I really enjoyed this new and original take on epic fantasy. A young woman is given the chance to live and falls into her favorite fantasy epic. It is funny and full of delightful characters. It did feel slow at times and could have used a bit more editing, but I really liked the overall story. I look forward to book 2. 4⭐️

This was an excellent entry in this series. I can‘t really dive into it as it is book 4 of the series. This does have great character moments, action and moments of anguish. I will be getting to the next book next month for sure! 5⭐️
#roll100 pick done!

A solid and overall fun historical romance with a considerable amount of steam. I am interested in checking out more by this author. 3.5⭐️

This is a gut punch of a read. If you read the original trilogy or saw the movies, you know this is going to be tragic. However, the author still gives us hope@and keeps us reading and then crushes you to itty bitty pieces. Still an excellent read, but now I need to go rewatch/reread the original so I know it is not all for nothing. 4.5⭐️

I think if you work in a library this is for you. I‘m bored.
#hailthebail

This was a fine read. This is a comfort series for me, nothing super surprising and the characters are lovable. A little bit of annoying miscommunication, but it was short lived. 3.5⭐️

The writing is good here, but the story feels like a mix of already done stories. It‘s like a Taylor Jenkins Reid period piece mixed with a Nora Roberts romance, but not as good as either. I‘m not always a fan of Emily Henry but her stories always felt new. This feels very unoriginal and disjointed. 2⭐️
#bookspin done as I got this from the library!

I really liked this, but I can see where others may not. This is less mystery, more family drama. This is less about Molly. This is her grandmother‘s story, which is very sad. So I can see fans of the lighter previous books may not love this one. It is an intriguing story though and I definitely recommend. You will want to read the previous books first to get the full impact. 4⭐️

I haven‘t read a great historical romance in a while and this was a breath of fresh air. Our two protagonists are both delightful and lovely. The romance is swoony and just enough steaminess. I definitely recommend and am adding the rest of this series to my TBR! 5⭐️

Here is my #bookspinbingo board for my May TBR. After a not great reading month in April, I‘m giving myself more freedom.
My #bookspin pick will be a Library Book
My #doublespin pick will be a Book of the Month pick

Tagged was my favorite of the month and the best horror I‘ve read in some time. Filled with both social and gory horror moments, it is a sucker punch of a read. Only read if you are a fan of actual horror, as there are some very graphic and gross scenes.

A sweet cozy fantasy with a delightful cast of characters. The middle gets a little messy, but over all a nice cute read. 4⭐️
2 more #bookspinbingos! And another #roll100 book off my physical tbr!

This was a very fun, cozy mystery about a mom who maybe witnesses a crime and the chaos ensues. A fun collection of characters, some nice surprises and a little bit of romance. I look forward to more books with Mavis! 4.5⭐️
Another #bookspinbingo!

I really liked the characters, the world and the non-romance fantasy plot. A little bit magical school, a little bit dungeon crawl-very fun. What made me not love this was the romance. The monster/somewhat omegaverse erotic portions of this book were repetitive-this book is definitely too long-and I never really felt a true connection between the characters. I wanted to love this, but ultimately I was disappointed. 3⭐️

This is a very steamy book. It also a plot that I have read multiple times before, and the characters are not interesting enough for me to care. I made it 39% and I‘m done. #hailthebail

An “eat the rich” family drama first, locked room murder mystery second. Overall entertaining with a good twisty ending, if a little slow paced. 4⭐️
Another #bookspinbingo!

The enslavement of a main character just does not allow me to be invested in the romance. #hailthebail
Continuing a month of way too many DNF‘s 😣

I received this as an ARC from NetGalley for an honest review.
This is a truly excellent and grotesque horror novel. This takes place in New York during the COVID pandemic. Our main character Cora is an American of Chinese descent who has model wannabe sister and Cora deals with some anxiety and OCD tendencies. When something absolutely horrific happens she falls into a job cleaning up after crime scenes.⬇️

So April has been a rough reading month, so I am mixing things up for May. It‘s my birthday month so I want to give myself more freedom. So I have 10 planned reads-due to #roll100, book clubs and just high interest. Then I will aim to read from the library, a BOTM pick, an ARC, some KU picks and some audiobooks I own. Should be fun!

This was a nice spooky ghost story with a very sweet main character. Not amazing, but a nice quick read. 3.5⭐️
#bookspinbingo!

This is a DNF for now. I do hope to come back to it, but I‘m feeling a reading slump and dense fantasy is just not working for me right now. I‘ll probably come back to this in the summer, but off the TBR for now. #hailthebail #bookspinbingo!

The return of Jennifer Crusie brings a fun cozy romantic mystery.
Strengths of this book - trademark sassy banter and a great main character in Liz Danger. This also builds a fun small town location with several fun side characters.
Weakness - the cop hero feels out of a 90‘s romance and I did not 100% feel chemistry between the characters. I could see this character improving and I liked everyone else enough to check out more in the series. 4⭐️

Here are my #roll100 picks for my #MayTBR

Rewind it Back by Liz Tomforde - this comes out next month
Mislaid in Parts Half Known & Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear by Seanan McGuire - I will be caught up on the Wayward Children‘s series!

I got this as an ARC from NetGalley. Unfortunately I DNF‘d this fairly early as it had a main character that included several traits and actions that I am just not a fan of. Still a fan of this author, this one is just not for me. #hailthebail I am facing a reading slump so trying a silly Ruby Dixon next!

This is not a bad book at all, it is just making me uncomfortable and is just not for me. #hailthebail #dnf

Finally returning to this world after quite a while. This book is almost non-stop battles and our main characters are going through multiple hardships. I am curious to see where the story goes from here. 4⭐️
Another #roll100 pick done!

Finally getting to reading this popular middle grade adventure. It was very fun! I don‘t know if I will continue this series but I can see why it is so popular! 4⭐️

Overall a fun steamy paranormal romance. Not quite as entertaining as the original series - this features the children of the original series. 3.5⭐️

The writing is interesting but the story is boring me a little. I may come back to this one later. DNF
#roll100 pick off the TBR for now this was my #doublespin pick as well.

This is the darkest of the series so far, but still beautifully written. 4⭐️ because I didn‘t enjoy it but appreciate the story none the less.

A beautiful, not always easy contemporary romance. A couple that is perfect together but live 2000 miles apart and are both dealing with family trauma. Definitely check content notes before reading this one. I definitely highly recommend and am such a fan of Abby Jimenez! 5⭐️

Overall, an entertaining but slightly predictable mystery thriller involving amateur sleuths. Very engaging and fast read and I do recommend! 4⭐️

This book had a lot of potential. It has a very unique sci-fantasy world and a very interesting premise. The problem is the book tries to shoehorn in a romance with two incredibly bland and boring main characters. I really probably would have DNF‘d this if it wasn‘t for my personal bookclub. I think this could have been longer to develop characters more or have just not bothered with the romance. 2.5⭐️
March #bookspin finished a bit late.

This was a delightful contemporary romance. Both main characters were both lovable and flawed and their romance bloomed very naturally. I also really liked it not having an unnecessary third act break up-which just would not have fit these characters. Elsie Silver‘s writing gets better & better each new book. 5⭐️
#bookspin pick done!

Here is my #bookspinbingo board for my #AprilTBR
My #bookspin pick is Wild Side by Elsie Silver
My #doublespin pick is Drive Your Plow Over the Bones by Olga Tokarczuk

It should be a fun eclectic month of reading!

A fun twisty domestic thriller, that is just a touch too long. 4⭐️

I had three 5 star reads this month, but my favorite has to be the latest installment of J.D. Robb‘s (aka Nora Roberts) In Death series. A very entertaining mystery with a look at a favorite character‘s mysterious past.

Here are my March reads!
19 books read
1 DNF not shown - Art of Starting Over
14 via audiobook 1 ARC
4 ebooks - 1 ARC from #Netgalley
1 physical book
5 books off my physical tbr

Favorite reads: The Gathering, Bonded in Death, This Inevitable Ruin & The Wraith King
Overall a good reading month, just a couple stinkers.

This installment of the Finlay Donovan series was really fun and had some very satisfying moments. One of the better in the series! 4⭐️

Another blast of an adventure with this delightful cast of characters. There were some truly harrowing sections too. The only bummer is I am now caught up on this series and have to wait for the next one! 5⭐️
#doublespin pick done and another #bookspinbingo

This is such a good series. About a found family finding love and also avoiding various disasters and murders. Can‘t wait until the next one! 4.5⭐️

Here is my #AprilTBR!
As always I am participating in #bookspin #doublespin #bookspinbingo #Roll100 and from YouTube Books and Lala‘s Buzzword challenges. Water Moon is my RL book club read and I need to start that ASAP!

Here are my #Roll100 picks for my #AprilTBR time to build the rest of it!

Age of War by Michael J Sullivan
Valor by John Gwynne
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones by Olga Tokarczuk

Overall, I liked this installment of the Wayward Children. In this one we get to explore the other school for children who have entered mysterious doors. The one thing I didn‘t love was the body shaming, it just felt unnecessary for the plot. 4⭐️

A fun twisty thriller about a woman who has a unique podcast where her traumatic past comes back with a vengeance. I definitely recommend this one as an audiobook. Not perfect, there were a few moments that were a little implausible and a couple poor choices by the main character, but a fun read. 4⭐️
#bookspinbingo!

This was really bad. It wants to be Legends and Lattes but is full of terrible jokes, a complete mess of a story. Also it felt like a bunch of short stories pieced together to make a book. Do not recommend, I only finished for a reading prompt. 1⭐️

Though it had a slow start, and felt very GoT inspired, I enjoyed this epic fantasy book 1. I will continue in the series, hopefully in the not too distant future. 4⭐️
#roll100 pick done

This was a very entertaining Romantasy! I really liked the world building, characters and the overarching story. It also had a very cool magic system. My one criticism is that the book could have used a little more editing. The middle of the book did drag a bit and there were a few repetitive sections. Overall I would definitely recommend this book and look forward to more in this world. 4.25⭐️

I received an ARC of this from NetGalley for an honest review.
Overall, this was a solid thriller. It had some fun twists and turns, and the story loved leaving us hanging at the end of chapters-which did keep me interested and reading.
Where the book was lacking was in character development. I did like our characters overall. The big problem was our protagonists.⬇️

Overall, I‘m giving this a pick, as I really do like Stephen Graham Jones unique storytelling style. It‘s definitely not my favorite of his books. This feels more like a character study and/or a series of essays. The subject happens to be werewolves. So the prose can be a bit meandering and disconnected. Still worth checking out if you are a fan of the author. 3.5⭐️
#roll100 pick done!