jtaylor14's reviews
179 reviews

Where the Black Line Ends by Meagan Williamson

emotional funny tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Where the Black Line Ends

I devoured this book. I literally could not stop once I started. I was immediately sucked in by the adorable meet cute. I originally applied for this ARC because of the cover and the description. I love the Chicago Fire tv show and a while back I watched a movie about wildfire firefighters so I was very curious about this book. I was thrilled when I received this ARC in my inbox on Monday. I started it right away.

Where the Black Line Ends follows Reed (firefighter) and Hailey (EMT) as they land a job in Idaho after they meet on a plane to Idaho. Aside from the main characters, there are side characters that you will also fall in love with. The character development is great and if you are like me, you will find yourself giggling, kicking your feet, laughing, and yes, crying. I probably cried more than I should have.

When I was 100 pages into the book, I realized that Meagan’s first novel introduces Reed and his backstory. You do not have to read it first but I do wish I would have and I think it is helpful. I was only half way into this book when I knew I needed to read Reed’s story because the author’s writing style is addictive and makes for a total page turner. I already ordered it and cannot wait to jump in.

The tropes and triggers in this book are:

Tropes

-Meet Cute

-He falls first

-Workplace romance

-Dual Character POV

-Slow Burn

-Found Family

Triggers

-Death of a parent

-Death of a friend

-Wildfires

I absolutely adored the epilogue and it makes me that much more excited to read more books by Meagan. Thank you for the ARC!

The Wedding People by Alison Espach

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

The Wedding People

This book will forever be a part of me. I went into this book blind. I would consider this book fiction more than any other category. There is a tiny bit of romance but otherwise it is a fantastic story about how the path of every human is different and because of that, we may end up in places that we never thought we would with individuals we never knew.

This novel follows the lives of several characters and even though some of them were completely unlovable, I found myself loving parts of them as I got to know them more.

The book follows the main character Phoebe as she works to figure out who she is and where she belongs and along the way she stumbles upon a wedding party at the hotel she has just checked herself into. I found myself kicking my feet, crying, feeling angry, laughing out loud, and having such a good time as Phoebe encountered these strangers and they met her where she was at and brought her something she needed at this exact moment in her life.

I wrote down several quotes that I pulled from this book. I can’t pick a favorite but here are a few:

“I just mean a story can be beautiful not because of the way it ends. But because of the way it’s written.”

“He wasn’t afraid of looking at me. He wasn’t afraid of what I was saying. He wasn’t afraid of the worst parts of me. And this made me feel like those parts were okay. Like I could say anything. Be anything.”

“I think we talk about happiness all wrong. As if it’s this fixed state we’re going to reach. Like we’ll just be able to live there, forever. But that’s not my experience with happiness. For me, it comes and goes. It shows up and then disappears like a bubble.”

“Love is visible–it paints the air between two people a different color, and everyone can see it.”

“It’s not an easy thing to do, walk away from what you’ve built and save yourself.”

I adored the character, Juice. At a young age, she has already faced so much but her relationship with Phoebe warmed my heart.

I believe this book resonated with me because of some of the issues Phoebe faced. I do believe the book needs better trigger warnings for suicide, depression, infertility, and infidelity. I appreciate the author sharing the feelings that can come with a lot of heavy topics but also finding a way to sprinkle in humor appropriately.

The Wedding People is the perfect story of how as humans, we live every day trying to figure out who we are, where we belong, and discover the purpose of those in our life, whether they hurt or harm us.

Content Warnings