Posts Tagged: Contemporary

Friday, October 06, 2017

Romance Mini-Reviews #2: The good and the okay

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A Taste of Honey
Rose Lerner

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Fire and ice cream…

Robert Moon risked everything, including his father’s hardwon legacy, to open his beloved Honey Moon Confectionery on the busiest street in Lively St. Lemeston. Now he’s facing bankruptcy and debtor’s prison.

When a huge catering order comes in, he agrees to close the sweet-shop for a week to fill it. There’s only one problem: his apprentice is out of town, so his beautiful shop-girl Betsy Piper must help Robert in the kitchen.

Betsy’s spent the last year trying to make her single-minded boss look up from his pastries and notice that she would be the perfect wife. Now the two of them are alone in a kitchen full of sweet things. With just one week to get him to fall in love with her, she’d better get this seduction started…

She soon discovers that Robert brings the same meticulous, eager-to-please attitude to lovemaking that he does to baking, but can kisses—no matter how sweet—compete with the Honey Moon in his heart?

At this point, it should surprise no one that I am a huge fan of Rose Lerner’s HRs so when I was approached to review A Taste of Honey, I was all over it. A romance b/w a shy baker and his assistant was more than enough to tempt this reader with a ginormous sweet-tooth.

As always, Rose Lerner’s romances distinguish themselves because they are so down to Earth. They aren’t about annoying aristocrats (although, lets be real, I also adore my aristocrats) but about the ordinary peeps who are having a jolly good time with their lives.

A Taste of Honey tells the story of Robert Moon & Betsy Piper. They have a huge order to complete within a week but things heat up..

A Taste of Honey may just be a novella but it is jam packed with swoons, character development arcs and BAKED GOODIES. It’s definitely worth the read if you need a quick pick-me-up or if you, like me, also have a giant sweet tooth.

The Corner of Forever and Always
Lia Riley

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Fairy tales aren’t ever what they seem . . .

Tuesday Knight’s dream of Broadway stardom has flopped, leaving her unemployed and brokenhearted. Ready to quit kissing frogs and make her own happily-ever-after, she takes a job as a princess in Everland, Georgia’s historical amusement park.

Mayor Beau Marino lives an unenchanted existence-all work, no play-which is fine by him. After his marriage ended in disaster, the last thing he wants in his life is more drama. But Everland’s new free spirit has a talent for getting under his starched collar.

When the town’s beloved but bankrupt park might be shut down, Tuesday and Beau face a choice. Can they join forces, save the day-and each other? Or will their fierce battle of wills destroy any chance of a fairy-tale ending?

I’ve only read one other book by Lia Riley so while I had some expectations when I dove in, I wasn’t entirely sure what I would be getting. But hey, if I had had higher expectations, I might have been even more disappointed.

This book has cute banter and a cute romance but also, the writing wasn’t the greatest? This could partially be because I read an e-arc as opposed to the finished copy but I felt like a lot of the sentences were awkward and could have been reworded.

There were also minor details that I got nit-picky about because they seemed bizarre and like the author hadn’t actually thought through the details. The MC, for example, was broke when she had lived in NYC but had lived in Hell’s Kitchen??

I would definitely say that The Corner of Forever and Always was enjoyable but also, the poor writing definitely took away from the cute banter and the also cute plotline involving the amusement park.

3 Hot Espressos

A Raw and Poignant Exploration of Mental Health: A Semi-Definitive List of Worst Nightmares by Krystal Sutherland

Posted by on 09/27/2017 • 6 Comments

Everyone raved about Our Chemical Hearts when it came out last year but because my tbr is overflowing and I am always short on time, I never did get around to reading it. A Semi-Definitive List of Worst Nightmares immediately caught my attention because it had such a cutesy title, cover & blurb but don’t let any of that fool you because this book will fucking break your heart.

A Semi-Definitive List of Worst Nightmares is such a raw, poignant exploration of mental health and I don’t even know where to begin unpacking my feels for those books. (But also, can we all agree that unpacking feels for books you love is so much harder than talking about books you hate?)

Esther Solar believes her family has been cursed…

A Semi-Definitive List of My 5 Worst Fears/Nightmares

Posted by on 09/18/2017 • 3 Comments

Hey hey hey! A Semi-Definitive List of Worst Nightmares is an important book that addresses mental health/phobias so I decided to share some of my fears/nightmares with y’all. Things are about to get weirdly personal (but also a little silly because that’s just who I am so if you’re not into that, I say it’s time to close your browser or email and do something else.

A Semi-Definitive List of My 5 Worst Fears/Nightmares

1. When I was a kid, I developed an odd fear of heights that never went away. When I was a kid, it wasn’t that the height scared me but more that I would lose something or someone important to me. Now it’s both?

2. Dying alone. I know a lot of people will share this…

A Letter Was Found in the Pages Of Words in Deep Blue by Cath Crowley

Posted by on 07/28/2017 • 2 Comments

Text:

Dear person reading this,

You might be wondering why I chose this page to write in & that is for several reasons including OTP feels but really, even if you haven’t read this book, you can relate to the way words move these characters in these pages. CATH CROWLEY is easily one of my fav authors and her words never fail to move me. Words in a Deep Blue was no different. The words in this book will make you cry, will make you laugh and most likely, the words in this book will change your life. Read it.

Love, Rashika

***images used in aesthetic do not belong to me***

5 Hot Espressos

Rashika’s Guide to Reading What to Say Next by Julie Buxbaum

Posted by on 07/07/2017 • 4 Comments

I felt like doing something a little different for this incredibly amazing book so I took some inspiration from the book (unfortunately, the title of this post references a terrible thing that happens… whoops) and decided to make a guide to reading What to Say Next.

1. Go grocery shopping before diving in. Make sure you buy Kleenex and stock up on your comfort foods. You will be needing those things very soon.

2. Prepare for a heartbreaking discussion on grief and death. If that’s not something you can do right now, probably don’t read the book but if you do choose to, there will be tears if you are a human bean (refer to the first point in this guide.)

3. Pace yourself because you’re in for a serious bookish hangover…

Author Interview: Sandhya Menon

Posted by on 06/02/2017 • 0 Comments

HELLO and welcome back to this fancy feature that Nick (Nick & Nereyda’s Infinite Booklist) and I are collaborating on! This month I am sharing an interview I did with Sandhya Menon! So PLEASE GIVE HER a virtual round of applause.

1. If Dimple and Rishi’s romance could be set to only one bollywood song, which one would it be?

Tujh Mein Rab Dikhta Hai from Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, definitely. 🙂

2. What is one book you think the world would just not be the same without?

Ahhh, really, just one?! Hmm…I guess I’d pick The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood.

3. If Dimple and Rishi were a food pairing, what would they be? (I AM JUST CURIOUS, OKAY)

Haha, this is an amazing question! I’d say…sea salt and…

Giveaway: Girl Against the Universe by Paula Stokes

Posted by on 05/19/2017 • 23 Comments

Hi everyone! Today we are partnering with Paula Stokes to giveaway a copy GIRL AGAINST THE UNIVERSE to one lucky winner! GIRL AGAINST THE UNIVERSE was one of my favorite books of 2016 and honestly such an important book. It does such a great job talking about mental health issues and also has an incredibly swoony romance.

 

About the Book

Paula: Hi everyone! Girl Against the Universe releases in paperback on June 6, 2017 and I’m so excited about that I decided to do an entire blog tour of giveaways to celebrate! In the story, main character Maguire creates her own list of seven challenges to help her overcome her fears. This week I have seven challenges for you, and seven chances to win a shiny GATU paperback 😀 These…

Explores the bizarre & complex social environment of high school: Say No to the Bro by Kat Helgeson

Posted by on 05/18/2017 • 3 Comments

Doesn’t this book have the best title ever? If a title alone had the capacity to sell a book to anyone, it was be the title to this book. I was certainly sold before I even saw the cover or read the blurb for the book because who can resist a book titled Say No to the Bro?

Does the book actually live up to its amazing title? I don’t really know how to answer that question and should probably not start all my paragraphs in this review with a question because I am told that is bad writing. Say No to the Bro was not at all what I expected and I don’t know if I mean that in a good or bad way. It is somewhere in the middle to be…