Sarah

cute love story. I loved the first, I listened to the audio and Mary Jane Wells made the characters really come to life and the witty banter Courtney Milan that much more funny. This one had some witty banter but less. I enjoyed it but less than the first

I liked this one a little less than the first. I think it was the lack of characters. Though I did enjoy the protagonist the love interest I found too quiet? Grunt-y? Unwilling to try? I don’t know. I didn’t hate him but I found him annoying a lot. If he would just have had a good talk with her, the book could have been shorter…. But the last 1/4 I really enjoyed…. And this is when more people show up… so I guess I’m never living alone on an island with a monosyllable man.

I loved this series and reading Madison and James’ story was no different. I loved how sweet and tender James is with Madison. Madison was very unaware of her emotions for how emotional she is said to be, but honestly fair, when you have a lot of emotions they can get confusing.

A great escape when my world was a heavy and I longed for something light knowing everything was going to work out in the end.

I really loved this sweet story. It’s whimsical, kind, cozy and full of thought provoking lines and vignettes I will have to go back for. Mary Jane Wells narrated the English version and as she is my favorite audiobook narrator, that is how I found this book. She did a fantastic job but next time I will read it to be able to linger on to some of the authors thoughts for longer. I’ll also check out the other Paris bookshop stories.

I wish this was edited down more. I like the premise but there was so much in the book that felt completely unnecessary. A round of editing could have given it a crisper story. It also felt heavy so it was just a bit of a slog to get through. I would have DNFed but I was reading for a book club. It finally picked up about 75% of the way through. The end was abrupt, which was surprising considering how rambling the rest of the book was.

this one was harder for me to get into than the first. I still enjoyed it and am looking forward to the next! I think Julianna was harder for me to jive with. When Effie and she would converse about things they enjoy, mainly writing and the magazine, is when they really shone. As a reader I could feel their connection, which surprisingly doesn’t always happen in romance novels.

The romance in this book was terrible. It felt thrown together. And there was a lot in this book that didn't age well. However I kept on reading for the fantasy story line. I wanted to know how she found the key and that did not disappoint. It would have been so much better if the romance was cut or at least reduced, even if it was a much shorter book. I do wish I could see those painting with my own eyes...

This was my favorite of the series by far. I’m writing this review far after I read it (though the stars given are from just after I read it) but I remember liking the ghost. The love story was good. I found this story to be the best in the series.

I transferred my review from Goodreads.

It had some good examples that I will try to remember and move forward with. I know it's a workbook, but I hated answering the questions, l found it very tedious, probably my ADHD. I wouldn't have done it if it wasn't for my therapist.

Anyways, I mostly wanted to write a review because most of the reviews I saw mentioned the book is only for a housewife....did we read the same book?!? There is literally no examples given of a housewife and a handful given of women in the workplace and navigating dynamics there. Maybe this is really a review of reviews:

Look, as a Stay at Home Mom, I am sick of people -especially other women- shitting on housewives/SAHMs (or at least making comments like they are lesser). It's a lot of work. Valid, necessary, thankless work. And it in no way diminishes you as a human as worth does not come from your career. You do not know the reason a person decided to stay at home, a lot of times it's a financial reason because of the cost of child care, sometimes the person wants to be with their kids while they are young and have the capacity to do so, and honestly it doesn't matter. They are not lesser because they made the decision to stay home, just as another person is not lesser because they made a different decision. Can we please just encourage each other? If a book isn't for you, just say "It didn't feel relevant to my life".

Jumping in to what bothered me:

Jem was married to Madeline, doesn't know if she's dead or alive, offers to marry Agatha while falling in love with her brother? Wtf. And sure he marries Alice too, but it's in another time and he doesn't remember anything, so it doesn't bother me. But the book mentions briefly Jem and Agatha's honeymoon and being in bed so it wasn't just a legal marriage, but while he's in bed with her he wants her brother. Come on Jem. Come on, that's low.

And as I've seen people mention, the whole book he's super worried Kite is a madman. He even kills a kid. So he has the right of it. But then at the end when he remembers everything, he's cool with bringing the kids and raising them with Kite. WTF.

Also the implications on the future of him being back in time for the rest of his life... just kinda seems really selfish

Also, randomly throws out that in the first iteration of himself, he has a son that he wants to get back to. But it's like last minute- oh yeah kinda want to get back to my son. Where as with Lily it was his main goal. Seems bogus. And when he remembers everything and all his iterations come together in his memory, he morns lily, but not his son. Super bogus.

Maybe I just don't like Jem.

The writing was nice though

Transferred my review from Goodreads. Downgraded a star though because damn, Jem is a fucking asshole. And when I think about this book I have an Oily dark feeling so, demoted. The writing was probably amazing though and bumped it up a star for me originally.

I didn't know what to expect with this book but l've been getting up at 5am (only time I can) and walking for a hour each morning, it's done me wonders but sometimes I need a little motivating as 5am is a hard schedule to keep. So I decided to give this book a shot. It did not disappoint, even got me back to my 5am walk after a long slump. I did like how she mostly said "walking" instead of "hiking" it makes it so much more approachable (as someone who does not hike). I found the authors thoughts and connections very interesting and maybe not ones I would have made myself. I'll mull some more and add if I think of something in particular.

I found tremendous value in this book and wouldn't be surprised if I go back to it. I'm glad she thought to look into stories of women walkers in history, maybe this is obvious for people who read a lot of hiking/nature books, but to me it seems very niche and I wonder if it was a hard sell to the publisher, if it was I'm glad she got it and took the time to walk these routes and write a whole book about them. Her writing is engaging and fun to listen to, as if you're privileged to hear your friends meandering thoughts on a special interest. Hopefully that sounds good, I mean it as a great thing. I listened to the Audiobook and the narrator was great, even did nice accents. If you are even remotely interested in the topic I would highly suggest picking it up! I'm tired, so hopefully this made sense... now to go plan my own trauma walk...

It was hard for me to get through. It became a book I only read in waiting rooms with nothing else to do. It picked up half way and I did find the chapters in Mormonism amusing.

My biggest question though: When in New York, Fogg just misses the scheduled boat to Liverpool, so he finds a boat and asks the captain to take him to Liverpool.....But if you can have the boat take you anywhere, why not ask to go to London or at least a port in southern England, closer to London?! And the captain doesn't go for this and they settle on going to Bordeaux but on the ship Fogg convinces the shiphands to lock up the captain and take course for Liverpool. But they run out of coal and the engineer says they had enough to get to Bordeaux but not Liverpool. London is closer to Bordeaux so they may still have had to burn some beds for fuel but still seems like London or a southern port would have been a better bet still. The only reason I can think of is Verne wanted to include the very fast mail boat from Dublin to Liverpool and the whole ending with Fogg thinking he's late. Still bothersome to me. Let me know if there may be a more legitimate reason for Fogg to keep his Liverpool route.

My son loves to build things and once he saw a robotics club performance he hasn't stopped talking about it. I'm pretty handy but know nothing about robotics so l rented this book when I saw it on Libby. It was easy to follow and made me feel like I could accomplish making one of the robots in the book. My son is 4 though and impulse control is a bit low, so I may wait a bit until he's more ready, but will return to this book at that time!

I enjoyed this book, but probably my least favorite of Ashely Poston I’ve read. I just didn’t connect with the characters as much. How terrifying to have someone able to read your thoughts though.

I got this book in a Goodreads giveaway and I was so excited! I loved this series. The mysteries have been fun and I love the romance. In this book I loved seeing Ramsey melt for Electra. And , as always, wanting to protect her but he's also learned to ease up a bit and is less lecturing towards Ellie (he's also not in charge of this mission so that helped). At first I was disappointed about their wedding but got the declaration of wanting to stay married at the end (and another wedding). The mystery was good. And I was so happy when Toby recognized Ellie's voice in the dungeon. I cried when the whole family was united. I was so worried Electra's father's story line would be glossed over but it I was happy with how it finished. I think the book suffers from last book syndrome, where no matter how it finishes it's there's something about it that's disappointing... and I think it's mostly that it ended. I'll have to come back to this series when I forget the storylines.

A really good book to understand the USA. I cannot recommend enough. The writing felt choppy sometimes but that didn’t mean it wasn’t life changing. Honestly, it helped a lot in my internal battle on parenting (battling the “you should be harder” narrative instead of how I want to parent as a leader with tons of love and grace)

I found myself constantly counting pages, not a good sign. Nell and Cardross could have had a better ending. Her brother and his friend drunk where great. That's about it.

I really enjoyed this book! When I picked it up at the library I figured I wouldn't but I was pleasantly surprised. I would definitely read again. I like how the author built a world with beauty and love in death. The love story was sweet and (not having read any ghost romances before) different therefore captured my attention. I found myself wanting to play spades with Florence's family. Highly recommended the book

It just was a lot and it dragged on. Like it emotionally dragged me down with all the petty characters and not in a way that would make me rave that the author knew how to take you on an emotional journey but in a way that was just bad and left me in a fog. I gave it three stars (maybe 2.5 stars rounded up) because I did want to find out answers instead of abandoning the book. Don't think I'll read the next though.

The more I think about this book the more I dislike it- dropped a star

She got to be really exhausting and meddlesome and that plus a lot of unnecessary description made it drag on a bit

Loved it but

The portals drive me crazy still. Why not take the army you can't get to the battle through the portals if you are going to bring and army of Fae and wolves through them later?!?

Pretentious drivel.

I was so mad at seraphia when they were having sex dude (forgot his name) pulled away, very distressed and asked if this was real. She says yes all the while thinking that she's going to run right after. Wtf?!? I couldn't after that. 1 star plus one for Sarah's writing.

There was so much opportunity for meeting of minds between the hero and heroine and it just didn't happen. I kept reading, waiting for it to happen and it was just Insta-lust. I just wanted more from this Romance.