Bookish Posts and Books Read of Week of July 2nd Through July 8th
What a reading week this has been. This one really flew by me because I might have gotten hooked into a dark romance series and this one really …really worked with my head and emotions. Its one of those series that is addicting but its completely toxic and messed up haha So its been a wild ride, and I mixed it up with some other books here so I wouldn’t get into a book slump. I will probably finish up the last few books this upcoming weekend, I really need a break from these to be honest. We celebrated the fourth of July and it was a blast! I did have to work for a few hours, but such a easy day. There is a new movie that came out that is AMAZING. You ALL need to watch this if its in a local theatre. Its called Sounds of Freedom, and its so real and its based on a true story that I think everyone needs to pay attention to. Its sold out everywhere though, so you might need to get advanced tickets to get a seat. But its beaten Indiana Jones in sales and is only in the States currently and in only half the theatres, that is astounding to me. But it has such a beautiful message that is worth paying attention to. Also a couple of cool things happened this week. One there is a new historical romance reading challenge happening in August. If you read historical romance and/or love Bridgerton, I highly recommend you try this challenge out. Its so unique and is a month long readathon. You can find all the details HERE if you are interested in joining. Also there is a new instagram connected app called “Threads” and at first I wasn’t going to join but I was curious and I actually love it. I think it could be what book twitter should have been. I keep instagram politics free so its so refreshing having a social media app that is just book focused.
(All my books read and their reviews are on Goodreads, I have linked for you)
List and Link book reviews with ratings and description of opinion via goodreads
Book Read-Accidental Witness by Sam Mariano—Rating 4 Stars—What a wild ride this book turned out to be, it would have been a five star if it hadn’t been for the third act. This is addictive and compelling and I am fascinated by this family here but I know it will be crazy if this book is any indication.
Book Read-Surviving Mateo by Sam Mariano—Rating 5 Stars—What a great read! I loved this one so so much. I adored Meg so much and she is so good for Mateo. I really hope she is the girl he picks in the end of the series.
Book Read-Every Time My Heart Breaks by Linda Kage—Rating 3 Stars—This book started out so so good, but in the ending the author does something I rarely see an author ever do, really only in historical fiction, and it burned me in the end so it lowered my rating. The romance itself was fantastic but I hate what she did do a side character that had a previous book. There is a reason I read romance and this is why. It felt so COHO or Nicholas Sparks type of ending.
Book Read-Once Burned by Sam Mariano—-Rating 4 Stars—This one was such a solid read and I really had a blast with Adrian’s book. He is the bodyguard to Mateo who is the head of the Morelli Family but is also his best friend of sorts. Really loved seeing this couple find their way to work a relationship together.
Book Listened-The Good Girl’s Guide to Rakes by Eva Leigh—Rating 4 Stars—What a fun historical read! I had so much fun with this one. These two were so darling together and loved seeing them overcome the forbidden aspects.
Book Read-Beneath the Wreckage by Catherine Cowles—Rating 4.5 Stars—This read was just almost perfect! I really had a blast with it and such a perfect finale. Such a great mystery was included in it too.
Book Listened-Bound by Family by Ryan Michele—Rating 4 Stars—-This was a kickass MC romance and it was so endearing. Really loved what we see in this story.
Book Listened-Pleasures of a Notorious Gentleman by Lorraine Heath—Rating 3 Stars—This was a challenging one because the beginning and ending was great but the middle was so slow and pretty much the same things happening over and over. I could have saved so much by just skimming it lol
Book Read-Family Ties by Sam Mariano—Rating 3 Stars—I really loved the romance of this one, but the heroine was so obsessed with her brother and how she is obsessed turned me off. He is with Meg but she is trying to get him to cheat on her and get him and Mia (who is with his cousin) to be together. It was still addicting and I couldn’t get enough despite my issues haha
Book Read-Resisting Mateo by Sam Mariano—Rating 3 Stars–This book was so messed up but yet I couldn’t stop reading. I knew this one would be really really rough to read, the author even warned it was going to be a real challenge but yeah it literally broke me and I am so not okay right now haha I need some heart and happy romance next
Book Read-Cuffed by K.Bromberg—Rating 4.5 Stars—-What a win of a romance! I Loved it so so much. It was everything I could have hoped for and more. It had me in my feels and had so much heart in it and real emotional depths I always forget that this author delivers on. There is something about a law enforcement hero that I just love. What I really enjoy about this series is that each book is about 3 brothers and love how devoted they are to civic service and serving their community and they have such good parents. Its so refreshing. Is it just me or do many romances have toxic parents lol
Book Review-Beneath the Wreckage by Catherine Cowles
Recommend It: Western Romances
Bookish Posts To Look Forward To This Week
Books I Love But Never Talk About
My Historical Romance Readathon Plans
Book Review-Him by Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy
Recommend It: Rock Stars
Current Reads
The audio that I am currently listening to is Him by Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy I was planning on reading this one last week but I got hooked into that Sam Mariano series and I totally wasn’t planning on that haha But I am about 25% in on this and loving the narration. Its so so good! Now I am seeing why its so well loved and I can’t wait to see what happens. Really enjoying the hockey feels in this one. I hope we get plenty of focus on the sport. I have Knotted by Pam Godwin, I have only read a few chapters, but its super good, no surprise, as its Pam Godwin. She always works for me no matter what. Then I am planning on picking up the next Ana Huang with King of Wrath, I am debating if this one will be audio or not because her audiobooks are so good, but we shall see what I do LOL Then I am going to brave into Architect by Nikki Sloane, I have heard quite a few mixed reviews on this one here. But I really want to get to the fourth book so I am biting the bullet on it haha. Then I am getting back to the Olivia Cunning series with Hot Ticket. I have started reading these books again as I tried them some years ago and didn’t care for them, but my reading tastes have changed since then and really loved the first two books and I have been in a rock star mood.
Book Releases I am Excited For
Nothing of interest this week!
My Weekly TBR
These are books that I have for what I term a flexible TBR shelf for the week. As some of you know, I have been working on switching from being a mood reader to a TBR reader where I just work around a flexible weekly TBR. So for this week I am mixing in plenty of sub genres. I have some romantic suspense, dark romance, sci fi, historical and some conotemporary. Very excited for the lineup I have.
Favorite Book of the Week
New Additions to AR Library
I signed up for Threads. I haven’t spent a ton of time on the app but I love that it is very book focused. I hope that it will be something that I can enjoy using. You had a very impressive week of reading!
They should hire you for the marketing for Sounds of Freedom. Sounds like the movie made quite an impression on you. I looked at the synopsis, super gritty stuff. Is Threads all books? I thought was just another Twitter like app.
haha well I love a good film and this one is one of the best I have ever seen. It is gritty, I mean its talking about children being forced into slavery so its serious stuff. But its a true story and so well done. I highly recommend it. Threads is based off of Instagram. So if you keep your instagram book based, then your thread feed will be based off of books. My instagram is very book focused only. So its just refreshing to chat about books and just see books about books. It is a twitter like app, it just depends on who you follow and what their content is. But instagram is the one social media app that I keep political free. I just need a happy place I can go to haha
I’m not usually a darker romance fan, but I am reading a series now that is just messed up but I can’t stop reading! Its so messed up. I’m just going with it though! Haha! I might have to try threads. At first I was like “another thing” because I am still not sure about the whole broadcast channel thing.
Woo hoo!! I love that Aja James made the list 🙂 Can’t wait until you get to the dragon series!!
I’ve been thinking about getting a Threads account, but I wanted to see some reviews for it. Thanks for sharing your experience. It makes me really excited to start.
Have an amazing week, lovely xo
It’s fun when you get hooked on a book series, but it is nice to get a break and read something different and then go back. Glad to hear you enjoyed your 4th of July. Enjoy your week, Renee!
Hooray for such a great reading week! I have been in such a weird reading mood. I want to read but I’m not sure what I want to read. And I keep picking up a book, reading a dozen pages, and then deciding against it. Ugh. Maybe I just need to reread Him (for the 20th time LOL. I adore the audio version and both Teddy Hamilton and Jacob Morgan are two of my favorite narrators. I’ve picked up books simply because Teddy was the narrator. 🙂
Sounds like you’ve had a pretty good week. I love Catherine Cowles as well and can’t wait for Glimmers of You.
Sounds like you had a great reading week and a fun time otherwise as well!