You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
notesbynnenna's Reviews (513)
This book was SO good. I read it in a few days and I found it hard to put down. If I’d had the time, I would have read it one sitting, that’s how good this was.
The story follows Enchanted, who meets superstar music artist, Korey Fields, at an audition. She’s an aspiring singer and he’s impressed with her talent, so he decides to take her under his wing. At first it seems like all of her dreams are coming true, but it’s actually a nightmare when Korey’s true colors are shown.
This was seriously so gripping and made my heart hurt. It’s heavy- everything that Enchanted goes through is difficult to read about. What struck me the most was the people that knew who Korey really was and either kept it a secret or turned a blind eye. Some did nothing and some even helped keep his secrets. It’s absolutely disgusting and it shows that these people don’t operate in a vacuum. They exist in a society that’s willing to turn a blind eye if you’re rich enough or charming enough or famous enough.
Some themes that Jackson writes about are the sexualization of Black girls, colorism, and racism. She points a light straight at the ugly truth: Black women are constantly disrespected, neglected, and unprotected. A Black girl is assaulted, and they say she asked for it and she knew what she was doing, or blame her parents, or say she’s making it all up. They will jump through hoops to do anything but believe Black women. I think the main message that Jackson was trying to convey is that we as a society need to do a lot more to protect Black girls, because they are vulnerable. We need to protect them, support them, uplift them, because it’s not easy to be a girl, and it’s even more difficult to be a Black girl.
Ooof, as I said, this is a tough read, but an excellent one. Enchanted was such a compelling character, and I felt immersed in her world, which made it all the more difficult to witness when bad things happen to her. I thought this was really well-written and felt the mixed media approach with the inclusion of some text messages worked really well. Also, I’m still not over the way that Jackson crafted this story. In the first chapter, I was like, “what the hell is going on?” and it’s clear straight away that something terrible has happened. And then there was the final few pages (!!!).
Now please excuse me while I go read everything else that Tiffany D. Jackson has written.
[Including the content warning mentioned in the book: sexual abuse, rape, assault, child abuse, kidnapping, and addiction to opoids]
//
Wowowow, this book was so good. Full review to come.
The story follows Enchanted, who meets superstar music artist, Korey Fields, at an audition. She’s an aspiring singer and he’s impressed with her talent, so he decides to take her under his wing. At first it seems like all of her dreams are coming true, but it’s actually a nightmare when Korey’s true colors are shown.
This was seriously so gripping and made my heart hurt. It’s heavy- everything that Enchanted goes through is difficult to read about. What struck me the most was the people that knew who Korey really was and either kept it a secret or turned a blind eye. Some did nothing and some even helped keep his secrets. It’s absolutely disgusting and it shows that these people don’t operate in a vacuum. They exist in a society that’s willing to turn a blind eye if you’re rich enough or charming enough or famous enough.
Some themes that Jackson writes about are the sexualization of Black girls, colorism, and racism. She points a light straight at the ugly truth: Black women are constantly disrespected, neglected, and unprotected. A Black girl is assaulted, and they say she asked for it and she knew what she was doing, or blame her parents, or say she’s making it all up. They will jump through hoops to do anything but believe Black women. I think the main message that Jackson was trying to convey is that we as a society need to do a lot more to protect Black girls, because they are vulnerable. We need to protect them, support them, uplift them, because it’s not easy to be a girl, and it’s even more difficult to be a Black girl.
Ooof, as I said, this is a tough read, but an excellent one. Enchanted was such a compelling character, and I felt immersed in her world, which made it all the more difficult to witness when bad things happen to her. I thought this was really well-written and felt the mixed media approach with the inclusion of some text messages worked really well. Also, I’m still not over the way that Jackson crafted this story. In the first chapter, I was like, “what the hell is going on?” and it’s clear straight away that something terrible has happened. And then there was the final few pages (!!!).
Now please excuse me while I go read everything else that Tiffany D. Jackson has written.
[Including the content warning mentioned in the book: sexual abuse, rape, assault, child abuse, kidnapping, and addiction to opoids]
//
Wowowow, this book was so good. Full review to come.
I’ve only read two holiday books so far this season, but this one has definitely taken the lead. It was oh so delightful and cozy and I thoroughly enjoyed it!
I loved the premise of this so much. Our main character, Kate, signs up to do twelve dates in the days leading up to Christmas in an attempt to get back into dating and possibly meet someone that she could fall in love with. Each chapter is a different date and reading about her experiences felt like a fun caper.
Kate has the coolest job ever- she designs textiles for Liberty. I’ve been to their store one time in London and it was amazing and I love their prints as well. I really enjoyed Kate as a main character and I wanted everything to work out for her. There are also lots of great side characters in this book, such as Mac, Evelyn, and Laura, that really enrich the story.
Now let’s talk about my absolute favorite part of this book: the setting. It’s set in a sleepy village in England named Blexford. You know, one of those towns where everyone knows everyone and news spreads fast. I think the author did an amazing job with the setting. Blexford felt so real to me, so vivid. I could picture the different landmarks in the village and the snow falling down to make it all look like a magical winter wonderland. This book had me thinking for a minute that I should leave the city behind and move to a cozy countryside town. The sense of community they had in the village was so heartwarming.
I loved the author’s descriptions of everything: the food that Kate was making (side note- you should probably have some snacks handy while you’re reading as this book made me hungry), her textile designs, the village square, the Christmas market, all of it. The Christmas traditions and activities and the snowy, wintry setting were just perfectly charming and cozy and wonderful. There were also bits of humor sprinkled throughout that had me chuckling quietly to myself and some good shenanigans that I would love to see played out on a screen (can we get a TV or movie adaptation, please?).
I had two complaints. One is that I thought sometimes the transitions between describing what had happened in the past and what was happening in the present were a little bit jarring to me. My other complaint is that I didn’t think very highly of one of her love interests (I won’t say who as I don’t want to accidentally spoil anything). Sadly, he was not my fave, but that didn’t detract too much from my enjoyment of the story.
This book gave me the warm and fuzzies, which is exactly what I want from a holiday read, so thank you to Jenny Bayliss for that!
I loved the premise of this so much. Our main character, Kate, signs up to do twelve dates in the days leading up to Christmas in an attempt to get back into dating and possibly meet someone that she could fall in love with. Each chapter is a different date and reading about her experiences felt like a fun caper.
Kate has the coolest job ever- she designs textiles for Liberty. I’ve been to their store one time in London and it was amazing and I love their prints as well. I really enjoyed Kate as a main character and I wanted everything to work out for her. There are also lots of great side characters in this book, such as Mac, Evelyn, and Laura, that really enrich the story.
Now let’s talk about my absolute favorite part of this book: the setting. It’s set in a sleepy village in England named Blexford. You know, one of those towns where everyone knows everyone and news spreads fast. I think the author did an amazing job with the setting. Blexford felt so real to me, so vivid. I could picture the different landmarks in the village and the snow falling down to make it all look like a magical winter wonderland. This book had me thinking for a minute that I should leave the city behind and move to a cozy countryside town. The sense of community they had in the village was so heartwarming.
I loved the author’s descriptions of everything: the food that Kate was making (side note- you should probably have some snacks handy while you’re reading as this book made me hungry), her textile designs, the village square, the Christmas market, all of it. The Christmas traditions and activities and the snowy, wintry setting were just perfectly charming and cozy and wonderful. There were also bits of humor sprinkled throughout that had me chuckling quietly to myself and some good shenanigans that I would love to see played out on a screen (can we get a TV or movie adaptation, please?).
I had two complaints. One is that I thought sometimes the transitions between describing what had happened in the past and what was happening in the present were a little bit jarring to me. My other complaint is that I didn’t think very highly of one of her love interests (I won’t say who as I don’t want to accidentally spoil anything). Sadly, he was not my fave, but that didn’t detract too much from my enjoyment of the story.
This book gave me the warm and fuzzies, which is exactly what I want from a holiday read, so thank you to Jenny Bayliss for that!
A book about witches and wayward sisters, with some suffragettes thrown in as well? Sign me up!
This was the second witchy book that I read in October and it did not disappoint. It follows three sisters who are determined to bring witching back to their world, for all the women who are tired of being abused and mistreated and ignored, to give them power and agency over their own lives.
I love books that explore the relationship between sisters, so I loved that this story was centered on three sisters. I really enjoyed the narrative voice as well, which felt almost cheeky, at times. I also loved the way that witches and magic and fairy tales were interwoven here. It was so fun to see familiar fairy tales from childhood being reimagined in this book.
I was rooting hard for Bella, Agnes, and June, the three sisters, as we went along this journey with them. They were all compelling characters, particularly June. This is a chunky book, but I found that it read pretty quickly and I enjoyed the themes of sisterhood and women’s rights, and the idea that maybe everyone has a little magic in them.
This was the second witchy book that I read in October and it did not disappoint. It follows three sisters who are determined to bring witching back to their world, for all the women who are tired of being abused and mistreated and ignored, to give them power and agency over their own lives.
I love books that explore the relationship between sisters, so I loved that this story was centered on three sisters. I really enjoyed the narrative voice as well, which felt almost cheeky, at times. I also loved the way that witches and magic and fairy tales were interwoven here. It was so fun to see familiar fairy tales from childhood being reimagined in this book.
I was rooting hard for Bella, Agnes, and June, the three sisters, as we went along this journey with them. They were all compelling characters, particularly June. This is a chunky book, but I found that it read pretty quickly and I enjoyed the themes of sisterhood and women’s rights, and the idea that maybe everyone has a little magic in them.
3.5 stars
A book about a bookworm is pretty much a book lover’s dream. I’d been wanting to read this one for ages, placed a hold at my library back in March, and it finally came in seven months later!
I’m back on the lighter reads at the moment (hello election stress and just general life stress as well) and this book hit the spot. It was quirky and charming. I loved the playful writing and fun touches, such as including pages from Nina’s planner in the book.
I enjoyed Nina as a character and her bookworm tendencies, although at times she did seem a bit snobbish and the quirkiness might have veered into the annoying territory. But we all have our flaws, right? I did love that although Nina might have appeared to be small and quiet, she was actually quippy and sometimes sarcastic.
I will say that I wasn’t sold on Tom until the very end. He just didn’t seem all that great, or perhaps he wasn’t developed enough to make me invested in him.
So I’ve mentioned a couple criticisms, but I generally did enjoy this book and I’m happy to have read it after having it on my TBR for a while.
A book about a bookworm is pretty much a book lover’s dream. I’d been wanting to read this one for ages, placed a hold at my library back in March, and it finally came in seven months later!
I’m back on the lighter reads at the moment (hello election stress and just general life stress as well) and this book hit the spot. It was quirky and charming. I loved the playful writing and fun touches, such as including pages from Nina’s planner in the book.
I enjoyed Nina as a character and her bookworm tendencies, although at times she did seem a bit snobbish and the quirkiness might have veered into the annoying territory. But we all have our flaws, right? I did love that although Nina might have appeared to be small and quiet, she was actually quippy and sometimes sarcastic.
I will say that I wasn’t sold on Tom until the very end. He just didn’t seem all that great, or perhaps he wasn’t developed enough to make me invested in him.
So I’ve mentioned a couple criticisms, but I generally did enjoy this book and I’m happy to have read it after having it on my TBR for a while.
3.5 stars
This was an enjoyable and cute romance, although I did prefer the first book I read by this author, THE RIGHT SWIPE. I thought Katrina was a really sweet character and Jas was great as well. I will say I was very distracted while reading this because of the election currently happening in the US, so that may have colored my reading experience somewhat. Still, this was a nice, light read and I definitely want to read the next book in this series!
This was an enjoyable and cute romance, although I did prefer the first book I read by this author, THE RIGHT SWIPE. I thought Katrina was a really sweet character and Jas was great as well. I will say I was very distracted while reading this because of the election currently happening in the US, so that may have colored my reading experience somewhat. Still, this was a nice, light read and I definitely want to read the next book in this series!
I love Lisa Kleypas’s books because I know exactly what to expect: a young woman of good breeding falls in love with a rakishly handsome bad boy. I mean, the back of the book describes the heroine as a “forward little minx” and I couldn’t help but laugh! It’s not my favorite out of her books that I’ve read because the female lead was a little too naive for me. This was like background television for me, something comforting and familiar to read in between doom scrolling during election week.
Thank you to the Libro FM for giving me a free copy of this book! All opinions are my own.
Hmmmm, so this was an interesting reading experience. I listened to this on audio and for the first half of the book, I was pretty engaged because I was listening as I was knitting. The second half, not so much. I kept getting distracted (granted I was listening to this during election week) and I fell asleep a few times while I was listening and had to go back.
All that means I kind of found it hard to form an impression of this book and I wish I had read the physical copy instead. I do remember being curious to see where this would go, but at the same time, I wasn’t that invested. I felt that the adult characters were nicely fleshed out and I understood these characters; they reminded me of people in real life.
So all in all, I’m not sure how to feel about this book, so definitely take my rating with a grain of salt!
Hmmmm, so this was an interesting reading experience. I listened to this on audio and for the first half of the book, I was pretty engaged because I was listening as I was knitting. The second half, not so much. I kept getting distracted (granted I was listening to this during election week) and I fell asleep a few times while I was listening and had to go back.
All that means I kind of found it hard to form an impression of this book and I wish I had read the physical copy instead. I do remember being curious to see where this would go, but at the same time, I wasn’t that invested. I felt that the adult characters were nicely fleshed out and I understood these characters; they reminded me of people in real life.
So all in all, I’m not sure how to feel about this book, so definitely take my rating with a grain of salt!
3.5 stars
I’ve had this book on my TBR for a while and almost picked it up several times, so I’m very glad that I’ve finally read it.
Dolly Alderton writes about growing up and falling in love and the messiness that your twenties can be. It’s very much a millennial book and I found it relatable and not relatable at the same time. I didn’t relate to much of the party lifestyle she described, but the way she wrote about being in your twenties and readjusting what you thought your life would look like- that struck a cord with me.
I think I liked the second half of the book more as it felt like she was growing up and focusing more on self introspection and examining her life choices. I also loved that she spent some time writing about how platonic friendships are just as valid and important (possibly more!) than romantic love.
Her essay titled “Florence” really moved me, and I loved the essay “My Therapist Says,” as well. She also included a few recipes throughout and I thought that was a fun touch. I always like when there are recipes in a book; it feels like a special bonus. I did feel like I might have gotten more out of it if I’d also grown up in the UK (some of the British references went over my head), but overall I thought this was an enjoyable read for millennial women.
I’ve had this book on my TBR for a while and almost picked it up several times, so I’m very glad that I’ve finally read it.
Dolly Alderton writes about growing up and falling in love and the messiness that your twenties can be. It’s very much a millennial book and I found it relatable and not relatable at the same time. I didn’t relate to much of the party lifestyle she described, but the way she wrote about being in your twenties and readjusting what you thought your life would look like- that struck a cord with me.
I think I liked the second half of the book more as it felt like she was growing up and focusing more on self introspection and examining her life choices. I also loved that she spent some time writing about how platonic friendships are just as valid and important (possibly more!) than romantic love.
Her essay titled “Florence” really moved me, and I loved the essay “My Therapist Says,” as well. She also included a few recipes throughout and I thought that was a fun touch. I always like when there are recipes in a book; it feels like a special bonus. I did feel like I might have gotten more out of it if I’d also grown up in the UK (some of the British references went over my head), but overall I thought this was an enjoyable read for millennial women.
Thank you to the publisher for giving me a free copy of this book! All opinions are my own.
Hmmmm, so this was an interesting read! My general feeling while reading was, “I don’t know about this one.” GROUP is about the author’s experience with group therapy and how baring her soul to those strangers week after week changed her life.
So first of all, I want to add a disclaimer that I’ve never been to therapy (although I would do it), so I have no personal experience with it. I’m not 100% sure what therapy is supposed to be like, but some of the experiences she described with her group/therapist seemed unorthodox, like perhaps boundaries had been crossed.
I do appreciate the author’s honesty and willingness to share all, even though it didn’t really paint her in a great light. Therapy methods aside, I thought it was an interesting look at one person’s experience with therapy and how it shaped her life. It was quite the journey, and I don’t know if I enjoyed it, but it was satisfying to see where the author ended up.
Hmmmm, so this was an interesting read! My general feeling while reading was, “I don’t know about this one.” GROUP is about the author’s experience with group therapy and how baring her soul to those strangers week after week changed her life.
So first of all, I want to add a disclaimer that I’ve never been to therapy (although I would do it), so I have no personal experience with it. I’m not 100% sure what therapy is supposed to be like, but some of the experiences she described with her group/therapist seemed unorthodox, like perhaps boundaries had been crossed.
I do appreciate the author’s honesty and willingness to share all, even though it didn’t really paint her in a great light. Therapy methods aside, I thought it was an interesting look at one person’s experience with therapy and how it shaped her life. It was quite the journey, and I don’t know if I enjoyed it, but it was satisfying to see where the author ended up.
Thank you to the publisher for giving me a free copy of this book! All opinions are my own.
I checked off my first holiday read of the season! I thought I was going to love this one just based on the cover, but it was middle of the road for me. I will say that I went into this completely blind, so I had no idea that time travel was a big part of the plot!
I think the middle of the book was my favorite bit, when it focused more on the romance, but then I was less invested in the beginning and the end. I wondered about the time travel plot line and if it was really needed and how much it added to the story. I did love the cozy wintry setting and the descriptions of the Christmas traditions that these families have been doing for decades. Overall, I thought this was cute, but it didn’t charm me as much as I hoped it would.
I checked off my first holiday read of the season! I thought I was going to love this one just based on the cover, but it was middle of the road for me. I will say that I went into this completely blind, so I had no idea that time travel was a big part of the plot!
I think the middle of the book was my favorite bit, when it focused more on the romance, but then I was less invested in the beginning and the end. I wondered about the time travel plot line and if it was really needed and how much it added to the story. I did love the cozy wintry setting and the descriptions of the Christmas traditions that these families have been doing for decades. Overall, I thought this was cute, but it didn’t charm me as much as I hoped it would.