Review: The Me I Used to Be by Jennifer Ryan

I was kind of lukewarm about this one when it came up for review, but I’ve heard such great things about Jennifer Ryan’s cowboy romances so I was interested to see if her romance talents transferred over to a different style of romance novel.

I haven’t read anything by her but I was open giving this book a try if nothing else beyond being curious about a new romance. I’ve had great luck with women’s fiction and romances lately so I felt like, why not?

Even if I was lukewarm about it initially, I thought the author sounded experienced and the book itself had a fun setting (Napa) so if nothing else I would get a well written book with a lot of wine! Continue reading “Review: The Me I Used to Be by Jennifer Ryan”

Review: The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings #1) by J.R.R. Tolkien (Audible Edition)

I am about to come at you with an unpopular opinion. I haven’t read Lord of the Rings, I watched the films but was completely lost and hated them so much. I’ve tried to watch them so many times and simply gave up.

This is a series that I want to love so so so bad. I have multiple copies of the books but I am afraid to read them because I hated the movies so much and feared I would find the books boring.

Having discovered audiobooks recently, I thought this would be a good time to try my hand at reading this classic series especially with this fantastic narrator. After all, Tolkien is like the inventor of the modern fantasy genre so it’s basically required reading in my opinion! Continue reading “Review: The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings #1) by J.R.R. Tolkien (Audible Edition)”

Review: Relative Fortunes (Julia Kydd #1) by Marlowe Benn

I decided to read this book based purely on the cover art. The cover art suggests a fun historical mystery with a quirky and fashionable lady detective. Plus it was the first in a new series and I couldn’t help but get excited to be one of the first people to read Julia Kydd!

The 1920s aren’t really my favorite era to read, but I love the art and fashion and have read a few historical mysteries that have been set in that period and loved them so I am typically open to reading more from that time period.

I was excited to see that this was the authors first debut novel and she has already signed on to do 2 more books in this series, which speaks volumes for me! It must be good if the publisher already wants more, so I was excited to dive in and check out a new lady detective! Continue reading “Review: Relative Fortunes (Julia Kydd #1) by Marlowe Benn”

Review: Chai Another Day (A Spice Shop Mystery #4) by Leslie Budewitz

This mystery series sounded like the perfect cozy book to read with a warm up of tea! I loved that it was set in a tea shop in Seattle’s famous Pike’s Place Market. A place that I have visited on a number of occasions.

I thought that a book set in that quirky little market would be idyllic and something very ‘Pacific Northwest’. It was and easy yes for me and I was thrilled when it arrived.

Even though it was the fourth book in a series, it sounded like it was going to be more mystery focused rather than focusing on the characters and their lives. So I didn’t worry too much about starting late in the game. Continue reading “Review: Chai Another Day (A Spice Shop Mystery #4) by Leslie Budewitz”

Review: The Saturday Night Ghost Club by Craig Davidson

This was a book that I almost passed on for my review calendar. I was eager to do a feature and giveaway for it because I know that a lot of my readers are into the show Stranger Things  and this book was recommended for fans of the show.

But I wasn’t sure that this was going to be a book that I could fit into my summer reading. When the book arrived on my desk for review I looked at it and it was pretty short with fairly direct writing style and I thought about it a little bit but then casually set it aside.

The days went on and I kept looking at it on my shelf and couldn’t stop thinking that this might be a quick read and that it was simply calling my name. Finally I relented and picked it up and was hooked from the first chapter. Continue reading “Review: The Saturday Night Ghost Club by Craig Davidson”