Source: Netgalley

ARC Review ~ Maame ~ Jessica George

ARC Review ~ Maame ~ Jessica George

I can’t believe Maame is a debut novel nor that I waited so long to read it. Maddie’s story is told with charm and wit, warmth and compassion. It was enlightening to walk in someone else’s shoes as they go through daily life enduring the high expectations of family, the weight of responsibility for family, as well as racism, and sexism. My heart broke for Maddie at times, but I was also able to laugh along with her. JGeorge is an author to watch! Maddie Wright, a Londoner by way of Ghana, has spent a large portion of her life caring for others. Being the responsible one in her family. The very definition of the name Maame, in her parents’s […]

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Review ~ Rattlesnake Road ~ Amanda McKinney

Review ~ Rattlesnake Road ~ Amanda McKinney

Oh how I lament the fact I’ve allowed Rattlesnake Road to languish on my virtual shelf for so long. 🙁 I was hooked from the first page and struggled to put it down to focus on anything else. And when I finished, I quickly went to check out AMcKinney’s backlist. Yep. I was that impressed. Rattlesnake Road was emotional, riveting, and, at times, creepy. It all combined for excellent reading. Grey Dalton thought she’d lost everything. And then she hit rock bottom and really lost it all. Of course, change was inevitable but not necessarily bad. That change included a move to Berry Springs, where she not only uncovers a mystery hidden in her newly purchased cabin, but also meets […]

Posted 23 February, 2023 by Brandee @ (un)Conventional Bookworms in Reviews / 3 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. […]

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ARC Review ~ When It Falls Apart ~ Catherine Bybee

ARC Review ~ When It Falls Apart ~ Catherine Bybee

I was thrilled to see When It Falls Apart land in my inbox. I’ve been meaning to read Catherine Bybee since meeting her in 2013 (yeah, I’m a bit s-l-o-w) and getting to be in on a new series from the ground level was really appealing. Luca and Brooke were a charming way to meet all the D’Angelos and this series. Brooke was so…REAL! Needing a change following a breakup as well as having to take over primary care of her ailing father, she finds herself relocating to San Diego. Things seem to fall into place when she finds a facility for her father conveniently located and new digs in the area that drew her to San Diego in the […]

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Blogtour Review : For the Love of April French – Penny Aimes

Blogtour Review : For the Love of April French – Penny Aimes

For the Love of April French is a tender, sweet romance between April and Dennis, where they both have some past demons to overcome. As soon as I read the synopsis for this novel, I knew I had to read For the Love of April French! A romance with a trans woman as the main character appealed to me, and the fact that the author is also a trans woman is what completely sold me. I loved getting to know April, and to understand how she thought through so many things before acting. In many ways, she was so very self possessed, and in others, she was insecure and a little afraid. I think that is par for the course […]

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Bookworm Bites ~ The Blood King & The Warrior King ~ Abigail Owen

Bookworm Bites ~ The Blood King & The Warrior King ~ Abigail Owen

Wowza! The Blood King was fantastic! Ladon and Skylar’s story was action-packed! There were lots of dragon battles as well as battles of will and battles of the heart. These two were absolutely fated for each other but both were too stubborn to recognize the signs. Once they did, they were too stubborn to want to give in. LOL The banter between these two was fun and built the sexual tension. There was more to the story than the romance though. We got to know more about dragon culture and the ways in which phoenixes and dragons ruled together. And we got even more insight into Pytheios’s sick determination to be the immortal ruler of all dragon clans. I read […]

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Review ~ Dead Money ~ Srinath Adiga

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. […]

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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 […]

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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
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Review: The Iron Raven – Julie Kagawa

Review: The Iron Raven – Julie Kagawa

The Iron Raven features Puck as the main character, and I feel like I have waited for his book since forever! What a pleasure to be back in Kagawa’s fairylands once more. And even more so to learn much more about Puck, and how he was often somewhat an outsider, but one who wanted to fit in – at least sometimes. There is trouble in Faerie, and this trouble is so big it might just be too much for Puck, the Iron Fey, and a new possible ally to fight the good fight. The Iron Raven shows a different side of Faerie, now that there is a specific place where the Forgotten have taken up residence. Ethan as their champion […]

Posted 3 February, 2021 by Linda @ (un)Conventional Bookworms in Reviews / 6 Comments
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