Category Archives: Bout of Books 25

2019 Book #30 – My Favorite Half-Night Stand by Christina Lauren

Posted in 2019, Book reviews, Bookish 2019 Reading Challenge: 52 Ways to Kill Your TBR, Bout of Books 25, Contemporary romance, Fiction, Reading Challenges, Romance, Women's fiction by

51dnsu+ESALTitle: My Favorite Half-Night Stand
Author: Christina Lauren
Date finished: 5/20/19
Genre: Contemporary romance, women’s fiction
Publisher: Gallery Books
Publication Date: December 4, 2018
Pages in book: 385
Stand alone or series: Stand alone
Where I got the book from: NetGalley
NOTE: I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affected my opinion of the book, or the content of my review.

Blurb from the cover:

Millie Morris has always been one of the guys. A UC Santa Barbara professor, she’s a female-serial-killer expert who’s quick with a deflection joke and terrible at getting personal. And she, just like her four best guy friends and fellow professors, is perma-single.

So when a routine university function turns into a black tie gala, Mille and her circle make a pact that they’ll join an online dating service to find plus-ones for the event. There’s only one hitch: after making the pact, Millie and one of the guys, Reid Campbell, secretly spend the sexiest half-night of their lives together, but mutually decide the friendship would be better off strictly platonic.

But online dating isn’t for the faint of heart. While the guys are inundated with quality matches and potential dates, Millie’s first profile attempt garners nothing but dick pics and creepers. Enter “Catherine”—Millie’s fictional profile persona, in whose make-believe shoes she can be more vulnerable than she’s ever been in person. Soon “Catherine” and Reid strike up a digital pen-pal-ship…but Millie can’t resist temptation in real life, either. Soon, Millie will have to face her worst fear—intimacy—or risk losing her best friend, forever.

Perfect for fans of Roxanne and She’s the Man, Christina Lauren’s latest romantic comedy is full of mistaken identities, hijinks, and a classic love story with a modern twist. Funny and fresh, you’ll want to swipe right on My Favorite Half-Night Stand.

My rating: 4.0 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review. I read this during Bout of Books 25 but I also read this as part of my Bookish 2019 Reading Challenge: 52 Ways to Kill Your TBR checking off line #16 – a book by two or more authors.

I’ve loved the last couple novels I’ve read by Christina Lauren (technically a pen name for two authors writing together) and I had been approved to read this title last year but ran out of time. This book had Lauren’s signature humor – I laughed out loud and was still struck by the emotions evident within the story lines and between the characters. This wasn’t my favorite of the plot lines from what I’ve read of Lauren’s books (Millie was a little dishonest for me) but I still really enjoyed it. I loved Reid’s character, and I loved how well he and Millie interacted with each other and how their relationship and chemistry were so intense. Their group of friends were so funny too and the antics they got into were immensely entertaining. I always love how much joy I get out of reading Lauren’s books – they are light and easy to read and they lighten the burden on me that at times is reality. I’d definitely recommend this book, as well as any of the other ones I’ve read by this author so far!

Link to author website

Click on the cover to go to the book’s Amazon page

Bout of Books 25 Update – Day 7 & Wrap Up

Posted in 2019, Bout of Books 25, For the love of books, Reading Challenges by

oJKtz8s

So for one of my goals this year to help me focus more on reading and having concentrated time for reading, I decided to participate in two of the three Bout of Books reading challenges / read-a-thons this year! This was the second one for this year, with the first being in January. I was actually super successful over the last week with setting aside time for reading and I was able to get a lot done!

First let’s do my Day 7 (Sunday) update on reading.

Update

Sunday

Time spent reading: (Approximately) 3 hours
Number of pages I’ve read today: 212 pages
Total number of pages I’ve read: 1,375 pages
Books read: Continued reading My Favorite Half-Night Stand
Challenges: I did not do the challenge post for today

And now let’s look at how I fared for my overall Bout of Books 25 wrap up:

Time Devoted to Reading

I plan to read at least 1.5 hours each day during the week, with hopefully additional hours on Saturday and Sunday. Monday I’ll be at the spa with my Mom for Mother’s Day but hopefully can find time to read during the day while we’re there.
I met the daily reading goal 5 out of the 7 days. Tuesday I had to work too late and then Friday I had a bunch of other things I was getting done plus dinner out with family! I read extra some of the other days though so I made up for it. Overall I read over 20 hours for the challenge!

My Goals

My goals for this read-a-thon are that I’d like to participate in as much as I can: the daily posts plus reading every day. I’d really like to just focus on getting back into reading. My traditional busy season at work goes from January to April and it was a killer this year. I gave up on reading for April since all I was doing was making myself more tired. I’ve just recently picked up reading again and it’s been going well but I need to get back on board with my reading schedule in a big way.

I was able to read every day! Which was a big deal for me – I didn’t read hardly anything in April. I only participated in one of the daily challenges but I did that so I could concentrate more on reading! 

Books to Read

  • Read The Bride Test by Helen Hoang Finished and reviewed!
  • Read The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren Finished and reviewed!
  • Read Next Girl to Die by Dea Poirier Finished and reviewed! 
  • Read a book for my Bookish Reading Challenge Started and got almost all the way through – review to come soon for My Favorite Half-Night Stand by Christina Lauren
  • Read The Suspect by Fiona Burton Did not get to

 

Overall I thought I did super well with this challenge and made a lot of time for reading! I’m looking forward to participating in a Bookish Bingo challenge next month and hopefully get lots more reading done!

Bout of Books 25 Update – Day 6

Posted in 2019, Bout of Books 25, For the love of books, Reading Challenges by

oJKtz8s

Posting this a day late since we were too busy having tons of fun this weekend! Saturday was goal day so I got a lot of reading done and it was great! It was the perfect relaxing day spent with my Mom and also dinner with the family. So anyways my Saturday’s progress is below:

Update

Saturday

Time spent reading: (Approximately) 7 hours
Number of pages I’ve read today: 372 pages
Total number of pages I’ve read: 1,163 pages
Books read: Continued reading Next Girl to Die and started My Favorite Half-Night Stand
Challenges: I did not participate in the challenge for yesterday – I focused on reading for the day!

Stay tuned for continued progress made in my next post on my Sunday update!!

Bout of Books 25 Update – Day 5

Posted in 2019, Bout of Books 25, Reading Challenges by

oJKtz8s

Yesterday I read a little in the afternoon while getting my car serviced but we went out to dinner with family so I didn’t get to read much at night. So anyways my Friday’s progress is below:

Update

Friday

Time spent reading: (Approximately) 1 hour
Number of pages I’ve read today: 55 pages
Total number of pages I’ve read: 791 pages
Books read: Continued reading Next Girl to Die
Challenges: I did not participate in the challenge for yesterday – the day just flew by and there wasn’t enough time

Stay tuned for continued progress made in tomorrow’s post on my Saturday update!!

2019 Book #29 – Next Girl to Die by Dea Poirier

Posted in 2019, Book reviews, Bout of Books 25, Fiction, Mystery, Reading Challenges, Suspense by

41OqgV4QuzL._SX331_BO1,204,203,200_Title: Next Girl to Die
Author: Dea Poirier
Date finished: 5/18/19
Genre: Thriller/suspense, mystery
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Publication Date: May 1, 2019
Pages in book: 320
Stand alone or series: #1 in The Calderwood Cases series
Where I got the book from: NetGalley
NOTE: I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affected my opinion of the book, or the content of my review.

Blurb from the cover:

Solving the case will avenge her sister—unless the killer finds her first.

It’s been fifteen years since Claire Calderwood’s sister, Rachel, was brutally murdered in their small hometown in Maine. Claire has finally carved out a life for herself as a homicide detective in Detroit, but the past comes calling when the local police back home ask for her help with a murder eerily similar to Rachel’s.

Still haunted by Rachel’s cold case, Claire returns home, hoping to solve the crime and finally put her grief to rest. As she starts investigating, the last thing she needs is tenacious journalist Noah Washington asking questions she’s not ready to answer. But like her, Noah won’t give up until he finds the truth—and Claire reluctantly finds herself relying on him more and more when disturbing new details about Rachel’s death come to light.

When the killer strikes once again, Claire knows he’s not done. Now he’s set his sights on Claire, who will have to find the courage she needs to survive a deadly confrontation years in the making.

My rating: 3.25 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review.

I think I ended up requesting this book mostly based on the cover (which looks great). I don’t usually love novels about a cop who is working to solve a crime, particularly one that is looking to set up for a series all about that same cop. So I did like this book and enjoyed it, but it wasn’t quite right for me – I’m just not interested in this particular style of novel. Claire as a character wasn’t my favorite either, she was a bit too gloomy for me. There were definitely some good parts to the novel and also there were a few very good plot twists. The ending felt pretty underwhelming for me, there weren’t any great twists at the end or anything too exciting. I still liked the book though and thought it was a good read, I think that the genre it’s in just isn’t for me. If you liked series like Rizzoli & Isles or other series about a cop who solves crimes, I’d check this one out!

Link to author website

Click on the cover to go to the book’s Amazon page

2019 Book #28 – The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren

Posted in 2019, Book reviews, Bout of Books 25, Contemporary romance, Fiction, For the love of books, Reading Challenges, Romance, Women's fiction by

519MFfKuuAL._SX320_BO1,204,203,200_Title: The Unhoneymooners
Author: Christina Lauren
Date finished: 5/16/19
Genre: Contemporary romance, women’s fiction
Publisher: Gallery Books
Publication Date: May 14, 2019
Pages in book: 416
Stand alone or series: Stand alone
Where I got the book from: NetGalley
NOTE: I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affected my opinion of the book, or the content of my review.

Blurb from the cover:

For two sworn enemies, anything can happen during the Hawaiian trip of a lifetime—maybe even love—in this romantic comedy from the New York Times bestselling authors of Roomies.

Olive Torres is used to being the unlucky twin: from inexplicable mishaps to a recent layoff, her life seems to be almost comically jinxed. By contrast, her sister Ami is an eternal champion . . . she even managed to finance her entire wedding by winning a slew of contests. Unfortunately for Olive, the only thing worse than constant bad luck is having to spend the wedding day with the best man (and her nemesis), Ethan Thomas.

Olive braces herself for wedding hell, determined to put on a brave face, but when the entire wedding party gets food poisoning, the only people who aren’t affected are Olive and Ethan. Suddenly there’s a free honeymoon up for grabs, and Olive will be damned if Ethan gets to enjoy paradise solo.

Agreeing to a temporary truce, the pair head for Maui. After all, ten days of bliss is worth having to assume the role of loving newlyweds, right? But the weird thing is . . . Olive doesn’t mind playing pretend. In fact, the more she pretends to be the luckiest woman alive, the more it feels like she might be.

My rating: 4.0 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review.

I’ve loved the last couple novels I’ve read by Christina Lauren (technically a pen name for two authors writing together). They’re books are addictive! The characters are always so engaging and find themselves in the funniest situations. The story lines really draw in the reader and engage them emotionally. I don’t want to put the book down but at the same time don’t want it to end! In this book, Olive and Ethan were both very interesting characters and were adorable once they figured out how they felt about each other. One thing I didn’t care for was that the story was told all from Olive’s point of view but then switched to Ethan’s point of view for the last chapter only. To be honest I was annoyed with Olive’s melodramatics mid-way through the book and thought it would’ve been nice to get someone else’s thoughts. And also it was hard to understand Ethan’s thoughts in the last chapter when its the reader’s first look into his brain. Overall though I really liked the book and I would recommend it!

Link to author website

Click on the cover to go to the book’s Amazon page

2019 Book #27 – The Bride Test by Helen Hoang

Posted in 2019, Book reviews, Bout of Books 25, Contemporary romance, Fiction, Reading Challenges, Romance by

5124XuOubiL._SX331_BO1,204,203,200_Title: The Bride Test
Author: Helen Hoang
Date finished: 5/13/19
Genre: Contemporary romance
Publisher: Berkley
Publication Date: May 7, 2019
Pages in book: 320
Stand alone or series: #2 in the Kiss Quotient series
Where I got the book from: Edelweiss
NOTE: I received this book for free from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affected my opinion of the book, or the content of my review.

Blurb from the cover:

Khai Diep has no feelings. Well, he feels irritation when people move his things or contentment when ledgers balance down to the penny, but not big, important emotions—like grief. And love. He thinks he’s defective. His family knows better—that his autism means he just processes emotions differently. When he steadfastly avoids relationships, his mother takes matters into her own hands and returns to Vietnam to find him the perfect bride.

As a mixed-race girl living in the slums of Ho Chi Minh City, Esme Tran has always felt out of place. When the opportunity arises to come to America and meet a potential husband, she can’t turn it down, thinking this could be the break her family needs. Seducing Khai, however, doesn’t go as planned. Esme’s lessons in love seem to be working…but only on herself. She’s hopelessly smitten with a man who’s convinced he can never return her affection.

With Esme’s time in the United States dwindling, Khai is forced to understand he’s been wrong all along. And there’s more than one way to love.

My rating: 4.75 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review.

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I have heard a lot about this author since her last release, The Kiss Quotient. I was excited to check out her most recent release and I’m so glad I got the chance to read this one! It’s so good, I read the whole thing in a day because I just couldn’t put it down! This book was so entertaining – Khai as a main character was super funny and endearing. I loved the chemistry between Esme and Khai too – it was emotional and intense, but at the same time so very sweet. I especially appreciated that the author wrote the story from both Khai and Esme’s points of view. I have found that reading pieces from both points of view allows readers to see into each character’s mindset and understand both of their character development better. I loved all the side characters too, Quan and Michael’s interactions with Khai were especially entertaining. And I didn’t even realize that Michael was the main character in the author’s first book, The Kiss Quotient, and now I can’t wait to read that one too! There were some kind of cheesy parts to this book, and the ending came together a little quickly for me. I thought that the author could’ve lingered in the resolution to the story a little but who knows. I really enjoyed this book, it was so good that I immediately wanted to start reading it again. I would recommend it!

Link to author website

Click on the cover to go to the book’s Amazon page

Bout of Books 25 Update – Day 4

Posted in 2019, Bout of Books 25, For the love of books, Reading Challenges by

oJKtz8s

This week is going well so far! I didn’t get to meet my hours goal every day so far but have been for the most part and am getting some good reading done. And looking forward to Goal Day tomorrow for lots of concentrated reading time! So anyways my Thursday’s progress is below:

Update

Thursday

Time spent reading: (Approximately) 1.5 hour
Number of pages I’ve read today: 142 pages
Total number of pages I’ve read: 736 pages
Books read: Finished The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren (Hopefully will have the review post up sometime this weekend)
Challenges: I participated in the challenge yesterday, If You Like This, Try That – it was fun!!

Stay tuned for continued progress made in tomorrow’s post on my Friday update!!

If You Like This, Try That – Bout of Books 25

Posted in 2019, Bout of Books 25, For the love of books, Reading Challenges by

oJKtz8s

Today’s challenge for Bout of Books 25 is “If You Like This, Try That.” This can be a really fun challenge (if I have enough time to put two thoughts together and type up the post). The organizers of Bout of Books 25 have provided the additional instruction for this challenge:

Put your recommendations hat on, #boutofbooks-ers. For this challenge, pick a book, author, or trope (or whatever!) from your TBR and suggest similar books.

Example 1: If you like Sarah McLean, try Lenora Bell.

Example 2: If you like a modern day, romantic twist on Greek mythology, try Staci Hart’s Hearts and Arrows series.

My examples that I’ve gathered are a mix of different categories and examples, hopefully it helps someone find a new and interesting read!

If you like Crazy Rich Asians, Try The Bride Test

5124XuOubiL._SX331_BO1,204,203,200_

If you liked First Frost or Glass Kitchen, Try The Simplicity of Cider

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If you like An Anonymous Girl, Try Believe Me

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If you like Fairy-tale retellings genre, Try the Winternight Trilogy

If you like a good revenge story, Try Jane Doe

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If you’ve ever had self-esteem issues or issues with being overweight, Try Good Luck With That

51Yf6XUZJZL._SX333_BO1,204,203,200_

If you like Wicked the Musical, Try All the Ever Afters

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If you liked those choose your own adventure novels as a kid, Try My Lady’s Choosing

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Bout of Books 25 Update – Day 3

Posted in 2019, Bout of Books 25, For the love of books, Reading Challenges by

oJKtz8s

Still trucking along. I got home from work late again last night so I meant to read only a short amount of time before bed but I should’ve known with reading the new Christina Lauren book that I wouldn’t be able to stop after a half hour. I LOVE the book I’m reading right now – this is the third book by Christina Lauren that I’ve read and they’re addictive. I enjoy them so much and I can’t put them down once I get into them. I also hate for them to end because I just want to keep enjoying the story! So anyways my Wednesday’s progress is below:

Update

Wednesday

Time spent reading: 2 hours
Number of pages I’ve read today: 212 pages
Total number of pages I’ve read: 594 pages
Books read: Continued reading The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren (I’m hoping I’ll be able to finish this one today! I’m enjoying this one so much I’m trying not to rush through it)
Challenges: I did not participate in yesterday’s challenge – Although this prompt was my idea from BoB 23 and I did do it then!

Capture

Stay tuned for continued progress made in tomorrow’s post on my Thursday update!!