Genre: Contemporary

Review ~ Dead Money ~ Srinath Adiga

I picked up Dead Money because the premise intrigued me. Those first few sentences of the synopsis reeled me in. I’m ever so glad I happened upon this masterful debut. Although Dead Money wasn’t always easy to sit with, it’s worth the time sitting with. “How can you stop something that’s on a mission to destroy itself?” -Theo, Loc 6278 In Dead Money, SAdiga deftly weaves together three stories in three locales with three different characters connected by one cleverly crafted over-arching plot. In the first story, set in Hong Kong, we meet a stock market trader and see the scary genius employed to create Afterlife Dollars. We’re also privy to the greed and corruption that led to its creation. […]

Posted 12 April, 2021 by Brandee @ (un)Conventional Bookworms in Reviews / 2 Comments

Review ~ Seducing His Secret Wife ~ Robin Covington

Seducing His Secret Wife is the second installment in RCovington’s Redhawk Reunion series and it’s a worthy addition. I knew it’d take quite the woman to capture Justin’s attention. Hooboy did the sparks fly! And then we find out who *she* really is. Watching the romance bloom between Justin and Sarina was heartwarming and fun. These two are broken in their own ways and it was something to see as they proved to each other that they were enough just as they are. I only wish I’d gotten to see even more page time between them. Sarina has experienced abandonment most of her life. Being separated from her parents and split from her brothers was only the beginning. Foster care […]

Posted 31 March, 2021 by Brandee @ (un)Conventional Bookworms in Reviews / 4 Comments

Review ~ Mafia Bride ~ CD Reiss

With Mafia Bride , Reiss returns to the world of the Italian mafia and it’s a world I delight in. Being more fully immersed in the customs, the rules, the violence…it’s all so foreign and yet fascinating. And Reiss’s writing is exceptional. She’s the only author I’ve read whose words are beautiful in their brutality. I was enthralled from the first page. The first time I see Santino, I don’t know how old his is, but I am 12, and he is a man. Though I expect him to carry all the subtle and seductive dangers of men, his menace is controlled, with the direction and force of gravity. He comes to my uncle’s house, where I’ve lived since I was a […]

Posted 23 March, 2021 by Brandee @ (un)Conventional Bookworms in Reviews / 6 Comments

Blogger Wife Chat Review ~ The Right Wrong ~ Michelle Mankin

Wow. The Right Wrong certainly toyed with my emotions. Both Ben and Sierra had a lot to overcome in order for their romance to blossom. But it did bloom and it did so rather quickly for my tastes but this is a fairytale. 😉 I didn’t really see the parallel to Sleeping Beauty here… even metaphorically 😀 But yeah, there were definitely feels here. I had to do some thinking on it but I eventually got the parallel… Ben’s childhood was far from idyllic. I can’t imagine being told – your whole life – that you’d ruined a parent’s life. That you were the reason they were unhappy. It was no wonder Ben drank himself to oblivion and/or buried […]

Posted 18 March, 2021 by Brandee @ (un)Conventional Bookworms in Reviews / 1 Comment

ARC Review: The Bookstore on the Beach – Brenda Novak

The Bookstore on the Beach is a rather compelling story, with characters that are attaching, and a quirky beach town as the backdrop to all the drama. The Bookstore on the Beach started out very well, with Autumn going back to her home town for the summer holiday. Seeing her mom, letting her children be free, and possibly stopping her search for her missing husband. Autumn needed to know what had happened to Nick, but she also needed to start living again. After a year and a half of Nick’s disappearing act, Autumn just couldn’t take the uncertainty anymore. As I said, the story is rather compelling, but there is so much going on. Too much for a single novel […]

Posted 15 March, 2021 by Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms in Reviews / 4 Comments

ARC Review: The Last One Home – Victoria Helen Stone

The Last One Home is a rollercoaster of a psychological thriller, where the narrators make you doubt them with almost every step they take, and every thing they say. I was already a huge fan of Victoria Helen Stone when she wrote romance novels under the name Victoria Dahl. But I have to say, her psychological thrillers are even better than her romances. I’m not sure how that’s possible, but The Last One Home had that creepy feeling from the very start. In The Last One Home, the readers follow Lauren, 35, in the present, and her mother, Donna, in the past – when Donna was 35. The back-and-forth works perfectly well for the story. And with each thing I […]

Posted 23 February, 2021 by Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms in Reviews / 3 Comments

Blogger Wife Chat Review ~ Dirty Empire ~ Nina West

Sigh. Wifey, I thought we were going to get the conclusion to Mercy and Gabriel’s story with Dirty Empire. Alas, there’s one more book to come. Good thing, NWest put enough goodness and suspense in Dirty Empire to keep me satisfied while I wait. 😉 Oh my gosh! This was such an intense book! So much was going on. And I agree, I thought this would be the conclusion as well. And now, we have to wait until September :O After the ending of the last book, I figured Mercy would be freaked. And rightfully so. She’s had some difficult things to consider when it comes to her feelings for Gabriel and where she wants this relationship to go. […]

Posted 9 February, 2021 by Brandee @ (un)Conventional Bookworms in Reviews / 4 Comments

ARC Review: Love in Moments – Scarlett Cole

Love in Moments really touched me! It is so well written, and the characters were so realistic. Love in Moments is the second book in Cole’s Love Distilled series, and Scarlett Cole definitely still has it! It’s a realistic story, where the characters not only mention difficult subjects, they also work through them. There was no miraculous healing of either of them through their meeting and falling in love.The characters are fantastic and well fleshed out. The author’s hockey knowledge is definitely above average. And the hero and heroine dared to be vulnerable with each other in order to move forward and grab life and love with both hands. I already knew Liv from Love in Numbers, even if she […]

Posted 1 February, 2021 by Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms in Reviews / 4 Comments

Bookworm Bites ~ One Day in December & And the Mountains Echoed ~ Josie Silver, Khaled Hosseini

It’s been a hot second since I read One Day in December (read: a month) and it’s a story that’s still sticking with me. JSilver managed to incorporate some pretty meaty themes in relating Laurie and Jack’s journey to their HEA. It’s not a conventional path. In fact, I would even consider this a romance. And yet, it is in its own way. One Day in December rolls together tragedy, happiness, loyalty, love, friendship, and betrayal, leaving you with the certainty that everyone’s path to that elusive HEA is varied. And beautiful…in its own way. And the Mountains Echoed was the first book by KHosseini I’ve read. Believe me when I say it won’t be the last. This was […]

Posted 24 January, 2021 by Brandee @ (un)Conventional Bookworms in Reviews / 1 Comment

Blogger Wife Chat Review ~ Layla ~ Colleen Hoover

With Layla, CoHo dipped her toes into unchartered waters – paranormal romance. I wasn’t sure what I was going to get other than I knew I’d enjoy it. And I wasn’t wrong. CoHo delivered on what I knew to expect from her – a well written story with fully realized characters – and on what I could only have imagined. Layla was suspenseful, mysterious, twisty, romantic, and AMAZING. It really was! I had so many different theories as I was reading Layla, with each little thing that happened, I was totally going off in my imagination. As always, CoHo did very well. I adored Layla from the start. She was so open and honest, insightful and REAL…refreshing. Her meeting Leeds […]