Tag: adult fiction

In The Mood For Pen Pal Romance or Enemies-to-Lovers? — Dear Aaron and From Lukov With Love by Mariana Zapata {Mini Book Reviews}

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Santos series by Mariana Zapata review

And the romance binge continues!

Though I’m usually a fantasy kind of girl, for the past few weeks I’ve been binging romance books like crazy. And in the midst of this romance binge, I discovered a new-to-me author called Mariana Zapata. An author who’s apparently known for her slow-burn romances. HELLO, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE? It only got better when I discovered one of her books featured a pen pal romance and another an enemies-to-lovers trope. I can’t help it, I am drawn to those tropes like crazy so obviously I immediately purchased them, listened to both of them on audiobook and had some thoughts, so please check out my mini reviews below!

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3 Romance Books For Your Summer Reading List – The Unhoneymooners, The Flatshare & The Bride Test {Mini Book Reviews}

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3 romance books for your 2019 summer reading list

Hi everybody! Last month I was in a romance novel mood, so I binged on a few recent romance releases and what do you know, I liked them all and had enough feelings to write reviews again for the first time in forever. All of these felt very summery to me, like the perfect read whether you’re lying on the beach and enjoying the sun or keeping it cool and chilling at home in the AC!

Here we go, I present to you 3 mini book reviews:

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Sweet & Steamy Gender-Swapped Pretty Woman — The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang {Book Review}

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The Kiss Quotient by Helen HoangTitle: The Kiss Quotient
Author: Helen Hoang
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: June 5th, 2018
Standalone/Series: Standalone
Genre: Adult – Contemporary – Romance

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My rating in stars: 4 stars
My rating in words: Loved it!

WHAT IT’S ABOUT:

A heartwarming and refreshing debut novel that proves one thing: there’s not enough data in the world to predict what will make your heart tick.

Stella Lane thinks math is the only thing that unites the universe. She comes up with algorithms to predict customer purchases — a job that has given her more money than she knows what to do with, and way less experience in the dating department than the average thirty-year-old.

It doesn’t help that Stella has Asperger’s and French kissing reminds her of a shark getting its teeth cleaned by pilot fish. Her conclusion: she needs lots of practice — with a professional. Which is why she hires escort Michael Phan. The Vietnamese and Swedish stunner can’t afford to turn down Stella’s offer, and agrees to help her check off all the boxes on her lesson plan — from foreplay to more-than-missionary position…

Before long, Stella not only learns to appreciate his kisses, but to crave all the other things he’s making her feel. Soon, their no-nonsense partnership starts making a strange kind of sense. And the pattern that emerges will convince Stella that love is the best kind of logic…
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The One Where Lindsey Predictably Falls For A Band of Dangerous Misfits (Again) — Vicious by V.E. Schwab {Book Review}

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vicious-by-v-e-schwabTitle: Vicious (Villains #1)
Author: V.E. Schwab
Publisher: Tor
Release Date: September 24th, 2013
Standalone/Series: Series
Genre: Adult – Fantasy

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My rating in stars: 4,5 stars
My rating in words: Loved it!

WHAT IT’S ABOUT:

Victor and Eli started out as college roommates—brilliant, arrogant, lonely boys who recognized the same sharpness and ambition in each other. In their senior year, a shared research interest in adrenaline, near-death experiences, and seemingly supernatural events reveals an intriguing possibility: that under the right conditions, someone could develop extraordinary abilities. But when their thesis moves from the academic to the experimental, things go horribly wrong. 

Ten years later, Victor breaks out of prison, determined to catch up to his old friend (now foe), aided by a young girl whose reserved nature obscures a stunning ability. Meanwhile, Eli is on a mission to eradicate every other super-powered person that he can find—aside from his sidekick, an enigmatic woman with an unbreakable will. Armed with terrible power on both sides, driven by the memory of betrayal and loss, the archnemeses have set a course for revenge—but who will be left alive at the end?

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Name One Hero Who Was Happy – The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller {Book Review}

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The Song of Achilles by Madeline MillerTitle: The Song of Achilles
Author: Madeline Miller
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Release Date:  September 20th, 2011
Standalone/Series: Standalone
Genre: Adult – Fantasy – Historical – Mythology

Goodreads link

My rating in stars: 5 stars
My rating in words: New all-time favorite

What it’s about:

Greece in the age of heroes. Patroclus, an awkward young prince, has been exiled to the court of King Peleus and his perfect son Achilles. Despite their difference, Achilles befriends the shamed prince, and as they grow into young men skilled in the arts of war and medicine, their bond blossoms into something deeper – despite the displeasure of Achilles’ mother Thetis, a cruel sea goddess.

But when word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped, Achilles must go to war in distant Troy and fulfill his destiny. Torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus goes with him, little knowing that the years that follow will test everything they hold dear.

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A Thin Line Between Love and Hate — The Hating Game by Sally Thorne {Book Review}

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the-hating-game-by-sally-thorneTitle: The Hating Game
Author: Sally Thorne
Publisher: William Morrow
Release Date:  August 9th, 2016
Standalone/Series: Standalone
Genre: Adult – Contemporary – Romance

Goodreads link

My rating in stars: 5 stars
My rating in words: NEW ALL-TIME FAVORITE!

What it’s about:

Nemesis (n.)
1) An opponent or rival whom a person cannot best or overcome;
2) A person’s undoing;
3) Joshua Templeman.

Lucy Hutton and Joshua Templeman hate each other. Not dislike. Not begrudgingly tolerate. Hate. And they have no problem displaying their feelings through a series of ritualistic passive aggressive maneuvers as they sit across from each other, executive assistants to co-CEOs of a publishing company. Lucy can’t understand Joshua’s joyless, uptight, meticulous approach to his job. Joshua is clearly baffled by Lucy’s overly bright clothes, quirkiness, and Pollyanna attitude.

Now up for the same promotion, their battle of wills has come to a head and Lucy refuses to back down when their latest game could cost her her dream job…But the tension between Lucy and Joshua has also reached its boiling point, and Lucy is discovering that maybe she doesn’t hate Joshua. And maybe, he doesn’t hate her either. Or maybe this is just another game.

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Hello, New Favorite! — A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab {Book Review}

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a-gathering-of-shadows-by-v-e-schwabTitle: A Gathering of Shadows (Shades of Magic #2)
Author: V.E. Schwab
Publisher: Tor Books
Release Date:  February 23rd, 2016
Standalone/Series: Book 2 in the Shades of Magic trilogy
Genre: Adult – Fantasy

Goodreads link

My rating in stars: 5 stars
My rating in words: NEW ALL-TIME FAVORITE!

What it’s about:

It has been four months since a mysterious obsidian stone fell into Kell’s possession. Four months since his path crossed with Delilah Bard. Four months since Prince Rhy was wounded, and since the nefarious Dane twins of White London fell, and four months since the stone was cast with Holland’s dying body through the rift–back into Black London.

Now, restless after having given up his smuggling habit, Kell is visited by dreams of ominous magical events, waking only to think of Lila, who disappeared from the docks as she always meant to do. As Red London finalizes preparations for the Element Games–an extravagant international competition of magic meant to entertain and keep healthy the ties between neighboring countries–a certain pirate ship draws closer, carrying old friends back into port.

And while Red London is caught up in the pageantry and thrills of the Games, another London is coming back to life. After all, a shadow that was gone in the night will reappear in the morning. But the balance of magic is ever perilous, and for one city to flourish, another London must fall.

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The Brighter The Light, The Deeper The Shadow — Nevernight by Jay Kristoff {Book Review}

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Nevernight by Jay KristoffTitle: Nevernight (The Nevernight Chronicle #1)
Author: Jay Kristoff
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
Release Date:  August 9th, 2016
Standalone/Series: Series
Genre: Adult – Fantasy

Goodreads link

My rating in stars: 5 stars
My rating in words: New all-time favorite

What it’s about:

The first in a new fantasy series from the New York Times bestselling author.

In a land where three suns almost never set, a fledgling killer joins a school of assassins, seeking vengeance against the powers who destroyed her family.

Daughter of an executed traitor, Mia Corvere is barely able to escape her father’s failed rebellion with her life. Alone and friendless, she hides in a city built from the bones of a dead god, hunted by the Senate and her father’s former comrades. But her gift for speaking with the shadows leads her to the door of a retired killer, and a future she never imagined.

Now, Mia is apprenticed to the deadliest flock of assassins in the entire Republic—the Red Church. If she bests her fellow students in contests of steel, poison and the subtle arts, she’ll be inducted among the Blades of the Lady of Blessed Murder, and one step closer to the vengeance she desires. But a killer is loose within the Church’s halls, the bloody secrets of Mia’s past return to haunt her, and a plot to bring down the entire congregation is unfolding in the shadows she so loves.

Will she even survive to initiation, let alone have her revenge?

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The Adventure of a Lifetime – A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab {Book Review}

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A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. SchwabTitle: A Darker Shade of Magic (Shades of Magic #1)
Author: V.E. Schwab
Publisher: Tor Books
Release Date:  February 24th, 2015
Standalone/Series: First book in the Shades of Magic trilogy
Genre: Adult – Fantasy

Goodreads link

My rating in stars: 4,5 stars
My rating in words: LOVED this book!

What it’s about:

Kell is one of the last Antari, a rare magician who can travel between parallel worlds: hopping from Grey London — dirty, boring, lacking magic, and ruled by mad King George — to Red London — where life and magic are revered, and the Maresh Dynasty presides over a flourishing empire — to White London — ruled by whoever has murdered their way to the throne, where people fight to control magic, and the magic fights back — and back, but never Black London, because traveling to Black London is forbidden and no one speaks of it now.

Officially, Kell is the personal ambassador and adopted Prince of Red London, carrying the monthly correspondences between the royals of each London. Unofficially, Kell smuggles for those willing to pay for even a glimpse of a world they’ll never see, and it is this dangerous hobby that sets him up for accidental treason. Fleeing into Grey London, Kell runs afoul of Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations. She robs him, saves him from a dangerous enemy, then forces him to take her with him for her proper adventure.

But perilous magic is afoot, and treachery lurks at every turn. To save both his London and the others, Kell and Lila will first need to stay alive — a feat trickier than they hoped.

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