Sundays In Bed…. July 24th

Hello Friends! It’s Sunday and so I thought I would share my “Sundays in Bed With….” a meme dares to ask what book has been in your bed this morning.  The meme was originally hosted by Midnight Book Girl but I found over on One Book More’s Blog.

This morning I am reading a regency romance with some friends over on instagram. I am hoping to get through it pretty quickly as it is not a long book and I seem to be making good progress pretty fast. This book is 272 pages and came out in February of 2022.

From Goodreads:

Hannah Kent and Oliver Jennings pledged their hearts to each other as children. Now, years later, Hannah is thrilled to receive an invitation to spend the summer at Oliver’s family’s country estate. The path to wedded bliss is clear—so long as Oliver’s highbrow older brother, Damon, has ceased his juvenile antics, Hannah’s future looks bright indeed.

But from the moment Hannah arrives at Summerhaven, nothing is as she expected. Oliver seems disinterested in renewing their acquaintance, and Damon is not the brutish boy she remembers but a man intent on avoiding marriage. Although she has loathed Damon her whole life, when he contrives a ruse designed to win them both what they desire, Hannah warily agrees. All she has to do to reclaim Oliver’s attention is pretend to be madly in love with Damon. But when Damon is surprisingly convincing in his role as a suitor, it proves difficult to discern the line between pretense and true love.

What are you reading in bed today?

Stacking The Shelves – July 23rd 2022

Stacking The Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Reading Reality and is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. You can include any books you acquire throughout the week no matter how you receive them or what format they come in! Gifts, library, netgalley or whatever!

Hello Friends! Its been a slow book week for me regarding one’s I brought into my “library.” I acquired 5 new books this week and two are library audio books!

Physical Books

  • Where The Sky Begins by Rhys Bowen – GetredPR
  • Anatomy: A Love Story by Dana Schwartz
  • Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno Garcia
  • From The Jump by Lacie Walden

Audio Books

  • These Deadly Games by Diana Urban – Library
  • Four Ways To Wear A Dress by Gillian Libby – Library

E-books or e-galleys this week.

  • A Cat Cafe Christmas by Codi Gary – Netgalley and Forever

Blog Tour: Bayou Sweetheart by Lexi Blake

The story:  After leaving the military, Major Blanchard moved to Papillon, Louisiana, to be with his aging father, where he’s taken a deputy position with the sheriff’s department. Now that he’s settling into life on the bayou, he’s trying out the dating scene. Every single woman in town seems to be pining after the handsome newcomer. But so far, nothing’s worked out, and he’s had some spectacularly bad dates. Major’s getting ready to give up on love when a new lady roars into town to film a movie and turns his world upside down.

Actress Brynn Pearson is trying to make a successful transition from child star to leading lady. Now that she’s landed her first lead in a major film, nothing can stop her. She’s committed to focusing solely on her work, so romance is the last thing she needs—too bad she can’t get her mind off the dreamy deputy she keeps running into. He’s gorgeous, and something about him makes her feel safe. As Brynn’s feelings for Major deepen, she starts to wonder if maybe there’s more to life than her career.

My Thoughts: I have come to learn that I am usually a fan of the trope where one person in the couple is famous and the other is not, I just eat that right up! I really enjoyed the famous aspect in this one because Brynn was just so down to earth but she understood what she thought her role in the family was, to be the bread winner. Brynn started acting at the age of 5 and now at almost 30 she didn’t know who she could be. Enter Major and Brynn’s world is really knocked upside down. This one was so fun and I am so glad I read it that now I want to go back and read the first four books in the Bayou Butterfly series. I will say that this being my first read in the series I was not lost and it was easy to just jump in to this one, however I was spoiled on the earlier couples but that never really bothers me.

One of my favorite parts of the book was the small town setting and how everyone knew each other’s business! I love reading that even knowing I would hate it in real life! Such a fun story and I can’t wait to read more in this series and return to such fun characters! Thank you Berkley for my gifted copy for review and for allowing me to participate in the blog tour for this release, all thoughts and opinions are my own. You can pick this one up tomorrow!

WWW Wednesday – 7/20

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?

  • Ruby Fever by Ilona Andrews – about 60% into this arc that comes out end of August. Love this series!
  • The Last To Vanish by Megan Miranda – About 40% into this audio that comes out the end of July. Really enjoying it so far.


What did you recently finish reading?

  • Bayou Sweetheart by Lexi Blake – 4 stars
  • Undertaking of Hart and Mercy by Megan Bannen – 5 Stars
  • Bend Towards The Sun by Jen Devon – 4 Stars
  • Look What You Made Me Do by Elaine Murphy – 3 Stars
  • Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins – 2 Stars
  • The Haunting of Maddy Clare by Simone St. James – Reread – 5 Stars

What do you think you’ll read next?

  • The Pallbearers Club by Paul Tremblay – I have the audio from my library and I think this will be good for Summerween which ends on Friday.
  • Summerhaven by Tiffany Odekirk – Buddy read and we will be discussing on the 31st but I am hoping to not take this one on vacation with me.
  • From The Jump by Lacie Waldon – Buddy read and we will be discussing next Tuesday.

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

Top 5 Tuesday: July 19th 2022

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 magic systems.

I am really bad about remembering details of books I read and especially about magic. The stories I chose for this prompt are all ones that I just have good memories of and enjoying the books while I read them.

  • The Harp of Kings by Juliet Marillier
  • Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews
  • Psy-Changling series by Nalini Singh
  • The Other’s series by Anne Bishop
  • Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson

Where are some of your favorite magic systems in books?

Reading Round Up: July Part 1

I have decided to start doing my round ups differently starting in July. Before I divided the month up into thirds and just did reviews for all the books I read in those 10 days. Lately it has been too much so I have been dividing each round up into two parts and I like the size of this. So moving forward I will be posting my round ups after every 4 books or so.

Be Warned: I rant in a review and it might contain spoilers so read on if you are ok with that.

Funny Feelings by Tarah Dewitt – 5 Stars I picked this one up on a whim and I loved it so much! This was truly a romcom as I laughed out loud numerous times! Farley Jones is a stand up comedian who has been in love wit her manger for years but she thinks he doesn’t feel the same way so when a chance to fake date arises they both jump at the chance! I love a good sunshine/grump and this one was so good! Plus the grump has a daughter who is deaf and their interactions were some of my favorites in the book! I love when the grump is a softie underneath! Highly recommend this one and I can’t wait to read her next book!

Next review may contain a spoiler!

The Bookshop On The Corner by Jenny Colgan – 2 Stars This Review may contain a spoiler! I am slowly coming to the conclusion that Jenny Colgan might not be for me. I tried another book in this series awhile ago and also did not enjoy it very much. The premise of this book appealed to me so much but the story itself fell flat for me. I get real tired of book claiming to be a romance when the point of the book is not one! I also don’t like when for two thirds of the book the heroine has feelings for someone and pursues them only to end up with someone else at the end of the book and then say they knew it was them all along! So frustrating! I have a few more of her books on my shelf that I would like to try and then decide if I will continue reading her.

Float Plan by Trish Doller – 5 Stars – Reread After watching Captain Ron the other night I decided I needed to reread this book as I loved the setting of sailing around the Caribbean. I still loved this book and the romance still made me swoon but be warned as this book is about grief.

The House Across The Lake by Riley Sager – 4 Stars I really enjoyed this one was surprised with the direction it went! This follows an actress who is dealing with the death of her husband and is spending some time at her family’s lake home in Vermont. One night she sees something happen to the woman who lives across the lake and this starts a downward spiral for her. I can’t really say much more but I liked this one a lot!

The Children On The Hill by Jennifer McMahon – DNF – I have tried this one multiple times and both physically and on audio but I just can’t get into it. I am not going to unhaul it because Im hoping its just a timing thing and that later on I will be more in the mood for it.

Sundays In Bed…. July 17th

Hello Friends! It’s Sunday and so I thought I would share my “Sundays in Bed With….” a meme dares to ask what book has been in your bed this morning.  The meme was originally hosted by Midnight Book Girl but I found over on One Book More’s Blog.

This morning I was reading Ruby Fever by Ilona Andrews. I have been reading her books for as long as I can remember and if you want some good Urban Fantasy series any of theirs is worth checking out.

From Goodreads: #1 New York Times bestselling author Ilona Andrews is back with the newest book in the exciting Hidden Legacy series—the thrilling conclusion to her trilogy featuring fierce and beautiful Prime magic user Catalina Baylor.

An escaped spider, the unexpected arrival of an Imperial Russian Prince, the senseless assassination of a powerful figure, a shocking attack on the supposedly invincible Warden of Texas, Catalina’s boss… And it’s only Monday.

Within hours, the fate of Houston—not to mention the House of Baylor—now rests on Catalina, who will have to harness her powers as never before. But even with her fellow Prime and fiancé Alessandro Sagredo by her side, she may not be able to expose who’s responsible before all hell really breaks loose.

This one comes out August 23rd 2022.

What are you reading in bed today?

Stacking The Shelves – July 16th 2022

Stacking The Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Reading Reality and is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. You can include any books you acquire throughout the week no matter how you receive them or what format they come in! Gifts, library, netgalley or whatever!

Hello Friends! Its been a slow book week for me regarding one’s I brought into my “library.” I acquired 5 new books this week and two are library audio books!

Physical Books

  • Summerhaven by Tiffany Odekirk – This is a regency romance that I am buddy reading with some friends on instagram!
  • What Moves The Dead by T. Kingfisher – Preordered this one and I am hoping to get to it this weekend for #summerween!

Audio Books

  • Eclipse The Moon by Jesse Mihalik – Library audio for the second book in Jesse Mihalik’s new sci-fi series.
  • A Caribbean Heiress in Paris by Adriana Herrera – Another library audio book, this one is a historical romance.

No E-books or e-galleys this week.

  • The Night Travelers by Armando Lucas Correa – Netgalley book sent by the publisher that comes out January of next year.

Reading Round Up: June 21st -30th Part 2

Hello Friends! Here is my last round up for June! Have you read any of these? If so what were your thoughts?

American Royalty by Tracey Livesay – 3 Stars American Royalty is about Duchess who is an American female rapper who gets asked to perform at a concert for the Queen of England’s late husband. Duchess or Dani which is her real name decides to go to England early for bit a respite because she has been working non stop. Dani is housed at Prince Jameson’s country home and the two immediately hit it off and the spicy scenes come quickly! I thought this one was just ok, I never really felt the chemistry between Dani and Jameson. I did enjoy the baking and references to The Great British Bake Off in this one. If you love books with royalty then this one might be worth picking up, Im not a huge fan of that trope but I love Tracey’s writing so wanted to pick this one up. Thank you Avon for my #gifted copy for review!

The Murder of Mr. Wickham by Claudia Gray – 1 Star I picked this up on a whim and I am so sad I didn’t like it. I have always enjoyed an Austen retelling and was excited when this book brought all of them together but my main problem with this was the pacing and the characters. I felt at times this book just dragged on and on and never really went anywhere, I ended up skimming the middle of this book just to get to the end. My other complaint was the characters, these are fictional people who I have known for years and I felt like the author changed some them to unrecognizable version of themselves. If you are an Austen fan then you might want to pick this one up, maybe I am the minority with how this book turned out.

The Beach Trap by Ali Brady – 5 Stars I really enjoyed this fun take on The Parent Trap, I loved watching the Hailey Mills version when I was growing up. Kat and Blake met at the age of 12 at summer camp but soon learned they shared a father. Over a decade later Kat and Blake inherit their father’s beach house and the two have very different ideas on what they should do with it. I loved this story of sisters learning how to love each other as well as romantic relationships for them as well. Highly recommend this one!

Fake It Till You Bake It by Jamie Wesley – 4 Stars This one is a fun combination of fake dating and a foodie romance! Jada takes a job at a bakery after talking bad about in front of the owner to try convince her grandmother that she is capable of keeping a job. Donovan is the owner of the cupcake shop that Jada insulted but he realizes he needs more customer so agrees to take Jada on so she can boost sales. Donovan and Jada soon start a fake relationship to help each of them with their public images, Donovan for his store and Jada because after turning down a proposal on national TV both could use some good press. I really enjoyed their relationship, it started out fake but both realized pretty soon that there was more there. I will say I could have used a little more on Donovan being a professional athlete. This book took place over a good chunk on time and it was never discussed that he would be away for a lot of time for games and practices. I also really enjoyed the family relationships in this book as well as the friendships. I always enjoy when the characters have great relationships with other people in books. This one does get steamy in case you like or don’t like that. Thank you St. Martin’s Press for my #gifted copy for review!

Spell The Month In Books – July

I went with romances again for this month’s spelling! I have been on a good kick lately so I thought I would continue with them here. Two are on my TBR, one I am currently reading and one I have already read.

J – Just Another Love Song by Kerry Winfrey – Can’t wait for this one to come out!

U – The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy by Megan Bannen – Listening to this one now and I already know when it comes out I will need a physical copy to own.

L – Love On The Brain by Ali Hazelwood – I loved The Love Hypothesis and can’t wait for this one to come out.

Y – Yes & I Love You by Roni Loren – This is the first in the Say Everything series and these books only got better as the series went on.