Nerdy Girl, Romantic Reads
Happy fall y’all!
Fluffy Fiction
Undercover Bromance by Lyssa Kay Adams
Anxious People by Fredrik Backman
The Roommate by Rosie Danan
In Case You Missed It by Lindsey Kelk
The Tourist Attraction by Sarah Morgenthaler
Non-Fic
Promise Me, Dad by Joe Biden (If you’re in the US, make sure you’re registered to vote.)
Braving the Wilderness by Brene Brown
The Truths We Hold by Kamala Harris (And then please, please VOTE.)
Silence by Erling Kagge
How to Be a Good Creature by Sy Montgomery
XOXO
Chance of a Lifetime by Jude Deveraux, Tara Sheets In one century she loved him madly, and in another she wants nothing to do with him
In 1844 Ireland, Liam O’Connor, a rogue and a thief, fell madly in love with a squire’s daughter and unwittingly altered the future. Shy and naive Cora McLeod thought Liam was the answer to her prayers. But the angels disagreed and they’ve been waiting for the right moment in time to step in.
Now Liam finds himself reunited with his beloved Cora in Providence Falls, North Carolina. The angels have given Liam a task. He must make sure Cora falls in love with another man—the one she was supposed to marry before Liam interfered. But this Cora is very different from the innocent girl who fell for Liam in the past. She’s a cop and has a confidence and independence he wasn’t expecting. She doesn’t remember Liam or their past lives, nor is she impressed with his attempts to guide her in any way.
Liam wants Cora for himself, but with his soul hanging in the balance, he must choose between a stolen moment in time or an eternity of damnation.
I’m excited to share the prologue of a recently released book – and one of my highly anticipated fall picks – courtesy of HarperCollins. As soon as I saw Outlander meets The Lake House in the write up, I knew I needed this in my life. Enjoy the sneak peek 🙂
*****
For an angel as old as Agon, there was nothing new under the sun, or above. After thousands of years studying the human condition, he’d pretty much seen it all. Time didn’t lie. It proved over and over again that human beings were flawed. They led messy lives. They didn’t always learn from their mistakes. And yet, as he swooped into the Department of Destiny and prepared for another day of judging souls, he remained ever the optimist. Because time also had a way of proving that even in the face of all odds, love would prevail.
He landed silently in the misty chamber and slapped his associate on the back. “What’s up, Samael?”
The shorter angel jerked, fumbling for the clipboard in his hands. He gave Agon a scathing look of disapproval. “How many times must I tell you not to sneak up on me like that?”
“Oh, yes. Sorry,” Agon said breezily. “Who’s up next?”
Samael checked the clipboard with a heavy sigh. Pale curls framed his round face. Next to Agon’s imposing figure and dark hair, Samael looked almost boyish. But he’d been in charge of the Department of Destiny for over three hundred years, and he ran it with a stoic sense of justice that made him seem much older. “A grave disappointment, to be sure. The soul of Liam O’Connor stands judgment today.”
“Ah.” Agon shook his head sadly. “Poor Irish ruffian. Such a tragic love story, Liam and the fair Cora.”
“Those two should never have fallen in love,” Samael said with a scowl. “It shattered all of our plans. For over a century! So many destinies were ruined because of it.” He tucked his wings neatly behind his back, then glanced at Agon. “Are you ready to call him in?”
“Yes.” Agon turned toward the wall of mist and pasted an encouraging smile on his face.
“I told you not to do that,” Samael said. “This is serious business. We must reflect the gravity of the situation through our appearance and mannerisms.”
“But humans like smiles,” Agon said. “I thought perhaps it would make him feel more comfortable.”
“His soul hangs in the balance between heaven and hell, and we’re about to judge it,” Samael said flatly. “Who could possibly be comfortable with that?”
“Right.” Agon arranged his features to appear as bleak and unyielding as the surrounding chamber.
“Much better,” Samael said with a nod. Then he raised his hand and called into the void. “I summon the soul of Liam O’Connor.”
Like a cannonball hurled through a cloud, a man shot out of the mist, tumbling head over heels to land before the angels in a tangle of curses and grunts. Unlike other souls who were called to the Department of Destiny, Liam did not rise on unsteady feet, shaking with fear, terrified to stand judgment for his past life’s choices. Instead, he jumped up, slapping at wisps of fog still clinging to his hair and clothing, dark eyes casually scanning the room.
Samael regarded him coolly. “Do you know why you’ve been summoned to the Chamber of Judgment?”
Liam raised a dark brow. “Judgment day, I’d imagine?” For someone who stood on the brink of eternal damnation, he was far too nonchalant. But the angels knew this was part of his act. Liam O’Connor was no stranger to deception.
“We have reviewed your past life and found you wanting,” Samael said. He flicked his hand, and moving images suddenly appeared in the misty wall. Liam picking pockets. Breaking into houses. Liam running through the forest carrying a bag of stolen jewels. A stagecoach in the background with victims shouting after him. A musket ball shattering the branch of a tree near his head. Liam laughing in the face of danger.
“You were a thief,” Samael said. “And you stole from innocent people. Often.”
“Well…” Liam crossed his arms and leaned against the wall of mist. “Crops were failing. I only stole to help put food on the table. Simple as that.”
“Do not attempt to lie to us,” Samael said coldly. “We can see into your soul, Liam O’Connor, and we know the truth. You enjoyed stealing. You reveled in your life as a thief.”
“Fine.” Liam pushed off the wall and began to pace, dragging the tips of his fingers through the roiling fog. “I did enjoy thieving, and I was good at it, too. I was never any good at farming. But I kept my brother’s family from starving, didn’t I? That has to count for something.”
Samael gazed at him sternly. “You didn’t only steal objects.” He flicked his hand and another image appeared, a sweet, innocent young woman with glossy blond curls and rosy cheeks. She had a round, pretty face with a nose just a little too prominent, and a smile just a little too trusting. She was holding out a rose.
“Cora,” Liam breathed. He stepped closer, but the image of the young woman vanished. “Bring her back!” He grasped at the fog with both hands. “Let me see her again.”
“She wasn’t meant for you, ruffian,” Samael said. “You stole her from her fiancé.”
“But I loved her,” Liam shot back. “And she—”
“You interfered with her destiny,” Samael interrupted. “She was supposed to marry that man, and together they were going to raise a child who would someday help the world.”
Liam scowled. “Her fiancé didn’t deserve her. She wanted me. It was me she loved in the end.”
“Ah, yes,” Samael said icily. “The end.”
Liam glanced away.
“Things ended very badly for her, as you well know,” Samael continued. “For both of you. And now, because of you, Cora’s soul has never found peace. In every new life we’ve given her, she’s afraid to fall in love. She never lives long enough to fulfill her destiny.” He flicked his hand again.
This time, terrible images appeared. Cora as a young nurse, caring for soldiers during an outbreak of scarlet fever…dying in a hospital bed. Cora as a nanny, rushing to save a young child from the path of a runaway horse…dying in the street. Cora working in a factory during WWII…dying in an explosion.
The angels knew Liam wouldn’t understand some of the things he was seeing, but the message was very clear. Cora’s life always ended in tragedy.
“Enough!” Liam flung his hands up, scrubbing his face. “Just tell me my fate. Is it to be hell, then?”
The angels exchanged glances.
“It is true you’ve done much wrong in your life,” Samael said. “But you’ve also done some good. For this reason, we’re going to give you a chance at redemption.”
Liam’s head shot up. He glanced back and forth between the two angels.
“Cora is on earth again in this twenty-first century,” Samael said. “You must make sure she fulfills her true destiny in this life.”
“But…how?”
“There is a man named Finley Walsh. He is her true soul mate—the man she must marry. The man she was destined to marry until you ruined everything. This time, you will see that Cora falls in love with the right man.”
Liam scowled and kicked the floor, displacing wisps of fog. He grumbled under his breath, then glanced up. “Will she remember me?”
“Of course not,” Samael said. “Certainly not as you remember her. The role you play this time will be…much different.”
Liam narrowed his eyes but remained silent.
“You have three months to complete the task,” Samael continued in clipped tones. “We will bestow upon you some knowledge of the current century, but it won’t be an easy transition. If anyone questions your struggles with modern technology, just explain you’re from a very rural town.”
Liam raised his chin. “What if I tell them the truth?”
Samael let out a huff of amusement. “That you’re a transplanted soul from 1844 Ireland? Good luck with that.” He slid the clipboard into a pocket of mist. “Three months, Liam O’Connor. Get Cora to fall in love with Finley. It is imperative that this happens. If you fail—and that includes sleeping with her—you will be sent straight to…”
All the light in the chamber vanished, plunging them into icy darkness.
“Hell.” Samael’s voice echoed off the chamber walls like a war drum.
“And if I succeed?” Liam whispered.
The light snapped back on.
“Heaven,” Samael said matter-of-factly. “Now, off you go.” He started to lift his hand.
“Wait!” Liam cried. “If Cora’s been on earth living all these different lives, where have I been the whole time?”
“Suspended up here,” Samael said. “Waiting for us to decide if you deserved a chance at redemption. I do hope you are worthy of it. Goodbye, ruffian.” He waved his hand a final time, and a hole opened in the mist beneath Liam’s feet.
They could hear him yelling for a long time as he fell, even after the hole closed.
Agon chuckled. “That was a rather dramatic exit, don’t you think?”
Samael shrugged. “I thought the moment could use a bit of theatrics.”
“And the flickering lights with the echoing voice?” Agon elbowed him in the ribs. “Nice job.”
Samael pressed his lips together and tried to look stern, but Agon could tell he was pleased.
They turned to the wall of mist as the image of Liam appeared. His body floated to earth, landing softly on a bed of leaves on the forest floor. He glanced around in a daze, his lips slowly curving into a smile.
“He always loved the forest,” Agon said wistfully.
“I thought he could use a moment here to reflect on his past, before we send him to work,” Samael said.
Liam’s eyes drooped. His dark lashes fluttered once. Twice. And then he slipped into a deep, dream-filled sleep.
“You didn’t tell him the truth.” Agon turned to Samael. “About the child.”
“He’s not ready to hear that—and neither is she.”
Agon glanced back to the image of Liam’s slumbering form. “Do you think he’ll succeed?”
Samael frowned. “What’s that human saying about a snowball’s chance?”
Agon shook his head. “It eludes me.”
“No matter.” Samael expanded his wings and stretched. “Time will tell.”
“Yes,” Agon mused. “Time always does.”
Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert 
Talia Hibbert returns with another charming romantic comedy about a young woman who agrees to fake date her friend after a video of him “rescuing” her from their office building goes viral...
Danika Brown knows what she wants: professional success, academic renown, and an occasional roll in the hay to relieve all that career-driven tension. But romance? Been there, done that, burned the T-shirt. Romantic partners, whatever their gender, are a distraction at best and a drain at worst. So Dani asks the universe for the perfect friend-with-benefits—someone who knows the score and knows their way around the bedroom.
When brooding security guard Zafir Ansari rescues Dani from a workplace fire drill gone wrong, it’s an obvious sign: PhD student Dani and ex-rugby player Zaf are destined to sleep together. But before she can explain that fact, a video of the heroic rescue goes viral. Now half the internet is shipping #DrRugbae—and Zaf is begging Dani to play along. Turns out, his sports charity for kids could really use the publicity. Lying to help children? Who on earth would refuse?
Dani’s plan is simple: fake a relationship in public, seduce Zaf behind the scenes. The trouble is, grumpy Zaf’s secretly a hopeless romantic—and he’s determined to corrupt Dani’s stone-cold realism. Before long, he’s tackling her fears into the dirt. But the former sports star has issues of his own, and the walls around his heart are as thick as his... um, thighs.
Suddenly, the easy lay Dani dreamed of is more complex than her thesis. Has her wish backfired? Is her focus being tested? Or is the universe just waiting for her to take a hint?
Instead of doing a proper review of this book (which was fab!), I’m going to let the book speak for itself with a ridiculously long quote from the hero Zaf on why he reads romance:
“At the time, it was romance novels that reminded me. Since you’ve never read one, that probably sounds weird. But it’s about emotion, Dan–the whole thing, the whole story, the whole point. Just book after book about people facing their issues head on, and handling it, and never, ever failing–at least, not for good. I felt like my world had already ended unhappily, but every book I read about someone who’d been through the worst and found happiness anyway seemed to say the opposite. Like my story didn’t need to be over if I didn’t want it to. Like, if I could just be strong enough to reclaim my emotions, and to work through them, maybe I’d be okay again. That’s kind of what inspired me to, er, keep going. To make good choices, even when feeling better seemed impossible.”
It’s not…ever that I get to read a book where the main character shares my name and is perhaps being served up life and love lessons that I also need to hear. I took the hint, Universe.
XOXO
September 8
All Stirred Up by Brianne Moore
One by One by Ruth Ware
September 15
Chance of a Lifetime by Jude Deveraux & Tara Sheets
To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini
September 22
Tools of Engagement by Tessa Bailey
Well Played by Jen DeLuca
White Fox by Sara Faring
How to Fly by Barbara Kingsolver
September 29
Whale Day by Billy Collins
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
Just Like You by Nick Hornby
October 6
A Life on Our Planet by David Attenborough
The Ghost Variations by Kevin Brockmeier
Spoiler Alert by Olivia Dade
The Searcher by Tana French
Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman
In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
Is This Anything? by Jerry Seinfeld
October 13
Fangirl, Vol. 1: The Manga by Rainbow Rowell
Simmer Down by Sarah Smith
October 20
Snapped by Alexa Martin
October 27
Crazy Stupid Bromance by Lyssa Kay Adams
Love Your Life by Sophie Kinsella
Two of my recent reads – Here to Stay and One to Watch – had some pretty steamy food scenes that made me very…hungry, yeah hungry. Foodie books are one of those subgenres that I’m naturally inclined to love. Like, show me a cupcake on the cover and I’m game. Here are a few of my other foodie faves.
Fiction
Clean Sweep by Ilona Andrews
Kiss My Cupcake by Helena Hunting
The Coincidence of Coconut Cake by Amy E. Reichert
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han
Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal
Non-Fiction
Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain
Born Round by Frank Bruni
Love, Loss and What We Ate by Padma Lakshmi
Julie and Julia by Julie Powell
Tender at the Bone by Ruth Reichl
Bonus: Cookbooks!
The Home Cook by Alex Guarnaschelli
50 by Rachael Ray
Appetite by Nigel Slater
Cravings by Chrissy Teigen
A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg
XOXO
P.S. I could not in good conscience leave this post without mentioning one of my other favorite things on the planet – food documentaries. As far as I’m concerned, these are the best.
Chef’s Table
Jiro Dreams of Sushi
No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain
Taste the Nation with Padma Lakshmi
Ugly Delicious with David Chang
For a while now, I’ve been collecting the Gibbs Smith Wilderness series as I come across them in the wild – and dear friends, I’ve done it. I have collected all of the currently released editions. It’s a bittersweet moment to be done searching for these in every bookstore I go to, but I have hope someday there will be a new title to bring home. Sharing my beauties for a brief feel-good moment.
XOXO
One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London Real love...as seen on TV
Bea Schumacher is a devastatingly stylish plus-size fashion blogger who has amazing friends, a devoted family, legions of Insta followers--and a massively broken heart. Like the rest of America, Bea indulges in her weekly obsession: the hit reality show Main Squeeze. The fantasy dates! The kiss-off rejections! The surprising amount of guys named Chad! But Bea is sick and tired of the lack of body diversity on the show. Since when is being a size zero a prerequisite for getting engaged on television?
Just when Bea has sworn off dating altogether, she gets an intriguing call: Main Squeeze wants her to be its next star, surrounded by men vying for her affections. Bea agrees, on one condition--under no circumstances will she actually fall in love. She's in this to supercharge her career, subvert harmful anti-fat beauty standards, inspire women across America, and get a free hot air balloon ride. That's it.
But when the cameras start rolling, Bea realizes things are more complicated than she anticipated. She's in a whirlwind of sumptuous couture, Internet culture wars, sexy suitors, and an opportunity (or two, or five) to find messy, real-life love in the midst of a made-for-TV fairy tale. In this joyful, razor-sharp debut, Bea has to decide whether it might just be worth trusting these men--and herself--for a chance to live happily ever after.
“You can live a long life never being hurt–and never quite being happy. If that’s what you want.”
I feel like I’m giving out 5 star reviews like Oprah lately. After residing in Slumptown most of the year, I’ve been slowly clawing my way out by catching up on all the books I was most excited about, and much to my delight (and utter surprise) I found another that lived up to its promise…ok, that lived up the the cover bait that I so completely fell for before I read the blurb. I laughed, I cried, and I could not stop reading One to Watch.
We’ll make a great TV show. We’ll show America that plus-size women deserve to be the leads of their own stories. And you’ll be a fucking star. I’m not seeing a downside to this — are you?
The premise is simple: fat girl goes on a Bachelorette-esque show in an attempt to further her career as a fashionista, but winds up falling for some hunka hunka suitors. (Why isn’t someone actively creating this show please?) What unfolds is anything but simple though.
It felt like terror. It felt like freedom. It felt like the beginning.
Very early on, I almost quit this book. Not because it wasn’t serving up brilliance, but because I felt too seen. I had this very vivid Killing Me Softly vibe – I felt this book had “found my letters, and read each one out loud.” Rarely do I look like the main characters in the books I adore so much – Bea was different, she was like me. I know too well sometimes finding the only thing that will fit on a shopping spree is a killer lipstick, the subtle look of disappointment on a blind date when you show up, the absolute filth strangers think they can post on your social media if you have the audacity to look happy in a bathing suit. The decision by Kate Stayman-London to not pull any punches on what being a fat (and fucking fabulous) woman in this world was brutal, but I’m so glad she made that choice. For the first time, I got to read a character like me failing hard at love because she was afraid, but ultimately finding herself and that HEA.
All she could know for certain was that if she said yes, her life would change. In the end, that was enough.
I’m so grateful One to Watch exists in the world, and I can’t wait for the next book I see someone like myself to beautifully represented.
XOXO
Here to Stay by Adriana Herrera
Starting over is more about who you’re with than where you live…
Julia del Mar Ortiz is not having the best year.
She moved to Dallas with her boyfriend, who ended up ditching her and running back to New York after only a few weeks. Left with a massive—by NYC standards, anyway—apartment and a car lease in the scorching Texas heat, Julia is struggling…except that’s not completely true. Running the charitable foundation of one of the most iconic high fashion department stores in the world is serious #lifegoals.
It’s more than enough to make her want to stick it out down South.
The only monkey wrench in Julia’s plans is the blue-eyed, smart-mouthed consultant the store hired to take them public. Fellow New Yorker Rocco Quinn’s first order of business? Putting Julia’s job on the chopping block.
When Julia is tasked with making sure Rocco sees how valuable the programs she runs are, she’s caught between a rock and a very hard set of abs. Because Rocco Quinn is almost impossible to hate—and even harder to resist.
In the end, I exhaled and just let this moment of feeling understood be what it was: good.
Once in a great while, I read a book that makes me question my past 5-star reviews because it somehow sits above those other titles. Here to Stay is one of those books. From the steamy AF office romance and amazing friendships near and far, to characters passionate around diversity and social change, this book is a rare gem.
I’ve always loved all the versions of you, and I’m so glad the one you’re becoming […] fits you.
My favorite aspect of Here to Stay is the platonic love – that alone makes this worthy of the rating because it’s SO good. Surrounding our badass heroine Julia, there is a whole network of amazing support: a long-distance best friend, new friends who prove it doesn’t matter how long you know someone but how well, a boss who has her back, a family that nurtures and challenges Julia and her values. It is an absolute lovefest for the families we choose (or as my mom would say, “framilies”). These are people who see all the good and all the bad, and say, “I got you.” It’s a shining example of the growth and beauty life has to offer when we have people radiating care in our direction.
As she came closer, all I could think was she knows about me and she’s coming closer instead of pulling back.
I have been a pretty good streak lately of finding an MC who I relate to deeply, and this book was no exception. It’s not Julia – although I really wish it were because that lady has her priorities together – but our hero Rocco that I couldn’t stop nodding along with (rippled bod and piercing blue eyes excluded). His difficult past and messy fam seep into everything he does, making it necessary for Rocco to sacrifice his happiness to do the right thing by the people he is responsible for. It was a powerful thing to watch that struggle and drama unfold while knowing an HEA was waiting for him in the end.
“Where you came from matters, but where you are going matters more.”
This book made me wish I had some boy drama to chat about with my girls, miss watching baseball in person, and filled me with the utmost joy when I needed a heaping spoonful.
XOXO
I had to do a quite a lot of scrolling to find my last review, making this post very easy to find options to talk about. Some of these titles I don’t know how to review. (Poetry, I’m looking at you.) Others were great, but like…can’t I just have a treat for finishing a book?
These are the ten most memorable books I’ve read that deserved reviews if I weren’t such a trash fire of a book blogger.
*****
Horoscopes for the Dead by Billy Collins 
Billy Collins is widely acknowledged as a prominent player at the table of modern American poetry. And in this new collection, Horoscopes for the Dead, the verbal gifts that earned him the title “America’s most popular poet” are on full display. The poems here cover the usual but everlasting themes of love and loss, life and death, youth and aging, solitude and union. With simple diction and effortless turns of phrase, Collins is at once ironic and elegiac, as in the opening lines of the title poem: Every morning since you disappeared for good, I read about you in the newspaper along with the box scores, the weather, and all the bad news. Some days I am reminded that today will not be a wildly romantic time for you . . . And in this reflection on his own transience: It doesn’t take much to remind me what a mayfly I am, what a soap bubble floating over the children’s party. Standing under the bones of a dinosaur in a museum does the trick every time or confronting in a vitrine a rock from the moon. Smart, lyrical, and not afraid to be funny, these new poems extend Collins’s reputation as a poet who occupies a special place in the consciousness of readers of poetry, including the many he has converted to the genre.
My introduction to Billy Collins was through his Masterclass on poetry. I’m going to excuse this massive lapse in judgment with the fact I was a preteen when he became the United States Poet Laureate. I had other things going on like permanently weird bangs, crippling crushes, and trying to figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up. Fast forward twenty years, and the only thing I have now is better hair.
Thanks to his class, I have a reawakened love of poetry. Both his collections and several others have been a steady pull throughout quarantine. The titular poem of this book remains my favorite. My world is a little richer for having read it.
*****
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins 
It is the morning of the reaping that will kick off the tenth annual Hunger Games. In the Capital, eighteen-year-old Coriolanus Snow is preparing for his one shot at glory as a mentor in the Games. The once-mighty house of Snow has fallen on hard times, its fate hanging on the slender chance that Coriolanus will be able to outcharm, outwit, and outmaneuver his fellow students to mentor the winning tribute.
The odds are against him. He's been given the humiliating assignment of mentoring the female tribute from District 12, the lowest of the low. Their fates are now completely intertwined -- every choice Coriolanus makes could lead to favor or failure, triumph or ruin. Inside the arena, it will be a fight to the death. Outside the arena, Coriolanus starts to feel for his doomed tribute... and must weigh his need to follow the rules against his desire to survive no matter what it takes.
I’m happy to report I am not too old to massively fangirl over anything Hunger Games related. Collins still knows how to sucker me in with a happy scene and make me gasp/cry/swear in the next paragraph when she turns it all to shit in the best way. I didn’t know I needed more from Panem, but I did, and I do, so keep on bringing it.
*****
They All Fall Down by Rachel Howzell Hall 
It was supposed to be the trip of a lifetime.
Delighted by a surprise invitation, Miriam Macy sails off to a luxurious private island off the coast of Mexico, with six strangers—an ex-cop, a chef, a financial advisor, a nurse, a lawyer, a young widow.
Surrounded by miles of open water in the gloriously green Sea of Cortez, Miriam is shocked to discover that she and the rest of her companions have been brought to the remote island under false pretenses—and all seven strangers harbor a secret.
Danger lurks in the lush forest and in the halls and bedrooms of the lonely mansion. Sporadic cell-phone coverage and miles of ocean keeps the group trapped in paradise. And strange accidents keep them suspicious of each other, as one by one . . .
They all fall down
My biggest issue with this book (which was perfectly fine), is that it was repeatedly sold as a retelling/the next And Then There Were None. I should have known better than to read a new and different version of my favorite whodunnit of all time. I’m hopeful one day I will find a book who boasts the next Agatha Christie and it will be the real deal. This just wasn’t it.
*****
Lovewrecked by Karina Halle 
From the NYT bestselling author of A Nordic King comes an all-new standalone romantic comedy.
A grumpy groomsman. A surprise shipwreck. Stuck on a deserted island together? Worst maid-of-honor gig ever.
Daisy Lewis is experiencing a relentless string of bad luck.
Fortunately, Daisy has her sister’s destination wedding coming up. A week of sand, sea, and sun in the South Pacific as the maid-of-honor is exactly what Daisy needs to forget her upturned life and focus on the positive.
That is until Daisy meets the best man.
If you take tall, dark, and handsome, and add a dash of rugged, a pinch of brooding, and a whole lot of sexy, you’ve got Tai Wakefield. Unfortunately he’s also a major grump, total alpha, and seemingly out to antagonize Daisy at every turn.
As if being part of the wedding party with Tai wasn’t bad enough, Daisy’s bad luck soon resurfaces when she ends up on a cramped sailboat with Tai and the newlyweds.
Which then shipwrecks on a deserted island near Fiji.
Okay, so they aren’t completely alone. There’s an oddball research scientist who has been isolated for far too long, they have rundown bungalows as shelter, stores of water and canned food, plus a feral goat named Wilson.
It’s Lost…without the smoke monster.
But with rescue weeks away, Tai and Daisy realize the only way they’re going to get through this mess is to stop fighting and start working together.And with their guards down, they get closer.
A lot closer.
Soon, Daisy realizes that the only thing worse than being stuck on a deserted island, is being stuck on a deserted island with a man she hates to love and loves to hate.
A man that can break her heart.
Ok, we have a shipwreck, a sexy brooding hunkahunka, a strong-willed heroine, and one sassy-ass goat. There was really no chance I wasn’t going to be in love with this book. Well done, KH.
*****
Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert Chloe Brown is a chronically ill computer geek with a goal, a plan, and a list. After almost—but not quite—dying, she’s come up with seven directives to help her “Get a Life”, and she’s already completed the first: finally moving out of her glamorous family’s mansion. The next items?
• Enjoy a drunken night out.• Ride a motorcycle.• Go camping.• Have meaningless but thoroughly enjoyable sex.• Travel the world with nothing but hand luggage.• And... do something bad.
But it’s not easy being bad, even when you’ve written step-by-step guidelines on how to do it correctly. What Chloe needs is a teacher, and she knows just the man for the job.
Redford ‘Red’ Morgan is a handyman with tattoos, a motorcycle, and more sex appeal than ten-thousand Hollywood heartthrobs. He’s also an artist who paints at night and hides his work in the light of day, which Chloe knows because she spies on him occasionally. Just the teeniest, tiniest bit.
But when she enlists Red in her mission to rebel, she learns things about him that no spy session could teach her. Like why he clearly resents Chloe’s wealthy background. And why he never shows his art to anyone. And what really lies beneath his rough exterior…
I can’t believe *this* was my first Talia Hibbert, but I have found my new obsession. The highest praise I can give a book is before I’m even finished I’ve gone out an bought several other titles by the author because I don’t want to be without my next read, and that absolutely happened with this book.
*****
Plunge #1 by Joe Hill In the aftermath of a devastating tsunami, an exploration vessel known as the Derleth begins sending an automated distress signal from a remote atoll in the Bering Strait. The only problem is that the Derleth has been missing for 40 years. Marine biologist Moriah Lamb joins the Carpenter Salvage team to recover the Derleth’s dead...only to find that in this remote part of the Arctic Circle the dead have plenty to say to the living...Joe Hill and Stuart Immonen’s Plunge into terror begins here!
I’m still a bit grumpy I don’t have issue 2 in my possession yet. I bought Plunge for my birthday on my last trip to my comic book store before shutdown. I really, really want to know what happens next. I think like most graphic novels, the intro only left me wanting more.
*****
In A Holidaze by Christina Lauren It’s the most wonderful time of the year…but thirty-year-old Maelyn Jones is in the midst of a major crisis. She’s living with her mom, hates her boring job, and has yet to make any romantic progress with Andrew, the friend she’s been in love with for the last thirteen years.
But perhaps worst of all, this is the last Christmas Mae will be at her favorite place in the world—the Utah cabin where she and her family have spent every holiday since she was born. Devastated as she drives away from the cabin for the final time, Mae throws out what she thinks is a simple wish to the universe: show me what will make me happy.
The next thing she knows there’s a screech of tires and metal, followed by Mae gasping awake…on an airplane bound for Utah. Now Mae has the chance to live the holidays all over again but with one disaster after another sending her repeatedly back in time, she has to figure out how to end this strange holiday loop and get Andrew under the mistletoe. Otherwise, she’s going to need a miracle.
With Christina Lauren’s trademark “heartfelt and funny” (Kirkus Reviews) prose, this swoon-worthy romance will make you believe in the power of wishes and the magic of the holidays.
I have been pretty moody with my fave author duo for their last few books, but I think they’ve broken through the funk with this one. It reminds me of the good old days when I would stay up an entire night, holding my eyelids open to finish reading a chapter after a long day at work. This certainly doesn’t push out my reigning sappy or funny favorites, but it’s a solid romance that has me hopeful for even more CL in my future.
*****
House of Earth and Blood by Sarah J. Maas Bound by blood.Tempted by desire.Unleashed by destiny.
Bryce Quinlan had the perfect life—working hard all day and partying all night—until a demon murdered her closest friends, leaving her bereft, wounded, and alone. When the accused is behind bars but the crimes start up again, Bryce finds herself at the heart of the investigation. She’ll do whatever it takes to avenge their deaths.
Hunt Athalar is a notorious Fallen angel, now enslaved to the Archangels he once attempted to overthrow. His brutal skills and incredible strength have been set to one purpose—to assassinate his boss’s enemies, no questions asked. But with a demon wreaking havoc in the city, he’s offered an irresistible deal: help Bryce find the murderer, and his freedom will be within reach.
As Bryce and Hunt dig deep into Crescent City’s underbelly, they discover a dark power that threatens everything and everyone they hold dear, and they find, in each other, a blazing passion—one that could set them both free, if they’d only let it.
With unforgettable characters, sizzling romance, and page-turning suspense, this richly inventive new fantasy series by #1 New York Times bestselling author Sarah J. Maas delves into the heartache of loss, the price of freedom—and the power of love.
I feel like I could copy and paste the same review from above here. After flat out ruining my favorite series and then delivering another lackluster end to the other, I wasn’t sure I was going to read any more SJM. This was my last ditch effort before I decided whether or not the magic was gone. While I reserve the right to be royally miffed if she can’t close on this series, for now, the opener was everything I was hoping against hope it would be.
*****
Devotions by Mary Oliver Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Mary Oliver presents a personal selection of her best work in this definitive collection spanning more than five decades of her esteemed literary career.
Throughout her celebrated career, Mary Oliver has touched countless readers with her brilliantly crafted verse, expounding on her love for the physical world and the powerful bonds between all living things. Identified as "far and away, this country's best selling poet" by Dwight Garner, she now returns with a stunning and definitive collection of her writing from the last fifty years.
Carefully curated, these 200 plus poems feature Oliver's work from her very first book of poetry, No Voyage and Other Poems, published in 1963 at the age of 28, through her most recent collection, Felicity, published in 2015. This timeless volume, arranged by Oliver herself, showcases the beloved poet at her edifying best. Within these pages, she provides us with an extraordinary and invaluable collection of her passionate, perceptive, and much-treasured observations of the natural world.
Have you ever read something and thought, “ah, this person and I have kindred souls.” Well that’s me and Mary Oliver. One poem describing a walk through the forest, and I knew it.
*****
Paper Girls, Vol. 2 by Brian K. Vaughan, Cliff Chiang, Matt Wilson, Jared K. Fletcher Brian K. Vaughan, #1 New York Times bestselling writer of SAGA, and Cliff Chiang, legendary artist of WONDER WOMAN, return with acclaimed colorist Matt Wilson and innovative letterer Jared K. Fletcher for the second volume of PAPER GIRLS, as the hit series continues with a bold new direction.
After surviving the strangest night of their lives in the Cleveland suburb of Stony Stream, intrepid young newspaper deliverers Erin, Mac, and Tiffany find themselves launched from 1988 to a distant and terrifying future... the year 2016.
What would you do if you were suddenly confronted by your 12-year-old self? 40-year-old newspaper reporter Erin Tieng is about to find out in this action-packed story about identity, mortality, and growing older in the 21st century.
Collects PAPER GIRLS #6-#10
I’m really glad I impulse-bought all six volumes of this series, because I’ve been slowly chipping away through them over the past few months. Which is a feat as they are darn near unputdownable.
*****
My conscience is a smidge clearer now, even with these half-assed reviews. What’s the best thing you’ve read during our trip in the Upside Down?
XOXO
I remember as soon as I could drive, every Wednesday after school I would head to my neighborhood comic book store to check out the newest editions. It was this assault of neon green paint, inside and out, and happened to be right across the street from the best burrito place. Wednesdays were happy days.
During these darker days, I find myself frequently turning to the few graphic novels I have in my collection. These are my faves.
Series
Sandman by Neil Gaiman
Locke & Key by Joe Hill
Batman by Frank Miller
Saga by Brian K. Vaughn
Fables by Bill Willingham
Standalones
Big Mushy Happy Lump by Sarah Andersen
Blossoms & Bones by Kim Krans
Watchmen by Alan Moore
Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell
Guts by Raina Telgemeier
Do you have a favorite graphic novel? Let me know, I’m always on the hunt for a new favorite.
P.S. If you are interested in any of these, do yourself a favor and get a month of Kindle Unlimited – which comes with comiXology for freebs. All of the first editions of the series listed above, and some of the second and thirds, are included. While I’m kind of a stickler for comics in physical form, it’s a great way to sample something out in a world were we can’t easily peruse our favorite local shops every Wednesday.
XOXO