Romance – Page 4 – World of Bai

Book Review: “Book Lovers” By Emily Henry

Emily Henry is probably my second favorite author after Casey McQuiston and it just so happened that they each released their third books on the exact same day, May 3rd. Like most books I read, I don’t really read the back of the books, I typically go in blind only knowing the main genres and of course I did that with this book. I knew this would be a romance book just like her other two books before this, I also heard it was the enemies to lovers trope about thirty minutes before I started. In the past I haven’t loved that trope so I was interested to see how I would rate this one.

“You’re in books. Of course you don’t have a life. None of us do. There’s always something too good to read.”
Direct Quote From The Book

About The Book

Author: Emily Henry

Publisher: Berkley

Published Date: May 3rd, 2022

Page Count: 384 Pages

Main Genres: Romance, Contemporary, Fiction

GoodReads Rating: 4.55

“That’s the thing about women. There’s no good way to be one. Wear your emotions on your sleeve and you’re hysterical. Keep them tucked away where your boyfriend doesn’t have to tend to them and you’re a heartless bitch.”
Direct Quote From The Book

Synopsis

Nora’s whole life has been centered around books and her little sister Libby. They basically grew up in a book store so it was no surprise to anyone that she became an agent for authors, helping them get the best editorial and publishing deals. But unlike most book characters she’s not that happy go lucky girl who gets the dream guy. Instead, all her relationships fall apart because she is too focused on taking care of Libby and making a career for herself to really focus on her personal life.

Libby is a lot different than Nora. She has always been a romantic and she thinks her sister needs to experience that small town romance all romance book characters get to have. So her and Nora pack up for a month long trip to Sunshine Falls, the small town featured in one of Nora’s clients books. With a bucket list of book tropes to complete will Sunshine Falls finally help Nora find her true self?

“Sometimes, even when you start with the last page and you think you know everything, a book finds a way to surprise you.”
Direct Quote From The Book

Rating

“She wonders whether what comes next could ever live up to the expectations. She doesn’t know. You never can. She turns the page anyway.”
Direct Quote From the Book

Review

I mentioned above that I heard this would be an enemies to lovers type book and to be honest I was a little worried to actually start it for that reason. However, I felt like the characters had some slight animosity towards each other and just a small misunderstanding of each others feelings. Over all I really loved Nora and Charlies relationship. They had really cute banter and I felt like they were the most perfect couple! Their relationship didn’t feel forced which is something I find happens in a lot of romance books but Emily Henry really just nailed this couple and wrote them in a way that you could literally feel their connection while reading.

I gave this five stars but to be honest I was on the edge of giving it four stars and the reason why is because I didn’t love the disconnect between Nora and Libby. Their relationship honestly felt exhausting. I couldn’t really love Libby’s character because every time she came into the scene it felt like she was finding an excuse to leave. Their background story is heart breaking which really helped build their characters but I guess I wished they had more scenes together even though this is a romance book and should be mostly focused on the love interest but this was so much more than just a romance read. Their was a lot of family aspects in this book so I just felt like I needed more of the sisters and Libby’s husband and kids.

The ending of this book, OMG! I cried so hard at the end of this book and I felt like all loose ends came together by the last chapter. I think I need a second book because I need to know how their lives all turn out!

Over all This was a really great book that any book lover will enjoy! If you are on the edge to read this just pick it up and read it! I know you won’t be disappointed!

“The last-page ache. The deep breath in after you’ve set the book aside.”
Direct Quote From The Book

QOTD: Do you wish you could have a small town romance?

Book Review: “I Kissed Shara Wheeler” By Casey McQuiston

Casey McQuiston is my all time favorite author! They wrote “Red, White and Royal Blue” Which I read pretty early on in my reading journey and probably the first romance read I had ever picked up and immediately I was hooked on their writing! When “One Last Stop” came out last year I knew I had to buy it and of course I fell in love all over again with their writing and their characters. “One Last Stop” Is still one of my all time favorite books to this day. I pre ordered “I Kissed Shara Wheeler” Back in early February and I have been not so patiently waiting to get my hands on my copy! Well I got it on Monday and read the book in about two and a half days! Lets see how this book held up.

“Shame is a way of life here. It’s stocked in the vending machines, stuck like gum under the desks. Spoken in morning devotionals. She knows now that there’s a bit of it in her. It was an easy choice not to go back in the closet when she got here, but if she’d grown up here, she might never have come out at all. She might be a completely different person.”
Direct quote from the book

About The Book

Author: Case McQuiston

Publisher: ST. Martin’s Press

Published date: May 3rd, 2022

Page Count: 320 pages

Main Genres: Romance, LGBT, Young Adult

GoodReads Rating: 4.24

“While she does like boys, she generally finds the traits of a compelling villain—arrogance, malice, an angsty backstory—tedious in a man. Like, what do hot guys with long dark hair even have to be that upset about? Get a clarifying shampoo and suck it up, Kylo Ren. So your rich parents sent you to magic camp and you didn’t make any friends. Big deal.”
Direct quote from the book

Synopsis

Chloe has one thing on her mind: being Valedictorian. She is so close she could taste it! All that’s standing in her way is her rival Shara Wheeler. Shara is the most popular girl in school, not to mention the principals daughter, but Chloe lives and breathes beating Shara in all that they do. But when Shara kisses Chloe out of the blue and then vanishes, Chloe’s main goal is to find Shara so she can beat her to Valedictorian fair and square.

Chloe quickly realizes that she’s not the only one Shara kissed and ditched. There’s Smith, High school quarterback and Shara’s long term boyfriend. Then there’s Rory, the class bad boy and Shara’s next door neighbor. Together, they must work to solve cryptic clues left in some very creative places in order to find Shara and get some answers.

Along the way, new friendships are made, and old friendships are put to the ultimate test.

Rating

“She feels like the spine of a book about to crack and spill out all the love story guts.”
Direct quote from the book

Review

Possibility for light spoilers nothing you couldn’t guess by the back of the book though. Read Cautiously.

You might be thinking to yourself, “Hmm What’s with all the Taco Bell?” Well let me tell you, this book is full of a lot of Taco Bell! It only felt right to ask my local Taco Bell for as many sauce packets as I could get and I believe they gave me like 70 packets! I am not someone who eats at Taco Bell and I don’t think that before today I have ever even had one of their tacos but now I can say I have, all because of this book!

Ok, but really, lets get on to the stuff I know you all came here for. The book review!

Like I said at the beginning of this blog post, I have read all of Casey McQuiston’s books at this point and I waited with much anticipation for this one to be released however, this one is my lowest ranked book of theirs. I really loved their writing as usual but for me it really came down to the characters. So the reason this book is getting four stars rather than five is because by page 200 I was still not in love with Chloe and Shara. I was however invested in all the sub characters and their story lines. I could really use a book about Rory and Smith or even Georgia and how their lives are after high school. I don’t want to give away any spoilers but I just had a hard time really falling in love with Chloe and Shara both as individuals and them as a couple. I am not really an enemies to lovers trope person so that might be why.

What I really loved was the mystery behind every clue Shara left behind. It was a really fun and unique story line. Also every book Casey McQuiston writes is extremely LGBTQ friendly and this book especially felt like a great book for teens who felt like they were unable to come out in high school now or even 30 years after graduating. This book will be one that touches many people for the rest of their lives.

Even though the main characters weren’t for me, this was still a really cute read that I would highly recommend to everyone!

QOTD: What is your favorite fast food Mexican chain?

Book Review: “The Ex Talk” By Rachel Lynn Solomon

I read this book as a buddy read with one of my friends on Instagram “TheInstaBookWorm“. This was to help me get out of a three week reading slump and we both decided a fun light hearted romance read would do the trick. We also really loved “Weather Girl” by the same author so we felt this would be the perfect book! Lets get into it!

“So often, I’m trapped between the pain of remembering and the fear of forgetting.”
Direct quote from book

About The Book

Author: Rachel Lynn Solomon

Publisher: Berkley

Date Published: January 26th 2021

Page Count: 336

Main Genres: Romance, Contemporary, Fiction

GoodReads Rating: 3.78

“But maybe that’s what we all are—halfway-broken people searching for things that will smooth our jagged edges.”
Direct quote from book

Synopsis

Shay was raised to be a radio host, her dad said she always had a face for radio. After college she got a job as a producer at the local radio station in hopes to one day get to host her own show. However, she was always afraid her voice wasn’t something people would want to listen too.

After ten years a new hotshot journalist winds up finding himself on the air telling a political story only after a few months of being in the station. Animosity grows between the two over time. But when the station is at risk of going under they fight to keep their jobs by offering to host a hit new show called “The Ex Talk”. They are suddenly forced to work hand in hand as co hosts who supposedly used to date and now are somehow qualified to give out relationship advice. Can they keep the peace and make their listeners believe they had previously dated or will all the charades come crumbling apart?

“Sometimes I feel like I’m playing at being an adult, like I’m constantly looking around, waiting for a real adult to tell me what to do if my garbage disposal starts making a weird sound or if I should be putting more money in my Roth IRA. I am just…I feel like a complete mess.”
Direct quote from book

Rating

“The thing about losing someone is that it doesn’t happen just once. It happens every time you do something great you wish they could see, every time you’re stuck and you need advice. Every time you fail. It erodes your sense of normal, and what grows back is decidedly not normal, and yet you still have to figure out how to trudge forward.”
Direct quote from book

Review

Alright, Listen up. I really wanted to love this book. I though the idea of a podcast where ex lovers talk about their relationship sounded so amazing! I was ready to dive in and devour this book in one sitting. But honestly it started off slow and ended slow.

I am slowly realizing that enemy to lovers is just not my trope. I find it very exhausting. How do you go from hating each other one second and having sex the next and then having all these wonderful butterfly feelings just to hate him again the next page. It is just a rollercoaster I wanted off of!

So you might be wondering, “If you hated it so much why not just DNF the book?” Look, I thought about it but I always say read it till the halfway mark and then you can make that decision. I still wasn’t happy with the book halfway through but I was halfway through, I might as well finish it. It is kind of a silly thing to do but hey now I can add it towards my reading goal.

Something that I liked and could relate to was all the talk about grief and how it can really stick with you when someone passes. I feel like it is something you never recover from fully. The book really talked about grief in a way that was relatable and heartfelt which I appreciated.

I am still looking for a book that can get me out of my reading slump so please send them my way! I really need a good recommendation!

“Every time I imagined adulthood, it looked different from this reality.”
Direct quote from book

QOTD: Do you like the enemy to lover trope? What is your most hated trope?

Valentine’s Buddy Read with Bai.books (AKA Me)

Love is in the air!

I have decided for the month of February and maybe the months to follow I would like to host a buddy read! This month is based on romance reads due to the Valentine’s day Holiday. I was originally only going to pick one book for this because hosting two chats can be intimidating. However, I decided to host two this month because I have been dying to read both of these books!

The Books

“The Unhoneymooners” By Christina Lauren

Olive is always unlucky: in her career, in love, in…well, everything. Her identical twin sister Ami, on the other hand, is probably the luckiest person in the world. Her meet-cute with her fiancé is something out of a romantic comedy (gag) and she’s managed to finance her entire wedding by winning a series of Internet contests (double gag). Worst of all, she’s forcing Olive to spend the day with her sworn enemy, Ethan, who just happens to be the best man.

Olive braces herself to get through 24 hours of wedding hell before she can return to her comfortable, unlucky life. But when the entire wedding party gets food poisoning from eating bad shellfish, the only people who aren’t affected are Olive and Ethan. And now there’s an all-expenses-paid honeymoon in Hawaii up for grabs.

Putting their mutual hatred aside for the sake of a free vacation, Olive and Ethan head for paradise, determined to avoid each other at all costs. But when Olive runs into her future boss, the little white lie she tells him is suddenly at risk to become a whole lot bigger. She and Ethan now have to pretend to be loving newlyweds, and her luck seems worse than ever. But the weird thing is that she doesn’t mind playing pretend. In fact, she feels kind of… lucky.

4.01 Average rating on GoodReads

“Weather Girl” By Rachel Lynn Solomon

Ari Abrams has always been fascinated by the weather, and she loves almost everything about her job as a TV meteorologist. Her boss, legendary Seattle weatherwoman Torrance Hale, is too distracted by her tempestuous relationship with her ex-husband, the station’s news director, to give Ari the mentorship she wants. Ari, who runs on sunshine and optimism, is at her wits’ end. The only person who seems to understand how she feels is sweet but reserved sports reporter Russell Barringer.

In the aftermath of a disastrous holiday party, Ari and Russell decide to team up to solve their bosses’ relationship issues. Between secret gifts and double dates, they start nudging their bosses back together. But their well-meaning meddling backfires when the real chemistry builds between Ari and Russell.

Working closely with Russell means allowing him to get to know parts of herself that Ari keeps hidden from everyone. Will he be able to embrace her dark clouds as well as her clear skies?

3.97 Average rating on GoodReads

Reading Schedules

If you are wanting to join in on one or even both of these buddy reads please head over to my Instagram and comment on my buddy read post! I will then get you added to the chats for that particular book.

The group chats will be held on a designated night that we all vote upon in the group chat. We will then be able to discuss the book and talk about reading schedules. As I get the updated information I will update this blog post.

I am so excited to be hosting these buddy reads and I hope you are all excited to join!

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.