As a reader, I just cannot commit to a single genre. I like it all. And so, today’s post is all about a variety of mini reviews across several different genres, from adult romance to YA fantasy. What are your go to genres?
I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Breaking Her Rules by Jennifer Snow Series: Beyond The Cage #1
Published by Penguin on July 21, 2015
Genres: Fiction, Romance, Contemporary, Sports
Pages: 232
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads
MMA fighters go the distance in this all-new series from Jennifer Snow, author of the Brookhollow novels.
Walker Adams was supposed to follow in his lawyer father’s footsteps, but instead he’s training to be an MMA fighter. And while he works for his chance to make it in the Maximum Fight League, he’s bunking on his baby sister’s best friend’s couch. Gracie Andrews is all grown up—in all the right places. But she’s engaged to the fight match-maker who holds Walker’s career in his hands…
Gracie had almost convinced herself that she’d put her silly childhood crush on Walker to rest. But the sight of him sleeping in only a pair of boxer briefs makes it clear that some things never change. And as old sparks turn to flames, Gracie is forced to decide between the future she thought she wanted or the man she’s never stopped loving…
Praise for Jennifer Snow:
“Snow has created a hot romance with surprising ups and downs in this friends-to-lovers tale.â€â€”RT Book Reviews on What a Girl Wants
“Jennifer Snow is a fabulous writer who touched my heart.â€â€”Before It’s News on Falling for Leigh
Breaking Her Rules by Jennifer Snow REALLY appealed to me. I like romances. I like sports. So I probably should have loved this one right? Well, in all honesty, I thought it was a merely okay read. I do not see myself continuing on with the series. That isn’t to say there’s no value to this book. There is, it just was not the book for me, ya know?
Walker Adams and Gracie Andrews are the main characters in Breaking Her Rules. Basically Gracie works as a promoter for the MMA in Vegas. Walker quit law school to fight in the MMA (lol what). However, by quitting law school, Walker’s dad has cut him off financially. So to get back on his feet he stays with Gracie because they grew up together. Gracie has long harbored a crush on Walker. Only she has a boyfriend (who sort of sucks if we are being honest). Anyways, sparks fly.
So one thing that did rub me the wrong way about this book was how one of the correspondents for some tv show about MMA was depicted. Like, talk about slut shaming. It was just such a turn off to read. Plus I felt like the relationship with Walker and Gracie read as shallow. I guess I like romances that are a little more in depth. That’s not to say this book wouldn’t work for anyone else, I bet it would. The adult time scenes are decently written. Just, on the whole, the chemistry and slow burn was not there for me.
Switching gears a little bit, Now I Rise by Kiersten White is the second book in the And I Darken series. It follows Lada Dracul and her brother Radu through alternating chapters. This time around I read the physical book instead of listening to the audiobook. I am kind of feeling on the fence about that whole decision.
So, Now I Rise involves Lada heading back to Wallachia with her men, she is hellbent on becoming Prince of Wallachia. Along the way she’ll make allies of enemies and possible enemies of allies. Meanwhile, Radu and his wife go to Constantinople to infiltrate and sabotage. Unfortunately, Radu starts to catch some feelings for Cyprian, their host and relative to Emperor Constantine. Okay, so no lie throughout all the chapters set in Constantinople, I had that song Istanbul Was Once Constantinople in my head.
Aside from all this, I think that what Now I Rise does well is set up. I think it is setting up for something big and intensive in the next book. Now we have all the key players in their places. So, what could be next. As for the execution of the book itself, I will be honest and say I thought it was slow. It does not move along at the fast clip I am accustomed to with White’s other books. I also realize that at this point I’ll likely be returning the third book to the library unread as I do not feel the need to make it a huge priority or anything, mainly because I felt EVERY SINGLE PAGE of this book. It’s long and feels long.
The Traitor’s Kiss by Erin Beaty is the first book in the Traitor’s Circle trilogy. Initially, I didn’t read this when it first came out because there was a rumor going around that it appropriated Mulan. So, now that I have finally read it, I can say LOL what. As it turns out, this book is NOTHING like Mulan. Like, the only thing it has in common is that there is a matchmaker at the beginning. So, I don’t even know how these rumors get started and get so out of control? Anyways, I thought that The Traitor’s Kiss was a pretty fun YA fantasy book with some stakes.
So, this book is about a girl named Sage who is an orphan. She lives with her uncle who is a man of means and social standing. He’s not a bad guy per se. Anyways, to fulfill his duty to Sage, he makes sure she meets with the best matchmaker in the kingdom. It goes terribly. Sage ends up apologizing for messing things up so bad and winds up apprenticing to the matchmaker. From there, Sage and a group of young ladies and the matchmaker end up going on a tour to eventually end up at Concordium. They are protected by an escort group of soldiers. One of which captivates Sage’s attention and vice versa. Meanwhile, there’s treachery afoot in the kingdom.
Is this the greatest book ever written? Absolutely not. Is it a fun story of intrigue and overtly obvious villains with not super obvious motivations for being evil? Yes. Yes, it is. There’s like only one thing that I found deeply upsetting and that was the brutal and unnecessary death of this certain character who I grew attached to due to my motherly instincts. That was like really upsetting to read about. Otherwise, really enjoyed almost everything about this book. I will be continuing on with the series as well.
Famous In A Small Town by Emma Mills basically has ruined me for other YA contemporary books. Like, after I finished it, I was like okay I’ll pick up another YA contemporary book on my Netgalley queue. Nope, that book was so boring and just not sparking anything in me compared to Famous In A Small Town which was ALL THE THINGS.
So, okay this book is about Sophie who loves living in Acadia, Illinois. She’s in the marching band and plays the clarinet. Also, they have been invited to play in the Rose Bowl parade in California. Sophie is on this fundraising executive board. Anyways, as it turns out it is a long shot that they will make enough money to go there. So Sophie has the brilliant idea of getting the hometown legend Megan Pleasant to come back and perform which would raise like a ton of money for the band. THAT IS ONLY SCRATCHING THE SURFACE.
Sophie also has the most amazing friend group ever and I love their group chat which is call the Where Will You Spend Eternity group. Her whole group of friends are genuine and funny and just a fun group of people to read about. AND THEN Sophie has a love interest who is the new boy next door who is in town under mysterious circumstances. We also see a text thread with her sister, Ciara. I just loved that Sophie’s friends and family play such a huge role.
I don’t want to get really in depth or spoil you. Just know this book is personable. Yes, personable. If it was a person, I would be friends with it or at least mentor it or hire it for a job. I loved it that much. I wish all dialogue was written with the crackle that Mills has. I am also now dreading running out of Emma Mills books to read (I have two more to go). She’s now on my list of favorite contemporary authors ever. Like, right up there with Morgan Matson, Sarah Dessen, Jenny Han, and Emory Lord.
I Hate Everyone But You by Gaby Dunn and Allison Raskin is an interesting concept of a book, I suppose. Basically it follows two girls – Ava and Gen as they navigate college on opposite coasts. Ava goes to USC. Gen goes to Emerson college. On the one hand, yay for more new adult books. On the other hand, I finished feeling a little bit conflicted.
I know it is a little bit shallow to want to like the characters that I read about. However, I haven’t evolved yet into a reader who is blase about that kind of thing. So, okay, this book. It is told in a series of emails and text messages between Ava and Gen. I think that is a really cool concept for a book. The characters certainly do not flinch from honesty and just let it all hang out.
However, Ava is incredibly anxious, narcissistic and kind of a homebody. Gen is much more of an outgoing cool girl type, but also really narcissistic. I found it a little bit hard to relate to these two girls and I have been to college and all that. For me, it was more similar to Ava in that I went close to home but still had some anxiety. Ava is relatively financially privileged. Gen comes across as pretty secure in herself. Still, I just, I don’t know. They were kind of mean to each other and would like freeze each other out and I thought that was a bit of a jerk move.
But, I Hate Everyone But You is a pretty honest book at least. It does not shy from difficult scenes or anything. I felt like I had a good handle on who the characters were as people. But in the end, I just didn’t care all that much for those people. I might or might not check the next book out, because some parts were really funny. Also, talk about great pacing – it took me like a day to read this. I just sit over here, on the fence.
Wicked Saints by Emily A. Duncan is a book that I had been anticipating hardcore. Like, I could not wait to read this book. So much about it seemed right exactly up my alley. There’s a war, magic systems, and conflicting religions? Hello, that is SO appealing. Then there are whispers of secrets. Also, apparently this is Slavic inspired. YES PLEASE. Unfortunately, there was a lot that was left to be desired for me.
I kind of want to put the caveat out there that I read and view books very subjectively. So you may have different mileage out of Wicked Saints than I did. So, this book alternates between Nadya and Serefin. Nadya is a Cleric and the last of her kind – or well to be more accurate, Clerics were gone for 30 years and now she’s the first. She is from Kalyazin. Meanwhile, Serefin is a Blood Mage from the country that is the enemy, Tranavia. Further complicating matters is another mage from Kalyazin and honestly I am not even going to attempt to spell his name but it’s Mal-something-something-csz. He’s the one with a secret. So okay, their paths all cross and it turns out that they may have a mission in common, to kill the Tranavian king and end the war.
Overall, I felt like the characters were kept at arm’s length from me. Like, I cared a little bit. However when Nadya was going through some extreme physical pain, I basically just shrugged. Probably my favorite was Serefin because he was the most complex and his arc was actually interesting. As for the rest, I just did not care. And I think that is something that lead to this book feeling so long too. By the end, I was so glad to be finished.
However, the gods part and the Cleric part is fascinating. I do wish this book had delved into that a little bit more. Like, it seemed like that was something that could have been expanded on. Actually, I feel like a lot could have been expanded on, but instead it seems like we’re only just scratching the surface with all the cool elements. Maybe I’ll check out the sequels, maybe not. At this point I feel no commitment to this series.
Not Now, Not Ever by Lily Anderson is a companion novel of sorts to The Only Thing Worse Than Me Is You, which honestly was a debut that I LOVED. I think though, to fully enjoy Not Now, Not Ever, you should read it relatively close to The Only Thing Worse Than Me Is You. Personally, I read these books like three years apart and feel like something is missing with all that time going by. However, that is not to say I did not enjoy Not Now, Not Ever. I totally did. I just wonder if it would have gone from really liked to OMG LOVE if I had read closer together.
Not Now, Not Ever follows Elliott Gabaroche who runs away to genius camp for the summer. You see, her choices were either Air Force camp or mock trial camp or staying home and helping her stepmother Beth practice for The Importance Of Being Earnest. Elliott takes things into her own hands and ends up going to the Rayevich College summer program to compete for a full ride scholarship so that she can pursue the academic course of her dreams – a study in science fiction. At camp, she goes by Ever Lawrence and is sort of reinventing herself. Meanwhile, as it turns out, her annoying cousin Isiah had the same idea. Run away for the summer to genius camp. So the two sort of have to get along in order to pull off not actually spending the summer learning about the Air Force.
Of course, there’s also romance in the air between “Ever” and Brandon. Also, all the camp counselors are characters from The Only Thing Worse Than Me Is You. In all, there’s definitely chemistry between Ever and Brandon. It is not quite as dramatic as Trixie and Ben, but that’s okay. I liked that this was a more chill sort of summer romance. But, I will say I am forever a sucker for hate to love and kind of missed that with this book. It was cool seeing Brandon’s connection to the previous characters (although I don’t even remember him from the first book, but in my defense, I think it’s been like five whole years since I read it). Or maybe three years? Anyways.
So, Lily Anderson is definitely an author whose work I am going to actively keep reading and pursuing. I think her writing style has some great homages to different nerdy things without beating you over the head with it or gatekeeping. Suffice to say, I am a fan and should probably go look up Undead Girl Gang in my library catalog.
I feel like I have been on a mission to get my Netgalley queue into compliance. Now that I have finally hit 80% reviewed, I want more. I have made it my new mission to hit 85% reviewed. Shadowsong by S. Jae-Jones is a sequel that I read as a part of that mission. Honestly, I was wondering around the library, saw it on the shelf and was like — oh I need to read this for Netgalley, it has been on my queue FOREVER. Thankfully, this gets the circulation number up and I finally, FINALLY read the book.
Unfortunately as excited as I was for Shadowsong after being bewitched by Wintersong, the conclusion fell flat for me. I guess I was expecting something just as engaging. So, the plot of this book is basically it takes place after Liesl comes back from the Underground and her time with the Goblin King. She’s unable to compose. Meanwhile, Josef is in Vienna performing with Francois. Their mentor dies. Josef struggles. Liesl and Josef and Katya all reunite in Vienna thanks to the generosity of a mysterious patron. Also both Liesl and Josef are having a hard time mentally. Anyways so there’s something going on with the Underground that could screw over everyone, so Liesl has to solve the issue.
That’s about as vague as I can be. I will say that the pacing is super slow. I had a hard time caring about the characters and just felt so uninvested. Like, I just did not care if they lived or died or got stuck in the Underground – maybe because of the slow pace. At one point, I thought I was going to cheat on this book and read something else and slow it down to a chapter per day, but then I was closer to the end and just pushed through. I think maybe if you go in with lowered expectations and read this close to Wintersong, you will like it more than I did probably.
I now have a new obsession and that obsession is You’d Be Mine by Erin Hahn. What a heck of a debut novel! This book has all my favorite things. You’d Be Mine has country music, solid friendships, travel on the road, personal issues, and main character chemistry. So, you know, all the requirements for a perfect pool read.
Hahn’s debut is told in alternating chapters between Clay and Annie. Clay has been famous for about a year and sings frat boy country. Unfortunately, his reputation has him in trouble with his record company and so he has to go on tour with Annie Mathers. Annie is essentially the product of country music royalty. Both of her parents were famous stars. Unfortunately, they died and so Annie will make her debut without them in the wings. But, she can more than get by on her own talent and her squeaky clean image. Anyways, Clay and Annie’s band Under The Willows hit the road together for a summer tour.
Okay, so I really did love basically everything about You’d Be Mine. It is such a fast read, like it took me three weekdays to get through which is no time at all when you factor in work and home obligations. I feel very hard for both Annie and Clay. They’re good kids who have interesting pasts and well, futures. Both have different vulnerabilities that made them interesting. There were parts whereI definitely teared up, but that’s also probably because I am overemotional as a reader?
Regardless, if you want a book that is THE perfect summer read, you’ll need to get your hands on Hahn’s You’d Be Mine. Like, while reading this I kept wishing the songs were real and I had some kind of Spotify soundtrack to listen. I can’t wait to see what’s next from Hahn and am glad there’s a new contemporary author to add to my favorites list.
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Ohh, This list is just made for me. You made me add 9 books in my TBR in just a few minutes of reading an article.