The Wreckage of My Presence by Casey WilsonNon-Fiction May 4, 2021, by Harper Review by Melinda I’m familiar with Casey Wilson because I’m an unapologetic Real Housewives watcher, which also makes me an unapologetic Bitch Sesh listener, Casey’s podcast, alongside co-host with Dana Schneider. I listened to an audio ARC of this one, and I would highly recommend listening to it, rather than reading it. Casey obviously is a talented actress and from her time doing the podcast is Continue Reading
Melinda’s Minis: Hang the Moon by Alexandria Bellefleur & The Anatomy of Desire by L.R. Dorn
Hang the Moon by Alexandria BellefleurContemporary RomanceMay 25, 2021, by AvonAudio ARC Review by Melinda This was such a delightful book to read! Brendon was a side character in Written in the stars - the brother to the main character there. Brendon is basically a hopeless romantic, who believes in love, and is working to improve his dating app. And Annie is the best friend of the other main character, who thinks that true love is a farce and the everyone leaves, because that’s what Continue Reading
Review: Still Beating by Jennifer Hartmann
Still Beating by Jennifer HarmannRomantic Suspense/Dark RomanceDecember 20, 2020Review by Jen Still Beating is a heart-breaking, uncomfortable, provocative and brilliant read. This book has been making the rounds in a few of my book groups for the last few months. I finally decided to give it a try. Warning, many, many triggers, including rape. Cora is at a bar celebrating her sister Mandy’s birthday. Cora ends up staying out late, well past when her sister and friends left Continue Reading
Review: Totally Engaged by Mina V. Esguerra
Totally Engaged by Mina V. EsguerraContemporary RomanceMay 14, 2021, Self PublishedARC Review by Melinda I think Mina V. Esguerra is such a talented writer and generally I pick up anything she writes. But this book is really up there with one of my favorites of hers. Rose is a fashion entrepreneur who is pretty happy with her life and what she has. However, her mother is not as happy about any of it. Rose's entire immediate family immigrated to the United States, but Rose had aged out of Continue Reading
Jen’s Mini Audible Reviews: Reviews for Books by Amy Harmon, Jennifer L. Armentrout, Kerri Maniscalco, Sarina Bowen & Elle Kennedy and Kylie Scott
I love listening to books when I go on walks and when I’m working around my house. All of the below books were excellent. I’m pretty particular about voices. There's one popular male narrator out there who just gives me creepy uncle vibes. I really enjoyed these stories AND the narrators were terrific. No creepy uncle. :) The Songbook of Benny Lament by Amy Harmon Epic!!! This was brilliant!! The narrator, Rob Shapiro was spot on. The story takes place in NYC in the 1960s and Shapiro’s Continue Reading
Review: People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry
People We Meet on Vacation by Emily HenryContemporary Romance/Women's FictionMay 11, 2021, by BerkleyARCReview by Angela Favorite Quote: "You're staring at me because I'm tall?" Alex says"Very tall," I say, as if that clears things up. It's easier than saying, I have missed you, beautiful smile. It's so good to see you, strong arms and legs. Thank you, freakishly taut belly, for feeding this person I love so much. After reading last year's release by this author, Beach Read, I couldn't Continue Reading
Melinda’s Minis: Hana Khan Carries On by Uzma Jalaluddin & Farm of Fancy by Julianna Thorn
Hana Khan Carries On by Uzma JalaluddinContemporary 4/13/2021 by Harper Avenue There is so much about this book that I enjoyed! There is a podcasting FMC that I just loved so much. I listen to an intense amount of podcasts so this made me fall for Hana early on. And Hana was just lovely and fierce from beginning to end. I also really enjoyed her family, who owns a hala restaurant and are her biggest fans. I loved watching them basically believe she could do anything she wanted. And the Continue Reading
Review: The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba by Chanel Cleeton
The Most Beautiful Girl in Cuba by Chanel CleetonHistorical FictionMay 4, 2021, by Berkley Review by Melanie Let me preface this review by stating that I know very little about Cuban politics and history. It’s not a subject that’s focused on in the American public school system and I am also not a history scholar so my knowledge on this topic is greatly limited. However, I am a big fan of Chanel Cleeton, read her consistently when she was writing contemporary romance and when she made the Continue Reading
Review: Counting Down with You by Tashie Bhuiyan
Counting Down with You by Tashie Bhuiyan Young Adult May 4, 2021, by Inkyard Press Review by Melanie I don’t find myself reading too much YA but this delightful book made me want to change that. There’s so much I want to say about this book that I’m a little afraid my review might be all over the place. But before I start in on the actual bones of the review, I just want to address one thing really quickly: I related HARD to this book. Maybe it’s because of the similarities in our Continue Reading
Melinda’s Minis: The Conductors by Nicole Glover and The Hate Project by Kris Ripper
The Conductors by Nicole GloverHistorical MysteryMarch 2, 2021 by John Joseph Adams This book was really so inventive from concept to completion and I was interested in it from the second I heard about it. This is a post Civil War-set fantasy where some Black people have magic they can perform based on constellations - this magic is brought over from Africa - and white people need wands to perform magic. The book deals with incredibly difficult topics - obviously with the post Civil War Continue Reading