August Book Haul

Hello friends! I am here with my August book haul and I brought in 13 physical books this month. Of those 13 I have already read 4 and am currently reading one and will also be unhauling one as well.

What books did you get this month that you are excited about?

Book Boxes

  • Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney – BOTM – Reading this one right now.
  • Four Ways To Wear A Dress by Gillian Libby – Unplugged
  • A Hundred Other Girls by Iman Hariri-Kia – Unplugged – Not interested in this one so probably will be unhauling it.
  • They Drown Our Daughters by Katrina Monroe – Unplugged

Bought For Myself

  • The Pallbearer’s Club by Paul Tremblay – Bought for myself – started the audio but wanted to read it physically.
  • Funny You Should Ask by Elissa Sussman – Bought this after seeing some friends enjoy it.
  • Love In The Time Of Serial Killers by Alicia Thompson – Picked this one up on a whim and will probably try and read it in October.
  • Seer Of Sevenwaters by Juliette Marillier – Thrifted – Love this series so much!
  • Spider by Jennifer Estep – Thrifted – I am hoping to pick this series back up an so I pick them when I see them at used bookstores.
  • Scandalized by Ivy Owens –

Books From Publishers/PR

  • The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy by Megan Bannen – 5 Stars – Loved this fantasy so much! Thank you so much Orbit for my #gifted copy!
  • In The Shadow Garden by Liz Parker – 5 Stars – Also loved this magical realism family story. Thank you so much Forever Pub for my #gifted copy!
  • Little Lies by H. Hunting – 4 Stars – Read this NA last year and really enjoyed it and was sent this copy by Helena Hunting, thank you for my #gifted copy!

WWW Wednesday – 9/7

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?

  • Where The Sky Begins by Rhys Bowen – Barley started this one but need to get back to it, so hopefully this week!
  • A Broken Blade by Melissa Blair – Listening to the audio and about 30% in. So far it’s very boring and I am giving to 50% to pick up or I DNF.
  • Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney – Listening to the audio, 20% in, really enjoying it but I think I can see where it is going.
  • For The Throne by Hannah Whitten – Only about 5% into this one as it is a slower read compared to my others but Im enjoying it.


What did you recently finish reading?

  • This Vicious Grace by Emily Thiede – 2 Stars
  • Marlowe Banks, Redesigned by Jacqueline Firkins – 4 Stars
  • A Cat Cafe Christmas by Codi Gary – 4 Stars
  • Love On The Brain by Ali Hazelwood – 5 Stars

What do you think you’ll read next?

  • The Blame Game by Sandie Jones – August ARC I need to get too
  • The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher – I have been wanting to read this for awhile so I am hoping I get to it soon.
  • Killers of A Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn – Got my BOTM box and I am ready to start this one!

What are you currently reading? Let me know in the comments below!

Top 5 Tuesday: September 6th 2022

Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly meme created by Shanah @the Bionic Bookworm and is now being hosted by Meeghan @Meeghan Reads. This weeks is: Top 5 ways to catch a bookworm.

Photo by Rachel Claire on Pexels.com
  • Offer a cozy place to curl up and read our many books!
  • Cozy Blankets is a must, so we can nest and be warm while reading.
  • Good reading light so we don’t strain our eyes.
  • Lots of books and spaces for more books!
  • Offer us bookish bookmarks and tote bags for all our bookish things!
Photo by Ricardo Esquivel on Pexels.com

Where are some of your favorite books with bones on the cover?

Blog Tour: Bitter Sweet Heart by H. Hunting

“A book that tells a story … a beautifully brilliant, powerful story about love and pain; trauma and forgiveness and discovering your truth while finding your place in the world.” ~Denise, Shh Mom’s Reading®

Bitter Sweet Heart, a forbidden hockey romance from New York Times bestselling author Helena Hunting, is now available!

From the outside looking in, I live a charmed life: hockey legend for a father, my own promising future in the league, a great family, awesome friends. It’s not untrue, but it’s not quite that simple either.

My dad’s advice has always been to make hockey my number-one priority—at least until I make it to the pros. So, going into my senior year of college, I have a plan. I’ll put in the effort required to pass my classes, play hockey like my life depends on it, and avoid relationships. All I have to do is stay focused on the end game, and I’ll walk away with a degree and into a career in the NHL.

It should be easy. 

But when a woman literally floats into my dock, just before summer ends and my senior year begins, I can’t resist one last hookup. What harm could a one-night stand do? It’s not like we even exchanged numbers. 

Everything is fine until I run into her on campus. 

It’s a big school. I should be able to avoid her. 

Except she happens to be in my class.

And she’s not a student.

She’s my professor.

Read today, exclusively on Amazon and in Kindle Unlimited!

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3MofZDk

Amazon Worldwide: https://geni.us/BitterSweetHeart

Amazon Paperback: https://amzn.to/3xt69KT

Amazon Worldwide Paperback: https://geni.us/BitterSweetHeartPB

Add to Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3xaMYFn

My Thoughts

Favorite quote: “He wears the guilt like a crown of thorns.”

After loving Little Lies by H. Hunting I was excited to read the next in the series which follows Maverick who is Lavender’s older brother. While I still love Kodiak and Lavender’s story more I still enjoyed my time with Maverick and Clover. Maverick meets Clover at the end of summer and after a one night stand he goes onto to start his last year of college before hopefully being called up to a training camp with the NHL. A few weeks into the semester Clover gets a teaching job subbing for a professor and becomes Maverick’s writing professor. The two try to stay away from each other but circumstances keep bringing them back together and hard as they try they can’t deny their chemistry. While trying to deal with their feelings for each other Clover is trying to get a divorce from a controlling ex who won’t take no for an answer. Maverick, while trying to finish school and keep up his hockey status is also plagued with nightmares that are left over from the trauma of an event from his childhood (read Little Lies for more on this). I really liked the age gap in this one as it felt believable and also appreciated how the two maintained there distance until he was no longer her student.

At times I did feel like the story was just a series of events that kept showing us the two together but it wasn’t always believable and felt very contrived at times. Also being in the head of a 21 year old man was sometimes a bit much with his inner thoughts on sex and it would kind of take me out of the moment. But even with these few criticism I still recommend this book and I will for sure picking up the next in the series. I love all the brothers and cousins who keep showing up in the books and I would love to get a story on River or BJ but Im not sure who she will focus on next. Can’t recommend this series enough if you love angsty new adult romances that also deal with some pretty heavy topics. Trigger warnings aplenty in this one so if you need them I would look into them! Thank you Social Butterfly PR for my gifted copy for review, all thoughts and opinions are my own!

About H. Hunting

NYT and USA Today bestselling author, Helena Hunting, writing as H. Hunting, lives on the outskirts of Toronto with her incredibly tolerant family and two moderately intolerant cats. She started her writing career with new adult angsty romance and branched out in sports romance and romantic comedies that will make you laugh and swoon. But sometimes she likes to serve up a little heartache on the way to the happily ever after.

Connect with H. Hunting

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3NVxqwe

Instagram: http://bit.ly/2kN5wdZ

Twitter: http://bit.ly/2mloUim
Facebook: http://on.fb.me/Zt1xm5
Facebook Fan group: http://bit.ly/2kN5yCD
Website: https://bit.ly/3x2H8WI

Never miss an update! Subscribe to H. Hunting’s mailing list:
http://bit.ly/2MlRKq6

August Reading Stats

Hi Friends! Here is my August Stats and I am really impressed that I read 23 books, especially because I had hit a small slump but once I figured out I just wanted more sci-fi books my reading picked up again. All of my 5 stars were fantastic reads this month and I was really surprised I enjoyed Carrie Soto Is Back as much as I did. But the real winner was the series I found by T.A. White.

What was your favorite book this month?

Books I read in August

  • Physical Books – 4 Books
  • E-Books – 17 Books
  • Audio – 2 Books
  • ARC’s – 7 Books
  • Library – 4 Books
  • Backlist – 1 Book
  • DNF’s – 4 Books
  • Re-Reads – 3 Books
  • Pages Read – 8,293

Genres

  • Contemporary Romance – 7 Books
  • Mystery/Thriller – 3 Books
  • Sci-fi – 6 Books
  • Contemporary Fiction – 3 Books
  • Historical Romance – 2 Book
  • Historical Fiction – 1 Book
  • Paranormal Romance – 1 Book

( I am only putting each book in what I think is the most prominent category )

Year Book Was Published

  • 2013 – 2019 – 8 Books
  • 2020 – 3 Books
  • 2022 – 12 Books

Star Ratings

  • 3 Stars – 6 Books
  • 4 Stars – 11 Books
  • 5 Stars – 6 Books

3 Stars

4 Stars

5 Stars

ReCap on my May Challenges

  • For Kayla’s Buzzword – This month’s theme was an item or object so I went with garden and read In The Shadow Garden.
  • Goodreads Goal171/100 = 171%
  • Backlist Books – 25/25 = 100%

Until Next Time, Happy Reading!

Reading Round Up: August Part 5

Hello Friends! I am here with my last round up for August and I am so proud of soon I got these up this month! I think this format of reviewing 4 or 5 at time is the way to go for me. It helps me from feeling overwhelmed on the weeks when I read 8 – 10 books. I do have some spoilery thoughts for my last review but I warn when they are coming if you are not interested in them.

Forever Protected by Kathleen Brooks – I am in such a weird reading space that one of my favorite series is just not working for me right now. Any contemporary romances are just not what I am looking for and this one had to be put aside for another time. Im hoping to get to it again at some point just not sure when.

Fortune’s Pawn by Rachel Bach – 4 Stars I am just going to sum up all three of these books in one spot because it was a trilogy. This story follows Devi Morris who has signed up to be security on the Glorious Fool. Surviving a year on the ship opens up many opportunities to you, like becoming a Devastator which is Devi’s goal. This story has everything I was looking for like action, romance and politics. Following Devi as she tries to figure things out was a lot of fun. While she might not be the smartest Merc she is one of the best and I love how she just dives head first into any skirmish she comes across.

Honor’s Knight by Rachel Bach – 3 Stars Book 2

Heaven’s Queen by Rachel Bach – 4 Stars Book 3 and I just realized all these titles have chess pieces in them as chess is a running theme throughout the story.

Bitter Sweet Heart by H. Hunting – 3.5 Stars Rounded up to a 4 on Goodreads, review of this one will come later as I am on a blog tour for it.

The Getaway by Emily March – 3 Stars I love books set in Colorado because it’s my home and I love how other people see the beauty of it too! This book follows Genevieve Prentice as she comes to terms that her family is not acting like she thinks they should and so sells her family’s home and moves to Colorado where she and her sister bought an inn. Along with Genevieve’s perspective we also have her eldest son Jake and a woman who used to work for him named Tess. The three end up in Colorado together as they sort through all the drama that the family is going through. Overall I enjoyed this story especially the family dynamics between Jake and his mother as well as his three siblings. I also enjoyed Genevieve’s story and the growth she went through even at her age which reminds us all that we continue to grow as we get older. Im curious to see where the next book will go and who’s story we will get. I do have a few other thoughts but they are spoilers so continue reading if you are ok with it. Thank you Forever Publishing for my gifted copy! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was really enjoying this one up until the end which left me feeling somewhat empty. One of the main points of the book was about Jake finding out who he really was and what he wanted out of life but in the epilogue we still got nothing! They mentioned he is just arriving from somewhere but not what he is up to in his life. I am not a fan of incomplete story arcs and thats what this one felt like to me. They did wrap up his relationship story just not his personal one. Makes me wonder if we will still have his pov in the continuation of the series.

Book Blitz: Bitter Sweet Heart by H. Hunting

“The heart, the raw authenticity, the original lens, this has become my favorite series of the year and I’m begging for more!” ~ Catherine Cowles, USA Today bestselling author

Bitter Sweet Heart, a steamy, reverse age gap, hockey romance from New York Times bestselling author Helena Hunting writing as H. Hunting, is now available!

From the outside looking in, I live a charmed life: hockey legend for a father, my own promising future in the league, a great family, awesome friends. It’s not untrue, but it’s not quite that simple either.

My dad’s advice has always been to make hockey my number-one priority—at least until I make it to the pros. So, going into my senior year of college, I have a plan. I’ll put in the effort required to pass my classes, play hockey like my life depends on it, and avoid relationships. All I have to do is stay focused on the end game, and I’ll walk away with a degree and into a career in the NHL.

It should be easy. 

But when a woman literally floats into my dock, just before summer ends and my senior year begins, I can’t resist one last hookup. What harm could a one-night stand do? It’s not like we even exchanged numbers. 

Everything is fine until I run into her on campus. 

It’s a big school. I should be able to avoid her. 

Except she happens to be in my class.

And she’s not a student.

She’s my professor.

Download your copy today, exclusively on Amazon and in Kindle Unlimited!

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3MofZDk

Amazon Worldwide: https://geni.us/BitterSweetHeart

Amazon Paperback: https://amzn.to/3xt69KT

Amazon Worldwide Paperback: https://geni.us/BitterSweetHeartPB

Add to Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3xaMYFn

About H. Hunting

NYT and USA Today bestselling author, Helena Hunting, writing as H. Hunting, lives on the outskirts of Toronto with her incredibly tolerant family and two moderately intolerant cats. She started her writing career with new adult angsty romance and branched out in sports romance and romantic comedies that will make you laugh and swoon. But sometimes she likes to serve up a little heartache on the way to the happily ever after.

Connect with H. Hunting

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3NVxqwe

Instagram: http://bit.ly/2kN5wdZ

Twitter: http://bit.ly/2mloUim
Facebook: http://on.fb.me/Zt1xm5
Facebook Fan group: http://bit.ly/2kN5yCD
Website: https://bit.ly/3x2H8WI

Never miss an update! Subscribe to H. Hunting’s mailing list:
http://bit.ly/2MlRKq6

September New Releases

Hello Friends! I am here today with September releases that I am excited for! Of the 10 books on my list I have already read 3 and pre-ordered 4! I honestly don’t know if I can pick what I am most excited for as I can’t wait to read of all these.

What books are you excited for this month? Let me know in the comments below!

  • Killers Of A CertainAge by Deanna Raybourn – Mystery/Thriller out 9/6
  • Angelika Frankenstein Makes Her Match by Sally Thorne – Historical Romance out 9/6
  • The Getaway by Emily March – Contemporary Fiction – out 9/6 – 3 Stars
  • In The Shadow Garden by Liz Parker – Fantasy/Romance out 9/13 – 5 Stars
  • Folk Around and Find Out by Penny Reid – Contemporary Romance out 9/13
  • Only Bad Options by Jennifer Estep – New space opera coming out 9/20
  • After The Bite by Lynsay Sands – Paranormal Romance out 9/27 – 5 Stars
  • The Vicious Thriller by Katherine St. John – Thriller out 9/27
  • Spells For Forgetting by Adrienne Young – Adult fantasy out 9/27
  • Facets of Revolution by T.A. White – Space Opera out 9/27

Top 5 Tuesday: August 30th 2022

Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly meme created by Shanah @the Bionic Bookworm and is now being hosted by Meeghan @Meeghan Reads. This weeks is: Top 5 books with bones.

Again I struggled with this one, I only had a few books with bones on the cover and most were pretty boring so I picked some on my tbr that looked pretty! I don’t think I could pick a favorite!

  • The Bone Houses by Emily Lloyd Jones – YA Fantasy, love the design of the skull with this one.
  • The Bone Maker by Sarah Beth Durst – Adult Fantasy
  • Gideon The Ninth by Tamsyn Muir – Adult Fantasy/Horror, I love the feeling this cover conveys.
  • Heart Bones by Colleen Hoover – Contemporary Romance, love the coloring mixed with the flowers and the simple skulls.
  • The Liar’s Crown by Abigail Owen – YA Fanatsy, this cover speaks to me!! I don’t really read YA but this one has me intrigued because of the cover.

Where are some of your favorite books with bones on the cover?

Blog Tour: Kit McBride Gets A Wife by Amy Berry

The four McBride brothers have their worlds turned upside down when their precocious younger sister secretly places an advertisement for a mail-order bride.

Kit McBride knows that Buck’s Creek, Montana, is no place to find a wife. Between him and his three brothers—plus little Junebug—they manage all right on their own, thank you very much. But unbeknownst to Kit, his sister is sick to death of cleaning, cooking, and mending for her big brothers, so she places an ad in The Matrimonial News to get them hitched.
 
After Maddy Mooney emigrated from Ireland, she found employment with an eccentric but poor widow. When her mistress decides to answer an ad for a mail-order bride, Madd​y is dragged along for the ride to Montana. But en route to the West, Maddy is suddenly abandoned and left to assume the widow’s name, position, and matrimonial prospects….
 
With no other recourse in the wilderness, Maddy must convince Kit not only is she who she says she is, but she’s the wife he never knew he needed.

My Thoughts

I struggled to connect with this one when I first started it. I was coming off of a book hangover for a sci-fi series and going straight into a historical romance probably wasn’t the best choice. That being said the second half of this book really picked up for me and I enjoyed how the story ended. I also had a hard time connecting to the character of Junebug who is the main characters unruly little sister. Junebug is raised by four older brothers and is tired of being treated like a “wife” her words, and decides to get Kit a real wife through a mail order catalogue. This however backfires and Junebug is left cleaning up the mess she made. I thought the writing was really good and the story entertained me I just got lost when reading from a child’s perspective. This was definitely a laugh out loud book at times and Willabelle was something else! At times her character was too much to handle but I loved all of the scenes with her. If you are a fan of historical romance that has rugged Montana men then I would look into this one, or if you want a fun laugh out loud romance this one would work for that too. Im curious to see how the next book goes, especially if we get Morgan’s story who is Kit and Junebug’s oldest brother. Thank you Berkley for my gifted copy for review!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Amy Barry writes sweeping historical stories about love. She’s fascinated with the landscapes of the American West and their complex long history, and she’s even more fascinated with people in all their weird tangled glory. Amy also writes under the names Amy T Matthews and Tess LeSue, and is Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at Flinders University in Australia. To learn more, visit: https://amy-barry.com/.