A Purple Life

I received an ARC from the author and this is my honest review

I was so excited for this book! I have loved Cash throughout the whole series and was so interested in a book from his perspective and this didn't disappoint.

This book did a great job making me feel like I really knew the characters - Mason especially, but even new side characters got their chance to shine.

I enjoyed the cozy plot and I really appreciated working through Mason's struggles with his job - it completely made sense and was something I hadn't really considered before for a vet. Anyway, this book was everything I could have hoped for and I'm excited to re-read it.

I received an ARC from the author and this is my honest review

Surprisingly I did not enjoy this book and I'm really sad about that because I was so excited to read it. Every piece of the premise is up my alley, but I just couldn't get into the overall execution. My rating of the book unfortunately dropped more with each section I read.

The set up was entertaining and I enjoyed getting to know the characters, but once the smut starts at 30% it doesn't even pause until 60%. And more importantly that section doesn't add basically anything to the character development or the plot and that made this boring for me to read and it made the romance unbelievable. And I know Reign can write great romance and great smut that advances the plot and the characters, but that barely happened here and I was not invested as a result.

I also found a fair bit of the language used in this book to be cringe-y, which has never been the case with me reading this author or subject matter before. And all the ‘drama' seemed to come out of nowhere and seemed manufactured just to have drama in the book without it being justified. So I don't know what happened here, but I'm sad I didn't enjoy this book and I hope it's just a me problem.

I received an ARC from the author and this is my honest review

I enjoyed this book, which is what a 3/5 rating means to me. The mystery intrigued me enough that I read it in one sitting. However, there was something about the very flowery prose that didn't sit well with me in this book for some reason. This very well could be a me issue, but I didn't fully buy these two characters. I liked them, but wasn't fully convinced which made the flowery language feel a bit awkward to me.

However, I still obviously enjoyed this book enough to finish it in a day and the reveal at the end was masterfully done. I guessed some of what would happen, but not all of it and was genuinely surprised and pleased with how the entire ending played out. This was an enjoyable read and I'm excited to see what Jesse writes next.

I received an ARC from the author and this is my honest review

I really enjoyed this book! The characters were well fleshed out, lovely and hilarious (even the side characters), which I very much appreciated. I also thought that there were great descriptions of complex emotions in this book that are usually difficult to articulate.

Chris and Remy were so cute. I rarely enjoy Second Chance romance, but I really liked this one and the fact that the book got its points across well and quickly about their relationship in the past and then focused on the present. I read this book in one sitting and I'll be thinking about these two for a while.

I received an ARC from the author and this is my honest review

I enjoyed this book, which is what a 3/5 rating means to me. I've also read a LOT of hockey romances and I've never seen a character quite like Riley and that is a compliment. I enjoyed reading about him and actually wish I had gotten even more from his perspective so I could know him more deeply.

I found the side characters funny and I was entertained by most of this book, but the main conflict felt a bit shallow for me. I never fully believed Evan's reason for disliking Riley - it was explained well in the book, but it never made a lot of sense to me. And because I didn't fully buy into it I got a little bored by the back and forth about it. However, I really enjoy Heard's writing and am looking forward to reading anything they want to publish.

I received an ARC from the author and this is my honest review

This was lovely! I've enjoyed all the books in this series, but this one is my favorite of the three. The writing was wonderful and the vivid ways of describing some emotions that I find hard to properly articulate was really beautiful.

I don't usually enjoy books that involve flashbacks, but I did here. I think the author used them really well to not only expand on all the character's relationships, but give them more depth as people. I also absolutely loved Mae - she's hilarious and exactly who I want to be when I'm older.

I'm excited for whatever Jesse decides to write next - in this series or another!

I received an ARC from the author and this is my honest review

I really enjoyed this book! It was laugh out loud funny with intriguing main and side characters. I also enjoyed the premise, which I have read several times before, but despite that, this iteration was never boring. A lot of books claim to be romcoms, but this one actually IS and it made me very excited to see what Dianna comes up with next.

I received an ARC from the author and this is my honest review

I enjoyed reading this book, which is what a 3/5 rating means to me. I found it a bit slow around the 30% mark, but I really enjoyed the characters so I'm glad I kept going. The exploration of grief was also well done.

I received an ARC from the author and this is my honest review

I really enjoyed this book! It hooked me from the beginning and was surprisingly funny and sweet for a dark romance. I loved both of the main characters - they won me over immediately.

I also enjoyed the plot. I thought I knew where the book was going, but the twist surprised me. I also usually find it difficult to read books with some of these content warnings because of my own personal history, but I think Rianne handled them well.

I had a great time with this book and I can't wait to see what Rianne writes next! (Also I would love to read more about Sage and Cameron in the future. They were very intriguing.)

I received an ARC from the author and this is my honest review

I enjoyed reading this new book by Dianna Roman (which is what a 3/5 rating means to me) and for about 75% of it I was planning to give it a solid 4/5 rating for going above and beyond and making me care deeply about these characters.

And then the third act happened - and it felt like I was reading a different book. We went from a slow, grounded, character-driven story to suddenly being in the middle of a mystery with enough drama to rival the Real Housewives.

I also found that the book skipped over some very important things and just told us about them in passing, such as the death at 89%. To a lesser extent I also felt this way about the growth of the main characters' relationship since we just mentioned their texts, but never saw them and glossed over weeks of them getting to know each other again.

I would love to see all of that stuff and we had the time - this book is only 250 pages long, but it was left out and the major information revealed in passing near the end of the book was the most frustrating example of that.

I still enjoyed this book, but it was just very different than where it started. However, I'll still happily read anything Dianna writes and look forward to everything they publish.

I received an ARC from the author and this is my honest review

I was impressed with this book. It might be my favorite one that Arden has written. It has an intriguing story that made me finish the book in one sitting. I really enjoyed exploring a lot more of the world from Book 1 and seeing more about how the society works. I had a lovely time and I'm excited to see if this series continues (I was picking up on the hints...) and also read anything Arden writes in the future.

I received an ARC from the author and this is my honest review

This book was solid and I enjoyed it. It was a good hockey romance debut and the smut was lovely. I just wish we had gotten to know the characters a little bit more.

It seemed like we would hear a bunch of their inner monologue, but when they were together (or even with Robbie's family) the narrative would often skip forward and summarize what they had talked about and how they connected and that's something I prefer to experience firsthand, especially between the main couple in a romance. Still, I had a lovely time and I'm excited to read the rest of this series.

I received an ARC from the author and this is my honest review

This is likely a me problem. I have absolutely loved so many of Jesse H. Reign's books, but this one wasn't for me. And surprisingly that's not for obvious reasons like the book's involvement with Shakespeare. No problem there. Love me some Shakespeare.

This book reminds me of Unbreak Me in writing style and the second chance romance/long time jump aspects - and Unbreak Me is the only Jesse H. Reign book I had to DNF because I couldn't get into it. So I think I'm going to chalk this up to not being for me and get excited to read Jesse's next book.

I received an ARC from the author and this is my honest review

This new entry from Dianna Roman was solid with a premise I haven't seen before. I enjoyed getting into Jesse's head after meeting him in The Gentleman and seeing the world through Murphy's eyes.

I received an ARC from the author and this is my honest review

This is the first Jesse H. Reign book I haven't loved and I'm sad about that. It might just be me, but it felt like most of this book was unnecessary inner monologue that didn't develop the story or provide relevant character development. Strangely, a lot of it felt like filler.

And sometimes that's fine and helps fill out a world you want to live in, but a lot of time was needed to complete the challenging task of making a sweet man and his horrible boss convincingly fall in love. In the end, it wasn't convincing to me and there was time to do it, but it was spent on unnecessary inner monologues. I still love this author and will read anything she writes, but this one didn't work for me sadly.

WARNING: I loved this book, but it was one of the darkest and most horrifying things I've ever read. Don't let that cute cover fool you and prepare yourself accordingly.

I received an ARC from the author and this is my honest review

Dianna Roman has done it again. I couldn't put this book down, which was surprising to me since after reading the premise I wasn't sure it would be for me given the office setting, but I was wrong. I guess Dianna can make any setting interesting.

I also absolutely fell in love with these characters. Cam was so sweet and Pete was fascinating given how he appears to others compared to how he sees himself. I also don't think I've read a book that has a protagonist with OCD before so I found his inner monologue and challenges eye opening.

Pete's family orchard made me yearn for my time living in that area of the country and Pete's family was a wonderful and ridiculous contrast to Cam's. I had a great time reading this book and finished it in almost one sitting (it would have been one if my sleep schedule hadn't gotten in the way ;) ). I can't wait to see what Dianna comes up with next.

I very much enjoyed this book, but wouldn't suggest starting to read it unless you already have the sequel handy. It ends in a steep cliffhanger, which is something I personally like to know going into a book so it doesn't leave me with an unsatisfied feeling.

I received an ARC from the author and this is my honest review

Like all other books from Jesse H. Reign, I devoured this in one sitting. It was a lovely read that contained fascinating characters and also really visceral and unique descriptions of anxiety that I could relate to. Before reading I was curious how the book would deal with the consent issues inherent in the premise, but Jesse handled it beautifully. The love story was unique and the spice was impeccable. I can't wait to read the next installment.

Warning (that I wish I knew before reading): This book ends in a cliffhanger and resolves no plot points.

WARNING: Do not start this book unless you have enough hours left in the day to finish it. It's that good.

I made the mistake of starting it before bed, went to sleep, awakened, immediately continued reading it and finished it in one sitting.

Axiom's End is a fascinating mix of genres, one of them being sci-fi, which is a genre I love. And this is the best sci-fi book I've read in a long time.

It has sensationally deep characters and a well thought out plot paired with unique ideas that made me question my own assumptions. And that's something I'm always excited to see in fiction.

I wish this book had been released when I was in school. The author, Gabriel Wyner, explains how language is learned and how we can twist the things our brains are good at in our favor.

In every chapter he introduces tricks that have allowed him to learn so many languages and the shocking thing is: I have never heard of 90% of them. Never.

This book blew my fucking mind and I can't recommend it highly enough to anyone that's interested in learning another language.

This book is PHENOMENAL!!! It completely lives up to its tagline: “the power of knowing what you don't know.” This book helped me analyze my beliefs, further acknowledge that I can and will be wrong in life and helped to caution me against common logical fallacies while helping me separate my emotional responses to information. All of this was presented with clear and fascinating examples of each topic. I'm in awe of this book and it's earned a spot on my list of favorite non-fiction books of all time.

I couldn't put this book down. I have read countless books on money in my life (it was necessary to learn how I could retire at 30) and at this point most money books bore me, but this is not one of those books.

Housel explains monetary concepts in a fascinatingly concise and simple way - some with examples that I've never heard before, such as explaining compound interest with an analogy of how ice ages come to be.

If you're looking for a quick, interesting and fresh take on money I can't recommend this book enough.

THIS BOOK MADE MY HEAD EXPLODE. Apparently I had an incorrect understanding of the US federal deficit and it's a misunderstanding that is perpetuated by our politicians on both sides of the aisle.

I was thinking that the federal government had to manage its spending like a household when it most assuredly does not since, unlike a household, it issues its own currency.

If you haven't read this book and are interested in how money works you should read it ASAP. I'm going to go stare into the abyss. My brain feels broken in the best of ways