Where Becky Talks All Things Books!
Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly meme created by Shanah @the Bionic Bookworm and is now being hosted by Meeghan @Meeghan Reads. This week’s topic is: Top 5 series I will start in 2023
What are some books you are looking forward to in the first part of the year?
♥ NEW RELEASE ♥
With her signature charm and sense of humor, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Helena Hunting creates a novel about love, family, and second chances in Make a Wish…
Ever have a defining life moment you wish you could do over? Harley Spark has one. The time she almost kissed the widowed father of the toddler she nannied for. It was so bad they moved across the state and she never saw them again.
Fast forward seven years and she’s totally over it. At least she thinks she is. Until Gavin Rhodes and his adorable now nine-year-old daughter, Peyton, reappear at a princess-themed birthday party hosted by Spark House, Harley’s family’s event hotel. Despite trying to avoid the awkwardness of the situation, she can’t help but notice how unbearably sexy he looks in a tutu. Add to that a spontaneous hives breakout, and it’s clear she’s not even remotely over the mortification of her egregious error all those years ago.
Except Gavin seems oblivious to her inner turmoil. So much so that he suggests they get together for lunch. For Peyton’s sake, of course. It’s the perfect opportunity to heal old wounds. Or it could just reopen them. This is one of those times Harley wishes she could see the future…
AVAILABLE NOW!!
Ebook → http://bit.ly/3iZep24
Audio → https://bit.ly/mawsparkaud
Paperback → https://bit.ly/3R14SUL
Add it to Goodreads → https://geni.us/MakeAWishGR
Hi Friends! My reading is still going very slow and I have only read a handful of books so far this month! All of them were arcs or gifted copies as well! Hope everyone is having a great month so far! Have you read any new favorites yet?
The Villa by Rachel Hawkins – 3.5 Stars We are following multiple timelines and stories in this book that all take place in the same Italian Villa. The first timeline is the present day and we are following two best friends who are both writers and decide to take a holiday to Italy. The villa they end up staying at was the setting for a brutal murder durning a stay with some rockstars from the 1970’s. From this disaster we get a famous book and a very famous record Album. Woven in between the timelines we also get snippets of the both the book and the album. Overall I enjoyed this one, I always know what I am going to get with a Rachel Hawkins book and that is an enjoyable read. I think I would have maybe liked it a little more if the entire book was set in the 1970’s versus the two timelines but it was still a fun read. Thank you St.Martin’s Press for my gifted copy for review!
Ms. Demeanor by Elinor Lipman – 3 Stars Thank you Bibliolifestyle and Harperperennial for my gifted copy of Ms. Demeanor by Elinor Lipman that came out on December 27th 2022. This is a fun story about a lawyer who is on house arrest for indecent exposure and tries to find ways to fulfill her now empty scheduled life. Along the way she befriends another resident who is also on house arrest as well as some neighbors she never knew before. Also with the help of her twin sister our main protagonist starts a tiktok page cooking recipes from an 1890’s cookbook. This book was quirky and fun and reminded me of books like Eleanor Oliphant and Where Did You Go Bernedette.
The Three Lives of Alix St. Pierre by Natasha Lester – 4.5 Stars One of the few books I have read this month was Natasha Lester’s historical fiction The Three Lives of Alix St. Pierre. This one follows Alex as she works for Dior in Paris after the war while we also get flashbacks to her time during the war as well. I don’t normally like WWII stories but this one was really good! I loved Alix’s story in both timelines and loved the ending we got. I will say there was one scene in the flashbacks that was very hard to read so you may want to look into content warnings if needed or dm if you have any questions! Thank you @readforeverpub for my #gifted copy of this one!
Make A Wish by Helena Hunting – 4 Stars This is the third book in the Spark House Trilogy and we are following the youngest Spark sister Harley. We start the book off when Harley is 20 years old and is a live in nanny for a single dad Gavin and his daughter Peyton and they abruptly move leaving Harley brokenhearted. We flash forward 7 years and Harley and Gavin reunite at one of Spark House’s parties. This book not only follows Harley and relationship with Gavin and Peyton but also the journey she goes through with growing up and trying to find her place in the ever changing Spark House. I loved getting to see the growth of the sisters who met in books 1 and 2 as well as all the changes that their business the Spark House takes. I highly recommend this series, it is such a fun one about three sisters who are all very different as they find love while running successful event business! Thank you St. Martin’s Griffin and Helena Hunting for my gifted copy for review!!!
Lunar Love by Lauren Kung Jessen – DNF I got about 20% into this one before I decided that it was not for me. As I get older I realize that some books are not for me and that is ok! This book follows Olivia as she is about to take over her grandmother’s match making business that bases matches on the traditions of the Chinese Zodiac. After having a total meet cute with a guy in a bakery she soon learns that he is an app developer who is taking a more lighthearted approach to the Chinese Zodiac. This is an enemies to lovers story and while that is my favorite trope I am not a fan of matchmaker romances where they themselves get matched. This is a total me preference and I thought the writing that I read was well done, the story just wasn’t for me. Thank you Forever for my gifted copy for review!
Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly meme created by Shanah @the Bionic Bookworm and is now being hosted by Meeghan @Meeghan Reads. This week’s topic is: Top 5 books I will definitely* read in 2023.
As is usual for me I missed Tuesday’s Top 5 Tuesday so you are getting it on a Thuresday! Here are 5 books I REALLy want to make a priority this year.
What are some books you are looking forward to in the first part of the year?
Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived by Sam on Taking on a World of Words. All you have to do is answer the three questions below and leave a link to your post in the comments for others to look at. No blog? No problem! Just leave a comment with your responses. Please, take some time to visit the other participants and see what others are reading. So, let’s get to it!
What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?
What are you currently reading? Let me know in the comments below!
Hi Friends! Here is my last round up for 2022! Over all I had some good ones but I also had a flop. Hope your reading is going well in 2023, so far mine is not great.
Hello Stranger by Katherine Center – 4 Stars Katherine Center is an auto buy author for me and I adore everything she writes! This story follows artist Sadie who is finally getting her big break but needs to have an emergency surgery. After the procedure Sadie discovers that she can no longer recognize faces of anyone. While struggling with this new part of her life, Sadie meets two different guys who both make an impression on her. I loved this story and read it so quickly and again Katherine writes such great characters and stories that you feel like you are a part of it. Highly recommend this one and any other book by her! Thank you St. Martin’s Press for my gifted copy for review, all thoughts are my own.
Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six by Lisa Unger – 3.5 Stars This is a fast thriller that follows three couples as they stay in a cabin together but soon things start to take a dangerous turn. I feel like all my thoughts would give away plot points so just know that I really enjoyed this one and recommend if you like more domestic thrillers.
Half A Soul by Olivia Atwater – 5 Stars I picked this book up on a whim and I am so glad I did! This book blends regency romance and fantasy in such a fun and unique way. I loved this book from beginning to end and can’t to read more in the series! If you love a grumpy male lead than you might want to check this one out!
The Player Next Door by K.A. Tucker – 2 Stars I really did not enjoy this one much and really get tired of reading about adults who are still in love with their high school sweetheart but also hate them for reasons. I really don’t have a lot to say except I still like this author’s writing but not this story line.
This meme was created by Leslie at Books Are The New Black
Rules
Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived by Sam on Taking on a World of Words. All you have to do is answer the three questions below and leave a link to your post in the comments for others to look at. No blog? No problem! Just leave a comment with your responses. Please, take some time to visit the other participants and see what others are reading. So, let’s get to it!
What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?
What are you currently reading? Let me know in the comments below!
Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly meme created by Shanah @the Bionic Bookworm and is now being hosted by Meeghan @Meeghan Reads. This week’s topic is: Top 5 bookish resolutions for 2023.
I feel like I have done a few posts already on my goals but here is another one in case you missed my previous ones. You can see a more in depth post about the Buzzwordathon here.
What are some books you are looking forward to in the first part of the year?
I just realized this week that I never wrote reviews after reading most of my December reads and in all honesty I forgot what some of these were about.
Shiver by Allie Reynolds – 4 Stars I really enjoyed this isolated closed circle mystery that follows a group of snowboarders 10 years after the disappearance of one of their group. They are brought together supposedly to kind of reminisce on the 10 year anniversary of their friend disappearing but it turns out that whoever brought them there has other plans in mind. The story moves pretty fast and I enjoyed seeing how everything unfolded.
A Very Merry Bromance – 3 Stars This is book 5 in the bromance series and after reading book 3 I had pretty much decided to not read this anymore but a group of friends on instagram was doing a buddy read so I joined in. This story follows a professional country singer as he tries to deal with his career maybe being over and a mutual friend of the group who is a lawyer. We follow the two as they try to decide if a relationship can work between them. This one was just ok, it was better than the last 2 I read in the series but not a new favorite.
Drama King by Penny Reid – 5 Stars As you probably know by now if you have been around for awhile that I love Penny Reid and will pretty much read whatever she writes. Drama King follows celebrity Cyrus Malcom as gets stuck in a snow storm with his very good looking body guard Beth Ryan. As with anything Penny writes, I immediately fell in love with both characters and became invested in their story. This one has forbidden romance because of work place dynamics and mistaken identity and of course all the banter and pining that Penny writes so well. Thank you SocialButterfly PR for my #gifted copy for review!
Faking Christmas by Cindy Steel – 3 Stars This is one that I pretty much forgot about. I know it takes place over the week of Christmas and follows Olive as she and her family stay at Christmas resort in Vermont. After learning that her mom invited her ex and his family to join them Olive makes up a fake relationship and the only name she comes up with his her work enemy, Miles. Turns out in true rom-com fashion that Miles’s family owns said resort and the two start a fake relationship. Overall this one was ok, it didn’t wow me but I enjoyed it while reading it.
BeckyBookstore