entirelybonkerz's reviews
313 reviews

As usual, Booktok overhypes bad books. That's it.

I am obsessed with Mariana. All Rhodes Lead Here and Wall of Winnipeg were two of the very few books that were overhyped that I actually loved to death. They were five stars for me, impeccable writing, characters, plot, some of the best slow burns I have ever read.

Then, you have this crap...

Who are you and what did you do to Mariana Zapata?

I mean, I can see what she tried to do here. Maybe she was tired, maybe she approached a story that she didn't have a lot of connection with. This was dreadful. The most repetitive and obnoxious dialogues and the most annoying female main character.

People told me: wow, the banter of this book is amazing. I feel like it's my DUTY to let you guys know what real banter looks like. Go read some Elizabeth O'Roark please. This ain't it sis.

These two characters had ZERO chemistry, their wants/needs were boring and unrelatable. Even their family drama was stupid.

Ivan Lukov's only redeeming quality was that he had five dogs and a tesla, and those two items were literally used as plot device. I am so disappointed in this book.

I was lucky enough to have used audible for this, both narrators were fantastic. The only good thing I got from this book was an obsession with Teddy Hamilton's voice. That's about it.

Repetitive, childish, so long (for no damn reason), I never thought I would read so many pages about the same couple and not want them to f*ck. I had zero wish to read their sex scene, it ended up being cute at the end but it wasn't her best. These two characters had the chemistry of a cucumber and a wet noodle. No, that is not a good thing.

I am just pissed off because people hyped this up for NO DAMN REASON and also because I KNOW she can do SO MUCH better.

Anyways, here are two pity stars. It has to be way more obnoxious than this to get a one star for me. I am on a roll of over-hyped two star books, I need to read a five star before I lose my damn mind.

Brutal honesty?

Writing? Mediocre.

Character Development? Non-existent.

R@pe? Just there for the sake of it.

Daddy? Yours.

Hotel? Not trivago.

I am glad I haven't given up on Mariana after completely hating From Lukov with Love.

I know what she is capable of, and this is it. All Rhodes Lead here is still my favorite book she has ever written, but this one also has a special place in my heart now.

This was a four star because of the tattooed, 41 year old grumpy man.

Rhodes and Lucas are paternal figure material.

Most Mariana's females don't change from book to book to be honest, they're all extremely nice, sunshiny, obnoxiously optimistic and they let everyone use them/lie to them/treat them badly, yatta, yatta. Luna was all right and I think that is the reason I couldn't give this book five stars.

In all Rhodes Lead Here, both characters were incredible. Aurora (All Rhodes Lead Here) and Vanessa (Wall of Winnipeg) are the only two female characters Mariana has written I love. They are down to earth and they have very distinctive personalities. Luna is more of the same.

Luna next to Lucas on the other hand, is what made this book worth it. His reactions to her and how rude, grumpy and mean he was to her, made this entire thing worth it. The contrast was huge and I adore a mean, 41 year old daddy. He is her boss on top of it all, they work at a car detailing shop and I just loved the vibes of it all. We also have great side characters.

Extremely emotional, sweet, cute, our typical Mariana Zapata slow burn recipe, with the most intoxicating s&x scene at the end. She might drag her books out until the 90% mark and only give us ONE sexual encounter, but this woman definitely knows how to write a s&x scene. Her scenes give me butterflies every damn time.

As usual, I took advantage of my love for our Narrator Gomez and I listened to this on audible. Gomez is the same voice who narrated Rhodes. Panty-melting thick, angry, grumpy voice, who makes the entire audio experience SO worth it.

If you are an audible person, or not, I definitely recommend this one. It was very cute and overall and enjoyable and romantic experience. Good job M!

That being said, this is me right now:

I will never, ever be able to put into words how much these characters and this world mean to me. This series has saved my life, multiple times. I am a better person because of them. I am a better person and my life is better because this series exists.

If I don't get an Arabella trilogy I WILL RIOT .

Throw in some extra Leon short stories in the mix as well, because I am NOT OK with not having any more material from these characters. Arabella DESERVES her own series and I want AND NEED her monster love story.

This was, as usual, impeccable. I understand they had to unpack a lot of things from previous books. We get all of our answers here, everything that was left unanswered from Nevada's trilogy as well. So this book was extremely heavy in the world building, family history, gene trees and more. However, we also got some amazing action scenes, as usual, the cutest and funniest dialogues and some adorable Catalina and Alessandro moments.

I did wish we had gotten a few more romantic moments. I feel like since they were focusing on so many different storylines, problems and wars, they didn't get a lot of time to focus on each other. That is my minor complaint.

My other complaint is that, every single conflict in this book could have been avoided/solved if Connor was around. However, I get why he wasn't. This is Catalina's story, not Nevada's any longer and using Connor as a "solve-everything" guy by either throwing money or his power at stuff isn't really a fair request.

I just miss them. I will always miss them. I am over-due my fourth reread of this series and reading this ARC just made me realize that I will never, ever love EVERY SINGLE character in a book the way I love these people.

I am the luckiest human being alive, just for being able to touch this advance readers copy THREE WHOLE MONTHS IN ADVANCE FROM RELEASE DATE. I am still in shock.

If you should know anything about me as a person, as a book blogger, as a reviewer, is that this series holds my body and soul. This series owns my mind and heart. This series has a shrine in my brain and these characters are the most incredible, organic and well developed characters I have ever read about.

You will never, and I repeat: NEVER, read a series with characters who feel as real as this. They exist, I can feel them, hear them, sense them. Their dialogues, their relationships, their dynamic, their family union, the pacing, the writing, the world building... there isn't a single flaw in this series.

This is, by far, the best urban fantasy series to date. Thank you for gifting us this world Illona Andrews.

Now give me Arabella's trilogy.

I am begging you.

No one writes like Emily. She has such an unique flow and a complex way of keeping things simple.

She once again has won me over from page one, impressed me with the rhythm, the style, the humor, and she also impressed me with the banter. She is getting bold with her sex scenes and that is such a refreshing upgrade from her previous books.

It is no secret that People We Meet on Vacation is one of my favorite book of all times, but we can't deny that it is because of the emotional weight of it and not because of that single sex scene. As cute as it is, Emily has always ran on the mild side when it comes to the finallys.

Imagine my surprise when she creates these two characters and explores not only their mental chemistry but also their sexual chemistry more than once. I have never seen Emily be this descriptive this often, she has actually steered away from her usual slow burn with this book.

It is still no extremely spicy book, but it delivered in everything else that mattered.

They had chemistry, the book is the right length; it's funny, sexy, exciting, and relatable, like everything else she touches. Their flirting, their banter, their dirty talk, everything was measured, calculated to the perfect amount. None of it was cringy and this was so freaking fun! I couldn't put it down.

She got a little bit lost at the end, I realized I don't enjoy vague happy endings as much as I thought I would. Emily tries way too hard to stay away from marriage and kids at the end of her books, which is something I am totally fine with. However, this one ended with something lacking. I can't pinpoint exactly what it is, but it felt like taking a bite out of a cupcake you thought was going to be frosted filled and it wasn't.

She built the most incredible connection between these two characters, and this FMC is possibly my favorite female she has ever written, and that is why I think they deserved more at the end. She threw us a "happy ending" I couldn't quite grasp and it left me somewhat unsatisfied.

Other than that, it is a very solid Emily book that will keep me glued to her next releases for a long time still.

But I can't help but wonder... January? Really? You named our FMC January? Every time Gus said her name out loud all I could imagine was a 78 year old toothless man, wearing a hay hat, slowly crossing the street with the help of his cane.

Every time Gus and JANUARY were being intimate and he would MOAN her name, the scene was so so so so close to being perfect. So close. Her sex scenes are so endearing, sexy, butterfly inducing, her male main characters always say the right thing, they always give me goosebumps.

Gus is like every other male character she has ever written, funny, intelligent, seductive, teenage girl freak out worthy and then I'd have to imagine him whispering: OH GOD JANUARY and I wanted to close the book and move on.

You had SO MANY MONTHS! May! C'mon! Why not May? June!!! You could have named her June! APRIL!!!! April is such a cute name. No, you had to pick the only name that reminds me of a geriatric patient in his death bed.

However, after putting all my strength into ignoring her name was January and replacing her name with something like May inside my own brain for 365 pages, this was a solid read.

Like everything else Emily touches, it was emotional, both characters had so much depth and their relationship felt so real.

Also, it's fun to read a book about writers, it feels like I am crossing through a fourth wall or something. Emily said this book was about writer's block and I totally feel like I was transported inside both of these writers minds, and following their discussions was exciting and swoony and overall a wonderful time. Watching them fall in love was nothing short of fantastic.

I know Emily Henry is not for everyone. I can understand the people who say: I couldn't care about these characters, it didn't grip me, too slow... She definitely has a very distinct talent like I previously stated in my review for Book Lovers: she tells tales about the simple, the mundane with complexity.

She just wins me over every time because it is honestly refreshing to read a contemporary romance that doesn't have fake dating, exaggerated shenanigans, childish dialogues, migraine inducing miscommunication and cringy sex scenes.

She writes stories about people like us, she writes about life, in a mature, calm, organic way and you can't beat that simplicity for me. It will eventually catch up to you because we are a world of January's and Gusses. I lost count the amount of times I have seen myself deeply in some of her characters.

So yeah, four out of five. I still think her name should have been ANY OTHER MONTH. No offense if your name is January.

These two had such a different vibe. They were so good for each other and you could absolutely tell from the beginning.

This is definitely a feel good, summer vibes, Hawaii dreams book and it gave me "Just go With It" feels (one of my favorite Adam Sandler and Jen Anniston movies, one of my favorite comedy movies period)

Though we do not deal with any fake dating here. Hollywood singer and superstar Drew falls for her boyfriend's brother - a beautiful, intelligent, sexy doctor - while on a trip to Hawaii with HIS family.

This book is yet another proof Elizabeth O'Roark can do no wrong and she will never, ever write a bad book.

Such a feel good, emotional story. It's also hilarious, their banter was adorable and every time they would have solo moments and deep conversations during that trip, they would feel like a very secret, precious, delicate moment. All their moments together were so filled with tension and longing that, as a reader, I would catch myself holding my breath while I waited for their next moves.

Is he going to admit his feelings first? Is she? The double POV in this is absolutely fantastic, and watching their hate and annoyance evolve into a sweet and intense friendship, then to passion was delicious.

I treasured every second of this slow burn. If you want something easy, that reads fast, that will get you giddy and give you all the romantic vibes of falling in love in Hawaii... this is it. It honestly doesn't get better than this.

Emotional, delicate, deliciously slow, torturous and overall an amazing time. Like eating a very cold watermelon in the summer, like having lemon curd on your favorite brioche bun, like sunbathing with your favorite book while you hear the ocean waves. Every cozy, warm, yummy feeling possible.

The only reason I didn't give this a full five stars was because I had already read book 1 and 3 since I got an advanced reader's copy, and out of all 3 couples - A Deal with The Devil and The Devil You Know win in the excitement scale. This was more of a slow ride.