Well Played | Jen DeLuca | Berkley | Pub: 9/22/20 “I don’t expect you to answer this. I’m not even sure if you’ll read it. But I hope that you have the life that you deserve, full of love from someone you can trust.” I read Well Met , the first book in this series, in 2020 for book club. Having never been to a Ren Faire, I didn’t know what to expect except that I ended up falling in love. Now I read book two, Well Played , and I just really need life to go back to normal because I need to dress like a tavern wench and go live my best life frolicking around a Ren Faire. Well Played is about Stacey, Emily’s friend and co-tavern wench, and Dex. Dex is the hot guy from the band The Dueling Kilts. Usually, Stacey and Dex only speak the few weeks of Ren Fair but this time around they are texting and emailing throughout the year. Then Ren Faire rolls around again and Dex isn’t who he says he is. I really enjoyed this story. During the parts where they were just emailing and texting, it w...
EverAfter Always | Chloe Liese | Pub: 1/12/21 “Sometimes, Freya, no matter how hard you try, you won’t know how much a person you love is hurting because that person doesn’t want to hurt the people that love them.” “But they shouldn’t hide that pain.” “Easy for you to say. It’s hard to be brave and say you’re not okay when you grow up struggling to explain your feelings, when it feels like mental health issues are a shameful thing to own up to.” Chloe Liese did it again and, I think this may just be my favorite Bergman book yet! In Ever After Always , we follow Feyra Bergman and her husband Aiden MacCormack on their rocky road relationship journey. Feyra and Aiden have been married for almost ten years and they want to start a family, but Aiden’s anxiety gets the better of him and he goes into what I like to call “Everything is awful, anxiety mode”. He wants to make sure that they are financially secure before bringing a baby into the family because Aiden grew up with ...
One by One | Ruth Ware | Scout Press | Pub: 9/8/20 “I think about what responsibility means. I think about guilt. I think about moving on.” Added one more Ruth Ware book to my list of Ruth Ware books and now I have read all of them that have been published. Ruth Ware is an auto-buy author for me, and One by One did not disappoint. When I first picked up One by One, I was nervous because I started getting vibes of TheHunting Party by Lucy Foley. A book I really didn’t like. But One by One was so much better than that. In One by One we alternate between Liz and Erin. Erin works at the chalet where the tech startup Snoop is on a retreat for a week. Liz used to work for Snoop, but she was still invited because the team needed her there since she worked for Snoop at the very beginning. It’s all fun and skiing until one of the co-founders goes missing and then there is an avalanche and then… well, you get the picture. Now, I saw some people complain about the tech aspects of the bo...
Fable | Adrienne Young | Wednesday Books | Pub: 9/1/20 “I loved her with a love that broke me.” Fable was getting quite the buzz on bookstagram. Mostly positive reviews but a few people who didn’t love it as much. Fable follows a girl named Fable who was abandoned by her father. Trouble greets her and she needs off the island of Jeval immediately. West, captain of the Marigold, is there to save her. But the trouble doesn’t stop just because Fable is on the Marigold. In fact, the trouble multiplies. I can understand why people didn’t love it. It is a slower book, there is some action throughout, but the bigger stuff happens towards the end. There was also a slow growing romance, which I didn’t mind but I know some people had complained about that. The characters were all pretty solid. I liked them a lot and I liked learning new things about them as everyone started to trust each other slowly. I am sad because it ended in a cliffhanger so, we don’t know what will happe...
Clap When You Land | Elizabeth Acevedo | Harper Teen | Pub: 5/1/20 “How bittersweet a realized dream can be flavored.” My second book of the year and my third Elizabeth Acevedo book. Clap When You Land was just as amazing as the other two books. It is written in verse, similar to how The Poet X was written. Which I really enjoyed that style and I wasn’t sure I would but I think I actually prefer it. It’s captivating in a different way than full on paragraphs are… Clap When You Land is about two girls, Camino who lives in the Dominican Republic and Yahaira, who lives in New York. (This next part might seem like a spoiler but it’s not, it’s in the synopsis) Neither girl knows the other exists until their father is killed in a plane crash on his way to visit Camino in the Dominican Republic. After the plane crashes, you see how both girls and the family that surrounds them react and cope and process. But so many things go on while both are grieving, and it just makes you realize t...
Daisy Jones & the Six | Taylor Jenkins Reid | Ballantine Books | Pub: 3/5/19 “You don’t understand me. You expect me to be someone I’m not.” “You never loved me the way I loved you.” I will start by saying, I had NO intentions of ever reading this book. Historical fiction wasn’t something I ever felt like I liked. Reading about rock stars never really seemed that intriguing to me. The way it had been described to me previously made it seem very Almost Famous to me. But my two best friends both said they loved it, so I decided to give it a go. I am so glad I did because I think it may be my favorite book I have ever read. (as of right now) Daisy Jones & the Six is a book about a rock and roll band in the seventies and it is told in an interview type format. It’s got the sex, the drugs, the rock and roll and then it has all the behind the scenes. For a majority of the book, I HATED Daisy and I HATED Billy. Two people who thought everything should go their way ...
Every Last Fear | Alex Finlay | Minotaur Books | Pub: 3/2/21 “You have two choices when you’re confronted with your every last fear: Give up or fight like hell.” I received a free ARC of Every Last Fear by Alex Finlay from Macmillan in an exchange for an honest review. The year 2020 I barely read any thrillers, I was occupied with mostly fantasy and romance. Then Macmillan sent me Every Last Fear and I thought to myself, “Michelle, let’s close out 2020 with this book.” Best decision ever! Every Last Fear is about the Pine family. The Pine family has had a tough time as of late. Danny, the oldest son, is in jail for murder. A murder everyone in the family thinks he didn’t commit. Matt, the second oldest Pine, doesn’t think Danny is innocent. He saw something that night that convinced him Danny did it. Now Matt is at NYU going to college and the rest of the Pines (Danny obviously excluded) take a spring break trip to Mexico. Matt’s spring break with school didn’t lin...
In a Holidaze | Christina Lauren | Gallery Books | Pub: 10/6/20 “But I’ve loved you since I knew what love was, and I can’t undo that. I would never wish to take that away. Loving you is all the proof I needed that love can last decades. Maybe even a lifetime, who knows.” Tis the season for Christmas books! Christina Lauren got me really into my holiday feels with In a Holidaze. Mae has just finished an incredible Christmas at the cabin, where they spend Christmas every year with their “family”, but it was the last Christmas there, or was it? On that drive to the airport with her family, Mae is making wishes when they get in an accident and she wakes up on a plane… back to Utah… to start Christmas all over again. Mae is now in a Groundhog’s Day situation. (Please watch the movie Groundhog’s Day featuring Bill Murray). She must relive Christmas week over and over again until she gets the week right and breaks the cycle. If you think everything goes smoothly, think again. I liked t...
Mistletoe & Mr. Right | Sarah Morgenthaler | Sourcebooks Casablanca | Pub: 10/6/20 “Well, what grand gesture could Rick possibly make? Here, surrounded by them? We all feel like we aren’t enough.” Did I read this book in 2 days? Yes. So that very clearly means I enjoyed it. What I didn’t expect was to like it more than The Tourist Attraction. Lana works for her family’s company; she is rich and gorgeous and according to family and friends, way out of Rick’s league. Rick is the owner of the pool hall in Moose Springs. He is behind on rent, barely making ends meet, taking care of his nephew and did I mention that Lana is his business’ ‘landlord’? Does the entire town hate her besides her handful of friends? Yes. Does anything mentioned stop the two from having a little Christmas fling? I think I enjoyed this book more because we got a more in-depth view of Rick’s and Lana’s pasts. So, we see why each side is so hesitant for this fling to be a thing. This book also occu...
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