Book Review: Definitely Better Now

📚 Book Review: Definitely Better Now 

Ava Robinson 

📚 My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

🗓️ Publication Date: December 17, 2024

📚 My Review: This debut is a bittersweet and witty look at sobriety, love, and family chaos. Emma’s struggles with navigating dating, her estranged father, and holiday stresses were raw and relatable, and the writing style made her journey feel authentic. Also, the budding romance with Ben added warmth to the storyline. A heartfelt and charming read for sure!

Thank you to Netgalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing, MIRA for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

📚 Goodreads Synopsis: A touching and deeply funny debut about starting over sober only to discover life’s biggest messes are still waiting right where you left them.

The very last person anyone should worry about is Emma. Yes, hi, she’s an alcoholic. But she’s officially been sober for one entire year. That’s twelve months of better health. Fifty-two whole weeks of focusing on nothing but her nine-to-five office job, group meetings, and avoiding the kind of bad decisions that previously left her awash in shame and regret. It’s also been 365 days of not dating. And with her new dating profile, Emma, 26, of New York is ready to put herself back out there.

Except—was dating always this complicated? And did Emma’s mother really have to choose now to move in with her new boyfriend? Being assigned to plan her office’s holiday party feels like icing on the suddenly very overwhelming cake until her estranged father reappears with devastating news. Icing, meet cherry on top. But then there’s Ben, the charming IT guy who, despite Emma’s awkwardness and shortcomings, seems to maybe actually get her? Sobriety is turning out to be far from the flawless future Emma had once envisioned for herself, but as she allows herself to open up to Ben and confront difficult past relationships, she’s beginning to realize that taking things one day at a time might just be the perfectly imperfect path she’s meant to be on

Free Printable!

Download Link Here

Book Review: When I Was Theirs

📚 Book Review: When I was Theirs

Evelyn Flood

📚 My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

🗓️ Publication Date: November 14, 2024

📚 My Review: This book pulled me in from the start and I read it in less than a day. The love story with Ben is sweet and full of little moments that made me smile, but then everything falls apart. Jared's character adds tension and emotion to the story. Their connection is messy but also unexpectedly healing.

The heavy themes hit hard (make sure you check the warnings), Emmy went through SO much.. but the author balances the heartbreak with hope. If you’re up for an emotional ride, it’s worth the read.

Thank you to Netgalley and Evelyn Flood for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

📚 Goodreads Synopsis: The sky raged on the night that I met Benjamin Bennett.

I should have known.

Bad things always happen when the sky rages.

Ben Bennett blows into my life like a whirlwind. Intent on keeping my head down, he pushes me to look up. To look at the stars.

To dance in the rain.

To love the little moments.

To love him.

Loving Ben is easy. As easy as breathing. Until the worst happens, and I’m left alone to pick up my broken pieces for the second time.

Except now there’s Jared. Ben’s brother is angry, and I’m his favorite target. He wants nothing to do with me. I want nothing to do with him. But when my world flips again, Jared Bennett becomes the one person holding me together.

If only he wasn’t the one who broke me.

Please note that this book contains heavy, emotional themes.

Book Review: How to Get a Life in Ten Dates

📚 Book Review: How to Get a Life in Ten Dates

Jenny L Howe

📚 My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐💫

🗓️ Publication Date: December 10, 2024

📚 My Review: This was a cute, predictable romcom and I'm not complaining about that! You knew what was going to happen early on, but the story to get there was still cute. The characters were perfectly imperfect and some of the dates made me LOL. 

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

📚 Goodreads Synopsis: Dating as a plus-size woman has been exhausting for Haleigh Berkshire. Sure, she's only twenty-five, but she's been doing it for a decade, and she's beginning to think it's time for a sabbatical. It doesn't help that she's been madly in love with her best friend, Jack, for years--but one disastrous weekend in college taught her the hard way that they'll never be more than friends. 

With her sister's engagement party fast approaching, and her friends and family nagging her about a plus-one, Haleigh and Jack do what they do best: scheme. Haleigh agrees to let her friends and family set her up with ten men or women--and she's sure that, once none of them prove to be good matches, her loved ones will finally let her fade into romantic retirement in peace. 

To her surprise, some of Haleigh’s dates go better than expected, and for the first time in forever, she's actually having fun. Until Jack starts breaking all the rules they’d made to mend their friendship in college. He produces a laundry list of flaws for everyone she likes, crashes some of her nights out, and finally shocks her by throwing himself into the mix. Dating Jack has always been the dream, but Haleigh is afraid of the reality. Is it worth risking her best friend for something that may have never been meant to be

Book Review: The Husbands

📚 Book Review: The Husbands

Holly Gramazio

📚 My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

📚 My Review: I loved the first couple chapters of this book. It's a unique premise and it had a few LOL moments.. but then it got a bit slow paced in the middle and by the last 1/4 of the book it was just more of the same and I kind of lost interest. That said, the last chapter wrapped everything up nicely and was super cute!

📚 Goodreads Synopsis: When Lauren returns home to her flat in London late one night, she is greeted at the door by her husband, Michael. There’s only one problem—she’s not married. She’s never seen this man before in her life. But according to her friends, her much-improved decor, and the photos on her phone, they’ve been together for years.

As Lauren tries to puzzle out how she could be married to someone she can’t remember meeting, Michael goes to the attic to change a lightbulb and abruptly disappears. In his place, a new man emerges, and a new, slightly altered life re-forms around her. Realizing that her attic is creating an infinite supply of husbands, Lauren confronts the question: If swapping lives is as easy as changing a lightbulb, how do you know you’ve taken the right path? When do you stop trying to do better and start actually living?

Book Review: Taken

📚 Book Review: Taken

Danielle Ramsay

📚 My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

🗓️ Publication Date: November 25, 2024

📚 My Review: I was intrigued by the premise of this book with Alice being desperate to prove her innocence and reclaim her child before it was too late. However, I found the first half a bit slow-paced, which made it challenging to fully connect with the characters. That said, the twist toward the end was worth the wait, with the story picking up nicely in the second half. I'm glad I stuck with it, as the last chapters made for a satisfying conclusion!

Thank you to Netgalley and Boldwood Books for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

📚 Goodreads Synopsis: I am accused of the worst of crimes – murdering my baby – and I have hours before this passenger ferry docks in Spain to find him, alive.

Someone knows about my difficult past and darkest secrets, and now I think they’ve taken my baby. But who would do this to me and why? I know the answer. Or at least I think I do…

The police want to know why I have fled my home and husband. How do I tell them that I had a breakdown after my first baby died? That today is the anniversary of his death? That my husband is planning on having me sectioned?

Despite what my husband says, I’m not ill. Am I? For I have discovered he has an agenda…

So how could I have been so wrong about him?

And how do I convince the police I’m innocent, when everyone believes I’m guilty, and get my baby back before he disappears forever?

Book Review: The Summer Before

📚 Book Review: The Summer Before

Dianne C. Braley 

📚 My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

🗓️ Publication Date: October 15, 2024 - Out Now!

📚 My Review: This novel deals with trauma, betrayal, and healing. Madeline and Summer’s bond as young girls makes the revelation of Summer’s hidden abuse all the more devastating. The author did a great job exploring the complex feelings of guilt and anger that must arise when a loved one is both victim and perpetrator. Though heavy at times, this was a compelling read, and I was rooting for Maddie to find the ability to rebuild her life.

Thank you to Netgalley and Koehler Books for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

📚 Goodreads Synopsis: If someone you love was assaulted, abused, or was a victim of a crime --- you are a secondary victim. If the perpetrator is also someone you love, there are no words.

Madeline and Summer are more than best friends. They might as well be sisters; they've claimed the title, anyway—and sisters tell each other everything. But Summer has a secret she's been hiding for years. Someone's been hurting her, someone close, and when it comes out, it destroys everything around her with the force of dying stars.

Six years after the trial, Madeline is a haunted young woman trying to build a new life in Boston, but the guilt of her betrayal when her friend needed her most—brings her to the brink of suicide. Madeline embarks on a journey to heal from the damage caused by Summer's secret and both her and her mother's terrible response. To let go of the past, Madeline must confront her father, mother, and all those involved with the trial that split her family apart—or continue her descent into dust, finishing what she started to escape it.