January + February Reading Roundup
The last two months have been admittedly sloooooooow reading for me. I’ve been dealing with personal issues that took my love of reading and *snap* *poof* gone. It’s been depressing, to say the least, I have high hopes for March as my book funk seems to be getting slayed with a re-read of one my favorite series – All the Pretty Monsters by the late great Kristy Cunning, I swear I re-read this series a couple of times a year. How has your reading been going? Are you making a dent in your TBR or will it fall over on top of you some day. . .? Mine’s definitely going to fall over on top of me at this rate.
January books. Each Reverse Harem by Lily Gold, each ranking at 4 Stars. Standalone, fun, sexy, sweet.
WANTED: Three fake boyfriends. Must be tall, ripped — and willing to teach me how to kiss.
My name is Layla Thompson, and I am undateable.
Seriously. I’m twenty-eight and I’ve never had a boyfriend. And with my thirties rapidly approaching, I’m starting to lose patience.
Lucky for me, I have three overprotective best friends who are all-too-eager to help hone my dating skills.
There’s Zack, the huge rugby player with the cheeky grin and rippling biceps.
Josh, the boy-next-door with the sculpted jaw and calculating stare.
And Luke, the silver-haired divorcee… who also happens to be my old professor.
After a bad date leaves me crying on their shoulders, the three men are determined to help me find a guy. Together, they agree to be my ‘practice boyfriends’, and come up with a lesson plan packed with fake dates, make out sessions, and classes on flirty texting. In return, I just have to make an appearance on their relationship advice podcast once a week. Easy.
But as my lessons become more and more intense, we soon find ourselves getting in too deep. Every butterfly-inducing touch lingers a little too long, and every molten kiss ends in fireworks. It’s not long before I realise that their friendship isn’t enough for me anymore. I want more.
The guys have been teaching me how to get a boyfriend, and now it’s time I put their lessons to the test.
Three times over.
Faking With Benefits is a sizzling fake dating romance featuring multiple love interests, tons of molten fake relationship heat, and a whole lot of heart. No cheating, and an ultra-sweet HEA guaranteed!
One celebrity diva in trouble. Three overprotective bodyguards determined to keep her safe.
As one of the world’s most hated celebrities, I’m used to unwanted attention. But when I wake up one morning to find a mysterious man has broken into my house, I know I need security, fast. Enter “The Angels”, my three ex-military bodyguards:
Glen, the Scottish sweetheart with the scarred face and gentle hands.
Kenta, the long-haired soldier with the tattooed skin and secretive smile.
And Matt, the blue-eyed, bad-tempered leader haunted by his military past.
Having three gorgeous men guarding me 24-7 sounds like a dream come true, but it turns out to be a nightmare. They’re always here, watching me. Caring for me. Protecting me. They tell me to ignore them and go about my business, but I can’t even think with them so close. The spark is too intense.
On top of that, we don’t get on. They think I’m a demanding diva. I think they’re overdramatic. When a trip to America sends the guys’ protective instincts into overdrive, the sizzling tension between us finally breaks, and I learn my bodyguards’ butterfly-inducing secret: they want me.
All three of them.
Meanwhile, my stalker’s behaviour is becoming more and more alarming. He’s photographing me through windows and following me in the shadows. With the premiere for my next movie coming up, will my three bodyguards be able to keep me safe from his clutches? Or will my terrifying pursuer finally get his deadly way?
February wasn’t much better. . .unfortunately. I miss reading and reviewing and sharing my love of books. I’ll get back there though. . .
G.A. Aiken was a breath of fresh air, always is to be real, I liked this book – 4 Stars.
Next up was Forever Never by Lucy Score – 5 SCORCHING STARS, one of my favorite books of the year, > read my review <
And lastly, a little something different than what I normally share on here, No Cure for Being Human by Kate Bowler, it has been that kind of a couple of months, years. . .powerful, wonderfully easy to read – LOVED this book – 5 Stars, I think everyone should read this wonderful small gem of a book, Bowler has a gift and what she has survived is striking.
Gemma Smythe dedicated her life to the glory of battle. With her fellow War Monks, she worshipped the war gods, rained destruction on her enemies, and raised the dead when the fancy took her. Until her sister Keeley became the prophesied Blacksmith Queen, and Gemma broke faith with her order to journey to the Amichai Mountain and fight by Keeley’s side.
The Amichai warriors are an unruly, never-to-be-tamed lot, especially their leader-in-waiting, Quinn. But when the War Monks declare support for Gemma’s ruthless younger sister Beatrix, the immaturity of her key ally is the least of Gemma’s problems. She has to get to the grand masters, dispel their grudge against her, and persuade them to fight for Keeley and justice. If her conviction can’t sway them, perhaps Quinn’s irritating, irreverent, clearly unhinged, ferocity will win the day . . .
From the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Things We Never Got Over
You don’t fall for your brother’s high school sweetheart, your boss’s daughter, or your ex-wife’s best friend. Especially when they’re all the same woman.
Under Brick Callan’s mile-wide chest beats a loyal heart with a few cracks in it. He’s the steadfast, overprotective type. Especially when it comes to the one woman he can never have. It’s a long, complicated history punctuated by fights, friendship, family, and an attraction that strains his iron willpower.
When Remi Ford returns to Mackinac Island in the dead of winter with a secret, Brick makes it his mission to find out what put the shadows in those green eyes. Even if it means breaking down the walls he’s built between them. Even if it means falling for the one girl he’ll never get over.
The free-spirited artist just needs to lay low for a few weeks so she can figure a way out of this nightmare. She’s definitely not staying. Not when the man who broke her teenage heart into splinters keeps showing up at her parents’ dinner table. Remi doesn’t need broody, bearded Brick riding to her rescue…again. Not when it will put them both in danger, costing them much more than their hearts.
Author’s Note: Frenemies-to-lovers. Opposites attract. Slow burn. Girl in danger. Glorious, glorious banter. Fighting as foreplay. Small-town shenanigans. Big, grumpy, pining, overprotective hero. Wild-child, trouble-finding heroine who keeps on pushing the hero’s buttons. Steam Level: Lava. Suspense: Nail-biting. Feels: Big time.
The bestselling author of Everything Happens for a Reason (And Other Lies I’ve Loved)asks, how do you move forward with a life you didn’t choose?
It’s hard to give up on the feeling that the life you really want is just out of reach. A beach body by summer. A trip to Disneyland around the corner. A promotion on the horizon. Everyone wants to believe that they are headed toward good, better, best. But what happens when the life you hoped for is put on hold indefinitely?
Kate Bowler believed that life was a series of unlimited choices, until she discovered, at age 35, that her body was wracked with cancer. In No Cure for Being Human, she searches for a way forward as she mines the wisdom (and absurdity) of today’s “best life now” advice industry, which insists on exhausting positivity and on trying to convince us that we can out-eat, out-learn, and out-perform our humanness. We are, she finds, as fragile as the day we were born.
With dry wit and unflinching honesty, Kate Bowler grapples with her diagnosis, her ambition, and her faith as she tries to come to terms with her limitations in a culture that says anything is possible. She finds that we need one another if we’re going to tell the truth: Life is beautiful and terrible, full of hope and despair and everything in between–and there’s no cure for being human.
And that’s all she wrote. . .here’s hoping March isn’t a shitshow and I can enjoy reading again. . .*crosses fingers* x’s + o’s
