Genre: Contemporary

ARC Review: The Bookstore on the Beach – Brenda Novak

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 […]

Divider

ARC Review: The Last One Home – Victoria Helen Stone

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
Divider

Blogger Wife Chat Review ~ Dirty Empire ~ Nina West

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. […]

Divider

ARC Review: Love in Moments – Scarlett Cole

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
Divider

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

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
Divider

Blogger Wife Chat Review ~ Layla ~ Colleen Hoover

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 […]

Divider

Review: Driven – Rebecca Zanetti

Review: Driven – Rebecca Zanetti

Driven is the perfect culmination to the Deep Ops series! It had even more suspense than the prior books, and I have to say that the way the mystery unfolded left me surprised and satisfied at the same time. Driven is fast-paced and filled with danger. Not only for Angus himself, but also for his whole team of misfits. I loved how the plot thickened in this final novel in the series, and the mystery became even more difficult to decipher. At the beginning of the novel, the HDD disbanded Angus’ team, and things were looking extremely dire for all of them. In Driven, there is also an amazing redemption arc for Angus, and of course, he needed that, but […]

Posted 15 January, 2021 by Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms in Reviews / 5 Comments
Divider

Review: No Holding Back – Lori Foster

Review: No Holding Back – Lori Foster

No Holding Back is the first book in a new series by Lori Foster, and it blew my socks off! Sterling and Cade were intriguing and realistic characters I loved getting to know. No Holding Back is about a strong female character, Sterling, who had been through literal hell when she was in her late teens. I have a trigger warning on my Goodreads review just in case… However, using her earlier trauma as a strength in order to fight evil is what she does. Not only does she do it well, she also works alone. Sterling is not a trusting person, but she always feels good when she goes to Cade’s bar after work. It’s the only place where […]

Posted 12 January, 2021 by Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms in Reviews / 4 Comments
Divider

Review: A Winter Symphony – Tiffany Reisz

Review: A Winter Symphony – Tiffany Reisz

A Winter Symphony is a new story, but there was still comfort in being with Nora, King, Søren and Jules again. Reisz did it again. A Winter Symphony is a beautifully written story in The Original Sinners series, and I loved every second of every word of it! I read this in 2020, and as you all know, it was a year when I needed comfort. I definitely got that comfort reading about my favorite kinky characters. I feel like these characters have become a part of me – even if we would probably never meet if we lived in the same universe. A Winter Symphony is beautifully written, only Reisz can make it so that it reads like kinky […]

Posted 6 January, 2021 by Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms in Reviews / 6 Comments
Divider

Review: The Forever Girl – Jill Shalvis

Review: The Forever Girl – Jill Shalvis

The Forever Girl is a feel-good romance of epic proportions. Between the friendships and unconventional family ties, and the evident chemistry between the protagonists, Shalvis hit the bull’s eye once more. One of the things I loved the most about The Forever Girl was the fact that the main characters had a very strong bond from spending one year together when they were in their late teens. In a way this impacted the overall plot, and specifically Maze’s feelings of not being adequate as a friend, sister or lover. As always, Shalvis managed to tie my heartstrings in knots, in the best way! And I really loved how Maze, Cat, Heather and Walker all had their demons to deal with […]

Posted 4 January, 2021 by Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms in Reviews / 7 Comments
Divider