What a finale to the Scholomance trilogy!
El got everybody out of the Scholomance except Orion and she can‘t forgive herself. The only thing that rousts her is two of her classmates from the London enclave showing up begging her help when a mawmouth attacks.
This sets her on the path to saving enclaves, rescuing Orion, and fulfilling her gr. grandmother‘s prophecy. El tries to rebuild their world with lots of twists along the way
Finished 1/6/2023

While in a solo trip to Hungary, Mara pretends to be a fortune teller & tells an Austrian musician that his soulmate (her) is in England & when he should meet her.
Mara returns home & starts to work on getting her life together so she‘d be ready when the hot musician showed up. Meanwhile her hot new roommate is super sweet & getting her all confused.
Her obsession with horoscopes and the “fortune” got annoying but cute overall.
Finished 12/30/2022

When Halliday‘s Uncle Darling and his husband Monty witness a murder, Halliday and Hobbs are on the case, running parallel investigations to the police while trying to keep Hobbs from figuring out Halliday‘s secret.
Midsommer Murders meets Hallmark Christmas movie meets Sabrina the Teenaged Witch
Finished 12/21/2022

Katie works in brand management in London, constantly trying to bury her midlands upbringing and match the posh vibe of her coworkers. When she gets fired, she‘s forced to move back home while keeping her unemployment hidden. She helps her parents set up a successful glamping site on their farm when her former boss shows up. Katie gets her revenge but learns just what kind of person her boss actually is.
Also has a romance
Finished 12/20/2022

McInery calls out toxic positivity, our obsession with self-improvement, and our avoidance of aging. She reminds us that we are all slightly unhinged and all the better for it. Funny and relatable.
Finished 12/15/2022

Sheriff Sunshine Vicram currently has three pains in her ass: daughter Auri who is determined to become the youngest private detective Del Sol has ever seen, a mystery villain who is kidnapping women, and irritating/sexy Levi who may or may not be her something.
Finished 12/7/2022

I liked it a lot. It was a nice change from Christmas novels and, while it had elements of the “holiday romance” it didn‘t totally read like one.
Rachel and Jacob were summer camp sweethearts when they were 12 but when a misunderstanding ends their friendship, it takes them 15 years to find their way back to each other, with plenty of speed bumps and one horrifying matzah ball mascot costume along the way.
Finished 11/29/2022

Cute short story about Jenny Lawson‘s love of Halloween, even though she was supposed to be talking about Christmas.
Finished 11/25/2022

Partner book to A Pumpkin & A Patch and I liked this one better. The characters were more believable and bless Aiden for calling out the insanity that is Jenna & Josie‘s family. I cheered when he questioned “pumpkiny.”
Finished 11/24/2022

There were some cute things but overall, not for me. For the majority of the book, Josie‘s dialogue (both internal and external) was about 1) the pirate story she wrote in high school & how it ruined her life, 2) how she couldn‘t date Reese because she loved her job, and 3) how adorable Reese‘s daughter was and how everybody loved her.
The repetition was grating, as were the numerous times “pumpkiny” was used.
Finished 11/19/2022

Loved this book! Read if you liked Boyfriend Material.
First Son of the USA, Alex, is a playboy in the press & a big ole nerd in private. He also has a decade-long, one-sided feud with Prince Henry of England. When a misunderstanding between them turns into a public fight, their PR teams make them seem like bffs.
When Henry kisses Alex at the First Sibling‘s NYE party, Alex‘s entire life shifts as hate becomes something else.
Finished 11/25/2022

It took a while to get into but it turned into a cute later-in-life romance. Major Pettigrew is pretty stuffy and was kind of a dishrag to read about but then he kept getting himself into uncharacteristic situations and it was funny to see him try to bluster his way out of them.
Nearly everybody else in the book is insufferable.
Finished 11/9/2022

I actually liked this one more than The Ex Hex, even with the two plot threads left hanging.
Green was going to be the only Jones witch in town for the first time. It was the kickoff for the busy season when the oldest Penhallow brother strolls into town and sets up a witchy shop directly across from Gwen‘s store. Things get dicy when a few more shady witches show up and Gwen mysteriously loses her magic.
Finished 11/6/2022

Leena is a consummate overachiever, her way of coping with her sister‘s untimely death. When she‘s ordered to take a sabbatical from work, she heads to her grandmother‘s tiny village.
Eileen, is newly single & lets her granddaughter talk her into switching lives for 2 months. Eileen heads to London to try out casual dating while Leena takes care of her grandmother‘s obligations. They both find love but not how they expected.
Finished 10/30/2022

I really, really wanted to love this book but my feelings are lukewarm as best.
Super rich tech dude builds an immersive fantasy theme park (think LARPing on steroids) but his employees on the island go rogue. Classic lit professor Addie Cox is sent in with private contractors to take it back. Considering how smart and into D&D she is, Addie makes some brainless choices at the worst possible times. Freaking unicorns.
Finished 10/24/2022

Couldn‘t put it down!
Savannah works for the slowly failing Pennington Publishing house that produces only the highest of literature and non-fiction. The owner‘s son William come in to try to save it among firings and cutbacks. Meanwhile Savannah is trying to get her romance novel published by another company and is getting help from a mysterious editor at Pennington whom she starts falling for.
Finished 10/21/2022

Parody of 50 Shades of Gray takes the ridiculousness of the source material to a whole different, insane level. It actually makes me angry that it exists and one of the main reasons is because I can‘t decide if it‘s better or worse than 50 Shades.
I don‘t know. Read with friends over wine and have a good laugh. Take a shot when there is an uncomfortable euphemism for people‘s naughty bits. Be dead by the end.
Finished 10/18/2022

Katrina & Nathan were friends & co-writers for years when they had a massive falling out. 4 years later, they‘re forced together to finish their contract & try to recreate their last success when things blow up again.
It was a little frustrating because you only get the smaller details of the original falling out but the twist was good. If you want Beach Read by Emily Henry but more literary & less funny, check this one out.
Finished 10/16/2022

Such an interesting look at how CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien‘s experiences in WWI and their friendship influenced their writing. It also talked about the rise of the fantasy genre post-WWI. The time spent discussing Christianity did surprise me but that‘s my fault for not reading the subtitle.
Finished 10/13/2022

Jenette McCurdy is an actress/writer/director best known for her time on Nickelodeon but this memoir was mostly about her relationship with her mom and how it affected her life.
McCurdy‘s mom was a toxic, manipulative, controlling woman who‘s undiagnosed mental illness and bouts with cancer turned McCurdy‘s childhood into a series of bulimia, ugly, auditions, anxiety, roles, pain, and codependency. Heartbreaking but so good.
Finished 10/10/2022

Luc & Oliver have managed to keep their relationship afloat for 2 years, they are in a good place together, and both are working on themselves. When Luc runs into his betraying ex and finds out he‘s engaged, things seem to unravel.
4 weddings and a funeral later, Luc and Oliver have some serious decisions to make.
I love these two, they‘re broken, flawed, and ridiculous but they somehow work.
Finished 10/5/2022

I have never seen a trans person in a Regency romance before but I hope it becomes a thing
Disappearing from the battle of Waterloo gave Viola the chance to live her true life, sacrificing her title, her freedom, & her best friend, Justin, to do it.
Years later, Justin isn‘t doing well & Viola‘s sister-in-law convinces Viola that she is the only person who can help. What she didn‘t know is that old feelings also have a new name.
Finished 10/2/2022

Poppy and Alex are polar opposites and best friends. They used to take a trip every summer but that stopped two years earlier when outside forces worked to tear them apart.
Now, Poppy is trying to figure out how to get out of the rut she‘s been stuck in and hopes a week-long vacation with Alex will bring everything back into perspective. They just have to get over that last disastrous trip first.
Finished 9/27/2022

Dani ditches her fiancé when all their problems culminate in him cheating with their real estate agent. She decides to build a spite house right next to his new house, ruining his view.
When cold, aloof Wyatt, the only architect at Dani‘s work willing to take the job, revenge and romance are on the horizon.
I wanted to like this book but Wyatt‘s extreme personality shifts bugged me and multiple illegal things don‘t make a right.
Finished 9/24/2022

Could do with some editing.
After being disowned and supporting herself for years, Sedona finally makes it to St Augustine, the same college her brother went to. When she falls for the mysterious Eagle, past tragedy rears it‘s ugly head.
Finished 9/22/2022

While You Were Sleeping meets Charlie Davidson and I loved it!
Romance writer Florence ghost writes for a best selling romance writer. She can also see ghosts. When a bad breakup makes her lose faith in love and a new editor draws a line in the sand, it gets worse when Florence‘s dad dies.
Then it gets weird when she finds out the new editor died, too. And he starts following her around her hometown.
Finished 9/20/2022

I liked it but it didn‘t blow my socks off. Didn‘t live up to the hype.
Booze, magic, & a broken heart don‘t mix when recently dumped Vivian & her cousin decide to cast a spell to give her ex horrible luck. It just wasn‘t supposed to work.
Lucky for Rhys, the hex didn‘t kick in until 7 years later when he comes back to town to fulfill familial obligations. That‘s when all hell breaks loose & they have to work together to fix it.
Finished 9/18/2022

January is a romance author who doesn‘t believe in the Happily ever after anymore. Not since she found out her dad had a beach-side love nest with his long-time mistress.
When she finds out her college rival, Augustus, a fellow author although he is in the literary genre, rented the house next door, January is forced to face her feelings for him, her father, and her beloved romance genre.
Finished 9/17/2022

I think the biggest problem with this book is that it wasn‘t long enough. The vine magic (and magic in general) was interesting but not very flushed out. It felt like I was dropped into a magical world I was already supposed to understand.
The romantic plot was also unsatisfying. They went from being suspicious and hate to in love with little time spent on how they got there. It basically happened during a 3 month time skip.
Finished 9/17/2022

This is the annotated version of Wheaton‘s memoir, Just a Geek, where Wheaton looks back at his 20-something year old self through the lens of experience and maturity.
I enjoyed learning about Wheaton and all his neediness and I understand much of the book was pulled from his blog posts, but the amount of repetition drove me up the wall.
Finished 9/16/2022

Absolutely loved this book!
Luc is a trainwreck who is ordered by his boss to clean up his act & find a respectable boyfriend so donors will see him as “the right kind of gay.”
Oliver is a friend of a friend, clean-cut, respectable barrister who is single &doesnt want to go to his parents‘ anniversary party alone.
They never got along but they decide to try being a pretend couple, they didn‘t count on actually liking each other.
Finished 9/13/2022

I‘m not sure why but I was expecting something a bit more funny and ridiculous. This was not it. If I hadn‘t read it in one sitting, I probably wouldn‘t have finished it. Basically Tiger King but with women and monkeys.
Jamie got community service and chose to work at a monkey sanctuary where shit goes sideways in the most terrible ways.
Page 15 onward I regularly screamed “ITS A CULT!!”
Finished 9/5/2022

There is a secret organization of bartenders who fight the things that go bump in the night with the help of perfectly mixed cocktails that give them superpowers.
I absolutely love the premise but I‘m not sure how practical it is in the grand scheme of things. The additional lore about various cocktails between the chapters was great.
Finished 9/4/2022

Monroe does it again! This how to guide is full of advice on how to do normal and usual things in the most ridiculous and complicated way possible. Hilarious and awe-inspiring
Finished 9/1/2022

2004: When Lara‘s fiancé disappears the night before their wedding at the same place a friend of her parents‘ disappeared decades earlier, she sets out to find the truth.
1925: Cecile is bound to her father‘s circus, a magical place that moves around Paris and is invite only. Sinister secrets abound and Cecile is desperate to hold on to the love she has found.
I really liked some things, I think it needs a re-read.
Finished 8/20/2022

Paul Holes talks about how he got interested in forensics, some memorable cases and how he got in the path of the Original Night Stalker.
He came on the public scene when he helped connect the dots between cases stretching across multiple counties and finally catch the man who became the Golden State Killer.
Finished 7/27/2022

I just found my new favorite author!!
Nora‘s life sounds like a Hallmark movie but not in the good way. Every serious boyfriend she‘s had, has left her for the small-town girl, leaving Nora to feel like the big city girlfriend.
When she agrees to go with her very pregnant sister to a small town to live out their own Hallmark tropes, the last thing she expected was to find a small-town guy of her own.
Finished 7/26/2022

When Nora‘s family die in a pandemic, she is taken in by Dr. Croft, mainly so he can study her recovery and how the disease would affect her in the future. As Nora grows up, she becomes Croft‘s student and assistant in his clinic, unfortunately it is illegal for women to practice medicine.
The secret becomes harder to keep when Croft takes on a new surgical resident and Nora has to pretend to be a proper lady.
Finished 7/20/2022

Wow am I glad I read this before I found out Ned is trash.
Part 4-person memoir, part self-help book, the Try Guys talk about moments in their life where they fucked up and what they learned from it, also how they became the Try Guys.
Finished 7/19/2022

Such a unique magical system, I love it!
Ning can use tea to make magic. She travels to the capitol for the competition to become the emperor‘s newest shennong-shi but she has a ulterior motive: she wants the mythical cure-all she believes will bring her sister back from the bring of death. A death caused by a mysterious poison that has been winding through the countryside.
Finished 7/15/2022

Written for a younger audience but still interesting. Anderson tells about three civil war era munitions factories that went up in flames and the poor women and girls who were caught in the blaze.
Finished 7/15/2022

Just-one-of-the-guys Millie is a criminal justice professor with 4 male besties who also teach at the same college. When the 5 make a plan to use dating websites to find plus ones to the gala, things go sideways.
I liked some things but didn‘t care for the catfishing or that Millie‘s best (only??) friends were 4 guys she inherited from her ex less than 2 years earlier.
Finished 6/13/2022

Kaikeyi is the princess of Kekaya overlooked by her father, most of her brothers, even the gods. When she discovers texts that give her the magic to manipulate the people around her, things change. She turns herself into a warrior, and later when she is married, a diplomat and queen.
Things fall apart when it is time for her husband to choose his heir and a promise is broken, sending Kaikeyi down a lonely path.
Finished 6/9/2022

Cazzie David takes us through her life as a nepo baby, dealing with depression, anxiety, family and life in the limelight.
I know it was supposed to be darkly funny but I didn‘t get that. It just felt like a rich kid complaining about the world not bowing to them. I tried to be empathetic to her struggles with depression and anxiety but her constant referencing to her famous ex got old.
Finished 5/27/2022

I shouldn‘t like this book. The characters are all assholes only out to help themselves, but there is something so intriguing about the whole premise of magical people competing to see who will win the chance to protect a vast library.
Finished 5/22/2022

There were a lot of things I liked about this book like how the ancient gods were woven throughout the modern world and the invention of the “modern gods.” Gaiman is an incredibly talented writer.
There were also a lot of things I didn‘t like about the book. There seemed to be a lot of gratuitous sex and violence that did nothing to advance the plot. Also, I didn‘t know what the hell was going on half the time.
Finished 5/28/2022

The coziest of romances. This is not my normal genre but I thought it was adorable. Kinley James returns to her hometown of Sunset Ridge, Alaska after 9 years away to find out who her father is but Ed, the moose, is up to his old games. His presence in the middle of the road leads Kinley to run into police chief Ryder Grant, her former bff and high school flame.
Finished 5/18/2022

Ivy is a private eye & is hired by the magical school her twin teaches at to solve another teacher‘s murder. Ivy is constantly saying how out of her league she is, yet she is able to make brilliant leaps in logic to find clues & solve the case. She &all of the other adults are incredibly irresponsible and nobody seems to care there are actual children in danger.
Too much plot, too many holes, too much telling instead of showing.
Finished 5/17/2022

Snark master Murderbot is back.
It joined Dr. Mensah‘s brother, daughter, and friends on a research mission that goes horribly wrong when their ship is abducted by strange alien-type creatures who were flying an all-too familiar transport ship. Murderbot is thrown in the thick of it trying to keep his humans alive, restore ART, and figure out what the hell was going on.
Finished 5/8/2022

Cozy sapphic fantasy that reads like the lowest stakes D&D game ever and I adored it.
Viv retires from life as an adventurer and builds up a thriving coffee shop with new friends Tandri as the manager and Thimble as the baker. When a former adventuring partner finds out Viv has a mysterious relic, her safe new life becomes a bit more tenuous.
Finished 5/1/2022