We’re back with another Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl.
This week’s topic is Ten Things I Loved About [Insert Book Title Here] (Pick any book and tell us ten things you loved about it!) (submitted by Cathy @ WhatCathyReadNext)
The Singles Table (Marriage Game #3)
Publisher: Berkley
Pub Date: 16 November 2021
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Panda Rating:
(4.5 pandas)
Opposites attract in this romantic comedy about a free-spirited lawyer who is determined to find the perfect match for the grumpy bachelor at her friend’s wedding.
After a devastating break-up, celebrity-obsessed lawyer Zara Patel is determined never to open her heart again. She puts her energy into building her career and helping her friends find romance through the wedding season. She’s never faced a guest at the singles table she couldn’t match, until she crosses paths with the sinfully sexy Jay Donovan.
Former military security specialist Jay has no time for love. His life is about working hard, staying focused, and winning at all costs. When charismatic Zara crashes into his life, he’s thrown into close contact with exactly the kind of chaos he wants to avoid. Worse, they’re stuck together for the entire wedding season.
So they make a deal. She’ll find his special someone if he introduces her to his celebrity clients. But when their arrangement brings them together in ways they never expected, they realize that the perfect match might just be their own.
PTSD, panic attack, car accident (happens to secondary characters off-page), war-time flashbacks
TL;DR: I ended up loving The Singles Table! From the moment Zara’s beautiful vibrant personality is introduced and they get their meet cute (she shoots him in the ass with a paintball gun as he’s being an insufferable prick!), I was fully sold on their romance. We get more meddling aunties, badass mums with sweet biker boyfriends, an eccentric artist father who… paints intimate portraits and so much great banter. This is by far my favourite in this series and I would recommend it if you love the grumpy/sunshine trope because Zara and Jay were the perfect pairing.
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We’re back with another Sundays in Bed With… meme! This meme dares to ask you what book has been in your bed this morning and is hosted by Midnight Book Girl. Come share what book you’ve spent your time reading in bed or wish you had time to read today!
I’ll be spending the rest of my Sunday in bed with The Second Son. I’m very behind. I should’ve started this last week but it just didn’t happen! I admit that I remember very little about the first book but I enjoyed it enough to want to continue the series and see what happens. I hope it’ll be a quick (and painless!) read.
Magic, Lies and Deadly Pies (Pies Before Guys Mystery #1)
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Pub Date: 10 May 2022
Genre: Cosy Mystery
Panda Rating:
(3.5 pandas)
The Iskat Empire rules its vassal planets through a system of treaties – so when Prince Taam, key figure in a political alliance, is killed, a replacement must be found. His widower, Jainan, is rushed into an arranged marriage with the disreputable aristocrat Kiem, in a bid to keep rising hostilities between two worlds under control.
But Prince Taam’s death may not have been an accident, and when Jainan himself is a suspect, he and Kiem must navigate the perils of the Iskat court, solve a murder, and prevent an interplanetary war…
Arranged marriage, physical and psychological abuse (recounted frequently), gaslighting, manipulation, pyschological torture, blackmail (briefly mentioned), kidnapping, violence, blood, (flying) car crash, murder, animal attack
TL;DR: Did I ever think that I’d be reading about murder pies? Nope. But the moment I heard a fellow book blogger mention this series on her blog the other week, it sounded like something I’d love to read and for the most part, it was just what I wanted! A lot happens in this and while the elements of the romantic variety occasionally distracted me from the murder pie-filled plot, the author did a fine job of weaving the storylines together and having it contribute to growth in the MC’s arc.
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Hello, hello and welcome back to another episode of WWW Wednesday, a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking On A World of Words, which means I’ll be answering these questions:
We’re back with another Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl.
This week’s topic is Books with My Favorite Color on the Cover.
Winter’s Orbit (Winter’s Orbit #1)
Publisher: Orbit
Pub Date: 2 February 2021
Genre: Science Fiction / Space Opera
Panda Rating:
(5 pandas)
The Iskat Empire rules its vassal planets through a system of treaties – so when Prince Taam, key figure in a political alliance, is killed, a replacement must be found. His widower, Jainan, is rushed into an arranged marriage with the disreputable aristocrat Kiem, in a bid to keep rising hostilities between two worlds under control.
But Prince Taam’s death may not have been an accident, and when Jainan himself is a suspect, he and Kiem must navigate the perils of the Iskat court, solve a murder, and prevent an interplanetary war…
Arranged marriage, physical and psychological abuse (recounted frequently), gaslighting, manipulation, pyschological torture, blackmail (briefly mentioned), kidnapping, violence, blood, (flying) car crash, murder, animal attack
TL;DR: What an absolute delight this turned out to be! 😍 Although it took some time for me to warm up to the story and characters, I became very immersed in the plot and I grew to love so many of the characters by the end. I adored Kiem and Jainan and every time I think about them I want to kick my feet up and giggle because they are… Just. So. Good together! The mystery plot kept me intrigued and though I managed to surprisingly figure out half of it by the reveal, I enjoyed how the author laid everything out. Overall, I’m so glad I finally read this and I can’t wait to read more stories set in this space world.
Read More » We’re back with another Sundays in Bed With… meme! This meme dares to ask you what book has been in your bed this morning and is hosted by Midnight Book Girl. Come share what book you’ve spent your time reading in bed or wish you had time to read today!
I’ll spend the rest of my Sunday in bed reading Ocean’s Echo by Everina Maxwell. This is the second book set in the same world as Maxwell’s first book which I finished yesterday and loved! I’m enjoying this one a lot too!
But… One of the MCs is a bit of a douche canoe and I’m just trying to understand what happened with him to make him so combative and abrasive. I don’t dislike him but he’s testing my patience a bit! 😂
Hi friends, as part of the blog tour hosted by TBR & Beyond Tours I’m excited to share my thoughts on the fantasy debut: Foul Days by Genoveva Dimova.
Click the banner above or here to check out the other incredible bloggers on the blog tour!
Foul Days (The Witch’s Compendium of Monsters #1)
Publisher: Tor Books
Publication Date: 25 June 2024
Genre: Adult Fantasy
The Witcher meets Naomi Novik in this fast-paced fantasy rooted in Slavic folklore, from an assured new voice in genre.
As a witch in the walled city of Chernograd, Kosara has plenty of practice taming rusalkas, fighting kikimoras, and brewing lycanthrope repellent. There’s only one monster Kosara can’t defeat: her ex the Zmey, known as the Tsar of Monsters. She’s defied him one too many times, and now he’s hunting her. Betrayed to him by someone close to her, Kosara’s only hope is to trade her shadow―the source of her powers―for illegal passage across the Wall to Belograd, where monsters can’t follow.
Life in Belograd should be sweet, but Kosara soon develops a fast-acting version of the deadly wasting sickness that stalks shadowless witches―and only reclaiming her magic can cure her. To trace her shadow, she’ll have to team up with the suspiciously honorable detective investigating the death of the smuggler who brought her across the Wall.
Even worse than working with the cops is that all the clues point in a single direction: one of the Zmey’s monsters has found a crack in the Wall, and Kosara’s magic is now in the Zmey’s hands.
The clock is ticking, the hunt is on, and Kosara’s priorities should be clear―but is she the hunter or the hunted? And in a city where everyone is out for themselves, who can Kosara trust to assist her in outwitting the man―the Monster―she’s never been able to escape alone?
Blood, traumatic deaths (recounted), gun violence, gore, murder, abusive relationship (physical and psychological) (recounted), imprisonment, drugging
TL;DR: I’m not sure what I expected going into this but it wasn’t what I got and I absolutely mean that in the best way! Foul Days is dark and full of monsters but the “horror” aspect is light enough that those who are scared of dark and scary things (it’s me) can read it in bed alone at night. It’s heavy in Slavic lore and it’s action-packed from start to finish. I loved Kosara and her acerbic nature. She’s crabby and witty but vulnerable enough for us to see past that exterior to the damaged young woman she still carries inside. Her banter with Asen was A+ and their “copper vs. charlatan” dynamic was one of my favourite parts of this story. I was so pleasantly surprised by this fantasy debut and I’m already itching to get my hands on the second book (*please bless me, Tor gods*)!
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Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme created by Rukky @Eternity Books and hosted by Aria @Book Nook Bits, and it’s where we get to discuss certain topics, share our opinions, and spread the love by visiting each other’s posts! Check out all the past topics if you want to join in the bookish discussion fun.
This week’s topic is actually a mid-year reading check-in but since I just posted my Mid-Year Check-In Tag earlier this week, I’ll be doing last week’s topic:
Prompts: Diversity and diversity in reading are often huge topics of conversation. Do you actively seek out diverse books? What kind of representation do you look for? Do you feel that diverse books are often spotlighted, or that it takes more of an effort to find diverse books? What recommendations do you have?
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