Throwback thursday – World of Bai

Throwback Thursday (Book Review): “Red, White and Royal Blue” By: Casey McQuiston

I posted my review for Casey McQuiston’s second book “One Last Stop” earlier this week. It only felt right to post a throwback book review from when I read Casey’s first book “Red, White and Royal Blue”. I read this book At the beginning of November 2020 and fell in love instantly! Let’s dive into this review!

Synopsis

Alex Claremont-Diaz is a young College boy who dreams of being the next big politician. With his mom being the first female president in the White House, what could possibly hold him back? Maybe a prince who he hates, maybe the lack of knowledge he has for his own sexuality, or maybe his mother’s competition for the 2020 election.

Rating

Review

I was seeing this book all over bookstagram with some amazing reviews! Seeing these reviews made me immediately download the book on my kindle and I devoured it!

This political love story pulled your emotions every which way and had you rooting for the best possible outcome. Putting this book down is extremely difficult because it’s just that perfect!

If you are looking for a romance novel, LGBTQ Novel, or even something a little political based on our nation’s tough times. This book has something for you!

I didn’t run into any issue with this book much like “One Last Stop”. Casey just has this way of creating amazing characters and writing a story that pulls you in within the first chapters! I can not wait for her next book to come out, I will for sure be one of the firsts to grab the book off of the shelf.

QOTD: Have you read both of Casey’s books, even just one? I want to hear your thoughts!

Throwback Thursday (Book Review): “A Type Of Hunger” By: Pamela D. Beverly

I found this book while I was scrolling through blogs and reading comments. Pamela has a few books available for people to read other than this one, one is even a children’s book that sounds so adorable! She published these books on her own and I am so excited to support her!

Title: A Type Of Hunger

Author: Pamela D. Beverly

Number of Pages: 132

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Synopsis

Nate is a man who values the idea of working hard to get the things in your life. When he loses his job unexpectedly he would rather keep it to himself instead of talk to his girlfriend and get some advice. This caused some issues in his relationship and they ended up breaking up due to the secrets. After months of searching for jobs and picking up temp work and scrounging every penny his health declines and serves as a major wake up call! Will he find a job? Will he come clean about his secrets?

Review

Pamela published this book all on her own which is so great! I love Indy authors! The only issue with this is that I found quite a few spelling and grammar errors that were very distracting when reading the book. However, you will run across these errors even in professional editing situations.

I really enjoyed the beginning of this book because she sets up her characters so well! However, towards the middle of the book it started to feel quite rushed and I missed some key elements to the story. I loved a lot of the ideas behind this story but with the book only being 132 pages I felt there was room to expand the storyline and add in some missed details. But overall this is a book and an author that you should really give a chance.

Pamela D. Beverly’s Blog

Buy The Book

I always feel like three stared books get a bad rep because it seems mediocre or just not good enough. This book is honestly worth the read! I am just giving it a three star rating right now because of the many grammar and spelling errors along with the fact that it was really short and felt rushed. However, maybe you are looking for a really quick read, this book would be a great option for you.

Please check out my rating scale here to better understand why this book received this rating.

Rating Scale

Throwback Thursday (Book Review) “Get A Life Chloe Brown” By: Talia Hibbert

Welcome back to another Throwback Thursday book review. This week I want to highlight a two star read of mine. Once again this review might be controversial because everyone seems to love this book! “Get a Life Chloe Brown” is highly talked about and I have came across some really amazing reviews from other readers that made me want to pick this book up, so I ordered it on amazon and immediately dove into it.

Synopsis

Chloe Brown has Fibromyalgia which causes chronic pain, tie that together with being dumped by a fiancé and you get a girl who stays at home to protect her health and feelings. However, after a near death experience she puts together a list, not a bucket list but a “Get a Life List”. On this list are a few items such as; ride on a motorcycle, go camping and a few things to the extreme of have meaningless sex. However, one thing was not on that list and it was to fall in love.

Rating

⭐️⭐ / 5 Stars

Review

This book I felt was way over hyped as I saw so many five star reviews. This I feel is a big reason I couldn’t get into it and maybe if I picked this up with zero expectations I would have enjoyed this a bit more. However, after this book I really don’t see myself picking up the other two books in this series.

It took me a very long time to get into this read because it was very slow to start out. I also did not feel any kind of connection with Chloe other than being Plus size and having some health issues. The characters didn’t jump out at me for any particular reason and the relationship felt quite forced. It was a lot of off and on with feelings and it was rough to sit through. However sometimes you did like the relationship and it could be cute at times so I guess I am at a toss up with that.

From other peoples reviews I was expecting some major spicy scenes, don’t get me wrong, there were a few scenes that peeked my interest but not as many as I thought there would be I guess. However sometimes in books with spicy scenes use some interesting choice descriptive words that leave you feeling more awkward than interested, this book was not one of those. I felt quite comfortable with the words Talia used to describe these scenes, so I applaud that!

The main reasons this got a low rating of two stars would be;

I struggled to finish the book
I did not love the characters relationship
Chloe wasn’t very relatable in my eyes
Chloe got on my nerves more often than not

These points are highlighted in my previous post called “My Rating System” Follow this link to check that out. https://worldofbaiblog.com/2021/06/14/my-rating-system/

Have you read this book/series? If so what were your thoughts? Maybe I have been a bit harsh on this book.

Throwback Thursday (Book Review) “Anxious People” By: Fredrik Backman

It is another Throwback Thursday book review post. this week I am going to be posting what will probably be a very unpopular opinion. This is my one star review for Fredik Backman’s book “Anxious People”.

I originally gave this book a three star review however, after I redid my reviewing scale it got bumped all the way down to just a single star! Check out how I got to this point in this previous article https://worldofbaiblog.com/2021/06/14/my-rating-system/

Synopsis

🚫 Possible Spoilers 🚫

This book is about a bank robber, a man on a bridge and a hostage situation, But mostly a group of mysterious people with many secrets.

What would you do if your kids were about to be taken away from you because you are missing just a few thousand dollars? Maybe you would beg for help, ask your ex for a little more time or maybe choose to rob a bank.

When your plan goes unexpected you run across the street and take hostages in an apartment. How will you get yourself out of this situation?

The biggest question the cops have is who is the suspect in this room full of strange and suspicious people?

Rating

⭐️/ 5 Stars

Review

This book took me about 200 pages to get into, which is more than half the book by the way. I really wanted to love this book because of how highly everyone else rates it but this really let me down. I honestly forced myself to finish this book just to say that I read it which is a lot of the reason I gave it only one star.

I felt this book was just a bunch of hypothetical questions each chapter that led you to a very small clue. I didn’t really get into the story because of that. It wasn’t a very interesting story until close to the end when you start putting two and two together. However, the ending did have a nice twist which I feel is why everyone loves this book.

This was my first Fredik Backman book and I kind of feel like it will be my last. If I were to read another one of his, which one should I read?

Photo Credit: Google

Throwback Thursday (Book Review) “The Lost Apothecary” By: Sarah Penner

This is a Throwback Thursday (Book Review) post. Because I am a new blogger I will be posting my previous book reviews every Thursday afternoon! So to start off with lets dive into “The Lost Apothecary” By: Sarah Penner, which I gave a solid 5 star review!

This book was a Historical Fiction debut release from Book Of The Month Club that I had to grab! The cover alone is just absolutely gorgeous. I started this book March 7th, 2021 and finished March 11th, 2021 which would probably make this the the fastest I have ever read a book to be completely honest.

Synopsis

The Lost Apothecary Follows a Non-Linear storyline bouncing Back and forth between the late 1700’s and modern day London.

Nella, an apothecary owner in the late 1700’s is keeping her mothers shop open after her passing but with a slight twist. Where her mother only used potions to heal Nella uses potions to heal but also to use against men. She has two rules: the poison must never harm another woman and second the names of the murderer and her victim must be recorded in the register. When she meets an unexpected friend something goes wrong but where does that leave the apothecary?

Caroline, an aspiring historian on vacation, stumbles upon a small blue apothecary jar. While sorting out her damaged married life she starts to unravel the mystery of the lost apothecary and finds her true self in the process.

Rating

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/ 5 Stars

Review

I normally don’t find myself loving non-linear storylines because they can get jumbled and confusing at times. However, with this book it worked! I found myself craving to know more about each character and kept me guessing what was going to come next. With every turn of the page I was completely invested and it made the book fly by!

Just a few small issues, if you can even call these issues, probably not.

I want to learn more about Nella and Eliza’s lives.
(Possible spoiler I suppose) At the very end of the book Caroline wrote her dissertation and there is a small inconsistency but I can forgive that.
I could have used a longer book so it didn’t feel “rushed”

Overall I really enjoyed this book and I think for it being a debut novel Sarah Penner did a really great job!

Have you read this book? What are your overall thoughts and feelings?

Photo Credit: Google