Book Review, Fiction, Romance

One Last Gift by Emily Stone ~ Book Review

Morgan

Genre: Holiday Romance
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪.5

When Cassie loses her brother, Tom, she feels unmoored. Having lost their parents at a young age, the siblings were incredibly close and spent lots of time together, often accompanied by Tom’s best friend, Sam. Following Tom’s death, Cassie finds an envelope with the first clue to a scavenger hunt that Tom had planned to give her for Christmas. So Cassie begins what she knows will be her last annual hunt, and her last gift from Tom, with no idea what to expect or how she will feel when she finishes it.

I love a romance book that also focuses on familial love. The bond between Tom and Cassie was palpable even though he was not actually present in the majority of the story. The clues he left behind for her made it clear how much he cared. Throughout the hunt, Cassie was reminded of different moments with Tom that painted vignettes of the two of them together, allowing the reader to get to know him.

Throughout the whole story, Sam’s relationship with Cassie is looming. They are not on good terms for much of the narrative, tiptoeing around each other to avoid addressing their past feelings for one another. It was interesting to see the different ways they responded to their grief over losing Tom and how that informed their reactions toward one another.

Parts of this story reminded me of Me Before You with a focus on showing someone your love by helping them push themselves to their full potential. The way that Tom continued to influence Cassie’s life for the better long after his passing was beautiful.

Although this may be classified as a holiday book, the only real nod to the holidays was the fact that the ‘one last gift’ was a Christmas present. More centrally, it’s an emotional exploration of two siblings’ love and Cassie’s journey to both grieve and honor Tom.

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Buy One Last Gift at an indie bookstore near you
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Book Review, Fiction

Our Missing Hearts by Celest Ng ~ Book Review

Morgan

Penguin Press
Genre: Dystopian Fiction
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪

Our Missing Hearts is dystopian fiction that feels a little too on the nose. Bird’s mom left when he was nine and he lives with his father who works at a library. They are under strict laws meant to preserve American culture and anyone who strays out of line is punished. Particularly, the authorities target people and art of Asian descent and have even been known to remove children from households deemed anti-American.

When Bird receives a cryptic drawing he knows is from his mother, he begins to dig into what really happened surrounding her leaving and decides to try to find her.

Bird’s story is interspersed with flashbacks told through his mother’s lens that show how America ended up in the place it is at in the present, and how her poetry became seen as rebellious. I wish there had been a bit more depth to her perspective, as it did not feel as fully explored as Bird’s sections did.

The world-building in this book was integrated seamlessly and was detailed enough to understand the landscape the story was taking place in without feeling overwhelming. It was hard not to draw parallels between the corruption and racism illustrated and the real present day. Ng did an excellent job of crafting similarities that were just different enough to seem jarring, but that could also easily relate to the real world.

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Buy Our Missing Hearts at an indie bookstore near you
Our Missing Hearts on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction, Holiday, Romance

Lovelight Farms by B.K. Borison ~ Book Review

Morgan

Genre: Holiday Romance
My Rating: 🍪

Lovelight Farms is a friends to lovers will-they-won’t-they romance that suffered from a lack of creativity in the writing style. The actual storyline – Stella trying to save her Christmas tree farm by applying for an influencer’s publicity contest and lying about having a boyfriend – had all the makings for an adorable holiday romance. Unfortunately the execution was just not there. The number of times the two love interests reiterated “s/he can’t be interested in me, we’re just best friends. I misunderstood” made me want to scream. There was also a thread of mysterious vandalism running through the story that had such a random conclusion and felt so unnecessary. A cute premise, but I could not get on board.

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Buy Lovelight Farms at an indie bookstore near you
Lovelight Farms on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction, Romance

The Kiss Quotient by Helena Hoang ~ Book Review

Morgan

Berkley
Genre: Romance
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪

When one of Stella’s coworkers makes a comment insinuating that she doesn’t have romantic experience, she decides to hire a professional escort, Michael, to show her the ropes. Stella has Asperger’s Syndrome and physical intimacy doesn’t come naturally to her at first. Michael, however, seems to understand her better than she could have anticipated, and her feelings for him quickly grow.

I loved how much Stella valued her job and the way she thought about data in all aspects of her life. Her passion toward it helped to define her character. I also appreciated Michael’s backstory and how we slowly discovered how he’d gotten to where he was over the course of the story.

I got really annoyed by how the two of them were so obtuse about the other person liking them. There was so much repetition and miscommunication and I wish that aspect had been dialed down because it really took away from me being able to appreciate the growth of their relationship.

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
Buy The Kiss Quotient at an indie bookstore near you
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Book Review, Fiction, Romance

Thank You for Listening by Julia Whelan ~ Book Review

Morgan

Avon Books
Romance
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪

Thank You for Listening is book about an audiobook narrator, written by an audiobook narrator. It felt only fitting that I listen to it. Sewanee Chester was an actress before an accident caused her to turn to narration. Although she believes romance novels are unrealistic, when she finds out that a late beloved romance author requested that Sewanee co-narrate her last book, Sewanee considers it an investment toward getting her grandmother the care she needs.

There were so many layers to this book. From Sewanee’s grandmother’s dementia to the tragic end of Sewanee’s acting career, to her fraught relationship with her father, the story went much deeper than just romance.

That being said, the romance was sooo well done. The flirty banter was, either via texting or conversations, so fun and sexy. And it was funny! Both Sewanees and her co-narrator, Brock, were so amusing, and I’m so impressed with Whelan’s creation of their humor.

To top it all off, the ending totally shook me. I wouldn’t necessarily say it was a ‘twist,’ but it added an extra wrinkle to the entire plot that completely melted my heart.

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
Buy Thank You for Listening at an indie bookstore near you
Thank You for Listening on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction

Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy ~ Book Review

Morgan

Flatiron Books
Fiction
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪

What a multi-faceted and utterly unusual story. Once There Were Wolves tells the story of Inti who has recently moved to the Scottish Highlands with her twin sister Aggie to head a team that’s introducing fourteen wolves to the area. There were so many layers of conflict, from the townspeople fearful about the possible harm inflicted by the wolves, to a tragic incident that befell Aggie before their arrival, that was introduced slowly and steadily to keep my intrigue growing without the story feeling overcrowded.

I found Inti’s career fascinating and loved the details about the biologists and their relationships to the wolves. Inti’s backstory was introduced in snippets of flashback that slowly created a picture of the trauma from her past that impacted her present actions.

There’s a little bit of everything in this book, from romance to mystery to an exploration of familial relationships and domestic abuse. Although the mystery was the driver of the present-day plot, it was actually one of the less compelling aspects of this story for me. Getting to know Inti and understand her life, how she thought, and her connections with those around her made for a character exploration that I couldn’t put down.

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
Buy Once There Were Wolves at an indie bookstore near you
Once There Were Wolves on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction, Romance

The Key to My Heart by Lia Louis ~ Book Review

Morgan

Emily Bestler Books (Thank you to the publisher for my copy!)
Romance
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪

I can always count on Lia Louis to make me feel things. In The Key to My Heart, Natalie is living as a shell of herself 2.5 years after the sudden death of her husband. She begrudgingly tags along on nights out with her well-meaning friends and can only bring herself indulge in her musical passion by playing at a public piano at a train station.

Natalie’s struggle trying to honor her late husband while also give herself the grace to move forward with her life was so heart wrenching. The way that her grief impacts her relationships with those around her and the unwitting pain she herself causes added such emotion and intricacy to her story.

I was obsessed with all the secondary characters in this book. Natalie has a rich community around her, from an older woman she befriends at her regular coffee shop to a handsome stranger at a bar who she uses to get her friends off her back about getting back in the dating scene. Everyone had such a detailed backstory and distinct characteristics that they came to life and created such a well rounded support system for Natalie.

The flirty banter in this book was next level. It was sexy and funny and creative and it was impossible not to root for the romance to work out.

This was a 5-star read until the ending, which left me wanting. There was a mystery throughout the book and the conclusion of it felt anticlimactic. I still highly recommend this book, but I wanted just a little more to wrap it up.

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
Buy The Key to My Heart at an indie bookstore near you
The Key to My Heart on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction

Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley ~ Book Review

Morgan

Knopf Publishing Group
Fiction
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪🍪

Nightcrawling was a heavy story that I could not look away from, but couldn’t bear to read for too long at once. Kiara is seventeen, living with her older brother who fails to help her pay rent. As her life begins to slowly spiral out of control, Kiara finds herself accidentally getting paid as a prostitute. Kiara’s desperation causes her to pursue this new avenue of revenue in order to survive.

The difficulties Kiara finds herself entangled in, particularly the corruption surrounding the policemen who pay her for her body, seemed endless. Mottley writes about them in a way that’s both straightforward, painting the pain as mundane for Kiara, and that allows you to picture and feel every detail.

Kiara’s relationships with everyone around her were marred by struggle and trauma. Her perseverance in the name of self preservation showed tremendous strength.

This is a hard read. It unflinchingly shines a light on inequities and the ripple effect that they cause. The prose are powerful and I won’t forget Kiara’s story anytime soon.

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
Buy Nightcrawling at an indie bookstore near you
Nightcrawling on Goodreads

Book Review, Fiction, thriller

The Replacement Wife by Darby Kane ~ Book Review

Morgan

William Morrow
Thriller
My Rating: 🍪🍪.5

Elisa is convinced that her brother-in-law, Josh, is a murderer. Why? Because his fiancée has suddenly disappeared and his first wife died mysteriously. It’s almost too obvious. But no one believes her. When Josh brings over his new girlfriend, alarm bells start going off for Elisa and she becomes set on figuring out the truth behind Josh.

This really just felt like a scramble of thriller tropes and stereotypes mashed into one. Unreliable female narrator with past trauma that makes her question herself? Check. Possibly murderous relatives? Check. Did I want to know what happened? Yes. But did I enjoy getting there? Not particularly.

This wasn’t an especially shocking thriller and I had trouble getting invested in Elisa’s concerns because she was annoying. That being said, it’s decent if you’re looking for something to scratch a thriller itch.

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
The Replacement Wife on Goodreads
Buy The Replacement Wife at an indie bookstore near you

Book Review, Fiction, mystery

If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio ~ Book Review

Morgan

Flatiron Books
Mystery
My Rating: 🍪🍪🍪

What a perfect fall read. If We Were Villains takes place at an elite boarding school and centers on a group of seniors in the acting program. We know early on that our protagonist, Oliver, ends up in jail for murder, and we learn through flashbacks what led to him being convicted.

As with many academia-centered books, there are a lot of central characters and, as is usual for me, I found it hard to keep track of everyone. There are a lot of changing intra-group dynamics and those were focused on more than the actual background or characteristics of each particular person. I wish I had gotten a chance to really know them all a bit more.

The atmosphere of this book is fantastic. I could practically feel the creaky old boarding school drenched in the legacy of thespians past. The acting program focuses solely on Shakespeare, so there are a lot of passages interspersed throughout the story. This is fun to some extent, but I found myself skimming them toward the end. I do think they were creatively intertwined with the narrative, but it was a little over the top for me.

This one was kind of a mixed bag for me. Overall, I thought the setting was incredibly interesting and well crafted, but I wish the characters had more development and I was not satisfied with the ending.

Check out my bookstagram: @Treat.your.shelf
Buy If We Were Villains at an indie bookstore near you 
If We Were Villains on Goodreads