Jerry Cooke
4.5⭐️ - A beautiful and affirming small town romance filled with emotional healing and tender representation.
Milo has spend over a decade staying as far away as possible from the memory of his parents and has no desire at all to go anywhere near his home town, but with his brother Nik starting up a brewery a couple of towns over and calling in his assistance, he's got no choice to leave his wandering behind. Prue has spend her entire life in this small town, giving up dreams of college and life experience in order to stay and help her father care for her mother whose Alzheimer's is starting to grow more pronounced. With this wandering soul and this homebody carer come into contact, it shakes up both of their worlds in ways that neither of them could have expected.
This was such a sweet and caring story, with so many wonderful relationships. Milo's love for his brother and sister, his gaggle of nieces and nephews, and his sister-in-law are beautiful to explore as the book goes on, as is his history with Prue's mum and his shared cultural history with her dad. It's just as lovely seeing Prue getting to know Milo's family, particularly his brother Nik and his wife Sef. There's so many touching moments of healing and care shared between them all. It was beautiful to see.
As typical of Hannah Bonam-Young's writing, the subjects of illness, trauma, and sexuality are tenderly dealt with and clearly well researched. The depiction of how Alzheimer's can affect a person in particular are written with a lot of care, as the discussion of Prue's virginity, and Nadia's addiction. There's so much empathy and kindness in how Bonam-Young writes about these topics in her book and also so much realism in how pain can exist alongside happiness and love.
4.5⭐️ - A beautiful and affirming small town romance filled with emotional healing and tender representation.
Milo has spend over a decade staying as far away as possible from the memory of his parents and has no desire at all to go anywhere near his home town, but with his brother Nik starting up a brewery a couple of towns over and calling in his assistance, he's got no choice to leave his wandering behind. Prue has spend her entire life in this small town, giving up dreams of college and life experience in order to stay and help her father care for her mother whose Alzheimer's is starting to grow more pronounced. With this wandering soul and this homebody carer come into contact, it shakes up both of their worlds in ways that neither of them could have expected.
This was such a sweet and caring story, with so many wonderful relationships. Milo's love for his brother and sister, his gaggle of nieces and nephews, and his sister-in-law are beautiful to explore as the book goes on, as is his history with Prue's mum and his shared cultural history with her dad. It's just as lovely seeing Prue getting to know Milo's family, particularly his brother Nik and his wife Sef. There's so many touching moments of healing and care shared between them all. It was beautiful to see.
As typical of Hannah Bonam-Young's writing, the subjects of illness, trauma, and sexuality are tenderly dealt with and clearly well researched. The depiction of how Alzheimer's can affect a person in particular are written with a lot of care, as the discussion of Prue's virginity, and Nadia's addiction. There's so much empathy and kindness in how Bonam-Young writes about these topics in her book and also so much realism in how pain can exist alongside happiness and love.
4.75⭐️ - A phenomenal dark and atmospheric fantasy with hidden past, found family, and complex machinations at play!
Lady Imogen Nel has spent her life as a ward of the king of a small land, sequestered in a high mountain keep, and has been expected to make frequent blood offerings to the king's god. She's also a siren. She keeps the to herself though, because the king happens to be a hunter of sirens (and proud of it) and so being small and unthreatening to survive is what she relies on. When a tall handsome king of a land across the water shows up at a ball, she finds it a pretty good excuse to get the hell out of there. As she finds her way to the new kingdom and has to content with new magics, political pressures, and creepy mage seers, she realises that fate may have far more in store for her than she original imagined.
This was an amazing story with fantastic world building. The romance was slow burn and complex, with a lot of warring feelings. There's not just a one-bedroll trope, but also a one-horse trope, and plenty of steamy forbidden love. I absolutely devoured this and I can't wait for the continuation of the story.
Thoroughly recommend!
4.75⭐️ - A phenomenal dark and atmospheric fantasy with hidden past, found family, and complex machinations at play!
Lady Imogen Nel has spent her life as a ward of the king of a small land, sequestered in a high mountain keep, and has been expected to make frequent blood offerings to the king's god. She's also a siren. She keeps the to herself though, because the king happens to be a hunter of sirens (and proud of it) and so being small and unthreatening to survive is what she relies on. When a tall handsome king of a land across the water shows up at a ball, she finds it a pretty good excuse to get the hell out of there. As she finds her way to the new kingdom and has to content with new magics, political pressures, and creepy mage seers, she realises that fate may have far more in store for her than she original imagined.
This was an amazing story with fantastic world building. The romance was slow burn and complex, with a lot of warring feelings. There's not just a one-bedroll trope, but also a one-horse trope, and plenty of steamy forbidden love. I absolutely devoured this and I can't wait for the continuation of the story.
Thoroughly recommend!
Added to listOwnedwith 9 books.
4⭐️ - A cute and cosy space adventure with an adorable kitty companion, that probably could have not been in space.
Scout and her brother Kieran are archivists scouring a barren universe for a way to save their home planet. As they travel between planets that are mysteriously devoid of life, despite signs of advanced technologies and futuristic alien architectures. When they get a ping from a cache of data that might be just what they're looking for, they scour the abandoned planets with their feline companion Pumpkin, always on the heels of violent agents of a for-profit outfit (which feels very Twister, now I think of it, hehe.)
This was an interesting story - not quite what I expected when I started reading it. The space elements are largely irrelevant to the story and it could almost have been told set on a single planet with a few tweaks, which is always a risk of debut sci-fi. The core of the story is a very 'human' one, with a central romance plot told through journal entries that was surprisingly poignant. It didn't end any way like I thought it would, but it was still very entertaining.
4⭐️ - A cute and cosy space adventure with an adorable kitty companion, that probably could have not been in space.
Scout and her brother Kieran are archivists scouring a barren universe for a way to save their home planet. As they travel between planets that are mysteriously devoid of life, despite signs of advanced technologies and futuristic alien architectures. When they get a ping from a cache of data that might be just what they're looking for, they scour the abandoned planets with their feline companion Pumpkin, always on the heels of violent agents of a for-profit outfit (which feels very Twister, now I think of it, hehe.)
This was an interesting story - not quite what I expected when I started reading it. The space elements are largely irrelevant to the story and it could almost have been told set on a single planet with a few tweaks, which is always a risk of debut sci-fi. The core of the story is a very 'human' one, with a central romance plot told through journal entries that was surprisingly poignant. It didn't end any way like I thought it would, but it was still very entertaining.
3.75⭐️ - Plots and poisoning about in this return to the world of Faebound
With Yearn returning to the lands she was exiled to in the hopes of averting war and Lettle under constant threat of assassination, the fae lands are more at risk than ever. As schemes are uncovered and mysteries solved, everyone's futures are held in the balance.
This was.. okay. I din't find it gripping and I wasn't massively compelled by the characters or plot, but it was interesting enough. I'll still be reading the next book, I think, if only to see what happens, but I can't say I'm particularly motivated.
3.75⭐️ - Plots and poisoning about in this return to the world of Faebound
With Yearn returning to the lands she was exiled to in the hopes of averting war and Lettle under constant threat of assassination, the fae lands are more at risk than ever. As schemes are uncovered and mysteries solved, everyone's futures are held in the balance.
This was.. okay. I din't find it gripping and I wasn't massively compelled by the characters or plot, but it was interesting enough. I'll still be reading the next book, I think, if only to see what happens, but I can't say I'm particularly motivated.