missstefani's reviews
404 reviews

Celebrity Crush by Christy Swift

lighthearted medium-paced

2.0

This had so much promise.

An influencer turned romance author publishes a book about her celebrity crush. Celebrity crush is revealed on a talk show. They have an intense hug. I had a hard time understanding the show this guy was popular for, it was like dancing related? And is known for a whole bunch of memes? 

And the girl was a social media yoga influencer who spends quality time with her 12 year old daughter making tiktoks and doing tiktok dances. It’s rough. 

Her rom com novel so being made into a movie that ends up being a musical with Duran Duran music. 🤷🏻‍♀️

This book will be outdated in like a year with all the pop culture references. A few is fine. This was overloaded. 

Some weird things. When her and the guy hook up for the first time, the girl comes out in like a t shirt and underwear and the dude makes her a smoothie and his like 4 year old is just sitting there in the living room watching cartoons. Yikes. 

The story of the FMC’s daughter’s dad is weird. The way it was told was that she was in college and approached him to review her script and he was all “let’s look at it in my hotel room” and she goes, and like, it felt like it was implied that he took advantage of her and she got pregnant and then he told her her script was not good and she would never make it in this business. 

But then later when she sees the guy near the end of the book and it was like they were just sort of civil and she was not at all traumatized or anything and she’s like “this is your daughter” like…what? So maybe I misunderstood the way it was told but…?

I don’t know, the narrators of the audiobook did the best they could with what they had. The premise sounded fun but the story and the characters fell flat. Also, there is zero fake dating, not sure why that’s in the summary. 

Thank you @netgalley and @hachetteaudio for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

Morbidly Yours by Ivy Fairbanks

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

4.0

Needy Little Things by Channelle Desamours

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense

4.0

The premise of this book was really interesting! Sariyah has premonition-like powers, and she senses items that people need most, but doesn’t know when or why they will need them. 

When she starts fulfilling the needs of people in her life like her boss and her best friend, and things start to happen, her boss stabbing a man with the nail file Sariyah gave her, and her best friend disappearing after she gives her pepper spray at a music festival, Sariyah starts to wonder how much she is at fault for what happens after she gives people the items they don’t really realize they need until the moment comes. 

This is a YA mystery thriller, a super quick read, I read it in about two days I was so invested in finding out what was going on, and the twist at the end was unexpected! 

One thing, and I may have missed this detail, but Sariyah carried around a bag with items in it to give people. I didn’t really understand how she always had the items they needed at the ready, was she buying these things? Did she just have them? Usually it was random stuff that you might have in your bag, but other times I didn’t get how she had the items. 

That was minor though and I could have missed it, and overall this was an engaging read that had me hooked from the beginning! 

Thank you @netgalley and @wednesdaybooks for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

Say a Little Prayer by Jenna Voris

emotional funny reflective medium-paced

5.0

“Yup, sounds about right.” Me the entire time reading this book having spent every Sunday at church, catholic school through 6th grade, youth groups, vacation Bible school, terrified that if I ever stepped out of line I was going to hell 😂.

I laughed out loud at so many parts, and related to so many of these girls as they struggled with their faith and what they were being taught and what they actually believed was right and wrong and how they were interpreting things differently than their Pastor. 

I felt Riley’s rage, and how despite everything, there were aspects of the church that she missed. 

I really enjoyed reading this, I thought it was well written and relatable on a lot of levels, and I’m looking forward to attending an event with the author this Friday to hear her chat about it!

Thank you @netgalley and @penguinteen for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

Intermezzo by Sally Rooney

3.0

Finlay Donovan Rolls the Dice by Elle Cosimano

4.0

Nothing Serious by Emily J. Smith

dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

3.0

This book was all over the place. The MC had me CRINGING, obsessed with this tool of a best friend tech bro and like, I totally get that he saved her from an absolutely horrendous situation in college, but he became a shitty person and our girl was obsessed and it was painful to watch her get dragged along by this disgusting human. 

Also, I was cringing as she obsessively went around trying to look into this woman’s death, and again she was looking like crazy stalker obsessed it was tough to read. 

The MC had so many issues. She was insecure, constantly comparing herself to other people and their looks and the negativity towards herself and her age (she was mid 30’s she wasn’t even that old, like…?) Like she was going to house parties like a college student and getting wasted and then going home and hating on herself for having frizzy hair and wrinkles and feeling old. 

There’s a whole thing about her parents that doesn’t get resolved but is also terrible, a whole side story of freezing her eggs that has nothing to do with the other main story and could have been cut. And the ending was too realistic in that it was infuriating and extremely disappointing and made you wonder what the point of the book was at all. 

I don’t think the MC really grows, other than she realizes the guy is a gross asshole. 

I also thought we were going to get something else with the dude going on, cause there’s a weird part with him overcharging her for their takeout, when he’s supposed to be a millionaire tech bro. Like I thought he was secretly bankrupt and selling on the side to make some money or something. That was implied but never confirmed?

Anyway, this book was an easy read, I got through it in a day hoping for the best and the ending was just frustrating. Like I know how these things go in real life, give me some sort of hope in this fictional world? I don’t know, something about this rubbed me the wrong way. It was trying to say something, but it was just weighed down with too much stuff and the message gets lost. 

Thank you @williammorrowbooks for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

Les Normaux by S. Al Sabado, Janine Janssen

emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

4.5

This book was so cute!! I loved the story, characters, and artwork. 

I initially thought this was YA (the MCs in my opinion act a bit young for 27/28 years old) but it’s actually adult. 

I’m new to this story so I didn’t know much about the magical world it takes place in, and it doesn’t really explain much of it so you just have to dive in and go along for the ride. 

If you like graphic novels, I recommend picking this up, it’s super cute 🥰. I’m looking forward to the next one! 

Thank you @avonbooks for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

Veronica Ruiz Breaks the Bank by Elle Cosimano

4.0

Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun by Elle Cosimano

4.0