ARC Review: With You Forever by Chloe Liese

Special thanks to the author for providing an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!

Goodreads: With You Forever (Bergman Brothers #4)
Publication date: 14 September 2021
Genre: Contemporary Romance

Panda Rating:

(4.5 pandas)


Axel
Rooney Sullivan is sunshine incarnate. Warm, bright, always smiling, she’s everything I’m not and the last person I have any business desiring. Desperate to hide a hopeless attraction, I’ve done everything possible to keep my distance…until a charades game gone wrong brought that to a grinding halt. 

Since then, steering clear of Rooney has been impossible. In a matter of months, she’s kissed me speechless, commandeered my art career, and infiltrated not only my dreams but my home. The woman who was once avoidable has become the last thing I needed: temptingly within reach.
 
Rooney
Axel Bergman is a gorgeous grump who doesn’t have the time of day for me. Thankfully, I’ve kept my crush under wraps…well, until I kissed him. Charades got away from me, okay? It was an accident! I haven’t seen him since, which is for the best. My life is a mess, and the last thing I need is to embarrass myself further with the man who avoids me like that’s his job rather than painting modern masterpieces.
 
It seems the universe, however, has a different plan. When Axel and I unexpectedly find our paths—and problems—converging, a marriage of convenience proves the perfect solution. At least, until I’m facing my most serious problem yet: a once-loveless marriage of convenience that’s inconveniently become a love match, after all.

THIS BOOK IS OUT IN TWO DAYS!
PRE-ORDER NOW:

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#WWWWednesday: 08 September 2021

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:

  1. What did you read last?
  2. What are you currently reading?
  3. What will you read next?

Since last week, I’ve managed to finish five books, though sadly only one was an ARC!

Dark and Shallow Lies by Ginny Myers Sain ★★★☆☆
This was another entertaining and fast addition to the Xivery Mates series. Lemora might be my favourite alien planet so far because the city was a giant melting pot of alien races and cultures, and it felt so vibrant and alive! Everyone was extremely friendly, helpful and accepting of others and it just served pleasant and happy vibes that I was totally here for. Raingar and Essmira were great but I especially loved Essmira because Stephens does a great job writing smart and headstrong heroines! Read my full review.

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder (A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder #1) by Holly Jackson ★★★★☆
I’m gonna be honest, I read this for the smut and it definitely delivered! This is an age-gap romance, which is not something that I normally ever read but I wasn’t bothered by it in this story. There’s not much in the way of character development or a strong plot, and their relationship to each other is already an established thing, but I liked both the Duke and Victoria. I thought they were both interesting characters and that the author handled the emotional and moral struggle (especially on his part) well! Obviously, I liked the steamy bits and it did get quite steamy pretty quickly. The Duke ticked that dirty-talking hero box and so if that (and historical romance) is your thing, I would recommend checking this out (especially if you have KU)! RTC.

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August 2021 Monthly Wrap Up!

The last time I wrote a monthly wrap up was all the way back in March so I’m not gonna lie, I’m feeling kinda overwhelmed at the thought of making one now? Plus, although the last time I shared a ‘bigger’ life update was months ago, not a whole lot has really happened since. I guess I can share some highlights:

  • I went on a mini break (which extended to a several months) at the end of April
  • I turned a year older in May — 🎵 I don’t know about you but I’m feeling 3233! 😉
  • I took a short trip to Bali for a funeral and a birthday in June
  • I got fully vaccinated at the end of July — yay!
  • We’ve been in semi-lockdown for almost three months as Indonesia’s COVID cases soared to a terrifying 50k+ daily cases towards the end of June. The situation has gotten better now and things are slowly opening up again…
  • I’ve done a lot of baking and managed to make soft pretzels and cinnamon rolls for the first time!
  • I’ve been doing quite a few paint-by-numbers kits and I even started doing drill diamond paintings but I still have yet to finish one 😂
Goodreads Reading Challenge: August Update 106 of 150 books
Goodreads Reading Challenge: August Update 106 of 150 books

I made “my comeback” to blogging in early August and it has been so good to be back! I don’t think I realised how much I missed blogging until I started again but the long break I took was something I really needed so I don’t regret it—I just missed this community!

This month I ended up reading 18 books and a lot of them were novellas, which is quite surprising as I’ve always struggled to enjoy novellas! I’ve found new novella favourites though, but the top spot goes to Sing Anyway, an adorable queer romance that had my heart singing!

Another surprise is the fact that I don’t have a 5-star read this month! I don’t know if it’s just my mood being a bit wonky but that doesn’t mean I haven’t read some great books! I think my favourite was The Will Darling Adventures and I feel like I’ve gushed a lot about this series already but… just in case you (somehow) missed it: this is a trilogy set in the Golden Era (1920s) and it’s a mystery and MM romance with amazing characters (including the supporting ones), a murderous criminal gang, infuriating aristocracy, and deliciously steamy romance! I would definitely recommend checking it out, plus at roughly 250 pages per book they’re the perfect reading length! The majority of my reads this month fell in the ‘4 pandas’ range so I’m really not too mad about it. I had hoped to read a few more ARCs than I did but towards the end of August I started to stray from that goal (as usual 🥲) but I did tackle more than I thought I would so that at least is good. Hopefully I’ll continue making steady progress on my ARCs as the year progresses.

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#WWWWednesday: 25 August 2021

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:

  1. What did you read last?
  2. What are you currently reading?
  3. What will you read next?

Since last week, I’ve managed to finish five books and I’m happy to say that all of them were ARCs—yay! 😍

Taken to Lemora (Xiveri Mates #6) by Elizabeth Stephens ★★★☆☆
This was another entertaining and fast addition to the Xivery Mates series. Lemora might be my favourite alien planet so far because the city was a giant melting pot of alien races and cultures, and it felt so vibrant and alive! Everyone was extremely friendly, helpful and accepting of others and it just served pleasant and happy vibes that I was totally here for. Raingar and Essmira were great but I especially loved Essmira because Stephens does a great job writing smart and headstrong heroines! Check out my full review.

My Dirty Duke: A Victorian Novella by Joanna Shupe ★★★☆☆
I’m gonna be honest, I read this for the smut and it definitely delivered! This is an age-gap romance, which is not something that I normally ever read but I wasn’t bothered by it in this story. There’s not much in the way of character development or a strong plot, and their relationship to each other is already an established thing, but I liked both the Duke and Victoria. I thought they were both interesting characters and that the author handled the emotional and moral struggle (especially on his part) well! Obviously, I liked the steamy bits and it did get quite steamy pretty quickly. The Duke ticked that dirty-talking hero box and so if that (and historical romance) is your thing, I would recommend checking this out (especially if you have KU)!

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#WWWWednesday: 18 August 2021

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:

  1. What did you read last?
  2. What are you currently reading?
  3. What will you read next?

Since last week, I’ve managed to finish four books and I’m happy to say that all of them were ARCs—yay! 😍

(ARC) Shadow Frost (Shadow Frost #1) by Coco Ma ★★☆☆☆
I’m honestly quite proud for having finished this book because it was a bit of a… slog at times. I’m still very impressed Coco Ma wrote this when was 15?! Mind blown! 🤯 Sadly, I think younger me would’ve loved this much more than adult me did. It’s chock full of YA fantasy tropes (which isn’t bad if you like them!) but it was the characters that were more of a miss for me than anything else. Check out my full review.

(ARC) Fireborn by Aisling Fowler ★★★★½
Revenge of the Sluts was an interesting YA contemporary that had a bit of a mystery to it. It’s not a fast-paced book but it was engaging enough and the writing simple enough for me to quickly work through the pages. While I didn’t think any of the characters stood out, and neither did I like the representation of the MC, I think it’s a book that can generate discussions about privacy, cyberbullying, revenge porn, slut-shaming, toxic masculinity and society’s double standards, especially amongst the targeted young readers! Check out my full review.

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#WWWWednesday: 11 August 2021

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:

  1. What did you read last?
  2. What are you currently reading?
  3. What will you read next?

Since last week, I’ve managed to finish four books and all but one were ARCs—yay!

Tempt Thy Neighbor (Roommate Romps #4) by Teagan Hunter ★★★★☆
This was another fun, fast and super-steamy second-chance/enemies-to-lovers romance by Teagan Hunter! It was a little hard to buy into the romance at the very beginning with how vehemently Holland hated on Sutton and with how he came across as pretty douchey, but they did grow on me in the end. Hunter really built up the sexual tension in this book and it was explosive! RTC.

(ARC) Revenge of the Sluts by Natalie Walton ★★★★½
Revenge of the Sluts was an interesting YA contemporary that had a bit of a mystery to it. It’s not a fast-paced book but it was engaging enough and the writing simple enough for me to quickly work through the pages. While I didn’t think any of the characters stood out, and neither did I like the representation of the MC, I think it’s a book that can generate discussions about privacy, cyberbullying, revenge porn, slut-shaming, toxic masculinity and society’s double standards, especially amongst the targeted young readers! Check out my full review.

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#WWWWednesday: 14 April 2021

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:

  1. What did you read last?
  2. What are you currently reading?
  3. What will you read next?

Since last week I’ve managed to finish five books (and I’m still behind on my blog tour reads—how does time get away from me so quickly?)!

Aurora Burning (Aurora Cycle #2) by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman ★★★★☆
This was my buddy read with Sammie and we finally finished the book last week! Both of us raged just a *tiny bit* at that ending—I mean, I really love Squad 312 but oh my, how they angered me at the end 😂 What was that? Not cool, that’s what! 😒 Overall, I still really enjoyed the book as we get a good look into Zila and Kal’s histories, plus we also learn more about just what exactly the squad is dealing with. There were also some delicious twists that had me gasping. I can’t wait until the final book is out and it has lovely bb Finian on the cover! RTC (maybe)?

Exit Strategy (The Murderbot Diaries #4) by Martha Wells ★★★★½
Yay for Murderbot! Yay for reuniting with our favourite OG humans! Yay for more feelings that we don’t want to be feeling! Honestly, at this point I’m starting to terrify myself with how much I identify with Murderbot? Just as with all the other books in this series, the intensity of the action quickly escalated and of course, Murderbot’s signature sarcastic humour was still so very on point! Leslie and I are gonna continue our buddy read for this series, and though we didn’t realise book 5 was a full-length novel, we can’t wait. 😍 Series RTC!

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#WWWWednesday: 14 April

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:

  1. What did you read last?
  2. What are you currently reading?
  3. What will you read next?

Although I have actually been *reading things* over the past week, I’ve only managed to finish two books. One of which I’m already confident in saying will be my favourite read this month!

Jade War (The Greenbone Saga #2) by Fonda Lee ★★★★★
Friends, I honestly have nothing bad to say about this series. My level of investment in No Peak and the Kaul family is almost at an unhealthy level but y’know what? I don’t care because these characters, this story, this world deserves everything. Although Fonda Lee continues to mercilessly hack away at what little feelings I have left, I can honestly say that I’d let her do it every single time cos that’s how much I love this book/series. This was another buddy read with Jess and we already have future plans to buddy read (or maybe even group read, if anyone’s interested?) Jade Legacy when it comes out in December. I just… I love this so much 😭 If you’re going to read this series I’d highly recommend the audiobooks! RTC.

The Lore of Prometheus by Graham Austin-King ★★★¾
I can count on one finger how many military urban fantasies I’ve read and although this was quite a step outside of my comfort zone (it’s a very dark read!) I still really enjoyed it. Austin-King makes it easy to visualise the real world setting while still managing to seamlessly introduce fantastical elements without making it seem out of place. The characters were realistic and so easy to root for and the humour woven into the story brought great and much needed comedic relief that balanced the story out well. I can definitely see why this book won the BBNYA 2020. Check out my blog tour review!

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ARC Review: Crave Thy Neighbor by Teagan Hunter

Thanks to the author for providing the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

🥳 HAPPY BOOK BIRTHDAY!!! 🥳

Goodreads: Crave Thy Neighbor (Roommate Romps #3)
Publication Date: 08 April 2021
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Panda Rating:


Don’t fall for your roommate…especially when it’s only temporary.

Nolan Brooks is off limits.
Sure, he’s insanely attractive and funny and I might have almost gone home with him one night to relieve a little stress.
Big deal.

It was all just a momentary lapse in judgment…just like the kiss we shared.

He’s my temporary roommate while I wait for my new apartment to be ready. That’s it.
He’s doesn’t do relationships, and he doesn’t do attachments.

So what if I have a crush on him? We’ll only be there for two months.
Surely I can survive that long. 

BUY NOW: Amazon (US) | AMAZON (UK)

I’m a Missouri-raised gal, but currently live in North Carolina with my US Marine husband and 9-year-old dog. I spend my days begging him for a cat, and I survive off coffee, pizza, and sarcasm. When I’m not writing, you can find me binge-watching various TV shows, especially Supernatural and One Tree Hill. I like cold weather, buy more paperbacks than I’ll ever read, and I never say no to brownies.

Writing is my passion, and this is just the beginning of my journey.

Website | Facebook | Instagram | Newsletter | Reader Group

TL;DR: I honestly loved Maya and Nolan and their romance was super fun and definitely steamy! Seriously, their chemistry was just so fire! 🔥 Just like in her previous books, Hunter never fails to make me laugh with her sarcastic/dry humour. I also really loved the frequent cameos the previous two couples made in this books—it was so great to see them all again and to see how much they’re thriving 😍 I can’t wait for more Roommate Romps!

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#WWWWednesday: 07 April

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:

  1. What did you read last?
  2. What are you currently reading?
  3. What will you read next?

I really haven’t been reading much since last week because it has been weird vibes ALL AROUND and I’m just ready to sleep. In the last week, I’ve read 3 books and one of them was the worst book I will read in 2021 and ever. So that was fun 😂

Pride and Premeditation (Jane Austen Murder Mystery #1) by Tirzah Price ★★★★☆
This was an entertaining and fast-paced murder mystery and it was definitely a fun take on one of my all time faves! It’s a very loose retelling of Pride and Prejudice but I enjoyed Price’s writing and clever additions of Austen’s classic lines in the story. The characters stayed very true to their original traits and it was fun to see them in a new and more modern (not to mention murder-y) setting! Check out my review.

Den of Vipers by K.A. Knight ★☆☆☆☆ (and that’s me feeling generous!!!)
There was literally no point to this book. I saw Gavin @ How to Train Your Gavin mention it in one of his booktube videos and my curiosity was *piqued*. When I saw it was available on Kindle Unlimited I added it to my library and picked it up on a whim—and wow, I must really hate myself cos I finished this book and WHY? 😂 I’m linking Gavin’s vlog and review cos same. This was 80% horrifyingly bad smut and 20% murder, torture, blood and gore, and 0% good writing. It was a cycle of bad. There was no plot, no character development, nobody worth rooting for and are you also questioning why I didn’t DNF? Curiosity definitely killed this cat 💀 DON’T READ IT. I would recommend it to NO ONE. Also, I’m truly sorry if you have read and loved this book and I’d (genuinely) be interested to know why!

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