Bookish Posts and Books Read of Week of January 7th through January 13th
This week was SO busy and exhausting! I finally was able to get my Christmas decor down and did some cleaning as well as some rearranging of furniture. Definitely a tiring week but I feel like going into the new year, it will feel renewing to have something different that I live in. Still a solid week of reading even though I didn’t get to my full TBR but only by one book, so not terrible. lol Happy news if you are a Michigan fan as they won the championship game. This weekend I am completely snowed in lol What a storm. I mean technically I could go out, but I tried on Thursday and yeah 3 hours for a grocery store trip. Looks like a winter wonderland though.
(All links to the reviews will guide you to my Goodreads Reviews)
Book Read-The Best Man by Sam Mariano—Rating 3 Stars–I liked this one but didn’t love it. It didn’t really impress me which did surprise me being a new Sam Mariano. I wasn’t really a fan of the family sharing of the heroine. It just didn’t really work for me. But it was an adventure of reading that is for sure.
Book Read-A Lady’s Lesson in Scandal by Meredith Duran—Rating 4 Stars—This was actually my first book from this author and I am not sure why I haven’t read more of her books because I enjoyed the ride this one took me on. It was a marriage of convenience with a rags to riches and hidden identity and some banister riding from the couple which was epic.
Book Listened-Asa by Jay Crownover—Rating 3.5 Stars– I really loved this pairing but unfortunately how the conflict was resolved burned me a bit. It didn’t satisfy me at all with how it was built up and how it was resolved just felt like more needed to happen. But I did love their dynamic.
Book Read-Dark Purity by Aja James—Rating 6 Stars—THIS BOOK!!! IT was epic and what a FINALE! This is honestly the best book of the series for me. It had dragons, a MM pairing, a broody and tortured pairing with our men being a phoenix and dragon mix. VERY COOL. And had so much action and beautiful chemistry it took my breath away. It was one of those books where the chemistry is so intense it keeps you up all night. Their story was just beautiful and I can’t wait for MORE DRAGONS!!!
Book Listened-Fury of Isolation by Coreene Callahan—Rating 4 Stars—Another dragon book…but this one is more of a PNR shifter romance. It had a solid plot and great laughs. Nothing spectacular, but just a fun read that you can indulge easily with.
Book Read-Ever Yours, Annabelle by Elisa Braden—Rating 5 Stars—What a beautiful prequel. I was expecting it to be a novella but surprisingly it was a full length story. The hero was such a delicious alpha, there was solid disability rep, and such a beautiful love story with a great suspense plot on the side.
Book Listened-The Rebel King by Gina L. Maxwell—Rating 4 Stars—This was an interesting mysterious installment. I loved the plot and the romance was great. There was a forbidden theme to the story which is my catnip.
Book Listened-Madness of the Horde King by Zoey Draven—Rating 4 Stars—A crazy wild ride!! haha I love the vibe of these books and the whole historical barbarian fantasy feel to them is great. I know technically they are marketed as sci fi but they have a more high fantasy feel to them.
Book Listened-Hades by Larissa Ione—Rating 4 Stars—Larissa Ione surely knows how to write a fun story. The humor, the suspense, the great world building, just all blended together so well. Definitely wanting to explore more of this 1001 Dark Nights.
Book Listened-Everything I Left Unsaid by M. O’Keefe—Rating 4 Stars—This was a powerful story. Loved their chemistry and the character growth that we see from our characters. It was SO different than I thought it would be but eager for more from this author. It definitely had some more sexy feels to the story.
Book Read-War of Monsters by Bella Di Corte—Rating 4.5 Stars—Another fabulous installment in this epic series of the Fausti Family. I loved getting back to this couple and the suspense plot was so powerful and well written.
Bookish Posts to Look Forward To
Review Policy & Rating System Updates
Week 3 of January Releases of 2024
Fast Five
Recommend It: Fae Creatures
Current Reads
A Lair so Sinful by Zoey Ellis is one of my Romanceopoly picks from last week that I wasn’t able to get to. This is high fantasy and very intrigued by it. Mr Sin by SJ Tilly is a edgy contemporary romance and I am excited to explore this author’s backlist. I am finally getting back to Kathryn Le Veque with A Wolfe among Dragons which is part of the de Wolfe family. I have been needing a good small-town romance so going to get to the Cottonwood Cove with Under the Stars. I am curious about this Vegas Morelli connecting books. This is an author I want to get through their backlist. So very eager to see what happens in Staying in Vegas.
Book Releases I am Excited For
Always Remember by Mary Balogh
The Bright Spot by Jill Shalvis
The Nightmare in Him by Suzanne Wright
Wolf on the Edge by Paige Tyler
Loving Romeo by Laura Pavlov
My Weekly TBR
My weekly TBR consists of what I term a “Flexible TBR” basically means I try to read this TBR every week, but sometimes I will also pick up some random books that just sound good at the time. But I will endear to stick with my TBR as its carefully picked.
Favorite Book of the Week
I loved this one so deeply! It was epic and adventurous and thrilling and the chemistry between these two was STELLAR! A solid 6 STAR READ. The perfect finale.
New Additions to AR Library
None This Week
I just took a look at my review for Asa. I did note that it was interesting the way the BIG conflict was dealt with, but I cannot remember what it was. LOL. I did read it back in 2016, but I also rated it 4.5 stars. I am assuming, I was ok with it. I hope you have a great week and happy reading!
Well if you want to know what it was just DM me. I just didn’t like what she had to do to have him in her life. It felt so anti climatic. Hope you have a wonderful week too!
I need to check out Dreams of Dragons. Binding 13 caught my attention. Look forward to your thoughts
Yes! I HIGHLY recommend Aja James. Her books are amazing. You would love her. I am very excited to try out Chloe Walsh. She has been becoming popular and I am curious on why haha
I should move furnitures around of buy new cushions! And I am excited to see Binding 13 on your TBR! I adore that series!
Looks like you have a pretty good week. We had some snow but now we are dealing with the cold. Freezing temps by me. Enjoy being snowed in!
Snow. Ick! Glad you at least like it. We’ve gotten freezing temps here and I am ready for them to go. I was sad Michigan won. The Huskies had such a great season and then their coach left for Bama. Boo. Oh well.
haha yeah I love the snow, I am a big skiier. We don’t really get freezing temps here that much. Its pretty mild here. I was sad Michigan won too, I was going for Wash. for the win. But at least Bama didn’t get to the top as I don’t think they deserved to even get to the championships.
That’s true, but they did “steal” UW’s coach.
haha yeah I had a feeling they would do that. I wish my team could have stolen him instead. But BYU is very restricted on who can be a head coach so kinda stuck with who we have lol
I hope you got some time to relax this weekend, and your next week will be a little bit more relaxing. 😉
It’s been snowing here as well today. I love it! Unfortunately it’s just a huge pile of mush at the moment since it’s snowing, and a few decrees above freezing temperatures. But I’m not complaining.. I love snow!! 😀
I’m glad you’ve loved Dark Purity so much! It sounds fun!
Wow, 3 hours to the grocery store?!! Hope you’re able to stay home and read, Renee!
haha Yeah normally its about a 20 minute trip. I like more quality produce and refuse to buy it at walmart lol But when it takes 15 minutes to get through an intersection lol yeah it was 3 hours. Issue for me is I tend to eat fresh so I have to go to the grocery store at least once a week sometimes twice a week. If only avocado’s lasted more than a few days lol