Reading Round Up: June 1st – 10th

Hello friends! I feel like it has been forever since I have posted, I just haven’t felt like I had anything to say or the motivation to try and write anything so I took a small break. I hope everyone is enjoying their summer so far!

Breaking Badger by Shelly Laurenston – 5 Stars I love this series of books about Honey Badger shifters! This is book 4 in the series and we are following Mads who is a Honey Badger shifter who plays basketball and thats all she really cares about. Well that and her teammates! We first met Mads in book 3 and I am so excited we are getting stories for the girls on the basketball team. Mads and her friends also have a side gig and during one they meet up with the Malone Brothers who are Siberian Tiger Shifters. Mads and Finn keep running into each and soon sparks start to fly between them. I would say that the romance takes a pretty big back seat in this book. I still love this series and always enjoying reading the book and catching up with the characters fro previous books. Highly recommend if you are looking for a fun shifter romance series! Thank you to Kensington Books and Netgalley for my gifted copy for review.

The Maidens by Alex Michaelides – 4.5 Stars I have been sitting on this book for a few days because I don’t really know how to talk about it. I personally loved the story and the mystery that is taking place. We are following Mariana Andros who is a therapist and is also still dealing with the death of her husband over a year ago. One night she gets a call from her niece that her friend has gone missing and was hoping that Mariana could come up and be with her. Mariana arrives at Cambridge to find out that her niece’s friend has been murdered and the niece thinks she was killed by her Greek Tragedy Professor. As Mariana deals with being back on campus for the first time since her husbands death and trying be there for her niece she is also caught up in the murder of a young girl and the secrets that are hiding on campus. I really enjoyed this story and all the tie ins to greek tragedies and mythology. I took many classes in college on these subjects and I loved seeing it tie in to this story. The ending really surprised me and I love a good twist!

The Last Goodbye by Fiona Lucas – 4 Stars I am not a typically a fan of what I am starting to call grief romances. I like to read for escapism and that subject is always a little too close to home. However, this one had a different feel then others I have read and I really enjoyed this one. Anna has been dealing with the loss of her husband for the past three years and everyday is a struggle for her. On New Years Eve Anna calls his voicemail just to hear is voice and for the first time in 3 years someone else picks up. Brody has been living a life of solitude with just his dog out on the moors till one night a random phone call sets him on a new path. I loved the friendship that Anna and Brody shared, both dealing with grief that two lean on each other for support when others do not understand. While this book does deal with grief there was also such a sense of hope to it and I really enjoyed that. Thank you William Marrow and Netgalley for my gifted copy for review.

The Big Summer by Jennifer Weiner – 3.5 Stars I have had this book on my shelf for over a year and finally got around to it this month. I need to remember that some of the authors books are not for me, I loved her books in the past but her newer ones have been a miss for me. I feel like lately some woman’s fiction just isn’t working for me but I am glad to say that this one did work. It was a fun summer read and very enjoyable. We are following Plus Size Social Media Influencer Daphne Berg. Six years ago she was humiliated by her best friend Drue Cavanaugh and the two haven’t spoken since until Drue asks Daphne to be in her wedding that summer as her Maid Of Honor. Daphne reluctantly agrees and when the wedding comes something happens that derails Daphne’s life. This book is a little different in that it basically switches genres in the middle of the book. The first part we have a traditional woman’s fiction with a heroine finding love and going through life with her friends. While the second half turns into a sort of cozy mystery. I personally really enjoyed the second half of the book more than the first.

Every Vow You Break by Peter Swanson – 2 Stars This book was such a huge disappointment for me, the cover and the premise gave me hopes that the book did not deliver on. The book starts with our main character Abigail on a girls trip before her wedding and meets a stranger and has a one night stand with him. Back home Abaigail continues on with the wedding and on the day of she thinks she sees that stranger watching her at the reception. Abigail dismisses it but when the stranger shows up on her honeymoon she knows something is up. This had so much potential being that it is set up on a remote island as well as the mystery but it just didn’t deliver. I thought it was just ok the ending wasn’t great and there were so many plot holes that left me with more questions than answers. I have read another book by PeterSwanson that I did enjoy so I will keep reading him for now, this one just didn’t work for me.