thischarmingreader's reviews
1435 reviews

Only in Your Dreams by Ellie K. Wilde

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funny hopeful lighthearted fast-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? It's complicated

5.0

✨ARC Review✨

Now *this* is fun.  A brother’s best friend to lovers romance. A childhood friends to lovers romance. An “it was always you” romance. 

Melody spent her teen years quietly loving Zac, her twin brother’s best friend. On the eve of her departure to college, she asks him to kiss her. He says he’ll be right back, but he doesn’t come back. She goes to college heartbroken and spends ten years resenting him for leaving her hanging. 

Now she’s back in their hometown after a breakup with her longtime boyfriend which left her basically homeless. When she’s coerced into a friend group camping trip, she’s spending an exorbitant amount of time with a fully-grown and insanely attractive Zac. 

Their chemistry is off the charts and the push and pull is glorious. I love Melody and Zac. I love how he wants her exactly as she is naturally- kind of a grump, to be honest. And the way Melody strives to get his biggest grin. And y’all. Their spicy times be spicin’ hard. 

There is a plot point that doesn’t quite work for me, but it was easy for me to disregard. Everything else is so good. 

QOTD: Are you still friends with school pals? One of my besties and I have been friends since freshman home room. And that’s a looong time. 

I received this eARC via #netgalley and @atriabooks. All thoughts are mine alone. 

#romance! #romancebooks #contemporaryromance #spicybooks #spicyromance #onlyinyourdreams #elliekwilde #bookrecs #bookreview #bookstagram 
The Wildest Things by Andrea Hannah

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

✨ARC Review✨

❓What’s your favorite fairy tale? 

This reimagining of Snow White is everything I needed to read right now. It’s a story where the sweet, docile princess finds her power has been within her all along. 

In this world, the Prince does not kiss Snow awake. Twenty years after she bit into the poisoned apple and was interred in her glass coffin, she slowly awakes. She learns quickly that nothing in this world is as she left it. A dangerous blight (climate change, anyone) has ravaged the lands. The animals she used to sing to and frolic with have evolved into monstrous creatures. 

In this new world, she is constantly in danger from the forest creatures and from the new Evil Queen. She has to stay a step ahead while also trying to figure out how she can become the Seasonkeeper and save their world. 

I really enjoyed this retelling. It gave me a bit of hope in this dark week. 

Recommended! 

I received this eARC via #netgalley and @stmartinspress. All thoughts are mine alone. 

#ya #youngadultbooks #youngadultfantasy #yafantasy #thewildestthings #andreahannah
#bookreview #bookrecs #bookstagram 
Jane and Dan at the End of the World by Colleen Oakley

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adventurous funny mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

✨ARC Review✨

Colleen Oakley has such a knack for clever, but relatable writing. This is no exception to her rule. 

It’s Jane and Dan’s nineteenth anniversary and Jane has made a decision. They’re going out for an expensive meal at a Michelin-starred restaurant an hour and a half away from their home. They’re going to have their lovely dinner and then she’s going to tell Dan she wants a divorce. 

This is the plan; however, her anger and resentment towards Dan has her telling him she wants a divorce during the first course. Dan is reeling, but tells her they’re not getting a divorce. 

Then all hell breaks loose when a group of armed eco terrorists storm the restaurant. And why does this whole thing seem familiar to her? Oh no. Jane knows how this ends and it’s not good. 

So, now Dan’s trying to reconcile her asking for a divorce and they’re both trying to figure out how to call for help and/or escape this hostage situation.  

It’s funny, exciting, and ultimately relatable to most people in long term relationships. The book is told in third person and you do get insight into both Dan and Jane’s perspective. I’ll be honest. Jane was a bit of a pill for a lot of this book. I get it though. She’s in the middle of her life and her children and husband are central to her existence. She’s a failed writer in her mind. She’s in a rut and blaming Dan for her malaise. Like I said, it’s relatable. It reminds me of that meme that goes something like “I get on my own nerves- girl, you need to chill.”

Recommended! It’s a good, page turner of a book. I couldn’t wait to figure out exactly what was going on and whether Dan could convince Jane to not get a divorce if they make it out alive. 

I received an eARC of this book via #netgalley and @berkleypub. All thoughts are mine alone. 

#booksbooksbooks #contemporaryfiction #litfic #literaryfiction #janeanddanattheendoftheworld #colleenoakley 
Boys With Sharp Teeth by Jenni Howell

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dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

✨ALC Review✨

I love a good boarding school story and when you make it twisted? Even better. 

When townie Marin James finds her cousin’s body in a shallow creek on Huntsworth Academy’s grounds, she knows he was murdered. And she knows the names of the three students to blame. 

Marin becomes Jamie Vain (this is probably how it’s spelled, but remember, I listened to it), a transfer student whose tuition check is definitely going to bounce, so she has a limited time frame to find the murderers and prove they killed Sam. 

They turn out to be super easy to find. She’s assigned to the same set of dorm suites as they are. She even shares a bathroom and common area with Adrian Hargraves (Graves, if you will). Henry Wu and Baz round out our weird little clique. And they’re all fascinated by Jamie Vain. 

Marin/Jamie becomes part of the gang while she’s snooping for proof of Sam’s murder. She gets close to each of the three in different ways. The tension between Henry, Graves, and Jamie is palpable and not a good thing. What has she gotten herself into? And why doesn’t she care more about the potential consequences? 

This book is almost all from Jamie’s POV and honestly, it did get a little repetitive in her head. But if we laid our thoughts out on paper, I reckon they’d be fairly repetitive too. 

I don’t want to get too into the particulars of the story, but I’ll say it’s a good dark academia YA with paranormal elements. The solo narrator, @jenwrenpickens, did a fantastic job with the desperate inner voice of Jamie as well as her slight, southern accent. As a Southerner myself, I’m picky when it’s overdone. This was perfect! 

Recommended for lovers of this genre. 

I received an advance copy of the audiobook via #netgalley and @Macmillan.audio. All thoughts are mine alone. 

#ya #youngadult #youngadultbooks #darkacademia #boyswithsharpteeth #jennihowell #audiobooks #narrators #bookrecs #bookreview #bookstagram 
The Spy and I by Tiana Smith

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adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Real talk. I wanted to like this more than I actually did. I mean, it was okay- a decent read, but it was missing that oomph, that it factor, that thing that makes me giddy and/or heartbroken.

Dove Barkley is a corporate penetration detector. She creates cyber attacks for corporations to detect their vulnerability. Her older sister invites her out for dinner to one of their favorite restaurants which Dove agrees to go to after her magazine interview for a local Washington D.C. magazine featuring her in their 30 Under 30 issue. 

The interview with reporter, Sam, is a little interrogate-y, but she doesn’t notice because Sam is incredibly attractive. Right. Because women lose all sense of self when in a professional setting with a hot man. 🙄

At the restaurant she’s approached by an unknown man who clearly thinks she’s her sister, Madison. Suddenly armed men are in the restaurant and the unknown man is shot in the head. Dove takes the briefcase he had offered her and runs. Who just happens to pull up on a sexy motorcycle to whisk her away from danger? None other than Sam, the not so much a reporter. 

Turns out he’s a spy. Her sister is also a spy. And the CIA needs Dove to impersonate her sister for a meeting in Prague with a shady arms dealer in order to catch a big fish arms dealer. 

What follows are some spy capers and misadventures. A lot of forced proximity and what should be sexual tension. That part was a big miss for me. I didn’t see why Mendez (oh, that’s Sam’s real name) would be so into her so fast or vice versa actually. 

You know how I can tell I’m not super  into a book when I’m listening to the audiobook? I keep turning up the speed. I’m normally a 1.3-1.5x girlie dependent on the narrators. This one I ended up advancing until I finished it at 1.8x. My husband was like “are you listening to chipmunks?”

So, bottom line: if I used half stars, this would’ve been a 2.5, but I always round up. 😁

#booksbooksbooks #romancebooks #contemporaryromance #audiobooks #thespyandi #bookreview #bookstagram
Lips Like Sugar by Jess K. Hardy

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funny hopeful lighthearted 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? It's complicated

5.0

✨In our beloved romance world, our main characters are often in the 20’s and 30’s. As a woman firmly in my 50’s, it is refreshing to read about 50-year-old Mira and 53-year-old Cole finding each other later in life. That happens! 

Cole is the former drummer of rock band, The Makers, now running a recording studio in Seattle and getting in granddad time with baby Ruby. He travels to Montana to attend his bestie’s wedding. That would be Madigan from the first book in the series. Hi, Madigan and Ashley. 👋🏻

Mad asks him to stop at the local bakery, Glazed and Confused, to pick up tarts. Bakery owner Mira happens to be in the midst of a personal crisis since her  ex and his new wife are standing right in front of her. 

She sees gorgeous Cole walk in and immediately pleads with her eyes and announces this is her boyfriend. Cole, never one to turn down a beautiful face, goes along with it. Here begins a flirty friendship. Mira has a lot going on with her mom’s declining health, her teenage son, and managing the bakery. Cole offers her a welcome respite with every text, every conversation…every FaceTime sex session. 

I adore both of these characters and want nothing more than for them to spend the rest of their lives happily together. 

This book is sooo good! Highly recommend. Y’all need to get into this series by @jesskhardy_author. 

#booksbooksbooks #romancebooks #contemporaryromance #spicyromance #lipslikesugar #jesskhardy #bookrecs #bookreview #bookstagram 
Promise Me Sunshine by Cara Bastone

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emotional funny hopeful reflective fast-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

✨ARC Review✨

I am deeply, completely in love with Promise Me Sunshine. 

Does @carabastone know how to write the most deliciously perfect MMCs? She does. But does she also know how to write the most relatable and interesting FMCs? Hell yes, she does. 

Lenny is in the depths of soul-destroying grief after her best friend and almost-sister, Lou, has died. She’s taking temporary nanny jobs because she doesn’t have the emotional strength to commit to more than a couple of days at a time. She begins a weekend job caring for seven-year-old Ainsley (who is flippin’ adorable) where Ainsley’s uncle, Miles, is constantly hanging around. 

They have bit of a rough start, but after he saves Lenny from a street side confrontation, they start to develop a friendship. He has experience with deep grief and thinks he can help Lenny navigate hers. He’s right. 

Through the next days, weeks, and months, he helps Lenny check items off the list she and Lou had created for how to start living again. 

These quests allow Lenny and Miles to connect in such a core-deep way. Watching these two fall in love is an absolute pleasure. I cannot tell you how much I love Lenny and Miles and all the wonderful side characters. 

I give this book all the stars. I’m going to be thinking about this forever. I have no doubt. 

I received this eARC via #netgalley and @randomhouse and @thedialpress. All thoughts are my own. 

#booksbooksbooks #romancebooks #contemporaryromance #bookreview #bookrecs #bookstagram #promisemesunshine #carabastone 


The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon

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dark emotional informative mysterious sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Book Group Read📚

Our first book group read for 2025 was Frozen River and we all gave it 4-5 stars. 

Set in 1789, our MC is a midwife whose medical experience is called upon for other things when needed; such is the case when a man’s lifeless body is pulled from the frozen river. 

When she arrives she quickly identifies him as a local man recently accused of rape as well as identifying that the man was hanged before he was tossed in the river. 

We then proceed to learn the story of the midwife, her family, and her community as it all pertains to the murder, the rape, and their subsequent trials. 

I love the research that went into being able to write this story. I LOVED the MC, Matha Ballard. She’s a badass and her husband, Ephraim, is a real one. 

I listened to this one and it was riveting. I didn’t want to stop even to sleep. I did, of course, because I’m old and need my rest. 

#books #literaryfiction #historicalfiction #thefrozenriver #ariellawhon #bookrecs #bookreview  #bookstagram 
When We Had Forever by Shaylin Gandhi

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emotional tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Axes & O's by Kayla Grosse

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

4.0