Review: Movie Star: They Always Say They're Single by Jessica Simpson

Being a fan of Jessica Simpson growing up, curiosity and nostalgia drew me into this short. I always loved her beautiful voice and her talent was entertaining. Much of my knowledge of her during that time included magazine articles, her reality show or just simply connecting with her music. It was disheartening seeing her portrayed a certain way by the media because at the end of the day, many of us just know them as entertainers but people forget they are real people. This was a refreshing reflection getting to learn about this side of her personality and her social life.

Beyond the gossip, it was nice getting a glimpse of her opening up about exploring relationships after being with the first man she ever loved. Her experience and sharing her thoughts, her experiences can be relatable on a personal level. Her growth and lessons she learned through those experiences allowed her to understand what not to do and just be in the moment.

After reading this short, I wish that I had listened to the audible version first. She did really well narrating her book. This was one of those shorts that the audible version made the experience much more fun. Who knew she was so funny? Seeing how beyond her singing she created a lifestyle brand for herself, I think this would make a great autobiographical series of shorts continuing with her story. I wish this could’ve been longer but overall, it was interesting.

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Review: Collide by Bal Khabra

Summary

An ultimatum from her professor thrusts Summer Preston into an unexpected collision with hockey captain Aiden Crawford. She’s caught in a delicate balance between fulfilling her lifelong dream of becoming a sport psychologist and veering far away from this god-awful sport.

For Aiden Crawford, being the captain of the college hockey team has its perks, except when a reckless mistake by his team threatens to jeopardize their entire season. Consequently, his coach nominates him as the subject of a research paper. It's the last thing he wants to do, especially since the girl leading the project looks like she could wield his skates as a weapon.

Summer can't stand his blasé approach to life, and Aiden doesn't understand her uptight, scheduled one. They are off to a rocky start, and provoking each other is what they do best, but defeat isn't something either of them is willing to accept.

Review

I am pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed Collide. Recently there has been an increased desire for hockey books. This can be traced back to Tiktok, and because of this—it seems like almost all sport romances are about hockey. We have unfortunately fallen into a pattern of all romances following the same formula, and it’s starting to feel that authors are adding tropes because they know that readers will eat them up. The tropes are starting to feel repetitive and ineffective. I was fully expecting Collide to be a disappointment. But why did I pick it up? Because I love a good cover, and this cover was too cute. I was fully expecting this to fall into the same hockey star and smart girl trope that are filling the market.

Yes, it did feel tropey and cliché at times, but I absolutely enjoyed this. I found Aiden and Summer to be swoony worthy main characters. They both were charming, and played off each other well. There was a lot of back and forth with them in the beginning, but that aspect didn’t hinder my enjoyment of the story. I actually found it to work. And I thought that Summer’s hesitation with the romance was relatable given her past.

There were several grammatical errors throughout this book. I normally don’t point them out because I normally don’t notice them. However, I caught them every time. By no means did it hinder my reading experience. I still very much enjoyed the book, I just wish that it had gone through another round of editing. Another issue I had was the timeline. At times it was hard to understand when something was happening. It often felt unorganized and at times I would have to go back and re-read it to see if I missed something.

Final Thoughts

Collide can be categorized as yet another hockey book that follows the same plot as several others. However, the selling point of this book is Aiden and Summer. They exceeded my expectations, and despite plot errors and grammatical errors, they sell this book. There were so many times I would read something with a smile on my face.

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Review: A Discovery: Love and Other Things: A Spicy Professor Student, Age Gap Romance by Victoria Woods

Summary

"Eight weeks excavating the Egyptian desert under a world-renowned archaeologist."

That’s what Kitty Taha expected when she accepted the position for a third-year field internship. She certainly never thought she’d find herself literally under said archaeologist.

Dr. James Campbell is everything Kitty was not expecting in a professor: broody, moody, and hot as hell. She might have been able to excuse his mercurial ways, if only he hadn’t chosen violence and berated her in front of the entire dig crew and a collection of mummified cats. With no luggage, a sprained ankle, and a suspension notice from Dr. Jerk-Face Tight-Ass, her internship is already a complete disaster, and it’s only the second day!

If she wants to graduate with the rest of her class next year, Kitty needs to complete this internship as scheduled. Seeing no other option, she swallows her pride and decides to play nice—but she can barely offer a bogus apology complemented by her fakest smile before James completely disarms her, leaving her confused yet very turned on.

Can they keep their chemistry a secret? Or will her discovery of love and other things derail her career before it even starts?

Review:

The romance was the selling point of this book, and unfortunately is the least interesting part about it. The interesting parts were the setting and Kitty’s major. I’ve never read a book with an archaeologist, and it was very interesting to read about Kitty’s discovery and reasoning for taking the internship. Not to spoil anything, but it had something to do with her family. I would have loved to see that expanded on and spend more time with her family considering it was a big part for why she put herself in that situation. I would have also enjoyed more time spent exploring Egypt, and learning more about it. Those are the things I craved and strived for whenever the book attempted to sell the relationship between Kitty and James.

To put it frankly, everything happened too quickly. Their relationship just didn’t seem believable to me, and at times their chemistry felt questionable. They barely had any interactions, and then they are kissing. There was no longing or any secret moments. And James felt like a mystery. Kitty was open to him, and he barely gave much of anything. I would have loved his POV to get inside his head to see what he was thinking, and to learn more about him.

Final Thoughts

A Discovery: of Love and Other Things fails to deliver on a romance that is anything more than fine. The two characters didn’t have any emotional chemistry nor did the progression of their romance feel smooth. James in particular felt immature and his actions were questionable at times.

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Review: Pity Date by Whitney Dineen

Pity Date is the first book in Whitney Dineen’s Pity series. A fun rom com that gives you all that you need to keep flipping those pages. It’s got the small town romance, a cute friends to lovers trope and a slow burn that is worth every minute.

It all started in a little town in Wisconsin. Faith, a small town baker has just got her life flipped upside down. Preparing for her upcoming best friend’s wedding, anticipating one of her own, gets the biggest surprise when she learns that her fiance decided to dump her at the worst possible awkward moment. While trying to pick up the pieces of her relationship and find the strength to move on, she encounters what seems too good to be true walk into her bakery and what a welcomed surprise.

Teddy Helms, a Hollywood actor is going through his own situation currently. After being dumped by his girlfriend who saw another up and comer’s coat tail to ride on, decided to get off the grid and spend some time with his grandfather in Wisconsin. When he sees a nervous wreck Faith trying to get through her day, he decides to pitch in to ease her mind. As they chat and enjoy each other’s company, there seems to be a little spark that ignites but just one problem. With all that just happened to Faith, this little misunderstanding, Teddy doesn’t want to ruin a chance at a beautiful friendship. So, he will just not clarify and see what happens. Just an fyi, I don’t want to ruin the fun so I’m not going to spoil what happened.

As they grow their budding friendship, things seem to be what each other could’ve hoped for. The more time they spend together and grow closer, a secret is revealed that opens the door to everything they ever wanted. As the wedding approaches and the awkward anticipation of having to come in contact with her ex, Teddy offers to attend to give her ex something to regret. Unfortunately, this Hallmark journey seemed to turn into a Lifetime movie when Teddy’s ex comes crashing into what was supposed to be a special day turns out to be a nightmare. Will Teddy and Faith get their happy ever after?

What I loved is how Faith and Teddy are so relatable and lovable that after their broken hearts, you want so desperately for them to have their hea. Despite the wrenches thrown in the journey, it was a story that was worth the read. The other characters add some fun, especially Teddy’s grandpa and Faith’s grandma who brings a great sense of humor that will keep you laughing.

This was an amazing start to what seems like to be a fun series. I’m definitely looking forward to the second book in the series, The Pity Party.

The series will continue with Missy’s journey. She’s got a story to tell so it should be interesting how everything unfolds for her.

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Review: A Queen of Thieves and Chaos by K. A. Tucker

About the Book

From internationally bestselling author K.A. Tucker comes the third novel in her Fate and Flame series, an adult fantasy story that should be read in series order.

"You betrayed your brother to steal a broken crown."

The kingdom stands on the brink of chaos. Atticus' grip on the realm is faltering, and as threats arise ever closer to home he is driven to increasingly desperate acts to hold onto power.

With Islor's fate now in the balance, Zander stands to defend the Rift from the oncoming Ybarisan army. With the king's forces scattered, he must risk unlikely new alliances.

And behind the walls of Ulysede, secrets wait for its new queen. Romeria knows that the paths of the hidden city will lead her to answers. But will they be enough to save the realm – or is their fate already sealed?

Review:

I’ve been waiting for this book all year, and after reading I feel changed as a person. Let me explain. I thought this was the conclusion, therefore, I was expecting it to have this epic ending. Before reading, I quickly learned that it was not, and that in addition to Zander and Romeria’s POV there would be new POVs. I was a little hesitant. In the past, I’ve had a bad experience with authors adding new POVs. Most of the time, they feel unnecessary and these new characters aren’t as interesting as the original characters. See, I absolutely adore Romeria and Zander. There’s so much adoration in my heart that I would read books about them doing laundry. I didn’t want their story to be watered down by new characters.

Remember how I mentioned I was a changed person after reading this book? Well, all my fears went out the window when I finished and now I have new fears. Firstly, it felt like for most of this book Zander and Romeria were separated. A war is raging on, and they have stuff to do. And as much as it pains me, it made sense for them to be separated. I really loved Romeria’s journey and her accepting her new role as Queen. Her growth within this series is amazing, and I’m so excited to see where she ends up. As for Zander, his chapters were fine. They were necessary to the plot, but they felt like the weakest part of the book. To me, his best moments were in the few scenes he had with Romeria. The two of them are amazing together. And I’m currently very fearful for their future. If the author does expend more of those tiny hints she was dropping, I’m going to be absolutely devastated. And I’ll need five years to recover.

Let’s move on before I get emotional. The new POVs added so much more layers to this story, and they were perfectly woven in. And were all rich characters. Especially Gracen. She was a small character in the previous book, and she is such an inspiring and great character. Her and Atticus’ romance really shined in this book. It’s so complex and completely different from Romeria and Zander. And their relationship really made up for the fact that Zander and Romeria’s relationship was on the back burner.

Final Thoughts

I can’t quite stop thinking about A Queen of Thieves of Chaos, and how much it kept me on my toes, and how engaged I was. This book beautifully expands on the seeds already planted in the previous books. It was so easy to dive back into this world. The author does provide reminders. And despite the main romance being sidelined, the book still provides a worthy successor. I loved this installation. The book blew me away, and now I’m left to just sit and think about the possibilities of what could happen. The final book comes out in September 2024, and that isn’t soon enough because I needed it in my hands last week!

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Review: The Second Chance Hotel by Sierra Godfrey

The Second Chance Hotel by Sierra Godfrey is a heart warming and emotionally resonant novel that explores themes of love, forgiveness and the power of second chances. Set against a beautiful small Greek island placing us at a charming little inn, we are invited on a journey of self-discovery and transformation.

Amelia Lang, is a woman whose life has really taken some unexpected turns. On a whim, she decides to escape to the Mediterranean on a now or never self discovery exploration that will have you filled with envy wanting to be there along with her. Finding herself at the same place where her parents stayed years ago, there is something special about the Ria Hotel that inspires something new.

Things take a sharp turn when after drinking too much, she finds herself married to fellow guest, James. Talk about morning after shock but if the marriage wasn’t enough, they discover they have inherited the hotel that they are staying at. As they find themselves with mixed emotions about the daunting tasks of what to do with it, we get to know them and the other people on the island, who bring charm, humor and warmth to the narrative, leaving us invested and falling in love with their journey.

There are so many things to love about this book, especially when it comes to accidental love and second chances.The chemistry between Amelia and James was just right. It wasn’t forced. The natural progression with its ups and downs really gave us something to really root for. These two were so different but so right. The distraction of their situation made the anticipation of the developing romance more special.

Amelia will resonate with so many women. I will say that I live vicariously through her with that mug throw but violence isn’t the answer. If you read the book, you will understand. Her growth as a character was so heartwarming. She ran from her problems but as she progresses she becomes more self assured, independent and confident. The female support that surrounded her added something special that made her journey more fulfilling.

Beside the beautiful story, I love how we are placed right in the heart of this wonderful place allowing us to be there in the moment. Her imagery creates an engaging experience that makes you want to visit and join them.

We are taken on an emotional rollercoaster sprinkled with some humor along with unexpected turns that lead to a wonderful hea.

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