Review: Start With Me by Kara Isaac

 

Where does one begin with describing a Kara Isaac novel? The smiles that are guaranteed to come? The swooniness of the hero? The female protagonist who always seems to find her way into our hearts?  Or! What about the raw emotions which resonate with our own? Truly it's a combination of all of the above, isn't it? 

I should confess that I wasn't sure how I would feel about Victor himself. It's not that I doubted Ms. Isaac's skills, but I wasn't yet convinced that I could believe his redemption. Even though I'm almost always a fan of that storyline! I wasn't too doubtful though, because it didn't take him as long as I first imagined to convince me. (And I'm a sucker for a great redemption arc, did I mention? :) Victor began to tug at my heartstrings and that's not even counting what all Lacey did to my heart! Watching these two slowly figure out their attraction, the growth they both needed, and just what sort of future they each truly wanted was such a wonderful ride. Their story isn't perfect, but that's why I loved them. I could understand their uncertainties and flaws, even as I was pushing for them to reach beyond them into their truer selves.

The lives of these characters are messy, yet beautiful. It was a joy to walk beside them, witnessing their hilarious banter, their frustrations with their current lives, even their frustrations with themselves. The point of it all is to walk the journey, the destination (i.e. their happy ever after) is just the bonus! So do I think you should read it? If any of the above intrigued you, then I say yes! One rarely goes wrong with a Kara Isaac novel, trust me on that. :)

**I received a complimentary copy via JustRead Tours. All opinions are my own.

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Review: The Lost Lieutenant by Erica Vetsch

In the midst of all the crazy of the world, I wanted something lighthearted and fun to read. This arrived perfectly timed on my kindle! :) It made me laugh a few places, swoon quite a few others, and left me with a smile by the time I finished the final pages. Kudos to Ms. Vetsch!

Now I should clarify that the plot isn’t all happiness and rainbows, there are mysteries upon mysteries to solve amongst all the sweetness. I could never quite put my finger on exactly what would happen to whom although I surely spent quite a bit of time trying to figure it all out. I got close, but still had a few surprises left for me to discover at the climax. And at the heart of all the goings on is the super adorable (and sometimes frustrating) marriage of convenience! That, naturally, was my favorite bit of them all. :D Evan and Diana have splendid chemistry together, their scenes were always snapping with energy. Even as they frustrated me with their inability to just be honest with each other already, I could still appreciate their reasons why they each held things so close. And! The fact that they completely acknowledge the ridiculousness of their refusal to communicate towards the end redeemed all that for me.

The added detail of having the Prince Regent play such a large role in the story was unexpected but I actually rather enjoyed his outrageous way of going about things. (Not so sure I’d enjoy it in real life, but in fiction? Absolutely! :) Combine that with all the swooniness of the romance and the utter sweetness of Cian and you simply have the makings of a wonderful few hours of reading. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and if you like a bit of mystery with your romance then you just might do the same.

**I received a complimentary copy via JustRead Tours. All opinions are my own.

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Review: Of Literature & Lattes by Katherine Reay

Yay for a new Katherine Reay story! I anticipate the next one just as soon as I finish the last one and this time was no different. I love all the literary references she casually (and not so casually) weaves into her plot. I love how her writing flows along and draws me in immediately (especially when I’m “only going to read a couple chapters right now” and suddenly two hours have flown by ;). I love how her characters are always complex and real, they feel like friends by the end. In short? I just really love Katherine Reay books!

This one drew me in like her previous ones. I was intrigued by Alyssa’s problems and wanting so badly to make her relationship with her mother all better. After growing to know and love Janet dearly in The Printed Letter Bookshop, I was hoping for everyone else around her to be witness to her awesomeness and growth. However, it is perfectly understandable that a fraught relationship is rarely healed overnight. Thus no matter my impatience at times, I truly appreciated the nuanced and natural feel of how they began to slowly understand one another again. I do think their relationship was my favorite among all the possibilities within the story! I also rather enjoyed Jeremy’s relationship with his daughter, Becca. I was not expecting things to end up the way they did and my heart ached for all the emotions he had to process through. But what a beautiful lesson that came out of it! Seriously. Like I said, I love how Ms. Reay so skillfully handles complex characters and gives their story arcs such depth and feeling.

I will have to confess to feeling some slight disappointment, however. As much as I have adored all of Ms. Reay’s books thus far, this is the first one which I closed with a tinge of bittersweetness. This has nothing to do with her writing, more it has to do with where a couple plots ended up going. Ms. Reay has beautifully written a story in which choices were made which I did not enjoy as much as I wanted. Also, while I liked getting several different perspectives on scenes, the multiple points of view got a tad overwhelming at times, since I never knew when I'd jump into someone else's head suddenly. However! These choices are not enough to make me wish I hadn’t read it. To the contrary, I especially loved a certain conversation between Luke and Chris which just made me grin. The fact that they had this same basic conversation again at the end of the book only made my grin bigger! (On that note, Ms. Reay. I’d REALLY love to see the results of those convos played out in an epilogue of sorts! Pretty please? ;)

So! The bottom line? Katherine Reay is quite skilled with the pen and I think you should absolutely read her books! Though this one isn’t perfect, it still has some good lessons to be learned and imperfect characters with whom to fall in love. And! Did I mention all the literary references? You should be intrigued for those alone. What are you waiting for? Go read her books and be entranced as much as I!

**I received a complimentary copy via Netgalley. All opinions expressed are my own.

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Cover Reveal :: One Bad Apple by Rachel Kovaciny

Hello, my lovelies! I am SO pleased to be sharing the wonderful cover of Rachel Kovaciny's newest book coming out very soon! Ms. Kovaciny has been slowly writing an intriguing series of books based on fairytales set in the old west. She is a good (real life!! :) friend of mine, but is also a wonderful author in her own right. So it pleases me to share her awesomeness with the world. :)

So! Without further ado, let's get to the pretty, shall we?

Ooooo! Isn't it gorgeous?! I love the color scheme and all the small details that you notice as you really look at it. I actually didn't catch this until I looked a second time, but the apple has the look of a skull. Coupled with the title, the general creepiness makes it clear this isn't going to be a happiness and rainbows type of story. It just intrigues me! Doesn't it you?? :)

In case you need a synopsis to intrigue you further...

Fourteen-year-old Levi Dalton feels numb. Hands tied behind his back, he's about to be hauled away for poisoning a beautiful girl and her kind father. The woman pointing her finger at him and accusing him of murder is the very same woman he hoped could teach him to heal illnesses, not cause them. The woman he idolized. The woman he trusted. Levi knows he should be scared for his own life. But all he can think about is how graves always come in pairs.

The book releases on 07/28/20, so it'll be in our anxious hands soon! And you can add it to Goodreads if you care to. Ah the anticipation! :)