Posted in contemporary, E-Arc, magic, review, romance

E-Arc : Prime Time Romance by Kate Robb

Posted on by bluereadergal

I received an E-Arc from Netgalley, publisher and author for an honest review!
Thank you!

Author: Kate Robb
Publisher : Dial Press Trade
Date: September 5, 2024
Pages: 336
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Website

Summary:
Newly divorced on the eve of her thirtieth birthday, Brynn is sick of heartbreak. She thought she had found her happy ending, but now she’s now living with a roommate, Josh, to afford her mortgage and trying to adjust to her new single life. At least she’s got Carson’s Cove to binge, her beloved 2000s teenage soap. The show ended unexpectantly on a cliffhanger after five seasons, and the two main characters, Sloan and Spencer, never got to declare their love for one another. The show is still perfect in Brynn’s eyes; despite all the drama that goes down, things always have a way of working out in Carson’s Cove . . . unlike her own life.

So when a birthday cake surprisingly shows up on her and Josh’s doorstep, Brynn makes a wish for the one thing she always wanted (but failed to achieve herself): a happily-ever-after.

The next morning, she doesn’t wake up in her apartment. She’s in Carson’s Cove . . . and Josh is there too. Everyone seems to know them, except they’re not Brynn and Josh; they’re Sloan, the sweetheart of Carson’s Cove, and Fletch, the town’s bad boy. And to get home, they have to make Brynn’s wish come true by ensuring Sloan and Spencer, the hometown heartthrob, end up together at last. But as they spend more time together, Brynn and Josh realize that Carson’s Cove might not be as perfect as seen on tv . . . especially when they start developing feelings for each other in a plot twist nobody expected. Will they stick to the script, or will real love change the story forever?

Review:
Oh my gosh! I could not stop reading this story. I was hooked from page one til the end. Small town, stuck in magic, romance looms about and drama happens? All these themes pop up in this story which I adored!

The story does shift from Brynn and Josh point of view.

The author did it again! She made a magical story which had me wanting to know what was going to happen. I have read her previous book which was magical too!

There are easter eggs in this book from 90s/2000s era. I immediately knew what they were and was so excited to see these in this story. I am not giving it away. I will admit I squealed quite a few times. Loved it!

I really was invested in the main characters: Brynn and Josh and how they were going to interact with each other and the magic. Of course there is drama! There always is dram but does the drama win?

It was a heart felt story with finding what is real and knowing yourself. I think both Brynn and Josh realized on the things that mattered to them and what they really felt inside. I loved this. I loved how characters realize things just like us humans do in the real world.

There is a bit of spice which I think it was fit well with the story. I really thought it was the right touch to the story.

I am definitely picking up a physical book when this comes out later in 2024!

Posted in E-Arc, fiction, finished reading, holiday

E-Arc: Christmas in Aspen by Anita Hughes

Posted on by bluereadergal

Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher: St. Martin’s Press and author for letting me read this for an honest review!

Author: Anita Hughes
Date: October 24, 2024
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Pages: 304
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Summary:
Editor Caroline Holt is on her way to her late mother’s upstate cabin in Hudson to spend the holidays. She was supposed to be in London, having a holiday romance. But this Christmas, she isn’t in the mood to get her heart broken again. Caroline loves being an editor, but in the last year burnout has taken over. She has been mourning her mother, and she is looking to get that spark back.

In the cabin, Caroline finds a letter addressed to her mother. It’s in a red envelope, and the return address is Santa’s Little Red mailbox, in Aspen, Colorado. The letter is from a man declaring his love for her mother. He’ll be waiting for her in front of the Little Red Mailbox at three pm on New Year’s Eve.

Unable to ignore her curiosity, Caroline takes the next flight to Aspen to meet her mother’s mysterious lover, but things start getting complicated when she meets another man in town. The more they run into each other, the more she is drawn to him. And when Caroline finds out the truth about the person her mother had loved, she unravels secrets of her own past.

By the end of Christmas week, Caroline gets a chance to rewrite her own destiny by confronting her fears of loving again and possibly leaving behind what she thought was a perfect life.

Review:
A holiday, adventurous, heartwarming story! Gosh I loved how this story took me down a path of coping, love, life, a bit of mystery and the magic of Aspen. I will say there a quite a few things happening in this story: Caroline and her coping skills along with falling in love, Caroline’ s sister and love, their mother mysterious love and so much more. I really enjoyed this story.

I could keep up with the pace of the book, the characters and even the timeline! The story kept me intrigued the entire time. I wanted to know what was going to happen! The magical Aspen sounds good to be true. I wish I could go visit there. I could not stop reading this story either. I think it took me about two and half days to read it. It just kept me intrigued!

This is a great holiday story to be read when it comes out in October 2024! Pick it up and you will not regret it!

Posted in book review, drama, E-Arc, fiction, historical fiction, Historical Romance, mystery, Preview, review

E-Arc Review: A Governess’s Guide to Passion and Peril by Manada Collins

Posted on by bluereadergal

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher Forever and author for letting me review this E-Arc for an honest review!

This book drops March 26, 2024!

Author: Manda Collins
Publisher: Forever
Date: March 26, 2024
Pages: 304
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Website

Summary:
Jane Halliwell once dreamed of a home of her own—but those dreams (and her dowry) died with her father. Now, she works as a governess, preparing her charge for a future no longer within her reach. When her employer is murdered during a house party, however, Jane is forced back into the world of the ton. But stepping in as hostess will require working with the same lord who once broke her girlish heart.

Lord Adrian Fielding was too consumed with his job at the Foreign Office to pay young Jane much heed, but he always considered her a friend. Which is why he’s confounded by her icy demeanor now. More troubling still is his desire to melt the tensions between them. But his mentor’s murder means he must first find the culprit—and ensure Jane’s safety as she manages a house full of foreign dignitaries.

Only Jane insists on joining the investigation, and Adrian, despite all his diplomatic skills, finds himself seduced by her sharp wit and sparkling eyes. But with a vicious killer circling ever closer, will it soon be too late for their chance at forever?

Review:
It’s a sweet romance! There is not that much spicy bits in it if that is what you are looking for! It is also a slow burn.

Yes I do read these kinds of books because it’s important to have a well rounded reading spectrum of your liking.

I enjoyed the suspense of finding out what had happened! It had me thinking of who could be the suspect. I think I figured it out maybe closer towards the end of the story. When Adrian and Jane join together to figure out the mystery, it was fun and cute because you could see and feel the tension between them regarding their feelings for each other along with trying to solve the case. What exactly happened though? I”m not spilling the tea, you must pick this book to find out.

I love how Jane is independent and thinks for herself. She shows this by being a governess in the beginning along with what happens in the story. She just knows how to handle situations! She’s just awesome character. Her connection Adrian is so real. I love how they do talk of things which happens further in the story which makes their relationship real. It was real talk with connection and kindness.

Adrian was an interesting character. I wish there a little more to him but I like his kindness and openness to Jane.

It was a quick and sweet read!
A world of love and suspense!
Cute moments!

Posted in currently reading, life, update

Quick update

Posted on by bluereadergal

Sorry I haven’t posted much lately…many things are going on in the world of being an adult and I’m also sick with an evil, evil cold.

More books to check out soon!

Patience my readers!

I did finish reading E-Arc Fangs and Family by Olena Nikitin (I have another post about the book here ) which I loved! I may have to end up buying a physical copy of the book because vampires and a physical book and isn’t the cover damn pretty? I also want to read Magic and Medicine!!

Currently reading right now is which I hope I can finish before it comes out on March 26, 2024! Wish me luck. I am loving the first two chapters of the story.

Need more time to read all the books…..

Posted in E-Arc, fiction, Uncategorized, vampires

E-Arc Review: Fangs & Family by Olena Nikitin

Posted on by bluereadergal

I received and E-Arc fron Netgalley and the author for an honest review! Thank you!!

Author: Olena Nikitin
Pages: 466
Date: March 8, 2024
Website
Instagram

Summary:
The only person who can save my brother is the vampire who hates me.

My brother disappeared, his friends were slaughtered, and the man searching for him used mind control to force me to help find him.
Desperate to save Pawel and retrieve the ancient artefact he stole before his enemy destroyed my life, I turned to my nemesis – Adam, hoping the price for his help wouldn’t leave me broken beyond repair.

Because we had a past, and it wasn’t a good one.

I hurt and humiliated him; this would be his chance for revenge.

But what else was I supposed to do? Let him call me his Obsidian when he gently stroked my hair? I’m just Nina, a human with no power, and I had to protect myself.

The irony is I would give anything to hear those words again, but now that my life depends on him, I don’t know if Adam would fight for me again.

Review:
This is the second book in the series. I have not read Sara and Leshy story yet but I want to! This story has a bit of everything happening: magic, drama, some violence, banter, vampires and so much more.

You know I had to read this story because of vampires…and that isn’t the cover beautiful?? (There’s a hint in it too!)

I really liked the story. I could not stop reading it. I had to know what was going to happen with Nina and Adam.

The vampire and the human along with a second chance, fighting, drama, mythology and so much more. I want more of this world. The author has won me over into reading more!

Adam reminds me a combination of fighting skills from Selene and an attitude of Spike from his dark days. He also battles his emotions on and off which is fascinating. I like him, is that wrong? His connection with Nina runs hot and cold which could indicate something magical, right? Oh and Adam’s housekeeper is a hoot and made me laugh a few times! That’s all I’m going to say about that.

Nina is full of attitude, sassy and has a hint of tenderness. I like how she connects with her friend Sara. Just something about their friendship is almost like a kinship. I loved how Nina figures some things out in this book. I loved Nina’s interaction with the housekeeper too.

The ending shocked me! Just when I think I knew the ending….Nope! I was not ready for it. I’m definitely ready to read more from this author!

Posted in fiction, new releases

New releases today: March 12 2024

Posted on by bluereadergal

Check out these books dropping today: March 12, 2024!
Which one will you pick up?

Gabriel de León has saved the Holy Grail from death, but his chance to end the endless night is lost. Drawn into an uneasy alliance with the mysterious vampire Liathe, Gabriel must now deliver the Grail to ancients of the Blood Esani, and learn the truth of how Daysdeath might be finally undone.

But the Last Silversaint faces peril, within and without. Pursued by terrors of the Blood Voss, drawn into warfare between the Blood Dyvok and duskdancers of the frozen Highlands, and ravaged by his own rising bloodlust, Gabriel may not survive to see the Grail learn her truth.

And that truth may be too awful for any to imagine.

Lord Rosemorran has purchased a wax figure of a beautiful reclining woman and asks Stoker to incorporate a clockwork mechanism to give the Rosemorran Collection its own Sleeping Beauty in the style of Madame Tussaud’s. But when Stoker goes to cut the mannequin open to insert the mechanism, he makes a gruesome discovery: this is no wax figure. The mannequin is the beautifully preserved body of a young woman who was once very much alive. But who would do such a dreadful thing, and why?

Sleuthing out the answer to this question sets Veronica and Stoker on their wildest adventure yet. From the underground laboratories of scientists experimenting with electricity to resurrect the dead in the vein of Frankenstein to the traveling show where Stoker once toured as an attraction, the gaslit atmosphere of London in October is the perfect setting for this investigation into the unknown. Through it all, the intrepid pair is always one step behind the latest villain—a man who has killed once and will stop at nothing to recover the body of the woman he loved. Will they unmask him in time to save his next victim? Or will they become the latest figures to be immortalized in his collection of horrors?

When the new deputy librarian, Juliet Lansdown, finds that Bethnal Green Library isn’t the bustling hub she is expecting, she becomes determined to breathe life back into it. But can she show the men in charge that a woman is up to the task of running the library, especially when a confrontation with her past threatens to derail her?

Katie Upwood is thrilled to be working at the library, although she is only there until she heads off to university in the fall. But after the death of her beau on the front line and amid tumultuous family strife, she finds herself harboring a life-changing secret with no one to turn to for help.

Sofie Baumann, a young Jewish refugee, came to London on a domestic service visa only to find herself working as a maid for a man who treats her abominably. She escapes to the library every chance she can, finding friendship in the literary community and aid in finding her sister, who is still trying to flee occupied Europe.

When a slew of bombs destroys the library, Juliet relocates the stacks to the local Underground station where the city’s residents shelter nightly, determined to lend out stories that will keep spirits up. But tragedy after tragedy threatens to unmoor the women and sever the ties of their community. Will Juliet, Kate, and Sofie be able to overcome their own troubles to save the library? Or will the beating heart of their neighborhood be lost forever?

When Sophie Steinbeck finds out just before her nuptials that her fiancé has cheated yet again, she desperately wants to call it off. But because her future father-in-law is her dad’s cutthroat boss, she doesn’t want to be the one to do it. Her savior comes in the form of a professional objector, whose purpose is to show up at weddings and proclaim the words no couple (usually) wants to hear at their ceremony: “I object!”
 
During anti-wedding festivities that night, Sophie learns more about Max the Objector’s job. It makes perfect sense to her: he saves people from wasting their lives, from hurting each other. He’s a modern-day hero. And Sophie wants in.
 
The two love cynics start working together, going from wedding to wedding, and Sophie’s having more fun than she’s had in ages. She looks forward to every nerve-racking ceremony saving the lovesick souls of the betrothed masses. As Sophie and Max spend more time together, however, they realize that their physical chemistry is off the charts, leading them to dabble in a little hookup session or two—but it’s totally fine, because they definitely do not have feelings for each other. Love doesn’t exist, after all.
 
And then everything changes. A groom-to-be hires Sophie to object, but his fiancée is the woman who broke Max’s heart. As Max wrestles with whether he can be a party to his ex’s getting hurt, Sophie grapples with the sudden realization that she may have fallen hard for her partner in crime.

Esther Larson has been cooking for funerals in the Northwoods of Wisconsin for seventy years. Known locally as the “funeral ladies,” she and her cohort have worked hard to keep the mourners of Ellerie County fed—it is her firm belief that there is very little a warm casserole and a piece of cherry pie can’t fix. But, after falling for an internet scam that puts her home at risk, the proud Larson family matriarch is the one in need of help these days.

Iris, Esther’s whip-smart Gen Z granddaughter, would do anything for her family and her community. As she watches her friends and family move out of their lakeside town onto bigger and better things, Iris wonders why she feels so left behind in the place she is desperate to make her home. But when Cooper Welsh shows up, she finally starts to feel like she’s found the missing piece of her puzzle.

Cooper is dealing with becoming a legal guardian to his younger half-sister after his beloved stepmother dies. While their celebrity-chef father is focused on his booming career and top-ranked television show, Cooper is still hurting from a public tragedy he witnessed last year as a paramedic and finding it hard to cope. With Iris in the gorgeous Ellerie County, though, he hopes he might finally find the home he’s been looking for.

It doesn’t seem like a community cookbook could possibly solve their problems, especially one where casseroles have their own section and cream of chicken soup mix is the most frequently used ingredient. But when you mix the can-do spirit of Midwestern grandmothers with the stubborn hope of a boy raised by food plus a dash of long-awaited forgiveness—things might just turn out okay.

When Middren falls to the gods, your kind will be the first to die.

Gods are forbidden in the kingdom of Middren—but now they are stirring, whispering of war. Godkiller Kissen sacrificed herself to vanquish the fire god Hseth, who murdered her family and endangered her friends. But gods cannot be destroyed so easily, and Hseth’s power threatens to reform with even greater strength and a thirst for vengeance. As tensions rise throughout the land, the kingdom needs its Godkiller more than ever.

Still reeling from the loss of Kissen, young noble Inara and her little god of white lies, Skedi, have set out to discover more about the true nature of their bond. As the divide between gods and humans widens, Inara and Skedi will uncover secrets that could determine the fate of the war to come.

Meanwhile, Elogast, no longer a loyal knight of King Arren, has been tasked with killing the man he once called friend. The king vowed to eradicate all gods throughout the land, but has now entered into an unholy pact with the most dangerous of them all. And where his heart once beat, a god now burns. . .

When a Victorian apothecary hires a stoic private investigator to protect her business, they learn there’s only one way to treat true love—with a happily ever after.

When Lucinda Peterson’s recently perfected formula for a salve to treat croup goes missing, she’s certain it’s only the latest in a line of misfortunes at the hands of a rival apothecary. Outraged and fearing financial ruin, Lucy turns to private investigator Jonathan Thorne for help. She just didn’t expect her champion to be so . . . grumpy?

A single father and an agent at Tierney & Co., Thorne accepts missions for a wide variety of employers—from the British government to wronged wives. None have intrigued him so much as the spirited Miss Peterson. As the two work side by side to unmask her scientific saboteur, Lucy slips ever so sweetly under Thorne’s battered armor, tempting him to abandon old promises.

With no shortage of suspects—from a hostile political group to an erstwhile suitor—Thorne’s investigation becomes a threat to all that Lucy holds dear. As the truth unravels around them the cure to their problems is clear: they must face the future together.

In the early 1980s, Giselle Chin, Jackie Ong, and Ellen Ng are three teenagers drawn together by their shared sense of alienation and desire for something different. “Allied in the weirdest parts of themselves,” they envision each other as artistic collaborators and embark on a future defined by freedom and creativity.

By the time they are adults, their dreams are murkier. As a performance artist, Giselle must navigate an elite social world she never conceived of. As a coder thrilled by the internet’s early egalitarian promise, Jackie must contend with its more sinister shift toward monetization and surveillance. And as a community activist, Ellen confronts the increasing gentrification and policing overwhelming her New York City neighborhood. Over time their friendship matures and changes, their definitions of success become complicated, and their sense of what matters evolves. 

I did read the E-Arc of this beautiful story.
Grace Smith has never been one to conform to society’s expectations. She flees small-town Indiana to seek adventure—and finds more than she bargained for when she’s hired by an eccentric millionaire to learn codebreaking. Soon she’s using those skills to help head the government’s fledgling cryptanalysis unit.

During Prohibition, Grace takes up the fight against rumrunners—not to mention Al Capone himself. And as the country careens from one Great War to another, it’s Grace who must crack the secrets of foreign governments, catch spies, and derail saboteurs . . . before it’s too late.

With wry wit and sheer grit, she forges her own path as a codebreaker, wife, mother. She’s spent a lifetime going up against powerful men and winning. But as war rages and the stakes grow impossibly high, Grace faces a truly impossible choice: her family or her country?