Tag: Book Nerd Things

The Wednesday Post (3)

Posted January 16, 2019 by Rowena in Features | 16 Comments

So I’ve been playing around with things that I want to do on this blog and I’ve been wanting to do a mid-week check in so that I can chat about the books that I’m reading that week. What’s working for me and what’s not but I also want to keep a running list of books that I cannot wait to get my greedy little hands on. I decided that I’m going to do a mashup of the Can’t Wait Wednesday and WWW Wednesday posts here on my blog.

Can’t Wait Wednesday is hosted by Tessa over at Wishful Endings and it was based on Waiting on Wednesday that was hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine. WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme that is hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words.

Here are the books from my reading week so far.

WWW Wednesday

What did you recently finish reading?

The Wrong Game by Kandi Steiner

I was hoping that I’d like this book a lot more than I did. I was bored with a lot of the last half of the book and the first half of the book, the heroine annoyed the shit out of me but the hero was the bomb and I adored him. So it wasn’t the best but it wasn’t the worst book ever so..:()

What are you currently reading?

Blood Kiss (Black Dagger Legacy #1) by J.R. Ward

My book club meeting is fast approaching (on Monday) so I really need to get this book read and a discussion prepped for it. I am not a fan of J.R. Ward so really…wish me luck!

What do you think you’ll read next?

One and Only (Bridesmaids Behaving Badly #1) by Jenny Holiday

I have the third book in this series for review and it comes out next week so I need to hurry up and get this read as well. I’m looking forward to diving into this series since I’ve been hearing nothing but good things about it. Woot!

Can’t Wait Wednesday
The Wednesday Post (3)Passion on Park Avenue
by Lauren Layne
Series: The Central Park Pact #1
Published by Simon & Schuster, Gallery Books on May 28, 2019
Genres: Contemporary, Romance
Pages: 288
Add It: Goodreads

From the author of the New York Times bestselling Stiletto and Oxford series, the first in a sizzling new series following the unlikely friendship of three Upper East Side women as they struggle to achieve their dreams and find true love and happiness in the city that never sleeps.

For as long as she can remember, Bronx-born Naomi Powell has had one goal: to prove her worth among the Upper East Side elite—the same people for which her mom worked as a housekeeper. Now, as the strongminded, sassy CEO of one of the biggest jewelry empires in the country, Naomi finally has exactly what she wants—but it’s going to take more than just the right address to make Manhattan’s upper class stop treating her like an outsider.

The worst offender is her new neighbor, Oliver Cunningham—the grown son of the very family Naomi’s mother used to work for. Oliver used to torment Naomi when they were children, and as a ridiculously attractive adult, he’s tormenting her in entirely different ways. Now they find themselves engaged in a battle-of-wills that will either consume or destroy them…

Filled with charm and heart and plenty of sex and snark, this entertaining series will hook you from the very first page.

I’m pretty thirsty for this book to come out already. I will devour anything and everything that Lauren Layne releases and I’m not even ashamed about that. She’s at the top of my favorite authors lists and I enjoy her writing style so much. I have every faith that this book is going to be the bomb so this is what I look like right now…

So, what are you reading this week? Anything good? Anything that you want to rant about?
Are you looking forward to Passion on Park Avenue? What other books are you looking forward to releasing this year?

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The Weekly Recap (117)

Posted January 14, 2019 by Rowena in Features | 10 Comments

It was a pretty quiet week for me. I didn’t do much because the weather in L.A. is pretty dreary. Bren and Ken did have a game on Friday that I went to and I got into it with some punk ass white boy who was talking shit about Kenna like he knew anything about her. Calling her a lazy ass who doesn’t help her teammates like it was Kenna’s fault that his girlfriend can’t break a damn press. The thing about it though was she couldn’t get past one person who was guarding her really close. That girl was eating her up and stripping the ball from her time and time again. It is not Kenna’s fault that his girlfriend is a trash point guard and exposes herself with every game. The only bad thing about all of that was I went off on him about how his girlfriend is trash and his girlfriend’s family was sitting a few rows in front of me so now they know that I think their daughter sucks ass but *shrugs* it can’t be helped now. I meant it too but because her Mom has been nothing but nice to me, I felt a little bad.

Oh well. Don’t start nothing, won’t be nothing.

The thing about it was the boyfriend stood right in back of me, talking all of his shit about Kenna. Like he blamed Kenna for the loss but nope, that was a team loss and Kenna didn’t lead that game in turnovers so he better go somewhere with his dumbass. And why in the hell would you talk all this shit directly in back of Kenna’s family? How disrespectful is that? And Kenna would eat his girlfriend up if they were to go one on one so honestly…he’s an idiot. He was also analyzing the game like he was a coach or something and the fool doesn’t even play anywhere except the local parks and rec league.

Anyway, onto the books…

What I’m Currently Reading
The Weekly Recap (117)The Wrong Game
by Kandi Steiner
Published by Kandi Steiner on October 18, 2018
Genres: Contemporary, Romance
Point of View:Alternating First Person
Pages: 393
Format: eBook
Source: Purchased
Add It: Goodreads
Reading Challenges:2019 GoodReads Challenge

Two season tickets. One genius idea. Zero interest in a relationship.

The plan is simple: a brand new, hot, preferably funny, definitely single male will fill one of those seats for every Bears game at Soldier Field. And I’ll fill the other.

I can’t think of a better way to use the season passes I’d bought for my ex-husband. I am a woman of plans, and this one’s foolproof.

Until Zach Bowen offers to be my practice round.

He’s infuriating. Presumptuous and overbearing. And absolutely, undeniably gorgeous. Any woman with a heartbeat would be attracted to him, and mine picks up speed every time he speaks.

But as I said, I’m a woman of plans — and I’m not backing down on this one.

One night. One game. And then, his time’s up.

He can try to change the rules, but here’s the truth: he can’t win if he’s playing the wrong game.

The Wrong Game is a stand-alone, angsty, enemies-to-lovers sports romance.

I’m about halfway through this book and am enjoying it though I’m not seeing what is presented in the blurb. I’m going to be reviewing this one with Holly so you’ll see what I end up thinking of the book as a whole on Book Binge soon. I hope this one continues to be good.

What I Read

Governess Gone Rogue (Dear Lady Truelove #3) by Laura Lee Guhrke (eARC) | 4 out of 5
Hoops Holiday (Hoops #2.5) by Kennedy Ryan (Kindle Unlimited) | 4.25 out of 5
Right Where I Want You by Jessica Hawkins (eBook) | 4 out of 5

My favorite read of the week goes to Hoops Holiday by Kennedy Ryan. It was such a sweet and fun romance between two people that were perfect for each other. There’s some angst and even though the book was super short, the romance was done in a believable way and I just adored it to pieces.

What I Reviewed

Hate Notes by Vi Keeland & Penelope Ward | 4 out of 5
Famous in a Small Town by Emma Mills | 4 out of 5

What I Posted

The Weekly Recap (116)
The Monthly Recap: December 2018
The Wednesday Post (2)
My Personal and Blogging Goals for 2019

What I Got

Nothing new this week. I’m trying to get the books I already have read first.

What I Got for Review

Bad Influence (Bad Bachelors #3) by Stefanie London
Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jalaluddin

What Made Me Laugh

There you have it, my week in review. How was your week?

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The Weekly Recap (113)

Posted December 3, 2018 by Rowena in Features | 2 Comments

This week was a pretty busy one for me at work, though it was a quiet one at home. I’m spring cleaning the hell out of our office to get it ready for our Christmas party this week. I’ve been getting rid of old electronics that nobody uses, trash that people thought they’d need but haven’t touched in years. It’s been nice to come into a clean office every day and I’m happy with the progress that I’ve made.

At home, Brenna and Kenna are busy with basketball. As is Meghan. Meghan’s last first conference game was this past weekend and her team won big so I’m happy for her. She’s playing well and I’m going to miss seeing her play. Bren is still out of commission from playing but after this week, we’re hopeful that she’ll be back on the court all healed up. Kenna is holding it down on the court though, playing well and just smart basketball. I’m glad for her.

Caiden went home on Thursday and I miss him something fierce. He’s been busy since he got back home though. His Grandma Blanche and Graunty Delene were in town with him for the weekend so he was enjoying some time with them, they went and got their Christmas tree on Saturday and put it together that night and it looked so pretty. Nicely lit, beautiful decorations and then they went to Church on Sunday and came home to find their beautiful tree knocked over with ornaments all over the place, haha. What poor luck. Bren and Ken FaceTimed them last night and they were putting the house back together after the mess the tree left from falling over. All is well again…and it’ll be well again in L.A. because Caiden will be coming back this weekend with Chloe to go to Disneyland with Chloe and her best friend so that means more Caiden time for us. Yay!!

Now, onto the books…

What I’m Currently Reading
The Weekly Recap (113)The One You Fight For
by Roni Loren
Series: The Ones that Got Away #3
Also in this series: The One You Can't Forget
Published by Sourcebooks, Sourcebooks Casablanca on January 1, 2019
Genres: Contemporary, Romance
Point of View:Alternating Third Person
Pages: 384
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher, Edelweiss
Add It: Goodreads

How hard would you fight for the one you love? Taryn Landry was there that awful night fourteen years ago when Long Acre changed from the name of a town to the title of a national tragedy. Everyone knows she lost her younger sister. No one knows it was her fault. Since then, psychology professor Taryn has dedicated her life's work to preventing something like that from ever happening again. Falling in love was never part of the plan...

Shaw Miller has spent more than a decade dealing with the fallout of his brother's horrific actions. After losing everything―his chance at Olympic gold, his family, almost his sanity―he's changed his name, his look, and he's finally starting a new life. As long as he keeps a low profile and his identity secret, everything will be okay, right?

When the world and everyone you know defines you by one catastrophic tragedy...How do you find your happy ending?

I started reading this book last night because it’s back to my review pile for me. I took a short break from it so that I can get some books on my Kindle Unlimited and TBR pile read but December has kicked off and I have hella January review books that need to be read and reviewed so this is the first book off of that pile.

So far, this is okay. Not much is going on right now but the hero and the heroine did meet and there’s going to be hella drama, I’m sure since the hero is the brother of the shooter that killed the heroine’s sister. Yikes.

What I Read

My Favorite Half Night Stand by Christina Lauren (eARC) | 4 out of 5
Ache for You (Slow Burn #3) by J.T. Geissinger (Audiobook) | 1 out of 5
Once and For All by Sarah Dessen (eBook) | 4 out of 5

Book Boyfriend

Caleb Scott
Fight or Flight by Samantha Young

What I Reviewed

Archangel’s Consort (Guild Hunter #3) by Nalini Singh | 4 out of 5

What I Posted

The Weekly Recap (112)
My TBR Pile: December 2018
Can’t Wait Wednesday: Don’t Forget about Me by Mhairi McFarlane
Five Christmas Movies I Want to Watch

What I Got

Nothing.

What I Got for Review

The Dating Game by Kiley Roache

What Made Me Laugh

There you have it, my week in review. How was your week?

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Buddy Review: Highlander Most Wanted by Maya Banks

Posted November 20, 2018 by Rowena in Reviews | 0 Comments

Buddy Review: Highlander Most Wanted by Maya BanksHighlander Most Wanted
by Maya Banks
Narrator: Kirsten Potter
Series: The Montgomery's and Armstrongs #2
Also in this series: Never Seduce a Scot
Published by Random House, Ballantine on March 19, 2013
Genres: Historical, Romance
Point of View:Alternating Third Person
Pages: 352
Format: eBook, Audiobook
Source: Purchased
Length: 9 hours, 48 minutes
Add It: Goodreads
four-stars

In Highlander Most Wanted, a reclusive woman content to live in the shadows shows a Highland warrior the true meaning of love.

Genevieve McInnes is locked behind the fortified walls of McHugh Keep, captive of a cruel laird who takes great pleasure in ruining her for any other man. Yet when Bowen Montgomery storms the gates on a mission of clan warfare, Genevieve finds that her spirit is bent but not broken. Still, her path toward freedom remains uncertain. Unable to bear the shame of returning to a family that believes her dead or to abandon others at the keep to an imposing new laird, Genevieve opts for the peaceful life of an abbess. But Bowen’s rugged sensuality stirs something deep inside her that longs to be awakened by his patient, gentle caress—something warm, wicked, and tempting.

Bowen seizes his enemy’s keep, unprepared for the brooding and reclusive woman who captures his heart. He’s enchanted by her fierce determination, her unusual beauty, and her quiet, unfailing strength. But wooing her will take more than a seasoned seducer’s skill. For loving Genevieve, he discovers, means giving her back the freedom that was stolen from her—even if it means losing her forever.

Highlander Most Wanted is the second book in Maya Banks’ Montgomery’s and Armstrongs series. It picks up right where the first book in this series, Never Seduce a Scot leaves off and that’s where Bowen and Teague Montgomery, along with Aidan and Brodie Armstrong march to the McHugh keep to seek revenge for the abduction and abuse of their sister, Eveline Montgomery.

Bowen is tasked with running Laird Patrick McHugh down and killing him before taking over the keep and all of the lands. He expected to come in, handle business and then check out but what he finds at the McHugh keep changes those plans. He finds a clan without leadership and a young woman who intrigues him.

Genevieve McInnis has lived through things no woman should live through and she has suffered so much in her short life and all she wants is freedom. She wants to live the rest of her life out in peace and she needs to get to an abbey to make sure that happens. She wasn’t expecting Bowen Montgomery to throw all of those plans out the window when she met him. But love doesn’t always ask your permission.

Rowena: Tasha, Shy, and I are back at it again with another group review of our book club book of the month. This month’s book was a continuation from last month’s book so let’s get to it, shall we?

Alright guys, what did you guys think? Yay or nay?

Tasha: Meh, it was okay this second time around for me. I’m a sucker for happy endings, so this gets a yay.

Rowena: You know, the first time that I read it (a couple of weeks ago), I really enjoyed it. I cried, my heart broke and I was super happy with the story and then I did a re-read of the book before book club and the book was a lot more problematic for me.

There were so many things that I didn’t buy reading it the second time around. But first, let’s discuss the characters. What did you think about Bowen and Genevieve?

I enjoyed both of their characters. Bowen was the knight in shining armor that Genevieve needed and Genevieve had gone through too many things for me to hate her. My karma wouldn’t let me hate her. LOL.

Tasha: I’m with you on Bowen. It was easy for me to like him. I mean, what wasn’t there to like. He was very handsome, came from a strong clan, close to his siblings and he seemed to be fair person. His character was pretty consistent.

My heart initially went out to Genevieve. I truly felt bad for her and all that was done to her. But as the story went on, there were some things about Genevieve that really got on my nerves.

Shy: My opinion is a little skewed because as much as I loved Bowen in the first book, I ready to gut him halfway into this book. It made me cringe at how much of an idiot Bowen was in this book.

Genevieve, omg I felt for her whole situation. Okay, maybe I wanted or needed to kick her upside her head a few times. Why in the hell did she feel the need to continuously help those aikaes (assholes) that constantly made her life hell? We’re all strong but at some point, I would have given in and skinned a few of them.

Like you both, there were just a few too many things that didn’t really make sense to me.

Rowena: My issues stemmed around the romance and the lack of resolution with the members of the McHugh clan.

After everything that Genevieve suffered at the hands of Ian McHugh, the constant rape and abuse that went on for over a year, I thought the romance with Bowen happened too fast to be believable. She had known Bowen for a matter of weeks before they started sleeping together and I just didn’t quite believe that nothing triggered her. It felt, to me, like she was healed by Bowen’s magic peen.

The other thing that bothered me was that nobody stood up for Genevieve the way that Graeme stood up for Eveline, especially after those awful women stoned her. It really bothered me that nothing of consequence was done before Bowen took her away to the Montgomery keep. My bloodthirsty ass wanted all of them bitches to pay.

Tasha: I guess that’s why I’m so mad at Genevieve. After all she suffered, why did she bother standing up for them? She didn’t owe them anything. Why didn’t she shoot her bows and arrows and drop assholes left and right? She didn’t have any problem laying Patrick out with her arrows? Why not everyone else?

Remember how upset I was at Graeme for letting his clan mistreat Eveline for so long? The thing is, those people were Graeme’s people. The McHughs weren’t Bowen’s people. These guys swooped in and took over their clan. Bowen didn’t know those people, he didn’t know if he could trust Genevieve. There was no way he could demand the bullying and name calling to stop. For Graeme, he was Laird. His people were obligated to obey him. I don’t think Bowen, Brodie, or Teague had it like that. Not yet, at least.

Rowena: Sure, it was a different situation but they certainly could have been handled it in exactly the same way. Bowen had proclaimed himself their Laird until Graeme came along to take over so for all intents and purposes, Bowen was the boss. His word was law, and he should have reprimanded and handed out consequences to all of those women and men for the treatment of an innocent woman. Especially the women that freaking stoned her. By then, he knew and was in love with her, he should have taken the time to flay those bitches alive for hurting Genevieve before they left for Montgomery keep. He was too busy healing her with his magic peen though.

Too many things didn’t add up for me that I don’t feel I could give this book a higher grade than 3.25 but I did enjoy the friendships between Gen and Taliesan, and Gen, Eveline and Rorie.

Tasha: LOL at magic peen.

Shy: LOL, Mr. I got the magic stick.

Exactly. He held the authority to be judge, jury and executioner. I didn’t understand why he tried to cut them the benefit of the doubt after glimpsing how vile they were toward Genevieve.

I will say what brought be back around to really loving the book was when she reunited with her family. OMG I love her dad and her mom. But I found myself so irritated with Bowen, I felt like he should have went with her the first time. I would have made up some bloody excuse, knowing all that she’s gone through and that you love her, no one would have faulted him for the extra assurance if we went. But no the ai kae waited for her to ride back in all her pregnant glory.

Tasha: Her being reunited with the family was very sweet of Bowen. I can only imagine how hard it was for him to reach out to them. But the ultimate for me was their reaction when they saw her. They cried tears of joy and embraced her. Ahhhhhhh, loved that part!!!

Final Grade

Shy: 4 out of 5
Tasha: 3.75-4 out of 5
Rowena: 3.25 out of 5

The Montgomery’s and Armstrong’s Series

four-stars

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The Weekly Recap (110)

Posted November 12, 2018 by Rowena in Features | 4 Comments

First and foremost, I’d like to thank all of our veterans for their service and for their sacrifice to keep us all safe at home. Happy Veterans Day! 🙂

This last week was another quiet one and honestly, I’m boring. I go to work every single day and then I come home and do the same shit every night. I do a thirty-minute workout, I mess around on my phone (browse Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, and sometimes Facebook), catch up on my shows, and then I go to sleep. Sometimes, I read but most of the time, I’m either texting or browsing social media before bed. That’s it.

The highlight of my week was celebrating my Dad’s 77th birthday along with my sister in law and two of my nephew’s birthdays. Our family thing is we all gather around our dining room table and take a green wall birthday picture to post on social media and this is the picture for our November birthdays. My Dad shares a birthday with my nephew Chance, who lives in Utah and is attending BYU Provo. So I made four cakes for the birthday peeps. Three small cakes for my Dad, my SIL Les (pictured above in the UCLA sweatshirt) and my nephew Brody (pictured above sitting next to my Dad in the green shirt and glasses) and then a bigger cake for everyone to eat for Chance (pictured above on FaceTime in the iPhone on the right). Chance is sitting in his car with his sister Chach and they definitely posed for the green wall pics from Utah. Hahaha, I’m not sure if you can see it or not but they totally are and so is Chloe and Caiden, who are FaceTiming with us from their house in Utah on the iPhone on the left. Chance even blew out his candles with some help from Baby Rocky. Haha.

I also went to Meghan’s game on Thursday and she won! Her team scored over 100 points too so you know that the other team wasn’t that good. Meghan played well and it’s just so good to see her playing. This is her last year of playing at the college level and she’s fun to watch. I’m going to miss watching her play once she hangs up her playing shoes for good.

In other family news, Chase’s football team won their CIF playoff game on Friday so they are moving on to the semi-finals this week but it’s an away game so good luck to him and his team.

Now, onto the books…

What I’m Currently Reading
The Weekly Recap (110)Mornings on Main
by Jodi Thomas
Published by Harlequin, HQN on April 10, 2018
Genres: Contemporary, Romance
Pages: 336
Format: eBook
Source: Purchased
Add It: Goodreads

From the beloved and bestselling author of the Ransom Canyon and Harmony, Texas series comes a powerful, heartwarming story about generations of family and the ironclad bonds they forge.

When Jillian James lands in the small town Texas community of Laurel Springs, she's definitely not planning to stay--except to find a few clues about the father who abandoned her and destroyed her faith in family.

Connor Larady is a single dad, and the only one caring for his grandmother, Eugenia, who has Alzheimer's. And now he has to close Eugenia's quilt shop. When Connor meets down-on-her-luck Jillian, he's out of options. Can he trust the newcomer to do right by his grandmother's legacy?

Jillian is done with relationships. But as she grows closer to Connor and Eugenia, she must consider giving up her nomadic life for a future with those who need her.

An inspiring family saga that asks us to consider what love and chosen family really mean.

I’m reading this book for my group review over at Book Binge. It’s Holly’s turn to choose our buddy review book and she chose this one. I’m not going to lie, it’s been really slow going for me because not much is happening and I guess I’m not in the mood for this kind of read. Small town romances used to be my jam but lately, not so much. *shrugs* I’ll push through and hopefully finish this up tonight. Wish me luck!

What I Read

Silver Borne (Mercy Thompson #5) by Patricia Briggs | 4 out of 5
Wait for It by Mariana Zapata | 4.5 out of 5
Archangel’s Blade (Guild Hunter #4) by Nalini Singh | 3.25 out of 5

My favorite read of the week goes to Wait for It by Mariana Zapata. This book was such a great romance and I adored every minute. So much so, that I read it all in one sitting and that sucker has 670 pages!! You know it’s all love when I read something that pagetastic in one sitting.

What I Reviewed

Diamond Fire (Hidden Legacy #3.5) by Ilona Andrews | 4.5 out of 5
Finding Dandelion (Dearest #2) by Lex Martin | 3.5 out of 5
Kissing Madeline (Dearest #3) by Lex Martin | 4 out of 5

What I Posted

The Weekly Recap (109)
The Monthly Recap: October 2018
Can’t Wait Wednesday: Meet Cute by Helena Hunting

What I Got

Nothing new this week.

What I Got for Review

Nothing new this week.

What Made Me Laugh

There you have it, my week in review. How was your week?

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