A Very Late March Wrap Up!

Hello everyone and welcome back to my blog! I'm Genni, and well, I haven't been active too lately. Why, you ask? Well, my blog went to the wayside after being a full-time student and working two internships. Honestly, what was I thinking? This semester has been very rewarding, but exhausting as well. I'm looking forward to to when the semester ends this beginning of May!

Without further ado, here are the books I read all the way back in March!

I didn't read too much, only six books. In actuality, I probably read around 10 to 13, but a good portion are from my internship at Algonquin books. Since I am reading prospective manuscripts, I can't talk about those manuscripts. Also, I've been doing a ton of research for papers, but I've only been reading large chunks and chapters, not a complete book, so I couldn't count anything on goodreads.

There's Something About Sweetie by Sandhya Menon

Goodreads

Right once I got accepted for an e-arc of There's Something About Sweetie by Sandhya Menon, I went ahead and read it. I didn't care that the novel was being published May 14, I was so read a YA romance with fat rep! As a person who is overweight myself, There's Something About Sweetie really spoke to me. I knew I would love the book right from the introduction letter, and I was not disappointed by the rest of the novel. I laughed, I cried, and I recommend. 

BOOK REVIEW | Serious Moonlight by Jenn Bennett

Title: Serious Moonlight
Author: Jenn Bennett
Series? No, Serious Moonlight is a standalone
Pages: 432
Publication Date: April 16, 2019
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Source: I received an ARC of Simon Pulse in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Many thanks to the publicist for sending me the book!

After an awkward first encounter, Birdie and Daniel are forced to work together in a Seattle hotel where a famous author leads a mysterious and secluded life in this romantic contemporary novel from the author of Alex, Approximately.

Mystery-book aficionado Birdie Lindberg has an overactive imagination. Raised in isolation and homeschooled by strict grandparents, she’s cultivated a whimsical fantasy life in which she plays the heroic detective and every stranger is a suspect. But her solitary world expands when she takes a job the summer before college, working the graveyard shift at a historic Seattle hotel.

In her new job, Birdie hopes to blossom from introverted dreamer to brave pioneer, and gregarious Daniel Aoki volunteers to be her guide. The hotel’s charismatic young van driver shares the same nocturnal shift and patronizes the waterfront Moonlight Diner where she waits for the early morning ferry after work. Daniel also shares her appetite for intrigue, and he’s stumbled upon a real-life mystery: a famous reclusive writer—never before seen in public—might be secretly meeting someone at the hotel.

To uncover the writer’s puzzling identity, Birdie must come out of her shell…discovering that most confounding mystery of all may be her growing feelings for the elusive riddle that is Daniel.

Goodreads

AUTHOR GUEST POST | Kate Watson's Top 3 Greek Love Stories

Hello everyone and welcome back to my blog! I'm Genni, and today, I'm going to let someone else take the reins of Ready, Set, Read! Give a warm hand to Kate Watson, author of Lovestruck, which is out now!

Sixteen-year-old cupid-in-training Kali is in an Olympus-sized mountain of trouble. Rule number one in arrow-toting matchmaking: don't stick yourself. But accidents happen, and Kali instantly falls hard for her indie rock, bass-playing target, Benicio.

The God of Love is going to kill her. Even if he is her dad.

Being the daughter of Eros isn't all it's cracked up to be. For one thing, a girl can get jaded when her parents have the most beautiful and fatalistic love story in history. For another, immortality royally sucks when the Oracle condemns you to eternity in the wrong profession. Do the Gods care that Kali wants to ditch the love stuff and be a muse?

Nope.

To reclaim her heart and her destiny, Kali is left with no choice but to defy the Gods, tempt the Fates, date the mortal love-of-her-life, and hope she doesn't lose her best friend, Hector, in the process.

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble  

BOOK REVIEW | Gimme Some Sugar by Molly Harper

Title: Gimme Some Sugar
Author: Molly Harper
Series? Yes, the third book in the Southern Eclectic series, which you don't need to read in order.
Pages: 304
Publication Date: April 2, 2019
Publisher: Gallery Books
Source: I received an ARC of Gimme Some Sugar in exchange for an honest review via Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Lucy Brewer would never have guessed that her best friend, Duffy McCready (of McCready’s Bait Shop & Funeral Home) has been in love with her since they were kids. Fear of rejection and his own romantic complications prevented Duffy from confessing his true feelings in high school, so he stood by and watched her wed Wayne Bowman right after high school. Wayne had always been a cheapskate, so it comes as no surprise when he suffers a fatal accident while fixing his own truck.

Even as her family and friends invade Lucy’s life and insist that the new widow is too fragile to do much beyond weeping, Lucy is ashamed to admit that life without Wayne is easier, less complicated. After all, no one knew what a relentless, soul-grinding trudge marriage to Wayne had been. Only Duffy can tell she’s hiding something.

In need of a fresh start, Lucy asks Duffy to put his cabinet-building skills to use, transforming the town's meat shop into a bake shop. As the bakery takes shape, Lucy and Duffy discover the spark that pulled them together so many years ago. Could this finally be the second chance he’s always hoped for?

Once again Molly Harper “writes characters you can’t help but fall in love with” (RT Book Reviews) in this charming and entertaining love story.

Goodreads 

BOOK REVIEW | Girls With Sharp Sticks by Suzanne Young

Title: Girls with Sharp Sticks
Author: Suzanne Young
Series? Yes, the first in a duology
Pages: 400
Publication Date: March 19, 2019
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Source: I received an e-arc of Girls with Sharp Sticks in exchange for an honest review via Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The Girls of Innovations Academy are beautiful and well-behaved—it says so on their report cards. Under the watchful gaze of their Guardians, the all-girl boarding school offers an array of studies and activities, from “Growing a Beautiful and Prosperous Garden” to “Art Appreciation” and “Interior Design.” The girls learn to be the best society has to offer. Absent is the difficult math coursework, or the unnecessary sciences or current events. They are obedient young ladies, free from arrogance or defiance. Until Mena starts to realize that their carefully controlled existence may not be quite as it appears.

As Mena and her friends begin to uncover the dark secrets of what’s actually happening there—and who they really are—the girls of Innovations will find out what they are truly capable of. Because some of the prettiest flowers have the sharpest thorns.

Goodreads

BOOK REVIEW | Cold Day in the Sun by Sara Biren

Title: Cold Day in the Sun
Author: Sara Biren
Series? No, Cold Day in the Sun is a standalone novel.
Pages: 320
Publication Date: March 12, 2019
Publisher: Amulet Books
Source: I received Cold Day in the Sun via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own!

Holland Delviss wants to be known for her talent as a hockey player, not a hockey player who happens to be a girl. But when her school team is selected to be featured and televised as part of HockeyFest, her status as the only girl on the boys’ team makes her the lead story. Not everyone is thrilled with Holland’s new fame, but there’s one person who fiercely supports her, and it’s the last person she expects (and definitely the last person she should be falling for): her bossy team captain, Wes.

Goodreads 

February Wrap Up!

Hi everyone and welcome back to my blog! I'm Genni, and today I'll be wrapping up my February. Unfrotunately, I did not post nearly as much as I wanted to for February. I had all these posts planned, but school and work definitley got in the way. Things have been very busy, so the fact that I even gotten 6 posts up is pretty good for me. Hopefully you'll see more of me in March!

In February, I read a whopping 10 books! I'm pretty surprised that I made time for reading this month. Now I just have to figure out how to balance blogging in there as well.

Without further ado, here is what I read in February.

The Ticket by Heather Grace Stewart

Goodreads

If I'm being honest, The Ticket isn't anything special. I listened to the audiobook and it flew by quickly. Two almost-strangers decide to go on an adventure together after the male love interest is dumped and needs someone with the same name as his ex-girlfriend to take her ticket on an all expenses paid trip. I do remember some of the more tender moments, but the characters didn't stick with me after I finished listening. Short and sweet, The Ticket is a good palette cleanser, but it isn't the entree. 

99 Percent Mine by Sally Thorne

Goodreads

After listening to the audiobook for The Ticket, I hopped on over to the audiobook for 99 Percent Mine, written by the same author who wrote The Hating Game, a well loved romance novel. While I didn't absolutely love The Hating Game (I prefer Christina Lauren's Hating You/Dating You), I quite enjoyed 99 Percent Mine. I love romance novels about falling for your sibling's best friend (or vice versa, to be honest), and Darcy and Tom's relationship delivered on that trope. However, Darcy could be a grating character at times and her awkward situations were almost too cringe-inducing.