So, we’re back with another Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl.
This week is actually a freebie and so I decided to do a topic that I don’t think I’ve done before: Comfort Reads (Share which books or kinds of books you turn to when you need to escape. You can either share specific titles if you love to re-read, or you could share qualities of books you look for in a comfort read.)
So, we’re back with another Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl.
This week is actually a freebie and so I decided to do a topic that I don’t think I’ve done before: Bookish Characters (these could be readers, writers, authors, librarians, professors, etc.)
Goodreads: The Worst Guy (Vital Signs #2)
Published: 28 December 2021
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Panda Rating:
(5 pandas)
Eight weeks of forced proximity is a long time to hate someone you’re trying not to love.
Sebastian Stremmel doesn’t need another headache. He has enough of his own without Sara Shapiro, the noisy new reconstructive surgeon, stomping all around his surgical wing with her chippy, chirpy cheerfulness.
But Sebastian doesn’t usually get what he wants.
No one gets under his skin like Sara – so much so a heated “debate” and an exam room left in shambles later, they land themselves in eight weeks of hospital-mandated conflict resolution counseling. Now they’re forced to fight fair…which quickly leads them to playing dirty when no one’s looking.
They know it’s a mistake.
They promise themselves it will never happen again.
They swear they got it out of their systems.
They didn’t.
Author’s Note: Grumpy/recovering people-pleaser sunshine. Introverts attract. Enemies-to-lovers in the workplace. Banter, bicker, and button-pushing foreplay. Don’t tell the friend group, get jealous when the friend group tries to fix her up.
Heat: rip her clothes off before you get the front door open.
Angst: big laughs, big feels, no ugly crying.
So, we’re back with another Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl.
This week’s prompt is: DYNAMIC DUOS (Submitted by Elley @ Elley the Book Otter)
With so much focus on romantic couples this month, I wanted to stick to friendship duos for this week’s prompt and I have to admit, I struggled (oh, this weak memory of mine)! 😂 I was tempted to go in the same direction as Leslie this week but although it took me *a while* to do it, I eventually managed to come up with a list of ten of my favourite dynamic friendship duos! Without further ado, let’s get right to it…
Read More » So, we’re back with another Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s prompt is: Best Books I Read in 2021
I’m always terrible at answering prompts that ask for my “best” anything 😂 I know I’ve read some amazing books but it’s also been a very weird reading year? I’ve read a lot but I’ve had a hard time retaining much of what I’ve read but also, I’ve had a hard time focusing on reading, in general, this year! I’ve only had a few 5-star reads this year so it is a bit surprising that I’m having trouble picking a top 10… but in the end, I decided to not include series’ on the list and now, before I keep waffling on, let’s get to it!
Read More » 
Goodreads: The Bridge Kingdom (The Bridge Kingdom #1)
Published: 09 June 2020
Genre: Fantasy Romance (Romantasy)
Panda Rating:
(5 pandas)
A warrior princess trained in isolation, Lara is driven by two certainties. The first is that King Aren of the Bridge Kingdom is her enemy. And the second is that she’ll be the one to bring him to his knees.
The only route through a storm-ravaged world, the Bridge Kingdom enriches itself and deprives its rivals, including Lara’s homeland. So when she’s sent as a bride under the guise of peace, Lara is prepared to do whatever it takes to fracture its impenetrable defenses. And the defenses of its king.
Yet as she infiltrates her new home and gains a deeper understanding of the war to possess the bridge, Lara begins to question whether she’s the hero or the villain. And as her feelings for Aren transform from frosty hostility to fierce passion, Lara must choose which kingdom she’ll save… and which kingdom she’ll destroy.
Goodreads: Window Shopping
Published: 19 October 2021
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Panda Rating:
(4.5 pandas)
A sizzling, standalone, feel-good holiday romance from Tessa Bailey, New York Times bestselling author of It Happened One Summer.
Two weeks before Christmas and all through Manhattan, shop windows are decorated in red and green satin.
I’m standing alone in front of the famous Vivant department store, when a charming man named Aiden asks my opinion of the décor.
It’s a tragedy in tinsel, I say, unable to lie.
He asks for a better idea with a twinkle in his eye.
Did I know he owned the place? No. He put me on the spot.
Now I’m working for that man, trying to ignore that he’s hot.
But as a down on her luck girl with a difficult past, I know an opportunity when I see one—and I have to make it last.
I’ll put my heart and soul into dressing his holiday windows.
I’ll work without stopping. And when we lose the battle with temptation, I’ll try and remember I’m just window shopping.
Goodreads: In a Holidaze
Publisher: Gallery Books
Published: 06 October 2020
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Panda Rating:
(4 pandas)
One Christmas wish, two brothers, and a lifetime of hope are on the line for hapless Maelyn Jones in In a Holidaze, the quintessential holiday romantic novel by Christina Lauren, the New York Times bestselling author of The Unhoneymooners.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year…but not for Maelyn Jones. She’s living with her parents, hates her going-nowhere job, and has just made a romantic error of epic proportions.
But perhaps worst of all, this is the last Christmas Mae will be at her favorite place in the world—the snowy Utah cabin where she and her family have spent every holiday since she was born, along with two other beloved families. Mentally melting down as she drives away from the cabin for the final time, Mae throws out what she thinks is a simple plea to the universe: Please. Show me what will make me happy.
The next thing she knows, tires screech and metal collides, everything goes black. But when Mae gasps awake…she’s on an airplane bound for Utah, where she begins the same holiday all over again. With one hilarious disaster after another sending her back to the plane, Mae must figure out how to break free of the strange time loop—and finally get her true love under the mistletoe.
Goodreads: The Love Hypothesis
Publisher: Sphere
Published: 27 September 2021
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Panda Rating:
(5 pandas)
When a fake relationship between scientists meets the irresistible force of attraction, it throws one woman’s carefully calculated theories on love into chaos.
As a third-year Ph.D. candidate, Olive Smith doesn’t believe in lasting romantic relationships but her best friend does, and that’s what got her into this situation. Convincing Anh that Olive on her way to a happily ever after was always going to be tough, scientists require proof. So, like any self-respecting woman, Olive panics and kisses the first man she sees.
That man is none other than Adam Carlsen, a young hotshot professor and well-known ass. Which is why Olive is positively floored when he agrees to keep her charade a secret and be her fake boyfriend. But when a big science conference goes haywire and Adam surprises her again with his unyielding support (and his unyielding abs), their little experiment feels dangerously close to combustion.
Olive soon discovers that the only thing more complicated than a hypothesis on love is putting her own heart under the microscope.
Hello, friends! I’m coming at you with another fun tag today 😊 I first saw The Count to 10 With Me book tag on Julie @ One Book More’s page and it looked so fun I thought I’d give it a go. The original tag was created by booktuber Alyce @ The Bumbling Blogger.
Most of these books I’ve already read but perhaps one or two of them will still be on my TBR. If I’ve written a review for the book I’ll link it to the book cover if you want to check them out. On that note, here we go!
Slippery Creatures is a book that I just finished this past week and I subsequently devoured the rest of the trilogy. The vivid 1920s setting, masterful writing, and charming main cast has made this series one of my favourite historical (queer) romances and I (obvs) highly recommend it! 😊
I have the ebook and the hardcover for With the Fire on High. I read the physical copy first and loved it so much that I knew I wanted to get the ebook so I could mark all my favourite bits an re-read it whenever I want! It’s such a gorgeous book ❤️
The cover of Pride and Premeditation is one of my favourites! It’s so bright and SO colourful 😍 Bonus is that I really enjoyed this mystery re-telling of my favourite classic!
This was a little bit tough but I’ve settled on Aurora Burning in the end! Each chapter is a different POV and we get the POV of all the crew members 😍
Jade City is one of the best adult fantasies that I’ve ever read and I cannot recommend it enough! There’s so much to love about this series from the stellar world-building to the characters who come to feel like family. To say I was invested in both books in The Green Bone Saga would be an understatement. 😂 I cannot wait until the final book in this glorious series comes out because I need it in my life like yesterday already pls thanku!
I’m not much of an anthology reader but I did read Up All Night last month and surprisingly loved most of the stories! These coming-of-age stories are fun, magical, and full of the exciting, scary and hopeful feelings of change.
I thought this was gonna be much harder than I anticipated but I just had to look at my shelf and I immediately spotted one of my all time faves: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo!
Oof, this prompt was a little tougher to figure out! Good Talk is a great non-fiction graphic novel, the first I’ve read, and I really enjoyed the conversations this book brought up between me and a couple of friends! 😊
This one took a surprising amount of scrolling on my GR read list to find! I ended up with: 659 pages for The Crown of Gilded Bones, which is book three in the Blood and Ash series!
Okay, this one was the toughest out of all the prompts and I was unable to find a series that I want to read that had exactly ten books. It was even hard to find a series that had more than ten books… although counting the novellas, I ended up with The Outlander series. Without novellas there are 9 books, with novellas there are 12 books! I haven’t even read the first book so I have quite a bit of reading to do! 😂
And that’s it, folks! I won’t be tagging anyone specifically so if you feel like joining the fun, feel free to do so! I’d love to see what your picks are for this fun tag, especially for the last prompt! 😍
dinipandareads 