Booknista

Damaged Like Us by Krista and Becca Ritchie is the first in their new series all about billionaires, bodyguards, family issues and fanatic paparazzi and fans. This book was so much fun! It tells the story of Maximoff Hale, son of the very famous Lily and Loren Hale. Maximoff Hale was immortalised by the world…

Damaged Like Us by Krista & Becca Ritchie Like Us #1 Publication Date: June 27, 2017 Genres: New Adult, Contemporary, Romance Purchase: Amazon | iBooks Don’t date your bodyguard. It was the one rule he had to break. Maximoff Hale is a force of nature. A ship unwilling to be steered. Headstrong, resilient, and wholly…

The Cyberlove series is one of my favourite series. Each book is better than the last. Mature Content features Beau Starr and TrashyZane, two different kinds of gay icons in their online universe. Beau is the good guy, very positive vibes and produces very clean content. Zane is much more open with his life, especially…

If you read Roan Parrish’s Middle of Somewhere series, you may remember young Daniel’s best friend Ginger. Tough and tattooed, she came out of the pages even in books that weren’t about her. Now she’s back as the star of Small Change. Small Change is interesting for a few reasons: Parrish’s previous books have been…gay. As in, from the…

Warning: Major spoilers!!! Explosive first season of Riverdale wraps up with bang! Omg! Did you watch this show? If you didn’t, you must correct that now! We all read the comics as kids, so to see our favourite malt drinking gang involved in a seedy, murder mystery is fan-frikin-tastic! What an amazing first season! Explosive is…

A raw story about grief, loss and addiction. The Fifteenth of June is a realistic depiction of what a single act of violence can do to a family. And it’s not pretty. The Fifteenth of June by Brent Jones, is evocative and very real. It’s not for everyone, but if you can handle it,  you’ll…

Here we go…the third book in the AMAZING Sarah J. Maas trilogy, A Court of Thorns and Roses. Wow. Just wow.

I do love Sarah J. Maas. I’ll inhale any book she writes. I was DYING for this book. DYING after I finished the last one.

It. Did. Not. Disappoint.

Feyre puts on a good act with Tamlin as she heads back to life in the Spring Court. She’s doing some spying to learn more about Hybern in addition to plotting some revenge on Tamlin. Her plan is to create a divide in the Spring Court, turn Tamlin’s people against him. She’s very impressive, don’t mess with Feyre.

War looks unavoidable.

And after totally throwing the Spring Court into chaos, she returns to Rhys. Allow me to sigh. I love him. He’s smart, funny, snarky, I imagine quite hot, and so completely in love with Feyre. Rhys decides he needs an alliance. He needs the other High Lords to band together to defeat Hybern. But, who does he trust? Tough call…. They’re an interesting bunch. Including Lucien’s father, the humiliated and vengeful Tamlin and a few other fancy Lords.

In the middle of this- we have Cassian and Nesta. Doing the I hate you, but not really dance. Note to Sarah J. Maas…please continue their storyline. Thank you. And, Elaine who is the mate of Lucien, but is not giving him any love or even conversation. Nesta and Elaine popped out of the cauldron as very different people. They have their own set of powers and haven’t embraced the whole fae thing yet.

I took a bit of a reading break, just super busy with work. And, this book reminded me of why I love to read. It was thrilling, sweet, with confident strong characters. It also actually surprised me at times (as in did not see that stuff coming), and the last battle scenes…epic!!!!

I had to pause and look away. It was too much at once. You know that feeling, when you want to read it, you need to know, but you’re full. You feel too much and have to stop just for a moment. Yup. A few of those feelings.

There was one part where I cried. Literally weeped. I couldn’t take it. It was so not what I wanted to happen. Sarah J. Maas surely wouldn’t do that, right? No spoiler from me, but read this book with a box of tissues nearby.

A give this a big A+. Read it now or save it for summer.

Amazon Goodreads Barnes and Noble

  Images/(2) Giphy

Kate Brenner is in her last semester of graduate school before getting her Master’s in Conducting. She is content to go on without any friends or family on her side. She just wants to graduate and move on. But then this jerk of a professor threatens to fail her.

In Solo, Kate is a stand-out conducting student who has been taken in as a mentee by the most prestigious conducting professor on campus—and perhaps in the country. She has been cut off by her father, a well-known U.S. Senator who has gained infamy with his bill to defund the arts. Because of this, she works extremely hard at multiple jobs to make ends meet and pay her bills on time. She is the definition of surviving. And Dr. Drew Markham’s threat to fail her (and his hate toward her in general) is the last thing she needs.

Everything is riding on her big semester project.

But then she gets terribly sick with the flu and nearly misses the deadline… during a snowstorm in the North Carolina mountains. Her car manages to make it to Dr. Markham’s house to drop off the project. But her car gets stuck at the end of his driveway, and she’s so ill that she falls asleep at the wheel while her car sits stuck in the snow. So Dr. Markham—Drew—brings her inside and cares for her during the snowstorm.

But wait, I thought he hated her?

Yeah, he did. But it was solely because she looked remarkably like his former fiancé! That’s all! Hate to love in the blink of an eye, once he gets to know her!

This is where I tell you that there are some spoilers ahead.

Okay, enough of the synopsis. I’m going to get into the meat of the story now. As those of you familiar with my reviews may already know, I have a thing for student-teacher romance stories. I also have a thing for hate-to-love romance stories. These are tropes that I’m into reading about, for no particular reason, and this book checks both of those boxes. It was light and fluffy, and I read it in about 36 hours. But here’s the thing—there were problems with this book. And that’s what I want to talk about now. Hence the spoiler warning.

First, what the heck is with Drew’s flip-flopping?

It’s one thing to say a love interest is kind of an idiot. But Drew Markham takes this to another level. First of all, who hates a person on sight just because she reminds you of your dead fiancé? (Hey, that’s one of those spoilers I was talking about.) That’s just immature. Death and grief are strange and terrible animals, but come on. No one in the music department has slapped any sense into him?

And then his flip-flopping at the end—he loves her and then he hates her and then he loves her again? It’s so exhausting, and doesn’t seem realistic to any man I’ve ever met. But! I can’t say I know any Doctors of Music (I guess?), so maybe I have been surveying the wrong sample size.

Second, and more importantly, there are big problems with the way mental health is handled in this book. BIG PROBLEMS.

Drew Markham’s fiancé committed suicide. (Oh, yeah, spoiler.) This is discussed throughout the book, but it’s never discussed in a way that is sympathetic, or like there is any sort of understanding to the nuances of depression and suicidal thoughts. It’s discussed in relation to blame, as in, people blaming other people for a person’s suicide. It’s discussed in a way that makes it seem like Drew’s fiancé’s suicide was inevitable—it was only a matter of time, anyway. It was discussed so cavalierly—in one scene near the end, a side character calls his fiancé a “crazy psycho bitch.” That was… terrible to read. As someone who has suffered from depression, who has had thoughts of suicide, this was triggering. I was actively cringing throughout the reading of those sections, and I left the book with a bad taste in my mouth. Mental health is not something to take lightly, ever. It is not something that can be blamed on others. Nothing is inevitable. And no one who suffers from depression is a crazy bitch. That isn’t how this works. That will never be how this works.

Solo gets a B with a HUGE caveat.

This book could trigger readers. I want that out there before I recommend this to anyone. It’s cute, and the main story is light and funny and hits the tropes I love. But book people out there—take care of yourselves.

You might also like:

Queer NA Romance: Abroad by Liz Jacobs

A Thrilling Sci-fi: Quanta by Lola Dodge

13 Reasons Why: The Only Thing You Need to Watch

Insight (The Community #1) by Santino Hassell

Goodbye Paradise (Hello Goodbye #1) by Sarina Bowe...

Hard Wired (Cyberlove #3) by Megan Erickson & ...

An Interview with Eliza Green

Feeder by Eliza Green

Black Hearts by Karina Halle

Preston’s Honor by Mia Sheridan

Booknista Book Reviews List

Little Things By Madison Street

Free Books March 27

The Journeyman by Michael Alan Peck

The Selection by Kiera Cass

.yuzo_related_post img{width:155px !important; height:145px !important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb{line-height:15px;background: !important;color:!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb:hover{background:#fcfcf4 !important; -webkit-transition: background 0.2s linear; -moz-transition: background 0.2s linear; -o-transition: background 0.2s linear; transition: background 0.2s linear;;color:!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb a{color:!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb a:hover{ color:}!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb:hover a{ color:!important;} .yuzo_related_post .yuzo_text {color:!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb:hover .yuzo_text {color:!important;} .yuzo_related_post .relatedthumb{ margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px; padding: 5px 5px 5px 5px; } jQuery(document).ready(function( $ ){ //jQuery('.yuzo_related_post').equalizer({ overflow : 'relatedthumb' }); jQuery('.yuzo_related_post .yuzo_wraps').equalizer({ columns : '> div' }); })

GUYS!! KRISTA AND BECCA RITCHIE ANNOUNCED DETAILS ABOUT THE FIRST BOOK IN THEIR NEW SERIES ‘LIKE US’ AND IT IS GLORIOUS! The first book in the series is called Damaged Like Us. It tell’s the story of Maximoff Hale, son of Lily and Loren Hale. (Who you may recognize if you’ve read the Addicted Series,…

THIS BOOK! THIS BOOK IS SO CUTE! Nyrae Dawn wrote a book I finished in one night because it was so sweet, hot and had everything I look for in a book: complicated relationships between friends and families. It’s always great to read about a couple, but when family and friends are involved it makes…

Hello book besties! Wow…it has been awhile since I’ve come up for air to post.  But, when the fabulous Judith from Binge on Books sent me the info on this new queer romance book, I couldn’t pass it up!! What brought me out of early hibernation? A coming of age story. Of course. Love them! Abroad…

Omg!!! I love this series! For me, Quanta is the starting point because it’s when she meets Tair and escapes! Quanta is book #2 of The Shadow Ravens  series. Even though Cipher is really good, this is where the story really gets going for me. Quanta (The Shadow Ravens Series, Book #2) Just because Quanta can…

Diving Deep is book #2 of Tani Hane’s UK Crush series and it takes our protagonist from scared, sheltered girl, to sexy, empowered woman. The difference between Living in the Shallows and Diving Deep is huge, but in a good way. It’s also very, very sexy! Diving Deep (Book #2, UK Crush Series) Learning to live can be…

I am both excited and nervous to write about 13 Reasons Why. Yes, I feel a little nervous because I worry I can’t give 13 Reasons Why, the write-up it deserves. Never in my thirty-something years, have I watched a show as powerful and important as this, and I feel like my humble writing skills…

Insight has so much! Psychics! Murder! This was an intense and thrilling read from Santino Hassell.  Filled with romance and mystery and magic! Nate is born from a family of psychics who have powers which range from absolutely incredible to slightly useful. Nate is an empath which means he can feel other people’s emotions by…

In the season 7 finale “The First Day Of The Rest Of Your Life”, The Walking Dead delivered an episode worthy of their long-standing reputation. I mentioned before, that despite maintaining ridiculously high ratings (though low for TWD), The Walking Dead had passed their prime. But last night, after watching “The First Day Of The…

Goodbye Paradise was such a wonderfully sweet and steamy book from the very talented Sarina Bowen, the first in the Hello Goodbye series. It tells the story of Caleb and Josh, boys who have grown up together in this polygamist religious compound. Both boys are treated differently by the elders, and when one of them…