katmullen's reviews
495 reviews

Dangerous Pursuit by Bethany Rosa

Age-gap, workplace romance, hate to love.

Dangerous Pursuit follows Mia, who is starting a new job as Jackson’s assistant. She’s smart, independent, self aware, and stands up for herself. But she gets in trouble when some men coming knocking to collect on her father’s debt. Jackson starts doing all he can to stay aware from her to doing all he can to protect her.

There’s tension galore and high stakes on and off the poker table. The story is easy to read as you need to know what happens next. The tension turns to spice in the second half.

It’s the second in a companion series. While I haven’t read the first one, I don’t feel like I missed any context. I enjoyed the book, but do feel like it could’ve stilled worked with Mia being slightly older.

Thank you ireadbooktours for the copy!

Grammie and Pupa's House by Daisy Butterfield

Grammie and Pupa’s House is such an adorable children’s book!

Daisy has written about a day with her grandparents when she was a child. Her Grammie and Pupa reminded me of my own Nanna and Grandpa. My Nanna loved baking and my Grandpa loved building things, just like Daisy’s.

The story feels very cozy, heartwarming, and a sweet story for children and adults alike. The art is very colourful and feels just like the drawings are going to start moving in a cartoon.

Thank you ireadbooktours for the copy!

The Mentorship Edge: Creating Maximum Impact through Lateral and Hierarchical Mentoring by Deborah Heiser, Deborah Heiser

“We are inherently wired to share rather than hoard our emotional wealth”

The Mentorship Edge by Deborah Heiser, Phd is all about how mentoring and passing on our knowledge makes us happier and ensures progress throughout the world.

Deborah is one of the founding members of ‘The Mentor Project.' The book follows the story of how that came to be, along with many different mentor stories.

I learnt that the word ‘mentor’ comes from The Odyssey in which Athena disguised herself as a friend of Odysseus named Mentor. Athena is the OG mentor! Other fictional mentors include Willy Wonka and Mr Miyagi.

She talks about real life stories of mentorship from students, to workplaces like Colgate, and the military.

The book ends with a reflection on the future of mentoring in a world with places like YouTube, and encouragement to find a mentor yourself with practical tips on how to find one.

Thank you ireadbooktours for the copy!

The New Enchantress by Sunayna Prasad

The exciting conclusion to Alyssa’s story. Alyssa once again gains powers, but this time they’re meant for her. She grows and after some mishaps, learns to start properly wielding her magic.

Friendship is a large theme throughout the whole series and it was great to see Alyssa’s friends with her throughout the ups and downs.

Thank you Book Influencers and Sunayna for the copy!

A Curse of Mayhem by Sunayna Prasad

In book 2 we meet up with Alyssa 6 months after the events of book 1. She lives with her godfather now and we have a whole cast of new characters, along with our ever helpful Simon.

The story shows Alyssa juggling new found powers she’s been cursed with, confidence issues, and every day teenhood and junior high life. It’s full of adventure, fun, and life lessons.

Thank you book influencers and Sunayna for the copy!

The Frights of Fiji by Sunayna Prasad

An exciting middle grade novel that takes you to different parts of the world and shows you colourful and wild combinations of nature and animals.

Also, that potion that immediately readjusts your body in a new timezone could come so much in handy in real life.

Thank you book influencers and Sunayna for the copy!

Crossing Day by William A. Glass

Crossing Day is a story that explores how the world would be had the confederacy gained independence and teamed up with a certain sect of Germans. In this world slavery still exists; queer, trans, and disabled people disappear along with Jews and people who oppose the confederate reign.

It’s a scary reflection of what the world could’ve been and how close it could be again. The villains of the story are the most scary because we know there’s people in this world who still think this way.

But the story does a good job of showing that even in the worst places, there is always hope and even helping just one person can make the world just a little bit better.

The main plotline follows this group of teens as they work to save their friend, who is a slave, from a terrible home, and they race up north to get out of the CSA to the USA.

The group of friends we follow come from different backgrounds, but end up on equal footing by the end of book. Those who were raised in a system that made them believe lies are able to still realise how wrong they are.

The story makes you think about just how lucky we are for the world to have changed and how hard we have to work to make sure it never returns that way. I cared about the characters, and the story shows how it only takes just one generation to spread lies and keep people uneducated, but many generations to break those untruths and start healing the world.

Thank you ireadbooktours for the copy!

Sunny Gale by Jamie Lisa Forbes

It was so interesting to learn about an era and subject I knew next to nothing about. ‘Sunny Gale’ follows the story of a young woman in 1895 frontier Nebraska. She has dreams of a rodeo career and follows them.

This was a lovely female-led historical fiction in which you can tell a lot of research had been undertaken to place Sunny in her world.

Sunny’s dream of a rodeo career doesn’t fit in with society’s expectations, but she defies them, creates a legacy for herself, and paves the way for those coming after her.

Thank you ireadbooktours for the copy!

A Melody of Death by C.E. Page

Another immersive installment in the Bright and Shadow world.

The mystery is unfolding. We got reveals, we got magic, we got romance. I love the crew of the Queen and I’m so intrigued on what’s gonna happen next after that cliffhanger ending!

Until the Last Page by Chantal Gadoury

If you love fairytale retellings and are after a fun read, pick up this book!

Jo gets to live out our dream of being sucked into (literally!) the book she's reading. She's cares about everyone she comes across, even if they are supposed to be fictional, and is determined to help them in any way she can. Aneurin is a classic stuck up prince when we first meet him, and he gets some wonderful character development.

The story was a joy to read. Thank you Chantal for the copy!