Reading Round Up – June 21st-30th

Hello friends, here is my last round up for the month of June. How Sweet It Is was my favorite read and could be one of my favorites for the year!!!

How Sweet It Is by Dylan Newton – 5 Stars This is such a fun fall themed romance and I would definitely recommend picking this one up in October. This one follows Kate who runs an event planning business and loves to create magical moments for couples on their wedding day. Drake is a bestselling horror writer known as The Knight of Nightmares but he secretly wants to write a historical romance. Kate gets asked to help create an epic book launch for Drake’s newest release and the two clash on how they think this should be done. There were so many laugh out loud moments in this book and I loved reading about Kate’s parties and Drakes stories as well. Kate has a great best friend who is also Drake’s publicist, I loved their friendship so much. I also love Drake’s relationship with his two brothers ad his mother. Im hoping that this will be a series and we will get the brother’s books too. Again I highly recommend picking up this one especially if you love seasonal reads. Thank Forever and Netgalley for my gifted copy for review. This comes out 7/13/21.

Local Woman Missing by Mary Kubica – 4 Stars This thriller had me hooked from the very beginning! It starts out with a narrative that we are not sure about, it seems to be a child who is locked in a basement with another child in the dark and we don’t know this child’s name or age. The next part is told in two timelines the first is following new mom who goes out for a jog late one night and doesn’t come home then a week or so later another mom and her 6 year old daughter go missing. The second timeline is 10 years later when the daughter is found and returns home. The two timelines help piece together what this neighborhood went through and what happens when the girl is returned. Again I really liked the overall story but just felt that a few things could have been expanded on at the end of the book.

Such A Quite Place by Megan Miranda – 3.5 Stars I was lucky to be able to read an early copy of this book with @lovearctually over on Instagram. ☀️ This story is about a quiet neighborhood where everyone is friends and colleagues, as most also work at the nearby college. That is until one of their own is charged with murder and now 14 months later they are back and out to find the truth of what really happened. I really liked the quiet almost ominous feel that you get while reading this story. I felt like the end could have been developed a little more but overall its still a great read, I just like my books tied up with neat little bows. Thank you so much Simon and Schuster for my copy for review and for the fun interview with Megan Miranda. It was so fun to hear her thoughts on her book and writing process. This was another fun slow burn thriller that had me guessing till the end of the book! Her books make such great summer reads.

To Sir With Love by Lauren Layne – 5 Stars This book drew me in right from the beginning and I read it all in one day! We are following Gracie who runs a Champaign shop in New York that is not doing great and the land lord is trying to buy out her lease. Gracie also has a secret, she has friend on an app where you just talk but never see pics of the other until yo are ready to meet. Things get complicated for Gracie when she starts having feelings for the man trying to close her business and also with the man she talks to on the app. I really enjoyed this romance, it was so cute! Andrew, who is the man trying to buy out her lease, was so sweet! I loved when he kept coming to the events that Gracie puts on in the store. If you are looking for a sweet and fun romance then I would check this one out! Thank you Gallery Books for my gifted copy for review.

The Return Of The Sorceress by Silvia Moreno-Garcia – 4 Stars Normally short stories or Novella’s are hard for me to get into because you get such a small amount of time with the characters. However, Silvia Moreno-Garcia can write such a great story that I was not going huh? at the end of the story. This one follows Yalxi who was betrayed and deposed from her title as Supreme Mistress of the Guild of Sorcerers. Yalxi seeks revenge against her fellow Sorcerer and hopes to destroy the power source that their evil master had created. Even though we are just dumped into this world with no prior knowledge I understood pretty well how the magic worked and even on a small scale the politics of the world. I also had a pretty good idea of who the characters were and their motivations. I loved Yalxi and her companion, they had a great chemistry. This story just helps solidify my auto buys for all books by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. Thank you Subterranean Press and Netgalley for my gifted copy for an honest review.