Recent Reads Mini Reviews

More mini reviews from books I’ve enjoyed to varying degrees over the last few weeks! I had a stretch of lackluster reads and it’s unfortunate they happened to be grouped together, but luckily they didn’t put me into a reading slump!

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Save the Date by Monica Murphy

Rating: ★★★★☆
Release Date: June 25, 2019

Such a quick & fun read. This had like every possible romance trope I could have ever wanted – missed connection, childhood friends/crushes, each other’s first kiss, fake dating, shared bed – liek all of it was here and I loved every second of it. SOOOO much fun.

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Maybe This Time by Kasie West

Rating: ★★★☆☆
Release Date: July 9, 2019

Fun, cute, and perfect for summer! I loved Sophie’s job helping at the local florists and all the smalltown events, festivals, and weddings that happened. Andrew and SOphie’s romance is fine, so butterflies from me but it wasn’t bad. I didn’t like the conflict between Micah and Sophie – mainly because it felt rushed. And so much time passed throughout the story that we get a lot of jumps, so the story was a little less developed than I would have liked, but still a fun story overall.

 

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Romancing the Throne by Nadine Jolie Courtney

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Release Date: March 30, 2017

This just wasn’t very good. The plot was rushed, the characters were frustrating and ine dimensional, and the writing was contradictory. I knocked it out in a few hours, so I didn’t see the point in DNFing it, but it wasn’t a book I enjoyed or would recommend.

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Time of Our Lives by Emily Wibberley & Austin Siegemund-Broka

Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Release Date: April 21, 2020

This was fine, I guess. I liked exploring how family responsibility can influence your identity and the paths you choose (or think you’re able to choose), but I really didn’t like Juniper’s family. I liked Fitz and Lewis getting closer, but it wasn’t a bit part of the story. The romance was again, fine, but I wish Juniper didn’t start the story with a boyfriend. It would have made the flirting and grey emotional cheating stuff not an issue, and Matt didn’t really need to be in the story because he didn’t do anything. The story was mostly forgettable, but a quick read. I liked the idea more than the execution.

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A Song Below Water by Bethany C. Morrow

Rating: ★★☆☆☆ (2.5 Stars)
Release Date: June 2, 2020

DNF @19%

I could not for the life of me focus on this story. Every time I picked it up, I suddenly became exhausted and my eyes wouldn’t focus on the page. But I do think the story was very compelling so far. I liked the mythology and the openness with the magic and beings. I thought Tavia and Effie’s POV’s were strong and distinct, this was just not the right time for me to read this story, but I will be picking it up in the future because I can feel that I will like it another time, just all of my crappy luck with books lately is starting to effect me.

I received a copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

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What are some of the book you’ve read recently? Are you currently fighting a slump also?