amateur_bookworm's reviews
589 reviews

challenging emotional sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

My summary:

In southern Virginia in 1968, racial tensions are high. When a prominent elderly white couple is murdered in their home and a young black man is the only suspect, the small town is ready to erupt. Jack Lee is a lawyer in his early thirties and, although he’s been a criminal defense attorney for eight years, he is barely getting by and has yet to try a murder case. When Jack begins to represent Jerome Washington, the alleged murderer, he quickly seems to be in over his head in a case with implications far beyond face value. But the tide turns for Jack once Desiree DuBose, a fiery and successful lawyer with the Legal Defense Fund waltzes into town. As Jack and Desiree fight for justice for Jerome, there’s a lot more at stake than just one man’s freedom.

My thoughts:

This is a tough read because it paints a vivid glimpse of the unfairness and injustice that pervades this country and colors our nation’s past, much too recently to be comfortable.

I think this story is well done and handles the hot button topic of racial injustice with sensitivity while being effective at forcing readers to really empathize with the undeserved struggles of an entire race in a country that purports liberty and justice for all.

The unfairness of the racism really resonated/bothered/nauseated me as I read. Every white person’s assumption of Jerome’s guilt is exasperating to read. The constant blatant threats to Jack are so ominous. It kept me feeling on edge throughout the entire book.

This book left me positively enraged at the injustice of the justice system and the hurdles that an entire race has had (and continues) to overcome. I felt so invested in the outcome for Jerome, Pearl, Jack and Desiree. I also found Hilly, Jack’s mom, to be such a confusing character through the book. It also definitely took some twists that I did not see coming.

I was immediately pulled into the story and it went by very quickly for me until a little bit into the second half, and then it did start to drag a bit for me. I honestly think it had to do with the onslaught of emotions that became a bit taxing as a reader—but also in a very effective way to evoke empathy and understanding of the overall topic.

Content Warnings

Wild Love by Elsie Silver

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

My summary: Ford Grant has recently moved back to Rose Hill, the small town he spent his summers at while growing up, and next door to his childhood best friend, West. The son of a famous guitarist, Ford went on to make his money on his own. Recently named the world’s hottest billionaire by Forbes, he is now settling in to what he hopes to be a quieter life as he sets up his own music studio. But nothing goes to plan when Ford is unexpectedly thrust into single-parenthood and then Rosie Belmont, West’s little sister and his secret crush from when he was a teenager, returns to town. Rosie is running from the big city after losing her job and from a lackluster love life. With an MBA and nothing to show for it except crushing student loan debt, work is hard to find in Rose Hill. When Rosie asks Ford to hire her as his assistant it is basically an offer he can’t refuse—and working together makes their feelings about each other finally unavoidable.

My thoughts:

I absolutely adore this book! This is one of those books that I almost instantly knew I would love—literally within the first three pages of it.

Every character is just fantastic and I love the witty banter throughout. I literally laughed out loud at times. I basically just sat here reading and grinning the whole time. This is a warm and fuzzy feeling romance, with just enough spice sprinkled in.

I really love the backstory of Ford and Rosie being childhood frenemies, with Rosie being the bratty little sister of Ford’s best friend, and Ford being a teenager hopelessly in love with her the entire time. His pining after her all these years has my heart. I also just adore Cora!

This was my first ever book by Elsie Silver and I am so mad at myself for not reading anything by her sooner. I’ve since bought her entire Chestnut Springs series (thanks Target BOGO 50% off!) and I can’t wait to dive into it. It will have to tide me over until the next Rose Hill book is out in September.

Content Warnings

King of Sloth by Ana Huang

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lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

My summary:

Sloane Kensington has built up her PR firm over the last six years through pure grit and grace. Determined to make her own name for herself after being estranged from her family, she has had to become tough and resilient and has buried herself in her work. But her most difficult client, Xavier Castillo, loves nothing more than to rile her up as often as possible. It’s been three years since Sloane was hired by Xavier’s father, the richest man in Columbia, to keep the family reputation pristine despite Xavier’s party boy lifestyle. But when his father becomes terminally ill, Xavier must face his future and choose between his inheritance or his party lifestyle. The impossible soon seems possible for Xavier with Sloane by his side as a support he’s never had before. And Sloane, who never gets emotionally affected, soon finds herself drawn to Xavier as she sees there’s more to him than just his past antics.

My thoughts:

Sloane and Xavier have my heart. I really enjoyed this and, so far, it’s my favorite of Ana Huang’s Kings of Sin series. This is an overall sweet romance with a few spicy scenes.

I enjoyed the character development of Xavier and my heart just broke for his backstory. And I’ve also really enjoyed seeing Ana Huang’s writing evolve through her books and if this one is any indication, each one to come will just keep getting better and better.

Ahhhhhh! So many cameos of the Twisted characters and other Kings of Sin characters! I love it. I saw another review that referred to it as the Marvel Infinity War of the Ana Huang-verse, and that’s quite accurate. I hope the Twisted characters keep popping up in the books to come in this series!

This is the fourth of what will be a total of seven books in the Kings of Sin series. I am excited to see Vuk and Ayana’s story in the next book. Also, make sure you get the bonus scene from this book through Ana Huang’s newsletter!

Content Warnings

Just For the Summer by Abby Jimenez

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emotional funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

My summary:

Emma stumbles across a Reddit post by a guy named Justin complaining about having a curse where every girl he dates goes on to find her soulmate immediately after they break up. Emma messages Justin to commiserate because she has the exact same curse. After chatting back and forth, they come up with the foolproof plan of dating each other so that they can break up and then find their soulmates and end their respective curses. Their initial chemistry draws Emma, a traveling nurse, to lMinnesota to date Justin, a software engineer. Despite agreeing to only date for the summer and then break up, Justin and Emma may actually be each other’s soulmates but at a time in their lives where the odds are stacked against them.

My thoughts:

I have already read the book and loved it. Listening to it was just as good, if not better! I literally caught myself repeatedly grinning while listening. This is a can’t-miss read (or listen).

I love that Abby Jimenez writes romance but with substance and tough topics. This has likable, relatable characters and witty banter. I literally laughed at loud at times. But for being a fun romance, there are some seriously heavy topics in here too. It is a perfect mix of fun and sweet and serious.

I was pleasantly surprised when I enjoyed both narrators immediately, as this is usually not the case for me. I think both narrators are a great fit for their characters and it makes listening enjoyable.

This is a great book as a standalone, but for maximum impact, I recommend reading at least Part of Your World and Yours Truly first. Both of those are also five star reads for me so it’s completely worth the time to read them also. And if you want the *full* experience then also read the three books of The Friend Zone series.

Content Warnings

A Love Song for Ricki Wilde by Tia Williams

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hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

My summary:

Ever the disappointment in her family, Ricki Wilde has dreams of opening her own flower shop. But her family owns the nationwide chain of Wilde Funeral Homes and all of her sisters have successfully followed in their father’s footsteps, with the expectation of Ricki doing the same. When she finally finds the nerve to reveal her grand idea to her family, they completely dismiss her and then her father effectively fires her. All hope seems lost for her dream to gain traction, until Ms. Della, a kind older woman, comes into the funeral home on one of Ricki’s last days there. Worried it’s too good to be true but out of options, Ricki takes up Ms. Della’s offer and moves to Harlem into the bottom floor apartment of Ms. Della’s building. As Ricki pours her heart into Wilde Things, her flower shop begins to grow and she is drawn to the magnetic Ezra Walker in an inexplicable way.

My thoughts:

This book is the perfect blend of romance and intrigue and magical realism. A vibrant blending of modern day with the Harlem Renaissance makes you feel like you’ve stepped right into the pages.

This book is fantastic and I felt so drawn into it. I really didn’t know anything at all about the Harlem Renaissance during the Roaring 20s before picking this up and Tia Williams made this glimpse of it sound so incredible that I want to learn more about it.

I love Ricki’s social awkwardness and wit. Ezra is maddeningly intriguing and I just couldn’t get enough of him. The mystery of his story is both tantalizing and infuriating. I love Ms. Della with her found family and guardian angel role in the story—and she gives us all someone to aspire to be like when we’re 96! Tuesday is also such a fun yet somewhat tragic character as a former famous child actress.

I saw Tia Williams at a panel at the LA Times Festival of Books and I had never read any of her books before. And after hearing her talk—especially about the, ahem, piano scene—I knew I wanted to dive into this as soon as possible.

Going into this book after hearing Tia talk about some of her inspiration for this book made it SO much better than just going in blind. Listening to her talk about not knowing flowers or pianos before this book, her previous work at magazines, and that she loved the idea of how exotic night-blooming jasmine sounded all made reading this such an incredibly richer experience for me.

Go to author events. Or listen to podcasts featuring authors. Dive into the author’s story a bit before reading and all of it will really take your reading to a new level of enjoyment.

Content Warnings

King of Greed by Ana Huang

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hopeful sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

My summary: On the cusp of their ten year wedding anniversary, Dominic and Alessandra Davenport seem to have it all. The ambitious and gorgeous billionaire Dominic is the so-called King of Wall Street. The stunning and smart Alessandra has her wealthy husband, penthouse, and has started a thriving business of her own. Once college sweethearts, Alessandra now, however, feels like Dominic is married more to his work than to her. Tired of feeling neglected and unwanted, Alessandra leaves, but Dominic is devastated and determined to do anything to win her back.

My thoughts:

I read this book in December 2023. I really enjoyed it and, overall, found it to be really sweet. Then I saw some audio snippets that Ana Huang posted from the audiobook and I just had

to listen to it.

When I read the book, Alessandra's melancholy and Dominic's desperation punched me right in the feels. Ana Huang does a fantastic job of making you empathize with both Alessandra and Dominic throughout the story. My heart broke for both of them.

Listening to it, though, was quite a different experience and I’m overall pretty fascinated by just how different it was for me. The audiobook made me feel like Alessandra was the selfish one and I felt terribly for Dominic. It came across that he was so hardworking for *their* future and she was just whiny and left him anyway and then rebuffed all his attempts at reconciliation.

I struggled a bit with the narrators in this one. I think the way Alessandra’s character came across so differently in the audiobook is due to the female narrator’s intonation throughout it. I get that Alessandra’s character is quite melancholy through the entirety of the book, but she was just SO depressed sounding that listening to her was rough—especially since her portion is roughly half of the eight and a half hour audiobook.

This has the same male narrator, Teddy Hamilton, as Rosie Danan’s The Roommate that I just listened to recently (as well as apparently a TON of other audiobooks). He comes across as, I don’t know, a little too California-surfer sounding to me to be a great fit as Dominic’s character. He’s not my favorite but he is definitely better than average for male narrators, so I did enjoy his narration.

Also, Chapter 18 = still solid gold.

Whether the book or audiobook, this is an overall good message for those of us that have to work a lot to remember that your job is your job but it’s important to put your marriage first.

And even though, like Dominic, you may feel like you're one bad decision at work away from losing it all, it's more important to put family first.

Content Warnings

Funny Story by Emily Henry

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funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

My summary: Daphne Vincent is devastated when her fiancé, Peter, breaks up with her on the morning after his bachelor party—for his longtime *platonic* best friend, Petra. In desperation of needing a place to live, Daphne ends up moving into the apartment of Petra’s ex, Miles. Her and Miles generally stay out of each other’s way for weeks until one night of wallowing leads to a fake dating lie in an attempt to make their exes jealous. As the fake dating ruse leads to friendship, the blur between which feelings are real or fake becomes more confusing.

My thoughts:

This is an absolutely hilarious story of a jilted bride going on to fake date her ex-fiancé’s new fiancée’s ex. But there is also a lot of depth to the story as well. You can’t help but immediately fall in love with Daphne and Miles—and then, in turn, root for them to fall in love.

I devoured this book in two days. I really appreciate the character arcs of both Daphne and Miles. Although I wanted a warm and fuzzy romance with the only strife being the whole jilted bride start to the story, I think it was so much better because of the focus on the personal issues that Daphne and Miles each face and overcome. It IS a warm and fuzzy love story, but with a lot of layers to it that give it a rawness that I wasn’t expecting yet thoroughly enjoyed.

I always enjoy the book-oriented characters in Emily Henry’s books and this one features Daphne as a children’s librarian. I really enjoyed that element of the story and I love my local library so I appreciate the homage to small local libraries.

I avoided romance as a genre for my most of adult life—too many Nora Robert’s-style romances as a 13-year old kind of ruined the genre for me. Then Emily Henry’s Beach Read came along years ago and it was my first of what I would call a contemporary romance. And I absolutely adored it and the way I felt while reading it. It opened up romance as a genre to me and now I have found myself mostly reading romance in the years since. Beach Read will likely always be my favorite of hers for this reason—but Funny Story is a darn close second place for me.

Content Warnings

Reveling in Sin by Meghan March

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medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

My summary: The conclusion of Whitney and Lincoln’s forbidden romance is anything but predictable, as even more secrets and lies are exposed that seem to thwart their happily ever after at every turn. Only true love could survive the onslaught of trials and tribulations they face—but this time they are facing everything together.

My thoughts:

I guess I’m just a glutton for punishment because I really disliked the first two books in this trilogy, yet here I am after finishing the third and final book.

Initially, I thought this conclusion of the trilogy was getting better than the first two books had been. Nope. Nope, so much worse. Just when you think this story can’t possibly get any worse, it does, at every turn.

There are basically zero likable characters and a plot that is so stupidly far-fetched that I can’t count how many times I rolled my eyes.

There are SO many characters that are horrendous. Every older female in this series is written to be absolutely awful. Lincoln’s mom, Ricky’s mom, Hunter’s mom Re completely insufferable. Karma is absolutely wretched. Harrison is also the worst.

There is no character development at any point. Just one ridiculously unrealistic plot twist after another.

I can’t believe how many hours I’ve wasted listening to made-up rich people’s drama over an inheritance. Also, nobody in real life ever calls a girl a wh*re or talks about their family being trash this much to their face. Never, honestly.

I think I’ll stick only to Meghan March’s books that are set in NOLA. Her other series have been completely unenjoyable.

Content Warnings

A Killing on the Hill by Robert Dugoni

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mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

My summary: Set in Seattle in 1933, William “Shoe” Schumacher is a budding news reporter who has just earned his press badge from the chief of police that gives him access to crime scenes. Sent away by his parents after graduating high school, the Depression has hit his family hard back in Kansas City and Shoe is determined to work hard and send any money he can back home. When Shoe receives a call from a detective about a high-profile murder at a ritzy drinking and gambling club, he soon realizes this will be the case that makes or breaks his career. But covering the trial of the century may just be too much for Shoe to handle with the rampant corruption that rules Seattle.

My thoughts:

I really love Robert Dugoni’s books and I was eagerly awaiting the release of this one. His first historical thriller stayed true to his roots of being set in Seattle. It is a great glimpse of the area during this time period of the Depression and Prohibition— and the rampant corruption of government officials and politicians amongst the organized crime.

This book is good but I didn’t find it to be nearly as up to par as Dugoni’s other books. It’s hard to write a review that doesn’t sound scathing because it truly is a good book, it’s just nearly not at the high level of writing I have come to expect from his books.

I feel like he spent too much time explaining the historical setting to the detriment of developing the plot and characters. I had trouble connecting with any of the characters or the plot because of this. Instead of describing the historical setting while forcing bits of the plot into it, I would have preferred that he just wrote the plot to let the historical setting naturally take shape in the readers minds.

There are a lot of characters thrown at you. It was difficult to keep them straight and I found myself repeatedly flipping backwards to find the introduction of each character and their role in the plot.

I felt like the first two thirds of the book was a bit of a slog but it did pick up steam in the last third as the plot began to come together more cohesively.

I wish that snippets of the Author’s Note had been placed at the preface to the book instead of at the end of it. I feel like the insight it gave would have vastly improved my overall opinion of the book while reading.

Overall, it’s a good first foray into historical fiction and an interesting legal thriller that took twists that I wasn’t expecting. I do hope Dugoni continues to explore historical fiction in this setting in Seattle as it is a very interesting time period that is largely untapped in fiction as of yet.

Content Warnings

Bride by Ali Hazelwood

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dark funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

My summary: Misery Lark is a vampyre and daughter of the head councilman, which is how she finds herself at the altar for an arranged marriage to a werewolf that she’s never met. Lowe Moreland is an Alpha werewolf willing to enter this marriage as a symbol of peace between their species after centuries of war and distrust. Misery, having been mostly estranged from her family and vampyres almost her entire life, had been living amongst the humans and trying to blend in—until her best friend disappears. With ulterior motives, she agrees to the marriage. As Lowe and Misery unexpectedly fall for each other, true love can’t be possible between species—right?

My thoughts:

I read this book in February 2024 and it was a five-star read for me then. It’s delightfully witty and that comes across well in the audiobook. I did overall really enjoy it, I just didn’t enjoy the audiobook *as much* as I enjoyed reading it.

The story had a totally different vibe for me while listening to the audiobook than it gave me while reading the book. I’m not sure if it was because the female narrator that just didn’t sound the way I imagined Misery to sound. Or if the intonation of the narrator didn’t match how it sounded in my head while I read it. Either way, I’m rating here purely off of vibes and listening to it was just a bit off for me compared to how reading it made me feel. But either format you go with, I think this is still a great read or listen.

If you enjoy contemporary romance then don’t let the vampire/werewolf aspect deter you from this one. I’m not big on any paranormal romances, but the love story here trumped that aspect and I think it was a fun twist on a forced marriage trope.

Content Warnings

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amateur_bookworm's reviews 589 reviews

amateur_bookworm's reviews
589 reviews