Book Review – Page 22

Book Review: “The Love Hypothesis” By Ali Hazelwood

I feel like I am a tad bit late to the game on this one. Where this book was only released back at the beginning of September maybe I am not that late to the gate but I feel like everyone devoured this book in one sitting as soon as it came out. I would say this is probably the most popular book I am seeing on my Bookstagram and Booktok feeds, no joke! With over 90,000 ratings, 16,000 reviews and a 4.47 overall rating on Goodreads, so I would consider this a very hyped up book with those details.

“Listen, I’m clearly bad at real dating. Maybe fake dating will be different. Maybe I’ve found my niche.”
Direct quote from book, page 64.

About The Book

Author: Ali Hazelwood

Date Published: September 14, 2021

Publisher: Berkley Books

Page Count: 352

Genre: Romance

Goodreads Rating: 4.47

Synopsis

Olive is a Ph.D student who has never really been a romantic person. However, in order to keep her friend happy she finds herself kissing a random stranger in the middle of the night.

This random stranger ends up being the schools most hated professor, Adam Carlson, and Olive immediately feels like her world is about to fall apart. The biggest surprise is when Adam agrees to keep the kiss a secret, but even more surprising was the fact he was willing to keep up this charade and fake date Olive to help benefit the both of them. Olive, to help her friend find love, and Adam, to convince the school to release his research funds. After all, it is a win win situation with a deadline. What could possibly go wrong?

“And then I’ll come find you, and I’ll take care of you.”
Direct Quote from book. Page 327.

Rating

Review

This book was vastly recommended by I believe everyone on my bookstagram, am I the last person to read this? I know I’m not but it sure felt that way.

I normally don’t like books that seem to be super popular, they always feel over hyped and I end up being disappointed in the book. Not with this one! This book truly lived up to its hype in my opinion. I think I am willing to say this is my second favorite romance read this year following “One Last Stop” by Casey McQuiston, I honestly don’t think anything will beat that book for first place in quite sometime.

(Possible Spoiler) If I had to come up with something I was a little put off on, it would have to be the steamy scenes, please don’t come after me! This whole book had so much sexual tension that by the time it all came together I was left feeling a little awkward and granted upset by the event that immediately followed. The words used to describe the scene were a little off putting such as, “He made a guttural noise.” It could just be me but that is not a sexy sentence.

This book was very well written and really had me on an emotional roller coaster! There were quite a few moments where I was ready to chuck the book at a wall because I know the full story and how each character is feeling but Olive just doesn’t understand Adams feelings and I was screaming at them to “Just get a room already!” Also there were times where I really felt sorry or upset for the character due to the way they were treated. Ali really has a way with writing to bring all the emotions out of the pages.

I highly recommend this book! I can now see why so many people have already read it more than once, maybe this will be the first book I ever read twice.

“You can fall in love: Someone will catch you.”
Direct quote from book. Page 342

QOTD: Have you ever fake dated someone? With all these fake dating books I have been reading lately I feel like this is more common of a thing than it probably really is.

5 Books I Wish Got More Hype

Todays blog post I will be focusing on books that I believe need more hype. Some of these books will probably be books you haven’t heard of from anyone other than me because they are written by Indie Authors.

I have only been reading for a little over a year and to be completely honest with you, I mostly read all the popular books because they are literally everywhere! I just wish I saw more posts talking about these books! If you haven’t read the books I am about to talk about you need to go get them right now!

Bring On The Hype

“The Intellect” by Lily Kathleen

I talk about this book every chance I can! This book is a YA Romance with a little bit of a twist. It was written by a senior in high school which is an amazing accomplishment and she really deserves the hype.

Jessica is a fifteen year old girl who has overbearing parents who make her and her siblings move at least once a year for some unknown reason. When Jessica’s parents make her move from Ney York all the way to a small town in South Dakota they make sure Jessica has no contact with her previous friends, including her boyfriend Jake. This doesn’t make any sense to her and feels as if it isn’t fair, why would her parents not let her keep in contact with old friends, isn’t moving hard enough?

Read a full synopsis and review when you follow the link down below. I will also post places where you can order your own copy of the book! If you buy it from Lily Kathleen Directly take 10% off your order with code “TheIntellect10”.

Also It is Lily Kathleen’s 18th birthday today and as a birthday gift to her I would love to see one of my followers purchase her book. Wish her a happy birthday in the comments!

Full Book Review

Buy The Book Directly From The Author

Buy The Book From Amazon

“Not That Rich” by Belinda Lei

This book was published almost a year ago and I honestly haven’t seen many people talking about it which makes me super sad! Belinda is an amazing author who created a gorgeous well rounded story.

“My hope for the book is that it emphasizes the diversity of Asian American culture, but also offers up the common challenges that teenagers all experience today – educational and familial pressures, identity struggles, and peer pressure.” – Belinda Lei

Enter a world of a handful of Private High School students born into rich families with extreme expectations. Will they get into their desired colleges? Will they find love in their relationships? Will they fight their drug addictions? Who is “The Stranger”? But most importantly does being rich really make you happy?

Belinda also sits on the board for Non-Profit called Act to Change which is a platform to help bring awareness to bullying and AAPI hate. Belinda is such a sweet and amazing person and I truly believe her book should get more love!

Down below is my full book review and synopsis of the book. I will also post The Act to Change website and a link to buy your own copy of her book.

Full Book Review

Act to Change Website

Buy The Book From Amazon

“Razorblade Tears” by S.A. Cosby

This book might have gotten a little bit of hype when it first came out but I feel as if people don’t know it exist any more. This is probably my second favorite book I have read this whole year!

Something to remember though is that this book comes with some major trigger warnings which I list in my full review.

Two ex-con fathers lost their married sons in some horrific hate crime. Despite not approving of the relationship their sons had, the fathers are out for blood to avenge their sons’ deaths because the cops have no leads! Through all the challenges these men go through they find acceptance for their sons and each other but can they get revenge on whoever did this horrendous act?

I am a sucker for anything involving a thriller/mystery! This book had everything I could have asked for and kept me hooked throughout the entire book! If you can handle reading a very violent book then this is something you would enjoy.

Down below I will post links to my full review and also where you can get your own copy of this amazing thriller!

Full Book Review

Buy The Book From Amazon

“A Deadly Influence” by Mike Omer

I actually just brought this book up yesterday in my favorite tropes post. This book is a fantastic mystery/thriller revolving around a missing boy and a cult. This book I haven’t seen anywhere other than all the times I talk about it.

Abby Is a police hostage negotiator for the NYPD. But that doesn’t even scratch the surface of her chaotic life. When Eden Fletcher reports her son Nathan as missing, Abby is faced with her past. Eden and Abby grew up in a cult that Abby has worked so hard to forget. While battling her past that’s barreling towards her she knows she has to stay focused because Nathan’s life is at risk! Can Abby Find Nathan in time or will her past hold her back?

I think you all need to go grab this book immediately because the second book is coming out in 2022! I am beyond excited to read the next book and continue reading about Abby’s story.

Down below is the link to my full review along with a link to purchase your own copy from amazon!

Full Book Review

Buy The Book From Amazon

“The Girl In The Mirror” by Rose Carlyle

This was also in my post yesterday for my favorite tropes. I haven’t seen this book talked about at all since last year and I can’t put my finger on why. This book had me glued from the first page! I really love thrillers as you can see but this was one of the first books I read that actually made me enjoy reading.

Iris and Summer are identical twins but what lies on the inside is very different. Iris has always been jealous of Summer especially ever since Summer married a very handsome and rich man. But when a sailing trips go wrong Iris jumps at the chance to finally walk in her sisters footsteps.

I got this book from Book Of The Month Club last year and like I said it was one of the first books to get me excited about reading. This is one reason why it is important to me to share this book with you and I really hope it will start to get more hype!

I haven’t posted a review for this book here on my blog yet but I will link my previous Top 5 Tropes blog post down below and of course the link to buy your own copy.

Top 5 Tropes That I Can’t Get Enough Of

Buy The Book From Amazon

Wrap Up

My favorite part of this post is being able to share my love for books that don’t get the love they truly deserve! Especially the first two books that were published by Indie Authors who have to do all the promoting themselves! These books all deserve some love and I hope you all consider purchasing even just one of these books. (I am not affiliated with amazon, I just want to share the links.)

Have you heard of or even read any of these books? What are your thoughts?

Top 5 Tuesday: 5 Tropes I Can’t Get Enough Of

Top five Tuesdays is hosted by Meeghan Reads. Each Tuesday there is a new topic based around your top 5 for each prompt. I enjoy participating in these because I feel it helps readers connect to the bloggers. I started my blog to not only keep track of my reading journey but to also make connections with my readers. I am excited to share my favorite tropes with you, lets go!

Top Five Book Tropes

Enemies to Lovers
Magic School
Fake Dating
Cults
Twins With a Twist

Lets Deep Dive

Enemies to Lovers

“Red, White and Royal Blue” by Casey McQuiston is probably my favorite example of this trope.

The Presidents son Alex Claremont has never really gotten along with Prince Henry but when pictures are taken and threatened to be released publicly these two nemesis have to act all buddy buddy. One ting leads to another and these enemies become long distance lovers.

This is my second favorite LGBTQ read, with my first being “One Last Stop” also written by Casey McQuiston. If you haven’t read these books yet make sure to check them out!

Magic School

“A Deadly Education” by Naomi Novik matches this description perfectly!

El is a magically gifted girl who attends the Scholomance School for gifted children. This school is particularly strange because the only way to leave is if you graduate or die. Follow some simple rules and just maybe you can leave with your body still intact. The most important rule is never to walk the halls alone and to always be on the lookout for rogue monsters.

I loved this book because the world was so well built! I felt like I was actually attending school with El. I am very excited to read the second book here soon!

Fake Dating

“The Dating Plan” by Sara Desai was one of my favorite romance reads ever!

Daisy and Liam couldn’t be more opposite. A software engineer who is very detail orientated and a Venture capitalist who has something of a bad side. However, both Daisy and Liam need to get their families off their backs. They come up with a fool proof plan and start “Dating” leading towards an engagment.

I loved this story because neither of them really wanted it to end in a relationship but throughout the course of the book they fell in love and it felt very natural.

Cults

“A Deadly Influence” by Mike Omer was the first book I have ever read regarding cults and I fell in love with this plot instantly!

Abby Mullen works for the police department as a hostage negotiator. When a child goes missing and an old friend requests for her help memories come rushing back!

Abby and the childs mother were in a cult together when they were children and Abby was the lucky one who made it out. Where is the poor child? Could the cult have something to do with this?

I really enjoyed this book because occasionally there would be flashbacks regarding her time as a child in a cult. I was not expecting to love it as much as I did but the way the author portrayed Abby’s character and her past trauma it really pulled me in and felt very tasteful.

Twins With a Twist

“The Girl in The Mirror” by Rose Carlyle was the first thriller book I have read where I didn’t guess the twist at the end.

Like I said the twist in this book had me screaming! I know some people said they could see what happened from a mile away but for me I was shocked till the end.

Final Thoughts

There are so many different tropes out there these days but most of them that I could think of were romance based. Is there a reason why I couldn’t think of tropes other than romance and thriller? Possibly because that is all I ever read? Oh well, I just know these are tropes I always look forward too. I am currently reading “The Love Hypothesis” by Ali Hazelwood which is a fake dating trope!

What are some of your favorite tropes? Did any of yours make my list?

Book Review “The Shining” By Stephen King

It is basically the end of October and I am finally posting a book review for this month. This will be my first and probably only book review coming this month unfortunately. This month was so busy that I had no time to read at all! In fact I actually only read half this book before I had to buy the audio book so I could get this finished. I am just happy I finally found some time to sit down and do the thing I love, which is writing this blog!

About The Book

Author: Stephen King

Publish Date: January 28th, 1977

Publisher: Anchor Books (Random House Division)

Page Count: 659 pages

Genre: Horror

Goodreads Rating: 4.24

“It seemed that he might be able to find peace here. At last. If they would only let him.”
Page 398

Synopsis

A new job for Jack Torrence leads the family of three to a picturesque hotel high up in the Colorado Mountains. As the family arrives, the hotel is slowly emptying of guests and workers due to the closing of the hotel for the snowy season. Jack and his family will be left alone for several months in the empty hotel. This can give Jack much needed time to work on his play and make plans for his family’s future, but as the days pass the seclusion sets in and things aren’t what they might seem. How can something that seems like an amazing working vacation turn so wrong? What power do our minds really have?

“Now you’ll find out who is the boss around here. You’ll see. It’s not you they want. It’s me. Me. Me!”
Page 629

Rating

Review

This is my second Stephen King book, the first one being “Pet Semetary”, and I have given them both three stars. I Had heard mixed reviews about this book, like you do with every other book, and this just didn’t fully live up to my standards. This had a very slow build so it took me forever to read because I didn’t have a desire to pick the book up. Like I said at the top of this blog, I had to buy the audio to finish this book.

Speaking of the audio book, the audio was done very well! I really enjoyed listening to this book and I felt it was even spookier listening to it.

The story building was really good just kind of long and boring at times. This was a very long book and it doesn’t start to pick up till about 300 pages in which is what lost me. However, this book is the scariest book I have read/listened too and I can appreciate that.

I have seen the movie and I did really enjoy it but to be honest I was so confused while watching it. The book and the movie have a lot of differences so I don’t know that it is very fair to compare the two but reading the book helped me make sense of what was actually happening in the movie which is very nice!

Do I recommend this book? Honestly, no, you can skip this one and be ok. Like I said it is very long and can get boring more often than not. If you are someone who likes very long detailed books then sure, why not? Personally I don’t think you are missing too much, but hey, Now I can say I have read the book!

The art work shown in the above picture was created by a local Utah artist whom me and Noah loved seeing at our art show and farmers market this summer! Follow her here at her Instagram.

Bookstaversary Giveaway!

My bookstaversary is tomorrow, October 8th! Gosh I can’t believe I have been on my reading journey for a full year! When I was growing up I absolutely HATED reading and now I have over 2,000 followers on my bookstagram and over 50 followers here on my new blog! I have had such an amazing journey here so far and I am excited to share more about my journey tomorrow. However today I am opening up my 48 hour giveaway! This giveaway will be hosted on my Instagram. Head there now to enter the giveaway!

What Can You Win?

I have three authors who are kindly participating in this giveaway and will be signing a copy of their book for 3 lucky winners! Each winner will receive one book of their choice from the three books. The First place winner will also receive a book off of their amazon wish list! This is such a fun giveaway to participate in and it also helps support smaller authors.

About the Authors and Their Books

Bree Moore

Bree is an Urban Fantasy novel writer who loves to write female led books. The”Lost Souls” Series being her longest running.

She lives in Utah with her husband and their six children whom she homeschools.

Other than writing she has a passion for child birth, shopping and Celtic music!

Interview with Author Bree Moore

“Raven Born” by Bree Moore the first book in the “Lost Souls” Series

As a half-raven, half-woman shifter, Harper’s very existence is illegal. Rumors of a hidden community of raven people draw her north, but she won’t go without her brother.

When she’s captured by a government task force and taken to a camp for illegal paranormals, she’s threatened by a fate worse than death: the loss of her wings.

Now Harper must find a way to evade the magical spells that imprison her. To succeed, she’ll have to trust someone who could betray her in an instant.

Can Harper escape Camp Silver Lake and find her brother before her wings or her life are taken from her?

Lily Kathleen

Lily Kathleen is a 17 year old high school senior who lives on a farm. Her farm has roughly four hundred goats, how cute! She has a love for music such as; Playing guitar, piano and singing!

Her passion for romance started when she was only twelve years old which helped her to start writing her own stories to share with everyone.

She self-published her first book “The Intellect” June 14th, 2021 But she has other books in the works! I can not wait to see what else her beautiful mind creates!

Author Interview with Lily Kathleen

“The Intellect” By Lily Kathleen

Fifteen-year-old Jessica Adams moves to a small town in South Dakota at the beginning of summer. Moving is normal for her, but this time seems to be a bit different. She isolates herself from the outside world as she begins to question her whole life. Her parents never give her the freedom her older siblings have, nor can she even be left at home alone without her parents constantly texting and calling her. She begins to feel alone, as she spends her whole summer cooped up in her room.

But things quickly start to turn around when she meets a mysterious guy, named Aaron Conners, on the first day of school. No one looks at him, nor talks to him. So why is he always hiding?

He has a seriously huge secret, but so does she. Her secret can lead her into much danger. The only thing is that she doesn’t actually know what her secret is.

Will she make a massive mistake in trying to figure out what her big secret is? And will it lead her and those she loves into more danger than ever before?

Belinda Lei

Belinda is a managing director of an anti bullying campaign called Act to Change and she also takes a stand for AAPI Hate.

She is a lover of all genres from thriller to fantasy. However her book is a Young Adult novel filled with drama, tears and laughter. This book will take you back to your high school years and spark some memories!

She has a lot of accomplishments under her belt including being a Yale MBA candidate, proud Georgetown Hoya, software engineer, and a former strategy consultant.

Find this information and more on her website and check out her anti bullying campaign as well.

Author Interview with Belinda Lei

Act to Change Website

“Not That Rich” by Belinda Lei

Hunter and Trisha Wang, like the majority of their classmates, are trying to balance AP classes, Ivy League applications, numerous extracurriculars, and tumultuously juicy social lives, all while living in their affluent, suburban bubble. Will Hunter get into Stanford and still be able to maintain his relationship with the “it girl” Sierra Jones? Will Trisha find love with outsider Ray Martinez and figure out what’s going on with her influencer best friend, Pamela Shah? Will billionaire newcomer Jack Zhou figure out how to fit in? And who exactly is The Stranger? Welcome to Winchester High, a prestigious college preparatory school where students live seemingly perfect, privileged lives.

Giveaway Rules

Must be following me on Instagram and please stick around.

Must be following All three of the authors Instagrams as well. Please also stick around, they all have such great content!

Bree Moore

Lily Kathleen

Belinda Lei

Please like and save the post.
Comment which book you would like to win.
Tag three bookish friends.

Extra entries

Share my blog post (make sure to tag me or link back)
Share the Instagram post (make sure to tag me)
Tag more friends! Each comment with a tag will be an extra entry.
Buy one of the other authors books and you will get 10 extra entries! (Must be able to prove purchase) whether it is an ebook copy or physical it counts! Links are in their Bio’s

Legal stuff

This giveaway is not affiliated with Amazon or Instagram
Must be In the United States due to shipping (So Sorry for international people, I will host another giveaway soon for all!)
Please be over the age of 18 or 13 with parental approval
Must be willing to share a link to your amazon registry and address for shipping purposes only.

I hope you all have fun! This Giveaway will close on October 9th at Midnight MST.

Top 5 Tuesday

Top 5 Tuesday is hosted by Meeghan from MeeghanReads. Each week is a new topic and you give your top five from that category. This weeks Topic is horror tropes that you are brave in the face of… or that you find mildly ridiculous to funny.

I am going to be honest with you, I haven’t read many horror books mostly just thrillers that involve human killers. I also wasn’t a horror fan at all growing up and recently started to watch scary movies. So top five horror tropes that don’t scare me might be a bit hard to do, maybe I just do what tropes I don’t think will scare me but still need to try. Let’s see what I can come up with, shall we?

Zombies

As much as I don’t like zombie movies it’s not because I think they are scary but more so the gore. I really don’t like watching blood, guts, and gore in my movies. Especially when it doesn’t seem plausible. Such as, I am good with blood and guts from a medical show but not in violent action movies or unrealistic situations.

I haven’t came across a zombie book before but I also don’t think I would read a zombie book either. Definitely not a trope I would read but I don’t think it would scare me either.

Do you have a zombie book to recommend?

Serial Killers

As a true crime fanatic serial killers don’t scare me. I find these more interesting than anything. I think I would really enjoy a book that covers a serial killer.

These movies tend to be cheesy because the victims are typically very stupid with their choices. I don’t really get scared watching these movies because of the killer but more so because of the jump scares! I am very jumpy at all times even when I know something is going to happen but I enjoy the thrill!

I welcome these types of books with open arms! Send your recommendations my way!

Aliens

The only alien that I approve of is Stitch. I could read about him all day every day. I have an extensive Stitch collection so I am all for that alien.

Aliens just don’t catch my interest, I don’t think aliens are real and I don’t like listening or reading about anything to do with aliens.

Alien movies are boring and offer nothing stimulating to my brain. I just don’t think this would be a scary trope for me.

Technology Take Over

I know this is a movie but I am sure a book exists or could exist with this type of horror trope.

I just don’t get the idea of something taking over technology. I wouldn’t find something like this scary whether it was a movie or a book. I find this more silly than anything.

I’m sure if ghost or demons do exist they could take over technology but I personally have not first handedly had this experience and until then I will believe this idea is completely ridiculous!

Cults

I just recently finished a book involving a cult and I was more intrigued than scared. The book was called “A Deadly Influence” by Mike Omer. This was a really good thriller about a kidnapping that was possibly connected to a cult. Check my review out Here.

Midsommar was an awful movie and I didn’t find it scary just more uncomfortable than anything. I just don’t think a horror book about cults would freak me out.

Thoughts

I really want to find a book that really scares me. However I have heard that it is really hard to find a book that really scares you. I need some book recommendations for the scariest books you have read.

I am currently reading “The Shinning” by Stephen King and although I didn’t find the movie scary I have high hopes for the book. I also have “The Chestnut Man” by Soren Sveistrup and I have seen some very good reviews on this book.

QOTD: What Horror tropes do you find not scary?