Icon Tag: Challenge

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 […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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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. […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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New Release Review & Giveaway ~ Angel of Ashes & Dust ~ D.H. Nevins

New Release Review & Giveaway ~ Angel of Ashes & Dust ~ D.H. Nevins

Angel of Ashes & Dust is the exciting ending to the Wormwood Trilogy. It’s a book I’ve been eagerly anticipating and it delivered the satisfying ending I was hoping for. Picking up where Angel of Shadow left off, Kali finds herself the reluctant leader of the surviving humans. She’s struggling with a role she didn’t ask for, a group that seemingly gets angrier and more mistrusting every day, and a power she hesitates to use for fear of it being used against her. Despite Kali not wanting to lead, she’s willing to do all she can to help these humans rebuild. This determination means she must deal with the distrust and make the hard decisions needed to further their cause. […]

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Blogger Wife Chat Review ~ Sins & Needles ~ Karina Halle #SIAM

Blogger Wife Chat Review ~ Sins & Needles ~ Karina Halle #SIAM

Linda and I read Sins & Needles – The Artists Trilogy – for the Can You Read a Series in a Month? Challenge. Six years have passed now and in Sins & Needles we find Ellie wanting to go legit. She’s gone home to see if her uncle will help her. When he refuses, she decides to either get a job or plan one final con so she can get a fresh start. You know, watching Ellie try to choose between doing the moral thing or not kinda explains why it seems some people are willing to put effort into the scam rather than legit work. It’s maddening to me but… I still feel like Ellie isn’t a completely bad […]

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Blogger Wife Chat Review ~ On Every Street ~ Karina Halle #SIAM

Blogger Wife Chat Review ~ On Every Street ~ Karina Halle #SIAM

Linda and I read On Every Street for the Can You Read a Series in a Month? Challenge.   On Every Street was a bit hard for me to get into for some reason. Probably because Ellie/Eden was a character I couldn’t relate to immediately. She was a teenager who’d been raised by criminal parents. But once I engaged, I read quickly. What were your initial thoughts? Oh, I agree! She was difficult to relate to, but I did get into the story, I was very intrigued about her plan once the story started to unfold.   You and I discussed this some already but I wanted to include this here as well. I found it difficult to believe Ellie/Eden […]

Posted 29 September, 2022 by Brandee @ (un)Conventional Bookworms in Reviews / 2 Comments
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