Review: The Trade by KI Stephens

About the Book

JADE Jennings is tired of her day-to-day life—from the boring, senseless boys at Dayton U to the repetitive beats her editor assigns. She's looking for excitement, novelty, a good story to sink her teeth into, and a boy she can write home about.

She's a driven and ambitious journalist, and she has an innate love for the game of football. She's also the younger sister to an NFL superstar, which means she's not interested in the aimless, student-athletes at her school.

But maybe, for entertainment purposes, she could spend just one night trying them on for size.

THEO Westman-Cooke, aka "West," has one goal in this life: to be drafted into the NFL. But his coach doesn't support an early declaration, his grades (and scholarship) are slipping, and he only has one more year to make his college career count for something.

Oh, wait.

There is one other thing that West might want—a chance to spend the night with his favorite red-headed cheerleader. When the opportunity suddenly strikes, it's nearly impossible to pass up the perfect trade.

In just a few months, Dayton U's football team is hosting their annual spring banquet. The catch? Players must go home with another teammate's date. To the rest of the team, it's a simple, secret trade. But for Jade and West, it's the night that everything changed.

Review

Three books in and I’m starting to realize that Ki Stephens will never have a book that completely blows me away. Like with Spring Tide and Fault Line, The Trade left me feeling confused. Because I think I liked the book, but it’s a very neutral liking to it. I don’t have this strong hatred for it, and I enjoyed parts of it.

For example, I liked the characters. West wasn’t some stereotypical jock, and that’s something quickly introduced to readers within his first chapter. I didn’t necessarily love that he was the one who had issues communicating but in the concept of the story, I think it worked. And the miscommunication didn’t bother me. I do think he was more developed than Jade. Readers are constantly told she’s so funny and sarcastic, but there is really any moment for her to shine. I did enjoy her reporter arc, and I found that to be a little bit more interesting to read than her romance with West. But she wasn’t a bad character. I liked reading in her POV.

Final Thoughts

The Trade has interesting ingredients, but I personally felt like they hadn’t been mixed well. It had likable characters, but at times their special qualities were told rather than shown.

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Review: The Blonde Identity by Ally Carter

Summary

The New York Times bestselling YA author of the beloved Gallagher Girls series bursts onto the adult scene with a fast-paced, hilarious road trip rom-com about a woman with amnesia who discovers she’s the identical twin sister of a rogue spy… and must team up with a rugged, grumpy operative to stay alive.

It’s the middle of the night in the middle of Paris and a woman just woke up with no memory.

She only knows three things for certain:

1. She has a splitting headache.

2. The hottest guy she has (probably) ever seen is standing over her, telling her to run.

And oh yeah…

3. People keep trying to kill her.

She doesn’t know who. Or why. But when she sees footage of herself fighting off a dozen men there’s only one explanation: obviously. . . she’s a spy!

Except, according to Mr. Hot Guy, she’s not. She’s a spy’s identical twin sister.

Too bad the only person who knows she’s not the woman they’re looking for is this very grouchy, very sexy, very secret agent who (reluctantly) agrees to help her disappear. Which is easier said than done when a criminal organization wants you dead and every intelligence service in the world wants you caught.

Luckily, no one is looking for a pair of lovesick newlyweds on their honeymoon. And soon they’re lying their way across Europe—dodging bullets and faking kisses as they race to unravel a deadly conspiracy and clear her sister’s name.

But with every secret they uncover, the truth shifts, until she no longer knows who to trust: the twin she can’t remember or the mysterious man she can’t let herself forget…

Review

To me, the best way to describe The Blonde Identity was fun. Like no strings attached with a rush of fun. This book reminded me of a rom-com starring two of Hollywood’s biggest action and comedic actors. It has a high budget with twists and turns, and is universally loved. I had a great time reading this one.

Back in middle school, I used to be obsessed with Ally Carter’s books. I haven’t read them in around ten years, but the rumors are true. No one writes an action rom-com like Ally Carter. I was willingly strapped into my seat experiencing all the twists and turns unfolding. It’s engaging, and I really fell in love with the main characters. I won’t give anything away but all the tropes for a spy romance are there, and it’s beautifully done. Yes, it tends to be cliché at times, but the book doesn’t take itself too seriously and welcomes all the fun.

Final Thoughts

The Blonde Identity is adventurous and lots of fun. The romance is entertaining, and the sparks are there. It’s an addicting journey.

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Review: Girl Country: And Other Stories by Jacqueline Vogtman

Debut novel, Girl Country by Jacqueline Vogtman, takes readers on an emotional journey through 11 short stories exploring the inner struggles of young girls and women, past, present and future. The stories span multiple genres and characters exploring identity, relationships and the search for belonging.

The pace of the book was interesting. My experience, I felt that you got enough to process, take a breath and reflect. Some stories left me invested wanting to know more and others just left me to accept as is. Some of the stories, the weight of the narrative was felt. I appreciated the balance of sensitivity and compassion for those moments giving them a redemptive quality to find hope out of despair.

Overall, this was an interesting read giving you a mixed bag of genres to dive into. One of them didn’t catch my attention as the rest but I enjoyed the experience of the book outside of that as a whole.

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Review: Unravel Me by Becka Mack

Book Summary

Golden boy. Notorious serial dater. The NHL’s most eligible bachelor.

That’s what the headlines say about me, at least. I wish I could say they’re not accurate, but truthfully? I don’t even know who I am anymore.

Between a soul-crushing ex-girlfriend and a never-ending queue of dates gone wrong, one thing has become glaringly obvious: I don’t want to be Adam Lockwood.

So when my dog decides to play matchmaker, taking down a sweet little thing with rose gold waves, brilliant green eyes, and a smile for days, I can’t believe my luck that she doesn’t have a clue who I am. I know I should tell her, but for once in my life someone sees the man behind the goalie mask.

Rosie gives me all of her–her heartache, her laughter, and her son. But me? I’m holding on a little too tightly to the pieces I’m scared to give up, the pieces she might not like.

One small lie becomes a secret hanging above my head, but what if there’s another one hiding right around the corner?

Suddenly, my deepest desire becomes my biggest fear.

I’m terrified she’s going to unravel me.

Review

Unravel Me is the third book in the Playing for Keeps series, and I will be completely honest and say that this book was going to decide if I would continue the series. Both Consider Me and Play with Me were weighed down by too many flaws. Number one, it was too long and after a while they both started dragging. Number two, the second-hand embarrassment. I thought maybe it was just a thing with Consider Me, which is why I gave Play with Me a chance, but I really hate how the author writes her characters sometimes. It’s overly and openly cringe, and they just come off as annoying and immature. I can’t take them seriously. I was fully expecting to experience those things in Unravel Me. And I can report that I am pleasantly surprised.

Did the cringe characters disappear? Ha, no. Carter from Consider Me somehow got much worse and every time he made an appearance, I felt like I died a little bit inside. And Garrett from Play with Me, well he also got much worse. And it was painful to get through a group scene with all of Adam’s friends.

However, that didn’t deter me from loving this book. Both Adam and Rosie stood out and I loved them so much. I loved their journey, and their meet cute, and almost everything about their story. Out of the three books, this one was the one that flowed the most naturally. Yes, it was long but that didn’t matter. If anything, I left the book wanting more. Did Adam and Rosie have embarrassing moments? Of course, but again it felt natural, and it wasn’t overbearing.

To me, Becka Mack struck gold with Adam and Rosie and from the very first page I fell in love with them. Adam was such a hopeless romantic and a sweetheart, and his willingness to support Rosie and make her feel seen had me swoony. I wish we had more scenes with his parents, because his backstory was heartfelt, and I wanted to see more of their dynamic.

Rosie was incredibly strong, and such a great mother, and a great character. I loved her roommate/friend. More than I loved Adam’s circle of friends, and I wish Rosie and them had more moments because there was this particular moment at the end with them that sent me crying. It was incredibly sweet, and it didn’t feel forced. Back to Rosie. She’s had a hard life, and having a terrible baby daddy doesn’t help at all. And yet she still managed to be so kind and open.

I mentioned before that the length didn’t bother me because it didn’t. However, I will say that towards the latter half of the book I got a little scared. A plot point had been introduced and I was fully prepared for my rating of this book to decrease. It did decrease. I felt that the drama in the last half was unnecessary, but I still really loved this book, and instead of a 5 star from me, it’s more like a 4.75.

Final Thoughts

Unravel Me is by the far the most heartfelt, funny, and loving book in this series. Both Adam and Rosie were incredible, as well as most of their story.

Review: Written In Ink by SM Broad

About the Book

Diem

I was seven when I met my best friend.

With his caring, hazel eyes and sandy blonde hair, he completely stole my heart.

I was thirteen when I fell in love with him.

Fifteen when he gave me my very first kiss.

And seventeen when I lost him.

Now, five years later, the boy from my past is a man standing in front of me. Only, how do I tell him about the greatest gift he ever gave me?

Hart

I was nine when I met my best friend.

With her sparkling green eyes, brown hair and kind soul, she completely stole my heart.

I was fifteen when I fell in love with her.

Seventeen when she became my everything.

And nineteen when I lost her.

Now, five years later, the girl from my past is a woman standing in front of me telling me that we share more than just memories.

Review

I don’t know what I was expecting with this one, but it wasn’t what was presented in this book. In summary, Written in the Ink is about two teenagers who are obsessed with each other when they are teenagers. When Diem gets pregnant, instead of telling Hart about the baby, her and her parents skip town. The reasoning isn’t very clear. Six years later, they end up in the same town as Hart, and he accidentally finds out that he has a kid. I expected an emotional reunion between the two, and that isn’t what happened at all.

To me, everything happened too fast, and it left no time to let the emotional parts breathe. combined with the fact that both characters were frustrating and dull at times. I kept reading expecting something good would happen, but it unfortunately never came. Instead, what came was an unnecessary other woman drama, that felt a little frustrating for how it added nothing to the plot and how it unraveled.

Final Thoughts

Written in the Ink had two frustrating and dull main characters, where not even the second chance romance or a cute kid could save it.

Review: My Goodbye Girl by Anna Gomez

If you asked me in the beginning half of the book whether I thought Tessa and Simon would be meant for each other, I’d say absolutely not. In fact, I just couldn’t figure out why or where they were going. They were like the odd couple but found themselves magnetized to each other. Despite their differences, fate hung around in the background and brought a romantic story bringing two unlikely people together in My Goodbye Girl by Anna Gomez.

Tessa Tallsman is a vibrant, carefree in the moment sort of gal. A popular romance writer on one of her book tours meets Simon Fremont, a scientist committed to making innovations in his field. They meet in Paris and despite their initial attraction, their lives couldn’t be more different. Tessa loves to travel all the time, taking her to a different place. Simon is super focused and more grounded in life placing all his focus on his work. Despite their obvious differences in lifestyle, they decide to begin their situationship and surprisingly it begins to grow. I say situationship because what they said and what happened are two different things.I think partly when you have someone who agrees to one thing but deep down feels another, that sort of complicates things by putting the relationship on different pages.

As their romance develops, their feelings grow despite not being on the same page with conflicting goals and what they want out of life. Tessa wants to enjoy life not sedentary in one place and Simon wants to settle down to be stable and consistent in one place. With no compromise on the table, as her writing career begins to flourish, and their time seems to be limited, it takes a toll on their relationship. Each time they leave each other, it gets harder to say goodbye, looming thoughts of regret begin to creep up on Tess questioning her happiness.

With things are finally getting on the right track and Tessa is ready to make a decision about her life, an accident happens that changes their lives. Tessa must let go of the past and face her fear of goodbye in the pain of possibility to receiving true love.

Honestly, my feelings are conflicted about this book. This had no impact on the quality, just my frustration with the plot. Side note, nothing wrong with the plot, I just feel jilted with how it happened. After the first half of the book, I was so frustrated with the abrupt ending of the trajectory of finally some momentum of hope in their story and then with no resolution. Simon had to grow on me because I couldn’t figure out if I truly liked him. I liked Tessa from the start with no objections. I finally got to the point where I was accepting where they were going and was optimistic. Then a huge plot twist that just came out of nowhere and we are set in the present. Or was there a transition in time? I didn’t know that we were in the past. The accident that happened was so random with no immediate explanation and then with the next part being the present and then later finding out what happened after the fact. I wish I could’ve experienced this in the moment.

Regardless of how I feel, the characters were wonderful and relatable. You really get to know Tessa and Simon on a personal level and get invested in where they are going. Not only their journey but I loved the friendship between Tessa and Riley. The plot definitely had some twists and turns that I wish had happened differently but it turned out good despite my grumbling. Honestly, after the shock after the first part, I will say the book's conclusion surprised me and leaves you feeling good.

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