Book Review – Page 24

November Wrap up

This month I actually feel pretty good about what I read! I have done so poorly the past few months and have dropped off the face of the Erath I feel. I love that I have actually read a few more books this month and have read things that I actually enjoyed.

This month I also didn’t make a hopefuls list because honestly, I never stick with them in the first place and I was in such a slump I didn’t want any pressure for this month. Do I think I will do hopefuls again? Probably, just because I think it is fun to make a plan, I am just terrible at sticking to it!

What I Read

“Branded” by Neva Bell

Chloe and Chelsea are twin sisters ready to leave for college, but not just any old college, Livingston is a college for witches! In order to go to this witch school you have to be branded first with either a white dove or a black hawk to decide what you will study.

When Chloe gets a brand that no one was expecting her and Chelsea’s life changes drastically! This brand becomes a dangerous mark and both of the girls lives are at risk. Werewolves are the witches biggest threat and when a surprise attack goes in the werewolves favor Chloe is forced into a dangerous path of revenge.

Full Review

“The Love Hypothesis” by Ali Hazelwood

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?

Full Review

“In A Holidaze” by Christina Lauren

Two families get together ever year for Christmas at a house in Park City Utah. The kids all grew up being very close with one another and Maelyn has had a huge crush on their friends oldest son Andrew but wait, there’s a love triangle including the other brother Theo. Theo and Maelyn have a little too much eggnog on Christmas eve and after one very awkward make out session all seems lost for Maelyn. Theo treats her as if she doesn’t exist, Andrew saw it all go down, and worst of all they have to sell the house! Many years of Christmas memories are about to be washed away and the final year would be left in ruins. But one wish and an accident can change the course of nature.

Full Review

Mini Review

“The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald

I haven’t typed up a big review for this book because I feel like most people who haven’t read this yet have probably seen the movie(s) already or already know what’s going on in the book.

I needed a fast book to read to try and get my reading goal reached for this year and this is the shortest book on my shelf. I am not someone who likes to read classics and honestly this book reminded me why. This book is short, yes, but it took me forever to get through. I even tried listening to the audio version and I was just consistently bored. I do not think my review is a fair review to be honest.

I feel like I dislike classics so much that my subconscious just didn’t give the book a real chance. So yes I might have rated this book low but it wasn’t a terrible book, just not to my liking. I might get some hate for this and to be honest I am ok with that. I did like the narrators voice a lot the writing of the book is just older and my brain can’t concentrate for too long.

So please do give this book a try, especially you are into the classics!

Conclusion

This was honestly a great month. I finished four books and I liked most of them! I feel like I have been becoming a harsher critic the longer I have been reading, but that is ok! I think I am also really over romances for a bit, I am just drained!

Life Updates

Me and Noah have officially been together for three years as of today! I am so proud of how far we have came in these past few years and I am so excited to see what adventures await us in the coming years.

I wouldn’t have this blog without Noah so I am beyond grateful for him. He is my biggest supporter and he is always reading these blogs as soon as they come out, he proof reads them too, thank goodness!

Book Review: “In a Holidaze” By Christina Lauren

This is a Christmas book that I started before Thanksgiving and finished on Thanksgiving day which honestly felt really strange. I was very excited to dive into this book and I just didn’t even think about what season I was in which normally wouldn’t bother me but for some reason not having snow on the ground and thinking about turkey really threw me for a loop.

This book is set in Utah which is my home state which made this book kind of a fun read! I was just worried that the Author would skip over some details that might have bothered me, but to be honest I don’t know much about Park City Utah to do any fact checks.

“You can’t erase mistakes. You just have to figure out how to fix them.”
Direct Quote from book. Page 268.

About The Book

Author: Christina Lauren

Publisher: Gallery Books

Date Published: October 6th, 2020

Total Pages: 307 Pages

Main Genres: Romance, Holiday, Fiction

GoodReads Rating: 3.76

Synopsis

Rating

“My biggest fear in the car before the accident was the prospect of things changing. But isn’t that what I wanted when I threw that wish out to the universe? For everything to change?”
Direct quote from book. Page 122.

Review

I don’t do half star ratings so this was pretty hard to decide between three stars or four stars. I did a lot of deep thought before posting this review to finally come up with which way I wanted to lean. I finally landed on four stars based on a few facts. Why don’t we dive in?

I feel like I have read so many fake dating romances lately that this Groundhogs day type book was quite refreshing. Even though Maci did have to repeat a few days a couple of times it didn’t get repetitive. The author wrote this in a way that Maci did something completely different on each restart so it felt like a new storyline.

Another plus was that it was based in Utah and I liked the familiarity of that. I may not be up in Park City very often because lets be frank, it is a complete tourist trap, but honestly it is also super expensive and bougie. I live about 45 minutes away and that’s good enough for me. However it is really cool to see places you are familiar with being referenced in books.

I really liked Maelyn and Andrew being together for the most part. Maelyn has always liked Andrew and honestly it reminded me of all my childhood crushes. I love getting a nostalgic feel when I read. However, I do believe it is also the reason its not a five star rating though. They have known each other their whole lives so they have “cute” (Honestly gross) nicknames for each other and it felt really childish and awkward reading. Also the steamy scenes were worded really weirdly and I just felt awkward reading them. I have said it once and I will say it again, I think it is impossible for an author to write a steamy scene without using awkward phrasing. I need these steamy scenes to start coming together and leaving me speechless rather than wanting to close the book and move on from the moment.

Maybe I have just read way too many romance reads recently that I am becoming too picky about the stories I am reading. I am not sure to be honest. I had high hopes for this book and for the most part it was really good! I loved the whole story of her trying to find what makes her happy and trying to save the house, but the romance of the book was kind of meh to me.

Over All

If I did half ratings I would be giving this three and a half stars but because I don’t I weighed out my options and decided it deserved the full four stars. I think this was a cute and cozy holiday read and I would recommend this to someone who is looking for a Christmas read this year.

QOTD: Have you read a book that was based in the area you are from?

Book Review: “Branded” By Neva Bell

I found this book actually through an add on Facebook surprisingly enough. When I went to buy it on my paper white it ended up being part of Kindle Unlimited which completely sold me! I actually finished this book a week ago but I haven’t had much free time to write recently due to my new job but I promise I am still here! Why don’t we dive into this book.

About The Book

Author: Neva Bell

Date Published: October 31, 2019

Publisher: Self Published (I believe)

Page Count: 287 pages

Genre: Fiction

GoodReads Rating: 4.53

“Ellie believed every being, witch or not, deserved a happy and peaceful existence.”
Direct Quote

Synopsis

“It is a big deal! I act tough, but I’m still a woman. I still want the guy I like to like me back. No one wants to hear it’s nothing more than a scheme.”
Direct Quote

Rating

Review

This book had a really cute, and what I felt unique, story line. I was hooked from the very beginning of this book! I thought the twins relationship was really close and special and I really feel like Neva wrote their characters well. I loved the Idea that there were two different brands they could receive and it was fun trying to guess which twin would get what brand.

You might be asking, If I was hooked from the beginning and felt like the characters were written well, then why did I give the book only three stars? Well let me tell you! This all happened really fast in the book and about 40% into the book everything I loved was stripped away from me and I was very upset! The story line completely changed after the werewolf attack and I just felt like it happened too soon. Also the ending of the book, Without giving spoilers, was way too easy and I was left wishing not necessarily for a different ending but maybe a more thought out ending. However there is a second book and maybe by reading that book it will all come together cohesively but to be honest the ending of this book didn’t make me want to read a second one.

This could be a quick read for anyone who needs to knock another book off their list but if you want something that had you hooked for the whole book you can skip this one.

QOTD: What is a book that started off with a lot of promise but left you feeling disappointed in the end?

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.

“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?