amateur_bookworm's reviews
525 reviews

hopeful lighthearted relaxing medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

This is a cute and fun small town romance. This is also the debut novel for a new indie author!

The characters are relatable and I quickly found myself pulled into the rhythm of the story. I don’t think I was to even the halfway point before I started swooning for West. It is a slow burn and you can feel the chemistry between Harper and West. I especially liked that there is no third act breakup!

I love the girl gang vibes, in addition to the romance storyline. The revival of the small town at their hands is fun to watch play out. And the super cute nephew and adorable dog are both just cherries on top!

I think this is a great start to the series. It leaves you with a good guess that it will Avery’s story coming in the next book and I will definitely read it.

Content Warnings

Beautiful Bastard by Christina Lauren

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

My summary:

Chloe Mills is close to finishing her MBA while working at Ryan Media. And her boss, Bennet Ryan, is a complete asshole. But Bennet has been completely obsessed with her for months and sparks fly when he acts on it.

My thoughts:

If you’re looking for average smut, no plot, unlikeable characters, and a single female narrator despite being a dual POV book, then buckle up, I’ve got just the audiobook for you.

The spice comes early and out of left field, and then really doesn’t let up for the rest of the book. There is no tension or buildup. Just smut that’s not even very good. At first, I thought the hate sex would be nice. But it got so cringey. And, let me guess: They don’t care if someone sees them. (Insert repeated eye rolls).

I really didn’t like Bennett Ryan’s character. The audacity of things he says! And her responses! Yikes. Also, we get it. He’s an asshole. (Insert more eye rolls).

The narrator is Grace Grant. I already wasn’t really enjoying her narration, but I basically completely lost interest as soon as I realized she is doing Bennett’s chapters too. Would it have been that hard to get a male narrator for his chapters? I’m not sure I’ve had a single female narrator for a romance book with dual female and male POV chapters before and I don’t like it.

Welp. Overall, this was not worth the audible credit.

Content Warnings

Not in Love by Ali Hazelwood

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

My summary:

Rue Siebert and Eli Kilgore find themselves on the opposite sides of a hostile takeover. After initially meeting on a hook up app, their attraction to each other is undeniable but the burgeoning relationship is strained by both past trauma and work adversity.

My thoughts:

I read this book when it first came out in June 2024. Now, two months later, I listened to the audiobook. I really enjoyed this one. I got lost in listening to it while working, which is exactly my hope for audiobooks.

I love all of Ali Hazelwood’s different books and writing styles. This is not her usual STEM romcom. But there’s still STEM, it’s still witty, and it’s has more spice than her other books. At this point, I would read a phone book if she wrote it.

This is narrated by Callie Dalton and Jason Clarke. Initially, I didn’t love this female narrator, but, as it went along, her voice fit Rue well. I enjoyed Jason’s voice as Eli and I feel like he complemented the story well.

Overall, I adore this book and enjoyed the audiobook. I caution anyone to read the blurb and author’s not before diving in because it is a bit different than Ali’s other books.

Content Warnings

Black Sheep by Brynne Weaver, Alexa Harlowe

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dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

My summary:

Bria Brooks escaped from a cult as a young girl. Now a graduate student studying memory and interview techniques, she’s also a serial k!ller hunting anyone supporting cults. Eli Kaplan is a professor specializing in Forensic Psychology and quickly finds himself infatuated with Bria and sparks fly in their forbidden romance.

My thoughts:

This is a very dark romance. Super dark. As in, absolutely f*cked up dark. I alternated between mostly hating it but enjoying some parts of it.

I was ready to DNF it after the first chapter. But I did stick it all the way out. I enjoyed Bria and Eli’s forbidden romance and their banter. The spicy scenes are definitely spicy. And Kathryn Fletcher is my favorite character out of the entire story. But I disliked pretty much everything else.

I loved Butcher & Blackbird and Leather & Lark by Brynne Weaver. I saw her post about this book and i immediately downloaded it from Kindle Unlimited. I enjoy the comedic aspects of B&B and L&L to balance out the dark themes—but that aspect is almost completely lacking in this book. Overall, this one was just not for me.

Content Warnings

Five Broken Blades by Mai Corland

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

My summary:

Five unlikely assassins are summoned together to overthrow the treacherous and evil king. Each of them has their own motivation, as well as deeply hidden secrets. The odds stack up against them as they band together in an increasingly difficult assassination attempt. But, remember, it’s only treason if you fail.

My thoughts:

This book turned into such an adventure! Like most fantasy books, I had no idea what was going on in the first hundred or so pages. It initially felt like a lot of characters, but as the story goes on, switching between the different POVs is my favorite part. It leaves you on such a cliffhanger in some parts when it jumps to a different character in the next chapter. Once I sorted out the who’s who of the book, I really fell into the rhythm of the story. And I flew through the last hundred pages. I can’t wait for the next book in the series and I preordered it as soon as I shut this book.

I really came to love all the characters and the way they band together in parts of the book. Each character’s backstory is unique and complicated, which gives depth to the story. It’s hard to pick a favorite, because they’re all so different. Ok, so, really, my favorites are Sora and Royo. But, I do like all of the main characters.

I had seen a handful of reviews for this book but the gorgeous special edition is the real reason I bought it. I adore the design on the sprayed edges. It is legit almost too pretty to read. I honestly mostly read this on my Kindle and stared at the book on my shelf as a trophy.

There’s a pronunciation guide at the beginning (of the Kindle edition)! Ya’ll! At the start! Pronunciation! I don’t have to think “aghjhseh” in my head every time I can’t guess how to say a name or a place! And I don’t have to wait and listen to the audiobook to realize that I’ve mispronounced every single name! Please, every fantasy author, please do this.

Content Warnings

Coach Sully by Sloane St. James

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lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

My summary:

Kendra Ames is a TV producer on the hot seat of finding a main star for a dating show that she is producing. She approaches Lee Sullivan, a retired NHL star, to be the star—but they end up hitting it off with each other instead. And when an offer comes through from the network that will give them each their dream careers, Kendra and Sully have to manage him dating other women on TV while she produces it.

My thoughts:

For a smut book, I thought this was actually pretty great. Lots of smut (starting really early on, ya’ll) but it still has a plot. I read this in basically two sittings so obviously I liked it. It has also made me realize that it’s really hard to rate a smut book with kinks that are not your kinks, but I digress. I love the women-positive messages in here, which is not quite how I’ve found most smut books to go, and that on its own gives it a high rating for me.

I really like the angle of the new women’s professional ice hockey league. That whole story line was very female positive and, being that this league doesn’t exist yet but could, I loved the glimpse of what it would be like in the hypothetical future. I also like how strong Kendra is and her competency in her career and the respect Scully shows her.

This is a smutty romance. I didn’t see a list of trigger warnings at the beginning and I don’t want to list them all here because some are spoilers. If you’re sensitive at all or don’t like a lot of detailed smut, just skip this one. There are a lot of kinks here that are pretty cringey for me so it’s hard to not downgrade the overall rating for that, but I think it is still well written for being a smutty romance.

The author’s note at the very beginning details that she is a white author writing a black female main character. Given the criticism I’ve seen directed at so many other authors who have chosen to write main characters as different races or cultures than their own, I think it’s pretty bold. I applaud her reasoning and appreciate that she laid it out in the beginning, which hopefully dissuades some of that criticism heading her way. I think reading evokes empathy, and the more diverse the stories are, by any type of author, is a good thing.

Content Warnings

Meet Me at the Lake by Carley Fortune

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

My summary:

Reeling in grief after the unexpected loss of her mother, Fern Brookbanks finds herself in the one place she never wanted to be: the resort her mom and family before her has ran for decades. With her ex-boyfriend as the manager, Fern is struggling with what to do next. And it’s only compounded when Will Baxter shows up, the man she spent 24 hours with ten years ago that changed the course of her life.

My thoughts:

This is the first book I’ve read by Carley Fortune. I had high hopes for it but it fell pretty flat for me. I do like her writing style with her descriptions and analogies. But it mostly felt like a novel length justification of cheating on her long term boyfriend with a one day fling ten years ago.

The plot moved pretty slow for me. I didn’t feel very invested in outcome for any of the characters. I was fairly bored with it through most of it. It literally spells out their chemistry but I’m wasn’t really *feeling* any chemistry. The sex scenes felt abrupt.

Jaime’s presence in the story is confusing. I thought it was initially setting up for a love triangle but, instead, Jamie’s role throughout the story was really vague.

The dialogue is hard to follow (who is speaking, what they are referring to). I was constantly finding myself having to go back a paragraph or two and reread.

The entire book just left me feeling like “what exactly did I just read?!” And the more that I sit and think about the major plot points and resolution of them (or lack of) the more confused I’m getting. This was definitely a miss for me.

Content Warnings

Searching for Sunday: Loving, Leaving, and Finding the Church by Rachel Held Evans

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informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.5

My summary:

Rachel Held Evans discusses her personal journey of “loving, leaving, and finding the church”. She discusses her own doubts, her frustrations with the church, and her realization that loving Jesus is a community activity, not an individual one.

My thoughts:

Reading this, at times, felt like Rachel Held Evans looked into my soul to speak the exact words I need to hear. I find her words to be a balm to soothe my skeptic’s soul. I appreciate that she has the foundation of knowledge to speak the words that I can’t seem to formulate on my own regarding both her simultaneous doubts and joy within her faith. Quite a bit of this book resonated with me, but, at the same time, quite a bit did not resonate with me. I would classify this book more as a memoir than theological.

I feel like, as with all theological books, this must be taken with a grain of salt as the author’s personal interpretation of their religion. And based on reading reviews for this book, you either really connect with this or really hate the theology in it. I, personally, really connect with some of Rachel’s points.

As a Christian, I find Christianity to be very simple and straightforward. I get extremely frustrated with the church and other Christians who make it complicated, inaccessible, and exclusionary. Rachel Held Evans speaks my language in the face of these frustrations. And my takeaway from it is agreeing with her of the necessary element of community within the faith.

I first found Rachel Held Evans through her book Inspired. It spoke to me, many years ago, on a level I wasn’t prepared for. I was deeply saddened by the loss of her so abruptly with her death in 2019. I’ve had this book on my shelf for awhile now, as well as Whole Hearted Faith, the book she was writing at the time she passed away. I feel her death was a tremendous loss, especially for people like me that grapple with questioning the status quo of churches and organized religion and, like she often experienced, are shunned or fed platitudes in the face of openly questioning or doubting.

Gallant by V.E. Schwab

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dark mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

My summary:

Olivia Prior has been at the Merliance boarding school since she was two years old, where she was left on the steps with nothing but her mother’s journal. Now 14, a letter arrives from an uncle summoning Olivia home to Gallant—the one place her mother’s journal warned her away from. Olivia has no choice but to go to Gallant despite her mother’s warning, but her dread is mixed with the promise of having a family and a home.

My thoughts:

Gallant by V. E. Schwab (a.k.a. Victoria Schwab) is a dark, young adult, fantasy standalone novel. This is not a genre that I typically read but I love Schwab’s writing so much that I wanted to read some of her backlist while waiting for her next release. Her writing is very lyrical and I enjoy the style of it.

I found this to be well written but a little creepier than I prefer my books to be. Overall I enjoyed it, but it’s just a bit outside of my comfort zone of the typical books that I read. A couple of the plot points were a bit hard to follow but it is worth the read.

I was first introduced to V. E. Schwab’s writing with the Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and I adore that book so much. It was the first fantasy book that I had ever read and it opened the door for me to read and love other fantasy books since then. I have since read her Darker Shades of Magic trilogy and then her new spinoff of that series, The Fragile Threads of Power, which I especially enjoyed.

Content Warnings

First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

My summary:

Evie Porter is newly dating Ryan Sumner, a business owner in a small town of Louisiana who is quite an eligible bachelor in his hometown. Much to the chagrin of the girls that are his friends, Evie appears to be a fixture in Ryan’s life now. But Evie is not who everyone thinks she is, and Ryan is hiding his own secrets.

My thoughts:

I really enjoyed this thriller! Every first impression I had of the main characters in play were completely wrong. And I really did not see any of the twists coming. Both of those add up to a satisfying suspense read for me.

Ashley Elston made the jump from YA novels to adult fiction with this book. I think this a great debut for her in this genre and I hope she writes more thrillers in the future.

I really enjoyed the twistiness of this one. I haven’t read many thrillers lately so I feel like I’m extra gullible and it actually makes for a really enjoyable reading experience. Although I wasn’t super satisfied by the ending, I think it’s an overall good read.

Content Warnings

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amateur_bookworm's reviews 525 reviews

amateur_bookworm's reviews
525 reviews