Books

Bullet Point Book Review: Sun Tattoo by Luana Ferraz (Wild Flowers, book 2)

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I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

My Rating: ★★★★☆
  • I’m throwing a party because in this book they actually learned to communicate!
  • Except Dylan, Mr. Secret Keeper is still at it… Suspicious. And now that I KNOW he’s keeping big secrets I trust and like him even less.
  • This isn’t a complaint or anything, but I have never read a book where they take this many on-page showers.
  • I love seeing everything from Sam’s perspective!
  • Obsessed with all the coffee shop crew.
  • Simon, I will fight you.

Overall, I found myself enjoying Sun Tattoo even more than Party Trick, which surprised me because it’s very rare for me to like book two better than book one.

Bullet Point Book Review: Party Trick by Luana Ferraz (Wild Flowers, book 1)

LeeLeave a comment

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

My Rating: ★★★★☆
  • The spicy scenes did not disappoint!
  • I want a Hannah.
  • Actually I want a Sam, too, if I’m honest…
  • I don’t trust Dylan. It constantly feels like hes keeping secrets.
  • Everyone in this book needs to learn some communication skills! (Respectfully)
  • I found myself frequently annoyed with one character then another, and yet unable to put the book down, which is what moved this from a solid 3 star book to 4 stars.
  • I really appreciated how realistic all the characters felt.
  • The copy I recieved could have used some proofreading here and there, but I didn’t factor that into my rating as it didn’t detract from my reading experience.
  • Reminded me somewhat of ‘U Up?’ by Catie Disabato (in reading experience, not in the actual plot).

Review: Siri, Who Am I? by Sam Tschida

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My Rating: ★☆☆☆☆

Alright, let’s just get it over with… I didn’t enjoy this book at all! If you liked it, maybe don’t read this review.

To start with, the entire premise wound up not making any sense because the first thing that happens is this hospital where she wakes up just like sends her home a couple days later like she didn’t just suffer a mysterious head trauma and lose her memories. No one offered to call the police for her to file a report, she wasn’t assigned a caseworker, they didn’t even ensure she had someone to pick her up or someplace to go. Just: “Oh you don’t know who you are? K, bye!” and off she wanders in her blood stained dress.

And add to that the fact that this girl is obviously stupid or crazy because despite having all her knowledge of the world intact (just not her personal memories), she assumes that every man she meets is her boyfriend and every object she lays eyes on must belong to her even when everything and everyone around her is directly contradicting that.

So, she wanders around for days – in that same dress – pretending she is rich and for some reason refusing to tell anyone in her life that she has had a traumatic injury resulting in memory loss. And all while being incredibly insufferable about…everything, actually.

Honestly, at no point in this whole story does anyone do anything that makes any sense or that an actual person might do! When she finds the location of her accident (a public business) and goes to the police about her assault (but only because she wants access to her empty bank account), they don’t even ask the business for the security footage from that night. No, instead they decide she should be arrested for kiting checks and the only way out is to help them catch a meth kingpin. Of course!

I could go on, because there’s way more, but I’m really just hoping I’ll get amnesia about this whole book and never have to think about it again!

Review: A Heart of Gold by Meara Heenan

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Despite the background of class tension in the community of Whitebirch Lake, sheltered Lucy manages to find love with Ilya, a laborer in her father’s gold mine. But it’s only a matter of time before their secret romance is brought to light, and with so much against their union, will Lucy and Ilya even make it to the altar?

Rating: ★★☆☆☆ – it was ok
Genre: historical romance, forbidden romance
Pros: side characters
Cons: pacing

A Heart of Gold was a pretty quick read, but by no means boring. It was full of twists and turns, some of which I saw coming and some which took me completely by surprise.

That being said, I felt the pacing was a bit off in places. There were scenes that felt stretched out too long for their content, and others that seemed like they should have some gravity which wound up taking no time at all.

I also found it a bit odd that there was never any conflict between the romantic leads. This was the first romance I have read where the romantic leads literally never had a serious disagreement. They barely had any disagreements at all actually, with basically all of the conflict coming from outside sources.

The real stars of the show were a few side characters, namely Sadie, Tom, and Lydia. Each book in the Cousins of Whitebirch Lake series is supposed to feature one of the four cousins in the family, and I am super interested to see what happens to both Sadie and Lydia in future books. Whenever we would get a hint of their lives, I was riveted. And though we actually learn very little about Tom, I found myself liking his character so much!

It definitely felt to me like the author is still developing her voice, but overall, this book was a solid first novel. I would recommend it to fans of historical romance, and look forward to seeing what else Heenan puts out.

Mini-Review: Ghosted by Aisha Tritle

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My Rating: ★★★☆☆ – liked it

I received a free eARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a story about a woman with secrets who gets in over her head with what should be just an interesting experiment. What will happen next is anyone’s guess.

If you like books that leave you thinking, “well, that was weird,” then this book is for you! It grabbed my attention right away and didn’t let go. But be warned, this book is also very short, and it will leave you wanting more!

But seriously, what would you do if you could talk to digital ghosts of people you once knew?

Review: The Sign for Home by Blair Fell

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My Rating: ★★★★★ – loved it

I received a free eARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Arlo Dilly, a DeafBlind man raised by a strict Jehovah’s Witness family discovers his lost love may not be so lost after-all and embarks on an emotional and literal journey to find her with the help of his new interpreter (gay, atheist Cyril) and an elderly service dog.

The Sign for Home is both fascinating and beautiful, so I want to start out by recommending it to everyone, especially those who want more disability representation in their reading lives.

I admit to not being sure how Fell would pull this novel off, and cringingly anticipating something pretty ableist, but I have never been happier to be proven wrong. This book was obviously deeply researched and written with the utmost respect to the Deaf and DeafBlind communities. After reading, I did some research on Blair Fell and discovered he was an ASL interpreter, which just made me love this book even more.

My favorite part was the last paragraph or so, which made me cry, but I also really loved how the characters had clear flaws, despite being good people overall. Not all writers can harness the nuance needed to portray such distinct three-dimensional characters, but Fell pulled it off beautifully. And I especially loved that their individual character flaws had real consequences for them all.

About three-quarters of the way through this book I found myself simultaneously unable to put it down and also dreading what might happen next. I could see things going wrong in so many ways and just wanted to reach in and grab these characters, who now felt like good friends, and keep them safe.

There’s more I could say about this book, but I don’t want to give too much away and ruin the experience for y’all! The Sign for Home releases April 5, 2022, so add it to your TBRs because this is a must-read!

November 2021 Reading Wrap-Up

LeeLeave a comment

The Dating Plan by Sara Desai
(Marriage Game, book 2)
Rating: ★★☆☆☆ – it was ok
Review: No
Format: Audiobook
Reading Dates: Nov 5 – 8
Read Count: 1
Favorite Thing: That one joke about the auntie’s cooking.
Least Favorite Thing: If I hear the word “prom” one more fucking time…

Look, I was ready to love this. I wanted to love this. But I could not…

My Posts About The Dating Plan

The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling
(Ex Hex, book 1)
Rating: ★☆☆☆☆ – did not like it
Review: No
Format: Audiobook
Reading Dates: Nov 8 – 9
Read Count: 1
Favorite Thing: The world was interesting I think?
Least Favorite Thing: The narrator ruined this book for me.

I couldn’t even tell you if I liked this book or not because the narrator’s voice caused me such physical discomfort I couldn’t even focus on the story…

My Posts About The Ex Hex

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
Rating: ★★★★★ – loved it
Review: No
Format: Audiobook
Reading Dates: Nov 9 – 11
Read Count: 6
Favorite Thing: The narrator’s voice.
Least Favorite Thing: A bitch be identifying with Nell too much…

I listened to this book to get the bad taste of The Ex Hex narrator out of my ears.

My Posts About The Haunting of Hill House

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
Rating: ★★★★★ – loved it
Review: No
Format: Audiobook
Reading Dates: Nov 11 – 12
Read Count: 2
Favorite Thing: WHY IS IT SO CUTE????
Least Favorite Thing: The lack of an oxford comma in the title.

I’ve been wanting to reread this for a while. I was intending to read it physically, but I saw the audiobook available with my library and I couldn’t resist. And then obviously I couldn’t put it down.

My Posts About Red, White & Royal Blue

My Plain Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, & Jodi Meadows
(The Lady Janies, book 2)
Rating: ★★★★★ – loved it
Review: No
Format: Audiobook
Reading Dates: Nov 14 – 16
Read Count: 2
Favorite Thing: The whole teacup thing lol
Least Favorite Thing: Over too soon!

I’m about to cancel my subscription to Scribd, sadly, so I’m trying to get in all the audiobooks that I can. Plus I needed something funny because all three of the books I’m reading physically can get a bit heavy.

My Posts About My Plain Jane

Graceling by Kristin Cashore
(Graceling Realm, book 1)
Rating: ★☆☆☆☆ – did not like it
Review: No
Format: Audiobook
Reading Dates: Nov 25 – 30
Read Count: 1
Favorite Thing: Seriously??
Least Favorite Thing: The fact that no one had ever heard of just like….plugging your ears with something.

Do people genuinely like this book? Like for realzies?

My Posts About Graceling