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BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS: THE BOOKSHELF EDITION

Hi there, bookworms. How’s your reading list for the month of October? Mine’s…. not really good. HAHA! 

I do have a reading list for the month of October but I’m not really in the mood for thrillers that’s why I went back to reading romance novels. I’ve read newly published books by Elle Kennedy and Emma Chase which are really awesome novels and afterwards, I tried reading Kennedy Fox’s books. 

I DISCOVERED ANOTHER GREAT DUO, GUYS! I read their completed series, BISHOP BROTHERS, which each can be read as standalone, by the way, and they are really good. I’m done with Jackson and Kiera’s story I’ll go and read the 1st and 2nd books. Hehehe! Anyway, I’ve been looking at my bookshelf right now (yup, I do that a lot) and I decided to share book recommendations from these paperbacks I have in my shelf, in no particular order, of course, classified by authors. HAHA!

Let’s start.

1. COLLEEN HOOVER

UGLY LOVE 

- this is my favorite NA book of all time. Tate and Miles’s story just sucked me in and now I’m stuck in reading NA novels. I probably read this for God knows how many times already. Ugly Love is my 1st book by CoHo as well. I bough it when during the #CTCinPH back in…2016? Yup. I wasn’t able to attend the signing because it was our finals then… So I just bought this book since it’s already available.

IT ENDS WITH US 

- this book talks about marriage and abusive relationships–yep. trigger warning–and definitely one of the most painful books I’ve read ever. I honestly fell in love with Ryle and I was just devastated. I really loved how CoHo wrote something as personal as this book.Like I’ve said before, all of my books has their own story as to how they landed in my shelf. This one has a different story. Quite fitting for a book as unique and personal as this one. I was so damn stressed at work. It was during our training, I guess? I’ve read that Colleen will be releasing another book (IEWU), so to relieve myself from stress, I started looking for this but it wasn’t available. For 10 consecutive working days, I visited National Bookstore for this book. I didn’t realize that the universe is telling me not to read this. My tears and broken heart is worth it, after all.

ALL YOUR PERFECTS

- Another book that talks about marriage. There were sensitive issues in this book so this post also comes with a trigger warning (eg. cheating and miscarriage). This is all about a perfect couple in an imperfect marriage. My mom and I bought this book. She gave it to me since she dragged my lazy ass on a rainy day to check whether the documents she’s been processing are already available. Haha!I love all her books but these are the top 3 books I would recommend.

2. EMMA CHASE

SUSTAINED

- yup, this is where I met my gorgeous, hot, amazing book husband, my one and only Jake Becker. A hot shot attorney who met Rory McQuaid, his brothers and sisters and their gorgeous aunt and turned his life upside down. Amazing read, ladies and gentlemen.That is the only book from Emma Chase in my shelf right now, thanks to my friend and my former workmate.I’m gonna hunt for the other 2 books wishing that they’d land into a second hand bookshop or I’ll probably just buy them online. :)

3. KATY EVANS

WHITE HOUSE DUET

- here’s President Matthew Hamilton and his gorgeous first lady, Charlotte Wells. Another rare book right here. One of my favorite Political Romance novel. I got this book from Amazon.

4. SARAH J. MAAS

A COURT OF THORNS AND ROSES SERIES

- I told myself to stay away from Sarah J. Maas’s books after what she’d done to my one and only Chaol Westfall, I, however, read the 1st book in this series before everything went down and I’m not giving it another chance. I just can’t say “no” to retellings. It’s Hades and Persephone, y'all. Something uncommon. So there you go.

5. MICHELLE HODKIN

MARA DYER TRILOGY

- A perfect Halloween read. Kidding but, not really. Also, we have the awesome book boyfriend, Noah Shaw. Have you read this, go and pick this up! Oooohh! BTW, I haven’t read THE SHAW CONFESSIONS yet, I’m waiting for the last book before I dig in.

6. TAMMARA WEBBER

EASY

- another rare find from a 2nd hand bookshop. If you happen to visit Baguio, please do visit Bookends. I’ll try to explore other 2nd hand bookshops and write an entry about them. Majority of my books are from here, you might as well check them out.

7. SYLVAIN REYNARD

GABRIEL’S INFERNO TRILOGY

- this book is… hot. A forbidden romance novel and it will make you fall in love even more. Professor Emerson is just… perfect.Another set of books I got from Bookends. I swear that bookshop is like a secret cave full of treasures, you’ll be able to find rare books and get them through great deals.

There you go. 

I might do a kindle edition soon but I need more time for that because there are tons of books on my kindle app that are really awesome. 

I’ll also write a blog post about the unread-books I have on my shelf. HAHA! Yep, I still have a few of them, I’m hoping I could cross them all out of my list tho. I need new books to read!

💜,JL

PS. 

FRAGILE LONGING

Cora Reilly

PUBLICATION DETAILS

Published September 28th, 2020

Kindle Edtion, 296 pages

SYNOPSIS

Sofia knows how it feels to be the consolation prize. Too young. Not blond. And definitely not an ice princess. Her sister is—was all those things. Perfection. Until she wasn’t. Until she ran off to be with the enemy and left her fiancé behind. Now Sofia is given to Danilo in her sister’s stead, knowing she’ll never be more than second best. Yet, she can’t stop longing for the love of the man she’s been crushing on even when he was still her sister’s.

Danilo is a man who’s used to getting what he wants. Power. Respect. The sought-after ice princess. Until another man steals his bride-to-be. Danilo knows that for a man in his position losing his woman can lead to a loss of face. Wounded pride. Thirst for revenge. A dangerous combination—one Danilo can’t leave behind, not even when a girl just as precious takes her sister’s place to placate him. Yet, she’s got one flaw: she’s not her sister. Unable to forget what he’s lost, Danilo might lose what he’s been given.

RATING

2.5/5

REVIEW

Fragile Longing is one my most anticipated books because:

Characters from the Chicago Outfit. Yes, the Outfit is my favorite and I love it when Cora Reilly writes new books about it.

Age-gap, arranged-marriage, Mafia Romance. I’m living for these tropes. Especially mafia romance novels.

Danilo and Sofia. I’m curious, y’all.

It’s probably me, not the book. I probably expected a lot because I’m disappointed. Alright, let’s talk about it. Fragile Longing is all about Sofia Mione (Dante Cavallaro’s niece) and Danilo Mancini (The Underboss in Indianapolis).

Sofia is an amazing woman. Though she’s not as fierce as the other characters in the series, she’s strong in her own ways. I still admire her for being such a sweetheart. She’s caring and understanding. I can’t honestly blame her for her insecurities since she was forced to grow up after she’s been promised to marry her sister’s ex-fiancé. I like Sofi, what I hate is her situation where she thinks she’s the consolation prize and she can’t be more that what Serafina is.

Danilo on the other hand is an asshole. Sorry not sorry. He’s one of the reasons why I didn’t like this book. Though he was able to redeem himself in the later part of the book, still it’s not enough. I hated how Danilo still fucks around despite being engaged to Sofia. Why not get that opportunity to get to know your fiance more (I didn’t mean it in a sexual way, of course) than fucking blondes all over your territory? Ok, enough of his negative traits. Danilo is a good brother and a good son. He cares a lot for Emma and his family.

Cora Reilly’s writing style improved, I observed it when I read Twisted Pride, Sweet Temptation and Bound by the Past. However, I didn’t like how this book was written. Rereading Serafina’s kidnapping and betrayal in different POVs is annoying and redundant. I know it plays a vital role in the story but I’ve read it in Twisted Pride, then in Bound in the Past, I don’t need to read it again in Fragile Longing. Now I’m expecting to read it again in Samuel and Emma’s book.

There should be a lot of opportunities in building and developing Sofia and Danilo’s character and their relationship as a couple if the first part of the book isn’t about Serafina’s kidnapping and betrayal, the aftermath of it, Danilo’s anger towards Remo Falcone and Sofia trying really hard to be her sister.

Anyway, they were able to redeem themselves in the later part of the book but it was… I dunno, rushed? The epilogue was cute tho.

I enjoyed reading the last few parts of the book, though. I loved how Danilo made up for all the times he treated Sofia badly. I liked The Koi fish named Takeda, the dog named Poof and the tabby cat. LOL!

I also love Anna Cavallaro’s character. She’s Valentina and Dante’s child through and through. She’s Sofia’s exact opposite and I love their friendship. Also curious about her relationship with Santino. I honestly want her to end up with Santino but the idea of her being with a politician is also good since we still don’t know what kind of man Clifford Clark is. Also curious about Leonas Cavallaro’s story. I wonder if he’ll end up with an outsider or someone from other Familias or from the Outfit? Ugh! I’m excited to read books about Dante and Valentina’s children. Can we have their book right freaking noooooow? Kidding! But not really. They are the only characters I’m looking forward to in the 2nd gen. And yes, Nevio and Greta’s respective stories, too.

I also love Emma. I love her relationship with her brother and the friendship she, Anna and Sofia have. Emma deserves the best and Samuel MUST give her the love she deserves.

So that’s Fragile Longing. Still looking forward to the rest of the books that Cora will write about her mafia world.

Happy Reading!

JL

PS.

BOOK REVIEW: The Love Interest by Cale Dietrich (@caledietrich). Thank you @MacmillanIntl

Title: The Love Interest Author/s: Cale Dietrich Publication Date: May 16th 2017 Publisher: by Feiwel & Friends Format: Paperback Number of Pages: 384 Purchase at: Amazon “There is a secret organization that cultivates teenage spies. The agents are called Love Interests because getting close to people destined for great power means getting valuable secrets. Caden is a Nice: The boy next door,…