Bookish Posts and Books Read of Week of October 8th through October 14th
What a week this one was. I don’t know about you but I am so EXHAUSTED from it all. The first is the shocking news of what is happening in Israel and the reactions that have exploded all over the world. And its only going to get worse, unfortunately. My heart breaks for those in Israel who suffered such a horrific attack that was attempted genocide. And yes I do think they are completely justified in retaliating. You stand up to bullies and unfortunately, these terrorists will stand behind innocents for this war. I just hope and pray that the clearing of the Gaza Strip will happen swiftly with the least loss of life.
We have definitely been getting colder temperatures of late, we are definitely in fall and headed for winter. I am telling you I am not ready. Now as for my reading, it wasn’t quite as much as I had planned. My focus was more on new releases as we had quite a bit this week. But also many of the books that I read this week were 500 pages or more haha so it evens out in the end. But my quality of reading just wasn’t that great haha I think I was cursed with the majority of new releases I read, majority of them except for the Meghan March, didn’t even come close to living to expectation. So hopefully this week will be an improvement on that.
(All my books read and their reviews are on Goodreads, I have linked for you)
List and Link book reviews with ratings and descriptions of opinions via goodreads
Book Read-The Year We Hid Away by Sarina Bowen—Rating 4 Stars— I really found the premise of this one very interesting. It was a bit different than I expected, but I enjoyed it quite a bit and very solid read. Eager to see what is next in this series.
Book Listened-Don’t Forget Me Tomorrow by A.L. Jackson—Rating 4 Stars—This one while a solid read, wasn’t as great as I thought it would be. The third act and the ending being rushed kept it from being a five star read. But I still recommend it if you enjoy romantic suspense and small town romance.
Book Listened Cowboy Kind of Love by Donna Grant—Rating 4 Stars—This was quite interesting. Probably my least favorite of the series though. It had a great plot and everything but the romance was a bit lacking a bit in this one.
Book Read-The Broken Vows by Catharina Maura—Rating 3.5 Stars—This had a Romeo and Juliet retelling, and while some aspects of the retelling was done pretty decently the second half of the book was a huge hot mess. This is my least favorite from this author and I had such high hopes for this one too.
Book Listened-Caught Up by Liz Tomforde—Rating 2 Stars—This book made me so so SAD. I wanted to love this one. In fact, this book is one of my most anticipated releases of the whole YEAR. And it wasn’t good at all. The heroine really burned me from enjoying this one. She acted like a child most of the time, constantly pushing the hero away and there was no character growth that we saw in the previous books in this one. It just didn’t have the magic that you see in Mile High and Right Move. I know this is not a popular opinion but this book made me so unhappy and it breaks my heart to say that about this one here.
Book Listened-Dream a Little Dream by Susan Elizabeth Phillips—Rating 5 Stars—I read this book right after Caught Up and now this is how you write a sassy heroine. This book was everything that I needed to help me recover from the previous read I had.
Book Read-Pride by Bianca Cole—Rating 4 Stars—This book was pretty awesome to read. This was basically a pride and prejudice retelling but mafia style and much spicier. haha and I absolutely loved the retelling aspects of it. So if you love anything Austenesque in romance, and don’t mind a dark romance, then I actually recommend this one. Its a angst fest but I just had a fun time with this one.
Book Read-Hopeless by Elsie Silver—Rating 3 Stars—-*sigh* this week was NOT good for me for new releases haha because this one was a disappointment for sure. Its not a bad book or anything. But its her weakest book in my opinion. It felt too rushed and not enough development. And I just felt bored by this one here. I just wasn’t invested in this couple at all. I personally think the issue is the author rushed this book too quickly because it was nothing like the rest of the books in the series.
Book Read-Redemption by Meghan March—Rating 4.5 Stars—-This book was brilliant! I absolutely loved it. This author was so great. She hasn’t written in a few years. Its sad what the community did to her. (for those that don’t know she was canceled for being conservative and she was treated so cruelly, it got so bad she took a very long hiatus). Not sure if she is back for good writing or if it’s just this one but I couldn’t tell she had been gone from writing. Just as good as her other books. So if you loved the Mount trilogy, I highly recommend this one here.
Weekly Recap (Week 41) October Reset
Week 2 of October Releases of 2023
Book Review-Don’t Forget Me Tomorrow by A.L. Jackson
Recommend It: Witches and Wizards
Bookish Posts to Look Forward To
Spoil Free Reviews? Yay or Nay–A Discussion Post
Book Release Post
Book Review-When A Dragon Falls by Kerrelyn Sparks
Fast Five Friday
Recommend It: Romantic Suspense
Current Reads
So My Current Audiobook is Consider Me by Becka Mack. I just wasn’t able to get to this one last week like I intended, but grabbed this one in audio and really really enjoying it! Its a long one though, so I am very invested in the journey ahead for our couple. Then I will FINALLY be reading today the latest Kerrelyn Sparks, and I am really excited for this one here. Then we have Madame by Sara Cate and this is the finale and I am curious on this one. This is a character we have seen throughout the stories and I really hope we get more depth on her journey. Then I can’t resist in reading the newest ARC of Wilde for You by Jennifer Ryan I was surprised this was sent so early, but not complaining either. Then on Monday I will be buddy reading Grimstone with a reader friend. This is supposed to be a spooky thriller romance and I am really curious about it.
Book Releases I am Excited For
Shadows of You by Catherine Cowles
Hot Mess Summer by Melissa Foster
He is …Creed by Lisa Renee Jones
Amish Matchmakers by Beth Wiseman
Silent Lies by Neva AltaJ
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. This week my focus is some new releases, and series I want to work through.
Favorite Book of the Week
New Additions to AR Library
Nothing This Week
It’s amazing to see how much you are enjoying those old SEP romances. I am pretty sure you are younger than me, and it’s nice to see you liking the stories despite that I know they are a bit dated. Sorry about the Tomforde book. It’s never fun when an anticipated release lets you down.
This week definitely felt like fall here with lots of rain and cooler temperatures. I lie fall, but not a fan of winter and the cold. Sorry to hear about a lot of the new releases not living up to your expectations. I hope you have some better reads next week!
I enjoyed Wilde for You. It was a dark week and my thoughts are with Israel. Enjoy your books this week 🙂
I share your opinion on the Israeli fight Renée even if I am also so sad for the innocents that these terrorists use to hide behind! I hope next week will be a better reading week!
Sorry you had some anticipated books that were let downs. I hate when that happens! Hopefully this week’s reading is better!
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is both tragic and extremely complicated. I pray there will someday be a solution where all the peoples of the region can live in safety, peace, and mutual respect, but I often despair that it can ever be achieved. What Hamas did last weekend was heinous, and I condemn it utterly. I grieve for the victims of the attack, for the hostages, and for their families, and for the people of Israel. But I also grieve for the civilians killed and injured in Gaza. Wars of terrorism always seem to cost civilians dearly, on both sides.
Sorry to see that you had several that did not meet your expectations last week. What a letdown. Especially the Tomforde book! I see such raves for her others. I am super excited for the new release from Catherine Cowles this week. I’ve been waiting for Roan’s story!