katiedermody's reviews
1972 reviews

This was cute! I love a time-loop story so even though I didn't get time to watch Groundhog's Day yesterday, I started this book, a YA time-loop set in Punxsutawney, so it felt appropriate and satisfactory. Andie is new to town and really only met two people during the summer: Colton, who she has a crush on, and Tom, his boss at the theater where she's been hanging out. The night before school starts she discovers Tom is their age and also starting senior year, and then she watches Pretty in Pink with her mom, falling asleep wishing the dream she's living will never end. Then she discovers she's stuck repeating the first day of school over and over again. It follows typical time loop patterns with her trying different things, figuring out how to get out of the loop, etc. but with a fun twist of the John Hughes movies and her trying to figure out how to Breakfast Club the school once she discovers how cliquey things are. And of course, she realizes that Tom is her Duckie. The story is more about her and the people she interacts with as a whole and the romance is a smaller part of it, but that didn't detract from the story for me. I liked it and would probably read more by this author if I come across it, but am not so enamored that I'll go seek it out immediately. 

I enjoyed this one by the end! It felt a little slow to start, I think because I've read another book that felt very similar. The good thing about my chronic illness induced memory issues is that I don't remember a ton about that one and was able to get into this one once I got to know these specific character's. Josh was cut loose during the end of the last season of Hopelessly Devoted and now he's got his own season. Lauren and Krystin are two of 35 women competing for his love. Lauren is a mostly closeted lesbian, and is really there because she's an influencer and wants the publicity. Krystin is a rodeo queen who has never felt like she's met the right guy but goes into this hoping she'll find love. She does... it's just with Lauren. They start a secret behind the scenes thing and there's drama, etc. I really appreciated Krystin's queer awakening story in this book, especially how she thought certain feelings and thoughts she had were what every girl experienced and also that she never allowed herself to know that being queer was an option. I knew the book was written by two women and it was a lovely surprise to find out at the end that they're a couple, but weren't when they first started writing the book. I want to read their story as a romance novel!

This is a bonus story Meg's releasing to her newsletter subscribers that occurs between books 2 and 3. It's short, sweet, a little spicy, and made me want to start my reread of this series immediately (I have to finish some other things first but it's coming!). 

I feel conflicted about this one, specifically it's portrayal of disability. I kept reading, hoping something would change, but was left disappointed. I appreciate that the author's doing a series with MCs with visible disabilities on the cover, but the words and phrases used in the book about the character's partial paralysis and wheelchair use sometimes miss the mark. He clearly had a lot of unresolved feelings and insecurities about his accident and how it changed his life, and I'm pretty sure words like wheelchair-bound, crippled, and others with negative connotations were mostly if not all from him, but the way other people in his life brought things up bothered me as well. From what I could tell, the characters were all saying things from a place of caring and concern, making sure she really accepted him and wasn't going to hurt him, but it could have been better and made me question her experience with disability or whether she got sensitivity readers. I'm also trying to keep in mind that the author is from Germany and writing in a language that may not be their first/main one could play into things (especially as, from experience with someone I knew, German people tend to be frank and blunt in a way North Americans assume is rude when it isn't meant to be). It's unfortunate, because I do think some aspects were really well done: the fat rep was great, the spice was really good, and way the MCs communicate was beautiful. As a disabled person myself (different disability and different mobility aid), I really appreciated the way the FMC asked clarifying questions instead of offering or insisting on help, and found considerate ways to adapt and accommodate without him having to ask (the way she automatically started touching his neck and playing with his hair while they walked together, and how he thanked her later because he was always disappointed he'd never be able to hold a partner's hand while on the move was so lovely). However,  because I'm not okay with the way the negative language makes it seem like being disabled is a negative thing people have to look beyond, this is the first book in quite a while that I contemplated DNFing all the way through and I won't be reading more by the author (even though a small part of me wants to try another to see if it was just this character's view of himself, or is a pattern).

I enjoyed this, like I have the other Appies books. I've been curious what Alec's story would be the entire time, and it's been a while since I've read the others but I what I recalled of him was a happy go lucky, charismatic, ladies man (not in a creepy way) team captain since book one. I figured there would be depth to his story once we got there and I appreciated his experience with chronic pain and how he was struggling with identity and who he would be without hockey if and when it got to that point. I also liked his "I don't do babies" to "holy crap, I love this kid and want to be her dad" storyline. When Evie, his little sister's best friend (a bit of a age gap), moves to town, a single mother with a four month old girl, and needs help? He was a goner. As usual with both authors in this series, the attraction, flirting, tension/longing, and kissing were well done, which is always nice in a closed door romance. I'm a little disappointed that this appears to potentially be the last book in the series and we didn't get a grand epilogue for all the characters, plus there were a few side characters whose stories felt unfinished. 

Josh is a sex worker in the adult entertainment industry and moves into a house for the summer while the occupant is away on your. The occupant is the man Clara's known forever and is in love with, and was supposed to be arriving to live with until she found out he was gone. She and Josh enjoy each other's company, he helps her explore her own pleasure, and they start a more ethical porn company along with his ex and frequent costar. They face some issues like family, his current agent and company, public opinion, etc. while falling in love. This was a reread I'd been thinking of doing for a bit after my sister read it and I realized how little I remembered. Then my book club chose it and I was able to get a copy of the audio, which was a new way to read it for me. Teddy Hamilton narrating as Josh is excellent, as always.  I enjoyed it! I remember thinking it was super spicy the first time; it does have a decent amount and I appreciate how sex positive it is, but it's definitely not the raciest I've read anymore. I enjoy this author's writing and it stood up well to a reread. I wouldn't be surprised if I read it again someday. will be listening to book two now to reread it as well. 

This was such a lovely ending to the Wilmot Sisters series! With everything Juliet dealt with during Bea's book at the beginning, I've been looking forward to her story and it did not disappoint. She first encounters Will, a giant, gorgeous red-headed and befreckled man, one night during her trip to Scotland but was too in her heartbreak for anything beyond a dance at the pub. Months later, she finds him at home, where he's appeared as a college friend of Christopher's. They reconnect and hatch a plan to be each other's romance study buddies, her so she can ease back into things and him because he gave up a long time ago on romance but needs a wife. Of course, with the immediate attraction, the care they both show as they get to know one another and learn about his experiences as an Autistic man and hers as a chronically ill woman, it isn't long before practice no longer feels like practice. I loved how sweet and hopeful this story is with a dash of spice (eventually, as if is a bit of a slow-burn). Whereas at least one of or both leads in the first two books didn't like each other to begin with and had to grow in appreciation (which I'm here for and love), there was a beautiful simplicity in how these two enjoyed each other's company right from the start. 
A someone going through their own journey discovering what it means to me to be neurodivergent, I appreciated Will's story and the feelings he had to work through around having accepted love probably wouldn't happen for him. Doubly, as someone who also live with dynamic chronic illness with pain and fatigue as two main symptoms, Juliet's experiences with needing people to accept and learn about her new normal hit close to home. As always, I appreciate the care and attention Chloe puts into her stories when it comes to disability. I also noticed that the Shakespeare references seemed to have leveled up in this one and I enjoyed picking out as many little homages I could. It may just be that the two plays this one references the most are the two I knew the best, so I noticed more; regardless, I thought some were especially clever and am guessing there were even more I missed. Well done overall with this series, and I look forward to revisiting it again at some point as well as whatever you gift us with next!

This one is good, a five year jump so we get a glimpse into their life (with some spice) and then at the family as a whole, together. 

I really enjoyed this one too! It's second chance for childhood best friends  riefly turned lovers and then estranged for twelve years. Now Finn Rhodes has moved back to town and is ready to make up for his mistakes and prove to Olivia that they're soulmates. Liv is, if course, pissed at him but knows he's a thrill seeker at heart and will get bored once he gets what he thinks he wants and leave again, so she agrees to date him again while secretly plotting to drive him away and make him dump her so that it's his idea. Their back and forth as they try to one up each other is snarky, teasing, funny, sweet, and fun. He's also the one helping her with a big project that could make or break her finishing her PhD successfully, which the small town people we know and love medeled to make sure happened. I thought the pace was good for this kind of romance, and that the bonus epilogue really wrapped up the series well (plus there is a hit you on the head reveal about a return to the town for a side character's story at some point, and I'm here for it). 

Wedding reception, we get a little glimpse into the next book. And then spicy.