Book Review: The Magic of Found Objects

“Just take your place in the world with as much grace and gratitude as you can muster and try to see the best in us.”

Conceived at Woodstock in a serendipitous liaison between a free-spirited hippie and farmer’s son, Phronsie Linnelle was born with magical wonder flicking in her DNA and rationally knit into her bones. Torn between the two for most of her life and now that she’s been betrayed by both love and the the mother she once idolized, her rational is winning out. So when her childhood best friend proposes that they give up on romance and marry each other, she couldn’t think of a better idea. What’s better than spending the rest of your life with your best friend who you know won’t hurt you? But as fate has it, right when she’s about to embark on this journey, someone from her past makes a very convincing argument for revisiting romance, Phronsie must look at her own heart to find that the answers that have been there all along.

What a delightful and fun read from beginning to end! I was so invested in the story and had to force myself to sleep or I would’ve stayed up way too late to read more. This book was so wild and entertaining and that’s really what I loved the most because just when I thought I knew what was happening, it would go in the different direction. I really loved how well written the characters were even the secondary characters were fleshed out and felt so human. They were all so deeply flawed and complicated which is so nice to have in books. Phronsie was such a likable protagonist and I really felt for her while she was trying to sort out the events that transpired in her life and I really liked her growth. The plot and how everything tied up nicely in the end was so well done, I really enjoyed this one and I’m going to check out more of Dawson’s work. Highly recommend this!!

Book Review: FLOAT PLAN

“I’m starting to understand that some people come into your life when you need them, and go when it’s time.”

Float Plan follows Anna as she navigates through the loss of her fiance to suicide, she is grief stricken at the loss and unable to integrate back into her normal routine. Her life kicks back up when she gets a reminder about a trip that the two were supposed to take together but now she is alone and on a impulse she decides to go on the trip alone. But, it turns out to be too overwhelming for her and she realizes she needs an extra hand, someone who is good with sailing and she finds that Keane, a professional sailor to help. Much like Anna, his life has been thrown into a tailspin and he is trying to make his way through and soon a budding friendship starts to form with the two realizing that their might be more than friendship in their future.

This was such a great book! I binged it in one day as I was glued to my book to find out what was going to happen next and I found Anna so relatable and easy to like. I really felt for her while she was working through her own grief and how she went about it felt very real. Losing a loved one is never easy to deal especially with suicide as that brings out a lot of guilt and shame with thinking about what you could’ve done to help that person. It’s so difficult to process especially with by yourself and i thought the way the author developed the friendship and eventually romance between Anna and Keane was really well done, it didn’t feel so forced especially with the other issues that both characters are dealing with. Overall, I really enjoyed the book so defintely check it out if it sounds like something you’d enjoy!

BOOK Review: ACCIDENTALLY Engaged

“Reena’s heart was safe. But she felt fine about their meddling. Truly. Friends who cared enough to meddle were hardly something to complain about.”

For Reena Manji, her life could be better but for right now she’s not complaining for while she’s not thrilled about her love life, she doesn’t really want to be involved in a relationship right now. If only her family got that memo and didn’t insert themselves into every aspect of her life. Reena is trying to do the best she can and drown out the noise but when her father moves his newest employee, Nadim across the hall from her with hopes that he’ll be the one, she’s going to get much more than she bargained for.

I absolutely loved this story, it was so pure and wholesome with heart warming and angst moments that made me glued to my book for more. Reena was such a relatable protagonist, I really felt for her and enjoyed seeing her character growth throughout the book and found her chemistry with Nadim very real and I loved both of them on their own and together. They were both very interesting and flawed and the development of the relationship didn’t happen so quickly or felt forced and that’s always good cause that can really be a downer. I did enjoy Reena’s relationship with her family and even if they did meddle in her love life, they truly cared for her and just wanted her to be happy. They were very close and there were some really great heartwarming moments and loved how Heron developed the secondary characters and made them just as important as the main characters. Highly recommend this one!

JULY TBR

Hey everyone! I’m excited to share all my choices with you! This is gonna be a good month!

Accidentally Engaged by Farah Heron
Genre: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

The Donut Enemy by Sarah Adams
Genre: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Float Plan by Trish Coller
Genre: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

My Killer Vacation by Tessa Bailey
Genre: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Juniper & Thorn by Ava Reid
Genre: Horror, Fantasy, Fiction

The Magic of Found Objects by Maddie Dawson
Genre: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

The Meeting Point by Olivia Lara
Genre: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

No Rings Attached by Rachel Lacey
Genre: Adult, LGBT, Romance

Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez
Genre: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah
Genre: Adult, Fantasy, Mythology

Something Wilder by Christina Lauren
Genre: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

The Soulmate Equation by Christina Lauren
Genre: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

The Wedding Game by Meghan Quinn
Genre: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Book review: Book Lovers

“That’s the thing about women. There’s no good way to be one. Wear your emotions on your sleeve and you’re hysterical. Keep them tucked away where your boyfriend doesn’t have to tend to them and you’re a heartless bitch.”

Nora Stephens has the best life ever and all of it involves books and while she doesn’t think of herself as a heroine like the ones in the books, her clients would beg to differ. When she’s not reading books, she’s scoring enormous deals for her literary clients including her sister, Libby. When her sister comes to her with an idea to head out of town for awhile, Nora takes it up without even a second chance and before long she finds herself in a different kind of adventure. Once established in Sunshine Falls, North Carolina, she is ready to relax and unwind but life has other plans as she is finding herself thrown together with Charlie Lastra, a brooding book editor from back in the city and the two are less than happy about it. But, the more time the spend the more they begin to realize that they might not be so different at all.

This was a fun ride from beginning to end! I have been a fan of Emily Henry’s books for awhile now and although I still have issues with Beach Read but I won’t go into that. I did this reading with a friend and that was a lot of fun as I found it enjoyable reading this with someone else. Buddy reads don’t always go so well but this one did so I was glad that I was able to have that this time. I found the plot very interesting and Emily really does a good job with creating complicated and flawed characters that seem so real you feel like you know them. The tropes were brilliantly done and the dynamics between Nora and Charlie were fantastic! All in all, a very fun and entertaining read!

BOOk Review

“It occurred to Delilah that this was probably the longest she’d ever really looked at her stepsister. She’d spent years perfecting the art of avoidance, of protection, of never letting Astrid see how much Delilah was hurting. If eyes were the window into the soul, Delilah’s had long been shuttered.”

If Delilah Greene had it her way, she would never go back to that dreadful city that is Bright Falls where her distant and cold step family are and memories of a childhood that she never had. Her life is in New York City where she is making herself out to be a skilled photographer and while she does want a relationship, being with a different girl each night is fine with her. Until the day she gets a phone call from her estranged sister, Astrid who ends up guilt tripping Deliliah into coming home for wedding and although she wants to say no, the five-figure check would be nice to have. Delilah ends up going but is not going to enjoy it. Or so she thinks.

This was an emotionally packed roller coaster from beginning to end and also hit me really hard as I related to Delilah’s heartache and pain from how her cold and distant family treated her. I really felt for her and found her to be a very real and relatable character and not just because of her trauma. In addition to that, I did enjoy seeing her relationship with her stepsister Astrid get better as things were discovered that the two girls didn’t know and ended up becoming closer because of it. Although, I wasn’t a fan of one of Astrid’s friends, Iris who was flat out a bully and treated Delilah like a child and I found myself speed reading whenever she was present. On the other hand, Delilah does become close with Clarie and I found their chemistry very real and loved the dynamics between them! Overall, an enjoyable book with a few bumps in the road but I highly recommend it.

JUNE TBR

Hello, I can’t believe it’s June!! I’m super excited to share my tbr for this month because I’ve picked out some really good ones!

The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd
Genre: Adult, Fiction, Mystery

Cover Story by Susan Rigetti
Genre: Adult, Contemporary, Fiction

Change of Heart by Clare Lydon
Genre: Adult, Contemporary, LGBT

Dead Collections by Isaac Fellman
Genre: Adult, Horror, LGBT

Deliah Green Doesn’t Care by Ashley Herring Blake
Genre: Adult, LGBT, Romance

From Bad To Cursed by Lana Harper
Genre: Adult, LGBT, Fantasy

Her Majesty’s Royal Coven by Juno Dawson
Genre: Adult, Fantasy, LGBT

Like A House On Fire by Lauren McBrayer
Genre: Adult, LGBT, Romance

Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Akoi
Genre: Adult, Fantasy, Sci-Fi

My Heart To Find by Elin Annalise
Genre: Adult, Mystery, LGBT

No Strings Attached by Rachel Lacey
Genre: Adult, LGBT, Romance

The Queer Principals of Kit Webb by Cat Sebastian
Genre: Adult, LGBT, Romance

Scorpica by G.R. Macallister
Genre: Adult, Fantasy, LGBT

So Happy For You by Celia Laskey
Genre: Adult, Contemporary, LGBT

The Thousand Eyes by A.K. Larkwood
Genre: Adult, LGBT, Romance

Wrath Goddess Sing by Maya Deane
Genre: Fantasy, LGBT, Mythology

Book Review: Iron Widow

“Men wants us so badly for our bodies, yet hate us so much for our minds.”

While the boys of Huaxia dream of pairing up with the girls to pilot Chrysalises, giant robots that defeat the mecha ailens that lurk beyond the great wall where the girls dread it as they often die from mental strain. But, not all the girls dread pairing up with the boys, there is one girl who is more than ready to take on the challenge in an attempt to have her revenge on the man who killed her sister. When Zietan is chosen, she ends up getting more she’s bargained for as she is successful in killing the man who killed her sister but comes out of it unscathed thus dubbing her the iron widow. Now, she is set on understanding how the pilot system works in hopes of preventing more girls from being sacrificed.

This gave me pacific rim vibes as soon I read the summary on Goodreads and it did have that vibe while getting into the novel even though it started a little slow. But, I’ll get to that in a bit as I did enjoy the characters as they were all deeply flawed with good development to understand their motives even if I didn’t like the character. But, the big flaw that made me less invested in it was the lack of development with the magic system and world-building as there were times where I was confused and needed a little more information. I love good world-building and sadly this one didn’t have it and I do feel if the author had done more with the magic system then maybe I would’ve enjoyed it more than I did. The themes that are discussed throughout the novel are very relevant to what is happening now and I felt as though Zhao does a good job of connecting them to the plot. Overall, it was a good book even though I felt a little disappointed but feel free to check it out if it sounds enjoyable to you!

Book Review: Set On You

(Quote to be added)

Crystal Chen has spend the majority of her life proving people wrong and learning to embrace who she is without changing for anyone else. She has built up a incredible fitness career shattering stereotypes and promoting body positivity as a curvy fitness influencer. Reeling from a recent breakup, she is ready to prove thats he doesn’t need anyone than herself but things become complicated with a new man walks into her life, Scott Ritchie, a firefighter who is looking to get back into shape. The two are at odds at first but the more they get to know one another, the more sparks begin to fly leaving Crystal to wonder if second chances are worth it.

This was such a fun and super cute debut! First off, I’m glad that Crystal was plus sized because there isn’t enough rep in books especially romance. It was nice to see and Crystal won me over as I felt her personality and how she presented herself were endearing and empowering. She very much owned who she is and fully embraced that which is always very relevant as there are so many people who struggle with feeling secure and confident in who they are. I enjoyed reading about her journey of being a fitness influencer and how she and Scott first started out as enemies turned lovers. This is one of my favorite and it was really well done here. The romance was very believable and I was rooting for both of them throughout the entire book, they were so cute with each other! All in all, it was a great book to read!