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stephsnextread's Reviews (390)
This book was fun, and there were parts of it that I really liked. I loved the alternating timeline of this book, switching between past and present. I was so invested in finding out what happened in the past that it kept me reading. I also loved the articles and blog posts mixed in that gave extra context to the story.
Unfortunately, I had a hard time believing the love story and had to suspend disbelief that they could fall in love in three days and hold onto that love for 10 years while each of them were married and divorced to other people. It felt very insta-love and the characters were really only together for about a week total throughout the whole book. I am glad I read it and would still recommend it if you’re looking for a celebrity romance as it was very entertaining.
Unfortunately, I had a hard time believing the love story and had to suspend disbelief that they could fall in love in three days and hold onto that love for 10 years while each of them were married and divorced to other people. It felt very insta-love and the characters were really only together for about a week total throughout the whole book. I am glad I read it and would still recommend it if you’re looking for a celebrity romance as it was very entertaining.
I adored this sweet book!!! It is a YA rom-com that is a love letter to classic rom-com movies. Each chapter starts with a movie quote, and they are each perfect for what will happen. It made me want to re-watch all the 90s rom-coms I haven’t seen in so long!
Liz is quirky and hopelessly romantic. I loved her character and how true she stays to herself, even when faced with the pressures of high school. She struggles with navigating friendship, as well as grief after losing her mom. She is so real and I felt for her as she was going through all of it! Wes is thoughtful and kind, even though Liz has the lowest expectations of him. I loved seeing how he turned out to be once she actually got to know him. Their relationship grew slowly but steadily and I was kicking my feet the whole time!
I am so glad I read this book and I recommend it for anyone looking for the sweetest romance!
Liz is quirky and hopelessly romantic. I loved her character and how true she stays to herself, even when faced with the pressures of high school. She struggles with navigating friendship, as well as grief after losing her mom. She is so real and I felt for her as she was going through all of it! Wes is thoughtful and kind, even though Liz has the lowest expectations of him. I loved seeing how he turned out to be once she actually got to know him. Their relationship grew slowly but steadily and I was kicking my feet the whole time!
I am so glad I read this book and I recommend it for anyone looking for the sweetest romance!
It’s been two years since Better than the Movies, and we get to catch up with Wes and Liz. A tragedy happened right at the beginning of their freshman year of college, and they broke up and he dropped out. Now, Liz is a junior and Wes has just re-enrolled as a freshman. He’s determined to win her back and she’s determined to stay away from him.
It’s rare for high school sweethearts to make it long-term, so I appreciated that it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows for Wes and Liz after they started dating their senior year of high school. “Little Liz”, who we know and love from BTTM, is gone after two years in college, and Wes has a lot of work to do to get to know the new Liz. I did miss some of Liz’s quirkiness from the first book, but I understand that she has matured in the two years that have passed. Now she is completely focused on her career and is no longer the little love lover that she once was.
Wes is still down bad for Liz, and he does everything in his power to win her back. There’s failed romantic gestures, their signature teasing, and adorable bets. I loved having Wes’s point of view in this book to better understand his side of the past. He is still the sweet and kind Wes from BTTM, with a little more life experience and he even more clearly knows what he wants.
I loved the new side characters as well and would love a connected book featuring them, especially Clark and Sarah!! The baseball team was such a good addition to the book, and I loved their friendships with both Wes and Liz. If you loved BTTM, you will love this installment of Wes and Liz’s love story 💕
Thank you to Lynn Painter, Simon & Schuster, and Edelweiss for this e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.
This is book 6 of 6 in Jasmine Guillory’s series of interconnected standalones. It stars Ben Stephens (brother of Theo from The Wedding Party) and Anna Gardiner (a movie star). We also get a cameo from Nik (The Proposal).
I’m so glad I finished this series! Like the others, this book was fun and easy to read. I loved that Ben and Anna met in a believable way (he is on the marketing team for one of her projects) and they clicked immediately. The fake dating brought some drama as they both navigated their growing feelings while not knowing whether the other was just pretending. I loved the mental health representation in the form of normalizing anxiety and therapy for both men and women. This is a feel-good book with likeable characters, chemistry, and banter.
I’m so glad I finished this series! Like the others, this book was fun and easy to read. I loved that Ben and Anna met in a believable way (he is on the marketing team for one of her projects) and they clicked immediately. The fake dating brought some drama as they both navigated their growing feelings while not knowing whether the other was just pretending. I loved the mental health representation in the form of normalizing anxiety and therapy for both men and women. This is a feel-good book with likeable characters, chemistry, and banter.
Sadie’s outspoken ways made her lose her boyfriend and her job. With the help of a little magic, she is given the opportunity to re-do the past year. She’s hoping that she can be less impulsive and fix everything this time around. But will things be better?
I really enjoyed this book! It felt more like women’s fiction to me than romance, because so much of the book was focused on Sadie’s character development. I loved Sadie’s journey and exploration of this second chance. She navigates career decisions, friendship challenges, and love. She learns a lot about herself and how she wants to present to the world.
There is romance, but I felt like it was the weakest part of the book and it was missing something for me. In this re-do year, Sadie is drawn to her brother’s best friend, who she has never noticed in that way before. I enjoyed them together and he was really sweet, but I was missing why she suddenly wanted him. I wanted to swoon and root for them, but I just didn’t. However, this didn’t keep me from flying through this book. I was invested in Sadie’s journey enough to keep me reading.
I recommend this book if you enjoy magical realism, character development, and second chances. The time loop starts over on New Year’s Day, so it would be a great NYE/New Year read!
Note: Check trigger warnings regarding SA (mild but could be triggering) if that is something you need.
I really enjoyed this book! It felt more like women’s fiction to me than romance, because so much of the book was focused on Sadie’s character development. I loved Sadie’s journey and exploration of this second chance. She navigates career decisions, friendship challenges, and love. She learns a lot about herself and how she wants to present to the world.
There is romance, but I felt like it was the weakest part of the book and it was missing something for me. In this re-do year, Sadie is drawn to her brother’s best friend, who she has never noticed in that way before. I enjoyed them together and he was really sweet, but I was missing why she suddenly wanted him. I wanted to swoon and root for them, but I just didn’t. However, this didn’t keep me from flying through this book. I was invested in Sadie’s journey enough to keep me reading.
I recommend this book if you enjoy magical realism, character development, and second chances. The time loop starts over on New Year’s Day, so it would be a great NYE/New Year read!
Note: Check trigger warnings regarding SA (mild but could be triggering) if that is something you need.
“It’s all fun and games until someone loses an eye, and that’s when the real fun begins.”
BIG Note: This is a dark romance with lots of intense content warnings. So many content warnings that it is actually one of the photos on the Amazon listing. PLEASE check the content warnings before reading.
With that being said, I have seen this book everywhere and wanted to read it…but I’m a softie and have a hard time with gore! I didn’t know what to expect since I’ve never read a dark romance. I ended up being fully entertained! I listened to the audiobook so I could zone out if it got too graphic (which only happened a couple times). The audio was so well done!! It was duet narration, which i have decided is so much more natural to listen to than dual narration. Plus, the Irish accent for Rowan’s character was so fun!
I was surprised at how FUNNY this book was! It was quick-paced, with witty banter and likeable characters. I devoured this book and definitely recommend the audiobook!
BIG Note: This is a dark romance with lots of intense content warnings. So many content warnings that it is actually one of the photos on the Amazon listing. PLEASE check the content warnings before reading.
With that being said, I have seen this book everywhere and wanted to read it…but I’m a softie and have a hard time with gore! I didn’t know what to expect since I’ve never read a dark romance. I ended up being fully entertained! I listened to the audiobook so I could zone out if it got too graphic (which only happened a couple times). The audio was so well done!! It was duet narration, which i have decided is so much more natural to listen to than dual narration. Plus, the Irish accent for Rowan’s character was so fun!
I was surprised at how FUNNY this book was! It was quick-paced, with witty banter and likeable characters. I devoured this book and definitely recommend the audiobook!
“The women had a story to tell, even if the world wasn’t quite yet ready to hear it, and their story began with three simple words.
We were there.”
This book was powerful! Kristin Hannah’s historical fiction books always crush me and stick with me for a long time to come. This book is no different, and has taken the top spot on my list of Kristin Hannah’s books.
Frances “Frankie” McGrath is an army nurse in Vietnam and her story will GUT you. The story starts right when she decides to enlist. The first half of the book is her time in Vietnam, and the second half of the book is after she returns home. I’m not sure which half was more heartbreaking. Nurses in Vietnam saved countless lives and experienced horror while serving, but were disrespected and forgotten when they came home. Frankie’s story illustrates what they endured both abroad and back in the States.
This book absolutely wrecked me in the best possible way. There is survival, exhaustion, heartache, loss, addiction, and PTSD. But it is truly a story about the resilience of women and the strength of female friendship. I highly recommend you grab your tissues and carve out a good chunk of time to fully absorb this book.
We were there.”
This book was powerful! Kristin Hannah’s historical fiction books always crush me and stick with me for a long time to come. This book is no different, and has taken the top spot on my list of Kristin Hannah’s books.
Frances “Frankie” McGrath is an army nurse in Vietnam and her story will GUT you. The story starts right when she decides to enlist. The first half of the book is her time in Vietnam, and the second half of the book is after she returns home. I’m not sure which half was more heartbreaking. Nurses in Vietnam saved countless lives and experienced horror while serving, but were disrespected and forgotten when they came home. Frankie’s story illustrates what they endured both abroad and back in the States.
This book absolutely wrecked me in the best possible way. There is survival, exhaustion, heartache, loss, addiction, and PTSD. But it is truly a story about the resilience of women and the strength of female friendship. I highly recommend you grab your tissues and carve out a good chunk of time to fully absorb this book.
This book was everything I want in a holiday romance. It was festive, it was sweet, and it was low on drama.
All I Want Is You follows Nick and Jess (and yes, they’ve heard the New Girl references before). They used to date, but now they’re rival romance authors working with the same publisher. Jess is talked into presenting Nick with an award at their publisher’s holiday ball at an adorable inn. There’s a huge snowstorm and all the guests are stuck at the inn…hello forced proximity! Nick and Jess have no choice but to confront the past and their current feelings. I’m a sucker for second chance romance, especially when there’s holiday magic sprinkled in. This book pretty short, and I flew through it because I didn’t want to put it down. As an avid romance reader, I absolutely loved how often the characters talked about romance books, and even called out which tropes their relationship was hitting throughout the story. I highly recommend this book if you’re looking for a sweet and festive holiday romance!
Thank you to Falon Ballard, Penguin Group Putnam, and NetGalley for this e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.
This book was so cute! It’s set at a summer camp where the characters are camp counselors. It was the perfect end-of-summer read that brought all the summer vibes.
Aurora is a romance reader and hates miscommunication. There is some miscommunication at the very beginning, but the characters learn from their mistakes. I feel like this is rare in a new adult book and I so appreciated it. Russ was such a sweetheart, and I loved seeing the hockey players from Icebreaker (but this can be read as a standalone). It was such a sweet, spicy romance!
Aurora is a romance reader and hates miscommunication. There is some miscommunication at the very beginning, but the characters learn from their mistakes. I feel like this is rare in a new adult book and I so appreciated it. Russ was such a sweetheart, and I loved seeing the hockey players from Icebreaker (but this can be read as a standalone). It was such a sweet, spicy romance!