Review: Remember Whose Little Girl You Are by Ellen Nichols

Remember Whose Little Girl You Are shares the experiences of life from the daughter of a preacher in the South. The stories she shares from her life feature the moves she made from parsonage to parsonage and some of the relationships she had along the way. She takes the reader back into a glimpse of life in the 50s and 60s. Many of the moments touching upon experiences that were affected during that time, a unique experience considering all the cultural significance that were happening and on the cusp of.

There were several moments that leave you laughing out loud, many that hold your compassion and others that capture random moments of ordinary life in the South. Honestly, I didn’t feel like this was a memoir. That isn’t a negative. It felt like she just shared stories of her life and I didn’t take away what I could’ve. There was something missing that collectively would’ve bound this together better for me. I say that conflicted because she has a life that I thought was very interesting and with so much to offer especially from the time frame she grew up in and what she experienced, it would’ve pulled at me more.

Overall, despite what I felt, it didn’t take away from the context because I did enjoy reading the stories she shared from her life and appreciate her gentle touch with some of the sensitive experiences that happened during that time.

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Review: Fake It Till You Bake It by Jamie Wesley

Fake It Till You Bake It blends the perfect recipe for a delicious treat. A reality star and football player pretend to be in a relationship to save his bakery. 

When Jada Townsend-Matthews turned down the most anticipated proposal on reality tv, she became public enemy number one. With nowhere to turn, she decides to go home and get her life back on track. Unsure of what to do or where to go, she stops by San Diego’s newest buzzed cupcake shop and really puts her foot in her mouth. Not knowing who Donovan is, she leaves a strong impression that haunts his thoughts of who this mystery woman is. When a proposal from her grandmother comes to give her the financial stability she desperately needs, she takes the offer until she realizes she may have made a mistake.

Donovan Dell is a professional football player with a sweet tooth for business. He and his best friend opened the popular bakery, Sugar Blitz with ambitious goals and aspirations to succeed. With business declining, he’s been trying to figure out how and ways to improve but it all takes money that he isn’t making. When he was offered a possible solution to help from his NFL boss for his business, not wanting to let her down, he agreed to give her granddaughter a chance. Little does he know how life’s about to throw him a curveball.

As time went on, and they got past their first encounter experience, Jada proved to bring more than her sassy attitude. When a reporter happened to be in the bakery one day and put her on the spot, the only way to get out of it was to imply they were an item. Seeing the positive upswing and the advantages pretending could be a win-win situation, they find themselves mixing the ingredients for the perfect recipe.

Overall, I really enjoyed this one. This was such a fun read. I just loved the chemistry between Jada and Donovan. Their savory and sweet combination truly made some laugh-out-loud moments. I love a good fake relationship trope because they give the reader something to love towards. I really enjoyed the roles the friends and family played in the book. It brought a nice balance and comfort that drew you in and felt welcomed.

I’m curious to know if this is a stand alone or will there be another book. The epilogue seeks to leave us with a cliffhanger so we'll have to be on the lookout. I can’t forget to mention how cute that cover is. I’m looking forward to reading what's to come. I’d recommend adding this one to your summer reading list.

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Review: Stuck With You by Ali Hazelwood

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Love Hypothesis comes a new steamy, STEMinist novella…

Nothing like a little rivalry between scientists to take love to the next level.

Mara, Sadie, and Hannah are friends first, scientists always. Though their fields of study might take them to different corners of the world, they can all agree on this universal truth: when it comes to love and science, opposites attract and rivals make you burn…

Logically, Sadie knows that civil engineers are supposed to build bridges. However, as a woman of STEM she also understands that variables can change, and when you are stuck for hours in a tiny New York elevator with the man who broke your heart, you earn the right to burn that brawny, blond bridge to the ground. Erik can apologize all he wants, but to quote her rebel leader—she’d just as soon kiss a Wookiee.

Not even the most sophisticated of Sadie’s superstitious rituals could have predicted such a disastrous reunion. But while she refuses to acknowledge the siren call of Erik’s steely forearms or the way his voice softens when he offers her his sweater, Sadie can’t help but wonder if there might be more layers to her cold-hearted nemesis than meet the eye. Maybe, possibly, even burned bridges can still be crossed…

Review

This was my first book by Ali Hazelwood, and I was entertained. I was a little worried at first that I wouldn’t get the full romance experience since the book was short. But I think it worked. Sadie and Erik spend a day together. After their night of passion, she learns something about him, and then spends a week or two hating his guts until they get trapped in an elevator together for an hour. There’s a major communication mishap in this book. And everything happens in a short timeline and does toe the line of insta-love. However, it can be overlooked because the chemistry was off the charts with these two characters. I enjoyed the conversations they had, and I enjoyed that they had so much in common.

Final Thoughts

Stuck with You is nice as it is. It’s a very short rom-com book with no commitments and an easy-to-follow romance that does rely on tropes. 

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Review: The Devil Wears Black by L.J. Shen

Maddie Goldbloom stitched up a plan to ensure everything in her life was perfect—from a career in fashion to a chic NYC apartment to a pediatrician boyfriend.

When her ex, Chase Black, storms back into her life with an outrageous request, her immediate reaction is to refuse him. But he only wants to fulfill his father’s last wish. So even though he’s the man who broke her heart, playing his fiancée shouldn’t be hard, especially if it means she gets to watch the arrogant devil squirm a bit.

What ensues is a chain of events that detonates Maddie’s life—and when Chase’s walls come down, they both are forced to face reality.

They say keep your enemies close. But what if your enemy is also the man you love?

I was thoroughly entertained with The Devil Wears Black. Yes, it could be discounted as cliché with a quirky and relatable main character and a love interest who only wears black and has commitment issues. But I really liked this one. The author delivered on all the fun tropes—enemies to lovers, fake fiancé, etc—and I’m sorry but I could see myself rereading this one. It was a lot of fun.

Maddie and Chase are two completely different people who dated once for six months. After things got serious, Chase made it look like he cheated on her and he broke up with now. Now, he needs her help again in terms of his family.

The characters aren’t really my favorite separately; however, I think they worked well together for me. It was a second chance love story, and I was strapped in for all the banter and insane chemistry that Madison and Chase had.

Final Analysis

The Devil Wears Black was entertaining and fun, when you go in not expecting a lot of development. 

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Review: The Paid Bridesmaid by Sariah Wilson

The Paid Bridesmaid is a light, clean romantic comedy that has a fun plot, romance and characters that you will have so much fun with.

Going into the book, I knew what to expect from this author. I've enjoyed her books in the past and knew this would be a fun one. I know the plot from first glance might present itself to be simply predictable but there's an engaging plot that slowly unravels making it a cute read.

Rachel Vinson, who is such a likable character, has a bridesmaid for hire business. When a popular Instagram influencer hires her for her wedding, this is just the break she is looking for. With discretion being such a key to her success, Rachel finds herself in a challenging situation when the best man, Camden Lewis, can't seem to reign in his curiosity.

Camden is the best friend to the groom. He charming, funny and is definitely the swooning type. As he chats it up with Rachel, there is something about her that piques his curiosity. Some things aren't adding up and he can't quite figure her out. Considering his relationship with the bride and groom, he's determined to find out what she might be hiding. As time goes on, and their guards let down a bit more, they find themselves growing fond of each other. Only one problem, she has one rule that she is adamant on following. Will this ruin her chance at finding love or will she live up to the cliché, always a brides, never a bride?

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. There is something fun and engaging with Sariah's books that make you not want to put them down. The plot was light and fun. The banter between the characters brought out so many laugh out loud moments, especially those with her mother. The slow simmer romance was cute to follow. I love fun vibe female characters that make you want to be invited to their lives. This was a standalone and I'd recommend checking it out.

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Review: Zodiac Academy 7: Heartless Sky by Carolina Peckham, Susanne Valenti

The winds of fate are shifting, and it finally seems like they’ve been twisted in our favour.

On the run and cast out from society, we’ve been forced to hide from the mad man who stole our throne. But as more secrets come to light and my sister and I work harder than ever before to reach our potential and claim our birth right, the end is finally drawing closer.

There is no turning from this path now. The curse chases on our heels as time rushes by and the blood drenched destiny of the man I love looms ever closer just like the monster who stole our throne.

We must prepare for the final battle, but three things are clear now.

The cards have already been dealt.

Blood will spill for a new future to rise.

And the stars themselves can’t help us.

The fight for the throne is upon us. All hail the heartless sky.-

Review 

The only way to describe the second to last book in Zodiac Academy is pain. Happiness barely exists in it, and whatever is left of it is ripped out of your hands in the final 90% of the book.

In this book, Lionel Acrux has taken the throne, and the twins and the heirs must work together to stop him. The war that the books have been leading up to has finally come.

I’ve enjoyed myself thus far reading this series, and I have grown to love most of the characters--- including some of the heirs. I’m still very biased to the twins- Darcy and Tory-- since we’ve had their POVs the longest. And it’s truly amazing how powerful they have gotten. I re-read the first book a couple of weeks ago, and it’s hard not to see their character development.

Another plus of this book was the romance. Finally, we’re getting somewhere with all the couples. It’s been a long journey, and there are some big payoffs for a brief time before everyone – and I mean everyone—is put through the ringer.

Since this is the seventh book in the series, I’ve noticed a few patterns. The timeline in this series has always been over the place, and there is no exception to that in this book. I’ve stopped trying to make sense of it, because quite frankly it hurt my head. Another pattern I noticed is that sometimes moments are lost in favor of having a comedic moment that toes the line of being too cringy.  

I think my biggest problem with this series is that these aren’t small books. That doesn’t bother me. However, when you have long books there becomes an increased risk of having fluff that adds nothing to the story or scenes starting to feel repetitive. There were ten POVs in this one. I think the most out of all the books, and sometimes it felt exhausting, and as if that character’s story wasn’t contributing much to the plot. And it was hard not to skip their chapters.  

Final Thoughts

Heartless Sky was an emotional read in the parts where the story was focused, and in parts where all the characters shined. It does rip your heart out at the end and does leave you praying for a happy ending for all involved in the final book. 

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