Book – World of Bai

Book Review: “Listen For The Lie” By Amy Tintera

I had honestly not heard to much about this book before I had read it. It was recommended to me by one of my Bookstagram friends moreazlibros for my 12 books from 12 friends challenge for this year. I am really happy that this book was suggested to me as I probably wouldn’t have picked it up otherwise.

“You don’t owe anyone your whole story.”
Amy Tintera, Listen for the Lie

About The Book

Author: Amy Tintera

Publisher: Celadon Books

Published Date: March 5th, 2024

Page Count: 336 Page Count

Main Genre: Mystery, Thriller

GoodReads Rating: 4.07

Format: Audio

“I am not responsible for the fake version of me you created in your head.”
Amy Tintera, Listen for the Lie

Synopsis

Lucy and Savvy were the golden girls of their small Texas town: pretty, smart, and enviable. Lucy married a dream guy with a big ring and an even bigger new home. Savvy was the social butterfly loved by all and, if you believe the rumors, especially popular with the men in town. But after Lucy is found wandering the streets, covered in her best friend Savvy’s blood, everyone thinks she is a murderer.

It’s been years since that horrible night, a night Lucy can’t remember anything about, and she has since moved to LA and started a new life. But now the phenomenally huge hit true crime podcast Listen for the Lie and its too-good looking host, Ben Owens, have decided to investigate Savvy’s murder for the show’s second season. Lucy is forced to return to the place she vowed never to set foot in again to solve her friend’s murder, even if she is the one who did it.

The truth is out there, if we just listen.

Synopsis From GoodReads

Rating

Review

This book has a pretty unreliable narrator as our main character. She doe snot remember anything form the night that her friend was murdered, all she knows is that everyone suspects it was her and she can’t really blame them.

I at first was really struggling with the main characters inner thoughts as it made her seem very guilty to me. I wasn’t sure why we were even reading this book if she was having thoughts of murdering everyone around. Talk about a guilty conscious! But as the plot started to unfold everything started to click, thankfully!

I think I hated every character in this book at one point or another, except for Beverly, our main characters grandma. She was hilarious and always knew everything going on around which made me love her even more.

The ending of this book was very shocking to me. I didn’t expect the murderer to be who it ended up being at all. This made the ending unpausable and had me on the edge of my seat. But this was pretty much the feeling all throughout the book though because it seemed to have twists and turns being tossed around at every corner.

If I could have lived without one thing in the entire story it would have been the random love plotline between the podcaster and our main character. It just wasn’t needed and didn’t add much to the whole story.

Overall I would recommend this book to people who love true crime podcasts as the audiobook was well produced and felt like a true podcast story was unfolding before my ears.

“Some people will never believe you no matter how hard you explain yourself. Trust me, there’s no pleasing people. If they’re determined to think the worst of you, they will.”
Amy Tintera, Listen for the Lie

QOTD: DO you have a favorite Podcast?

“People don’t believe women who fight back. When a man lashes out, people say he’s lost control of his temper or made a terrible mistake. When a woman does it, she’s a psychopath.”
Amy Tintera, Listen for the Lie

Book Review: “To Sir Phillip, With Love” By Julia Quinn

It has been a while since I have picked up a Bridgerton Book but with Season 4 about to Air on Netflix I decided this was the perfect time to dive back in. Mostly because I heard that Eloise starts a bit of her journey this season and so I would like to be overly caught up.

“Men. The day they learned to admit to a mistake was the day they became women.”
Julia Quinn, To Sir Phillip, With Love

About The Book

Author: Julia Quinn

Publisher: Avon

Published Date: July 1st, 2003

Page Count: 372 Pages

Main Genre: Historical Romance

GoodReads Rating: 3.69

Format: Audio Book

“. . . I do not tell you often enough, dear Mother, how very grateful I am that I am yours. It is a rare parent who would offer a child such latitude and understanding. It is an even rarer one who calls a daughter friend. I do love you, dear Mama.”
Julia Quinn, To Sir Phillip, With Love

Synopsis

Sir Phillip knew from his correspondence with his dead wife’s distant cousin that Eloise Bridgerton was a spinster, and so he’d proposed, figuring that she’d be homely and unassuming, and more than a little desperate for an offer of marriage. Except . . . she wasn’t. The beautiful woman on his doorstep was anything but quiet, and when she stopped talking long enough to close her mouth, all he wanted to do was kiss her…

Eloise Bridgerton couldn’t marry a man she had never met! But then she started thinking… and wondering… and before she knew it, she was in a hired carriage in the middle of the night, on her way to meet the man she hoped might be her perfect match. Except… he wasn’t. Her perfect husband wouldn’t be so moody and ill-mannered. And he certainly should have mentioned that he had two young – and decidedly unruly – children, as much in need of a mother as Phillip is in need of a wife.

Synopsis From GoodReads

Rating

Review

Eloise is my favorite character in the Netflix adaptation but to be honest I haven’t felt the exact same way throughout the books. Getting to read her specific story really did help that picture adapt in my mind though.

I have a hard time seeing the Eloise from earlier in the series becoming the Eloise this Book depicted but I think that is an important part of typical character growth as she goes from not wanting to be married to finding the right man and finally finding a place she truly belongs.

I love that their romance starts with the exchange of letters as that is the one main thing I have always linked Eloise to. This is a very common aspect sprinkled throughout the book and that helped me really grasp her character. Another thing that felt a lot like her character was when she ran away to officially meet this man. She makes split decision without thinking of the consequences and that felt absolutely correct for her.

I absolutely adored the interaction with her step kids. She never really treated them as step kids and truly accepted them as her own. Getting to see this dynamic felt extremely refreshing. I also loved the playfulness she allows these children to express. The kids should get to feel like kids while they are young and she really embraces this.

Overall, I found the romance was really cute! I really enjoyed how easy it was for Phillip to lean into her family and accept them, it felt very seamless. Her brothers over protectiveness was probably one of my favorite scenes as the Bridgerton Brothers will always be my favorite characters.

I can’t wait to watch the adaptation!

“I had to do something,” she said. “I couldn’t just sit and wait for life to happen to me any longer.”
Julia Quinn, To Sir Phillip, With Love

QOTD: Who is your Favorite Bridgerton Sibling?

Book Review: “Chlorine” By Jade Song

This is a book I know I wouldn’t have ever picked up on my own. I had heard decent reviews regarding the story but in all honesty I thought the book was much bigger than it truly was and a book about mermaids didn’t really strike a chord within me. I am very grateful for my friend Syd who asked to buddy read this with me along with Ireland and Katie, all of which are my best friends on Bookstagram.

**Spoilers ahead if you have not read the book. **

“I guess hearts are slippery because they’re covered in blood. I wish I could bleed mine dry. Then I’d miss you less.”
Jade Song, Chlorine

About The Book

Author: Jade Song

Publisher: William Morrow

Published Date: March 28th, 2023

Page Count: 256 Pages

Main Genre: Horror/FIction

GoodReads Rating: 3.65

Format: Physical Book

“I died and regenerated every month. How else could I define the experience? The reasonable explanation was death. I decided when my body was wheeled into the morgue, the coroner would declare I died of being a woman. Which was far better than dying of being a man.”
Jade Song, Chlorine

Synopsis

Ren Yu is a swimmer. Her daily life starts and ends with the pool. Her teammates are her only friends. Her coach, her guiding light. If she swims well enough, she will be scouted, get a scholarship, go to a good school. Her parents will love her. Her coach will be kind to her. She will have a good life.

But these are human concerns. These are the concerns of those confined to land, those with legs. Ren grew up on stories of creatures of the deep, of the oceans and the rivers. Ones that called sailors to their doom. Ones that dragged them down and drowned them. Ones that feasted on their flesh. Ones of the creature that she’s always longed to become: mermaid.

Ren aches to be in the water. She dreams of the scent of chlorine–the feel of it on her skin. And she will do anything she can to make a life for herself where she can be free. No matter the pain. No matter what anyone else thinks. No matter how much blood she has to spill.

Synopsis From GoodReads

“As a mermaid, I now recognize how winning places the self within a construct of hierarchy over other bodies—a false construct. There’s no victory when someone else loses.

But back then, oh, how I adored winning. The rush of it all! You poor humans. You’ll never learn to be better, not when winning is so addictive.”
Jade Song, Chlorine

Rating

Review

Reading this book as a buddy read was the right way to go. Getting to talk about the underlining meanings was really helpful. Was this book about mermaids or mental health? Maybe Both?

My main consensus is that our character was struggling with mental health issues. From her dad leaving her and her mom at such a young age, her swimming being compulsive, her coach not really caring to push the limits too far etc.

These events all put a lot of strain on Ren and the only way she could truly cope was becoming the mermaid she always felt she was. This also plays into feeling comfortable in your own skin and becoming who you were meant to be whether that’s a boy/girl or in this case a mermaid. Our physical bodies don’t always reflect what our soul feels we are and I think Ren describes herself really well in that context.

In the end of this book Ren stitches her legs together to grow her tail. This is of course to gain her full mermaid potential but the idea only forms after she gets disqualified from a much needed win. When you put that much pressure on yourself to be the best and know your coach and teammates all rely on you it can do a lot of harm. This is when I wish that someone would have stepped in and done more for Ren instead of letting her self isolate as she did.

Overall I did enjoy this book, Ambiguous ending and all. I am still going back and forth on if Ren found her mermaid family or if she passed away. But regardless of my endless questions this book has a lot of great commentary that I think everyone is one way or another can benefit from. Please read the trigger warnings before reding this though, it gets dark and lonely!

“How was I supposed to differentiate between the pain due to the concussion and the pain due to the agony of everyday human life?”
Jade Song, Chlorine

QOTD: If mermaids were real would you want to be one?

Book Review: “Glow Of The Everflame” By Penn Cole

Immediately after finishing the first book in this series I dove right into the second. The cliff hanger at the end of book one might have been predictable but it did its job well as I am very intrigued as to what happens inside those palace walls.

“Perhaps, for the right person, we endure the pain, because the torture of never having them at all is the more unbearable fate.”
Penn Cole, Glow of the Everflame

“Spark Of The Everflame” Full Review

*Possible spoilers ahead*

About The Book

Author: Penn Cole

Publisher: Atria Books

Published Date: July 18th, 2023

Page Count: 610 Pages

Main Genre: Romantasy

GoodReads Rating: 4.34

Format: E-Book

“It’s a reminder that no challenge can destroy the parts of us that truly matter. We’re not reborn in the flames. We’re revealed.”
Penn Cole, Glow of the Everflame

Synopsis

An unexpected gift offers the power to change everything. Keeping it could cost Diem her life.

The threat of war has arrived at Diem’s doorstep, along with a new discovery that could save her people. To use it, she must survive the next thirty days by forming a devil’s bargain with the people she hates the royal family of House Corbois.

But as she dives into the world of the Descended elite, Diem quickly realizes good and evil aren’t as simple as they seem. Old prejudices are challenged, and new loyalties blur the line between friend and foe.

Meanwhile, her mother is still missing, and the secrets she left behind can no longer be ignored—and neither can the Guardians and their demands. Caught between an old flame and a sizzling new spark, Diem must confront the truth about who she is and what she wants before time runs out.

War is coming, and dangerous enemies wait on all sides.. but the most deadly battle Diem faces may be the one for her heart.

Synopsis From GoodReads

“Burn, my Queen. Glow so bright, the darkness trembles.”
Penn Cole, Glow of the Everflame

Rating

Review

I had a false hope that wearing the crown would force Diem to make better choices. She claims her choices are for the betterment of all but girl your emotions are going to get everyone killed.

This book started to feel more YA than Adult and I think that is the main reason why this got a lower rating than the first book. I just really expected more from Diem now that she became queen but maybe that wasn’t fair of me to expect.

While the World building and politics were amazing and kept me interested in the book The character growth was still not up to my standards, at least not for Diem. If any of our characters had strong developmental growth it would have to be Teller. Teller really stepped into his role towards the end of this book and I appreciated getting to interact with him more.

Every decision Diem was making I was saying “ohhhh Girl, no.” I just really need her to step up and make some decent choices for once and not just giving in or giving up. She really needed to practice her magic but was acting like a baby whenever she did. Going into the challenging felt useless to me cause she clearly can’t use her powers. I truly believe the only way she could destroy her opponent is because of the goddess herself. I just needed more from Diem herself and not just pure luck from being “The Chosen One.”

The ending of this book really pissed me off as well because I completely saw every step of it coming. Diem is her own worse enemy which bleeds into basically sabotaging the whole world.

My only wish is that we see more of her and Luther and less of them fighting. If she self sabotages this relationship anymore I might freak out. He literally tells her the most romantic and cute things and she just doesn’t let herself see his intentions, its annoying! Please no more Henri, nothing about that relationship is interesting.

“That if a man made you doubt whether his love for you would survive anything, he does not deserve you.”
Penn Cole, Glow of the Everflame

QOTD: At what point do you start to DNF?

Book Review: “Spark Of The Everflame” By Penn Cole

I remember seeing these books pop up all over the book spaces early in 2025 and deciding I would not be falling for the hype. Well this was the official last book I read in 2025 and I am not upset about it, but was the hype really worth it?

“If you cannot be stronger, be smarter. Choose both your battles and your enemies with care. Know when to flee a fight to win a war.”
Penn Cole, Spark of the Everflame

About The Book

Author: Penn Cole

Publisher: Atria Books

Published Date: June 1st, 2023

Page Count: 438 Pages

Main Genre: Romantasy

GoodReads Rating: 4.17

Format: EBook

“You think I fear my own death?” he whispered in my ear. “Every day I draw breath is as much a curse as a gift. I’ve been living on borrowed time for longer than you can imagine. If you’re the way my fate finally catches up to me, I can’t fathom a more beautiful end.”
Penn Cole, Spark of the Everflame

Synopsis

In a mortal world colonized by the gods and ruled over by the Descended, their cruel offspring, Diem Bellator yearns to escape the insular life of her poor village.

Her mother’s sudden disappearance—and the discovery of a dangerous secret about her past—offer Diem an unexpected opportunity to enter the dark world of Descended royalty and unlock the web of mysteries her mother left behind.

With the dying King’s handsome, mysterious heir watching her every move, and a ruthless mortal alliance recruiting her to join the growing civil war, Diem will have to navigate the unwritten rules of love, power, and politics in order to save her family—and all of mortalkind.

Synopsis From GoodReads

“Hope without reason is… it’s cruel.”
Penn Cole, Spark of the Everflame

Rating

Review

I remember trying the first chapter of this book maybe 8 or so months ago and not immediately connecting with the book and putting it down. I am not really sure why I gravitated to this book as my next read but I am glad that I did.

There is always a part of me that hates to pick up the hyped books as I want a unique experience at times but I always feel the FOMO at some point. What if the hype is truly worth while? I could be missing out on one of my all time favorite books!

With all of that said I did enjoy my time reading this book, for the most part.

The world building was probably my favorite part of this book. The world seems beautiful and complex. The politics of this world seemed to pique my interest and kept me wanting to know more.

The magic system is still a bit hazy to me as we don’t dive too much into that aspect yet in this book but I am interested to learn more for sure.

The part that I struggled with was quite literally just our main character. Diem is honestly so annoying. I am struggling to want to root for her as every decision she makes just makes me angry. And I understand that not all main characters need to be or should be likable but it makes me more invested in the story if they are.

What really saved this book is the side characters. I love Diems family, her brother and father both have interesting side stories that we vaguely hear about that I am dying to know more! Also Luther, our MMC, is swoon worthy! I feel the romantic tension steaming off of him at every turn.

I think this series has a lot of potential! There is so much we don’t yet know about or might only have small snippets of information at our grasp that keeps you coming back to the pages. This book left off on a pretty big cliff hanger, all be it a pretty predictable cliff hanger, that made me immediately download the next book. So despite my hate for Diem I think I will probably finish this series sooner rather than later.

“Don’t choose a mediocre life for a mediocre man. Go be exceptional. If he’s worth it, he won’t judge you. And if he’s really the one, he’ll come along for the ride.”
Penn Cole, Spark of the Everflame

QOTD: If a main character is annoying in your eyes do you DNF a book or push through?

Book Review: “Atmosphere” By Taylor Jenkins Reid

Taylor Jenkins Reid has been an auto buy author for me ever since I read The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. Most all of her books are 4 stars or more for me and this one was no different! I was planning on waiting to read this one for a little bit longer as I had just finished Carrie Sotto Is Back not too long ago but I am very glad I didn’t wait.

“Bravery is being unafraid of something other people are afraid of. Courage is being afraid, but strong enough to do it anyway.”
Taylor Jenkins Reid, Atmosphere

About The Book

Author: Taylor Jenkins Reid

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Published Date: June 3rd, 2025

Page Count: 352 Pages

Main Genre: Historical Fiction

GoodReads Rating: 4.35

Format: Audio Book

Synopsis

Joan Goodwin has been obsessed with the stars for as long as she can remember. Thoughtful and reserved, Joan is content with her life as a professor of physics and astronomy at Rice University and as aunt to her precocious niece, Frances. That is, until she comes across an advertisement seeking the first women scientists to join NASA’s space shuttle program. Suddenly, Joan burns to be one of the few people to go to space.

Selected from a pool of thousands of applicants in the summer of 1980, Joan begins training at Houston’s Johnson Space Center, alongside an exceptional group of fellow candidates: Top Gun pilot Hank Redmond and scientist John Griffin, who are kind and easygoing even when the stakes are highest; mission specialist Lydia Danes, who has worked too hard to play nice; warmhearted Donna Fitzgerald, who is navigating her own secrets; and Vanessa Ford, the magnetic and mysterious aeronautical engineer, who can fix any engine and fly any plane.

As the new astronauts become unlikely friends and prepare for their first flights, Joan finds a passion and a love she never imagined. In this new light, Joan begins to question everything she thinks she knows about her place in the observable universe.

Then, in December of 1984, on mission STS-LR9, it all changes in an instant.

Synopsis From GoodReads

Rating

“Happiness is so hard to come by. I don’t understand why anyone would begrudge anyone else for managing to find some of it.”
Taylor Jenkins Reid, Atmosphere

Review

I saw this book all over tiktok and youtube with people sobbing an that sold the book for me. I try and stay clear of emotional books unless I know I am ready to cry. The audiobook really laid into my emotions and had my husband concerned for my wellbeing as I sobbed “Just let people Love who they want to love!”.

The characters were all so well written. I finished this book knowing each character and their motivations very well which I feel has been lacking for me in some recent reads.

The relationship that Joan had with her niece was honestly my favorite part of this book. This storyline was probably the one that I felt the most connected to. I seriously felt for Frances, she was such a sweet young girl stuck in a situation she never should have been in. My heart hurts for this girl!

Getting to dip my toes into space and all the work that goes into being an astronaut was mind blowing. Taylor really went into this book with some knowledge of the topic and it shows. I really appreciate when you can see the research the author does in order to write their books.

The romance in this book gave slow burn vibes in the best way. I really enjoyed exploring the relationship alongside our two characters and seeing the growth that Joan went through personally along the way.

The ending was so great but I was dying for more! My audiobook said 10 minuets left and I was like wait…. that can’t be it… Please, give me more Taylor!

“You make my life worth something. And I can promise you with my entire body that you will never be alone. Every day, you can wake up and go to bed knowing there is someone whose heart is bursting, barely able to contain how much they love you. I know you’re my niece, Frances. But you have always, too, been mine.”
Taylor Jenkins Reid, Atmosphere