#madreads

“The Flat Share” by Beth O’Leary: sharing a flat with someone you’ve never met? Tiff needs a cheep & easy place to stay, and Leon works nights and needs the $$. Leon takes the bed in the day, Tiff at night.... they’re bound to meet sometime, right?

“The Hating Game” by Sally Thorne: easy-peasy office, enemies-to-lovers. Lucy and Josh share an office for 40 hours a week, PAs for a recently merged companies. constantly one-upping each other, and playing ‘games’ in vengeful silence with arbitrary, made-up rules–– but lucy will never let josh win. especially when there’s a promotion at stake. if she wins, she’ll be josh’s boss, and if she loses... she’ll resign. 

“Beach Read” by Emily Henry: Augustus is an acclaimed author of literary fiction, and january writes best selling romance. they’re opposites in every way.... right now the only thing they have in common is they’re neighbors and both struggling with writer’s block. they make a bet, augustus will write a bright happy romance while january tackles the “next Great American Novel.” of course they’ll take field trips of rom-com montage fame, and he’ll take her to interview backwoods death cult members (???) and absolutely no one will fall in love, lmao.

“Man Crush Monday” (and Stand-In Saturday) by Kristy Moseley. bruhh..... just read it. amy clark is a happy, peppy girl who works on the train... every monday her crush comes aboard, handsome and dorky. lool one day, they meet off the train, and love blossoms from there......

“The Billionaire’s Wake-Up-Call Girl” (and the entire series tbh) by Annika Martin: bruhh lol ya girl works at a company and tries to stay on her best behavior. so when she can’t find a “morning call service” to wake up her boss..... she takes it upon herself to make the call. so yeah, obviously she is the sweetest person ever at 4:30 AM–– oop. and soon enough, boss man is tearing down the city to find her.

“Come Back to Bed” by Kayley Loring: a grumpy lawyer dude moves in next door to an artist, and the only thing she can be sure of is that he’s hot hot hot and has the cutest lil dog ever. when they first meet, he recognizes her long-time and flailing crush on her artist boss..... sparks fly from there lmao

“Happy-Go-Lucky” by L.H. Cosway. Maisie works as a researching for a PI firm, and is nothing but kind to every one there. lol then at the christmas party, intimidating cameron grant shows up and out of the kindness of her heart, she sits by to talk to him. looool he tells her he despises everyone’s behavior at their workplace even her’s to a degree–- be deems her most tolerable. lol even jabbed, her lil office crush on him doesn’t waver. things become even more awkward when he takes her home.............

“Would Like to Meet” by Rachel Winters. evie has been a an assistant for 7 years, hanging on a thread for a promotion. too bad her job is in the hands of breakout-director ezra, for hollywood’s next rom com. lol but he’s suffering from writers block. in order not to lose her job, she collects data and stories from going on “meet-cute” dates and scenarios to “inspire” ezra lol and maybe find herself a real date along the way?

“The Unhoneymooners” by Christina Lauren. olive is ur typical unlucky gal–– constantly outdone by her perfect twin sister, who she still loves and adores. so ofc, on her sister’s wedding day she is paired with her worst enemy, ethan (who happens to be the best man). just 24 hours to get through, and things will be back to normal. lol too bad that everyone at the wedding gets food poisoning, leaving olive and ethan the only people unscathed. her sister refuses to let her honeymoon package go to waste so... she encourages olive and ethan to go... together. looool

And that’s all i can think of for right now!!! i haven’t been reading anything too serious, i just want these fluffy chick lit HEA romances to get me through the rest of the year.... like... just give me some serotonin pls. alright and lemme just say... getting a kindle (and kindle unlimited bleh) has changed my reading life.... it’s so much easier now lol 🥺💛✨

if you have any recommendations or notes to add, feel free to let us know! happy reading!!!!!!!!!!!!! ❣️

uhhh so the basic summary: a woman is super disenchanted with her life, her thesis, her on-again-off-again boyfriend, and decides to spend the summer taking care of her wealthy sister’s dog in their gorgeous beachside house to gain take a break from it all. there, she is forced to take group-therapy sessions about her rage and romance, makes friends with similar problems, goes on BAD tinder dates and oh ya, falls in love with a mermaid. ha ha!

my rating: 2.9 fallen mermaid scales out of 5

my warnings: super triggering. suicide attempts, mentions. animal abuse, neglect. and just encouraging bad habits (with no moral idk) lol

thoughts: ok ok ok, i know not everything is gonna be smooth out to the happiest ending every–– but oh my god the main character was SO unlikeable. unless the intention was for her to be a bitter “older” woman!! but ya she was super judgmental and selfish, she REFUSED to be held responsible for anyone, not even her self. and it got her so beaten up every time. she was a MESS, and never faced “real” repercussions because the people around her are just stronger than her. like she was the bad, but never the worst. however, i was still able to feel SO BAD for her–– i do think seeing her desperation and loneliness was ~relatable~ and cathartic, but man....... she just wouldn’t quit.

the mermaid man was pretty cool lmao. he was so honest the whole time it was kinda funny lol i think this was written in 2018/2019? and he like... had regular people slang sometimes and that was interesting. also he was not written as an oily, sexy, glossy or glamorous merman that was suave, he was just.... another dude. and i kinda like that lol he was “weak” and dependent on the main character, which ya know, was terrible because she was terrible.

depictions of sex in this book was just..... sad. she just terrible interactions with these men, which isn’t her fault, but i just feel sorry she never did better. and i guess that’s what she was going on about. the merman gave her some... good good, but it was weird lol. she would point out the awkwardness and yeah i kinda liked that hahaha. the author and the main character had a self-awareness about mermaid sex, and i appreciated that it wasn’t  wild

but  man... i can’t get over what happens to the dog. it makes me feel like the main character didn’t deserve anything after what she did, she’s heartless , selfish and stupid. and she just does not take responsibility until after the terribleness has happened. YIKES. she strung along her ex-boyfriend, her “best” friend, and that dog. jfc

MAJOR SPOILER ahead >>> i thought the getting dragged down in the ocean thing for forever was cool lol. i liked that there wasn’t anyway they could ACTUALLY be together without suffering, i think it shows her that.... yo this doesn’t work. you have to find something that works, AN ENTIRE situation that works. wow, man. mermaid man loves you, but also loves you enough to keep you and you alone forever. eve if that means you’re dead. lol he’s still a mythic beast through and through and that’s amazing lol.

but yeah, i don’t know how i feel about this right now lol. like i just read some interesting points about love, dating, sex, and self care through the lens of a terrible person who did terrible things. idk but i might just be sensitive towards that yeesh.

i’m glad that only took a day tho