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jsreadingjournal's Reviews (237)
Thoughts: This may be the best enemies-to-lovers tropes I’ve ever read! This book follows Taylor-Peyton Anderson, a ballerina who has suffered through immense trauma as a teen, and Charles Vaughn, a charismatic billionaire. Upon Charles and Taylor’s initial meeting, we see how they’re bound to be enemies. Charles feels that Taylor doesn’t carry an appropriate ballerina persona, while Taylor despises rich businessmen who have everything handed to them. As the story continues, they both learn more about one another and soon realize that they might be more similar than they’d once thought. As they both dig deeper to learn the truth about Taylor’s past, we question whether the truth will tear them apart.
I haven’t read the previous books in this series, but this book was easy to read as a standalone. I haven’t read a romance that covers darker topics in a good minute so I was very excited for this read – and it definitely did not disappoint. It was probably the best enemies-to-lovers I’ve read. I feel like most of them have “enemies” that aren’t really enemies, more-so just two people who dislike each other. But I could feel the hatred between the two coming out of the pages for this one. And then seeing how Charles puts together the pieces of why Taylor is the way she is and taking initiative to get her justice was incredible. I loved seeing their relationship grow and seeing how Charles was so aware and careful of making sure that Taylor was always okay. I would recommend this book if you like the whole enemies-to-lovers, billionaire, touch her and die tropes. Maybe read through the trigger warnings first.
I haven’t read the previous books in this series, but this book was easy to read as a standalone. I haven’t read a romance that covers darker topics in a good minute so I was very excited for this read – and it definitely did not disappoint. It was probably the best enemies-to-lovers I’ve read. I feel like most of them have “enemies” that aren’t really enemies, more-so just two people who dislike each other. But I could feel the hatred between the two coming out of the pages for this one. And then seeing how Charles puts together the pieces of why Taylor is the way she is and taking initiative to get her justice was incredible. I loved seeing their relationship grow and seeing how Charles was so aware and careful of making sure that Taylor was always okay. I would recommend this book if you like the whole enemies-to-lovers, billionaire, touch her and die tropes. Maybe read through the trigger warnings first.
Thoughts: First off, thank you to the author for sending me an arc. This was my first book by her, and to keep it short, I was definitely impressed. This story follows Trina Mills and Cole Paxton. The book has two timelines – one from when they were teenagers, one in the present. Trina grew up in a small town but eventually moved to New York to chase her dreams. We see her struggles and how her chasing her dreams lead her to living a nightmare. Trina runs into her high school boyfriend and is forced to confront her past, and what choices she wants to make for her future.
Hearing Trina’s story and everything she had to endure had my heart sinking. While she thought of herself as being nothing, everyone in her past still had high hopes and didn’t hold her past against her, and this was so heartwarming to read about. I absolutely loved this story and would highly recommend it. I did find that the ending felt very abrupt. I felt like the last chapter should have been more of a three-quarters point in the story, and that the epilogue would be extended for a few more chapters so we can see Trina properly heal from her past. It felt odd to have everything resolved in the last chapter. I just wish we got a bit more. Other than that, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It covered heavy topics in a meaningful way and reading from Trina’s POV made me understand how trapped she felt. I’m excited for the rest of this series to be released!
My rating: 4.5/5
Hearing Trina’s story and everything she had to endure had my heart sinking. While she thought of herself as being nothing, everyone in her past still had high hopes and didn’t hold her past against her, and this was so heartwarming to read about. I absolutely loved this story and would highly recommend it. I did find that the ending felt very abrupt. I felt like the last chapter should have been more of a three-quarters point in the story, and that the epilogue would be extended for a few more chapters so we can see Trina properly heal from her past. It felt odd to have everything resolved in the last chapter. I just wish we got a bit more. Other than that, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It covered heavy topics in a meaningful way and reading from Trina’s POV made me understand how trapped she felt. I’m excited for the rest of this series to be released!
My rating: 4.5/5
Thoughts: Thank you to @swipethebook.pr for sending me this arc. I was very excited to read this book because of all the hype I saw around the promo. I hadn’t realized it was based primarily on a miscommunication trope, which I’m not the biggest fan of. I wanted to love this book so much, but it really wasn’t for me. As soon as I got past the initial big miscommunication, turns out there’s another one at the end of the book. I really enjoyed the first half of the book, seeing Vera and Vihaan go from rivals to lovers but halfway through the book, it almost felt like all their problems were solved/looked past way too suddenly. Vera suddenly falling for Vihaan because of how he takes care of his grandpa made absolutely no sense – we didn’t really see the relationship between the protagonists develop. I just wish there had been more. It wasn’t my cup of tea, but I appreciate getting the arc.
Thoughts: I’ve been following the author on Instagram for quite a while – last year I thought it might be a good idea to just buy her books because I’ve been loving all her posts. Overall, it was a pretty good book. I rated it a 3.5 because while I did love some of the poems, there were quite a few that didn’t resonate with me.
Thoughts: This book follows Anya and Daniel. The two give off black cat x golden retriever vibes (with him being goldie obviously). Daniel, the university’s basketball captain, clashes with Anya, a perfect rule-following student, and can’t seem to get enough of her. Throughout the story, we see the two become friends as they’re partnered together for a school assignment. Daniel starts brining Anya out of her shell and they eventually fall for one another.
I absolutely loved the first half of this book – it was such a cute read! The second half of the book felt a bit like a drag where there wasn’t too much happening in terms of plot. I loved seeing the relationship between Daniel and Anya bloom, but their relationship got a bit too cheesy after. Also, her calling him “captain” was cute when they first met and were getting to know each other, but she kept calling him that after they were together and it gave me the ick.
Tropes: forced proximity, dual pov, black cat x golden retriever, sports romance, he falls first
I absolutely loved the first half of this book – it was such a cute read! The second half of the book felt a bit like a drag where there wasn’t too much happening in terms of plot. I loved seeing the relationship between Daniel and Anya bloom, but their relationship got a bit too cheesy after. Also, her calling him “captain” was cute when they first met and were getting to know each other, but she kept calling him that after they were together and it gave me the ick.
Tropes: forced proximity, dual pov, black cat x golden retriever, sports romance, he falls first
First, I’d like to say thank you to the author for sending me this arc.
This book was so cute – I loved it. I’ve been in a reading slump this month and haven’t read that much, but this one was a one-sitting book that I couldn’t put down. This is a sports romance (hockey) where we follow Dmitri and Kavi face their battles of doing what they love, rather than what’s expected of them. They both come from families where they face immense pressures and are almost living their lives for their parents. Dmitri is Kavi’s ex-fiancé’s rival, and throughout the book, we see Dmitri and Kavi getting closer as they try to help one another.
I’m not sure what it was but something about the writing in the first few chapters felt somewhat amateur-like – maybe it was the pacing or the frequent use of very short sentences? Not sure. But I noticed that this issue was only for the first bit, and quickly resolved itself. Aside from that, this book was amazing – I think it might be one of my top reads of this year.
I loved how this story shines light on how SAHW may feel inferior and pressured to put their wants and happiness aside to appease their spouses, and I also love how we got to see Kavi gain confidence and actually stand up for herself (I felt so proud of her
This book was so cute – I loved it. I’ve been in a reading slump this month and haven’t read that much, but this one was a one-sitting book that I couldn’t put down. This is a sports romance (hockey) where we follow Dmitri and Kavi face their battles of doing what they love, rather than what’s expected of them. They both come from families where they face immense pressures and are almost living their lives for their parents. Dmitri is Kavi’s ex-fiancé’s rival, and throughout the book, we see Dmitri and Kavi getting closer as they try to help one another.
I’m not sure what it was but something about the writing in the first few chapters felt somewhat amateur-like – maybe it was the pacing or the frequent use of very short sentences? Not sure. But I noticed that this issue was only for the first bit, and quickly resolved itself. Aside from that, this book was amazing – I think it might be one of my top reads of this year.
I loved how this story shines light on how SAHW may feel inferior and pressured to put their wants and happiness aside to appease their spouses, and I also love how we got to see Kavi gain confidence and actually stand up for herself (I felt so proud of her
This is a story about Mallory – a clinically depressed teenager who can’t seem to find any aspect of joy in her life. The story follows Mallory along with various other characters that are related to Mallory, like her parents, siblings, friends, and boyfriend. Each chapter occurs across the same timeline each time, however we get to see the varying perspectives of everyone that is involved in Mallory’s life.
I liked the overall message this book sent, but I was bored reading it by mid-point. As the timeline is the same for each chapter, the story felt quite repetitive. We are essentially reading the same story from different perspectives. I had high hopes for this book as it was the author’s debut novel. I’ve also been following the author on Instagram for a very long time and really enjoy her poetry. I rated it a 3.5 (generously).
I liked the overall message this book sent, but I was bored reading it by mid-point. As the timeline is the same for each chapter, the story felt quite repetitive. We are essentially reading the same story from different perspectives. I had high hopes for this book as it was the author’s debut novel. I’ve also been following the author on Instagram for a very long time and really enjoy her poetry. I rated it a 3.5 (generously).
Thoughts: I read the first two books in the Pelion Lake series back in 2023 so when I saw that there was a third book, I was so excited to read it. I don’t remember reading about Gage in the previous books but again, that was probably because it’s been so long. This book follows Gage Buchanan and Aurora Casteel. Gage is a businessman who is set to move to London to start up an international family firm, while Aurora is a waitress in a small town who is determined to find her father. The two run into one another in her hometown and immediately hit it off (after some bickering of course). Aurora then ends up in Gage’s town in search of her father. While this was a cute read, I didn’t vibe with it as much as I did the first two books in the series. I hated the whole possibility of them being related and found it quite disturbing. Majority of the book was Rory and Gage trying to find the real identity of the book so it was sort of a let-down when they finally find who he is and it turns out he passed away a few years back. I think my favourite part of the book was probably seeing the characters from the first two books make an appearance and seeing how welcoming they are to Rory.
My rating: 3.5
My rating: 3.5