Wednesday, August 10, 2022

Waiting on Wednesday: The Final Gambit & Carrie Soto is Back

The Final Gambit
(The Inheritance Games #3)
by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Expected publication: August 30th 2022
by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Avery’s fortune, life, and loves are on the line in the game that everyone will be talking about.

To inherit billions, all Avery Kylie Grambs has to do is survive a few more weeks living in Hawthorne House. The paparazzi are dogging her every step. Financial pressures are building. Danger is a fact of life. And the only thing getting Avery through it all is the Hawthorne brothers. Her life is intertwined with theirs. She knows their secrets, and they know her.

But as the clock ticks down to the moment when Avery will become the richest teenager on the planet, trouble arrives in the form of a visitor who needs her help—and whose presence in Hawthorne House could change everything. It soon becomes clear that there is one last puzzle to solve, and Avery and the Hawthorne brothers are drawn into a dangerous game against an unknown and powerful player.

Secrets upon secrets. Riddles upon riddles. In this game, there are hearts and lives at stake—and there is nothing more Hawthorne than winning.

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Carrie Soto is Back
By Taylor Jenkins Reid

Expected publication: August 30th 2022
by Ballantine Books

In this powerful novel about the cost of greatness, a legendary athlete attempts a comeback when the world considers her past her prime—from the New York Times bestselling author of Malibu Rising.

Carrie Soto is fierce, and her determination to win at any cost has not made her popular. But by the time she retires from tennis, she is the best player the world has ever seen. She has shattered every record and claimed twenty Grand Slam titles. And if you ask Carrie, she is entitled to every one. She sacrificed nearly everything to become the best, with her father, Javier, as her coach. A former champion himself, Javier has trained her since the age of two.

But six years after her retirement, Carrie finds herself sitting in the stands of the 1994 US Open, watching her record be taken from her by a brutal, stunning player named Nicki Chan.

At thirty-seven years old, Carrie makes the monumental decision to come out of retirement and be coached by her father for one last year in an attempt to reclaim her record. Even if the sports media says that they never liked “the Battle-Axe” anyway. Even if her body doesn’t move as fast as it did. And even if it means swallowing her pride to train with a man she once almost opened her heart to: Bowe Huntley. Like her, he has something to prove before he gives up the game forever.

In spite of it all, Carrie Soto is back, for one epic final season. In this riveting and unforgettable novel, Taylor Jenkins Reid tells her most vulnerable, emotional story yet.

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•   •   •

Two exciting books that I absolutely can't wait to read. I'm a HUGE fan of The Inheritance Games series, and I'm super curious to see how the series is going to end. I've also really enjoyed the books that I've read by Taylor Jenkins Reid so far, so I'm hoping Carrie Soto is great as well!

What books are you Waiting on this week??

Friday, August 5, 2022

My Thoughts: Hook, Line, and Sinker by Tessa Bailey

Hook, Line, and Sinker
(Bellinger Sisters #2)
by Tessa Bailey

Publication Date: March 1st 2022
Publisher: Avon Books
Pages: 385
ISBN: 9780063045699
Genre: Adult / Romance / Contemporary
Source: Review Copy / Own

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Available for Purchase:
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King crab fisherman Fox Thornton has a reputation as a sexy, carefree flirt. Everyone knows he's a guaranteed good time--in bed and out--and that's exactly how he prefers it. Until he meets Hannah Bellinger. She's immune to his charm and looks, but she seems to enjoy his... personality? And wants to be friends? Bizarre. But he likes her too much to risk a fling, so platonic pals it is.

Now, Hannah's in town for work, crashing in Fox's spare bedroom. She knows he's a notorious ladies' man, but they're definitely just friends. In fact, she's nursing a hopeless crush on a colleague and Fox is just the person to help with her lackluster love life. Armed with a few tips from Westport's resident Casanova, Hannah sets out to catch her coworker's eye... yet the more time she spends with Fox, the more she wants him instead. As the line between friendship and flirtation begins to blur, Hannah can't deny she loves everything about Fox, but she refuses to be another notch on his bedpost.

Living with his best friend should have been easy. Except now she's walking around in a towel, sleeping right across the hall, and Fox is fantasizing about waking up next to her for the rest of his life and... and... man overboard! He's fallen for her, hook, line, and sinker. Helping her flirt with another guy is pure torture, but maybe if Fox can tackle his inner demons and show Hannah he's all in, she'll choose him instead?

In the follow-up to It Happened One Summer, Tessa Bailey delivers another deliciously fun rom-com about a former player who accidentally falls for his best friend while trying to help her land a different man...
(Goodreads)


Hook, Line, and Sinker, the sequel to It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey, was high on my list of most anticipated reads for 2022. I read It Happened One Summer as soon as it was released in 2021, and it ended up being my most favorite read of the year. So of course I absolutely couldn’t wait to devour the sequel!

Tessa Bailey has quickly become an auto-buy author for me. I can’t seem to get enough of her books! And The Bellinger Sisters duology is definitely some of my favorites by her so far. As I mentioned above, I absolutely loved It Happened One Summer, and Hook, Line and Sinker is definitely a close second. The Bellinger sisters are so much fun!

While It Happened One Summer was all about Piper Bellinger, Hook, Line, and Sinker is all about her sister, Hannah. We first met Hannah in the first book, and I was really excited to read her story. The relationship between her and Fox was so cute! And steamy as well. I very much enjoyed watching their relationship grow over the course of the book. It really was such a great read.

The only thing I didn’t like about this series is that it was so short! I would have loved to keep reading about these characters and this world that Tessa created. I did enjoy the epilogue at the end of this book, so at least there was some closure. But I’d still love more! This is definitely a series that I will be reading over and over again. (I’ve already reread the first book, and plan to start it again soon!)

Overall; Hook, Line and Sinker was a really fun read! I was not ready for this series to come to an end, but it all came together nicely, and I enjoyed every minute of it. I definitely hope to see more books like this from Tessa in the future. If you’re looking for a fun and short series to devour this summer, do check out The Bellinger Sisters!

Wednesday, August 3, 2022

Waiting on Wednesday: Love on the Brain & Just Another Love Song

Love on the Brain
by Ali Hazelwood

Expected publication: August 23rd 2022 by Berkley Books

A STEMinist rom-com in which a scientist is forced to work on a project with her nemesis--with explosive results.

Like an avenging, purple-haired Jedi bringing balance to the mansplained universe, Bee Königswasser lives by a simple code: What would Marie Curie do? If NASA offered her the lead on a neuroengineering project--a literal dream come true after years scraping by on the crumbs of academia--Marie would accept without hesitation. Duh. But the mother of modern physics never had to co-lead with Levi Ward.

Sure, Levi is attractive in a tall, dark, and piercing-eyes kind of way. And sure, he caught her in his powerfully corded arms like a romance novel hero when she accidentally damseled in distress on her first day in the lab. But Levi made his feelings toward Bee very clear in grad school--archenemies work best employed in their own galaxies far, far away.

Now, her equipment is missing, the staff is ignoring her, and Bee finds her floundering career in somewhat of a pickle. Perhaps it's her occipital cortex playing tricks on her, but Bee could swear she can see Levi softening into an ally, backing her plays, seconding her ideas...devouring her with those eyes. And the possibilities have all her neurons firing. But when it comes time to actually make a move and put her heart on the line, there's only one question that matters: What will Bee Königswasser do?

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Just Another Love Song
by Kerry Winfrey

Expected publication: August 2nd 2022 by Berkley

Two high school sweethearts get a second chance at their perfect ending in this charming new romance by Kerry Winfrey, author of Very Sincerely Yours.

Once upon a time, Sandy Macintosh thought she would have her happily ever after with her high school sweetheart, Hank Tillman. Sandy wanted to be an artist, Hank was the only boy in town who seemed destined for bigger things, and they both had dreams to escape town together. But when Sandy’s plans fell through, she stayed in their small town in Ohio while Hank went off to Boston to follow his dreams to be a musician, with the promise to stay together. Only that plan fell through, too.

Fifteen years later, Sandy runs a successful greenhouse while helping her parents with their bed and breakfast. Everything is perfect…until Hank rolls back into town, now a famous alt-country singer with a son in tow. She’s happy with the life she’s built by herself, but seeing Hank makes her think about what might have been. There aren’t enough cliché love songs in the world to convince Sandy to give Hank another chance, but when the two of them get thrown together to help organize the town’s annual street fair, she wonders if there could be a new beginning for them or if what they had is just a tired old song of the past.

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Two awesome books for my WOW picks this week!
They both sound so good, and I can't wait to read them. :)

What books are you waiting for this week?


Tuesday, August 2, 2022

My Thoughts: Forging Silver into Stars by Brigid Kemmerer

Forging Silver into Stars
(Forging Silver into Stars #1)
by Brigid Kemmerer

Publication Date: June 7th 2022
Publisher: Bloomsbury YA
Pages: 520
ISBN: 9781547609123
Genre: Young Adult / Fantasy
Source: Review Copy / Own

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Available for Purchase:
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Magic has been banished in the land of Syhl Shallow for as long as best friends Jax and Callyn can remember. They once loved the stories of the powerful magesmiths and mythical scravers who could conjure fire or control ice, but now they’ve learned that magic only leads to danger: magic is what killed Callyn’s parents, leaving her alone to raise her younger sister. Magic never helped Jax, whose leg was crushed in an accident that his father has been punishing him for ever since. Magic won’t save either of them when the tax collector comes calling, threatening to take their homes if they can't pay what they owe.

Meanwhile, Jax and Callyn are astonished to learn magic has returned to Syhl Shallow -- in the form of a magesmith who's now married to their queen. Now, the people of Syhl Shallow are expected to allow dangerous magic in their midst, and no one is happy about it.

When a stranger rides into town offering Jax and Callyn silver in exchange for holding secret messages for an anti-magic faction, the choice is obvious -- even if it means they may be aiding in a plot to destroy their new king. It’s a risk they’re both willing to take. That is, until another visitor arrives: handsome Lord Tycho, the King’s Courier, the man who’s been tasked with discovering who’s conspiring against the throne.

Suddenly, Jax and Callyn find themselves embroiled in a world of shifting alliances, dangerous flirtations, and ancient magic... where even the deepest loyalties will be tested. (Goodreads)


Forging Silver into Stars by Brigid Kemmerer is definitely one of my most anticipated reads for 2022! I absolutely loved the Cursebreakers series, and A Curse So Dark and Lonely just happens to be one of my most favorite retellings as well. I was so excited to dive back into this world! And it definitely did not disappoint.

This brand new book is a spin-off of the Cursebreakers series. While the first series followed Harper, Ren, Gray and Lia Mara, this book is set around Tycho, (now Lord Tycho), and a lot of new characters as well! (Don’t worry, we still get to spend time with all our favorites from the previous books as well!) The story is told from three different viewpoints; Tycho, and new characters Jax and Callyn. I love when books have multiple viewpoints! It feels like we get SO much more of the story this way.

And speaking of the story, I really enjoyed the storyline as well. It picks up a few years after the ending of the Cursebreakers series, and it felt both familiar, but completely new as well. I was definitely hooked. I flew through the pages so much faster than I expected to, and it’s been a long time since that has happened. It’s been a while since I’ve been able to focus on a fantasy book for a while, but this one did it for me. Seriously … This book was such a delight.

Overall; I very, very much enjoyed Forging Silver into Stars! I didn’t expect it to be so comforting to go back to this world that I love so much. I definitely can’t wait to read more of the series, and I definitely plan to reread all the books again before the next book is released.  If you’re a fan of the Cursebreakers series, do check out this brand new spin-off as well!

Monday, August 1, 2022

My August 2022 TBR

Happy August, Bookworms!

It's been a while since I last posted, but I've been feeling the itch to post again, so here I am!

Are you guys having a good reading year so far? Mine has been so-so, but I've read a lot of really good books this year, so maybe quality over quantity is the key. ;)

I have a lot of books on my August TBR that I'm excited for, and I have a wide variety of genres to choose from as well. It should be a really good month. (I hope, at least!)

Here's what I'm hoping to read in August:


The Hawthorne Legacy by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Storyteller by Dave Grohl
The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston
A Proposal They Can't Refuse by Natalie Cana
The Accidental Pinup by Danielle Jackson
The Romance Recipe by Ruby Barrett
The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse
Dance of Thieves by Mary E. Pearson
These Twisted Bonds by Lexi Ryan
Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins
The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell
We Were Never Here by Andrea Bartz
Something in the Water by Catherine Steadman
The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine

So many great books! I also have some ebooks and audiobooks on hold from the library to check out this month as well. :)

What are you guys reading this month??

August Bookstagram Challenge • #AlltheBooksAug22

Friday, December 17, 2021

My Thoughts: The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling

The Ex Hex
(The Ex Hex #1)
by Erin Sterling

Publication Date: September 28th 2021
Publisher: Avon
Pages: 320
ISBN: 978006302747
Genre: Adult Fiction, Romance, Fantasy
Source: Netgalley / Own

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Available for Purchase:
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New York Times bestselling author Rachel Hawkins, writing as Erin Sterling, casts a spell with a spine-tingling romance full of wishes, witches, and hexes gone wrong.

Nine years ago, Vivienne Jones nursed her broken heart like any young witch would: vodka, weepy music, bubble baths…and a curse on the horrible boyfriend. Sure, Vivi knows she shouldn’t use her magic this way, but with only an “orchard hayride” scented candle on hand, she isn’t worried it will cause him anything more than a bad hair day or two.

That is until Rhys Penhallow, descendent of the town’s ancestors, breaker of hearts, and annoyingly just as gorgeous as he always was, returns to Graves Glen, Georgia. What should be a quick trip to recharge the town’s ley lines and make an appearance at the annual fall festival turns disastrously wrong. With one calamity after another striking Rhys, Vivi realizes her silly little Ex Hex may not have been so harmless after all.

Suddenly, Graves Glen is under attack from murderous wind-up toys, a pissed off ghost, and a talking cat with some interesting things to say. Vivi and Rhys have to ignore their off the charts chemistry to work together to save the town and find a way to break the break-up curse before it’s too late. (Goodreads)


The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling, (aka Rachel Hawkins), was high on my list of most anticipated reads for Fall 2021. The book sounded SO cute and it sounded like the perfect fall read. This is why it was my very first read of fall this year! Bringing in the new season with an awesome book, and it was perfection.

Let me start this by saying that my most favorite thing about this book was the setting. It’s absolutely no secret AT ALL that my favorite season of the year is fall. I love everything about it! The weather starts to get cooler, (though here in the south that takes a while), the colors of the trees start to change, oh and did I mention that the weather gets cooler? (lol!)

That brings me to the setting of this book. I don’t think I’ve read many books set in fall, but this book is, AND it’s around Halloween time as well! (My favorite holiday!) Everything that Erin described in the setting was absolute perfection and I could picture it perfectly in my mind. I sooooo wanted to be in Graves Glen, GA with these characters during this lovely season. I don’t know if this place is fictional or not, but I for sure want to visit. lol

I also really enjoyed the characters and storyline for this book as well! Add them in with the gorgeous setting, it made for a fantastic read, and I was HOOKED! I definitely plan to make this a yearly fall re-read, and I really hope that there is going to be a sequel in the future as well.

Overall; The Ex Hex was an all-around fun read! Read it in the fall, or read it whenever, but I definitely hope that you enjoy it if you do read it!

Monday, November 1, 2021

My November '21 TBR

Happy November, Bookworms!

I can't believe it's already November! October flew by way too quickly, and fall is also going by too quickly. (It's my favorite season, and always goes by too quickly.) Sigh.

Did you have a good reading month in October? Mine was surprisingly awesome, and I'm hoping to keep it up in November! Last month I did a spooky theme for spooky season, and this month I'm extending that and having a mystery/thriller season! It's going to be so much fun.

And not only am I doing a theme this month, but I'm also hoping to play catch up on some of the books and series I've started but not finished this year. (It's quite a few. lol) Hopefully I can get some of these read and finally knock them off my TBR.

Here's what I'm reading this month ...
Daughter of the Deep by Rick Riordan
The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
A Good Girls Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson
These Hollow Vows by Lexi Ryan
Once Upon a Broken Heart by Stephanie Garber
Dance of Thieves by Mary E. Pearson
Legendborn by Tracy Deonn
These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong
A Sky Beyond a Storm by Sabaa Tahir
The King of Crows by Libba Bray
Realm Breaker by Victoria Aveyard
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
The End of Her by Shari Lapena
One by One by Ruth Ware
Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

•     •     •

So many great books! A few are re-reads, and a few are new-to-me reads, and others are just ones I need to finish already, and I'm excited to get to them all! I also have a few more thrillers and some romances that I am hoping to get to, and a few new releases as well. I hope it will be a great month!

What books are you hoping to read in November??

Friday, October 1, 2021

My October '21 TBR!

Happy October, Bookworms!

Spooky Season has officially arrived, and it's definitely my most favorite season. This month my TBR is full of spooky mysteries and thrillers, witchy reads, vampire books, and so much more! I have been waiting for this month, and this TBR, all year long, and I'm SO glad it's finally here!

Here's what I am hoping to read in October!

The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow
Northhanger Abbey by Jane Austen
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Dracula by Bram Stoker
The Cousins by Karen M. McManus
Horrid by Katrina Leno
This Coven Won't Break by Isabel Sterling
Small Favors by Erin A. Craig
A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
Kingdom of the Wicked by Kerri Maniscalco
The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner
The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson
Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee
The Beautiful & The Damned by Renee Ahdieh




Ebooks and Audiobooks:

A Slow Fire Burning by Paula Hawkins
The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell
Not a Happy Family by Shari Lapena
Kingdom of the Cursed by Kerri Maniscalco
Velvet Was the Night by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
No One Will Miss Her by Kat Rosenfield


SO many books! A lot of these I have been waiting until spooky season to start, and beyond thrilled that I can finally read them! It's definitely a lot, but I am hoping for a great reading month so I can get to as many of them as I can. :)

(I'm also hoping to squeeze in a few reads from my September TBR that I didn't get to as well!)

Are any of these books on your October TBR? What will you be reading this month??

Friday, September 24, 2021

My Thoughts: People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry

People We Meet on Vacation
by Emily Henry

Publication Date: May 11th 2021
Publisher: Berkley Books
Pages: 364
ISBN: 9781984806758
Genre: Adult Fiction / Contemporary / Romance
Source: Netgalley Review Copy / Own

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Available for Purchase:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository

Two best friends. Ten summer trips. One last chance to fall in love.

Poppy and Alex. Alex and Poppy. They have nothing in common. She’s a wild child; he wears khakis. She has insatiable wanderlust; he prefers to stay home with a book. And somehow, ever since a fateful car share home from college many years ago, they are the very best of friends. For most of the year they live far apart—she’s in New York City, and he’s in their small hometown—but every summer, for a decade, they have taken one glorious week of vacation together.

Until two years ago, when they ruined everything. They haven’t spoken since.

Poppy has everything she should want, but she’s stuck in a rut. When someone asks when she was last truly happy, she knows, without a doubt, it was on that ill-fated, final trip with Alex. And so, she decides to convince her best friend to take one more vacation together—lay everything on the table, make it all right. Miraculously, he agrees.

Now she has a week to fix everything. If only she can get around the one big truth that has always stood quietly in the middle of their seemingly perfect relationship. What could possibly go wrong?

From the New York Times bestselling author of Beach Read, a sparkling new novel that will leave you with the warm, hazy afterglow usually reserved for the best vacations.
(Goodreads)


People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry was yet another of my most anticipated reads for this summer, and I was super curious to finally read the book. I read Beach Read last summer, and I was really interested to see how this new book would compare.

There are so many things that I really enjoyed about this book! One thing was the characters. The book has so many interesting characters... including the two main characters, Poppy and Alex. I undeniably related more to Alex in his love of books and not being very spontaneous, but I think we all want to be a little like Poppy and her freedom to wander. I am such a homebody, and I can’t even imagine what that’s like. But it was fun to see it through Poppy’s eyes! Also, some of the people that they met on vacation were awesome!

Another thing that I like about the book was the storyline. It totally made me want to travel more, and, as I mentioned above, I am certainly more of a homebody. All of the places that Poppy and Alex visited throughout the book sounded interesting, and they were so well described, I could almost imagine being there as well. (I love it when that happens!)

I’m really glad that I chose to read this book in the summer, as it definitely felt like a summer read to me. Oh and I listened to the audiobook as well, and the narrator, Julia Whelan, did such a great job with the voices! Julia also narrates the audiobook for Beach Read, and has read a few others that I have checked out this year! It’s so fun to listen to a familiar voice.

Overall; People We Meet on Vacation was a fun summer read! I’m very glad that I had it on my TBR this season, and I absolutely can’t wait to get my hands on Emily’s next book, Book Lovers, which is currently set to release May 2022, also from Berkley! It sounds fantastic as well, so if it’s not already on your TBR, go ahead and add it now. *grin*