodger into their home: Karla, a law student and aspiring judge, who works as a housekeeper to make ends meet. Her clients are the Rytters, an incredibly wealthy couple who hide behind closed doors. The wife is ill and hasn’t left the house in months. The husband is controlling and obsessive. Is he just a worried husband, concerned for his wife’s health? Or is there something more sinister at play?
As Bill’s situation becomes more dire, Karla is forced to make a difficult choice. And when the Rytters wind up dead, and Karla is pulled in for questioning, she’s made to defend some parts of her past she’d rather not revisit.
Every person in The Woman Inside is hiding something, but could any of them really have been driven to kill?
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
Kismat Connection
Author: Ananya Devarajan
Publication Date: June 13, 2023
Genre: Romance, Contemporary, Young Adult, Fiction
Page Count: 304 pages
Thanks so much to the author, Inkyard Press, and Netgalley for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
In this charming YA debut, a girl who’s determined to prove her star chart wrong ropes her longtime best friend into an experimental relationship—not knowing that he has been in love with her for years.
Is it possible to change your fate?
Madhuri Iyer is doomed. Doomed for her upcoming senior year to be a total failure, according to her astrology-obsessed mother, and doomed to a happily ever after with her first boyfriend, according to her family curse.
Determined to prove the existence of her free will, Madhuri devises an experimental relationship with the one boy she knows she’ll never fall for: her childhood best friend, Arjun Mehta. But Arjun’s feelings for her are a variable she didn’t account for.
As Madhuri starts to fall for her experimental boyfriend, she’ll have to decide if charting her own destiny is worth breaking Arjun’s heart—and her own.
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
Sally Brady’s Italian Adventure
Author: Christina Lynch
Publication Date: June 13, 2023
Genre: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Adult
Page Count: 368 pages
Thanks so much to the author, St. Martin’s Press, and Netgalley for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
What if you found yourself in the middle of a war armed only with lipstick and a sense of humor? Abandoned as a child in Los Angeles in 1931, dust bowl refugee Sally Brady convinces a Hollywood movie star to adopt her, and grows up to be an effervescent gossip columnist secretly satirizing Europe’s upper crust. By 1940 saucy Sally is conquering Fascist-era Rome with cheek and charm.
A good deed leaves Sally stranded in wartime Italy, brandishing a biting wit, a fake passport, and an elastic sense of right and wrong. To save her friends and find her way home through a land of besieged castles and villas, Sally must combat tragedy with comedy, tie up pompous bureaucrats in their own red tape, force the cruel to be kind, and unravel the mystery, weight, and meaning of family.
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
Leg: The Story of a Limb and the Boy Who Grew from It
Thanks so much to the author, Abrams Press, and Edelweiss+ for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
A hilarious and poignant memoir grappling with family, disability, and coming of age in two closets—as a gay man and as a man living with cerebral palsy
Greg Marshall’s early years were pretty bizarre. Rewind the VHS tapes (this is the nineties) and you’ll see a lopsided teenager limping across a high school stage, or in a wheelchair after leg surgeries, pondering why he’s crushing on half of the Utah Jazz. Add to this home video footage a mom clacking away at her newspaper column between chemos, a dad with ALS, and a cast of foulmouthed siblings. Fast forward the tape and you’ll find Marshall happily settled into his life as a gay man only to discover he’s been living in another closet his whole life: he has cerebral palsy. Here, in the hot mess of it all, lies Greg Marshall’s wellspring of wit and wisdom.
Leg is an extraordinarily funny and insightful memoir from a daring new voice. Packed with outrageous stories of a singular childhood, it is also a unique examination of what it means to transform when there are parts of yourself you can’t change, a moving portrait of a family in crisis, and a tale of resilience of spirit. In Marshall’s deft hands, we see a story both personal and universal—of being young and wanting the world, even when the world doesn’t feel like yours to want.
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
Love, Theoretically
Author: Ali Hazelwood
Narrated by: Thérèse Plummer
Publication Date: June 13, 2023
Genre: Romance, Contemporary, Adult, Fiction
Audiobook Length: 12 hours 33 minutes
Thanks so much to Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group and Libro.fm for the gifted advanced audio copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
The many lives of theoretical physicist Elsie Hannaway have finally caught up with her. By day, she’s an adjunct professor, toiling away at grading labs and teaching thermodynamics in the hopes of landing tenure. By other day, Elsie makes up for her non-existent paycheck by offering her services as a fake girlfriend, tapping into her expertly honed people pleasing skills to embody whichever version of herself the client needs.
Honestly, it’s a pretty sweet gig—until her carefully constructed Elsie-verse comes crashing down. Because Jack Smith, the annoyingly attractive and broody older brother of her favorite client, turns out to be the cold-hearted experimental physicist who ruined her mentor’s career and undermined the reputation of theorists everywhere. And that same Jack who now sits on the hiring committee at MIT, right between Elsie and her dream job.
Elsie is prepared for an all-out war of scholarly sabotage but…those long, penetrating looks? Not having to be anything other than her true self when she’s with him? Will falling into an experimentalist’s orbit finally tempt her to put her most guarded theories on love into practice?
20% Review:
I am just about 20% of the way through this audiobook, and so far I am really enjoying it! The primary cast of characters are a ton of fun. I am finding Elsie really enjoyable as a main character as well – her character-switching depending on what situation she’s in or who she’s talking to is something that I used to notice myself doing a lot of when I was younger (and can still slip into from time to time), so in my opinion it’s really interesting to read about.
I can’t wait to see where the story goes from here! I have a few guesses on where things might be leading, but I look forward to the journey – and to seeing if I’m right.
Genre: Horror, Adult, Fiction, Queer, LGBTQIA+, Fantasy
Audiobook Length: 5 hours 28 minutes
Thanks so much to Dreamscape Media and Libro.fm for the gifted advanced audio copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
An insidious darkness threatens to devastate a rural New England village when occult forces are conjured and when bigotry is left unrestrained.
After a recent string of disappearances in a small Connecticut town, a grieving widower with a grim secret is drawn into a dangerous ritual of dark magic by a powerful and mysterious older gentleman named Heart Crowley. Meanwhile, a member of local law enforcement tasked with uncovering the culprit responsible for the bizarre disappearances soon begins to learn of a current of unbridled hatred simmering beneath the guise of the town’s idyllic community—a hatred that will eventually burst and forever change the lives of those who once found peace in the quiet town of Henley’s Edge.
From the Bram Stoker Award®-nominated author of the viral sensation, Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke, Everything the Darkness Eats is a haunting supernatural thriller from a new and exciting voice in genre fiction.
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
Thanks so much to Blackstone Publishing and Libro.fm for the gifted advanced audio copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
She saved his life. Now he‘ll never let her go.
Detective Elise Sutton is drawn to cold cases. Each crime is a puzzle to solve, pulled from the past. Elise looks for cracks in the surface and has become an expert on how murderers slip up and give themselves away. She has dedicated her life to creating a sense of order, at work with her ex-marine partner; at home with her husband and two young daughters; and within, battling her own demons. Elise has everything under control, until one afternoon, when she walks into a department store and is forced to make a terrible choice: to save one life, she will have to take another.
Elise is hailed as a hero, but she doesn’t feel like one. Steeped in guilt, and on a leave of absence from work, she’s numb, even to her husband and daughters, until she connects with Wade Austin, the tall man whose life she saved. But Elise soon realizes that he isn’t who he says he is. In fact, Wade Austin isn’t even his real name. The tall man is a ghost, one who will set off a terrifying game of cat and mouse, threatening Elise and the people she loves most.
20% Review:
The first 20% of this audiobook have seriously flown by! So far we haven’t gotten to much into the creepy thriller-y side of the book – I’m enjoying it, but I’m definitely looking forward to getting more into that side of the story. Based on the book description I believed that that would be the primary vibe of the book, so hopefully it takes a turn for the creepier soon!
Check out my full review here!
The Happy Life of Isadora Bentley
Author: Courtney Walsh
Narrated by: Jorjeana Marie
Publication Date: June 13, 2023
Genre: Romance, Contemporary, Fiction, Adult, Christian Fiction
Audiobook Length: 10 hours 1 minute
Thanks so much to Thomas Nelson and Libro.fm for the gifted advanced audio copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
She’s out to prove that there’s no such thing as choosing happiness.
Isadora Bentley follows the rules. Isadora Bentley likes things just so. Isadora Bentley believes that happiness is something that flat-out doesn’t exist in her life—and never will.
As a university researcher, Isadora keeps to herself as much as possible. She avoids the students she’s supposed to befriend and mentor. She stays away from her neighbors and lives her own quiet, organized life in her own quiet, organized apartment. And she will never get involved in a romantic relationship again—especially with another academic. It will be just Isadora and her research. Forever.
But on her thirtieth birthday, Isadora does something completely out of character. The young woman who never does anything “on a whim” makes an impulse purchase of a magazine featuring a silly article detailing “Thirty-One Ways to Be Happy”—which includes everything from smiling at strangers to exercising for endorphins to giving in to your chocolate cravings. Isadora decides to create her own secret research project—proving the writer of the ridiculous piece wrong.
As Isadora gets deeper into her research—and meets a handsome professor along the way—she’s stunned to discover that maybe, just maybe, she’s proving herself wrong. Perhaps there’s actually something to this happiness concept, and possibly there’s something to be said for loosening up and letting life take you somewhere . . . happy.
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
Thanks so much to the author, Penguin Random House Audio, and Libro.fm for the gifted advanced audio copy of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts. All opinions are entirely my own. { partner } My reviews can also be found on Instagram @Tackling_TBR and on Goodreads.
Publication Date: June 13, 2023
Genre: Romance, Contemporary, Adult, Fiction
Audiobook Length: 12 hours 33 minutes
TW: description of sexual harassment, controlling behaviors and gaslighting
Alright, full disclosure – The Love Hypothesis and Love on the Brain are both sitting and smiling at me from my bookshelf as I write this, but I have yet to read either one. So while they are all very much different sides of the same thought and spiritual successors of the ones before, I will be talking about Love, Theoretically purely as a stand alone story. That being said, I have also seen a bit of talk online about how these three books are very similar, and some readers are taking issue with that, or enjoying the book less for it. Since this is the first of them that I’m reading, I won’t be including any of that either.
Now that all of that is out of the way, I really enjoyed it!
While I have not ever considered a career in STEM (my brain just does NOT work that way, and I tend to think that most folks in STEM are actually wizards of some sort), I could really find myself relating a lot to Elsie in a lot of ways. Throughout the story she tends to change seemingly small things about herself or shifting her personality in order to fit into groups or situations – I used to do a lot of that when I was younger, and still feel myself doing it subconsciously every once in a while, so I found it a really fun aspect of her character to read about.
I also can’t review this book without mentioning that I listened to it on audio, and the audiobook was wonderful! The narrator’s voice is so lovely, and I thought that she did a really wonderful job with separating the different characters in any given scene. You aren’t going to be fooled into thinking that it’s a full movie cast or anything like that, but I didn’t have any problems with knowing which character was talking which can sometimes be an issue. Definitely recommend it in an audio format!
Overall I thought that this book was a really fun, fairly light and quick listen, and I would definitely recommend it to friends and fellow readers. I think that the best way to read this book would be sitting in a park or a cafe with plenty of opportunities to people-watch – I’m not sure why, but that’s what Elsie’s personality matching made me want to do. Or you could do what I did and just listen to it during a slow day and a half of desk work!
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 share 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!
Thanks so much to the author, St. Martin’s Griffin, and Netgalley for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
Love breaks all the rules.
Margo Anderson is sworn off commitment. Alongside her best friend, Jo, she runs a viral podcast featuring rules for hooking up without catching feelings. So when Jo surprises her by deciding to get married and taking up a sponsor’s offer to host an all-expenses-paid wedding trip on Catalina Island, they have the whole internet to answer to.
In a scramble for content to appease their disappointed listeners, Margo cooks up a social experiment: Break all her own dating rules, just to prove that it’s a bad idea. And she’s found the best man for the job in the groom’s best friend and her old high school nemesis, Declan Walsh. He may be easier on the eyes than Margo remembered, but he’s sure to be as smug and annoying as he was before—there is no chance Margo will ever catch feelings for him . . . until she does.
The more time they spend together through cake tastings and wedding party activities, the more Margo can’t ignore their obvious spark, and she may actually be enjoying getting to know Declan. But can she let go of the rules to let him in?
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
Rubi Ramos’s Recipe for Success
Author: Jessica Parra
Narrated by: Karla Serrato
Publication Date: May 16, 2023
Genre: Young Adult, Romance, Contemporary, Fiction
Page Count: 320 pages
Audiobook Length: 8 hours 41 minutes
Thanks so much to the author, St. Martin’s Press, Wednesday Books, and Netgalley for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book, as well as Dreamscape Media and Libro.fm for the gifted advanced audio copy!
Description from Goodreads:
Graduation is only a few months away, and so far Rubi Ramos’s recipe for success is on track.
*Step 1: Get into the prestigious Alma University. *Step 2: Become incredibly successful lawyer.
But when Alma waitlists Rubi’s application, her plan is in jeopardy. Her parents–especially her mom, AKA the boss–have wanted this for her for years. In order to get off the waitlist without her parents knowing, she needs math tutoring from surfer-hottie math genius Ryan, lead the debate team to a championship–and remember the final step of the recipe.
*Step 3: Never break the ban on baking.
Rubi has always been obsessed with baking, daydreaming up new concoctions and taking shifts at her parents’ celebrated bakery. But her mother dismisses baking as a distraction–her parents didn’t leave Cuba so she could bake just like them.
But some recipes are begging to be tampered with…
When the First Annual Bake Off comes to town, Rubi’s passion for baking goes from subtle simmer to full boil. She’s not sure if she has what it takes to become OC’s best amateur baker, and there’s only one way to find out–even though it means rejecting the ban on baking, and by extension, her parents. But life is what you bake it, and now Rubi must differentiate between the responsibility of unfulfilled dreams she holds, and finding the path she’s meant for.
20% Review:
I’m about halfway through this audiobook as I write this, and it is so cute so far! The characters are enjoyable, the romance is sweet, and the stakes are relatively low – overall so far it is just a solid YA listen.
Thanks so much to HarperAudio and Libro.fm for the gifted advanced audio copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
This entertaining, transportive, and luminous debut novel follows a young Trinidadian woman finding her voice and a new kind of happy ending.
Bianca Bridge has always dreamt of becoming a writer. But Trinidadian society can be unforgiving, and having an affair with a married government official is a sure-fire way to ruin your prospects. So when Obadiah Cortland, a notoriously tyrannical entrepreneur in the island’s beauty scene, offers her a job, Bianca accepts, realizing that working on his magazine is the closest to her dreams she’ll get.
As Bianca begins to embrace her power and creative voice, she starts to suspect Obadiah is not the elite tyrant he seems. She’s right. Born in one of the poorest parts of Trinidad, Obadiah has clawed partway up society’s ladder and built his company around his meticulously crafted persona. Now, he’s not about to let anyone, especially Bianca, see past his façade.
When Bianca’s ex-lover threatens everything she’s rebuilt, jeopardizing all she’s come to love about her new life, she’s surprised to find support from the most unlikely ally and, finally, draws the strength to fight back like her mother taught her.
Sharp-witted and fiercely fun, The God of Good Looks alternates between Bianca’s diary entries and Obadiah’s first-person narrative to portray modern Trinidad’s rigid class barriers and the fraught impact of beauty commodification in a patriarchal society. Boisterous, moving, and full of meaty, universally relatable questions, Mc Ivor’s sparkling debut is an open-hearted, awakening tale about prejudice and pride, the masks we wear, and what we can become if we dare to take them off.
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
The Rachel Experiment
Author: Lisa Lin
Narrated by: Kat Riley
Publication Date: May 16, 2023
Genre: Romance, Contemporary Romance
Audiobook Length: 7 hours 50 minutes
Thanks so much to Dreamscape Media and Libro.fm for the gifted advanced audio copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
Who knew that one night out would change everything?
As a financial analyst, Rachel Bai is more comfortable with numbers than people. When her boss promotes her to head a team in San Francisco, his message is clear—she has one year to build a successful team and become an effective leader. Rachel sets out to discover how to be more comfortable interacting with people, but a drunken night meant for research results in a mechanical bull ride and a one-night stand with a sexy stranger—definitely not part of her plan.
Attorney Luke Trudeau is intrigued by the mysterious woman who’s determined to put their night together firmly in her rearview mirror. So when Luke sees Rachel again, he proposes a deal: he’ll smooth out her rough social edges and teach her to charm clients if she’ll help him devise a financial plan to open his own practice.
It seems like a win-win, but Luke breaks the rules by falling in love. Can he convince Rachel that what they have is real and, when it comes to love, there are no set rules?
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
Thanks so much to Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group and Libro.fm for the gifted advanced audio copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
A much-anticipated, hilarious new essay collection from #1 New York Times bestselling unabashed fan-favorite Samantha Irby invites us to share in the gory particulars of her real life, all that festers behind the glitter and glam.
Beloved writer Samantha Irby has returned to the printed page for her much-anticipated, sidesplitting fourth book following her 2020 breakout, Wow, No Thank You, a Vintage Books Original.
The success of Irby’s career has taken her to new heights. She fields calls with job offers from Hollywood and walks the red carpet with the iconic ladies of Sex and the City. Finally, she has made it. But, behind all that new-found glam, Irby is just trying to keep her life together as she always had.
Her teeth are poisoning her from inside her mouth, and her diarrhea is back. She gets turned away from a restaurant for wearing ugly clothes, she goes to therapy and tries out Lexapro, gets healed with RReiki, explores the power of crystals, and becomes addicted to QVC. Making light of herself as she takes us on an outrageously funny tour of all the details that make up a true portrait of her life, Irby is once again the relatable, uproarious tonic we all need.
A VINTAGE ORIGINAL.
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
Love Betrayal Murder
Author: Adam Mitzner
Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot, Elizabeth Evans & Brian Hutchison
Publication Date: May 16, 2023
Genre: Fiction, Thriller, Legal Thriller
Audiobook Length: 7 hours 56 minutes
Thanks so much to Blackstone Publishing and Libro.fm for the gifted advanced audio copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
Love: Matthew Brooks and Vanessa Lyons are a perfect match, both attorneys at a powerful New York City law firm. But there’s a small hitch: Matt just made partner, and Vanessa is coming up for partner next year. Two hitches, actually, because Vanessa is married.
Betrayal: Vanessa is assigned to the biggest case at the firm, the one that will determine her own partnership chances. Unfortunately, Matt has been working on the case for years, leaving him no choice but to supervise his lover in violation of firm policies. After the case is over, Vanessa’s ascendance is assured. But when Vanessa is denied her partnership, she can only assume that her affair with Matt was the reason.
Murder: in broad daylight, on a crowded Manhattan street corner. But with so many having been betrayed, will the true murderer be brought to justice? A gripping criminal trial will leave readers unsure of who, if anyone, is telling the truth. All culminating in the shocking final reveal.
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
Thanks so much to Thomas Nelson and Libro.fm for the gifted advanced audio copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
From Park Avenue to the Parks Department—the world’s most beloved social media star is about to get a rude awakening.
With her millions of followers, Cat Cranwell is adored around the world. But when an app partnership goes very, very wrong, Cat suddenly finds herself shunned from the community that not only fed her soul all these years but paid her bills. When Cat’s closest living relative, Uncle Terry, offers her a position on his staff at a small national park in Montana to get away from the city, Cat hesitantly accepts the opportunity.
What she doesn’t realize is that as the new social media strategist her goal is to save Kannery National Park from being absorbed into Glacier National Park by boosting the number of visitors. And at least one of her new colleagues—namely, handsome and rugged ranger Zaiah Hudson—thinks social media is the root of everything that’s wrong with the world. Written with bestselling author Melissa Ferguson’s signature wit and charm, this romantic comedy of opposites attract is full of hilarious romp and a romance that will melt readers’ hearts.
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Review:
(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 share 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!
Immortality: A Love Story
Author: Dana Schwartz
Narrated by: Mhairi Morrison & Tim Campbell
Publication Date: February 28, 2023
Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance, Young Adult, Fantasy, Gothic, Fiction
Audiobook Length: 12 hours 2 minutes
Thanks so much to Macmillan Audio for the gifted advanced audio copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
Hazel Sinnett is alone and half-convinced the events of the year before—the immortality, Beecham’s vial—were a figment of her imagination. She doesn’t even know whether Jack is alive or dead. All she can really do now is treat patients and maintain Hawthornden Castle as it starts to decay around her.
When saving a life leads to her arrest, Hazel seems doomed to rot in prison until a message intervenes: She has been specifically requested to be the personal physician of Princess Charlotte, the sickly daughter of King George IV. Soon Hazel is dragged into the glamor and romance of a court where everyone has something to hide, especially the enigmatic, brilliant members of a social club known as the Companions to the Death.
As Hazel’s work entangles her more and more with the British court, she realizes that her own future as a surgeon isn’t the only thing at stake. Malicious forces are at work in the monarchy, and Hazel may be the only one capable of setting things right.
Immortality: A Love Story is the eagerly anticipated sequel to Dana Schwartz’s bestselling gothic romance, Anatomy: A Love Story.
20% Review:
I am FLYING through this audiobook! As I’m writing this I just finished Anatomy yesterday, and I haven’t been so glad to already have access to a sequel in a while because I knew I needed to start Immortality immediately. And, without giving any spoilers, some craziness just happened at 20% – so I’m betting this break I’m taking to write this won’t last long! I’ll be surprised if I don’t listen to the whole book all the way through today.
Thanks so much to the author, Celadon Books, and Netgalley for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book, as well as Macmillan Audio for the gifted advanced audio!
Description from Goodreads:
A dark, suspenseful new thriller about the mysteries of fate, the unbreakable bond of siblings, and a notorious serial killer who was said to know the future.
Growing up in a beautiful house in the English countryside, Katie Shaw lived a charmed life. At the cusp of graduation, she had big dreams, a devoted boyfriend, and a little brother she protected fiercely. Until the day a violent stranger changed the fate of her family forever.
Years later, still unable to live down the guilt surrounding what happened to her brother, Chris, and now with a child of her own to protect, Katie struggles to separate the real threats from the imagined. Then she gets the phone call: Chris has gone missing and needs his big sister once more.
Meanwhile, Detective Laurence Page is facing a particularly gruesome crime. A distinguished professor of fate and free will has been brutally murdered just hours after firing his staff. All the leads point back to two old cases: the gruesome attack on teenager Christopher Shaw, and the despicable crimes of a notorious serial killer who, legend had it, could see the future.
20% Review:
I’ve just started listening to this book on audio, and it’s interesting so far but I’m having some trouble keeping characters, timelines, and storylines straight. I will keep listening for now, but will switch to a print format later if I’m still having issues, to see if that makes it easier. So far it feels like there is a whole lot going on and, while I’m sure they will all tie together at some point, it is feeling a bit like I’m jumping back and forth between a few different books.
Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
Thanks so much to Simon & Schuster Audio Originals and Libro.fm for the gifted advanced audio copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
An audio original novella from the bestselling author of Ordinary Grace and This Tender Land, The Levee is a powerful, captivating story of a family, a storm, a complicated rescue, and the true cost of survival.
It’s 1927, and the most devastating flood in American history has swelled the Mississippi River to a width of eighty miles. In an attempt to save a family trapped by the rising water, four men in a tiny rowboat battle the treacherous flow: three are convicts, on loan from the local prison and pressed into service; the fourth, the leader of the team, is driven by his own hidden motives. But to their surprise upon arrival at Ballymore, an ancestral home protected by a high, circular levee, not everyone in the family feels the need to be saved. Pride, greed, loyalty, and even love create their own complex currents behind the massive wall. As the threat from the flood increases and time ticks away, the crew and the family must decide on a course of action, and a desperate plan is hatched to save the weakening levee and all it was built to protect.
The Levee is a propulsive, heartfelt tale of courage, cowardice, and sacrifice in a historic moment when the indomitable human spirit is pitted against the awesome and destructive power of nature.
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
Tackling TBR 