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I just finished The First Day without you by Melissa Hill Moving to California was a snap decision made by Leonie. She needed a fresh start, a place to flee from the mess she left behind back home. Not ready to face what she did, Leonie, while cleaning her new home, finds a stack of letters. Unable to help herself, Leonie decides to get the letters to the person they are addressed to. Dragging her neighbor into her quest, Leonie embarks on a journey with Alex to try and give someone else the happily ever after she knows she doesn’t deserve. I quite enjoyed this book. It's split between two POV, Leonies that span current day and her past and Alex’s. I usually like one POV more in these kinds of books but I enjoyed both ladies' stories. Alex is trying to divorce her ex Seth but he is as elusive as bigfoot. She works as a reporter and her skills helped Leonie track down Helena. As a hopeless romantic myself I found the book very cute and I liked the cynical balance that Alex provided Leonie the romantic. The writing was solid and I was entertained through the whole book. I liked the ending. I don’t think it could have been done better. I like the mystery of the letters and all the descriptive talk of San Francisco. I feel like it’s never too late to reach out when your heart aches for someone. 4 stars Thank you @bookmarked @melissahillbooks for my gifted copy #sourcebooks #landmarkbooks #melissahill #thefirstdaywithoutyou #romanceread #chicklit #bookblogger #bookstagram #booksbooksbooks #igreader

I just finished Book Lovers by Emily Henry and here are my musings. Nora Stephens is a workaholic and who can blame her? Well, everyone she meets thinks she has no work life balance but she is a literary agent and she is a shark at what she does. The only person she is soft for is her little sister Libby. And when Libby wants to go to Sunshine Falls for a month. A sister bonding trip before Libby’s third child arrives into the world. Libby has a bucket list of small town things they are both to do. Proving it is a small world, Nora keeps jumping into an editor from New york, a man she has contrasting viewpoints on with one of her authors. Charlie may be hot, but he isn’t what she’s there for. The cosmos has other ideas and the two of them find themselves unexpectedly bumping into each other and each time the ice thaws a little more. This book is CUTE CUTE CUTE CUTE….. Did I mention how cute this book is? I was completely charmed by Nora from the get go. Kindred spirit and all that. She crushes her goals then makes new ones. Charlie is too cute. That frosty bookish man just needed to get in the water with the “shark” to figure out that there is more to life. I love small town settings. If I could read one type of book for the rest of my life, it would be a small town book. I loved all the fun things Libby had them doing and the budding friendship between Nora and Charlie. I have fast become a fan of Emily Henry so maybe I am biased but I don’t care. This book is well written, highly entertaining and I love falling in love with books like this. 4 stars! Excellent read! #booklovers #emilyhenry #romancereader #chicklit #februaryread #bookworm #bibliophile #booksofinstagram #bookcommunity #bookdragon #bookishlife

I just finished The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins and here are my thoughts. Camden thought he left it all behind. He turned his back on the estate, the money…. The adoptive family, all of it. He was content to teach and be with his wife Jules. Ruby McTavish isn’t a woman to be beaten, even in death. She was larger than life before she died, a victim of a kidnapping as a child and 4 dead husbands to boot but having Camden take over everything was her wish. Camden can’t put off going back to the Estate after his uncle dies. His family are not happy to see him and he would rather chew his own arm off than have to stay there a second longer than necessary. Being home brings up unanswered questions Camden always had but some secrets are better left alone. THIS BOOK BLEW MY MIND. I literally was turning the pages of my kindle like I was possessed. It was so good. The story balances from Camdens POV, Jules POV and letters that Ruby had written to someone while she was still alive. Ruby explains her own family secrets from her childhood and then what happened to her 4 dead husbands and each one will leave you gasping in horror! She was clever and her family couldn’t even beat her in death. It was glorious! I really felt for Camden all the way through the book and even his dark secret just made me feel bad for him. Then we have Jules… She is split for me. Part of me understands and the other part has me thinking Camden needs to watch his back. His family.. All D-bags. The manor was described in a beautiful and rich way and I felt like I was truly there. It was a fast paced, well executed masterpiece of pure perfection. All other thrillers have a lot to measure up to, this one set the bar in outer space. So many twists and the delicious family drama, made this book one heck of a book. 5 stars @stmartinspress thank you so much for this fabulous read and to @netgalley for this gifted copy #booklover #bookstagram #bookcommunity #booksofinstagram #readingtime #ilovebooks #bookblogger #bookblog #booknerdigans #bookobsessed #bookishfeatures #bookphotography #rachelhawkins #theheiress #thrillerreader #5starbook

I just finished The Takeover by Cara Tanamachi and here are my thoughts. Nami has just turned 30 and her life isn’t what she was expecting. She is feeling the loneliness of being alone after her fiance cheated on her and the company she started is in trouble. Her sister is getting married and it’s showing Nami just how far behind her life has gotten behind. When she wishes on a birthday candle for a soul mate, her wish drops her nemesis from high school back into her life… Jae Lee. Beat her out for valedictorian was just the icing on her hate cake. He is the lead shark in the hostile takeover of her company and neither of them like to lose. Problem is, there is a very fine line between love and hate…. When I read the synopsis for the book I was like, meh, sure why not! It sounded ok…. IT WAS BRILLIANT!! This book took my expectations and launched it to jupiter. It was well written, funny and so entertaining I finished it within an evening. Couldn’t put it down. It was genius. I was chuckling. I was tearing up. I was on the emotional rollercoaster of a lifetime and the ending was pure magic! I love books with really good banter between characters and Jae was amazing as far as lead men go. Yes, he had his moments of being a bit of a butthole but Nami wasn’t exactly a peach sometimes either. I’m a hopeless romantic and watching people fall in love is my jam… This book gave it to me in spades. Nami is scrappy and fierce. We get to see from both hers and Jae’s POV. It made for a really well rounded read. The business takeover was a really fun plot and I liked that it all worked out in the end. I am a huge fan of weddings and Nami’s sister throws my kind of wedding!! As far as rom-coms go this one is in my top 5. 5 stars. Thank you to @netgalley and @stmartinspress for my gifted copy #bookstagram #instabook #bookphotography #bookporn #igbooks #ilovereading #bookhaul #bookhoarder #bookaddiction #bookstoread #whattoread #fortheloveofbooks #bookblogging #bookpics #weekendreads #bookrecs #booknerdproblems #bookpictures #bookstagram #amreading #booksbooksbooks #instablog #booknerds #bookphotos #bibliophile

I just finished Holiday Star by Melissa Dymond and here are my thoughts Gwen, a doctor, is spending Christmas alone. Her mother and her new husband have her house sitting and everyone is gone for the holidays. Everyone except her mothers husband's nephew who happens to be Caleb Lawson, the world famous and sexy movie star. He is hiding out at their house while they are gone. Sharing a small space that is being renovated isn’t either of their idea of a fun christmas but the more time they spend getting to know each other, the more they start to open up. Caleb has never done christmas being he was a child actor and was always on set and Gwen loves it all. Can their opposite personalities find common ground and will the growing attraction they feel wake them both up? This book is too cute and I just found out this one is the super clean one and the author released the naughty version of it too! I really loved Gwen. She felt real to me. I could totally understand how she felt about her mother getting remarried. I understood Caleb too. Not ever being a kid, always in the spotlight. Having the time he did with Gwen opened him up to knowing there was more inside of him. I loved watching that. Seeing the chances in them was the highlight of the book for me. I love Christmas books so this one already was a winner in my books but the writing was lovely and I thoroughly enjoyed it all. I cannot wait for the next installment. The tropes… *Grumpy/sunshine* *Opposites attract* *Forced proximity* 4 stars Thank you to @netgalley and @melissadymondauthor for my gifted copy #holidaystar #romanceread #melissadymond #booklover #bookreview #bookblogger #booksta #igbooks #igreads #bookmerchstore

I just finished Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia Audiobook, and here are my thoughts. Noemi is a socialite with a full social calendar. Her cousin, newly married, sends a frantic letter to Noemi’s father and he sends her to find out what is happening. She knows very little about her cousin's husband, other than he is an Englishman and has a home in the Mexican countryside. Noemi is smart and resourceful but nothing can prepare her for a home with very little electricity, limited amenities, a patriarch so sick the house barely makes a peep so as not to disturb him. Her cousin’s husband, while handsome and charming, has something more sinister lurking under the surface. The house has a life of its own as well, invading her dreams with such horrors, Noemi finds she has no appetite. The longer she stays within the halls of the house…. The more she starts to lose herself within it. Let me start by saying that the audio was a very good listen. I very much enjoyed the narrator's voice and I was quickly absorbed into the story. One thing I didn’t know before I started the book was that it is actually an historical fiction, a gothic historical fiction and that was a very nice thing to find out. The characters were really well developed. I liked Noemi right from the get go. She didn’t want to have to go to a strange place all by herself but her very real fear for her cousin set her resolve to do what her father was asking. Each one of the house members had something very odd about them and finding out the reasoning was brilliant! It wasn’t my normal kind of horror read. This was more of a lowkey set you on edge horror but I thoroughly enjoyed it. The author set the atmosphere like a dark tendril of mist across a graveyard… Slow but deliberate and you always feel a little uneasy. The conclusion of the book was amazing and I really felt the ends were tied up well enough but with this slight edge that makes you wonder if it really is over. It was quite slow in the beginning but it more than made up for it in the end. 4.5 stars I have been abusing my library a lot lately (I have ARCs coming out my ears but it hasn’t stopped me reading books I don’t have time for) #mexicangothic #gothicfiction #historicalfiction #horrorreader #audioreader #librarybook #booksbooksbooks #readerlife #readersofig #bookalorian

I just finished Keep your friends close by Lucinda Berry and here are my musings. The West Hollywood mom’s club is the most exclusive moms group. When Kiersten McCann throws a lavish party at her home then winds up drowning in her own pool, it becomes clear to the police that whoever killed her, is in the mom’s group… One of her best friends did it. Everyone is blaming each other but it’s only really 3 of the mothers the police are questioning. Whitney, Kierstens best friend who she seemed to have been on the outs with. Brooke, who lost her temper at another party and hit a guest and Jade, strung out mother with a sick child who works for Whitney. They all had access and motive but is the truth too much to bear? This book had me guessing from start to finish. I love books that do that. I was blaming everyone too, even people not at the party. That’s how twisted up this read had me. In the end the shocking twists had me gasping and I couldn’t believe I didn’t see it coming!! Mom’s behaving badly when their lives look glossy and put together.. I am here for that all day long. The book was fast paced and hard hitting. The POV changed between the mom’s Whitney, Jade and Brooke and that’s not normally what I like but I got used to it after a while. I think it would have been better to write it in the 3rd person but still, this book was absolutely nail biting. I loved how the book showed that having money makes things perfect but these ladies' lives were all far from it. You could feel just how sad and lonely they all felt even married with a close knit group of friends. The range of emotions this book pulled out of me shows the genius in the writing and I devoured the whole thing in one sitting. Definitely the best thriller I have read this year. 4.5 stars Thank you to @netgalley and #thomasmercer for my gifted copy #keepyourfriendsclose #lucindaberry #momsbehavingbadly #bookreview #booksofig #readersofig #booklover #bookstagrammer #booksbooksbooks #netgalley #kindle

I just finished The Baby Monitor by Rosie Walker and here are my thoughts. Mim is exhausted. She just had her second baby and her husband is watching her closely. She had issues after her first baby was born and he is taking no chances this time.. so she Mim heard a voice through her daughter's baby monitor saying.. your mother doesn’t love you… Mim doesn’t know whether to believe her own exhausted ears. Her husband doesn’t believe her and Liv, her 5 year old daughter, doesn’t want anything to do with her.. things couldn’t get much worse. Her house is full of secret cameras and her husband doesn’t believe a word she has to say. Someone is messing with her life and no one believes her.. her psyche is fragile and she hasn't got the best track record. I love thrillers like this. Ones where you always feel wrong footed right until the last chapter. I had no idea who was lying or telling the truth at all. I felt Mim was a very unreliable narrator but it felt like she could have been right and it was the best feeling ever! You don’t know who to trust. It’s funny because even at the end of the book I still felt uncertain and everything was tied up nicely. The plot was great. I have a huge beef with those kinds of baby monitors and this really took it to new levels of fear. It was well paced and I never got bored. The writing was definitely very good and I liked the overall tone of the whole thing. 4 stars Great psychological thriller Thank you @netgalley and @bookouture for my gifted copy #thebabymonitor #rosiewalker #psychologicalthriller #bookreview #readerofig #igbooks #bookinfluencer #bookcommunity #bookish #booklover #booknerdigans