Crown of Midnight by Sarah J Maas

⭐⭐⭐⭐

The second portion of April's assigned books for the SJM Readalong starts with Crown of Midnight. This is the second book Sarah J Maas's Throne of Glass series. The readalong is being organized by Jenn (The Book Refuge) and each portion will have various other booktubers helping host. The plan is to read SJM's backlist in publication order. I was able to use this book for the Love Has Sprung prompt booksta rec and the Taylor Swift Quarterly Challenge prompt Wildest Dreams (outside normal romance sub-genre). 

Now that Celaena is the King's Champions, she's been tasked to deal with various "traitors." As rebel forces start to grow stronger with the supposed backing of the missing Terrasen princess, Celaena is torn between helping those and staying alive. As Celaena struggles balancing her true motives, staying on the king's good side, her friendships with Dorian and Fehemia and a burgeoning romantic relationship with Chaol, the king's nefarious plans start to advance. Celaena and her friends are put into tough situations to make the best out of what's going on, but also struggle with being able to fully trust in each other. When a death occurs close to Celaena, all bets are off.

Wow, this was a good continuation of the series. I do have to say, while I really enjoyed this book as well, I think it will be after Throne of Glass on my ranking list. Back to here though. I really enjoyed seeing how Celaena was dealing with actually winning the competition and being forced to follow the King's bidding. I did love though that as the reader we got to see that she wasn't actually killing these so-called traitors, but helping them escape the continent. I loved that we got to see a lot more of Celaena's assassination skills and she was such a badass. I know that she'll just get more powerful from here though and I can't wait.

Now, there were a few detractors for me that kept it from 5-stars. One of the big parts though was the romance with Chaol. I didn't like the dynamic between them and just found myself so uninterested in their romance. I disliked the way he treated Dorian and Celaena in the first book at times, and really disliked how much he kept from her. It just didn't feel like he actually loved Celaena. He was constantly getting on my nerves and I was just over him. Another thing I do want to mention is that there are a lot of hints throughout that are revealed at the end of the book. I saw on the readalong discord that a lot of people were getting blown away by the ending, but because I caught a lot of the hints it was more of a "okay, I'm right" feeling. Not that it wasn't good, but I just want to put it out there since I feel it was a little overhyped for me. I was expecting things to be completely blown open. I have to say, I was more surprised by the fact that Dorian has magic than the reveals we learned about Celaena. But then, once again, she only confides in Chaol even though her and Dorian have more secrets shared between them!

I'm certainly happy to continue reading the story and can't wait to see how this is all going to culminate. As for the romance, at this point I'm really hoping it's with someone we haven't met yet since it seems that Dorian has been friend-zoned. I just don't like Chaol. What makes me the most excited about the next book, Heir of Fire, is that we are leaving Rifthold and heading to a new city. I'm excited to see how the world expands!

Have you read Crown of Midnight?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Crown of Midnight, Sarah J Maas, 4-stars, 2 days, eBook, 432 pages, published in 2013, traditionally published

Historical Romance Readathon TBR

Update: Wrap Up is posted! 

It's time for another readathon announcement! This time it's for the next round of the Historical Romance Readathon. As always, it's hosted by Jessica, Lisa and Lacey. They've made some pretty instagram templates, so check them out there. It will run from May 9th through the 15th. They usually do a live show on the last day, but I haven't seen an announcement about date and time yet. Below is the bingo board they've put together for this round!

I once again have a lot of ideas, so we'll see what I end up reading. The first two are books that are at the top of my list, followed by books I picked to fit prompts still left open. Then I added what I would read if I went full mood reader. Too many option once again, but I also tried to pick a lot I have in paperback! I also want to note that I will use books for multiple prompts once again.

🌺 The group book chosen for this round is the first book in Julie Garwood's Crown's Spies series, The Lion's Lady. From what I can tell, it will cover in a series, rake, clinch cover, spies, Julie Garwood and flowers on the cover.

🌺 The May Rake Appreciation Society book is The Marquess Makes His Move by Diana Quincy. The meeting is the following Thursday and it would cover at least part of a series, clinch cover and flowers on the cover.

🌺 A Lisa Kleypas I have yet to pick up that is a popular book of hers is Again the Magic. This is the prequel to her fabulous Wallflowers series. It can cover rags to riches hero, 2nd chance and in a series.

🌺 Looking through my paperbacks for a highlander book I hadn't read yet, I found How to Abduct a Highland Lord by Karen Hawkins. It would cover that but also part of a series, marriage of convenience and enemies to lovers.

🌺 Looking for a Western to pick up, I still have to read Lorraine Heath's Rogues in Texas series. The first book is Rogue in Texas and would cover single parent, part of a series and flowers on the cover as well.

🌺 Most of the historical romances I own are apart of a series, so I had to do some digging to find a standalone. I finally stumbled across a recent acquire; Scandalous by Jenna Petersen. This would cover standalone plus rake, clinch cover, marriage of convenience and flowers on the cover.

🌺 The final prompt I had to cover when putting together my list was heiress. This one took a while, but I finally decided on The Heiress Effect by Courtney Milan. It would also work for part of a series and indie published.

🌺 Some final quickfire ideas of historicals I want to read regardless of prompts are The Wife Trap by Tracy Anne Warren, The Good Girl's Guide to Rakes by Eva Leigh and Hitched to the Gunslinger by Michelle McLean.

It'll be fun to jump right from the Mafia Romance Readathon into this one. If you are looking for more ideas, check out my hrreadathon tag to see what I read the previous rounds I've participated in. You could also look at the historical romance tag too! I'm so excited to participate once again and am happy it's in the beginning of the month so I won't have a bunch of book club and readalong books to get to yet!

Will you be participating in the Historical Romance Readathon?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

Hard Hitter by Sarina Bowen

⭐⭐⭐⭐💫

As we approached the end of April, it was time to pick up the Smart Women Read Romance pick of the month! April's theme was hockey romance and the book that won was Hard Hitter by Sarina Bowen. This is the second book in her Brooklyn Bruisers series. I did want to read the first book in the series before this one, but I ran out of time. I was able to use this for the prompts couple on the cover (the other cover has it) for Love Has Sprung and Welcome to New York (set in New York) for the Taylor Swift Quarterly Challenge.

Patrick O'Doul, captain of the Brooklyn Bruisers is suffering through some hip flexor strain. The team has a resident massage therapist and yogi named Ari and he continuously cancels his appointments. Patrick doesn't liked to be touched, but is forced by owners and coaches to stop cancelling and heal up. Ari works with O'Doul to get him to properly flex out and treat his muscles. As they find themselves around each other more and more, a connection quickly sparks between them. When Ari's horrible ex enters the picture things get a little more dangerous for Ari. Thankfully O'Doul is there to help her out where needed and give her a safe place to stay.

First off, this was my first Sarina Bowen and I was pleasantly surprised. I'm pretty picky and critical of my hockey romances and it's hard for me to really enjoy one. Now here I thought the hockey aspect was pretty well done, but while 90% was good, the last 10% really bothered me. The biggest thing that bothered me was the push and pressure on the players to make the playoffs. They're constantly bouncing between being third and fourth in their division. If they are close enough to be constantly switching places, being in fourth pretty much guarantees a spot in the playoffs via the wildcard. I just didn't like that the wild card wasn't even mentioned and they kept acting like if they got fourth they were immediately out. There is a miniscule chance that they would miss the playoffs in that scenario, and that's only if the top 5 teams in the other division of their conference have more points in the season. Highly unlikely, but there is a chance. There were a couple other hockey things that bothered me, but that was the biggest. I think had the hockey aspects been off or wrong for most of it I could excuse it easier, but since it was so well done in other aspects that really stood out to me.

As for O'Doul and Ari, I really enjoyed their relationship. Sarina writes steam really well and I loved Patrick. I liked the progression of their relationship for the most part, but I do have to say that Ari was frustrating at parts. One, she wouldn't really accept that her ex was dangerous and she was putting herself (and those around her) in danger by denying how bad it was. I also didn't like the weird conclusion she arrived at when it came to the "third act breakup." It just wasn't very logical and didn't make sense to me at all why her brain jumped there. I also do want to say that her ex is very stereotypical and his whole plot line felt unnecessary. 

Despite all these little pieces, I still enjoyed this book. It just wasn't quite a full 5-stars for me. I'm definitely intrigued to read more both in this series and by Sarina Bowen in general. I was urged during the live show to read book 4 Brooklynaire by Jessen, Juliette and Jenn. I'll try to get to it soon, but I kind of want to go back to reading in order. We'll see what happens, but I have some readalong and book club books to get through first. I definitely will be picking up more Sarina Bowen.

Have you read Hard Hitter?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Hard Hitter, Sarina Bowen, 4.5-stars, 0 days, eBook, 336 pages, published in 2017, traditionally published

Mafia Romance Readathon TBR

Update: Wrap up is posted!

It's that time again for the Mafia Romance Readathon! It's once again being hosted by Jenn, Jessen, Jessica, Tiffany and Tori, but this time Madison is also joining as a host. It will run from May 5th through 8th. Jenn once again created a list of prompts that you can use to create your own bingo board! Below is the list of prompts and a copy of the blank board. She also has more templates on her instagram, so check them all out!

As you can see there are quite a few different prompts. This time when I made my board, I looked at what I most likely will be picking up and made sure to include a couple prompts that would work for those. Then I just added random ones to fill in. Below is my bingo board followed by my ideas!

🩸 My biggest want to read is to get caught up in the Queens and Monsters series by JT Geissinger. I still haven't read book 3 Savage Hearts and book 4 Brutal Vows just recent came out as well!

🩸 I also would like to continue going through Sophie Lark's backlist. I have the rest of the Underworld series to read as well as The Savage.

🩸 Another mafia series I want to continue in is the Five Points' Mob by Serena Akeroyd. 🩸🩸

🩸 I also have several new authors and series I've been intrigued by but haven't picked up. Below is my narrowed down list!
Crow by A. Zavarelli
Paying the Bratva's Debt by Jagger Cole
Raze by Tillie Cole 🩸🩸
A Kiss of Venom by Beena Khan
Bloodied Hands by Adelaide Forrest 🩸🩸

As you can see I have a lot of ideas once again. If you are looking for more options though, check out my tbr from last year as well as from the recent Dark Romance Readathon! Last year I got through 4 books, so I'm hoping I can least get through 3, but 4 would be perfect! It helps we're in the beginning of the month so I'm not set to get through a bunch of book club books.

Will you be participating in the Mafia Romance Readathon?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎 

Topaz by Beverly Jenkins

⭐⭐⭐⭐

The April book for Rake Appreciation Society was Topaz by Beverly Jenkins! This is one of her standalone novels, but most of Beverly Jenkins's books are in the same universe and do connect in some way. If you haven't heard of the Rake Appreciation Society, it's a historical romance book club hosted by Jenn and Crystal on YouTube and it's one of my favorites! I was able to use this for my Taylor Swift Quarterly Challenge for the prompt Blank Space (character that uses a gun) and the Love Has Sprung reading challenge for prompt diverse author.

Katherine is undercover as a reporter to expose a scheme by wealthy man Rupert. When undercover around him, she finds herself engaged to him to get closer to steal the evidence of his crimes. When he catches her, things hit the fan. Thankfully Kate's father is currently offering her hand in marriage to Marshall Dixon in return for selling off his cattle when he was presumed dead. Dix arrives in time to interrupt the wedding and steal Kate for himself. As they travel back to Indian Territory, where Dixon resides, they go by wagon and have a lot of time to connect and build their relationship.

I think this is my favorite Beverly Jenkins so far. I loved the humor and really enjoyed Dix as a hero. I do struggle with getting everything that I want in a 5-star from Beverly (so far), so I do have a few nit-picky things to touch on. First is the way that at times the romance feels secondary to whatever other plot points are happening. I think Topaz is the most romantic I've read so far and gave me most of what I need. I did pay attention to this one closely while reading and found a point that I struggle with. When it comes to her steamier scenes, I don't feel the tension between the characters. I was struggling with some of their kiss scenes early on and really payed attention once I was feeling let down once again. I have figured out why I feel disconnected with those scenes in particular and it's too many metaphors or roundabout ways of describing what the characters are feeling or doing. While I can go with one, there were times where one paragraph about the same moment would have three different metaphors. It just was too flowerly and almost felt removed from the situation for me to really feel the steaminess between the characters.

I do also have to say that while I love and commend Beverly for bringing to light events in history not everybody learns in school, sometimes they feel a little too history textbook-y. When it's something that our characters are going through or relate to them directly, I can understand it better. There are times though where we get a complete shift to get a history lesson and it really just removes me from the story. While I loved this book when I was reading it, I really struggled with the urge to pick it up once I put it down. This took me a lot longer than expected to get through and ended up setting it aside to do the Dark Romance Readathon.

Despite all the critiques though, I really did enjoy this book and like I said, it's my favorite Beverly Jenkins so far. I don't want to count out all of her books, but I think at this point her writing style just doesn't quite fit 100% with my tastes. I will read her in the future I'm sure, but it'll probably be because of a book club or buddy read or something. I'm not sure if I'll reach for one completely on my own. I had a lot of fun, as always, during the live show and can't wait until the next meeting!

Have you read Topaz?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Topaz, Beverly Jenkins, 4-stars, 7 days, eBook, 400 pages, published in 1997, traditionally published

Dark Romance Readathon Wrap Up

 Hello~ Happy Thursday!

Last weekend was the Dark Romance Readathon. It's hosted by Temecka, Heather, Isabel, Ashley and Nayema. It ran from April 15th through the 18th. In cased you missed my tbr post, below is the bingo card they used for the readathon.

Last year I only managed to read one book and with the Easter also going on, that was my goal once again. This time I managed to squeak in 2 books thanks to it running through Monday! Below is my final bingo board and the books I read.

❤ Untouchable by Sam Mariano - covered the prompts touch her and you die, public sex, bad ass heroine and obsessive hero

❤ The Devil and I by Kay Alastor - covered the prompts removal of a body part, touch her and you die, criminal and obsessive hero.

It's been a little bit since I've picked up a dark romance and this was perfect timing to kind of reset my reading brain before cramming in the rest of the book club and readalong books I have the rest of the month. After reading Untouchable I just had to reread The Devil and I and I really enjoyed myself. Coming in early May will be the next round of the Mafia Romance Readathon, so stay tuned for that tbr!

Did you participate in the Dark Romance Readathon?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

Untouchable by Sam Mariano

⭐⭐⭐⭐💫

Once the Dark Romance Readathon started, I put my current book on hold and looked through my tbr. I decided to finally pick up Untouchable by Sam Mariano. I picked this up thanks to the Dark Romance Readathon and it covered the prompts touch her and you die, public sex, bad ass heroine, and obsessive hero. I also applied it to the prompts forbidden romance for Love Has Sprung and The Last Great American Dynasty (wealthy character) for the Taylor Swift Quarterly Challenge.

After Zoey reported a football player at her high school for groping her, things have taken a turn for the worse. Being at a small town high school in Texas means football is king. She's just hoping to get through senior year at escape to college out of state. When her previous perpetrator corners her in an empty classroom, he threatens to assault her again with two of his buddies. Carter, the quarterback and most popular man in the school and town decides he wants to take the lead. After their encounter, Carter finds that he can't get Zoey out of his head and pushes her to pursue a relationship. Carter has rewired his brain though and doesn't have the normal personality traits one would expect. Zoey is intrigued in trying to work out the puzzle that is Carter and soon finds herself drawn to Carter's darkness.

Wow. This book... wow! Obviously there are quite a few triggers here, the biggest being assault both on and off the page. Now, I'll pass along what I was told. If you can get through the first few chapters, then it really kicks off and isn't quite as distressing. Now for me what was "triggering" was that she didn't really have a support system at all. I really hated that nobody was there for Zoey 100% and even her mother and "best friend" were more frustrated that their reputations were tarnished when Zoey reported the first assault.

Now, I did enjoy how Zoey was really interested in why Carter was acting the way he was and trying to figure out how to get him to act a certain way by changing her behavior. I really enjoyed this and was really swept up in also trying to figure out Carter. Now for me why this wasn't quite 5-stars was I wanted a little bit of give or compromise from Carter. He did nice things for Zoey and was more than willing to manipulate things around them to get things to happen that he wanted, but I wanted some sort of recognition or give. Just one scene to show that he could. I also didn't like that they didn't set up a safe word or something similar. It was talked about a couple of times that Carter likes it rough and he wasn't sure at times if the no was for play or for real. As the reader we know that she's done some research and she mentions it once, but I do wish it would've come up again. Otherwise, I loved the banter between Zoey and Carter.

I'm glad I finally got around to reading Untouchable and totally get the hype. If you are okay with dark romance and can push through the first few chapters it really is a gem. Although, it wouldn't be such a gem without those first few chapters. Here you really go through the work between Zoey and Carter to get that HEA and for me, it was worth it. I'm intrigued to read other books by Sam Mariano and if they are quite as dark as this. I'll definitely add her to my list of darker authors!

Have you read Untouchable?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Untouchable, Sam Mariano, 4.5 stars, 1 day, eBook, 541 pages, published in 2018, indie published

The Assassin and the Pirate Lord by Sarah J Maas

⭐⭐⭐⭐

I picked up the first prequel novella The Assassin and the Pirate Lord from the Throne of Glass series for the SJM readalong. It's hosted by Jenn (The Book Refuge) and friends. This was apart of the April part one assigned reading for the April 16th live show. Like I mentioned, there are 5 prequel novellas for the series, but Jenn is breaking them up to be read over time instead of in line. We are reading Sarah J Maas's backlist in publication order. I did also use this for the Taylor Swift Quarterly Challenge to cover the prompt I Knew You Were Trouble (a bad-boy character or a character that does a bad thing).

Celaena and fellow assassin Sam are headed to broker a deal between the Pirate Lord and King of the Assassins. When they arrive and find that they aren't there for restitution for the killing of one of their own, but to broker a deal for slaves, Celaena gets angry. She is against the idea of owning people and goes about freeing both shiploads of slaves with the help of Sam.

This was super fun, but a little bittersweet. I loved getting to see the assassin that Celaena used to be, but also learn more about the assassin's guild(?) she was a part of. Now this is bittersweet because we learn in Throne of Glass that Sam passed away and that there were some feelings that had developed between them. I had a lot of fun reading this prequel novella and just getting to see how Celaena was before being sent to the salt mines as a prisoner/slave.

I'm intrigued to see how the other prequel novellas are going to fit into the overall series, but if they are all little previous mission this'll be fun. If you didn't know, all 5 of the novellas are included in the Assassin's Blade anthology. So far so good in the first couple books in the SJM readalong. I can't wait to read more!

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: The Assassin and the Pirate Lord, Sarah J Maas, 4-stars, 0 days, eBook, 70 pages, published in 2012, traditionally published

Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas

⭐⭐⭐⭐💫

I have joined another long-running readalong! This time it is the SJM readalong created by Jenn (The Book Refuge)! Each portion she'll have different people helping her host, but since it'll be constantly changing I'll just focus on linking to Jenn. So the readalong is going be reading through Sarah J Maas's backlist in publication order, hopefully ending around the time of her newest release (which hasn't been announced yet). I have not read SJM before, but I'm excited to finally dive in. For April there are two books and two novellas assigned, but they are being separated into two different live shows. For the first, scheduled for today April 16th, we are to read the first book in the Throne of Glass series, Throne of Glass. I also used this for my two reading challenges. It covered the prompt Fifteen (young adult story, story with teens or a lot of angst) for the Taylor Swift Quarterly Challenge and the prompt new to you author for Love Has Sprung.

Celaena is an assassin and one of the best. It has been a year since she has been captured and sent to work in the salt mines of Endovier. When the Crown Prince of Adarlan Dorian arrives, he is hoping to convince Celaena to become his contender in a competition/trial to become the king's Champion. Celaena agrees since once her service is done she'll have her freedom, but things aren't as they seem. As she butts heads with the Captain of the Guard Chaol and other competitors start turning up dead outside of the trials, Celaena knows there more here then meets the eye. When she gets visited by the ghost of the first queen of Adarlan, she is tasked to deal with the evil being being called to this world through Wyrdgates, magic that was thought lost.

Oh my gosh! I really loved this. I've been pretty open about never really reading young adult books and I was a little hesitant coming into this. I've also heard that it's a rough start to the series but that it gets a lot better later in the series. If this is how it starts, my mind is going to be absolutely blown as we get through the series. I really loved this and if this was Sarah J Maas's debut and she grows from here, I'm even more excited to get through her series. Now, I know that the romance gets heavier later on in the series and I really hope it's not a love triangle between Dorain and Chaol. I haven't looked ahead since I don't want to be spoiled for anything, but if I have to choose between the two, I would be team Dorian. I don't know though... I feel like neither of them are the match for Celaena. I'm sure they're all going to grow and the world will expand.

So moving on from the gushing, what dropped this down to a 4.5-stars for me was to do with Chaol and Dorian. I wasn't that big of a fan of Chaol and didn't like his hot and cold reactions with Celaena. I also was confused on his naivete about the world. With Dorian being the crown prince, you would typically expect him to be the one that's not fully aware of what's going in the world. While he doesn't know everything, Dorian was at least aware of things going on and that life wasn't idyllic as the other nobles thought for the commoners. Chaol, even though he was a nobleman turned guard, was a lot more oblivious. I just got confused because if Chaol was one of the only people that Dorian was able to discuss these things with, why was he so constantly surprised by what was going on. While I liked that it was opposite than normal, it just felt odd for him to be so oblivious to some things.

Overall I can't wait to read more and see where the story is going to go. I had so much fun reading Throne of Glass and am so happy this readalong is pushing me to finally read her books! I really am excited to dig into more and it'll be fun, since we are going in publication order, to watcher her writing evolve and grow from book to book. I think I might need to join the Maas fan club now!

Have you read Throne of Glass?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Throne of Glass, Sarah J Maas, 4.5-stars, 0 days, eBook, 433 pages, published in 2012, traditionally published

Hollywood Dreams by Molly O'Hare

⭐⭐⭐💫

After reading Learning Curves, I decided to pick up another Molly O'Hare since it worked for my Love Has Sprung prompt Office Romance. I decided to pick up her debut book Hollywood Dreams. I was also able to use it to cover the prompt Back to December (published in December) for the Taylor Swift Quarterly Challenge. Now this is listed on the cover as a part of the Holly Hopeful series, but from what I've been able to find, there is no series page and no other books have been published in it at this time.

Maggie's been in Hollywood trying to make it big as an actress. When she gets a minor role in the latest movie for Hollywood superstar and bad boy Trevor, they start off on the wrong foot. After she accidentally walks in on him in a delicate situation, Trevor gets angry and jumps to conclusions about who she is and why she's on set. As they keep running into each other, Trevor starts to reflect on his own feelings and understand why he keeps seeking her out to push. When Maggie second guesses his feelings after the way she's been treated by him, Trevor has some groveling to do... big time.

So first off, I do want to mention that this is Molly's debut novel. There are moments that are gems in here that I really enjoyed and you can see the start of how that will evolve to her more current releases. The big issue here though is both Trevor and Maggie. Now this is a bigger enemies to lovers than I usually prefer and there are a lot of hurtful things that Trevor says to Maggie in the beginning. Now, we do get his perspective and can see that he just can't stop himself from goading her and at least internally regrets what he's saying as it comes out or immediately after. Now, yes he says some terrible things or doesn't speak out when other people do, but I do also think that not only did Trevor need to do some big reflecting on himself, but Maggie needed to chill a little bit. I completely understand why she fought back and that she was on the more on the feistier side, but I think she also needed to have a little more grace for Trevor, especially with the first big meeting. He is a top billed movie star, constantly tracked and harassed by the media and paparazzi. While he took it a little too far after the fact, for him to jump to conclusions when being walked in while in an intimate situation with someone else is understandable. I just didn't like that Maggie completely went from zero to absolutely loathe. I also didn't like her wishy-washy-ness with sleeping with Trevor but that's it.

Let's talk about what I did like here though. Now in Learning Curves one of my biggest issues was with side characters. Here, that was not the case. I loved the friends of both Maggie and Trevor. I loved how they were supportive and were able to both joke around, but also be serious and have "real talk" when it was needed. I love when our main characters have good friends that are properly supportive and it just really made the situation between Trevor and Maggie a lot more palatable for me. For being her debut novel though, I liked the concept and can see how this was the jumping point for her writing career.

This was fun to go back and read Molly's debut after getting through a few of her newer releases. It's always fun to compare and see how an author grows and improves. I'm excited to continue getting through Molly O'Hare's backlist and can hopefully catch up before her next release! Her books are just feel-good, fluffy fun!

Have you read Hollywood Dreams?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Hollywood Dreams, Molly O'Hare, 3.5 stars, 1 day, eBook, 244 pages, published in 2017, indie published

Learning Curves by Molly O'Hare

⭐⭐⭐⭐

With a little more time for mood reading, I randomly picked up Learning Curves by Molly O'Hare. I recently picked her up for the first time and wanted to try more of her books. Thankfully I was able to use this for the Love Has Sprung prompt diverse heroine and the Taylor Swift Quarterly Challenge prompt You Need To Calm Down (blue on the cover).

Spencer has moved to a new state to find a good elementary school for his daughter Annabelle since she has dyslexia and other learning disabilities. When they arrive to meet the teacher before class begins, she is running late. He agrees to a meeting a couple days later, but stays on pins and needles that first day after his daughter's horrific experience at her old school. When he picks her up after the first day she is over the moon and loves her new teacher. When Spencer and Ellie meet up for the first time, things go wrong and misunderstandings occur. Ellie, someone who grew up with similar learning disabilities herself, is now both a special education teacher and a registered psychologist. She loves teaching and helping her students find the best way for them to function in school. As Spencer and Ellie find themselves bumping into each other around town they start to let down their guards.

This was so super cute and I really loved Ellie, Spencer and Annabelle. There is a small prologue to start things off, but it's actually more of an author's note since it is written by Molly and goes over her own experiences with learning disabilities and her inspiration for not only this book, but Ellie. It pretty much had me in tears before the book started. I loved that we didn't really get a third act conflict that was typical of contemporary romances. While this was a little quick, I did like that the characters themselves did talk about it and still approach some situations with caution. Even though it was a little quick, it felt natural that everything just seemed to click. I think it definitely helped that Spencer and Ellie were both older so they definitely knew what it was they wanted and needed.

Now, my only real detractor was the side characters. Usually I can set them aside, but it was just too much that it actually started bothering me. I liked Spencer's father and while there was some quirkiness from him, it was paired with moments of serious or just calm thought out conversations. Where my issue was is with Ellie's support system. It was just too much and it really started to bother me. Her friend Sally was overly quirky, her mom was overly quirky and her father was overly quirky. They were all different kinds of quirky, but it just felt like too much. There were a few times when Ellie would ask them to stop or move on and they just wouldn't listen to her. Yes there were times it was all in jest and they were playing around, but it wasn't like that all the time. We hear from Ellie that there were moments of serious between them all, but we don't really see it in the book. Like I said, it just was too much so eventually it just started to rub me wrong. I was able to get past it overall, but I just want to let others know since I know that can be a pet peeve of readers.

This was cute and the core relationship really made the book for me. I just loved the connection between Spencer and Annabelle, Annabelle and Ellie, and Spencer and Ellie. I'm really enjoying Molly O'Hare's backlist and am excited to get to more of her books. They're just good fluffy happy books and sometimes that's really what I need to be mixed into my normal reading routines. If you haven't read Molly O'Hare before and like sweet romcoms, definitely check her out!

Have you read Learning Curves?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Learning Curves, Molly O'Hare, 4 stars, 1 day, eBook, 253 pages, published in 2020, indie published

Dark Romance Readathon TBR

 Hello and Happy Tuesday!

I'm back for another readathon announcement, and a little late this time. Somehow I missed the announcement that went up a little bit ago, but it's time for the next round of the Dark Romance Readathon! It's once again hosted by Heather, Isabel, Temecka, Ashley and Nayema. This year they went back to the bingo board layout. The blank bingo board is below. Last year I ended up only read one book for the readathon, but I feel like going into it I'm in more of the mood for Dark Romance and it'll be a good addition to the remaining books I have to read for the month.

Now, below will be a few ideas that I have for the weekend, but I'm not having as many this time. I went more with the mafia route since one of those could easily get me a bingo. I also looked at what prompts I have remaining for the first bingo board of Love Has Sprung and what wasn't already covered by the book club books I have to get through the rest of the month. This has led to a more specific idea list for me than I usually do, but we'll see what happens! I should also mention, there is a unofficial group book that will guarantee a bingo and it's Dark Mafia Prince by Annika Martin. I'm not going to be picking it up, but just thought I should mention it.

❤ One mafia series I haven't picked up in a while is Cora Reilly's Born in Blood Mafia Chronicles. I am planning on going through the reading order suggested on her website so will need to read Bound by Love before finally getting to the Camorra Chronicles.

❤ I also need to read more in Serena Akeroyd's Five Points' Mob series and the next book I have to pick up there is Filthy Rich.

❤ I've also been intrigued by Tillie Cole's Raze for a while but still haven't picked it up yet. She's an author I haven't read yet.

❤ Another new to me mafia author I've been wanting to try is Adelaide Forrest. I want to start her Bellandi Crime Syndicate series and the first book is Bloodied Hands.

❤ Getting out of the mafia books, the only other dark romance I'm looking at is Untouchable by Sam Mariano. It's a favorite of Jenn's and I've been wanting to read it for a while. Just haven't been in the mood. Maybe now's the time to pick it up!

Hopefully I'll be able to get through at lease one book again, but I'm hoping at least two or three. It's also Easter weekend and I have plans on Saturday and Sunday, but we'll see what I can get done!

Will you be participating in the Dark Romance Readathon?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

Parks and Provocation by Juliette Cross

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

With a little bit of free time to mood read, I knew I had to pick up Parks and Provocation by Juliette Cross. This is a new release and I actually read it as an ARC (advanced reader's copy). I received the ARC because I am apart of Juliette's patreon and this was the first time I've ever read an ARC! This is the 2nd book in the SmartyPants Romance series Green Valley Heroes. If you haven't heard of SmartyPants Romance, it's a publishing company created by Penny Reid. After her Knitting in the City and Winston Brothers series got so massive, she created a Penny Reid Universe. Via SmartyPants Romance not only does it publish Penny's books, but other authors' works set in the same settings as her series. Green Valley Heroes takes place in Green Valley, the same city the Winston Brothers reside in. Back to Parks and Provocation though. I was able to apply this to the prompts New Release for Love Has Sprung and Bad Blood (enemies to lovers) for the Taylor Swift Quarterly Challenge. I was also able to use this for my April roll for the Yahtzee challenge which was the small straight.

Lola is back in her small town of Green Valley after getting laid off from her corporate marketing job in New Orleans. When she does something silly, Jed, her high school nemesis and now fireman is there to rescue her. As they reconnect and realize that the mutual crushes that went awry in high school are still there, maybe even stronger, Lola still plans on finding the perfect marketing job. Jed hopes to make her fall in love with him before she has to leave.

Oh my gosh, this was just the same kind of feeling I get from Juliette's Stay a Spell series and I absolutely loved it! I'm so happy for her that she was able to join SmartyPants Romance and this is her first published contemporary romance! I loved Jed, he was just so freaking swoony. I usually enjoy firefighter and everyday-hero heroes like him, but I absolutely loved Jed. We also got some good representation for Dyslexia. I'm also a huge sucker for mutual pining and we get that in spades here. While I'm not the biggest fan of enemies to lovers, this didn't quite push it that much for me. The reason why they kind of became enemies in high school was the mutual pining/crushes and misunderstandings due to teenage hormones.

I mean this is just pretty much a gush fest for me because I love Juliette both as an author and a person. Parks and Provocation was such a great expansion to Green Valley and I really hope that Juliette is able to write more both with SmartyPants and in this specific series as well. There were quite a few side characters I want books for and they seem a little teased. If I were to pick something that was a little bit of a detraction, I think it would be the third act conflict. It was a little predictable, but it wasn't bothersome to me. I think the grovel that Lola did was pretty special. Also, I should say be prepared to be teased by the sexual tension. It is top freaking notch!

I love Juliette and can't wait to read whatever she has next as well as what I have left on her backlist. She's one of my favorite authors and I know she has a few more releases planned for this year. If you haven't read Juliette Cross yet, please do so! Please, please, please!

Have you read Parks and Provocation?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Parks and Provocation, Juliette Cross, 5-stars, 2 days, eBook, 343 pages, published in 2022, indie published

The King of Fire & Blood Heir by Ilona Andrews

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

To start off April, I decided to finally pick up the next books in what was former the Kate Daniels readalong. Now that the Kate Daniels series is officially over, we are moving over to the newest spin-off, Aurelia Ryder! The readalong is hosted by Heather, Stef and Megan and I think the plan is to eventually get through most of Ilona Andrew's backlist! For April the plan was to read the prequel short story The King of Fire and book 1, Blood Heir. The short story is available for free on their website, but it's also included at the end of Blood Heir. Since The King of Fire was pretty short, I didn't use it for either of my reading challenges, but I was able to use Blood Heir for the Love Has Sprung prompt first book in a series and the Taylor Swift Quarterly Challenge prompt Everything Has Changed (story has magic or spells).

Before we get into the meat of the review, let's chat about The King of Fire. It's a short story that is several years after Magic Triumphs, but several years before Blood Heir. We see Julie hanging out with Conlan in Roland's pocket dimension. She's trying to stay anchored as she's intentionally gotten herself captured by Moloch. She's there to try to bring him down since she was notified by Sierra (one of the witch oracles) of a prophecy that Moloch killing Kate would pretty bring a second apocalypse. Julie is going to try to stop it. We then get Julie leaving Moloch's fortress while it burns to the ground and she reveals to Erra that Moloch stole one of her eyes. Julie, badass that she is, stole one back and now has one of Moloch's eyes in her head!

Quick thoughts... this was such a good primer to get me back into the Kate Daniels universe. I was already really excited and hyped to jump in, but this was a good way to bridge what was going on and also give a hint to what was going on with Julie before being told in Blood Heir. 

In Blood Heir Julie is back in Atlanta, only now she goes by Aurelia Ryder. She looks and smells different and is hoping that she doesn't get recognized. She has been told by Sierra that it's the last chance to keep the prophecy from coming true. She's in town to investigate a murder of a priest and the connections it has to Moloch. As she tries to avoid her friends and family (if they know she's there the prophecy will come to pass), she struggles with her sense of identity. While she knows that the people that actually know her shouldn't recognize her and it would be better if they don't, there's still a part of her that hopes that they do. When she ends up joining forces with Derek, now going by Darren, she's torn on her feelings. As Moloch's minions high priest starts going against Julie as well, things come to a head.

Oh my freaking goodness, this was so freaking good. How is it that every book I read in this universe by Ilona Andrews gets better and better. There is so much we need to learn about the time jump and I need to know it all! So, this is 8 years later and about 4 years after the short story. Julie has fully grown up and is a badass like Kate, but her own version. I love how the few people that realize who she is point out that she has similar tendencies as Kate and all the little nods were just so heartwarming. We also get to know that it didn't take long (two weeks) for Julie to reach out to Kate and Curran after leaving. There was so much going on in this book and I absolutely loved it and can't wait to read what happens next. Usually I would spend a couple paragraphs going over my thoughts and feelings on the book, but since there's already so much, I'll just keep it simple. This was absolutely amazing and if you've read the Kate Daniels series and haven't start this one... YOU NEED TO READ THIS BOOK!

I am just so happy to finally get back to more Ilona Andrews and can't wait to read what comes next. I haven't talked about it too much, but I did start a booktube channel where I mostly stick to doing vlogs and other fun random things. I vlog all of my reads, so you can check out my channel. It'll be included in week 14's vlog which will be out next Wednesday. Tonight is the live show as well and I can't wait to gush about this book with everyone else! I'll link to both videos when they are posted!

Have you read The King of Fire and Blood Heir?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: The King of Fire, Ilona Andrews, 4-stars, 0 days, eBook, 6 pages, published in 2018, indie published

STATISTICS: Blood Heir, Ilona Andrews, 5-stars, 1 day, Paperback, 375 pages, published in 2021, indie published

The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

After watching the second season of Bridgerton on Netflix, I was very disappointed. I immediately picked up the book version, The Viscount Who Loved Me. This is the second book in Julia Quinn's Bridgertons series. I was able to use this to cover the prompt favorite author for Love Has Sprung as well as the Teardrops On My Guitar (instrument in the story) prompt for the Taylor Swift Quarterly Challenge.

Kate and her sister Edwina are in London to take part in the season. Since it's just them and their mother Mary, they are not as well off financially. There is really only once chance for a season and hopefully Edwina can find a good match. While Kate is also needing to be married, she's on the older end of the spectrum and is not the classic beauty that the ton likes. When Anthony, Viscount Bridgerton, decides it's time to find a wife, he plans to go after whomever is the incomparable. When Edwina is known to be as such, he approaches Kate since she is the one to be offering a blessing in place of their father. As Anthony tries to sway Kate to gain her approval to marry Edwina, they start to feel a spark between them. When their respective traumas put Kate and Anthony to open up to each in a way they haven't with any other person, they just can't seem to hold back their feelings anymore.

Honestly, this is my favorite Bridgerton book and is absolute perfection. This is the third time I've read in in the past couple years and I feel like it gets better every time. I absolutely adore Anthony and Kate and love how much they connect to each over their role as eldest sibling. As the eldest sibling myself, I find myself connecting with them in a lot of different ways. And while my fears aren't the same as Kate's, I do understand wanting to keep any issues or problems that can be perceived as week since you have to be so strong for others as well as yourself. Now I loved this book before, but it has come to mean a lot more after loosing my mother. While I don't quite have the fear that Anthony does, I do relate in the fact that it's just really hard to comprehend that I will most like live longer than my Mom did. I understand it logically, but emotionally it's hard.

Usually I try to keep my reviews to two paragraphs about my thoughts on the book and while I could, it would just be more of me gushing about how beautiful and amazing this is, I'm going to keep it a little short this time. Seriously, if you enjoy historical romance and haven't read the Bridgertons, certainly check it out. There's a lot of variances on which is a favorite book (like most everything), but the family aspect throughout is just absolutely masterful! I would love to marry into the Bridgertons!

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: The Viscount Who Loved Me, Julia Quinn, 5-stars, 4 days, Paperback, 378 pages, published in 2000, traditionally published

March 2022 Wrap Up

Happy April!

Happy Spring!

With all of my March reading plans, things didn't go so well. I got quite a bit slumpy and didn't read near as much as I both wanted and planned. That's okay though. I've learned to just roll with it and not try to force myself to read more than I want. While it's weird in the slump to not be enjoying reading or even just wanting to at all, I at least have enough other interests that I don't end up feeling completely adrift. Well, there's not too much, so let's get into it!

March 2022

💗 I read 10 books for 3,066 pages

💗 I averaged 1.50 days per book
💗 The average page count is 306.60
💗 I read 1 book under 100 pages, 1 book in the 200s and 8 in 300s

💗 I read 2 books for clubs
💗 I read 5 books with diversity
💗 I picked up 2 new authors
💗 I reread 1 book

💗 I previously owned 4 of the books and added 5 to my wishlist
💗 I read 2 books in paperback, 7 in eBook and 1 audiobook
💗 I read 2 books that were published traditionally and 8 that were indie published
💗 I read 1 book published in the 2000s, 7 in the 2010s and 2 in the 2020s

💗 My average rating is 4.5
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - 6 books
⭐⭐⭐⭐💫 - 1 book
⭐⭐⭐⭐ - 1 book
⭐⭐⭐💫 - 1 book
⭐⭐⭐- 1 book

💗 I read 2 historical romances, 2 urban fantasies, 1 paranormal romance and 5 contemporary romances.
💗 For contemporaries I read 1 small-town and 4 normal.

1. The Tyrant Alpha's Rejected Mate by Cate C. Wells ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

2. The Opposite of You by Rachel Higginson ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

3. The Difference Between Us by Rachel Higginson ⭐⭐⭐⭐💫

4. The Problem with Him by Rachel Higginson ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

5. The Something About Her by Rachel Higginson ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

6. The Proposal by Mary Balogh ⭐⭐⭐💫

7. A False Start by Elsie Silver ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

8. Burn by Suzanne Wright ⭐⭐⭐

9. The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

10. The King of Fire by Ilona Andrews ⭐⭐⭐⭐

💗 This is a hard choice since most of the books I read this month were really good, but I think my favorite would have to be The Tyrant Alpha's Rejected Mate. I wasn't expecting to love it as much as I did and it's been a little bit since I've read not just a paranormal romance, but a werewolf one! My lease favorite would be my lowest rated, Burn by Suzanne Wright. I just had a lot of issues with the hero character.

So far I've read a couple books for April and it seems like my reading will be picking up. I'm hoping that I'll be able to make better progress for both the Love Has Sprung and Taylor Swift reading challenges. I also am starting another readalong which will be an author that's highly popular and has been on my tbr for a while, but still haven't picked up. I'm excited for that so stay tuned!

How was you reading in March?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

Burn by Suzanne Wright

⭐⭐⭐

With the end of March approaching, it was time for me to pick up the book for the Smart Women Read Romance patreon exclusive review. The theme for March was Urban Fantasy and Burn by Suzanne Wright won the poll. This is the first book in her Dark in You series. For Love Has Sprung I used this to cover the prompt updated or redone cover prompt and the Mean (book with a mean character) prompt for the Taylor Swift Quarterly Challenge.

When Harper stands in for her cousin Khloe during an underground demon fight, she draws the attraction of the local Prime Knox. When they meet, they come to find out their demons are anchors for each other. This means that they have a psychic link that helps strengthen their demon and also keep it grounded and from going rogue. Knox wants more from Harper though and also pushes for a physical relationship. As they come to terms with becoming mates as well as an anchor, a lot starts happening around them. Demon politics is starting to implode, Harper's birth mother is causing issues since she's apart of Knox's lair, black magic practitioners are targeting Knox (and now Harper), and Knox's childhood friend is deluded and thinks that she's his anchor.

While the blurb and set up of this book really intrigued me, there was just too much going on. I really struggled getting into the book and didn't really get past rereading paragraphs or going back to figure out what exactly happened until about 45% in. There was just something about the writing style that didn't click with me. To touch on the more positive before we get into what I didn't enjoy, I really liked Harper. She had some great growth and really came to adapt to the situation and fight past her previous experiences to get what she wanted. I loved how she was so powerful and sassy and really didn't let anyone take advantage of herself. She was just so confident that she could get out of any situation, but she also wasn't over-confident. I also was really intrigued by the demon setup and the mythos that Suzanne created.

Now, there were quite a lot of things that bothered me (like the bitter exes and way to many sub-plots), but the biggest thing that held back the rating for me was Knox. Yes he's an alpha-hole to the nth extreme, but we saw no softness. He was constantly pushing Harper, even when she asked him not too. There were a lot of sex scenes, but honestly, none of them felt steamy to me. I felt that the chemistry and emotional connection was completely missing. It just felt like banging all the time. I get he likes it rough and to be in control, but just once it would've been nice for Knox to give Harper what she wanted instead of "giving her what he knows she can take." Little things like that kept rubbing me wrong and there wasn't enough good moments in between to balance it out and I just kept feeling more and more offended on Harper's behalf. Never-mind he goes completely nuclear at the end even though Harper saved herself.

I will try other Suzanne Wright books, especially since I've had her Phoenix Pack series on my tbr for a while and have had good things about it. A lot of the people were around the same rating as me during the live show but enjoyed the first few books in her werewolf series. I will go into it though with tempered expectations, especially since I know that her writing style isn't as easy to read for me. I won't give up yet though!

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Burn, Suzanne Wright, 3 stars, 2 days, eBook, 344 pages, published in 2015, indie published

A False Start by Elsie Silver

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

After getting through The Proposal, I needed something a little bit more my speed. The day after I finished it was the release of Elsie Silver's fourth and final book in her Gold Rush Ranch series, A False Start. It came out March 18th and I couldn't wait to pick it up as it was one of my most anticipated releases for the first quarter of 2022. I was able to apply it to the Love Has Sprung prompt a favorite author of Shelby's and the Taylor Swift Quarterly Challenge prompt Tim McGraw (set on a farm/ranch).

Griffin is Stefan's best friend. When he finds out the woman he made out with in the local bar's bathroom is not only 14-years younger than him, but his friend's little sister, he attempts to put distance between them. When Nadia comes back from vet tech school after two years and Griffin takes a job with young colts on Gold Rush Ranch, they see each other a lot more. The ultimate grump can't seem to stay away from Nadia, and she doesn't want him too. As they both open up to each other about their own traumas, it seems that their respective "jagged edges" fit together perfectly.

Oh my gosh, Elsie has done it again. Another freaking swoony, dirty talker, grumpy hero. Although I do have to say that Griffin is definitely her grumpiest so far. I loved seeing how closed down he was to everyone, even Stefan. Nadia just seemed to somehow break through all of his barrier without him realizing it and I loved how much he just yearned to be near her. She could rattle on about anything under the sun and Griffin was happy to just sit and listen. I loved the way that Nadia and Griffin evolved and how they really pushed each other to deal with their issues but in a supportive way. It was just so well done.

I do have to say, of the four full length books in the series this might be my least favorite, but that doesn't detract from the rating at all. It just means that the previous books were that much more. One reason while it didn't jump over any of the others was the time jumps. They fit the story and made complete sense, but I did want the last one to happen a little bit earlier so we could see them in their hea a little longer. Even more since this is the last book in the series so I just would've loved to have more time with the family that's been built at Gold Rush Ranch. I do want to mention a little bit about triggers that might be there and the touchier subjects Elsie writes about. As we knew from Stefan's book The Front Runner, their father was abusive but we hear more about it from Nadia's POV. There's also Griffin and that he's suffering from the after effects of a bad concussion that ended his sports career. I think that Elsie handled them superbly (once again).

I can't wait to read what Elsie writes next and am excited for the spin-off series that she's teased. It hasn't been announced officially (that I've seen), but all clues point to it being about Violet's brothers (the heroine from A Photo Finish). I guess the eBook version has a short scene teaser? I read this in paperback though so I didn't get it. I did however, thanks to her newsletter, get a 2nd epilogue for A False Start plus a scene with Billy and Vaughn's wedding (that takes place before).

Have you read A False Start?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: A False Start, Elsie Silver, 5-stars, 4 days, Paperback, 392 pages, published in 2022, indie published