Category: Reviews

Review ~ Well Played ~ Jen DeLuca

Review ~ Well Played ~ Jen DeLuca

I was super excited for Well Played since it was Stacey’s book. I felt connected to her in some way that I didn’t feel with Emily (Well Met). While I did enjoy Well Played, it wasn’t all I’d been hoping for. What Worked: Plot/Trope I enjoyed this twist on Cyrano. JDLuca did a brilliant job in developing this romance via emails and texts. Seeing Stacey and D be vulnerable with one another using the safety of written communication was…well, sweet. Characters Stacey, for the most part, delivered on her perky, fun personality. And it was nice getting to know D in this way, especially since we knew nothing about him. Family Dynamics Stacey’s close relationship with her parents – especially […]

Posted 20 February, 2023 by Brandee @ (un)Conventional Bookworms in Reviews / 6 Comments
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Buddy Read Chat Review ~ Pestilence ~ Laura Thalassa

Buddy Read Chat Review ~ Pestilence ~ Laura Thalassa

My friend Nadene @Totally Addicted to Reading and I took a look at our TBR shelves and chose Pestilence for a buddy read. You can check out Nadene’s 4.5 star review here as well as others. I read Pestilence while Nadene listened. We hope you enjoy our chat review. 🙂   I found the premise for Pestilence (and this series) intriguing. I mean, a romance with a horseman of the apocalypse? But I couldn’t have imagined how gripping and thought-provoking it ended up being. I think the most provocative element was that love, although it’s supposed to bring out the best in us, sometimes awakens the worse. But even through that, we’re all capable of change. What did you find […]

Posted 10 February, 2023 by Brandee @ (un)Conventional Bookworms in Reviews / 6 Comments
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Review ~ Well Met ~ Jen DeLuca

Review ~ Well Met ~ Jen DeLuca

In Well Met, we become acquainted with the town of Willow Creek as well as some of its inhabitants. And we are introduced to its annual Renaissance Faire. This first installment revolves around Emily, who has come to town to care for her sister and niece following a car accident, and Simon, the local boy turned English teacher turned Master of Ren Faire. It was a lot of fun! What Worked: Characters I immediately was drawn to Emily, a young woman down on her luck. Having recently been dumped by her long-time beau after supporting him through law school, she’s in town taking care of her older sister. Emily is dealing with feeling she’s not enough and upon first meeting […]

Posted 6 February, 2023 by Brandee @ (un)Conventional Bookworms in Reviews / 6 Comments
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Review ~ Wicked All Night ~ Jeaniene Frost #SIAM

Review ~ Wicked All Night ~ Jeaniene Frost #SIAM

I can! I can read a series in a month! Special thanks to Anne @Books of My Heart for organizing our buddy read of the Night Rebel series with Berls @Because Reading and Lillian @Mom With a Reading Problem. It was a lot of fun!   Ian and Veritas’ story had ticked all my boxes so far so Wicked All Night had a lot to live up to as the final installment. While it did deliver on most of my expectations, there were too many unanswered questions to leave me fully satisfied. Once again, we pick up the story where we left off and this last piece moved at break-neck speed. We have Veritas heading to the Netherworld in order […]

Posted 1 February, 2023 by Brandee @ (un)Conventional Bookworms in Reviews / 8 Comments
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Review ~ Wicked Bite ~ Jeaniene Frost #SIAM

Review ~ Wicked Bite ~ Jeaniene Frost #SIAM

Oh good golly! Wicked Bite picks up where Shades of Wicked left us and hurtles us onto a thrilling, fast-paced continuation of Ian and Veritas’ story. And let me tell you – Ian made me love him even more in Wicked Bite and I didn’t think that was possible. 😉 Wicked Bite sees Veritas attempting to fulfill a promise by hunting down souls. She’s doing her damnedest while also avoiding Ian for…reasons. Events in the last book have Ian’s memories a little hazy but he remembers Veritas and his feelings for her quite clearly. However, Veritas is not only running from Ian’s memories – or her belief in the lack thereof. She’s also protecting him from the extreme danger she […]

Posted 26 January, 2023 by Brandee @ (un)Conventional Bookworms in Reviews / 2 Comments
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Review ~ Shades of Wicked ~ Jeaniene Frost #SIAM

Review ~ Shades of Wicked ~ Jeaniene Frost #SIAM

I’ve been a fan of Ian (for the most part) since first meeting him. He provided a lot of comic relief, to be sure, but his reaction to Cat killing someone in his employ made me wonder at what was beneath this devil-may-care veneer. We’ve seen glimpses throughout the series but in Shades of Wicked, we are finally made privy to the real Ian. And let’s not forget Veritas. Upon first introduction, I liked her because I could see she wasn’t the hard-nosed Law Guardian she should have been. I had no idea the layers she had or the impressive being she is. There couldn’t be a more perfect partner for Ian. Shades of Wicked sees Veritas teaming up with […]

Posted 23 January, 2023 by Brandee @ (un)Conventional Bookworms in Reviews / 8 Comments
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ARC Review: The Backup Plan – Jill Shalvis

ARC Review: The Backup Plan – Jill Shalvis

The Backup Plan hit me in the feels big time, both because of the romance and because of the friendships – as well as all the past hurts. The Backup Plan is a story of three lost souls – two who left their home town when the going got tough while they were young – and one who stayed, but didn’t really live. It is filled with emotions! There’s joy, sadness, love, fear, humor, and a tiny little dash of hope. I really enjoyed getting to know Alice, Lauren and Knox in The Backup Plan. They had all been deeply hurt when they were young, and as a result, they were cautious with their hearts, albeit in very different ways. […]

Posted 16 January, 2023 by Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms in Challenges, Reviews / 6 Comments
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Dual Blogger Review: The Sins We Hide – Scarlett Cole

Dual Blogger Review: The Sins We Hide – Scarlett Cole

The Sins We Hide is a gritty MC romance with a young woman going back to her roots, and the boy she used to have a crush on now a cynical VP. The Sins We Hide follows Gwen and Clutch, and their past is a lot less messy than their present, for sure! Gwen goes back to the past in a way after her mother is killed, and she then finds out that not only is her father dead, too – they were buried on the same day. And most of the people in the club hate not only her mother, but her too. Gwen definitely has a lot to deal with, and the most difficult parts are the secrets […]

Posted 12 January, 2023 by Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms in Challenges, Reviews / 1 Comment
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Buddy Read Chat Review ~ Devious Lies ~ Parker S. Huntington

Buddy Read Chat Review ~ Devious Lies ~ Parker S. Huntington

Once again, I had the pleasure of buddy reading with my friend, Nadene @Totally Addicted to Reading. We hope you enjoy our chat review of Devious Lies by Parker S. Huntington. You can check out this chat review (Nadene’s review includes her thoughts on the narration since she listened) and more at here.   Age-gap and enemies-to-lovers tropes are probably in my top 5-7 favorites. Getting them combined was good stuff. I particularly liked how Emery and Nash were acquainted. That his family had worked for hers. And that she’d spent more time with his family than her own. I also appreciated how Huntington wove together the different timelines so we got the backstory. Honestly, I could see they were […]

Posted 9 January, 2023 by Brandee @ (un)Conventional Bookworms in Reviews / 2 Comments
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2023 New Release Challenge Review link-ups

2023 New Release Challenge Review link-ups

2023 New Release Challenge Review Link-Ups Hello everyone, here’s where you can share links to your 2023 New Release Challenge reviews. I will put up a new link-up each quarter, and the newest quarter will be on top of the post to make it easier to find. Each review link-up will be open from the first day of the quarter until the 10th of the month following the end of the quarter. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to let me know – and if you want to share the love, use #2023NewReleaseChallenge on twitter. We hope you’ll have have fun participating in the challenge this year, and that we’ll all find new books to read thanks to […]

Posted 8 January, 2023 by Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms in Reviews / 13 Comments
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