Bride by Ali Hazelwood Review

February 26, 2024February 29, 2024 fangirlfury1 Comment

Summary (from the publisher): A dangerous alliance between a Vampyre bride and an Alpha Werewolf becomes a love deep enough to sink your teeth into in this new paranormal romance.

Misery Lark, the only daughter of the most powerful Vampyre councilman of the Southwest, is an outcast—again. Her days of living in anonymity among the Humans are over: she has been called upon to uphold a historic peacekeeping alliance between the Vampyres and their mortal enemies, the Weres, and she sees little choice but to surrender herself in the exchange—again…

Weres are ruthless and unpredictable, and their Alpha, Lowe Moreland, is no exception. He rules his pack with absolute authority, but not without justice. And, unlike the Vampyre Council, not without feeling. It’s clear from the way he tracks Misery’s every movement that he doesn’t trust her. If only he knew how right he was….

Because Misery has her own reasons to agree to this marriage of convenience, reasons that have nothing to do with politics or alliances, and everything to do with the only thing she’s ever cared about. And she is willing to do whatever it takes to get back what’s hers, even if it means a life alone in Were territory…alone with the wolf.

My Rating: 4/5 Stars

My Thoughts:

I LOVE most of Ali Hazelwood’s work and while I am not a paranormal romance reader, if it has Ali Hazelwood’s name on it, I am there.

Enter her first paranormal romance, Bride, following vampire, Misery, the daughter of the most powerful Vampyre councilman. Misery has literally been using as collateral in the human world before, and while doing so brought her best friend in the world, Serena, she is done being the sacrificial figure and is done with the Vampyre world, including its on-going conflict with the Were (werewolves)….until she’s forced to marry the new heard of the Weres, Lowe. Misery is ready to put her foot down, but Lowe is involved in a matter very close to her heart and is willing to be married to him for a year to help her own investigation.

I know NOTHING about vampires – I was not and have never been a Twilight girlie in middle school – or werewolves (iykyk what word I was introduced to in this book…), but Ali Hazelwood made this word very accessible. I appreciated this especially as a SJM and Rebecca Yarros kind of fantasy reader. I liked Ali Hazelwood’s interpretation of the lifestyles of vampires & werewolves. You honestly don’t need to know anything going into this book & I highly recommend doing so because there was so much mystery. While a tad predictable, I did love the twists.

Fangirl Down by Tessa Bailey Review

February 21, 2024March 2, 2024 fangirlfury1 Comment

Summary (from the publisher):
9780063308367

Wells Whitaker was once golf’s hottest rising star, but lately, all he has to show for his “promising” career is a killer hangover, a collection of broken clubs, and one remaining supporter. No matter how bad he plays, the beautiful, sunny redhead is always on the sidelines. He curses, she cheers. He scowls, she smiles. But when Wells quits in a blaze of glory and his fangirl finally goes home, he knows he made the greatest mistake of his life.

Josephine Doyle believed in the gorgeous, grumpy golfer, even when he didn’t believe in himself. Yet after he throws in the towel, she begins to wonder if her faith was misplaced. Then a determined Wells shows up at her door with a wild proposal: be his new caddy, help him turn his game around, and split the prize money. And considering Josephine’s professional and personal life is in shambles, she could really use the cash…

As they travel together, spending days on the green and nights in neighboring hotel rooms, sparks fly. Before long, they’re inseparable, Wells starts winning again, and Josephine is surprised to find a sweet, thoughtful guy underneath his gruff, growly exterior. This hot man wants to brush her hair, feed her snacks, and take bubble baths together? Is this real life? But Wells is technically her boss and an athlete falling for his fangirl would be ridiculous… right?

My Rating: 5/5 Stars

My Thoughts:

We are in a sports romance surge right now, and Tessa Bailey’s latest book, Fangirl Down, got my attention for its golf premise. I’m admittedly not the biggest Tessa Bailey reader, as previously, I’d only read Fix Her Up and didn’t finish the companion novel, Love Her or Lose Her, disliking the male protagonists in both. I know her work receives a lot of love in the romance book community, so I decided to give her work another chance & wow, I am so happy that I did because Fangirl Down is one of my favorite books of 2024 so far!

Fangirl Down follows Josephine, golf pro shop owner and mega fangirl of the pro player, Wells Whitaker. After another poor performance from Wells, which subsequently includes ripping Josephine’s “Wells’s Belle” sign, he goes to visit Josephine, only to find out that her shop has been destroyed by a hurricane, and she doesn’t exactly have the funds to repair it due to her medical expenses living with diabetes. Wells asks Josephine to become his caddie, and the two become the biggest stars on the pro circuit, with tons of chemistry building between them throughout.

House of Flame & Shadow by Sarah J. Maas Review

February 19, 2024February 19, 2024 fangirlfury4 Comments

It’s time for one of my favorite posts to write: a ramble review/thoughts collection of the latest Sarah J. Maas book! I finished the third book in the Crescent City series, House of Flame and Shadow, last weekend, and I have spent some time taking in reviews – I recommend checking out The Bookish Life of Jess and Tori’s podcast episode and Jared and Lindsey’s POV reaction video. It took me about a week to finish House of Flame and Shadow, reading it from Saturday to Saturday – I thought I would take longer, as I had been reading anywhere from 50-100 pages a day, but I ended up devouring the last 200 pages in my final sitting. My post will contain spoilers for the Crescent City and A Court of Thorns and Roses series.

Before spoilers, you should know that House of Flame and Shadow (HOFAS) is definitely a favorite book of the year. As of right now, it’s the best book I’ve read so far in 2024, even though SJM’s books are so different from what I normally read (with maybe the exception of Fourth Wing, but there’s still something so distinct about SJM’s work from other romantasy) and they’re just always five out of five stars for me because I just love the reading experience so much. My spoiler thoughts are beginning right below the picture of the Crescent City series.

The Catch by Amy Lea Review

February 12, 2024February 10, 2024 fangirlfury1 Comment

Summary (from the publisher):

814mjtL6gPL._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_ A grumpy lobster fisherman tosses a fashion influencer’s impeccably curated life overboard in the next romantic comedy from international bestselling author Amy Lea.

In a last-ditch effort to rescue her brand from the brink of irrelevance, Boston fashion influencer Melanie Karlsen finds herself in a rural fishing village on the east coast of Canada. The only thing scarier than nature itself? The burly and bearded bed-and-breakfast owner and fisherman, Evan Whaler—who single-handedly disproves the theory that Canadians are “nice.”

After a boating accident lands Evan unconscious in the hospital, Mel is mistaken for his fiancée by his welcoming yet quirky family, who are embroiled in a long-standing feud over the B&B. In a bold attempt to mend family fences, Mel agrees to fake their engagement for one week in exchange for Evan’s help with her social media content.

Amid long hikes and campfire chats, reeling in their budding feelings for each other proves more difficult by the day. But is Mel willing to sacrifice her picture-perfect life in the city for a chance at a true, unfiltered love in the wild?

My Rating: 4/5 Stars

My Thoughts:

I’ve really enjoyed all of Amy Lea’s books, such as Woke Up Like This (one of my FAVORITE YA reads of 2023) and her first two books in The Influencer series, Set on You and Exes and O’s. The Catch is the third & final book in The Influencer series, following fashion influencer Melanie, who finds herself stuck in a small fishing village in Canada with a grumpy inn owner. Need I say more about this one?

The Catch was a really fun rom-com that has so many of the tropes readers love: small town, fake dating, grumpy sunshine with a touch of enemies to lovers. I knew going on into The Catch that there was going to be a grumpy sunshine romance, but I did not know that it would also fake dating, which I love! Blame it on the fact that I don’t need to know anything going into Amy Lea’s books since they’re must-reads for me. The female lead, Melanie, is supposed to be at a luxurious Nova Scotia resort but due to a mistake in booking, she is left to book the only Airbnb left during fishing season at an inn that needs a lot of work, run by Evan and his family. There’s a lot of funny moments throughout, since Melanie isn’t exactly an outdoors girlie and has to acclimate to the bugs and nature in the small town. I will gladly exchange a bug or two to eat the poutine her and Evan eat after going on a hike.

January 2024 Wrap Up

February 5, 2024February 3, 2024 fangirlfuryLeave a comment

I read 12 books and 5 novella in January – I also feel weird about counting novellas in my total book count, but I’m all about not focusing on the numbers when it comes to reading stats this year. This was a pretty solid reading month! There’s one duology that I think could come up as some of my favorite books of 2024, but there’s not really any books from my January reading that have me screaming from the rooftops. February will probably be a different story just based on my first read of the month and what I’m currently reading, Shark Heart by Emily Habeck and House of Flame and Shadow respectively.

January Reads:

My FAVORITE of the month was definitely Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross. This is such a good YA fantasy duology and liked that it was a pretty simple fantasy world to understand.

I also really enjoyed Meet the Benedettos, Welcome Home, Caroline Kline (out in April), and The Wishing Game. Meet the Benedettos is one of my new favorite Pride and Prejudicie retellings – it’s right up there with Curtis Sittenfeld’s Eligible for me and has a similar vibe – following a Kardashian-esque family in California. Welcome Home, Caroline is a love letter to the Jersey shore (specifically the area I live in). I read The Wishing Game for a book club and it was a very wholesome story (definitely with some somber aspects though) about a children’s book author who invites four fans to his island based on the book to win the manuscript of his unpublished work. Last Call at the Local by Sarah Grunder Ruiz is probably my new favorite in her Love, Lists, and Fancy Ships series, as this installment is set in one of my favorite places, Ireland, and follows a musician who helps a pub owner revitalize his bar. There was unique and great mental health representation in both leads.

I finally read Colleen Hoover’s Maybe Someday series and have such mixed feelings about it, which is pretty typical for me when it comes to Colleen Hoover’s books. I liked the start of Maybe Someday, but then I just wanted it to end in its last hundred pages due to the usual third act break up aspect. I then read the sequel Maybe Now and LOVED getting Maggie’s perspectives and basically wanted nothing else except for her storyline. I read the novella, Maybe Not, following Ridge’s roommates before and as Sydney moves in with them, and it brought me back to the Slammed days where Point of Retreat was basically a repeat of the first story except from different characters’ perspectives.

I still have to red the last two novellas in the Improbable Meet Cute Collection, but Christina Lauren and Abby Jimenez’s have been my favorites of the collection so far. I also liked the quirkiness of Sally Thorne’s novella.