This is a no burn romance. Be prepared for that. But it's good. We really spend time with the characters as they get to know each other. It's also an enlightening peek at observant Muslim life and arranged marriage from different points of view. It's not without flaws - the FMC is a poet and we don't get to see enough of that. And what she decides she wants to do with her life, it's the first time it's mentioned. Minor. Still an excellent read! ♥️

OMG. This was so fun! Highly recommend the audiobook. Highly. Recommend. And this photo is a sticker from someone's Etsy shop so here's the link: https://www.etsy.com/listing/1560478492/?ref=share_ios_native_control

Finally started this that's been on my TBR forever!

Oh. My. Word. I've FINALLY finished the series!!! 🥳 🥳🥳 I started this series in 3rd grade and never completed the last two book. But it's only been 50+years, so not too long 😉 I was thinking this book lacked the personal touch and then discovered it was published posthumously, so the abruptness makes sense. That Laura did not want to live farm life was a new discovery. I don't blame her - their life was really rough.

It was okay. I wasn't nuts about the narrator's voice - too breathy. There was also a lot of telling, like "he dried me with the towel" where it could of been "he dried me off" with towel being implied, because no one is thinking he dried her off with an armadillo. This was a romance, which I kind of wasn't expecting. I was looking for more of a fun fantasy, so maybe that's why I wasn't completely thrilled with this book.

I don't get what all the foof is about. I was barely able to complete this one. It could've been about 80 pages shorter and had a lot less sex. I was never fully convinced they were in love, just lust.

This was extraordinary.

I took my time with this one because it's almost 800 pages long. I appreciated the inside look at what it's like to be President and how frustrating it must have been to be thwarted at every turn. Also, I really miss this level of sanity, intelligence and introspection. #nokings

I loved this sweet little book! It took me a minute to get into it, but when I finished I immediately read it again. I love this fantasy of dreams and how they come to us. It's a great palate-cleanser of a story that allows you to relax and get involved with the characters, but it also makes you think about your subconscious.

This book slayed me. I may never recover. Such a brutal honesty. I had to take a couple breaks, but it was worth it. Highly recommend.

Worst. Slump. Ever.
My reading challenge goal is so disappointed in me! 😭
Cant seem to get into hardly anything. Tried new genres, going to the library, Kindle books, audiobooks, book books. And I‘m starting to get twitchy. Grrrr. What should I read?

Possibly the sweetest book I‘ve ever read as an adult. 😍

Almost finished with this one. Hannah Bonam-Young is one of my new favorite authors (I may keep referring to her as Helen Bonham Young and Hannah Bonham Carpenter🤷🏾‍♀️)

If you knew the future of a relationship, what choices would you make and why?

My absolute favorite Yoon title to date.

Picked this up at Love Y‘all Fest in Georgia this weekend (along with many other books!) Going to make myself a cup of tea, climb back into bed and enjoy a restful, readful day!

This was my first Reichl after saying for years I was going to start reading her books. Glad I started here - such a great inside peek to magazine life.

I got this because there‘s a talking raccoon. Was a little disappointed that the raccoon was a smaller part than I wanted. Overall, it‘s an okay read. Could have definitely used several rereads and strong editing, but the story was fun once you get past the odd sentence structure and dialogue issues, but not gonna lie….it takes a lot.

When you have to speed read because your free audiobooks expire at the end of the month on Audible.
🤪😬😱

Okay. I‘m out. I wanted to like this so much but I just can‘t. So many things I hate from, I‘m going to walk in the jungle at night by myself, to I don‘t want to have this reputation but I‘m going to conduct myself in a way that perpetuates this reputation in front of people I barely know. 🙄 And what kind of person brings a vibrator, and fancy underwear (in case there‘s a night out) to an archeological dig but no batteries or condoms? Ugh.

I was a little disappointed by this one. I was really looking forward to it, but felt like the relationships were a little contrived. Also, I was a little bored by the male leads. Not sure if I‘m going to finish the series. Should I?

A fun read! Made me literally LOL more than once.

I don‘t know why I have such a hard time with most of her books. This one took me a while to get through and I can‘t say exactly why!

This was a first for me. I spent more time feeling sorry for the male protagonist, hoping he would get out of the relationship. I felt Liyah held all the emotional cards and Daniel was always the one walking on eggshells waiting for her to toss him crumbs of affection. And the issues that seemed major to me were glossed over while we spent a lot of time on things that didn‘t matter much. It wasn‘t a terrible read, but it wasn‘t satisfying either.

Books I added to my TBR solely because of the cover and without reading any part of the synopsis. 😍

I feel this remark.

I had to stop after 3 chapters. It‘s a modern version of Hades & Persephone, but she‘s just too dumb for me. She‘s made so many poor, unjustified decisions and I‘m only on chapter 3! Life‘s too short, bruh. #dnf

Apparently I got the audiobook ARC….🤭😄

Oh my! I just loved this book! It‘s sort of a Cinderella reimagining, that I didn‘t realize until just now. It‘s romantic and sexy and funny and heartbreaking all at once. Definitely recommend.

I‘m a little blown away by how much I liked this! I mean, I hate the main character and find nothing redeeming about her AND we spend A LOT of time in her head. It‘s dark and funny and full of microaggressions, self-delusion and green-eyed jealousy. I devoured it.

Picked this up on Saturday at the Love Ya‘ll Book Fest here in Atlanta. I adored Seressia Glass‘ The Love Con and this one was even better! I loved how the relationship grew between the leads and how they tempered their growing attraction with their love and respect for the work they were doing. We also have two neurodivergent characters and we get to see how our female character interacts with them.

It was interesting but didn‘t exactly go in the direction I wanted it to go. Still, a good read about a part of American history that is never mentioned in school.

This book. OMG. So good. The magical world is layered so seamlessly over our current world and the characters deal with all the stupid crap we deal with today in spite of their abilities. But it‘s also a story about becoming and how that can be a painful process. It‘s a world of sirens, gargoyles, elokos (that last one I had to look up!) I can‘t recommend this one enough.

I‘m so confused by this book. For the first half I thought it was contemporary, then I realized they were talking about traveling by horse and using lanterns. But the language is contemporary. And there are random things thrown in that will give you a headache if you need context. I read it because…cute cover, funny title and 5 ⭐️ Goodreads reviews. But then “lemon meringue”, “porcelain doll” and other cliches messed up my timeline.

My last 4 books of 2023 were….underwhelming. I wanted something light, fun and maybe a little magic thrown in for good measure. What I got were books that were too long and filled with extraneous googah, too much sex with too little chemistry. Bottom line is there were HUGE swaths of books where I was just bored. I did finish all but Mr Malcom‘s List, so there‘s that. 🤷🏾‍♀️

Hi! We‘re hosting a book talk for New Years on an app called WhatNot. Usually people sell things (like books) but tonight we‘re just talking about our favorite reads of 2023. It‘s a casual hang and I thought maybe you‘d like to join. It‘ll be under the name Posh_Salad. HAPPY 2024!!!

This was “meh” for me. Very predictable. The fun part was the beginning of each chapter that talked about fairy bargains and lore.

Okay. Everyone seems to like this so I‘ll stick with it. I‘m halfway through and I‘m a little bored. Since it was described as Firefly meets Breakfast Club, I was expecting a lot more adventure. It‘s heavy on romantic relationships which are sometimes a little tedious.

First things first. On the cover they‘re flying on a broom. That does not happen in the book at all, so don‘t get your hopes up. 😁

It was okay. A little boring once the couple got together. I did like the talking cat though. Maybe he‘ll get his own book?

I‘m not 100% enjoying this book. The main characters are book lovers in different countries who meet on a dating site. The interference of a meddling cousin (whom I LOATHE) who keeps setting her cousin up with inappropriate men. Who does that? The story is also set today, but reads like a much older book. Like the 80s maybe? Everyone is supposedly in their 30s or younger but well versed in classic lit, old b&w movies and letter writing. 🙄

Well that was just a frigging delightful read! 😍

Was very confused by this. The cover shows a dark-skinned African-American woman, right? Between this being narrated by a Caucasian woman and more on the cover than in the book about any indication about race/culture and this being a professor/student romance, I was very confused. Add some mispronounced words and odd breaks, or no breaks and this is not a great listen. It seems like a project in creative writing class, not a published work.

2nd book in the series. Aside from the crazy repetition of the narrator‘s ”imperious look”, this was a fun, quick read. It was my first read for APIDA month. Looking forward to the next 4 titles.

Well that was fun! Spy family? ✔️ Latine protagonist? ✔️ Battling racism? ✔️ Making friends? ✔️ Undercover espionage? ✔️

Loved this title! So much fun!

I couldn‘t finish even though I‘m almost to the end. It‘s a lot of “this terrible secret” and jumping to conclusions with way too much lack of communication. The male protag has an all-consuming problem that only shows up at the very end. The terrible secrets are really not that terrible. The final straw was NOT telling the love interest the bad guy was stalking her even though he‘d made direct contact. 🙄🤦🏾‍♀️

Okay. The audiobook was terrible. I don‘t know who chose the narrator, but clearly she was NOT into this story. She literally put me to sleep. I returned that copy and picked up the paperback. Muuuuuuch better!!!
I liked the characters and how they interacted with each other. The story premise was fun and new. Looking forward to more from this author!

Such a cliffhanger! On to book 2!

I enjoyed this far more than Tessa‘s story. I related more to Lenore on a much deeper level, from getting beyond family expectations for your education to getting out of your own way to find happiness.

Okay, I liked the book. The problem was it was a lot. I had to keep going back and re-reading because I forgot who, what or how things mentioned earlier in the story. There was a lot of, “wait! Who is that again?” during my read.

That being said, I did love the world, the concept and the characters. It‘s a good foray into the Afro-futurism genre.