Thanks so much to the author, Netgalley, and St. Martin’s Press for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts. All opinions are entirely my own. All of my reviews can also be found on Instagram @Tackling_TBR and on my blog at tacklingtbr.home.blog
TW: death, murder, some violence/gore, mention of cannibalism, drunk driving, drug use, heavy drinking, misogyny
Oh my gosh, this book got WILD! It started a bit slower than I had expected – I listened to The Wife Upstairs on audio last year, and I seemed to remember it getting a bit of a quicker start into the thriller portion of the story, so that’s a bit more what I was expecting from this one as well. But the slow start really gave me time to deep dive into the characters (and get in my early predictions for who I think the guilty party or parties were going to be), and gave it a very Agatha Christie-on a deserted island vibe!
Let’s jump in to the characters. I do like Lux as a main character, I thought that she was written in an interesting way, and I found her a bit more relatable than heroines in thrillers often seem, but I didn’t want to jump head first into a story just about her and fully inside of her own head – so I was really glad there were so many other characters to get a taste of too! Even from the word go, I think the characters that intrigued me the most were Brittany and Eliza, because they were the ones that I was looking forward to getting more back story from in the Before chapters. I also liked Nico in a “love to hate him” type of way, which is always really fun to read! I would say that the characters are interesting and well written, and I love the diverse cast of characters on the island, but I think that it definitely benefits from having a good number of them instead of really focusing on one single person.
Story-wise this felt very reminiscent of And Then There Were None, and I am a sucker for a good Christie mystery! It didn’t really feel like it started leaning in to the thriller side of the story until about 2/3 of the way through the book, but it did have a few minutes of good suspense before then too, so I didn’t mind too much. However, I also really love a character-driven novel and the lack of concrete thriller or suspense meant I could lean heavily on those characters, so if that isn’t necessarily your jam maybe take that with a grain of salt.
Overall I would definitely recommend this book to friends and fellow readers, and honestly already have once or twice and it only came out today! Definitely a worthy first read of 2022 for me. I think that the perfect place to read this book would be sunbathing on a beach with a tropical drink (or two) in your hands! But, ya know, maybe a beach full of other people. Better not to feel like you’re too far into the world of a book sometimes, right?
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!
Girls Before Earls
Author: Anna Bennett
Publication date: December 28, 2021
Genre: Romance, historical romance, regency
Thanks so much to the author, St. Martin’s Press, and Netgalley for the gifted e-copy of this book.
Description from Goodreads:
WHAT A GIRL WANTS
To survive her difficult childhood, Miss Hazel Lively relied on two things:a tough outer shell and a love of books. Now, at the age of twenty-eight, she’s finally realized her life-long dream of opening a school for girls. She’s hoping that the wealthy families who flock to the shore for the summer will entrust their daughters to Bellehaven Academy―and help pay the way for less fortunate students. All Hazel must do is maintain a flawless reputation and raise a good deal of money. It’s a foolproof plan…till a sinfully handsome earl strides into her office.
WHAT AN EARL NEEDS
Gabriel Beckett, Earl of Bladenton, has had a monstrous headache since the day his teenaged niece became his ward. She’s been expelled from two London boarding schools and is doing her damnedest to scare off his potential fiancée. But Blade has a plan of his own―enroll his niece at Bellehaven Academy, where she’ll be out of town and out of his hair. He just needs to convince the buttoned-up headmistress with the soulful brown eyes to take on his niece.
LEAD TO AN IRRESISTIBLE DEAL
When Blade makes a generous offer to the school, it’s impossible for Hazel to refuse. But she has one non-negotiable condition: the earl must visit his niece every other week. Soon, Blade discovers there’s much more to Hazel than meticulous lesson plans. In moonlit seaside coves and candlelit ballrooms, their sparring leads to flirtation…and something altogether deeper. But the passion that flares between them poses a threat to Hazel’s school and Blade’s battered heart. They say a good thing can’t last forever, but true love? Well, it just might…
20% Review:
Okay okay, so as I am writing this maybe I am a bit past 20% and maybe I’m a little bit closer to 50%, but this book is so much fun! I’m just really not wanting to put it down! I really love Hazel as a character (Sassy bookwork in a historical? You really can’t go wrong.) It has also been a pretty quick read when I’ve actually had the chance to sit down and read it, too, with short chapters and fun dialogue, which I always love! It really makes you feel accomplished when you read a book quickly, right? Maybe just me? Who knows, either way this sassy regency has been just what I was needing this week.
Thanks so much to the author, St. Martin’s Press, and Netgalley for the gifted advanced electronic copy of this book.
Description from Goodreads:
Ellie Alexander’s Bake, Borrow, and Steal, the most delicious installment yet in the Bakeshop Series set in Ashland, Oregon!
As the autumnal hues of November fall over the Shakespearean hamlet of Ashland, Oregon, Jules and her team at Torte are working on their biggest event ever. They’ve been invited to create chocolate showpieces for the gala opening of a new exhibit, Shakespeare’s Lost Pages at SOMA. The museum, located on the campus of Southern Oregon University, is getting ready to unveil the Bard’s lost manuscript, Double Falsehood, which is being touted as the greatest artistic discovery of modern times. In addition to molding luscious, silky chocolate into magnificent structures, Torte will be serving an authentic Elizabethan feast straight from the pages of a sixteenth century cookbook featuring Lardy cakes, Frangipane tarts, and jellies with chestnut cream.
Jules has underestimated the amount of work required to pull off such a culinary feat. She finds herself in the strange position of feeling frazzled and stressed as the day of the gala approaches. However, her team rallies around her and once the massive works of chocolate art are safely installed at the museum, she can finally let out a sigh of relief and revel in the excitement of the grand celebration. But her relief is short-lived. Right before the unveiling, news quickly begins to spread that Shakespeare’s lost manuscript is missing. Not only that, but the security guard tasked with keeping the priceless artifact safe has been killed. Is this a case of a heist gone terribly wrong? Or could it be that a killer is lurking in the museum archives?
20% Review:
This book is so much fun! Although reading it on an empty stomach is really proving to be a problem.. We are just barely starting to get into the mystery, but what we’ve really been diving into so far is all. Of. The. FOOD! It all sounds so good, and I want to eat all of it. I can’t wait to see where the story goes as I keep reading, but honestly part of me is just hoping that this turns into one of the cozies with recipes in the back!
Thanks so much to the author, Netgalley, and St. Martin’s Press for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts. All of my opinions are entirely my own. All of my reviews can also be found on Instagram @Tackling_TBR and on my blog at tacklingtbr.home.blog.
TW: death (accidental death, murder), theft
Oh my gosh, this book was such a delight! I mean, let’s be honest, I LOVE a cozy mystery, so I am pretty easy to please in that sense. Honestly it’s kind of hard for a cozy mystery to go wrong, in my eyes. So I had no doubt that I would really enjoy this read, and I am glad to say that I was right.
Let’s start with what really might be the most important part – the FOOD! Jules, our main character in this story, runs a bakeshop, a winery, and an ice cream parlor, so it comes as no surprise that there are some really tasty sounding recipes mentioned throughout the story. Talking about and thinking about the food basically dominated my 20% review for this book, that’s how much it was on my mind as I was reading. And I’ve got to be honest, part of me is crushed that this isn’t one of the many cozies that includes a handful of it’s recipes in the back of the book. This is a story where the setting is definitely it’s own character, but the food is really playing a character as well in a really delicious way. And now I want to eat my weight in baked goods.
Speaking of the setting, Ashland, OR made such a lovely setting for this story! Like I said earlier, the small town feel really plays an important role in the story. Plus, as a PNW girl myself, I always enjoy getting to read books set along the west coast! And something about finishing up this story about the snowy little west coast town while I’m sitting in Seattle and looking out the window at all of the snow falling, it felt like I was really a part of it for a little bit. Like I could go across the street and get one of Andy’s cups of coffee.
Now getting back to more important things, like the colorful cast of characters. There were so many characters that played their roles in the story, that in the beginning I did have some trouble keeping everything and everyone straight in my head while reading. Now to be fair, this is book #14 in a serious of cozies. I always say that reading a series in order doesn’t tend to matter quite as much with a series of cozies as much as it might for a different genre, but I’m betting that had I read the other books that lead up to this one then I wouldn’t have had as many issues with remembering which character was which. So, you know, take that with a grain of salt. But overall I really loved the characters. Some of them were fairly cartoon-y, especially the two more villainous men who Jules is butting heads with throughout the story, but I didn’t mind that too much. The almost campy aspects felt like they belonged in a really fun way. Maybe that comes from the very theatrical town of Ashland (home of the famous Oregon Shakespeare Festival), but either way it worked for me.
Overall I would definitely recommend this book to my friends! I think that everyone needs a genre that they can read through easily without having to necessarily put their entire heart and soul into it, and (especially when it gets cold out) I think that a cozy mystery fits the bill perfectly! I think that the best way to read this book would be inside and under a blanket while you’re listening to the rain, or watching the snow outside your window. And also with lots of baked goods. Obviously. No, seriously. Give me the cakes, the hand pies, the cookies, the pastries, everything!
Thanks so much to the author, St. Martin’s, and Netgalley for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book. All opinions are entirely my own. My reviews can also be found on Instagram @Tackling_TBR and on my blog at tacklingtbr.home.blog.
Publication Date: December 28, 2021
TW: death, orphaned children, infidelity
Oh my gosh, this book was so much fun! I go through phases in my reading life and I am DEFINITELY in a big regency phase right now, where I just can’t get enough of it. So this book was everything that I was wanting, and I enjoyed the heck out of it.
I really loved Hazel as a character – and while it did take me a little while to come around to Blade the girls of Bellehaven Academy really made up for that lost time! The girls were so fun and sweet and I wanted to adopt every one of them, honestly. I thought that the setting of a finishing school was a fun way to differentiate this story from the other enemies-to-lovers regency novels out there (not that I ever seem to get tired of those anyway) by having such fun characters in the girls but also having the school acting as a character in itself. It almost feels like the true third in Hazel and Blade’s love triangle, and I really loved it!
Overall I would definitely recommend this book to my friends who are looking for a fairly fast (and quite steamy!) read. But I’m not kidding, if you’re picking this one up you need to be prepared for the steam. Do not read at work. Do not read in company. Maybe try reading it in a bubble bath with a large glass of wine and nobody around to ask you why you’re still in the bath. You’ll thank me later.
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!
If This Gets Out
Author: Sophie Gonzales and Cale Dietrich
Publication date: December 7, 2021
Genre: LGBTQIA+, Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult
Thanks so much to the author, St. Martin’s Press and Wednesday Books, and Netgalley for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book.
Description from Goodreads:
Eighteen-year-olds Ruben Montez and Zach Knight are two members of the boy-band Saturday, one of the biggest acts in America. Along with their bandmates, Angel Phan and Jon Braxton, the four are teen heartbreakers in front of the cameras and best friends backstage. But privately, cracks are starting to form: their once-easy rapport is straining under the pressures of fame, and Ruben confides in Zach that he’s feeling smothered by management’s pressure to stay in the closet.
On a whirlwind tour through Europe, with both an unrelenting schedule and minimal supervision, Ruben and Zach come to rely on each other more and more, and their already close friendship evolves into a romance. But when they decide they’re ready to tell their fans and live freely, Zach and Ruben start to truly realize that they will never have the support of their management. How can they hold tight to each other when the whole world seems to want to come between them?
“If This Gets Out is an absolute showstopper! Equal parts edgy and adorable, this bright, joyful book has everything I look for in a queer YA romance.” —Phil Stamper, bestselling author of The Gravity of Us
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 Ballerinas
Author: Rachel Kapelke-Dale
Publication date: December 7, 2021
Genre: Fiction, Thriller, Mystery
Thanks so much to the author, St. Martin’s Press, and Netgalley for the gifted advanced electronic copy of this book.
Description from Goodreads:
Dare Me meets Black Swan and Luckiest Girl Alive in a captivating, voice-driven debut novel about a trio of ballerinas who meet as students at the Paris Opera Ballet School.
Fourteen years ago, Delphine abandoned her prestigious soloist spot at the Paris Opera Ballet for a new life in St. Petersburg––taking with her a secret that could upend the lives of her best friends, fellow dancers Lindsay and Margaux. Now 36 years old, Delphine has returned to her former home and to the legendary Palais Garnier Opera House, to choreograph the ballet that will kickstart the next phase of her career––and, she hopes, finally make things right with her former friends. But Delphine quickly discovers that things have changed while she’s been away…and some secrets can’t stay buried forever.
Moving between the trio’s adolescent years and the present day, The Ballerinas explores the complexities of female friendship, the dark drive towards physical perfection in the name of artistic expression, the double-edged sword of ambition and passion, and the sublimated rage that so many women hold inside––all culminating in a twist you won’t see coming, with magnetic characters you won’t soon forget.
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!)
I am Arcana
Author: Kristy Nicolle
Publication Date: December 7. 2021
Genre: Poetry
Thanks so much to the author for the gifted advanced copy of this collection.
Description from Goodreads:
THE CARDS KNOW ALL…
From the Author of Award-Winning fantasy romance “simply dripping with poetic justice” comes a debut poetry collection inspired by the enthralling world of tarot.
Divided into the 22 Major Arcana cards of the traditional tarot deck, Kristy Nicolle presents a brand new poetry collection with fresh insight into the multiple interpretations of each legendary icon.
From The High Priestess to The Fool, jump into a lyrical, poetic world of painful truth and natural beauty. A searing indictment of the world we know today, discover how the very mysticism which runs deep through our collective history is relevant now more than ever.
Simple, evocative, and thought-provoking, the world of tarot has never seemed so tangible.
Perfect for poetry fans of Nikita Gill, Julie Anne Addicott, Atticus, and Kate Baer.
20% Review:
Since this is such a short poetry collection, I was able to read it in one sitting and didn’t write a 20% review. But check out my full thoughts at 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, Valentine PR, and Netgalley for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book.
Description from 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?
20% Review:
20% in to the book, and we’ve had our first murder! So far we’ve met the cast of characters, which has been a lot of fun. I was trying to tie some fun Clue references out of it in the beginning (Mrs. White, a Colonel wearing yellow, a professor wearing purple, another young man wearing green, an eccentric older woman with lots of money? I mean, come on! I can’t be making this up!), but hey maybe that’s just me.
Thanks so much to the author, St. Martin’s Press, and Netgalley for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book.
Description from Goodreads:
Layla Hilding is thirty-five and recently divorced. Struggling to break free from the past—her glory days as the lead singer in a band and a ten-year marriage to a man who never put her first—Layla’s newly found independence feels a lot like loneliness.
Then there’s Josh, the single dad whose daughter attends the elementary school where Layla teaches music. Recently separated, he’s still processing the end of his twenty-year marriage to his high school sweetheart. He chats with Layla every morning at school and finds himself thinking about her more and more.
Equally cautious and confused about dating in a world that favors apps over meeting organically, Layla and Josh decide to be friends with the potential for something more. Sounds sensible and way too simple—but when two people are on the rebound, is it heartbreak or happiness that’s a love song away?
From the bestselling author of The Girl He Used to Know comes a love song of a story about starting over and second chances.
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!)
Five Tuesdays in Winter
Author: Lily King
Narrated by: Stacey Glemboski, various narrators, Mark Bramhall, Christa Lewis, Cassandra Campbell & Bronson Pinchot
Audio Publication Day: November 9, 2021
Genre: Short Stories, Fiction, Literary Fiction, Adult
Thanks so much to Blackstone Publishing and Libro.fm for the gifted advanced audio copy of this book.
Description from Goodreads:
By the award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of Writers & Lovers, Lily King’s first-ever collection of exceptional and innovative short stories
Told in the intimate voices of unique and endearing characters of all ages, these tales explore desire and heartache, loss and discovery, moments of jolting violence and the inexorable tug toward love at all costs. A bookseller’s unspoken love for his employee rises to the surface, a neglected teenage boy finds much-needed nurturing from an unlikely pair of college students hired to housesit, a girl’s loss of innocence at the hands of her employer’s son becomes a catalyst for strength and confidence, and a proud nonagenarian rages helplessly in his granddaughter’s hospital room. Romantic, hopeful, brutally raw, and unsparingly honest, some even slipping into the surreal, these stories are, above all, about King’s enduring subject of love.
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 reading this book!)
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.
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!
Heartbreak for Hire
Author: Sonia Hartl
Publication Day: October 4, 2021
Genre: Romance, Contemporary Romance, Fiction
Thanks so much to the author, Gallery Books, and Netgalley for the complimentary advanced electronic copy of this book.
Description from Goodreads:
Brinkley Saunders has a secret.
To everyone in the academic world she left behind, she lost it all when she dropped out of grad school. Once a rising star following in her mother’s footsteps, she’s now an administrative assistant at an insurance agency—or so they think.
In reality, Brinkley works at Heartbreak for Hire, a secret service that specializes in revenge for jilted lovers, frenemies, and long-suffering coworkers with a little cash to spare and a man who needs to be taken down a notch. It might not be as prestigious as academia, but it helps Brinkley save for her dream of opening an art gallery and lets her exorcise a few demons, all while helping to empower women.
But when her boss announces she’s hiring male heartbreakers for the first time, Brinkley’s no longer so sure she’s doing the right thing—especially when her new coworker turns out to be a target she was paid to take down. Though Mark spends his days struggling up the academic ladder, he seems to be the opposite of a backstabbing adjunct: a nerd at heart in criminally sexy sweater vests who’s attentive both in and out of the bedroom. But as Brinkley finds it increasingly more difficult to focus on anything but Mark, she soon realizes that like herself, people aren’t always who they appear to be.
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Check out my review here:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
Flower Crowns and Fearsome Things
Author: Amanda Lovelace
Publication Day: October 5. 2021
Genre: Poetry, Nonfiction, Adult
Thanks so much to the author, Andrews McMeel Publishing, and Netgalley for the complimentary advanced electronic copy of this book.
Description from Goodreads:
in her new standalone poetry collection, flower crowns & fearsome things, bestselling & award-winning poetess amanda lovelace explores the complexity of femininity through alternating wildflower & wildfire poems.
within these pages, you will find that each of us has the ability to be both soft & fierce at the same time. there is no need to choose one or the other.
20% Review:
Since this is such a short collection of poetry, it is very easy to read in one sitting, so I don’t have a 20% review for this one – but feel free to check out my full review at the link below!
Thanks so much to HarperAudio and Libro.fm for the complimentary advanced audio copy of this book.
Description from Goodreads:
From funny and fearless entertainment journalist Sesali Bowen, Bad Fat Black Girl combines rule-breaking feminist theory, witty and insightful personal memoir, and cutting cultural analysis for an unforgettable, genre-defining debut.
Growing up on the south side of Chicago, Sesali Bowen learned early on how to hustle, stay on her toes, and champion other Black women and femmes as she navigated Blackness, queerness, fatness, friendship, poverty, sex work, and self-love.
Her love of trap music led her to the top of hip-hop journalism, profiling game-changing artists like Megan Thee Stallion, Lizzo, and Janelle Monae.But despite all the beauty, complexity, and general badassery she saw, Bowen found none of that nuance represented in mainstream feminism. Thus, she coined Trap Feminism, a contemporary framework that interrogates where feminism and hip-hop intersect.
Notes from a Trap Feminist offers a new, inclusive feminism for the modern world. Weaving together searing personal essay and cultural commentary, Bowen interrogates sexism, fatphobia, and capitalism all within the context of race and hip-hop. In the process, she continues a Black feminist legacy of unmatched sheer determination and creative resilience.
Bad bitches: this one’s for you.
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Check out my review here:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
A Carnival of Snackery
Author: David Sedaris
Narrated by: David Sedaris & Tracey Ullman
Audio Publication day: October 5, 2021
Genre: Autobiography, Memoir, Nonfiction, Humor
Thanks so much to Hachette Audio and Libro.fm for the complimentary advanced audio copy of this book.
Description from Goodreads:
There’s no right way to keep a diary, but if there’s an entertaining way, David Sedaris seems to have mastered it.
If it’s navel-gazing you’re after, you’ve come to the wrong place; ditto treacly self-examination. Rather, his observations turn outward: a fight between two men on a bus, a fight between two men on the street, pedestrians being whacked over the head or gathering to watch as a man considers leaping to his death. There’s a dirty joke shared at a book signing, then a dirtier one told at a dinner party—lots of jokes here. Plenty of laughs.
These diaries remind you that you once really hated George W. Bush, and that not too long ago, Donald Trump was just a harmless laughingstock, at least on French TV. Time marches on, and Sedaris, at his desk or on planes, in hotel dining rooms and odd Japanese inns, records it. The entries here reflect an ever-changing background—new administrations, new restrictions on speech and conduct. What you can say at the start of the book, you can’t by the end. At its best, A Carnival of Snackery is a sort of sampler: the bitter and the sweet. Some entries are just what you wanted. Others you might want to spit discreetly into a napkin.
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Check out my review here:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
My Monticello
Author: Jocelyn Nicole Johnson
Narrated by: Aja Naomi King, January LaVoy, Landon Woodson, LeVar Burton, Ngozi Anyanwu & Tomiwa Edun
Audio Publication Day: October 5, 2021
Genre: Short Stories, Fiction, Historical Fiction
Thanks so much to Macmillan Audio and Libro.fm for the complimentary advanced audio copy of this book.
Description from Goodreads:
A young woman descended from Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings driven from her neighborhood by a white militia. A university professor studying racism by conducting a secret social experiment on his own son. A single mother desperate to buy her first home even as the world hurtles toward catastrophe. Each fighting to survive in America.
Tough-minded, vulnerable, and brave, Jocelyn Nicole Johnson’s precisely imagined debut explores burdened inheritances and extraordinary pursuits of belonging. Set in the near future, the eponymous novella, “My Monticello,” tells of a diverse group of Charlottesville neighbors fleeing violent white supremacists. Led by Da’Naisha, a young Black descendant of Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, they seek refuge in Jefferson’s historic plantation home in a desperate attempt to outlive the long-foretold racial and environmental unravelling within the nation.
In “Control Negro,” hailed by Roxane Gay as “one hell of story,” a university professor devotes himself to the study of racism and the development of ACMs (average American Caucasian males) by clinically observing his own son from birth in order to “painstakingly mark the route of this Black child too, one whom I could prove was so strikingly decent and true that America could not find fault in him unless we as a nation had projected it there.” Johnson’s characters all seek out home as a place and an internal state, whether in the form of a Nigerian widower who immigrates to a meager existence in the city of Alexandria, finding himself adrift; a young mixed-race woman who adopts a new tongue and name to escape the landscapes of rural Virginia and her family; or a single mother who seeks salvation through “Buying a House Ahead of the Apocalypse.”
United by these characters’ relentless struggles against reality and fate, My Monticello is a formidable book that bears witness to this country’s legacies and announces the arrival of a wildly original new voice in American fiction.
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Check out my review here:
(This will be added at a later time, 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 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!)
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!
Black Nerd Problems
Author: William Evans and Omar Holmon
Audio Publication Day: September 14, 2021
Genre: Nonfiction, Essays, Humor
Thanks so much to Simon & Schuster Audio and Libro.fm for the complimentary advanced audio copy of this book.
Description from Goodreads:
*A Book Riot Most Anticipated Nonfiction Book of 2021*
The creators of the popular website Black Nerd Problems bring their witty and unflinching insight to this engaging collection of pop culture essays on everything from Mario Kart and The Wire to issues of representation and police brutality across media.
When William Evans and Omar Holmon founded Black Nerd Problems, they had no idea whether anyone beyond their small circle of friends would be interested in their little corner of the internet. But soon after launching, they were surprised to find out that there was a wide community of people who hungered for fresh perspectives on all things nerdy, from the perspective of #OwnedVoices.
In the years since, Evans and Holmon have built a large, dedicated fanbase eager for their brand of cultural critique, whether in the form of a laugh-out-loud, raucous Game of Thrones episode recap or an eloquent essay on dealing with grief through stand-up comedy. Now, they are ready to take the next step with this vibrant and hilarious essay collection, which covers everything from X-Men to Breonna Taylor with insight and intelligence.
A much needed and fresh pop culture critique from the perspective of people of color, Black Nerd Problems is the ultimate celebration for anyone who loves a blend of social commentary and all things nerdy.
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’ve finished reading this book!)
Assembly
Author: Natasha Brown
Audio Publication Day: September 14, 2021
Genre: Literary Fiction, Contemporary
Thanks so much to Hachette Audio and Libro.fm for the complimentary advanced audio copy of this book.
Description from Goodreads:
Come of age in the credit crunch. Be civil in a hostile environment. Go to college, get an education, start a career. Do all the right things. Buy an apartment. Buy art. Buy a sort of happiness. But above all, keep your head down. Keep quiet. And keep going.
The narrator of Assembly is a black British woman. She is preparing to attend a lavish garden party at her boyfriend’s family estate, set deep in the English countryside. At the same time, she is considering the carefully assembled pieces of herself. As the minutes tick down and the future beckons, she can’t escape the question: is it time to take it all apart?
Assembly is a story about the stories we live within – those of race and class, safety and freedom, winners and losers.And it is about one woman daring to take control of her own story, even at the cost of her life. With a steely, unfaltering gaze, Natasha Brown dismantles the mythology of whiteness, lining up the debris in a neat row and walking away.
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 reading this book!)
Apples Never Fall
Author: Liane Moriarty
Audio Publication Day: September 14, 2021
Genre: Fiction, Mystery, Thriller
Description from Goodreads:
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Liane Moriarty comes a novel that looks at marriage, siblings, and how the people we love the most can hurt us the deepest
The Delaney family love one another dearly—it’s just that sometimes they want to murder each other . . .
If your mother was missing, would you tell the police? Even if the most obvious suspect was your father?
This is the dilemma facing the four grown Delaney siblings.
The Delaneys are fixtures in their community. The parents, Stan and Joy, are the envy of all of their friends. They’re killers on the tennis court, and off it their chemistry is palpable. But after fifty years of marriage, they’ve finally sold their famed tennis academy and are ready to start what should be the golden years of their lives. So why are Stan and Joy so miserable?
The four Delaney children—Amy, Logan, Troy, and Brooke—were tennis stars in their own right, yet as their father will tell you, none of them had what it took to go all the way. But that’s okay, now that they’re all successful grown-ups and there is the wonderful possibility of grandchildren on the horizon.
One night a stranger named Savannah knocks on Stan and Joy’s door, bleeding after a fight with her boyfriend. The Delaneys are more than happy to give her the small kindness she sorely needs. If only that was all she wanted.
Later, when Joy goes missing, and Savannah is nowhere to be found, the police question the one person who remains: Stan. But for someone who claims to be innocent, he, like many spouses, seems to have a lot to hide. Two of the Delaney children think their father is innocent, two are not so sure—but as the two sides square off against each other in perhaps their biggest match ever, all of the Delaneys will start to reexamine their shared family history in a very new light.
20% Review:
This book really jumped right in to the drama! We are getting a bit of a duel timeline, with the main timeline being after Joy goes missing, and some chapters jumping back in time to various points in the year prior. I’m really enjoying the main timeline, which has most of the action at this point – some of the chapters in the past are a bit slow, but I’m hoping that those will pick up some speed when it gets closer to her disappearance. I can’t wait to see what the answer to the mystery ends up being! Also – highly recommend the audiobook, if only for the awesome accent.
Tackling TBR 